Steam and modifications

The Game Room
1

Hi again. I’m the guy who’s 5 years behind the curve on pretty much anything Internet-related (you wouldn’t believe how long it took me to find out about Instagram). And recently made this fairly interesting journal, though I don’t know who’s still playing that.

Anyway, I’m finding this new supposed-to-know-everything-about-everything-without-asking era a bit intimidating (one of the reasons I don’t own an Apple device anymore…some other time) , so I’d appreciate a bit of help. Recently I installed the Steam program for my current computer. As I understand that, it’s service which allows you to search for and download games to your computer, for a price (usually). I actually had one specific game in mind, a limited version which happened to be free, and when I downloaded and ran it, it worked fine. (For some reason it wouldn’t let me configure the controls, but I figure the full version will allow that.)

As it so happens, I had a file of modifications on hand (skins and the like, a fairly standard package) for the full program, and I was going to practice installing them on the limited version…only to discover that I couldn’t find the game’s directory or any files in my system. When I did a search for the game, all I got the application, exactly where I installed it, listed as “Internet file”. There was nothing on my computer at all. I was able to find the actual Steam program location in my program files, but it’s just a whole lot of configuration files and I wouldn’t have any idea where to place the mod files.

I already tried doing a search for a physical disk version of the game and found nothing. It seems like Steam is the way to go.

Just to be sure, this is a game that has had extensive modifications, and I’ve seen many of them on places like YouTube, so I know it’s possible. Heck, mods are pretty much the big trump card PC has over consoles, so if I’m seriously going to get into PC games again, this had better work. I haven’t used Steam all that much…the first time, in fact, was when I got Goat Simulator on disk ($5) and for whatever reason it directed me to a Steam download. I don’t mind paying for my games, but I expect to get what I pay for, and if this newfangled download-only thingamabob isn’t going to let me dress up my characters and world the way I want, it’s a big time no-go.

Appreciate any pointers on what I should do. If you need a specific game example, let’s go with Minecraft.

2

If you’re looking to modify games you downloaded from Steam, you will find them at [steam install location]/steamapps/common/[name of game]

I have installed Steam at d:\games\Steam. I have personally modified Wreckfest, for instance. So the game itself, on my computer, is at d:\games\Steam\steamapps\common\Wreckfest.

As to how you modify the game itself, that will be up to you and the game. However, some of them support “Steam Workshop” mods, which can be selected through Steam’s workshop and automatically downloaded. Our goofy Wreckfest mod can be downloaded and installed this way with little hassle.

3

Found it! :grin: Man, had me going for a while. “You mean I don’t even get to see the files of what I’m playing? How does that even work??”

All right! Nothing but love for this board! :heart: I might have more questions in the future, but for now, it looks like I’m ready to roll. Oh, and I’m not so pretentious as to think that I’ll ever have the chops to make my own mods, so don’t worry about that.

4

Steam is great once you get used to it. It has videos, screenshots, reviews, mods, and discussion boards.

The quickest way to find the install folder for the game is, IIRC, right-click on the game title, pick Properties, and then click Browse Local Files. That will open an Explorer window in the game foler.

5

steam has modding workshops for most games. Although steam does not have the complete mod repository unlike mod websites. They usually have workarounds on youtube, etc… Check google and bing.

6

Okay, cool, good to know. :+1:

All right, what I really need now is how to look up a keyboard command list for a specific game. Couldn’t find anything on the Steam site, the game, or in the files.

7

In the game’s settings menu you should have a page to set keybindings, at the very least you can take screenshots of those settings for a bindings list.

8

Steam has a big sale just after Christmas and another one in the Summer. The sales lately haven’t been as good as past sales but you can still often find good deals, especially on big bundles. There is also always something on sale.

Often the fastest way to find this is to go into the game’s configuration (while within the game) and look at the keyboard mappings.

Many games these days also have a wiki somewhere.

Steam has mods available in the Steam Workshop. Many games have mods available elsewhere, such as Nexus Mods for all of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games. A google search for the name of the game that you want plus “mods” will usually find these types of sites.

If you are looking for good free games, Epic always has something available for free. Right now I think it’s one of the Alien games. Epic installs a launcher that is somewhat similar to Steam in that it always runs in the background and you launch your games from it.

Also check out the free games thread here in the Game Room.

ETA: One last thing, some game mods don’t work well if Steam is installed in its default location in Program Files. It’s generally a better idea to move your Steam directly to someplace outside of Program Files if you want mods to work.

9

I’ve spent several hours just working with files and getting things to appear the way I wanted. It’s been a little frustrating at times, but ultimately exhilarating knowing that other dedicated users have the power to unleash their creativity and I now get a taste of it. Kind of like deleting the shades.dat file on Ultimate Underworld to get rid of that annoying darkness. This is something I never could do on any console.

And now I learn there are programs which can change the parameters of the game (single player only, obviously, which is fine by me)? This was pretty much the only thing that kept me going after the 16-bit era. Something consoles have abandoned, but someone, somewhere, said “Hey, you want it, it’s yours!”

Don’t know how far I intend to keep playing stuff, but it looks like this community is the way to go. As long as I can decide which screenshots everyone gets to see. :wink:

Thanks for the help! I think I can find my way now!