PC Gaming platform Gog just announced a new addition to its ever-growing arsenal of tools and options for PC gamers. Called Gog One-Click Mod, it integrates the installation of curated mods into the platform.
Mods are modifications. These can range from tiny changes, like a modified outfit for a character or a fix for an annoying issue, to full conversions or entire new games. Some can even restore content that game developers did not add in the final product but included on the game media.
Not all games support modifications, but those that do, usually fare better long-term. The main reason for that is that mods often add new content to games, be it new levels or entire campaigns.
Gog’s new feature promises the simplest most convenient installation experience. All it takes is a single-click to install the supported mods.
The classic installation process of many mods is not straightforward. It depends on the game, but it is sometimes necessary to tinker with game files or copy files to specific directories to install a mod.
Here is what is available right now:
- Doom 3: Phobos
- Fallout: London One-Click Edition
- Enderal: Forgotten Stories
- The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos
- Heroes of Might and Magic III: Horn of the Abyss
- Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines – Unofficial Patch
- The Elder Scrolls: Skyblivion (soon)
Gog created a video that demos the functionality:
Some of the most popular computer games of all time started out as mods. Valve Software, maker of Steam, is notorious for that. The company’s games Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 all started out as mods.
Gog is my go-to PC gaming store. While it does not have all the latest games, due to its anti-DRM stance, it offers a good selection of mostly classic computer games. The addition of this feature adds more content to the platform, which is a good move.
It already covers games like Fallout and Heroes of Might and Magic, which I own and love. Gog needs to expand this quickly to cover more games and make this a truly unique feature.
Now You: do you play games and / or mods? What is your take on this new feature of Gog? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
This is not new a new thing. There are already several “mod managers” out there. This is a gentle way for GoG to push players into using their launcher which many don’t because it’s not required for their games. (Applause)
Vortex and MO2 are probably the top two. There’s also a few specialized ones like Fluffy for Resident Evil games and Frosty for the Mass Effect series.
These are all very popular so of course greed had to jump in with Bethesda monetizing the free work of others with a built in mod system which thankfully, can be ignored by instead using the aforementioned mod managers.
Recently Warner Brothers followed this example by adding “supported mods” inside Hogwarts Legacy with an update. They took it a step farther by breaking all outside mods so you can only use they ones they “approve” of. Not to worry, resourceful gamers figured out how to roll the game back and then trick Steam into thinking it’s the new censored version so it doesn’t update again.
I am currently replaying Fallout 4, a 10 year old game kept alive by mods. I have several ‘profiles” setup in Vortex. These allow you to quickly switch between mod collections to play different, personally customized versions of the game. All powered by free mods gamers have created.
To be honest, it’s mostly driven by hormones. 99% of the time the first mod you’ll see is a nude mod which demonstrates how to inject material into the game opening the door for the rest of the modders.
“Once you’ve seen one woman naked…. You want to see them all naked” – Ron White
It appears that you do not need Gog Galaxy, just like you do not need it for installing games on Gog.
I went and took a look on GoG and it appears there are only 7 mods at this time and many issues with the system. I’m sure they will work it all out as that’s what they specialize in, making stuff work.
I wanted to take a deeper look at the ‘One Click’ Fallout London but as I own Fallout 4 on Steam and not GoG, I can not. This apparently currently applies to games one got for free on GoG as well. (One of the aforementioned issues) The stand alone version of Fallout London is still in my GoG library and is still available for download though
Fallout London is a tricky one. It is a ‘total conversion mod’ not an ‘addon mod’. It’s basically a whole new game. If installed the “easy way” your Fallout 4 is converted to Fallout London and reverting it to a working Fallout 4 is very difficult.
However, if you follow the instructions the FOLON team provides on their website, you can download the mod from GoG then instead of running the included installer, you can extract certain files and package a mod that you can use in a seperate Vortex profile.
Vortex also allows you to use different game settings and saves for each profile. This must be done with Fallout London so you can use the ini files they provide. Though more difficult I prefer this method as I can switch back and forth from FO4 to FOL when ever I want.