The Witcher 3 Mod Tools: What Can We Expect?

In a new interview on GameSpot, the team at CD Projekt RED has given us some insight into their decision to release modding tools for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, what would-be tinkerers should expect from their usability, the implications that they think this will have on the RPG’s longevity, whether we’ll see mods available for the console versions, and more. An excerpt:

Let’s go into some detail. What will players be able to do with the mod tools? Does it go beyond the cosmetic?

First of all, the modding tools we are releasing are not an editor. They’re meant for people who are somewhat experienced with modding software and are designed to make creating mods easier. They give access to game files and allow for easy extracting, compilation, and decompilation of resources. Beside visual changes, like modifying textures and models, they will allow to change UI assets and script files. The majority of gameplay-related mechanics are written in scripts. Having access to these scripts will allow to create even more ambitious and complex modifications. If you’re not a modder and you’re wondering about real life applications, in short, all this means that from now on, people will be able to put their own textures on models to make them feel more personal (or cool, or whatever they wish!), or, say, substitute Roach’s model with a unicorn (and ride it towards the setting sun). You will be able to use these mods when they get published. Also, we hope the community builds on these resources and, who knows, maybe some people who haven’t ever dreamt of modding will start doing so? There might be future devs among you!

Obviously this opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for the community. What sort of things are you expecting people will create?

On one hand, we have the extremely popular character appearance modifications, which should be even easier to make now. On the other, we have gameplay modifications, which–so far–have been limited to XML files. With access to script files, players will be able to change nearly every aspect of gameplay mechanics, including creating new, custom skills for character development, adding new features to the game, modifying aspects of enemy AI, making changes to UI, and so on. To answer your question more directly, well, all these things can significantly change the gameplay experience so we imagine there will be a lot of “hardcore mode” mods, making the game more difficult or “power up” mods allowing Geralt to kill stuff with a flick of his fingers. Alternatively, someone can turbocharge village cats to run twice as fast, hell, we’re eager as hell to see ourselves!