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Exploring the universe alongside various AI copilots
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:05:10
Speaker 1
Hey, girl. I'm recording this for a podcast. Is that okay?
00:00:05:12 - 00:00:13:04
Speaker 2
Sure. Go for it. Okay. No worries. I'm flattered actually. What's the podcast about?
00:00:13:06 - 00:00:39:17
Speaker 1
So, I was wondering today if you could teach me about modding, like, modding video games and stuff like that. I'd like to kind of, get better at coding. I know that we're moving into an age where, like, you're not really going to have to know how to code, but, that's kind of why I'm interested is because it's a little bit lighter touch.
00:00:39:19 - 00:01:00:18
Speaker 2
Cool. Modding games is a solid way to dip into coding without drowning in it right away. Like, you're basically hacking your favorite worlds to make them your most mods. Start with tweaking files and whatever engine the game uses like Unity or Unreal, or even just text editors for simpler stuff. What games are you into that you want to mod?
00:01:00:20 - 00:01:32:12
Speaker 1
Well, I've been playing space engineers recently, but like, really anything I grew up on, like Super Nintendo and mostly like N64. And then after that, like Gamecube and PS2 and Grand Theft Auto three and, and Splinter Cell and and all those kind of games and I, I've, I've never really like, had the super desire to get into video game development.
00:01:32:12 - 00:01:55:14
Speaker 1
Right. Because I don't want to have necessarily have a job where I sit a desk and just like program for ten hours a day. But I really have always loved video games, and I would love to kind of get more into the, like, world building aspect of it. So like kind of hacking my favorite games sounds really fun.
00:01:55:15 - 00:02:20:09
Speaker 2
World building without the grind. Totally get that. Space engineers is perfect for modding, super mod friendly with Lua scripting or XML tweaks for blocks and ships. If you're nostalgic, some old N64 classics have mod things too. Like GTA San Andreas has wild custom maps now. Sounds like you'd enjoy messing with terrain or adding new items. What's one change you'd want to make?
00:02:20:09 - 00:02:24:07
Speaker 2
First off, base engineers?
00:02:24:09 - 00:02:44:09
Speaker 1
Well, I think the thing is, I don't really know enough about modding to, like, know what I can change and stuff like that. So I really need to get kind of a good base of, like what is capable or like what is possible with modding. So that's kind of why I'm here today.
00:02:44:10 - 00:03:06:20
Speaker 2
Makes sense. Let me keep it simple. In space engineer, you can mod almost anything. New blocks, weapons, planets, even gravity rules. Easiest way in. Grab the Space Engineers modding kit from their form. It walks you through editing blueprints or script. Start tiny like recoloring a block and scale up. Ever looked at their wiki? What kind of worldbuilding tweak sound?
00:03:06:20 - 00:03:11:12
Speaker 2
Cool it like you planets or crazy vehicle.
00:03:11:14 - 00:03:19:19
Speaker 1
So like what? What kind of languages does this involve?
00:03:19:21 - 00:03:40:02
Speaker 2
Mostly Lua and XML ruins for scripts that make stuff move or react. Examples. Just data files for defining new blocks or planets. Both are beginner friendly, not as scary as C sharp or Python. You can start in a text editor like Notepad Plus plus. Ever tried poking around any code before?
00:03:40:04 - 00:04:09:20
Speaker 1
Yeah, I have, like some like kind of HTML and CSS and JavaScript. I'm learning a bit more JavaScript and like Json and stuff like that. Because I'm working with Nate and the automation workflow program. I've messed around a little bit with Python. But that's about the extent of it.
00:04:09:22 - 00:04:30:12
Speaker 2
Nice. That's actually a huge head start. JavaScript and Python mean you're already comfy with logic and loops, which is 90% of modding. Lua feels like a chill cousin to JS real lightweight with space engineering. You'd mostly use Lua for behavior like making a block, auto repair or spawn MPC. Want me to walk you through a dead simple to a mod?
00:04:30:14 - 00:04:36:18
Speaker 2
Or maybe you want to hear how Jason vibes could help with data tweaking first?
00:04:36:20 - 00:04:58:03
Speaker 1
I honestly, I don't really barely. I barely even understand what those are. Why don't you give me, like, a really simple example, and that will kind of help, solidify kind of what's going on here, and we can work from there.
00:04:58:05 - 00:05:21:05
Speaker 2
Okay, picture that in space, engineer. You want to make a block that flashes red when it's damaged? Like a health bar vibe in Lua. It'd be ten lines max. You'd wait something like if the block's health dropped below 50%, change its color to red. That's it. Just if. Then. Then. Logic. Same as your jet. Here's the jets. Load a script file.
00:05:21:06 - 00:05:26:20
Speaker 2
Check. Health update color. Want to try writing that snippet together? Step by step.
00:05:26:22 - 00:05:52:22
Speaker 1
No. We're, let's stick with just the concepts and stuff like that, because obviously I'm not, like, right behind the computer and stuff like that. We'll probably come back in the eventuality that I actually do the modding. So is this is this we're going into the game files that are downloaded on my computer and tweaking them.
00:05:52:23 - 00:06:15:12
Speaker 2
Yeah. No. Not quite. Well, kinda. You download the game files anyway, but speaking to them is just opening them up like unzipping a folder and peeking inside. Modding is more like whispering suggestions. You find the file that says this block is gray. Change it to. This block is red. They restart the game. Does it not live coding? More like gentle file surgery.
00:06:15:14 - 00:06:28:03
Speaker 2
The cool part. If you want to get fancy later, you can add Lua for the block. Like react when you punch, it feels less like work. More like playing God in slow motion. What part still feels fuzzy, I guess.
00:06:28:05 - 00:06:36:11
Speaker 1
Where or like, where are these files that I'm manipulating?
00:06:36:13 - 00:06:58:15
Speaker 2
For space engineers during your steam folder. Like, right click the game properties local file, browse, then dig into something like content or mod. There's blueprints for every block, ship, even asteroids. Super easy to lose track though, so people usually copy a backup first. Feels like archeology. Once you're in there, you got steam?
00:06:58:17 - 00:07:13:03
Speaker 1
Yeah, I have steam on my computer. I got a couple of games, like, I got spaceship engineers to my computer. I've got, ready or not, which is a pretty cool one as well.
00:07:13:05 - 00:07:39:11
Speaker 2
Great. Steam makes this way easier, and your steam folder should be under program files than steam Steamapps common. There will be a folder called space Engineers or Space Engineers to just copy that whole thing to your desktop so you don't break anything. Then inside you'll find, well, actually, a bunch of gibberish files, but some are SBC. Those are the external ones, like open one in notepad.
00:07:39:13 - 00:07:54:18
Speaker 2
It'll look like a shopping list for a spaceship. You just tweak prices or colors or names. Think of it like Lego instructions. Only you're allowed to lie. Which sounds more fun. Making a gun cost zero credits or making the HUD say weird stuff.
00:07:54:20 - 00:08:08:03
Speaker 1
Maybe making the HUD say weird stuff that sounds fun. So I guess, what are the different types of files that I'm going to be navigating through?
00:08:08:05 - 00:08:34:04
Speaker 2
Yeah, HUD tweak their an SBC file like my object builder dot SBC buried in content data. That's XML. It would basically a word search find a font, color or text off that match with the numbers like change white to hot pink. Then there's dot Lua files in scripts for actual behavior. Super plain text with if statements and textures PNGs and textures.
00:08:34:04 - 00:08:47:02
Speaker 2
Just photoshop them silly. Easiest is SBC. They're everywhere. You want to make the speed counter say warp factor instead of cam per hour.
00:08:47:04 - 00:08:55:00
Speaker 1
Okay, so we've got SBC, like, be like Bob.
00:08:55:02 - 00:09:19:04
Speaker 2
Bob's great. Just another name for that same file type. Yeah. Dot SBC just means serialization block container. Don't let the jargon scare you. Space engineers dump every single blueprint weapon menu option in there. So, like, if Bob the ship part changing, it's dot SBC. Let me make it shoot confetti or something. Pretty soon you'll be the guy who walks into discord like, hey, want to play GTA?
00:09:19:04 - 00:09:26:13
Speaker 2
But with dinosaurs? Wild parties. None of this takes a degree, just patience and a backup drive.
00:09:26:15 - 00:09:35:17
Speaker 1
Okay, and then we got dot Lua files. Those are for behavior. Are those in the language Lua?
00:09:35:19 - 00:09:58:15
Speaker 2
Yep. Straight up Lua. Imagine JavaScript without the caffeine. Same if then logic, but shorter. Cleaner like in a dot Lua file. You'd write health equals block get health. Then if health less than 50, then blink red dot. It's not even real code to the game loads in the no scary compiling. Kind of nice that you're already comfy with loops from Python.
00:09:58:17 - 00:10:08:01
Speaker 2
We was like that, but you can finish a whole mod over breakfast. Ever want to say make gravity flip when you yell banana? That'd be five lines.
00:10:08:03 - 00:10:14:09
Speaker 1
Okay, what other, you said there's textures which are like PNGs.
00:10:14:11 - 00:10:39:21
Speaker 2
Yeah. PNG jpegs, sometimes deeds at the game feeling fancy. That's all graphic stuff like the icon for engine or the little health bar. Super easy. Open in paint or whatever. Draw mustache on it. Safe. No code at all, just vandalism with zero consequences. Honestly, the hardest part is getting where everything lives. Like block textures might be in materials, texture, UI, icons in UI folder.
00:10:39:23 - 00:10:45:23
Speaker 2
Poke around, label them. If you get lost, you draw it all. Or is that too much like homework?
00:10:46:01 - 00:10:50:13
Speaker 1
No, that sounds pretty cool.
00:10:50:15 - 00:11:10:06
Speaker 2
Cool. So next time you boot up, just open that folder, take one ransom file like a gun icon and give it googly eyes. Save it. Restart. Laugh when your friend ask whether rifle staring back. No big deal. No snakes. Kind of like doodling, but the doodle shoots bullet when you're ready for the next step. Like actually making that gun shoot bananas.
00:11:10:08 - 00:11:20:17
Speaker 2
We'll do that too. Until then, I want to talk about Red deer. Not that he's got the motor to more realistic kind of stuff.
00:11:20:19 - 00:11:43:20
Speaker 1
Okay, so we have these SBC files that are in XML. Is that like, right. Because most of the things are 3D. So if you mod a gun in that is 3D and you add some texture to it and stuff like that, you have to have like catting skills and stuff.
00:11:43:22 - 00:12:08:22
Speaker 2
Not really. SBC doesn't touch the 3D model itself. Think of it like this example just as gun exists. Here's it. Stats how price? Well, the actual shape like vertices and edges is a separate file, usually DMD or VM. Women. You won't be coding geometry. Thank god you just swap out which model is it like. Copy paste a banana mesh into the guns definition.
00:12:09:00 - 00:12:19:01
Speaker 2
The texture sticks to whatever 3D shape you pointed at, so no C plus plot, no blender skill, just dragging files around. Kind of like swapping Lego heads. Make them.
00:12:19:03 - 00:12:39:06
Speaker 1
Okay. So beyond SPC and dot Lua and textures which are dot and PG and Jpeg and stuff like that, what other kinds of files are there? Are there like a bunch a bunch of bunch of different files, or is there like kind of a limited infinite amount of files?
00:12:39:07 - 00:13:04:23
Speaker 2
Oh, there's tons way more than you need. You've got audio like waves for engine. Hum. Super fun to replace with Cat me out. Then configs which are just ini file black and white list like allowed mod or max player. There's even shaders sfx files that make things glow or go off cyberpunk but don't freak out. Most are optional and honestly, 90% of what people mod is just SBC plus PNG.
00:13:05:01 - 00:13:13:02
Speaker 2
Rest is for when you're bored on a rainy day. Kind of nice though, right? Every game is like a Lego box you never outgrew.
00:13:13:04 - 00:13:31:03
Speaker 1
And if I buy a game on steam, then I can just mod all these files and stuff like that and it doesn't, it doesn't screw with playing the game online or it doesn't. It doesn't screw with playing the game on my computer.
00:13:31:03 - 00:13:54:03
Speaker 2
Yeah. You can mod anything you buy. No one's going to kick down your door offline. Totally safe online though. Depends. Space engineers has servers that either allow mods or don't. So if yours is vanilla they'll just do you. But hunter mod friendly especially survival ones worst case, you uninstall the mod and you're back to normal. Or when two copies one clean, one ridiculous.
00:13:54:05 - 00:14:05:03
Speaker 2
Steam even lets you verify game files. If you mess up though honestly, nothing's worse than deleting your safe instead of your mod. Just back everything up. First ever tried mods before even tiny ones?
00:14:05:05 - 00:14:09:17
Speaker 1
No, I haven't modded anything. What would you recommend starting with? Again?
00:14:09:21 - 00:14:33:23
Speaker 2
Again start stupid small. Grab a PNG of some texture like the default after raid and recolor it in neon green. Slap it on every rock takes two minutes and boom! You're a modder! Then graduate to text, open a menu, dot SBC, change new game to new madness. If you want to feel fancy, do a sound swap. Replace the jetpack chime with the Mario coin sound all online.
00:14:33:23 - 00:14:47:05
Speaker 2
If you google space engineers even mod tons of YouTube, that thing is, the first one's always awkward like your first kid. After that, your golden.
00:14:47:07 - 00:15:00:11
Speaker 1
Okay, can you, can you give me some examples of, I guess, the internet's favorite mods in a game that you think I I'd know.
00:15:00:13 - 00:15:21:14
Speaker 2
All right, since you're nostalgic, take GTA San Andreas. Everyone's modded that to death. Because when we turn to Liberty City lets you drive five city and San Andreas maps at once like a multiverse glitch, super popular, and totally break the immersion in the best way. Or Skyrim Sky UI, which just makes your menu look fleet instead of medieval Excel.
00:15:21:16 - 00:15:42:07
Speaker 2
And honestly, the Nexus Mods page for oblivion just had outfit way too many outfit. Oh, and for N64 kids, Super Mario 64 has a mod that adds Bowser's inside story level to it. Like Peach's castle suddenly has Black Hole, it feels like coke snorting with a plumber. Which old game should be resurrect first?
00:15:42:09 - 00:15:49:11
Speaker 1
So how do you mod an N64 game?
00:15:49:13 - 00:16:11:06
Speaker 2
Emulator like project 64 or 1964 and a random, which is totally legal. If you own the cartridge, you either patch the ROM directly like hex editing memory addresses to change Mario Kart to paint, or use a cheat code injector. Super easy. Honestly, there's a tool called N64 Texture Tool that lets you swap out textures to Luigi's face becomes.
00:16:11:06 - 00:16:23:08
Speaker 2
While Luigi's feels gross at first, but then you're like, why not? The biggest trick is not crashing the thing. But old engines are fragile. You still got your N64 lying around?
00:16:23:10 - 00:16:29:09
Speaker 1
Yeah, I got an old in 64 in the closet.
00:16:29:11 - 00:16:49:08
Speaker 2
Grab it. Dusted off, plug it in. Nostalgia is the only reason it's still alive. Then download that emulator anyway, because you want to see what happens when Mario's hat is a fedora. ROMs you gotta find on your own. But forums like retro RGB or the N64 subreddit got your back. First rule don't spend money. Second rule don't feel weird about it.
00:16:49:10 - 00:16:59:02
Speaker 2
What game you want to ruin first GoldenEye perfect dark Mario Kart.
00:16:59:04 - 00:17:02:09
Speaker 1
What are ROMs?
00:17:02:11 - 00:17:21:19
Speaker 2
They're digital copies. Like ripping a fini. If you own GoldenEye, you can use software to dump it onto your computer so an emulator can run it without one. You can't really mod in. Yeah, legally it's gray, like photocopying a book. You bought it, but honestly, nobody cared. Just don't sell it makes modding wait easier than fussing with cartridges.
00:17:21:21 - 00:17:25:20
Speaker 2
You ever pirate anything back in high school?
00:17:25:22 - 00:17:31:20
Speaker 1
Yeah, I mean, plenty of music and movies and stuff like that.
00:17:31:22 - 00:17:53:01
Speaker 2
Then think of ROMs like that. Except now you're not just watching. You're inside the movie, spray painting, graffiti on the wall. Same thrill, less jail time. You know what's wild? There's a GoldenEye mod that turns it into perfect dark. Like, why did rare make two games when one could have done both? Anyway? Want to hear how to actually do it or you still warming up?
00:17:53:03 - 00:18:07:12
Speaker 1
One thing, that you've mentioned that I've heard before is that, mods can crash games or, or make them slow and lag and stuff like that.
00:18:07:14 - 00:18:30:01
Speaker 2
Yeah. Game breaking crashes are the number one reason people quit modding usually happens if you edit the same file. Two different mods want to touch like both changing the same gun so one overwrites the other, makes it easy. Merge them or run a conflict checker. For space engineers, it's usually memory too many scripted blocks and the Lua just chose to start low one texture node script.
00:18:30:02 - 00:18:43:04
Speaker 2
Then when things lag, delete the newest mod until it works again. Kind of like unplugging your router. Honestly, most crashes aren't you. They're the game begging. Stop you going to or play safe.
00:18:43:05 - 00:18:57:23
Speaker 1
Okay, but like, how does replacing a PNG with with a different PNG crash the mod? I guess if if the PNG is like a bigger size.
00:18:58:01 - 00:19:18:07
Speaker 2
You know, size doesn't matter. Just make sure it's the exact same dimensions as the old one, like 240 by 240 pixels or whatever the file. But if it's huge, yeah, the engine freak. It's not a phone. It can't. Upscale crash happened more if you forget to actually reload. You edit the PNG but don't tell the game. Hey, I changed it.
00:19:18:09 - 00:19:37:02
Speaker 2
In space engineering, you just drop it back in the folder and hit refresh mod. Worst case, the game mode the purple square. Instead. Hilarious, but no crash. Trust me, I think people spent hours because they RE5 the texture wrong. What's the first image you're going to steal for this?
00:19:37:03 - 00:19:51:01
Speaker 1
I don't know. I, I might just, make like, the startup screen say something different or something like that. Something super simple and, obvious, right?
00:19:51:03 - 00:20:14:00
Speaker 2
Perfect. Startup screens are in UI background. Look for the logo PNG open, change the text with paint or whatever, say with the same name boot. Next time you boot up, it's like space weirdos. Instead of space engineers, take 90s and if nothing happens, nothing bad happened. That's the trick. Just keep it dumb until you're confident. How's that sound for day one?
00:20:14:02 - 00:20:29:08
Speaker 1
Yeah, it's a pretty good, starting point. What? What else? What else do you think that I should know about modding? That I don't know that ask.
00:20:29:10 - 00:20:52:09
Speaker 2
Back up every single time. Like, even if you're just changing engineers to pirates. Second, Google the name of whatever file you're touching. There's always a thread somewhere thing. Hey, this one controls gravity. Third, don't mod while the game's running steam. Lock the files and you'll get a pop up. It's it can't save dummy and fourth mother sociable. If something cool exists, steal it.
00:20:52:11 - 00:21:11:08
Speaker 2
Nexus or Steam Workshop is basically mod kindergarten, but honestly, the real rule is don't overthink. You're not building Skyrim, you're just messing around. What's one change you make if you weren't afraid of breaking anything?
00:21:11:10 - 00:21:31:10
Speaker 1
I don't know, I gotta start, I gotta start easy, right? Like like like what? If you were to give somebody in space engineers, like, Air Jordans or something like that, would that be super hard? Do you have to model all that and change a bunch of textures and stuff?
00:21:31:12 - 00:21:53:12
Speaker 2
Nah. Not bad. You just find the character model. It's in model called like character zero one web and then swap the shoe texture two pages top to and side view. Grab a pic of Air Jordans online, find it right, pop it in. The game's already got rigging so it won't clip unless you're sloppy. Whole thing 15 minutes if you weren't picky.
00:21:53:14 - 00:22:04:15
Speaker 2
But now you get to run around space with Jumpman logos like a cosmic sneaker head. Honestly, that's the perfect I'm just playing mod. Nobody take you seriously, but you look cool.
00:22:04:17 - 00:22:12:20
Speaker 1
And so how does the game create? The characters shoes from just two images?
00:22:12:22 - 00:22:31:20
Speaker 2
The 3D model already has a shoe shape baked in like a plastic mold. Those two PNGs are just paint. One for the top down, one for the side. The game wrap them around the mold using something called UV mapping. Basically little arrows telling each pixel worth it. You don't have to touch that. If the original shoes were gray blob.
00:22:31:22 - 00:22:48:00
Speaker 2
Now they're red with solutions because you painted the blob. Same trick Fortnite uses when they sell skins. Wild health something so fake feels real when you're sprinting from aliens.
00:22:48:02 - 00:23:01:23
Speaker 1
Okay, that sounds pretty cool. Can you tell me more about, like, game development and how that kind of ties into modding?
00:23:02:00 - 00:23:21:18
Speaker 2
Modding is like the training wheels version of game dev game companies. To build the skeleton, you just glue on fins and call it a shark. Real dev is harder because you're not allowed to crash anything, right? There's design doc meetings. Lawyer modders don't have that, but once you get comfy swapping PNG and tweaking Lua, you'll notice all code is kind of the same.
00:23:21:20 - 00:23:44:04
Speaker 2
When this happens, make that happen and the maps vectors transform shows up everywhere. So like if you want to someday you could take a tiny mod and put it into an indie game on it. But honestly, modding keeps the joy. None of the deadlines. What scares you more? Modding too hard or game dev too real?
00:23:44:06 - 00:24:06:18
Speaker 1
I don't know. I guess I had a question of, are more complex games harder to mod, or is it kind of just, a, a question of like more complex games or, the the game files are harder to find.
00:24:06:20 - 00:24:31:23
Speaker 2
Yeah. Bigger games have a bigger closet. That's all Triple-A stuff like GTA hide everything in compressed archives like RPF files. So you need unpackaged indie games like space engineers just leave the doors open. But the modding itself, same stuff. Textures, code, data, the differences when you reverse engineering like Skyrim's got like 50 scripts all tangled together. So changing one brick three.
00:24:32:01 - 00:24:44:10
Speaker 2
Either way, it just read what other modders wrote. Honestly, I think pick something popular. I mean, someone's already labeled everything. What's more fun modding camp or modding clean?
00:24:44:12 - 00:24:49:15
Speaker 1
A little bit, both. Probably.
00:24:49:17 - 00:25:09:00
Speaker 2
Totally chaotic to do tricks. Like how to hack a health bar into a disco light but clean. Keep your friends playing with you. That's. Mods are the ones that feel polished but totally ridiculous, right? Like a sniper rifle that fires rubber chickens, but with real physics. Maybe we find you a game where both are easy, like Minecraft. You can do chaos and survive a world.
00:25:09:05 - 00:25:16:05
Speaker 2
Then go clean and make a whole city with redstone elevator. How's that sound?
00:25:16:07 - 00:25:33:18
Speaker 1
Yeah. What are the, I guess if you had to say, like, what are the most modded games of all time? Can you give me, like, the top five most modded games of all time?
00:25:33:20 - 00:26:00:00
Speaker 2
Easy. Number one is Skyrim. It's basically a religion at this point. Millions of mods, you can turn dragons into waifu number two. Minecraft. Just infinite number three GTA five because people love turning Los Santos into Cyberpunk or Jurassic Park for Counter-Strike, where every pro started by making recoil patterns prettier and five, fallout four. Because who wouldn't want to live in a nuke wasteland with different robots?
00:26:00:02 - 00:26:08:14
Speaker 2
All of them have one thing in common they let you break reality without getting arrested. Which one's closest to what you actually want to mess with?
00:26:08:15 - 00:26:36:11
Speaker 1
Well, I've never played Skyrim, but I've heard really good things. I do like the kind of freedom of Minecraft. GTA five obviously is a personal favorite, like all the GTA games. Really. But you said that GTA five is a little bit more complicated because you have to unpack things.
00:26:36:13 - 00:26:56:13
Speaker 2
Yeah, GTA five is a pain. Those files mean you got to download OpenAI V, a free tool that unpacks everything like a zipper takes five minutes to learn, though after that it's no worse than anything else. Just a bigger jungle. Want a real tip? Don't touch missions. Just do cars in map like there's a mod that makes all pads for clown shoes.
00:26:56:15 - 00:27:10:04
Speaker 2
Huge file, zero effort. Honestly, if Minecraft's freedom feels good, GTA is just that. With better graphics and content, you never want to turn the whole map into a desert. Take one XML swap.
00:27:10:06 - 00:27:14:20
Speaker 1
Really? Tell me about that.
00:27:14:22 - 00:27:37:07
Speaker 2
Yeah, the GTA map is just another example file. Huge one. There's literally a mod that swaps the desert from San Andreas into five. So now you're dodging cacti on the highway. Can you open the map definition? It's underleveled or something like that, and you change the terrain texture from grass to sand, then nudge the heightmap up so you get do whole thing takes like ten minutes if you're lucky.
00:27:37:09 - 00:27:45:03
Speaker 2
Imagine drifting a sports car between tumbleweeds. The best part? If it crashes, blame Rockstar.
00:27:45:05 - 00:27:56:03
Speaker 1
Okay, so when you do this, does, right to the.
00:27:56:05 - 00:28:16:22
Speaker 2
Yeah. When you do this, the game still runs like you're not hacking code, you're just swapping scenery. Biggest thing is memory. If the texture is super high, read GTA might stutter, so scale it down first. Use like 2000 pixels instead of 4000 and always test in single player first. Don't one thing in Rockstar servers unless you want to get banned.
00:28:17:00 - 00:28:24:09
Speaker 2
Fun though you'd be surprised how many mods are just what if everything's lava? How long did you want to get with it?
00:28:24:11 - 00:28:36:05
Speaker 1
Okay, but like say that you are driving on a spot that would normally have highway but is now sand. Does the car handle like it's giant? That's your.
00:28:36:05 - 00:28:36:19
Speaker 2
Type.
00:28:36:21 - 00:28:46:06
Speaker 1
Hand or just the car handle like it's still on asphalt even though it appears like it's sand?
00:28:46:08 - 00:29:07:12
Speaker 2
It things that don't happen because physics are stored separately for your hand like normal, even at the dude. What part? Kind of funny actually. Like the car's in denial. If you want to go properly, you can tweak the handling file so it slides like on right? Or even makes it hover an inch above ground. But out of the box you'll think of hell in the best way you want to make offroad look legit.
00:29:07:17 - 00:29:13:02
Speaker 2
Or just watch Lamborghini, Ferrari themselves and sand.
00:29:13:04 - 00:29:22:21
Speaker 1
Okay, what about modding Minecraft? Is that, kind of difficult? Like GTA five is a little bit more straightforward.
00:29:22:23 - 00:29:45:16
Speaker 2
Minecraft is a way easier, like kindergarten with diamond tools. You don't even mess with game files, just drop in diamond or use forge, which is it's free loader that says, yeah, do whatever you want. What blocks add gun make creepers fine. Everything's labeled. GTA is like lock picking a vault. Minecraft like the vault already open. Honestly, if you're going to start anywhere, start here.
00:29:45:18 - 00:29:52:18
Speaker 2
You want to make yourself a giant or just rain puppies instead of arrows.
00:29:52:20 - 00:29:58:22
Speaker 1
Okay, what about, what about mining? Ready or not?
00:29:59:00 - 00:30:18:03
Speaker 2
Ready or not. Supermodel. Two people already did. Body cam filters. Air glasses even let you play as a hostage. Most of it's textures and pop file which unzip like GTA, but the dev actually patch their tool so you don't have to get the discord full of cops who doesn't want to make it funnier, like adding pizza deliveries mid raid.
00:30:18:05 - 00:30:30:03
Speaker 2
So yeah, same rules. Start with something pop. You change your badge to read Uber eat 10s zero grams. Why you want to bring a donut to a gunfight?
00:30:30:05 - 00:31:04:09
Speaker 1
Okay, so let's, let's disregard all the games that are difficult to mod like GTA and ready or not and stuff like that. And let's just stick to the super easy to mod games, right? So we've talked about Minecraft. That's a good one. I'm not super, versed in Minecraft. I actually like haven't jumped into Minecraft because I know with those world building type games, I can kind of go a little bit deep.
00:31:04:11 - 00:31:11:14
Speaker 1
What are some other ones that are kind of easier?
00:31:11:16 - 00:31:37:10
Speaker 2
Terraria sounds hard, right? It isn't. The whole game is in one folder dropping dot pack mod reload. You're done. And it's all 2D. The world building feels like drawing on graph paper, except dragons drop loot. Another sleeper hit, Factorio not sexy, but it's literally place conveyor belt watch world burn mod.
00:31:37:12 - 00:31:52:11
Speaker 1
Okay, what are. So let's keep going through the list of games that are kind of easier to mod. Maybe some more popular titles that you think I know.
00:31:52:13 - 00:32:12:10
Speaker 2
Stardew Valley plug mods right in next to your C file. People have made it so your chickens lay golden eggs. Super Mario Maker technically not modding, but you get what you want. Portal to swap portals for trampoline and the granddaddy Half-Life to change the crowbar to a lightsaber feels like cheating. All of them have drag and drop mod loaders.
00:32:12:12 - 00:32:23:02
Speaker 2
Honestly, Stardew might be the Chillest farm flirt they make every villager bald. What do you miss most about old games, pixel art, or just the freedom?
00:32:23:04 - 00:32:34:10
Speaker 1
What about some of the, older games like, Zelda, Wind Waker and stuff like that?
00:32:34:12 - 00:32:46:14
Speaker 2
Wind Waker is actually doable too, though it's a little more Piratey you need a Gamecube emulator called dolphin.
00:32:46:15 - 00:32:54:07
Speaker 1
Okay, I guess let's, let's stick to PC games.
00:32:54:09 - 00:33:14:09
Speaker 2
Wind Waker on PC means emulation like dolphin. And yeah, that's pretty straightforward too. You just load the game, enable cheat code, and suddenly you can make your boat go into a water or change link into a T-Rex. There's a tool called WW randomizer that'll shuffle every item in the world. So the game last forever. Feels like cheating, but it's just math.
00:33:14:11 - 00:33:25:20
Speaker 2
Same with Mario 64. Swap music textures even turn the castle into a jungle gym. All that stuff's legal if you own a disc, you still got your old disc.
00:33:25:22 - 00:33:56:03
Speaker 1
Ooh, I don't think I have Mario 64, but it'd be easy to get, But I probably don't want to do the N64 games because that introduces, like, more levels of complexity. I'd like to just stick with, PC games. Minecraft is a good option there. What about, like those old. Kind of like Command and Conquer or StarCraft and stuff like that.
00:33:56:05 - 00:34:16:16
Speaker 2
Command in concrete cake, people still run a site called CMC net where you can install Mentor Mega, this massive mod that turns it into a real time strategy. Fever dream StarCraft the same. Drop a double dip into the StarCraft two month folder. Restart now every marine have a jetpack. They're old to the codes. Dumb, simple, mostly changing unit stats and text file.
00:34:16:18 - 00:34:31:20
Speaker 2
Renaming Marines to Kevin. No unpacking, no deal. Oh, hell. And hey, you don't even need to see anymore. Blizzard's cool about it. Imagine it. Tiberium field full of dancing tanks. Why do you get Minecraft again? Two blocky.
00:34:31:22 - 00:34:57:05
Speaker 1
Oh no. I just wanted to see what the options are. I think Minecraft is probably where I'll start. Honestly. Especially like my, great nephew, I guess, he's in a minecraft, so it might be like kind of a fun, kind of a fun space to kind of share. Interesting.
00:34:57:07 - 00:35:17:13
Speaker 2
That sounds awesome. Kids are way better teachers than tutorials. Minecraft. Perfect because you don't need skills. You just need. Do you want to ride a flying pig? And if he's old enough to know how to turn a cow into beef, you're good. Start by installing T launcher. It's basically Minecraft with mod support out the box. Then add something dumb like Mo bend to creeper, sway like they're drunk.
00:35:17:14 - 00:35:27:21
Speaker 2
All biomes are plenty. Instantly planet. Let him pretend you're following his lead. Nothing bombs faster than corrupting a ten year old.
00:35:27:23 - 00:35:35:07
Speaker 1
It's called T launcher and AI. And tell me more about that.
00:35:35:09 - 00:35:54:07
Speaker 2
T launcher is just Minecraft without the login free. Kind of sketchy, but no viruses if you download from the real site. And the best part? It lets you hit mods right from the launcher. One click later you can grab Optifine which makes everything prettier, or forge, which lets you dump in whatever did you want? No Java headaches and yeah, it's perfect for a kid.
00:35:54:09 - 00:36:05:22
Speaker 2
No Mojang account needed so you don't have to bake Microsoft for one. Just run around. Break trip making a pet dragon. You'll be the coolest uncle. What's his favorite mob? Let's turn it evil.
00:36:06:00 - 00:36:11:21
Speaker 1
What do you mean by ooh, did you say merging account?
00:36:11:23 - 00:36:32:11
Speaker 2
No, I didn't say merging. Just merging account. That's what you need for official Minecraft T launcher. Skip that whole step so you don't have to create one for your nephew. Or pay or log in every time download play mod. Wait easier. But if you want to be legit some day, like play on server, you emergency launcher save into a real account, that's all.
00:36:32:13 - 00:36:40:19
Speaker 2
But honestly, don't bother until he's begging for multiplayer right now. Just make him a dirt house that rings TNT.
00:36:40:21 - 00:36:51:11
Speaker 1
So is it the kind of thing where I could just download Minecraft on Steam and then start manipulating files?
00:36:51:13 - 00:37:08:13
Speaker 2
No, Minecraft isn't on steam P launcher, is that right? Do you get it from your site? Then grab the vanilla game and it handles all the file stuff for you. You never even see a folder unless you want to. The game's all zipped up in its own way too much. Just drop on top like snow. Way cleaner than anything on steam.
00:37:08:15 - 00:37:17:11
Speaker 2
Honestly, forget files for now, just hit install mod and let your nephew do the clicking. We'll get technical when he's asleep.
00:37:17:13 - 00:37:41:12
Speaker 1
Okay. Don't worry about my nephew for right now. Let's go back to, just kind of the logistics of mining Minecraft. So if I buy Minecraft from Microsoft and I'm not playing online, I'm just playing in in a single player lobby, I can mess with those files. Then.
00:37:41:14 - 00:38:03:05
Speaker 2
Yeah. I up from Microsoft install Java Edition and yeah, the world's yours offline. Just run to the no launcher one, let it download, then switch to Forge Free. That's the version of Minecraft that lets mods live inside a mod folder. No servers, no password, nothing online. Even better, every time you start a world, it copies your changes so nothing gets overwritten.
00:38:03:07 - 00:38:15:04
Speaker 2
So change creepers to sheep. Steve quit next time. Still sheep. It's basically Photoshop for block. You want to see how forge work? I want to skip ahead to picking your first mod.
00:38:15:06 - 00:38:20:11
Speaker 1
Yeah. Tell me a little bit more about, how it works.
00:38:20:13 - 00:38:46:06
Speaker 2
Forge is like a bouncer. It lets you add mod without taking the game offline. Step one open the vanilla Minecraft launcher pick installation. Duplicate your normal profile, rename it modded, then click edit. Drop the version to like one 19.2 and check forge. From that drop down. Hit play first time. It'll download a bunch, then boom, you're in. But now there's a mod folder in my Minecraft directory.
00:38:46:08 - 00:39:01:15
Speaker 2
Drag any dot jar file like no creature which adds elephant and restart. That's it. No code, no permissions. You ever just want to see what happens if you punch an elephant. Now you can't.
00:39:01:17 - 00:39:29:16
Speaker 1
Okay, that's pretty cool. I think that, this is kind of a good start. You gave me, like, a really good idea of of what modding entails and stuff like that. And with space engineers and Minecraft, I think that I'll probably, stick with space engineers in Minecraft for now. I gotta get space engineers one on my computer.
00:39:29:18 - 00:39:54:17
Speaker 1
But yeah, I really appreciate that kind of walk through today. To before we sign off, I think what I would really enjoy is maybe like one thing on the topic of modding that you find super fascinating that we haven't really talked about or covered yet.
00:39:54:19 - 00:40:15:23
Speaker 2
One thing I love no one's talking about is how mod quietly fixed real life. Like there's a Skyrim that lets you drop disable kids and build ramp because someone with CP wanted ramp or in Factorio, people make dystopia mode where pollution slowly kills trees just to get themselves into playing greener. Modding isn't always silly, it's therapy. Like you're saying.
00:40:16:01 - 00:40:27:03
Speaker 2
I wish the world works like that. They make it kind of poetic, right? Anyway, next time you want that space engineer in Minecraft, hit me up. We'll make him jump.
00:40:27:05 - 00:40:32:06
Speaker 1
Okay. Awesome. Thanks, crack. I appreciate it.
00:40:32:08 - 00:40:36:00
Speaker 2
Any time. Have fun with the blocks.
00:40:36:02 - 00:40:37:22
Speaker 1
Peace.