Playercharacter Member Aug 27, 2024 175 I am firmly in the camp that thinks a first playthrough of a game should be vanilla, as developers intended. However, I've started considering a few games I didn't finish because of issues modders had already solved and whether I would have gone farther if I had used them from the start. What do you tend to choose regarding mods in a first playthrough?  SCUMMbag Prophet of Truth - Chicken Chaser Member Oct 25, 2017 7,013 The older the game is, the more mods I add on first playthrough. Almost exclusively QoL/Graphics stuff though.  2Blackcats Member Oct 26, 2017 17,379 Only to correct technical issues   astro Member Oct 25, 2017 64,637 Poll doesn't really match the question. There's no option I can pick. Sometimes. If a game has unresolved issues that mods fix, I'll mod. If it's an older game and has some kind of overhaul that is is recommended, I might use that. If it lacks QoL and there are mods for it, I'll use them.  Zephy Member Oct 27, 2017 7,040 Usually mods that enhance the vanilla experience or fix issues I personally have with the game. For example, a few hours in I had no problem adding a mod to Starfield that made the crafting cost to zero, because I was tired of having to look for and carry materials, and I was only interested in crafting weapon mods anyway (which stupidly also require crafting materials when you want to remove them). Made my experience much better.  MADSUPERVILLAIN Member Jan 11, 2018 1,612 Dunedin, New Zealand Only whatever mods I need for an acceptable resolution/frame rate/FOV.   HolyJonte AVALANCHE Member Aug 31, 2023 1,225 From Stockholm but now living in Padova, Italy Only for later playthroughs.   Dogstar Member Oct 29, 2017 2,754 It does depends on the game. I'm not going to chuck visual mods onto an already great looking title, but may try some performance/stability if I'm having issues, and maybe later try other things if I play through again. However, when I first started Skyrim I was determined to play as the developer's intended, but as time went by mods started to creep in as I played, until the whole thing was transformed. I still muck around with it to this day... Modding has become the game with Skyrim.  Kalentan Member Oct 25, 2017 50,220 It massively depends on the game. If the game is perfectly fine, technical and otherwise without mods, I'll go without mods... But if the game has been out for awhile and people have modded stuff that make a "first playthrough" much more enjoyable, then I'll download the mods.   Tagyhag Member Oct 27, 2017 14,952 Always always for me, I don't usually get to play a game more than once so I want to have as best as a personal experience as I can.   blueredandgold Member Oct 25, 2017 8,404 Are console mods still a thing like they tried to get going last gen?   Shin Kojima Member Oct 27, 2017 3,992 Option 6. Never ever. Mods just feel wrong to me, even if they're objectively good.  blainethemono Member Oct 27, 2017 609 HDR mods (renodx/reshade/dxvk/special k) are essential these days for me for injecting or correcting HDR as needed, and one of the main reasons to never buy games on consoles if i can help it View: https://youtu.be/kR0XjbEcT9Y?si=EDLtuiE-XruRodXA View: https://youtu.be/B0H921CxJck?si=DzycUG4Rpma7vFf3 View: https://youtu.be/s7YOO6mNBOI?si=eUnm5dCPwZ2b_dz_   Last edited: Today at 5:02 AM Gelf Member Oct 27, 2017 6,061 Only to fix technical issues I encounter and am annoyed by. Maybe a UI mod if I find something really irritating. Full gameplay or graphics changing mods, not even a consideration until I've played the game fully.   Madao Avalanche's One Winged Slayer Member Oct 26, 2017 5,552 Panama i can't think of any time i've used mods on a first playthrough. but then i don't play on PC which is where most modding exists. you don't really see that kind of modding on consoles often. do upscalers count for moddded consoles? it certainly makes games look a lot better than they did on unmodded hardware.  Shopolic Avenger Oct 27, 2017 8,015 Just simple things like unlimited inventory in Bethesda games.   JoeInky Member Oct 25, 2017 3,952 Always vanilla, I'd like to get an accurate account of what the game is like in it's base state. If there's something I run into that's completely gamebreaking then I'll look into mods that fix it afterwards, but otherwise I want to see either what the developer's intent was, or what their standards are for a full release in terms of performance. Don't really want to reward developers who release shit even if there are mods that fix many/all of the games performance-related issues.  E-bite Member Oct 24, 2018 1,334 #1 and #2 Also, this reminded me of a crazy Watch Dogs 1 mods video. People have actually added new gameplay features to this game. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_7PWkLKk2I  HellofaMouse Member Oct 27, 2017 8,259 yes, but rarely, and not right away. i usually play the game for a bit to see if there is anything i really dislike and want to change. if available i usually look at mods that increase the game speed for management games, increase inventory space/carry weight in rpgs, remove annoying puzzles or minigames in action/fps (bioshock) etc  Shaman Member Jan 18, 2024 3,387 I only use mods when I think its necessary for some QoL/fixes. Thats about it   Greywaren Member Jul 16, 2019 12,748 Spain I have no issue with using mods for performance improvements, bug fixes and QoL stuff. Anything else, I'd rather not on a first playthrough.   Doc Laserstein Member Oct 25, 2017 5,546 When applicable and possible, I mod inventory limits/encumbrance and fast travel restrictions out of games as soon as the mods are available.   Heh Member Dec 12, 2017 616 I'm pretty sure I enjoyed Baldur's Gate 3 more than I would've because of the WASD Character Movement mod. Although most of the time I don't use mods.  Tortillo VI Member May 27, 2018 2,238 Usually, never. But with Starfield and Fallout 4 I had to during my first playthrough for huge quality of life improvements that should absolutely have been there by default and that modders have been adding in their previous games.   bob1001 ▲ Legend ▲ Member May 7, 2020 2,072 A question I would ask people is do you actually believe that modding actually goes against developer intent every single time? The insinuation many people are making is that installing a mod objectively goes against their design philosophy, but that isn't always the case. Capcom pinned a topic to the RE4 Steam forum about RE4 HD Project, that's a very faithful graphical overhaul that remakes every single asset in the game but they clearly don't see it as a big deal. CDProjektRED implemented several mods into the next gen version of the Witcher 3, including Witcher 3 HD Reworked (another major asset overhaul). Those mods literally became the developers intent. Todd Howard loves SkyUI, another major overhaul mod. I wouldn't say the developer's vision has been changed from installing any of these mods, the same is true for many other mods. Developer intent is important, and I agree that in your first playthrough you should give an earnest attempt at experiencing the game the way the developer intended. But I cannot agree with what many users here are saying about needing a completely mod-free first playthrough to experience that. Not all mods are altering the experience in such a major way that the developer would say their vision has been undone, the whole point of making a Vanilla+ mod is to enhance a game without changing the core game design/aesthetic. Personally I have no issue with mods in this category, even if they are major overhauls.  joffocakes Member Nov 15, 2017 1,923 Other than Unreal Tournament back in the early 2000s I think the only mods I've used are to get games to boot up in the first place (removing Games For Windows Live requirement).   Apollo Corrupted by Vengeance Avenger Oct 25, 2017 9,805 Necessary fixes only.   Arukado Member Oct 27, 2017 3,951 Yes to the first three options, not necessarily together, and it depends on the game.   Foffy Member Oct 25, 2017 17,532 Depends on the game, I think. I'll never play a Soulsborne game with mods unless they're fixing deadzones or something, but something like ArmA benefits from AI and realism mods for the campaigns. In the latter case, it makes a complex game that takes dozens of hours to learn even more daunting, but I'm the kind of person that likes being tossed into the deep end.   BasilZero Member Oct 25, 2017 39,588 Omni Vanilla unless certain mods improve FPS and the HUD.   Nateo Member Oct 27, 2017 8,885 Entirely game dependent.   Mauricio_Magus Member Oct 25, 2017 15,570 Depends on the game, most of the time just to fix stuff but sometimes it really benefits a first play through.   Paroni Member Dec 17, 2020 4,678 Sometimes with older/janky games. Like I have never played vanilla Master of Magic or Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines, and I have only played Eador Genesis with the New Horizons fan overhaul.   Edward ▲ Legend ▲ Avenger Oct 30, 2017 5,886 There are some games like a Rimworld or Zomboid that i find are more enjoyable with vanilla+ mods that i will check out or unofficial patches that fixes stuttering and what not but for the most part i prefer to play games at their purest vanilla form. I'm the weirdo that only has 2-3 wow addons and only because they are required to do raids with most guilds.  player23 Member Mar 12, 2022 1,083 Bethesda game I'm looking for that Inventory mod immediately   Boopers Member Nov 1, 2020 4,057 Vermont usa Just small improvements like an ultra wide mod or something. The last game I really went nuts over modding for the first playthrough was Fallout 4. I don't regret it, but it makes it hard to play vanilla now — especially for the settlements. Edward said: I'm the weirdo that only has 2-3 wow addons and only because they are required to do raids with most guilds. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Hey me too. I only have one addon, and that's just to dim the UI when I'm out of combat so my OLED monitor doesn't get burn-in. I used to have so, so many addons at one point that I had to just, like, delete them all for my sanity. Haven't looked back since!  EatChildren Wonder from Down Under Member Oct 27, 2017 7,553 Depends entirely on the game and the mod. If I've never played through the game before I'll usually avoid mods that drastically impact the content and/or mechanics, unless it fixes something fundamentally broken. Bloodlines, for example, absolutely needed mods to polish it up. But my thumb rule is keep the core content intact, and use mods to improve performance, add/improve technical aspects, and make the act-of-play more user friendly and/or immersive without compromising the former stuff. The Witcher 3, for example, got an adaptive HUD mod pretty damn early on in its life and I immediately put it to use.  Jetsun Mila Member Apr 7, 2021 3,925 When I played the game for a few hours, I know what the developers vision is, so I'm OK with adding mods to it.   Ashes of Dreams Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve Member May 22, 2020 19,244 I like to go as vanilla as possible. I'm interested in seeing the game as it was created. I don't think I can truly speak to an experience without doing so. However, if I'm confident I'll only be playing a game once and there are obvious small improvements to be gained from mods, I will use them. Performance and bugfix mods are obviously fine. Maybe some light UI and QOL mods but nothing major or overhaul-y.   southwest Member Sep 15, 2022 2,619 If a mod fixes something that I don't like about the vanilla game I'd rather mod it than drop it.   Shadout Shinra Employee Member Oct 27, 2017 2,767 Quite game dependent. I am fine with fixes, UI, graphics mods. Rarely will I add content mods on a first playthrough. But it definitely can happen for very old games. Generally a big fan of mods. Not so much overhauls though. Should still feel like the original game, even with the stuff that is changed.  random88 Member Oct 25, 2017 3,753 Not US I prefer the original experience as much as possible, not counting some bug fixes. But if I play some older 3d game with camera controls, I use dual stick option that Duckstation provides. There is no way I'd play old Armored Core games otherwise and I don't think it goes against developers' intention because devs just didn't know better at the time. It does mess with the intended difficulty, because the games are balanced around those shitty controls, but they still provide a decent challenge.  Arkanim94 Member Oct 27, 2017 16,522 some old games are unplayable without fixes or mods.   elyetis Member Oct 26, 2017 4,637 I recently played dragon's dogma 2 for the first time and used mods from the get go. Goes from something as basic as a transmog mod, to Custom Difficulty Tweaks and even Wild Loot which takes most items from shops and places them as loot in the world. I knew I would most likely play the game only once, so I might as well play the way which seemed the most fun to me.