Is Shenmue 3 modable?

[Jerrid'sRamenShop]

Are you able to mod S3 to your hearts content, the way you could for Half Life 1 & 2 and Morrowind? I am not talking about just making the textures and lighting better or even just adding a palette swap on the pants and jacket. I am talking about reworking the whole game, to adding whole new features and areas, more NPCs and other story lines, quests, etc.

 

[Sonoshee]

Moved into Shenmue Modding section

Tagging in @LemonHaze as I'm sure he'll know more about this

 

[Jerrid'sRamenShop]

Thank you! ^^!

 

[LemonHaze]

Are you able to mod S3 to your hearts content, the way you could for Half Life 1 & 2 and Morrowind? I am not talking about just making the textures and lighting better or even just adding a palette swap on the pants and jacket. I am talking about reworking the whole game, to adding whole new features and areas, more NPCs and other story lines, quests, etc.

Sort of.

GitHub - LemonHaze420/ShenmueIIISDK: Shenmue III UE4 SDK

Shenmue III UE4 SDK. Contribute to LemonHaze420/ShenmueIIISDK development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

This is the SDK I dumped and use for MiscMods. I've built it up so it features version checking and a basic ProcessEvent hook, but it's very preliminary. You can do effectively anything that UE4 can do already, but right now it will require some programming.

 

[Jerrid'sRamenShop]

Thank you. I might as well ask here since this was created. Can the rerelease of Shenmue 1 and 2 be modded, to the extent I already mentioned? Not just graphical enhances or just bugs, but actual assets switched, new quests, new arcades, etc? Can the stuff that was removed like the wrist watch be put back in at least and what not?

 

[LemonHaze]

Thank you. I might as well ask here since this was created. Can the rerelease of Shenmue 1 and 2 be modded, to the extent I already mentioned? Not just graphical enhances or just bugs, but actual assets switched, new quests, new arcades, etc? Can the stuff that was removed like the wrist watch be put back in at least and what not?

If I'm completely honest, I think there are some problems with the way you're phrasing these questions. Everything you have asked for, is possible. In all 3 games.
But there aren't tools made to do all of the stuff you're asking for so as I said, there will be some programming involved.

 

[Jerrid'sRamenShop]

Alright. I was not sure if the games were supported by the developers to mod, like Half Life 1 and 2 were with Valve. I do not think the ports of S1/S2 has a moddable Workshop on Steam, but I could be wrong. Some game makers do not want you messing with their game. Also if S1 & S2 were straight ports, I doubt that would be possible anyway, but I do not know. Hopefully they all can be fully moddable if and when the tools come about. Thank you for your time.

 

[LemonHaze]

Alright. I was not sure if the games were supported by the developers to mod, like Half Life 1 and 2 were with Valve. I do not think the ports of S1/S2 has a moddable Workshop on Steam, but I could be wrong. Some game makers do not want you messing with their game. Also if S1 & S2 were straight ports, I doubt that would be possible anyway, but I do not know. Hopefully they all can be fully moddable if and when the tools come about. Thank you for your time.

I don't think that's really how it works. All games are 'moddable'. Some developers may not like it, but there's really nothing that anybody can do. The most you'll find is that developers may sometimes try to make things more difficult to reverse/research/make modifications to, but that alone doesn't mean things aren't possible.

All of the scripts in Shenmue I are able to be decompiled, since the reversing work has basically been completed. Modifying them is just a case of using a hex editor. Shenmue II gameplay logic is all in C, in the executable.

Almost every asset is modular in both of the original games.

Hopefully they all can be fully moddable if and when the tools come about.

But they are fully moddable. Including Shenmue III, which has no anti-cheat/modification system put in place. It all depends what it is you want to do, which is how the tools get made. People don't just spend their time writing obscure tools for the odd few people who want to make in-game changes to the original games, unless there's some huge demand for it.

 

[Jerrid'sRamenShop]

With a large fan base for Shenmue, I would assume there would be enough demand to see extra things in the game world itself. Although not sure of those with the technical know how on how to do it. I will be talking mostly about Shenmue 1 as that is what I am most familiar with, but the ideas would work for any of the games.

Any where there was a barricade of some kind that prevented the player from exploring an area, that part could be made open and accessible. This of course would not be passing a section of the game until a certain condition was met, I am just talking in generalities. And of course that means the map would have to be extended. There was a reason that barrier was placed there.

Also instead of when you get on the bus you only get to go to the dock, there would be whole other maps made available to explore with their own NPCs, shops, etc. Or the bus ride would be taken in real time, meaning maps of streets and traffic and pedestrians, street signs and lights, etc. would have to be made. Maybe even all of that could be used, if the player decided to either get off at another bus stop or hit the emergency button to get off.

More arcades. Everyone loves arcades. Also more games for the Saturn to be purchased.

More capsule toys. Could be from Nintendo or Atari or anime.

More fighting moves.

Ways to change clothing. You already have your own room, with a closet and dresser.

Ways to buy clothing. You already have shops. Just make them accessible, even if only at first using a simple menu that opens and you choose an outfit, complete with you have to use in game money to purchase them.

Have other characters change clothes on a daily basis.

Have more things at the convenience stores to purchase, some actually useable in a way in game and others just to collect or put on your shelf.

Be able to order food at a restaurant. What would be the implications of doing so? Maybe add a stamina of sorts where it does not effect the game, only that you walk more instead of run. Or just for fun.

Make the kitten more able to be interacted with. It grows in time and it's personality reflects how well you took care of it.

Have the ability to stay out longer than the curfew, without dire effects to the game. ^^!

At the very least add mahjong in the parlor that already exists. It has it's own building, completely furnished. It just needs the game built into it so others can play it.

Also different casino games. Card games. Roulette. Especially different slot machines. They all look the same.

Does any of that sound even remotely possible? When ever I have brought up the subject if the game can be modded and if these ideas would be good, I have had nothing but positive feed back. But again I was not aware any of that can actually be done in S1 or S2 or even S3. If S3 was moddable I'd say recreate S1 and S2 and then have a way to go back and forth from all three games. ^^! Maybe make what would of happened on the trip from Japan to Hong Kong while on the boat. I am sure something interesting happened.

 

[Sappharad]

Does any of that sound even remotely possible? When ever I have brought up the subject if the game can be modded and if these ideas would be good, I have had nothing but positive feed back.

LemonHaze already answered your question. Almost anything can be done if someone programs it, with varying difficulty.

You are less likely to find people willing to do things for you than you are to find people who can came up with thousands of ideas that no one wants to work on. Logic modifications to games like some things you've described that change actual functionality are very rare. Some things like "Stay out past 11pm" fall under the domain of cheat codes and have been done for the original games back on Dreamcast. Just look at other popular games for examples of this - mods that change individual objects / characters / graphics are very common because they are easy to do. We already have mods for Shenmue I, II, and III that change textures and characters. Mods that make more drastic changes are very rare and are often in development for many years.

Outside of what LemonHaze is already working on and some of the work-in-progress texture mods, I don't expect anyone to do many of the things you've suggested. There's a very limited cross section of users who are both capable of doing these things, have time for it, and would want to do them for Shenmue.

If you want ideas like that, I would first suggest learning how to write an Unreal Engine game. Once you know how to write games in Unreal Engine, the SDK that LemonHaze linked will allow you to change the majority of Shenmue 3's game logic.

 

[Jerrid'sRamenShop]

LemonHaze already answered your question. Almost anything can be done if someone programs it, with varying difficulty.

You are less likely to find people willing to do things for you than you are to find people who can came up with thousands of ideas that no one wants to work on. Logic modifications to games like some things you've described that change actual functionality are very rare. Some things like "Stay out past 11pm" fall under the domain of cheat codes and have been done for the original games back on Dreamcast. Just look at other popular games for examples of this - mods that change individual objects / characters / graphics are very common because they are easy to do. We already have mods for Shenmue I, II, and III that change textures and characters. Mods that make more drastic changes are very rare and are often in development for many years.

Outside of what LemonHaze is already working on and some of the work-in-progress texture mods, I don't expect anyone to do many of the things you've suggested. There's a very limited cross section of users who are both capable of doing these things, have time for it, and would want to do them for Shenmue.

If you want ideas like that, I would first suggest learning how to write an Unreal Engine game. Once you know how to write games in Unreal Engine, the SDK that LemonHaze linked will allow you to change the majority of Shenmue 3's game logic.

That is depressing indeed, but understandable. Although I was hoping the community had a few more coders and such. Unless the programing is or can be made into drop box/point and click simplicity, that is just out of my league unfortunately as well. I've dabbled in writing/coding for Interactive Fiction and mapping for Half Life. I can draw a bit. Beta testing content, PR, etc. But coding or animating is not my cup of tea. Thanks for the heads up on what to expect and sadly what not to expect. Here's hoping any further installments will be at the very least more modder friendly.

 

[Verderame]

It's so sad that to this day no one has attempted a "Classic Shenhua" costume with modern graphics yet.
Still i'm proud of what our small fanbase has accomplished so far.