As you may have noticed, we haven’t shared any mods for Crysis 3 this whole time as… well… there aren’t any. Sure thing, modders have been experimenting with the Free SDK, however the true meaning of modding a game was absent all this time. And unfortunately, we won’t see any mods at all for Crysis 3 as Crytek announced that it won’t be releasing any Mod SDK for its latest title.
As Crytek’s Community Manager, Cry-Marcel, said:
“Unfortunately, we had to make the difficult decision to not release a Mod SDK for Crysis 3. We understand that this is a disappointment to some of you, but in the end it was a matter of resources; our team cannot create and support a Mod SDK at the quality level our fans expect and deserve, since their focus is required on other exciting projects we have in development.
In the past, releasing a Mod SDK was about giving our fans creative power. With Crysis 3 however, circumstances are different: thanks to the release of the CryENGINE®3 Free SDK back in 2011, we are now able to offer you a toolbox that goes far beyond a mere Mod SDK.
Therefore we feel that the best way to show our commitment to fueling your creativity is by doubling down on our new CRYENGINE Free SDK! The team has been working tirelessly to make this the best version yet, with loads of new features; responding to our community’s feedback, we have also removed the always-online requirement, and we plan to incorporate even more tools and features later on.”
Crytek’s Community Manager has a point, as the Free CRYENGINE SDK is really powerful and can be used for some truly extraordinary things. However, in order to explore the SDK and build something noteworthy, you need to be at least accustomed to such tools.
And that’s the big difference between a Mod SDK and a Engine SDK. A Mod SDK is based on a game and provides players with lots of game-ready assets and complete gameplay code. There is already a basis in which modders can built whatever they want; be it a custom level, higher resolution textures, new weapons or enemies, etc.
In short, a Mod SDK is friendlier to the casual modder and with such an SDK, modders can create easier what they have in mind. Not only that, but if a game features high quality assets from the get-go, modders can rely on them in order to focus on other things, such as gameplay enhancements.
An Engine SDK, on the other hand, requires a lot of work as developers need to create something from scratch. Not only that, but the CRYENGINE free SDK does not provide enough assets.
All in all, Crysis was loved for its mods and Crysis 3 won’t have any at all. We may see a texture pack – though we doubt it – but you should expect miracles as Crytek won’t be releasing a Mod SDK for it!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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