By Chris Comiskey on May 31, 2018 | Featured Stories Final Fantasy XV Mods
FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION, Square Enix's latest entry in the celebrated series,released on the PCwith a whole host of extra content and features, includingPC-exclusive effects, and all of the paid DLC and free content that originally came with the console version. It also features officially-supported mod tools, and Steam Workshop support for sharing creations and adding them to your game.
It's now been a couple of months since the game launched, so we went off to the Steam Workshop and Nexus Mods to highlight the best and most interesting mods that can enhance the game. There are new outfits, weapons skins, character tweaks, graphics adjustments, gameplay optimizations, and more. And in the future even better mods will possible, as Square Enix haspledgedto release character and level editors, enabling the creation of entirely new levels with custom quests, instanced events, hand-crafted maps, and interactive objects. To demonstrate, they showed a tense Chocobo race, and a whimsical mini-golf game, all made exclusively with the tools that will be given to players for free.
For now though, let's look at what can be added toFINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITIONthis very moment.
June 4th, 2018 Update:Square Enix hasannouncedthat their official character and weapon editor will be released on Steam on June 7th, and that any mods or tweaks you make using it can be uploaded to the Steam Workshop for sharing with the entire Steam community!
Outfits & Characters
This mod, as you might suspect from the title, changes the default outfit textures of Noctis, Ignis, and Gladio. This particular mod is fashioned around the gorgeousFINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION4K high-res texture pack, so you'll want to install that first.
If you prefer a more grizzled, battle-worn face on Noctis, this mod's for you. You can also add a beard to his otherwise clean-shaven profile, and apply some extra length to his hair, though that's all optional. Additionally, there's a retextured gold Lucian jacket available.
Change Noctis's Hair, Eyes, Shirt, and Outfit Colors
For those seeking a more in-depth level on tweaking Noctis's appearance, this mod lets you adjust the color of his hair, eyes, shirt, and outfit colors to a respectable degree. Want a white-haired, red-eyed, blue-clad protagonist? Go for it. The author includes a 4K pack as well as a standard version, so you can try them both out and land on one that best suits your PC's performance.
ECO – Empire Character Overhaul
An ambitious project, this mod pack includes completely redesigned outfits for characters based on olderFinal Fantasygames, as well as an even mix of wholly new creations. As the author states: “My vision is not to just change the colors. I wanted to give those clothes a new design, a new feeling. Every retexture of these mod will fit a theme. This might be an actual trend in fashion or with older Final Fantasy characters in mind.”
You'll want to keep an eye on this mod, as the creator suggests it's an ongoing effort, with a lot more content planned for the future, including a wealth of 4K textures to accompany the standard 2K options.
A simple but noticeable mod, this selection gives all 13Royal Armsa menacingly deep red color. It's a great way to highlight your character's weapons in a different aspect, without changing too much of their original appearance.
With the Detailed Complexions mod, Noctis, Gladiolus (AKA Gladio and Gladdy) Prompto, and Ignis receive scratch-built faces with excellent detail. In particular, you'll notice freckles, pores, wrinkles, and just about everything else that you'd see on someone's skin in the real world. Like some other mods on this list, this version is meant to work with the4K high-res texture pack, so make sure you've got that setup ahead of time.
Graphics
A companion toNVIDIA Turf Effectsfound in the game, this mod makes the grass flatten faster, and stay pressed down even longer after the blades have been trampled. There are a couple of variants to play with too, such as an option to make the grass stay flat forever, and a choice to make all the game's grass distinctly taller.
Final Flash – Cinematic ReShade with DoF
Using theReShade 3.0 frameworkas a base, this expansive mod fashions a plethora of realistic and cinematic visuals toFINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION. There's depth of field, lens flare, lens dirt, anamorphic camera distortion, film grain, crepuscular rays (commonly referred to as “god rays”) and more. Plus, most of the options can be turned on or off via toggle keys, so you can adjust the entire package to your liking. The installation is a little more complex than the others on this list, so you'll want to take special care in following thesetup stepson theNexus Mods page.
Gameplay & Optimization
A motivated modder noticed thatFINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITIONloads input icons whenever anything is pressed on a keyboard and mouse or a gamepad. Usually this won't create any issues, but if you play the game with a controller and accidently hit a button on your keyboard (or bump your mouse), or if you rely on a keyboard and mouse and nudge your gamepad's inputs unintentionally, it can create a hiccup or two. To fix this, install the Special K mod by referencing the steps on theposter's Steam page.
Music
When you're cruising through Eos in the Regalia, sometimes you just want to kick-back and listen to your favorite tunes from the real world. That's now possible thanks to the Radio Tuner mod. With it, you can import your own tracks into the game's library and start them up inside your car's stereo. Alternatively, you can use the Radio Tuner mod to export the Regalia's default music (so long as you've unlocked the riffs), making the audio available in .MP3, .OGG, and .WAV.
Rather than completely rewrite the musical scores in the game, the Music Overhaul mod adds a few extras, shifts some of the existing tracks around, and removes a couple of others, creating a different but decidedly stillFinal Fantasyfeel to the action.
FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION: Mods and More
The modding community is still young withFINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION, and there are bound to be a lot more mods as time passes. The best places to check for new ones areNexus Mods,Mod DB,Reddit, andSteam Workshop. Plus, with extended mod support from Square Enix and their ongoing commitment to providing additional tools, such as the upcoming character editor and level editor, you'll have numerous methods of making the game your own. For moreFINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITIONinfo, have a look at our launch storyhere, andour articlecovering the game's exclusive NVIDIA GameWorks Technologies.
And if you're still yearning for more content even after modding out your game, you'll be pleased to hear that Square Enix hasalready announcedplans for four more portions of episodic content in 2019: Episode I: Ardyn — “The Conflict of the Sage”, Episode Side Story: Aranea — “The Beginning of the End”, Episode II: Lunafreya — “The Choice of Freedom”, and Episode III: Noctis — “The Final Strike.”
Comments
