   New to game modding?
  Hi, I'm thinking of getting into game modding, preferably for a FPS.  I'm thinking Quake 3 might be easy to mod. What other games work well for mods? Which is the easiest, most moddable game, in your opinion? And by mod I mean total conversion mod, like if I turned Quake 3 into a World war 2 shooter. Whats the first step toward making a mod? Thanks!   
  Well, alot of us here arnt modders, but programmers. I would recommend a modding community to get your answers. Since i dont mod games, i wouldnt have a site for you, but from what i hear, the Source Engine is probably the most definitive Engine that will allow modders of any level jump in and begin.   ;  The Source engine and the Unreal engine are both great choices and have HUGE modding communities. One of the biggest differences between coding between the two is that with Source you'll be working in C++ with the actual game code and with Unreal you'll be working with its built in UnrealScript, a scripting language that is a lot like Java. Just take your pick and start modding away. They're both awesome.Unreal Developer NetworkValve Developer Community;  I've started playing with the Source SDK recently. It's pretty powerful and has a good tool-chain, but Valve are really full of shit when they say they are "committed to the modding community" - be prepared for a steep learning curve, lots of 'known issues' and sparse support.   ;  Between the two, I would recommend that a beginning modder start with Unreal. The learning curve for Source is pretty steep. Also, even if your goal is to eventually create a total conversion, you should probably start off with something a bit easier to get your foot in the water. Unreal mutators would be a good start.Of course, if money is a concern, then you might want to start with Source if, for example, you own Half-Life 2 but don't own Unreal Tournament.   ;  I also suggest Unreal Tournament.  And agree, HL2 has a steep learning curve.  Otherwise, possibly look into Doom 3.  I'm not sure about the code for modding it, but I know the editor was super easy to learn/use and I think the code is juist some modifiable scripts similar to UT.   