How to begin modding games?

Hi,

I would like to start modding games such as HL:2, Gmod, Crusader Kings 2, and other games.  The problem is, I don't know where to start.  Should I just mess with the game files or what?  Anyways, thanks for the help in advance!  :D  

Have a look online for guides and stuff, and try to learn as much as you can.

 

As far as HL2, Gmod and other source games are concerned you should have a look at sourcemod. It uses their own language: source pawn, which has the syntax of C/C++. The server running the mods has to have sourcemod installed and all your mods after compilation are neatly loaded by it. Overall it's pretty well documented, give it a shot.

Where would I fund a good place to learn sourcepawn?   Should I just go on codeacademy.com and learn C/C++?  Or is there another good place to learn it?  

YouTube is by far the best way to learn about modding games, unless you can find a Wiki baes around modding said game. If you don't know the required programming language for the game you wish to mod(or if you don't know any languages) I strongly suggest you learn. When I made my first mod for minecraft, I didn't know Java, and so I could only add a few items. I took the time to learn Java and what I could do with mods grew exponentially.

 

Remember, Google is your friend.

Like most programming languages they're essentially all written the same way just with their own variations to them. I'd start with understanding the basics of coding and on from there. Here's some links.

http://scratch.mit.edu/

http://cs50.tv/

http://www.codecademy.com/

https://www.learnstreet.com/

https://www.khanacademy.org/

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When you say you want to mod games that very general. There's many ways of doing this; Editing Textures or sounds, Making custom models, and Designing maps for. The biggest impact of them would be tweaking the coding, because that would be the core of the game.

Try figuring out what types of mods you want to try to make, what games, and how you would make them. Source games like Half-Life 2, and GarrysMod probably have the best support when it comes to modding.

Look for guides through (ideally) Google or YouTube with those key things in mind. Talking to people on forums and chat rooms about it is a good step, there are plenty of sites out there like this one that are devoted to modding particular games, or just modding in general.

Above all else: Just keep messing with it, the best way to learn is through experience.

For Valve games you need to download Source SDK.

Another way to learn code (if the goal is Java) is Processing- it's a really awesome language which is basically simplified java so it's easier to learn (with a large focus on visuals as well.)

I think they've changed it.  Stuff like Hammer now comes downloaded with the game itself.