We’ve been keeping an eye on Fallout 4’s mod scene ever since they game launched. Current developers have already done amazing things, but what amateur modders and even the gifted top-notch creators can do without access to modding tools is limited.

We now know that the Fallout 4 GECK will drop in April, in-between the first two DLCs planned for the game. GECK is an acronym and stands for Garden of Eden Creation Kit. GECK’s have been in-game devices that featured prominently in both the original Fallout titles and Fallout 3. The GECK is an incredibly powerful tool created at the height of Pre-War America that can be used to create agricultural paradises, even in post-nuclear deserts. Think of it as a small-scale version of the Genesis Device as presented in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and you’re on the right track. Bethesda calls the Fallout 4 modding tools the GECK for obvious reasons — these tools give their loyal fans incredible power and creative flexibility.

What can the GECK do?

If the Fallout 4 GECK is similar to that offered with Fallout 3 or the Elder Scrolls games, it can be used to create new landscapes, change dialog, and add new quests, items, NPCs, weapons, and creatures. It can be used to fix bugs with existing quest lines or other errata, or to create new material out of whole cloth.

In the past, modders have used script extenders to create additional scripting options for Skyrim and Fallout mods; it’s not clear if the new GECK will be as capable as the older versions when it comes to these features. In the past, however, Bethesda has increased the power of its modding tools, and I suspect FO4 fans are chomping at the bit to see what they can build.

We panned the RPG aspects of FO4 in a post earlier this month, but mod support is, in my opinion, the great strength of PC gaming compared to consoles or handheld devices. Great games don’t need great graphics. Great games don’t need a mouse and keyboard. When a title like Skyrim comes out across PCs and consoles, what sets it apart, long-term, isn’t the PC version’s enhanced visuals or superior controls. If you buy Skyrim on a console, you get the version of the game that the developers built, plus any additional DLC you might have purchased.

Buy it for the PC, and you’re buying access to all the improvements and enhancements the game’s most ardent fans can think of. Bethesda has always acknowledged the mod communities that work on its various games; a hefty chunk of Fallout 4’s settlement min-game was inspired by a Fallout New Vegas mod. I’m not crazy about returning to vanilla Fallout 4, but I’m eager to see what modders can do with the game once the GECK releases in April.