Image credit: Bethesda

For most games, the news of a new patch is usually received with excitement. This is true for games made by Bethesda too, of course, but not when they're as old as Fallout 4 and Skyrim are. The reason? Mods.

Bethesda announced that a new update for Fallout 4 Creations (mods) will arrive today, 18th August to deliver "general improvements". In the patch's announcement on X, the developer advised players to log in and back up their save files, or manually save the load order of their mods before installing the patch as a precaution.

That's because, as anyone who plays the mod-friendly games of Bethesda knows, patches have a tendency to break mods. This is pretty typical, as mods are built to work with whatever version of the game was available when they were released. Even though patches may not directly alter some underlying feature a mod is built on, a new version number is enough to cause a disruption.

Image credit: Bethesda

Again, this is nothing new for players who have been modding Bethesda games for years: the solution is for the mod's creator to release an updated version that works with the post-patch game, which is sometimes easier said than done when the creator has simply abandoned the project.

Players who run heavily modded versions of Bethesda's games typically use a series of interlocking and interdependent mods that alter the experience in major ways. When one breaks, any that depend on that mod to function will also cease to work. That can even have an effect on save files, which is why Bethesda is asking players to back theirs up just in case.

"Once your load order is saved, you'll be able to re-download your entire Creations list at once when the update is live," the developer added. Bethesda also confirmed that a similar Creations update is in the works for Skyrim, though did not offer a release date for that, promising to share details "soon".

As Bethesda takes its time working on The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5, mods have been offering a lifeline to sustain the Fallout 4 and Skyrim communities, even if they have to deal with this type of headache every once in a while.

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