[Scarlett.]

Bethesda Game Studios has given up on its fight to implement mods on the PlayStation 4 version of Fallout 4, the developer announced on its website. It’s not just Fallout 4 that is going mod-free on PS4, though; The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition will also ship without previously promised mod support on the console.

These decisions were made not by Bethesda, according to a post, but Sony.

"After months of discussion with Sony, we regret to say that while we have long been ready to offer mod support on PlayStation 4, Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want for either Fallout 4 or Skyrim Special Edition," wrote the company.

Bethesda previously announced that it would bring modding to both Xbox One and PS4 versions of these games, but while Xbox One players of Fallout 4 have been altering the wasteland at their leisure for months now, PS4 players have been made to wait impatiently. Just a few weeks ago, the company said that PS4 mods were still "under evaluation," implying that little movement had been made on getting mod support running on the console.

Yet Sony has consistently denied the modding update for Fallout 4, based on factors that Bethesda has not disclosed. Modding is huge for Fallout — and Elder Scrolls —players, with the community contributing vast numbers of useful and superfluous upgrades on a regular basis. PS4 players, it seems, will now be left out of the loop for good.

Polygon

[Toy Soldier]

Neither console was going to have Script Extender support anyway (security concerns on locked-down hardware) and all of the best mods for both, use the script extended . Pointless anyway. #PCMasterRace

[Ramsay]

lol sony

[Scarlett.]

After all that kerfuffle.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Chewy

After all that kerfuffle.

"You will not be able to upload external assets with your PlayStation 4 mods, but you will be able to use any assets that come with the game, as most mods do."

... ... ... As I'm assuming that Bethesda themselves do know the Skyrim/Fallout PC modding scene quite well, I can only conclude that they have decided to straight up lie about it. The vast majority of mods use custom assets... and all of the best mods use SKSE/F4SE neither of which will be available on any console. Ever.

If people want to play Bethesda games in their full glory then they need to get a gaming PC. End of story, really.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

how do mods even work idgi

[Scarlett.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

"You will not be able to upload external assets with your PlayStation 4 mods, but you will be able to use any assets that come with the game, as most mods do."

... ... ... As I'm assuming that Bethesda themselves do know the Skyrim/Fallout PC modding scene quite well, I can only conclude that they have decided to straight up lie about it. The vast majority of mods use custom assets... and all of the best mods use SKSE/F4SE neither of which will be available on any console. Ever.

If people want to play Bethesda games in their full glory then they need to get a gaming PC. End of story, really.

Ah good point, hopefully for future releases they can work better with both consoles, they seem to have been all over the place. Farming Simulator handles mods from PC no problem. I wonder if its all basically down to Bethesda's terrible coding and software? I mean, I love TES and Fallout, but the Gamebryo engine is basically held together with sticky back plastic at this point.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by That Girl

how do mods even work idgi

You can add a whole bunch of new stuff to the game... from improved graphics, to new items, to new questlines, to complete gameplay changes. For me these days, Skyrim is pretty unplayable without a lot of mods (combat and AI changes, mainly).

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Chewy

Ah good point, hopefully for future releases they can work better with both consoles, they seem to have been all over the place. Farming Simulator handles mods from PC no problem. I wonder if its all basically down to Bethesda's terrible coding and software? I mean, I love TES and Fallout, but the Gamebryo engine is basically held together with sticky back plastic at this point.

Well, I seem to remember Skyrim on the PS3 basically cannibalising its own save files once they reached a certain size? They've never had the best luck with their console conversions!

I would say that one part of the problem will be the lack of ability to use sorting/patching software like BOSS and Wrye Bash, without which using too many mods will end up wrecking your save files (on Skyrim, anyway... I've actually never had any issues at all with FO4 modding so maybe their code is getting more robust). The second is that I don't think Microsoft or Sony will ever allow the script extenders on console. They modify the executable file, and I'd imagine there's just too much scope for hackers to develop exploits and gain "back door access" into the actual consoles (for jailbreaking, etc.) using software like that.

But yeah, SURELY at this point, for TES6 / FO5 they're going to need to develop a 2.0 game engine? Skyrim and FO4 are Creation Engine but it's just not on par with modern tech... it barely was when Skyrim was first released.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

You can add a whole bunch of new stuff to the game... from improved graphics, to new items, to new questlines, to complete gameplay changes. For me these days, Skyrim is pretty unplayable without a lot of mods (combat and AI changes, mainly).

i know what they are lol (thanks for explaining though mwah) but like how would installing them on console work? downloading them from ps store or w/e?

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by That Girl

i know what they are lol (thanks for explaining though mwah) but like how would installing them on console work? downloading them from ps store or w/e?

It looks like it would be through the game itself / on the main menu... though I can see all sorts of issues with that anyway, as it never seems to work very will with PC(/Steam) games that use that method.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

ah that sounds less complicated than i was expecting lol i'll perch when skyrim is out :*