After a couple of years in development, Bethesda finally released the next-gen update for Fallout 4. Promising a lot, the patch has not been going down particularly well. For one thing, those in the modding community have been concerned about it breaking fan-made content.
While there’s an argument to be had that next-gen was targeted largely at the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game, it seems PC players have been feeling disappointed in the offering. According to the patch notes on Steam, the update offers a few changes, including Steam Deck verification, widescreen support, and a relatively (for Bethesda) short list of bug fixes. But it isn’t enough.
There’s also been a post from the studio acknowledging that “PS Plus subscribers have been unable to access the free next-gen update” for PS5. So even console players aren’t doing so well, either. Given the long wait and the lack of worthwhile payoff, some have taken it upon themselves to suggest not bothering with the upgrade at all.
Turn the clock back – how to fix next-gen Fallout 4 mods
Leave it to modders to fix something the official developers themselves should have seen coming. Over on Nexus Mods – specifically the Fallout 4 page – there are a number of downloads that will actually prevent your game from installing the update.
There are a couple I’ve come across, both of which are currently in the most popular F4 mods of the last 30 days. The first one is from zerratar and is simply called “Fallout 4 Downgrader.” It is, as you can imagine, exactly that. According to the description, this mod reverts the game back “to its pre-next-gen version,” allowing you to “continue using mods,” particularly ones that utilize the all-important F4SE.
The other one is a little more clever and comes from user Bilago. Rather than revert your game back to a previous version, “Skip Next-Gen Update” actually tricks Steam into thinking you’ve already installed it. Much like zerratar’s offering, you can now continue to play Fallout 4 on PC without worrying about mods breaking.
Also, not long ago, Nexus Mods itself posted a message about concerns people in the modding community had about issues with the then-inbound next-gen update. It then linked to a forum post that gave instructions on how to prevent the patch from being applied to your copy of the game. If you’ve already installed it, it may be too late, but here’s the post all the same in case you do find it useful.
I’m sure Bethesda will be back with some sort of fix for the problems people have been having. Todd Howard and his team could well work with modders to make things smoother, but given the studio hasn’t been in touch regarding the Fallout: London mod that had to be delayed because of the update, fans may have to find their own solutions for now.
