Good news for Fallout 4 fans: the latest official patch for the game has arrived on Steam, bringing with it a couple of new features and several fixes. But it's not such good news for those who have been modding the game, as the 1.2 patch breaks support for mods.

The patch adds a new launcher that disables mods on startup, and using the .INI edit that previously got round this issue no longer works. It's still not clear whether Bethesda intentionally removed mod support or if it was just a mistake.

A user on the Nexus Mods forum has published a way to bypass the problem, but it's not the simplest of processes. First of all, you'll need to have the Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) installed; you'll need to launch NMM, then launch Fallout 4, then switch back to NMM and re-enable the mods.

There's also a version of the Fallout 4 script extender that works with the latest patch, but that also requires jumping through several hoops to get it working, and it needs the Nexus Mod Manager to function.

There are several other workarounds that involve altering the game's filenames or making the plugins.txt file read-only, and these still require the use of the Nexus Mod Manager.

Bethesda has a history of supporting mods and the modding community, and people are debating whether the patch intentionally made it more difficult to modify the game. Some say Bethesda did this on purpose in an attempt to encourage people to wait until it releases its own official mod workshop, while others say it's simply a bug.

For those who don't use/care about mods, here is the full list of changes the 1.2 patch makes:

New Features

  • Number pad keys can now be used for remapping (PC)
  • Remapping Activate now works on Quick Container (PC)

Fixes

  • General memory and stability improvements
  • Performance improvements inside the Corvega Assembly Plant
  • Optimizations to skinned decal rendering
  • Fixed issue with player becoming stuck in terminals
  • Fixed issue where equipped weapons become locked after completing Reunions
  • Fixed issue with "When Freedom Calls" where the quest would not complete
  • During "Confidence Man" fixed issue where player's health would continuously regenerate
  • Fixed crash related to jumping into water and reloading saved games
  • Fixed issue where Launcher would not save God Rays Quality setting properly (PC)