How to protect your modlist from Fallout 4 Next-gen update on PC

The Fallout 4 Next-gen update is due soon. With handy performance mode options, this free patch is good news for console players but simultaneously bad news for PC players, especially those who like modding. Naturally, many are concerned whether the Fallout 4 Next-gen update might break their modlists.

The answer is almost universally a resounding yes in the vast majority of cases. Even if you use only a few hand-picked mods, there is no guarantee they will work with the new version on release.

If you, like many other modders, want to prevent your modlist from breaking completely, this article will go over how to prevent your PC Fallout 4 copy from automatically updating to the Next-gen version and other preventive measures to take.

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Should you get the Fallout 4 Next-gen update for modding?

Even something as innocuous as Vivid Weathers might have conflicts with the Next-gen update (Image via Bethesda Softworks || Nexusmods)

On release, the Fallout 4 Next-gen update is not a good version to start building a modlist on. Furthermore, if you have an existing Fallout 4 modlist, it will almost certainly break with this new patch owing to these factors:

• F4SE Mods: The next-gen update comes with a new version for the Fallout 4 executable. There will likely not be day-one F4SE support. Even after a new F4SE version is released, many Script Extender mods will need to be updated to work properly.
• Master files (ESM): These will likely undergo changes, which may result in ITMs and record mismatches with mod plugins.
• Bonus Content: The add-on content coming with this update will not have support for rebalancing mods on day one.

In the last two cases, the game may run fine initially, but it will cause bugs later down the line. Even things that only seem tangentially related to the new content, such as DLC-sized mods, will have hidden conflicts that will not manifest immediately.

This is why the Fallout London team has also chosen to delay their release until mod support for the new patch is sorted out.

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How to disable Fallout 4 Next-gen auto-update on Steam (PC)

Set Fallout 4 to "Only update when I launch it" on Steam (Image via Steam on Windows)

To disable Fallout 4 from automatically downloading the Next-gen update on Steam, follow these steps:

• Right-click on Fallout 4 on Steam and go to Properties > Updates.
• Under Automatic updates, select Only update this game when I launch it.
• Set Fallout 4 app manifest to read-only: Go to appmanifest_377160.acf in your steamapps folder. Right-click the file, go to properties, and set it to read-only.

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Here are some additional steps you must take to ensure the safety of your game directory:

• Download F4SE if you haven't already. You want to download the F4SE version for the last pre-Next gen update (Fallout 4 runtime 1.10.163, released June 2022). This should be F4SE build 0.6.23. If it is not available directly, look for it in the archives.
• Make sure to never start Fallout 4 from the launcher platforms (Steam, Epic Games Launcher, or Microsoft Store app) directly. Either launch it from F4SE_loader.exe from the game directory with Fallout Script Extender installed, or from MO2 with the same option on the right-hand panel.
• Before launching the app, make a manual backup of the game directory. For Steam, this should be steamapps/common/Fallout 4. If you accidentally update it, you can use this as a safe rollback option.

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I accidentally updated my game, now what?

If you have accidentally updated Fallout 4 to Next-gen version without any backup, there is no official rollback option yet. However, If you are on Steam, you can download an older build of Fallout 4 (1.10.163) from Steam depot via Steam console. Here's how to rollback Fallout 4 to the pre-Next gen patch on Steam in this method.

If you are not on Steam, modding the game is probably not something you can dive into right now without a backup of the old patch. You will have to wait for a Fallout equivalent to the unofficial Skyrim downgrade patcher.

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Check out our other articles on this game:

Fallout 4 vs Fallout 76 || All Fallout games ranked || Best Melee build || Is Fallout 4 on Game Pass?