Fallout 4 Next-Gen Update is coming! (2024)

Bethesda announced their intent to update Fallout 4 for "Next-Gen" (now "Current-Gen", I suppose) consoles and PCs back in 2022, so it's not completely unexpected but you'll be forgiven for thinking this has come a bit out of the blue!

This will be an in-place update for your Fallout 4 game, not a separate game release (e.g. Skyrim vs Skyrim Special Edition).

The Next-Gen update will add widescreen and ultra-wide support, improved mod support, and several stability/bug fixes. Fallout 4 will also be Steam deck verified which is good news for handheld players.

Along with updates to the base game, the update comes with 3 free Creation Club items:

• Enclave Remnants - A new Enclave quest including new weapons and armour.
• Makeshift Weapon Pack - A Dead Rising-style pack of improvised weapons.
• Halloween Workshop - A collection of spooky decorations for your settlements.
  

While it hasn't been explicitly mentioned anywhere in the announcement, this update will likely introduce the new "Creations" menu as seen in the latest Skyrim update showcasing community content available to purchase through the verified creators scheme.

Finally, Fallout 4 will be joining all the previous Fallout and Elder Scrolls RPGs on the Epic Games Store.

You can read Bethesda's official announcement here.

I can already hear some of you running for the nearest modpocalypse shelter as you read this, but let's take a look at what this is really going to mean for the Fallout 4 modding ecosystem.

Note: Some of the following information is speculative until Bethesda provide more details on the specifics of the update.

Firstly, it's almost certainly going to be incompatible with Fallout 4 Script Extender on launch, which will temporarily prevent the use of any mods that require F4SE to function. We're hopeful the F4SE team will get a sneak peek at the update a few days early to give them a head start. The script extender may not be updated to support the Epic Games release, depending on how different it is from the Steam/GOG builds.

Next, advanced mods may need updating separately, even if F4SE is made compatible. This can happen if any hooks into the game they use have changed.

Finally, any traditional mods (i.e. those created purely with the Creation Kit) may need some minor tweaks and updates based on the changes to the base game. This would be especially true for any mods that interact with the quests or locations that have been fixed by Bethesda.

We've weathered the radstorm of these updates several times before we know there will be some pain at least in the short term. So the natural next question is "Can I stop my game updating?".

If you're already mid-way through a playthrough and have an intricately crafted list of mods set up, it's fair to say that you don't want a game update to come along and take a Fat Man to your setup. The Skyrim players out there can attest to how frustrating this can be.

To be safe from unwanted updates or easily roll back your games, we highly recommend getting the game fromGOG.com and using the GOG Galaxy app to manage it. Unlike other game store launchers, GOG gives users full control over when an update happens to their game and offers a convenient way to downgrade if you install an update by mistake.

We've added a couple of new tags to the Fallout 4 section of the site to help you more easily identify or filter out mods you're interested in.

If a mod is confirmed to work with the Next-Gen Update, it should have the "Works with Next-Gen Update" tag.

If a mod is confirmed to be broken by the Next-Gen Update, it should have the "Broken in Next-Gen Update" tag.

Tags can be added by the mod author, their team or moderators. Tags can also be voted on to the mod page by at least 3 users. So if you find a mod tagged incorrectly, please help us all out by adding your vote!