The new Creations menu now let’s players take a more hands-on approach to their game mods, including allowing players to set their load orders, as well as the ability to resolve missing Creations when loading a saved game from a modded playthrough.

Other features of the update are support for the Steam Deck, as well as support for ultrawide monitors on the PC, allowing for displays with 16:9, 16:10, 21:9, and 32:9 aspect ratio displays.

The update also brings with it a host of bug fixes, ranging from small bugs to more serious game-breaking bugs like a crash that could occur when fighting Dwarven Ballista.

PATCH NOTES

New Features

• Mods and Creation Club menus have been combined into a unified Creations Menu.
• Missing Creation check feature added to resolve missing Creations when loading a save file.
• Store your Active Load Order and retrieve it from Bethesda.net
• ESL Range has been doubled to 4096 records. Source scripts for Fishing, Rare Curios, Saints & Seducers and Survival are now provided as a Creator’s resource.
• Resource Pack added to the game to assist Creators.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed crash that could occur when fighting Dwarven Ballista.
• Fixed crash that could occur when transferring a large number of arrows to a follower.
• Fixed issue preventing Kindred Judgement from starting if certain NPCs had died.
• Fixed slowdown when running with a large number of Creations.
• Fixed issue that could result in the world being underwater when fast traveling.
• Fixed issue that would result in NPCs getting stuck in sit-and-stand loops when trying to use furniture.
• Fixed control lock that can occur while eating a corpse with Namira’s Ring equipped while Survival Mode is active.
• Fixed missing dirt for slot 1 on female faces.
• Resolved issue preventing bartering with some hunters.
• Fixed issue where Miraak sometimes does not appear while stealing Dragon Souls.
• Arvak can now be summoned in the Forgotten Vale.
• Vampire Cattle faces are no longer black in Volkihar Keep.
• Fixed Soul Cain sky becoming corrupted after exiting Reaper’s Lair.
• Restored cobblestones to the execution area of Helgen.
• Fixed unlootable NPCs at “Cragslane Cavern.”
• Fixed bad weapon values on Glass Mace, Glass Warhammer, Honed Draugr War Axe, Ebony Mace and Ebony War Axe and most daggers.
• Fixed some Orcish war Axes not using the correct model.
• Fixed Ebony Shields being invisible when equipped on Vampires.
• Dwarven Scrap Metal can now be sold to Blacksmiths.
• Honeycomb can now be sold to the appropriate vendors.
• Removed errant collision marker west of Windhelm.
• Fixed issue that sometimes presented the portals in the Forgotten Vale from playing their visual effects.
• Fixed issue where portals in the Forgotten Vale would turn purple while opening.
• Fixed bad geometry along columns in Vyrthur’s throne room.
• Removed errant ‘Activate’ text on wheat windmills.
• Blessing of Talos now properly shows a 20% reduction in the Active Effects menu instead of 0%.
• Argonian Account, Book 2 now uses the correct world model.
• Fixed kidnapped NPCs clipping cell door in Treva’s Watch.
• Adjusted placement of iron ore vein that would result in the player’s camera colliding with a mammoth skull trap in Halted Stream Camp.
• Fixed gap in terrain west of Embershard Mine.
• Fixed hole in Wolfskull Cave.
• Fixed hole in the Argonian Assembly.
• Fixed gap in level in Nchuand-Zel Control Room.
• Fixed flickering on floor in Largashbur.
• Plugged gap in rocks near Lake Ilinalta.
• Removed deprecated grass files from Miscellaneous archive.
• Improved performance in Vyrthur’s throne room.
• General performance improvements.
• Various typo and localization fixes.

Bloodchill Manor

• Extra Emerald Paragon holder replaced with missing Sapphire Paragon holder.

Bone Wolf

• Fixed issue preventing Zombies from spawning in certain locations while Bone Wolves are present.
• Fixed translation errors for wild encounters.

The Cause

• Arvak can now be summoned in The Deadlands.
• Plants in The Deadlands now respect the “Green Thumb” perk.
• Fixed localization issues.

The Contest

• Fixed inability to temper Fists of Randagulf.

Dead Man’s Dread

• Fixed missing leg meshes when “Captain’s Boots” were equipped.
• Expanded Crossbow Pack
• Fixed localization issues.

Fishing

• Adjusted textures with Draugr Weapons to closer match the rest of the set.
• Localization fixes.
• Ghosts of the Tribunal
• Prevented freeze that may occur when performing the Trueflame ritual too quickly.

Necromatic Grimoire

• Players can no longer loot arrows used by the “Skeleton Marksman” summons.
• Localization fixes.

Saints & Seducers

• Plants in the Root Tunnels now respect the “Green Thumb” perk.
• Fixed Madness Sword having too low a value.
• Localization fixes.

Shadowrend

• Player can no longer pickpocket items off of the Shadow.
• Localization fixes.

Staff of Sheogorath

• Localization fixes.

Survival Mode

• Fixed issue where player could use magic infinitely while their magic was depleted.

Wild Horses

• Localization fixes.

PC Only

FEATURE: Support for Ultrawide monitors (16:9, 16:10, 21×9, 32×9).

FEATURE: Support for Steam Deck.

FEATURE: Various console improvements.

• CTRL+C now copies the selected Reference in the console.
• CTRL+V now pastes text from your clipboard into the console.
• “KAH” added to the console as a command to kill all hostiles.
• “GetSelectedRefBase” added to the console as a command to return the base form ID for the selected reference.
• Base form ID is now displayed alongside the selected reference ID.
• “Help” command can now filter by form type.

FEATURE: “sStartingCell”, “sStartingCellX”, and “sStartingCellY” can be added to the General section of your SkyrimCustom.ini to autoload into the specified locations upon game start.

FEATURE: Macro support.

• In your game directory you will find the new file: SkyrimConsoleDefault.ini. This contains the layout and new basic commands. This list may be customized by creating a new file in the same folder named SkyrimConsole.ini.
• Resolved issue with screen shrinking after using Alt+Tab.
• General stability improvements and optimizations.

Epic Only

• Fixed issue preventing Xbox controllers from being recognized.

PlayStation Only

• Resolved issue forcing the player’s camera to face north while exiting the Character Menu while on a horse.
• Fixed button prompts sometimes being stuck on screen after loading a save.
• Fixed flickering lights in the Ragged Flagon Cistern.
• PS4: Fixed Options button icon.

Xbox Only

• General stability improvements (Morthal).

Creation Kit

Stability improvements.

• New “Show Edited Forms Only” checkbox in the Object Window.
• Data Menu now has “Modified Date” Column.
• Plug-ins and Masterfiles can now be sorted by clicking any of the category names in the Data menu.
• Titlebar now shows if your plug-in is ESL compliant based on last save.
• Landscape borders now toggle between, visible, visible over all geometry, and off.
• RoboVoice is now included, allowing you to easily add temp voice lines.
• LipFuzer is now included, so you can generate game ready FUZ files.
• LipGenerator has been updated to 64-bit.
• Users can now browse to select existing voice files in file explorer straight from the Edit Response Window.
• Creation Kit now warns if your plug-in is flagged as “Read Only”.

New Papyrus Functions

• Function SetContainerAllowStolenItems(bool setAllowStolenItems) native – Sets whether to allow stolen items to appear in the menu (for Containers only).
• int Function GetAllItemsCount() native – Gets the number of items in a container/inventory.
• bool Function IsContainerEmpty() native – Returns if the container/inventory is empty.
• Function RemoveAllStolenItems(ObjectReference akTransferTo = None) native – Removes all stolen items, transferring it to the other object if passed.

PS4 subscribers gain access to Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Kingdom Hearts 3 and Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory. There’s also Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, and What Remains of Edith Finch. Rounding out the line-up of PS4 titles is Earth Defense Force: World Brothers, Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain and Onee Chanbara Origin.

PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers also gain access to five classic Ratchet and Clank titles on PS3. These are Ratchet and Clank, Ratchet and Clank 2: Going Commando, Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Ratchet and Clank: Deadlocked, and Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. For details on the PlayStation Plus Essential titles available for November, head here.

With Microsoft officially welcoming Bethesda to Xbox Game Studios and adding 20 games from the publisher to Xbox Game Pass, it’s now implementing FPS Boost for select titles on Xbox Series X/S. Dishonored: Definitive Edition, Fallout 4, Prey, Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition are the first batch of titles to receive the update today. As noted on Xbox Wire, this means they’ll run at almost double their original framerate.

These five titles are touted to go from 30 FPS to “nearly” 60 FPS, but there is a catch. “In some instances, because there are higher graphics requirements to enable FPS Boost technology, we’ve had to reduce a game’s resolution to ensure it both runs smoothly and plays great.” As a result, some titles like Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 won’t have FPS Boost enabled by default. Players will have to choose to enable it from the “Manage Game” section for each title.

It’s also possible to press the Xbox button and see if a game has FPS Boost and Auto HDR enabled. FPS Boost also requires the March console update to be installed beforehand. Microsoft will announce more titles that take advantage of the feature in “the coming weeks” so stay tuned.

In a new Xbox Wire post, Microsoft has announced 20 games from Bethesda Softworks that will be added to Xbox Game Pass today. With a few exceptions, many of these titles will be playable on Xbox consoles, PC and the cloud. Even though The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition is already available for console owners, subscribers on other platforms will be able to play it as well.

The full list is quite extensive and includes the following titles:

• Dishonored Definitive Edition
• Dishonored 2
• Doom (1993)
• Doom 2
• Doom 3
• Doom 64
• DOOM Eternal
• The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
• The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (Console, PC)
• The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition
• The Elder Scrolls Online (Cloud, Console)
• The Evil Within
• Fallout 4
• Fallout 76
• Fallout: New Vegas (Console)
• Prey
• RAGE 2
• Wolfenstein: The New Order
• Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Prey and Fallout 4 will be returning to the service after exiting last year, though the latter is the base version and not the Game of the Year Edition. Dishonored Definitive Edition and The Evil Within are new entries while Dishonored 2 makes its return after leaving last September. It should be interesting to see if Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and The Evil Within 2 arrive on Game Pass at some point.

A roundtable discussion is currently on-going between Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda team members – find out more about that here. Microsoft has also confirmed that some future titles from Bethesda will be exclusive to Xbox and PC. Stay tuned for more details in the coming days on which ones.

Mad Max

Veering away from massive open world destruction into post-apocalyptic, vehicular exploration, Mad Max was an odd turn for Avalanche Studios. It was about upgrading your car, the Magnum Opus, and taking on convoys. It was about assaulting bases and brawling with baddies. There were the unoriginal side quests, sure, but the sheer expanse of its rolling dunes and spectacle of the vehicle combat helped Mad Max stand out.

Changing Soldiers’ Names – Heroes and Generals

Free to play titles generally tend to make their money back through microtransactions, whether they’re cosmetic or pay-to-skip the grind. Heroes and Generals in 2016 decided to go an entirely new and dumb route however. When players would recruit new soldiers, they had to pay to change their names. It’s one thing if this is a user profile name or Gamertag but in-game soldier names?

Mad Max

It’s a lonely road out there, full of endless deserts and roaming bandits. Mad Max takes the sheer expanse of its landscape and ties it closely to the vehicular play. You’re either roaming the land, scoping out different bases to take out, or assaulting convoys for precious rewards. A decent story and top-notch characterization for Max help push the game past your average cinematic adaptation.

Ever since it released in 2010, Fallout: New Vegas (which is now playable on Xbox One) has had a dedicated legion of fans. Obsidian Entertainment (of Pillars of Eternity fame) helmed development and despite numerous bugs, many consider its interpretation of the universe better than Bethesda Game Studios’ own Fallout 4.

Fallout: New Vegas would be the last title that Bethesda would outsource to a third-party studio, even with fans asking for Obsidian to develop another Fallout game. Even the developer itself doesn’t mind. Could we see another studio take up the helm on a future, Bethesda series game? “Never say never”, according to Fallout 76 director Todd Howard, but it’s becoming less likely in this day and age.

Speaking to The Guardian about the development of Fallout: New Vegas, Howard said, “I wouldn’t say never. [But] now that our company is so big, it’s always better to keep stuff internal… it becomes less likely, but I could never say never. I thought the Obsidian guys did a fabulous job.”

While we’re on the unfulfilled wishes train, Howard also talked about the possibility of older titles receiving remasters. Howard made some recent comments about not re-releasing The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim if fans would stop purchasing it. That being said, he’s also a believer in experiencing old games as they were at launch.

“For Skyrim Remastered, we had done some work on it but it was already pretty visually close. But for something like Morrowind, my personal preference is not to remaster it. We [also] get asked a lot to remaster [1997’s] Fallout 1, and I usually say, if you have a PC you can play Fallout the way it was. I think that’s how it should be.

“I think streaming technology is definitely coming, and it’s gonna make people’s access to games infinitely easier. You’ve seen it happen to music and movies and I think it’s a great thing.”

As for Fallout 76, it’s out on November 14th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Of the many features that The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has on Nintendo Switch, mod support isn’t one. Considering the turmoil that Bethesda went through to bring mods to the Xbox One and PS4 versions of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition, it makes sense that the Switch version would take time. Unfortunately, it seems mod support isn’t even in the pipeline.

Bethesda Game Studios executive producer Todd Howard held a talk during Gamelab last week and admitted that support for Skyrim on the Switch had been lacking. “Skyrim Switch has a big community that we haven’t supported the way we’d like.”

However, when Eurogamer spoke to Howard after and asked about his comments, he replied, “They asked for mods. They asked for Creation Club – ‘When are we getting more stuff?'” When asked what was being done to fix this, Howard responded, “Right now we’re doing nothing. People, they’re on other things. Our Switch group did Fallout Shelter…and that’s done really well. I’m surprised at how well it’s done.”

Prodded further on whether mods would be coming to Skyrim on Switch, Howard said, “We are not actively doing that. We would love to see it happen but it’s not something we’re actively doing.”

The developer is still pursuing mod support in its upcoming games, namely Fallout 76. The long-term goal is to allow players to have their own private servers with mods to create their own worlds. Currently though, Howard believes more could be done in making mods easily available.

Speaking to Geoff Keighley at Gamelab, Howard said, “We are still pushing on making that easily available to everybody. It definitely becomes this long-tail life of our games but if you look at the raw numbers it’s still not as great as we’d like – the people who are consuming the mods.

“We are always looking at ‘How do we get more creators creating great content?’ and ‘How do we make it easy and safe?’ The recent stuff we’ve done on the Bethesda.net side of Fallout 4 and Skyrim connecting to mods on consoles has worked out really really great – it’s way more popular than we ever thought. But we still think there’s a way to go there.

“Even though everyone’s connected and it matchmakes you to an invisible server, and you can play with your friends, we know, based on our history, that the future of [Fallout 76], the long life of it, is in people having their own worlds they can mod and make their own and say, ‘Hey come play in mine and see what I did.’ Or there’s an easy way for them to get mods and pick and choose ‘I want my game this way’, because no matter what we do, once you release tools and you have this huge community making things, the best stuff rises to the top.”

Fallout 76 is out on November 14th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

The weekend is nearly here and Xbox One players who subscribe to Xbox Live Gold have quite the duo of games to play. Microsoft has revealed that Halo 5: Guardians and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition are available to play for free. They’ll be free until April 15th so act quickly (and say goodbye to your monthly bandwidth).

Skyrim Special Edition doesn’t just feature the base game but the Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn expansions as well. The game has also received a 50 percent discount until April 23rd so if you like what you see, there’s plenty of time to make an informed consumer decision.

As for Halo 5: Guardians, its free weekend coincides with the upcoming Halo World Championship Finals. The first person shooter has received numerous multiplayer updates since launch including new maps, modes like Warzone Firefight and Forge map playlists. It’s also included with Xbox Game Pass so you could actually drop $10 for this month to play more.