As soon as the first season kicked off this past Friday, Marvel Rivals players flocked to Discord, puzzled as to why their mods had suddenly stopped working. The culprit? A new asset hash checking feature that scans game files for any alterations. Anything unrecognizable is swiftly deactivated, leaving modders in a bind.
The creator of the Marvel Rivals mod manager on NexusMods, MerryJoyKey, offered a glimmer of hope in a recent comment. “While it’s a slim chance, a workaround may emerge,” they noted, promising to keep everyone updated. For now, though, updates to the mod are on hold until a fix is found.
Interestingly, NetEase didn’t notify players about this change. It didn’t appear in the season 1 patch notes either. The only communication came earlier in the week when they advised Polygon against modifying game files, citing the risk of being banned.
So far, no bans have been reported. According to the game’s terms of use, mods were always off-limits, with the potential for account bans, yet this didn’t deter players. Thousands have been busy sharing and downloading mods on NexusMods, enough to rival the likes of Skyrim and Cyberpunk 2077 in popularity. However, mods featuring political figures like Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama have been removed, sticking to the site’s rules against sociopolitical content.
In the world of competitive multiplayer games, it’s not rare for developers to crack down on mods, especially those that could skew gameplay balance, such as altering map geometry. Although Marvel Rivals mods were generally harmless, there was always a risk of them spiraling out of control over time.
Going forward, players will need to outfit their heroes the traditional way, saving up in-game currency to purchase skins from the shop. It seems the days of Iron Man dressed as Vegeta or Iron Fist as Goku are unfortunately behind us.
