Bethesda Responds to Fallout 4 Anniversary Complaints With November Patch

The release of Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition has stirred up controversy among fans, with many reporting corrupted saves, broken mods, and even trouble launching the game. What was meant to be a celebration of the RPG’s 10-year milestone has instead turned into frustration for long-time players.

Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition | Image: Bethesda

The Anniversary Edition, launched on November 10, doesn’t add much new content. It mostly repackages the six official expansions, over 150 pieces of Creative Club content, and fan-made Creations. A handful of extras were included to mark the anniversary, but even those small changes have disrupted the community. Some players claim they’ve been locked out of the game entirely, with Steam telling them they don’t own it.

As a result, Fallout 4’s recent Steam reviews have dropped to “Mostly Negative,” the lowest rating in over eight years. Overall, the game still holds a “Very Positive” score, but the backlash is strong enough to dent what should have been a celebratory release. According to players on Steam, the biggest issue is familiar: mods have stopped working. This problem has plagued Bethesda’s updates for years, from Skyrim’s Anniversary Edition to Fallout 4’s next-gen patch in 2024.

One frustrated player wrote: “Anniversary Edition has bricked my game. Unrecoverable crashes, corrupted saves… I uninstalled after nearly 700 hours.” Others echoed the sentiment, accusing Bethesda of "cash grabs" and ignoring the modding community. As one user put it, “Modders built the soul of this game. Bethesda keeps trying to sell it back to us.”

Bethesda quickly acknowledged the issues and promised two updates: one this month and another in the first half of December. Now, patch notes for a November update have been shared, with fixes aimed at crashes, DLC installation problems, and general stability. The developers thanked players for their “continued communication” but stopped short of addressing the backlash directly.

The patch includes crash fixes across PS4, PS5, and PC, improvements to the Creations menu, and better handling of save/load issues.

Bethesda also confirmed plans to expand mod storage on consoles (up to 100GB), though that feature isn’t ready yet. It’s expected to roll out with the December update. In the meantime, devs tell players to preserve their mod load orders.

To soften the blow, Bethesda is also adding free Creations. The first, The Varmint Rifle, will arrive next week. Players will need to fall down a manhole, solve puzzles, and fight enemies to claim the weapon.

The Varmint Rifle | Image: Bethesda Creations

Upcoming Fallout 4 November Patch - Patch Notes

Crash and Stability Fixes

• Fixed crash when starting a new game with Creations installed on PS4.

• Fixed crash when quitting after exiting an interior with Pip-Boy open (PS4/PS5).

• Guest/local users can no longer access the Creations menu, which resulted in an inoperable state

• Addressed rare crashes when choosing to use the save data load order, especially when loading saves with missing Creations.

• Fixed a crash that could occur when selecting 'Purchase Credits' on PC

• Fixed a crash when selecting "Download all owned Creation Club Creations"

Save/Load & Profile

• Exit saves are now correctly created when exiting to the main menu

• Fixed infinite loading when downloading missing Creation Club content from a save made on a different platform.

• Switching Xbox user profiles no longer causes softlocks or loss of controls.

• Fixed an issue where loading a save file with different creations enabled did not prompt a load order warning

• Downloading a creation and disabling it immediately, will no longer cause content that relies on it to become permanently disabled

UI & User Experience

• Performance improvements in the Creations menu across platforms.

• Fixed softlocking when entering/exiting the Creations menu repeatedly.

• Fixed infinite loading/hang when loading a save file that requires creations.

• Bundle prices now update immediately after purchasing individual items in the bundle.

• Bundles now show correct file sizes for included creations.

• Localization improvements.

• In-game Creations menu now respects the load order set by the player, not alphabetical order.

• Players can now like/unlike creations in the Load Order menu as intended.

• Guest/local users can no longer access the Creations menu; option is now greyed out as on PS4.

• Downloaded Creations will now remain visible in your Load Order after deletion from BethesdaNet.

Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition is available on PC, Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5, with a Nintendo Switch 2 version planned for next year.