As Marvel Rivals’ Season One launched, numerous gamers suddenly found themselves wondering why their previously functioning mods were no longer compatible, sparking concerns that this issue went beyond the usual need for mod updates to align with game patches.
NetEase’s recent tweak to their popular sport has seemingly aimed to impede modifications, prompting an inevitable response from its community of fans: rather than abandoning modding altogether, enthusiasts have opted to circumvent the adjustments, even at the risk of potential consequences that may not be worth the thrill of temporarily empowering a manga character with superhuman abilities.
Modder modder Präfit, who’s discovered an apparent loophole, has uploaded instructions detailing how to exploit it on Nexus Mods. As an experienced mod installer, I’m scrutinizing the factors involved in deciding whether the incremental enhancements provided by Marvel Rivals mods are worth the investment of time and effort.
“This patch is intended as a temporary solution for Season One mod support, with no guarantees of success or long-term viability,” Prafit cautioned. “Proceed with caution.” By exploiting this method, you effectively bypass a mechanism designed to prevent modding in the Season one patch from the outset. While there’s no guarantee that NetEase won’t impose a ban in the future, it’s worth noting that the platform has yet to issue permanent bans according to publicly available information.
Afterwards, they clearly explain how they describe the anti-mod mechanism introduced by NetEase, as well as the approach their workaround takes to bypass it. It appears that NetEase incorporated coding that verifies the hash values of PAK data, effectively allowing the game to load PAK files exclusively. It appears that having access to PAK information is not a requirement for this process. You could easily extract the PAK information, like opening a zip file, and run them unpacked. As the sport loads 50,000 units of data, even the fastest solid-state drives (SSDs) might struggle to handle such a massive influx of information seamlessly. Utilising an approach that involves frequent write cycles to an SSD could potentially accelerate its deterioration and reduce its lifespan.
To set up certain features, you’ll need to compromise on neatly packaged information, which may lead to added strain on your PC’s performance and potentially risk a ban if pushed too far by NetEase in testing the limits. Even if you’re resolute on replacing Mr Implausible with Luffy from One Piece, one of the early mods designed to accommodate this season’s quirks, that is still a significant risk to take.
It’s highly unlikely that the tug-of-war will come to a conclusion anytime soon if NetEase intends to maintain a firm stance regarding mods. While it would be ideal for the situation to resolve itself similarly to how Saber Interactive handled the Area Marine 2 modding issue last year – by banning offending mods from public servers while still allowing them in private lobbies, thereby keeping players who insist on using them separate from those seeking a vanilla experience.
