As soon as Season 1 kicked off on Friday, players in the Marvel Rivals Discord were buzzing about why their mods suddenly stopped working. The mystery was solved when it was discovered that the game now has a built-in feature called asset hash checking, which scans game files to see if they’ve been altered. If any files look unfamiliar, the mods simply won’t function.
MerryJoyKey, who developed the Marvel Rivals mod manager available through NexusMods, chimed in with some insight. “A workaround might be possible, but it’s not likely,” they mentioned in a comment recently. They’ve also announced they’ll be holding off on updating their mod until they find a solution.
This change came without any heads-up from NetEase, and wasn’t mentioned in the Season 1 patch notes. The only communication from the studio was an advisory on Wednesday, cautioning players through Polygon against modifying game files due to the possibility of being banned.
Despite the risks, no one has been penalized yet. Even though the game’s terms of service clearly state that mods are not allowed and could result in bans, that didn’t deter gamers from using them. In recent weeks, NexusMods has been buzzing with thousands of downloads, putting Marvel Rivals mods in competition with heavy hitters like Skyrim and Cyberpunk 2077 for the month’s most popular mods. However, custom skins featuring U.S. presidents like Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama were removed, adhering to the site’s rules against mods with sociopolitical themes.
It’s not unusual for online competitive multiplayer games to crack down on mods because they can sometimes skew gameplay fairness, such as by altering map features. While most Marvel Rivals mods were pretty harmless, there’s always a chance they could have spiraled out of control over time.
Now, players must revert to the conventional way of customizing their heroes, saving up cash to purchase skins in the shop. The whimsical era of Iron Man dressed as Vegeta or Iron Fist as Goku seems to have come to an end, much to the disappointment of fans.
