Oblivion Remastered Doesn't Officially Support Mods

For nearly as long as Bethesda has been making big open-world RPGs, there have been dedicated modders tweaking, updating, and improving these games. So it’s a bit odd that Bethesda’s recently released remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion doesn’t officially support modding.

On April 22, following years of rumors, leaks, and reports, Bethesda officially unveiled gaming’s worst-kept secret: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. The $50 remaster launched the same day it was announced on Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass, PS5, and PC. The remastered RPG features improved visuals, new gameplay options, and a long list of quality-of-life changes. But, it’s still a Bethesda game, which means you can likely expect bugs, wonky elements, and some general roughness and weirdness. Normally, this stuff gets fixed by modders shortly after release and Bethesda supports those efforts with official tools. That’s not the case this time.

As spotted by Gamesradar shortly after Oblivion’s remaster was launched, on Bethesda’s official support page for the game the company blunty says the game doesn’t support mods.

“Mods are not supported for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.”

Now, if you know anything about modders, you likely know that nearly every PC game eventually gets some mods, and I doubt Oblivion Remastered will be any different. It’s just that this time around, Bethesda isn’t offering up official modding tools for players or providing a pipeline that lets modders bring their creations to more platforms, something Bethesda has done for Fallout 4 and Starfield.

Bethesda seems to understand that modders are going to do their thing and figure out ways to mod Oblivion, even without tools or the company’s official blessing. So it included this message on its Oblivion remastered support page:

“If you are experiencing gameplay issues while playing with mods, it’s recommended you first try uninstalling your mods, then verify your games files on Steam, or the Xbox App.”

As for why Bethesda isn’t supporting mods this time around, I’m not sure. Perhaps the fact that this remaster uses Unreal and old Bethesda tech made it too technically challenging to create a modding kit for creators? Or perhaps it plans to add mod support later, but wants to make sure the game is in a solid state post-launch before doing so? I don’t know. But for now, modding The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is going to be a trickier than it was with past Bethesda titles.

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