As Season 1 kicked off last Friday, a murmur spread across the Marvel Rivals Discord; players were puzzled why their mods had suddenly stopped functioning. The mystery unraveled to reveal a new feature in the game: asset hash checking. This tool sifts through the game files to determine if any have been altered. If it detects anything unfamiliar, those mods are essentially dead on arrival.
MerryJoyKey, the driving force behind the Marvel Rivals mod manager available on NexusMods, noted in a comment today that while finding a workaround might be possible, it’s not likely any time soon. They assured players that any updates to the mod would be on hold until a viable solution is discovered.
Interestingly, NetEase kept players in the dark about this update; there was no mention of it in the Season 1 patch notes. The only official word from the studio came last Wednesday when they informed Polygon that altering game files is not advisable since it risks leading to a ban.
Even though no one has reported facing bans yet, the terms of use have always prohibited mods, posing potential consequences. Nevertheless, this didn’t deter the community, with thousands flocking to NexusMods to share and download mods over the past weeks. The volume rivaled even the likes of Skyrim and Cyberpunk 2077, particularly with mods featuring custom skins of former U.S. presidents being removed due to site policies against sociopolitical themes in mods.
In the realm of online competitive multiplayer gaming, mods often provoke a defensive stance from developers. They can alter the gaming landscape, sometimes unfairly, like by removing map geo-barriers. Though Marvel Rivals mods didn’t escalate to such extremes—mostly staying within mild alterations—there’s always potential for things to spiral over time.
For fans now facing the absence of mods, dressing heroes will have to revert to good old-fashioned methods—saving up in-game currency for skins from the shop. The imaginative days of seeing Iron Man as Vegeta or Iron Fist as Goku appear to have drawn to a nostalgic close.
