The most recent updates for the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Fallout 4 and Skyrim: Special Edition have officially placed a max limit on the number of mods that players can run on their game. Xbox one users can now use up to 150 mods at a time; PS4 players get 100.
Prior to this update, players were limited only by the amount of data space the mods took up. For Skyrim: Special Edition, Xbox One players got 5GB of space, while PS4 players had 1GB. For Fallout 4, the discrepancy between consoles continued, with Xbox One having 2GB and PS4 players having only 900MB.
The new quantitative mod limit was not listed in the patch notes for either games’ most recent updates, which shipped earlier this week. Instead, the updates focused primarily on bug fixes and improved browsing through each games’ mod menus, leaving the reveal of the new mod number limit to be an unwelcome surprise for some gamers.
Developer Bethesda has posted an official response on their community forums, explaining that the limits have been put in place based on “internal testing to the stability of the game”. They clarify further that the limit does not affect the number of mods you can have in your library, only the number of mods currently active, meaning players can keep their same library so long as they go in and enable or disable individual mods as needed to stay under the limit.
The continued discrepancy in mod support for Xbox One and PS4 is not formally addressed in the post, although Bethesda has demonstrated frustration in the past with Sony’s behavior towards mod support.
Bethesda has clarified that this limit is a “starting point”, and that they may be adjusted again in future patches.