New ‘Skyrim’ PC Patch Brings Unlimited Mod Sizes To Steam Owners

Visitors stand in front of the "Skyrim'' exhibition stand during the Gamescom 2011 fair in Cologne August 17, 2011. The Gamescom convention, Europe's largest video games trade fair, runs from August 17 to August 21. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender REUTERS/Ina Fassbender

Though Steam Workshop offers a streamlined, relatively user-friendly way for “Skyrim” fans to manage their mods, the platform does place a number of restrictions on what kinds of mods gamer's can load up. One of the more severe restrictions has now been lifted; mod sizes can now be larger than 100MB, allowing gamer's easier access to more robust, complex mods.

The announcement, released via the the official Bestheda Blog, breaks down the patch details in full and notes that it will enter beta this week. Once the patch is released, the “Skyrim” Creation Kit will be able to handle mods larger than 100MB.

Gamespot notes in its coverage that the patch will also change the way “Skyrim” mods are downloaded and updated. The current process sees the “Skyrim” Launcher check the status of user-subscribed mods and download updates only when the player is about to begin a new game or load a continue. Following the patch, “Skrim” mods will be handled by Steam itself and will be auto-updated as long as users have the preference checked in their Steam settings.

Bethesda also provided instructions on how players could take part in the current beta. Users must follow the following steps from within the Steam client:

- Log into Steam

- Click on your game Library.

- Right click on “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” and select Properties.

- Click on the Betas tab, and from the drop down select beta

– “Skyrim” Beta - Next from Library, access Tools from the drop down.

- Right click on Creation Kit and select Properties.

- Click on the Betas tab, and from the drop down select beta

– Creation Kit Beta - Steam will now restart. After Steam restarts, “Skyrim” will be updated to the Beta version currently available.

Despite the fact that Steam Workshop offers relatively easy access to “Skyrim” mods, more adventurous users typically make use of the popular Nexus Mod Manager. The program allows users to load mods that affect “Skyrim” on a more fundamental level, even altering its rendering engine by utilising the popular ENB series of mods created by Boris Vorontsov.

ENB mods are capable of altering the post-processing effects displayed by “Skyrim,” allowing gamer's to change things like anti-aliasing, shadowing, saturation, depth of field and more. In January, Kotaku ran a feature listing a number of the more popular “Skyrim” mods and explained how gamer's could go about installing them. The mod scene and frequent Steam sales have helped greatly prolong the life cycle of Bethesda’s open-world RPG, cementing it as a firm fan-favourite with sales in excess of 20 million units.