It was a great boost to the modding community when Bethesda announced integration of the Steam Workshop for Skyrim mods. While it still has a ways to go before it can really compete on the same level with established communities like Skryim Nexus, it’s a great start. This latest patch makes it even better.

On the Bethesda blog, the developer announced Skyrim patch 1.4.27 launching today on Steam for all users. The major fixes are coming to the launcher which fixed a problem when the game crashed if you were subscribed to over 50 mods or if you were loading a subscribed mod that had been removed from the workshop.

The best improvement by far, however, is adding load order functionality to the Skyrim launcher. For those who haven’t played around with PC mods, especially with Bethesda titles, load orders are extremely important. While it really doesn’t matter with most mods which order they are loaded in, a few of them, especially texture mods, require a specific load order to work.

The move makes Steam Workshop a little more appealing to long time mod users like myself who scoffed at the idea of Steam Workshop mod integration at first because it lacked a way to organize the load order. If Bethesda can keep up this momentum, their mod solution may be able to compete with the Nexus Mod Manager one day.

Here’s the full list of fixes:

UPDATE 1.4.27 (PC Only)

LAUNCHER

Fixed issue with downloading mods when you are subscribed to more than 50 mods
Fixed crash when loading a subscribed mod that has been removed from Workshop by the author
Mod load order functionality

BUG FIXES (PC only)

Fixed occasional crashes when loading a save that relies on plugins/master files that no longer exist
Fixed issue where controls would become unresponsive while charging an enchanted weapon
Fixed issue where controls would occasionally become unresponsive while switching from third to first person while using the Arcane Enchanter
Fixed issue where controls would become unresponsive if activating a crafting station with autorun active
Fixed issue where keyboard would fail if Rename Item was selected before choosing the number of charges, while using Arcane Enchanter
Fixed several issues with remapping buttons while using an Xbox 360 controller
Fixed issue where pressing Escape button after fast traveling but before the loading would cause certain menus to stop working properly
Followers now sneak properly when player is sneaking

It’s good to see Bethesda being so supportive of the PC release for Skyrim. They are a shining example of how a major publisher should handle its PC releases.

If you’re like me and use the Skyrim Script Extender, you’ll be happy to know that the current release supports today’s patch.