WarpFrog has SHIPPED Blade & Sorcery patch 1.3.2.2, titled “Mod Manager Refresh,” and its core is NOT a feature drop but a full REBUILD. In patch notes posted on Steam on October 14, the studio says the PLUGIN it used for mod.io “was reclassified as obsolete, becoming more and more unsupported over time,” until “mod lists frustratingly becoming invisible” was one of SEVERAL failures players KEPT hitting.
For a game whose long tail RUNS on COMMUNITY content, that is NOT a cosmetic problem. The mod manager is how players on PC VR and on Blade & Sorcery: Nomad, the standalone Quest version, BROWSE and INSTALL mods from mod.io INSIDE the headset. When the list goes BLANK, the sandbox loses much of its REASON to keep players coming back.
A Rewrite Instead of Another Workaround
WarpFrog says the mod.io SDK update “required multiple changes to our mod manager code,” so it “used this opportunity to do a major refactor of the mod manager to improve its architecture.” MIXED, which timestamps the post at 13:51 UTC (9:51 a.m. ET), describes it the SAME way: a REBUILT manager, not another patch layered on the OLD plugin.
The backstory is CLEAR. The previous patch, 1.3.1.2 on July 30, was an EMERGENCY hotfix. Its notes said the mod.io plugin “is now considered legacy and is no longer supported by modio,” and that replacing it was “not a simple swapout and is actually a lot of coding work.” That hotfix only cleared the “failed to obtain terms of use” error that BLOCKED access to the manager; the blank-list bugs were LEFT for later. Eleven weeks on, later has ARRIVED.
What Changed in the Manager
By our count of the changelog, 1.3.2.2 lists 17 IMPROVEMENTS, THREE changes, 16 FIXES and ONE SDK entry: 37 LINES in total, against just TWO in the July hotfix. Of the 16 fixes, 11 TARGET the mod manager DIRECTLY.
Those fixes address the CORE complaints: the mods list sometimes not showing installed mods on Nomad, manual mods CONFLICTING with subscribed ones, the manager failing to SAVE options, manually DELETED mods not reinstalling, and DUPLICATE manifest ID conflicts. WarpFrog also added an ID CLASH check for manual mods, which MATTERS for players who install files OUTSIDE mod.io.
On usability, the notes list BETTER handling of mod conflicts, dependencies and invalid mods; SEARCH by author; a new DEPENDENCY confirmation window; a LARGER in-game keyboard; dimmed displays for disabled mods; a “No mods found” message; and confirmation text on “Uninstall All Mods.” Several are SMALL, but in a headset, where typing and pointing are SLOWER than at a desk, a bigger keyboard and CLEARER states are PRACTICAL wins.
One Bug Survived, and WarpFrog Says So
The studio is UPFRONT that the rewrite is NOT finished. It names “a rare bug where the first time the mod manager browser is opened it does not show the full mods list.” A game RESTART clears it, and a PERMANENT fix is still in progress. WarpFrog says it “didn’t want to delay the release of this patch which fixes other major issues that players were experiencing with the old plugin.”
That is a REASONABLE trade, but players should EXPECT it. If the browser looks EMPTY on first open after updating, restart BEFORE assuming any mods are GONE.
Gameplay and Modder Notes
NOT everything is mod plumbing. The default master VOLUME is now 50%, and the dalgarian tools only appear after a player’s FIRST dalgarian dungeon run. Fixes cover a CROSSBOW that would not fire more than once when its loader was null, spell bombs that could BREAK player hands if ungrabbed and re-grabbed rapidly, and DELAYED vibrations when audio is used for haptics.
For mod authors, the single SDK line is NOTABLE: WarpFrog added Unity.XR.OpenXR to the game assemblies list “to prevent mod loading issues.” Steam metadata tracker UpdateMonitor shows the PUBLIC branch moving from build 24471221 to 25901209 on October 14, with a NEW branch labeled “previousversion_1.3.1.2” appearing alongside it.
Madlu Is Next, Without a Date
WarpFrog calls 1.3.2.2 “one last 1.3.x patch for you before the next big 1.4 Madlu update,” and says further mod manager fixes can SHIP as small HOTFIXES or roll into that release. Madlu is the FOURTH and FINAL FREE Byeth Update, following Sentara (1.2, February 24) and Khar-Tib (1.3, July 6). NO release window has been given. Russian outlet VRealm reports the SAME sequencing.
Blade & Sorcery SELLS for $29.99 on Steam, where it is listed as VR-ONLY and reached its 1.0 release on June 17, 2024.
Why It Matters
Mod-driven VR games DEPEND on THIRD-PARTY infrastructure they do NOT control. When a VENDOR plugin is DEPRECATED, the COST lands on the studio and the community at ONCE. WarpFrog chose a full REFACTOR over another STOPGAP, and it DISCLOSED the remaining bug rather than BURYING it. Whether the new manager HOLDS up will show in the NEXT hotfix cycle, and in whether Madlu LANDS on a STABLE base.
Sources
- WarpFrog, Steam news: “1.3.2.2 – Mod Manager Refresh” (Oct 14) and “1.3.1.2 Hotfix” (Jul 30)
- MIXED: Blade & Sorcery mod lists were going invisible, so WarpFrog rewrote the mod manager (Oct 14)
- VRealm: Blade & Sorcery 1.3.2.2 (Oct 14, Russian)
- UpdateMonitor: Blade & Sorcery app change log
- Steam store: Blade and Sorcery
Image credits: Featured image and arena screenshot by WarpFrog, from the Blade and Sorcery Steam store page. Changelog chart by Metaverse Watcher, built from WarpFrog’s Steam patch notes.