After four years of less-than-optimal gameplay and instability issues, some Nier: Automata fans rejoiced when the game was finally updated on July 15, 2021. When it was first released in 2017, its PC port was buggy and unoptimized. For some frustrated players, getting consistent gameplay was challenging. The community ended up creating many mods dedicated solely to making the experience more comfortable and enjoyable.
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Those who were able to persevere past the bugs were met with an incredible game that lures you in with its gothic atmosphere and deep and poignant lore that will eventually break your heart. Even with the patch, not everything has been improved. Unsurprisingly, then, most mods continue to heavily revolve around quality of life improvements.
10 Bunker In Color
The first time entering the Bunker can be surprising and a bit unsettling. The grainy, black and white aesthetic in this area may not be for everyone. Nier: Automata's world is grim and dystopian, and while this area's design more than reflects that, some may find it a step too far.
The Bunker In Color mod does strip away some of the symbolic depth in Nier Automata, but if you'd rather be without it, help is at hand. It's why this mod from Alprazolam15 exists. This subtle but signficant tweak allows players who might dislike the aesthetic to roam the Bunker in full color.
9 Reincarnation 2B Outfit
Fans of Nier Reincarnation will immediately recognize this outfit. The Reincarnation 2B Outfit mod faithfully recreates 2B's outfit, so players can dispatch their foes in (even more) style. While this outfit is exclusive to the mobile game, PC players can use it whenever they please. Keep in mind that it will replace 2B's regular outfit and player model, as the mod extensively changes both.
Players can still use DLC outfits and armor alongside the mod. The designer, DevolasRevenge, improved 2B's model with custom roughness and ambient occlusion maps, as well as new body textures that give her a very different look.
8 Androids Remastered
Do the models for 2B, 9S, and A2 models seem dark and low resolution? The Androids Remastered mod solves that problem. Petrarca22, the creator, worked from the ground up, creating 4K PBR textures and adding some model revisions. This means that the iconic android trio now boast models that react realistically to light.
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To some players, the changes may seem minor, but this mod significantly improves the overall appearances of the characters and makes them stand out. If 2B's revision isn't to taste, there's the option to use her model from Soul Calibur 6 or go back to the standard vanilla model.
7 Nier Fantasy ReShade
The grainy, moody atmosphere of Nier Automata is amazing in its own right, but what if players wanted something more fantastical and dark? Nier Fantasy ReShade is a small graphical mod that replaces Automata's washed-out colors with darker, moodier tones.
While Vanguard1776's mod seems small, color and lighting are incredibly powerful tools that can quickly change an atmosphere (as this modder demonstrates). That's all a returning player needs to experience the game from an entirely new perspective. Consider the change akin to playing a Grand Theft Auto game in first person. More details become apparent, while others become obscured, when deviating from the norm.
6 2B Casual Clothes
The 2B Casual Clothes mod designed by RozwellRamirez1313 is another model replacement that changes 2B's usual dress (a cosplay classic) with casual streetwear. It's a stylish mod that gives 2B a whole new modern look. This gives players a fashionable alternative that stands out.
The mod itself is a custom design, so some small texture bugs may pop up now and then. The good news is that the modder has plans to create casual outfits for 9S and A2 too. This way, nobody has to be left behind in the style stakes.
5 Siyan's Nier Automata Cheat Table
Sometimes players just want to feel unstoppable in a game that doesn't want them to be. Siyan's Nier Automata Cheat Table allows players to remove movement and combat restrictions, so they can infinitely dash and double jump, along with several more options.SSSiyan, its creator, wanted to give players a new way to enjoy the game by removing such limitations. Combat soon becomes an aerial brawl very similar to the sort of antics seen in Dragon Ball: FighterZ.
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As @SSSiyan demonstrates in the image above (via Twitter), it opens the door to a whole new way of fighting in Nier Automata. Veteran players should consider giving it a try as as they go through another run (perhaps in New Game Plus). It'll add a new dimension to boss fights. Beware, though: the tool requires Cheat Engine, which will flag anti-cheat software present in most games.
4 Nier Automata Mod Helper (NAMH)
Installing mods can be tricky and time-consuming. Even simple mods that overwrite textures and player models can be difficult to install if the user doesn't know what they're doing. The Nier Automata Mod Helper (NAMH) was designed as an all-in-one program that streamlines installing and uninstalling mods. Its developer, Petrarca22, gives players a vital tool that makes modding incredibly straightforward and simple. More importantly, their mod helps save a lot of time.
It's the Nier equivalent of Minecraft's CurseForge mod pack manager. The mod helper comes prepackaged with essential mods like FAR and ReShade. Nier Automata Mod Helper also performs compatibility checks to ensure mods won't cause problems during gameplay.
3 Video Upscaled FullHD AI Gigapixel 60fps Interpolated (1080p Cutscenes)
Players that want to view Nier Automata cutscenes in 1080p at 60fps will want to install the Video Upscaled FullHD AI Gigapixel 60fps Interpolated mod. The mod replaces all Nier Automata's 900p 30fps cutscenes with 1080p 60fps ones. HewellP increased the resolution of the scenes to 4K and then downscaled them to 1080p, in a manner not too dissimilar to a do-it-yourself version DLSS.
While the debate is still on between cinematic cutscenes and 60fps cutscenes in games, the jump in quality is more than worthwhile. The leap from 900p to 1080p may seem insignificant, but it does clear up any blur and haziness that may be present on modern monitors.
2 HD Texture Pack
Despite the numerous changes the patch brought, textures were left unchanged. Now, this wouldn't be a problem, but sadly the game is plagued with inconsistent textures. Some areas can feel like playing around in the Source engine. When playing at higher resolutions, Nier: Automata becomes substantially blurrier. The blur was also worsened by the game's refusal to play at native resolutions.
The HD Texture Pack provides players with some much-needed clarity by improving various low-resolution textures scattered throughout the map. GPUnity's texture pack was created with an incredible amount of passion and effort. It substantially improves Nier's visual fidelity, without compromising its wonderful art style. There's finally visual consistency between environments and props, and it's great to see.
1 FAR (Fix Automata Resolution) Mod
Without this mod, most of Nier Automata's modding community wouldn't be here. Many mods rely on the framework that FAR created. The Fix Automata Resolution mod was created by Kaldaien to amend many of the issues that were troubling players using the PC version of Nier Automata. FAR became an essential mod for many players. They were finally able to play in native resolutions, stop crashes, and inject new textures into the game.
FAR made the game stable. When the July 2021 patch came in, Square Enix implemented many of the features and fixes that FAR was created for. While FAR may seem unnecessary at this point, it still offers players a few important benefits, like improved render latency, faster load times, and, of course, more mods.
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