Borderlands 4 creative director says "It’s way more involved and riskier than it appears" as fans call for a popular dialog skip mod to become official, warns it may "lead to broken mission states that might not be recoverable"

Borderlands 4
(Image credit: 2K)

Borderlands 4 has been out for just under one month, and players are already finding ways to make replaying sections more streamlined. As such, a mod to skip dialogue is gaining traction among the community, with calls for Gearbox to officially integrate the option; however, achieving this is easier said than done.

The 'Dialog Skipper' is available on Nexus Mods from users Yeti and itzSmugg, and it adds a button to skip over any current exposition, as well as an option to turn all of it off and to fast-forward longer animations. It's a handy little toolkit, whether you're a fledgling speedrunner or just want to tighten up your re-runs.

Borderlands streamer and video creator JoltzDude139 posted a clip of him using the mod, espousing its positives. This resulted in a call for the developers to formally include it in the sci-fi looter-shooter, but creative director Graeme Timmins was quick to ask everyone to slow down.

"I'd be cautious using this mod; skipping dialog could lead to broken mission states that might not be recoverable," he says on Twitter. "This request is way more involved and riskier than it appears on the surface with how dialog is integrated within our mission system."

A couple of fans have doubled down in his replies, while one points out they're saving regularly as they play with the mod in use. Ultimately, what Timmins is saying is that games often have complex structures that don't lend themselves to simple edits.

Giving players the option to just bypass dialog could lead to all sorts of hidden ramifications. Objectives and different facets of any given mission are often tied directly to characters speaking. If those lines are glossed over without being massaged out, things could get messy.

But never say never. Nonetheless, it's a fun add-on if you’re already keen to do a little speedrunning. As we’re still early in the lifespan of Borderlands 4, don’t expect any official patch off this to be a priority any time soon.

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Anthony McGlynn
Contributing Writer

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.

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