Modder Deliberately Corrupts Their Own Hugely Popular Total War: Warhammer III Mod as Row Over AI Escalates

The creator of one of the most popular Total War: Warhammer III mods ever has deliberately corrupted it so that it will no longer work with “unauthorized reuploads,” amid a row over the rights and wrongs of AI-generated modifications.

Veteran modder Venris has created Simply Fun Overhaul (SFO) mods for Total War: Warhammer for years, with a popular Patreon helping in the development of the latest version, SFO: Grimhammer III. The mod overhauls the base game to be closer to the lore and Warhammer universe, changing everything from the campaign and battle mechanics to the economy and customization.

Recently, people have used AI to release sub mods of SFO: Grimhammer III that work with updated versions of the main, Creative Assembly-developed video game, without asking permission. In response, Venris corrupted their own mod so that it stops working with these uploads, and threatened to make SFO: Grimhammer III private.

“Due to the growing number of unauthorized reuploads of SFO: Grimhammer …