The start of Season 1 for Marvel Rivals included at least one change that wasn't documented in any of the patch notes. Developer NetEase added in an asset hash check. If the hash value of an asset differs from what is expected, the custom asset won't be loaded and the default ones will be used.
Custom skins for Marvel Rivals started to be used shortly after the initial launch on December 6, 2024. These custom skins included things like Big Smoke as The Punisher, Vegeta as Iron Man, and so very many nude and degen skins for characters.
Questions and complaints started to pop up in the official Marvel Rivals' Discord server shortly after the launch of Season 1 and the new update. A workaround for mods no longer working is being looked into by mod makers such as MerryJoyKey, the creator of the Marvel Rivals mod manager.
NetEase has never really shown support for the use of custom mods in Marvel Rivals. While they did not take action prior to today, they have long since said that modifying game files carries the risk of being banned. So far, there have been no bans issued for these custom skins, at least those that have been available through sites like Nexus Mods. However, there is a real possibility that continued use of custom skins or the use of workarounds for custom skins could eventually result in a ban.
As Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play title supported by official cosmetic microtransactions, it seemed rather obvious that these user created mods weren't long for this world. That's not even mentioning the fact that most modern competitive multiplayer games do not allow for the use of custom skins due to concerns of gaining unfair competitive advantages and cheating.
