Breaking Benjamin frontman explains viral Fallout 4 mod plug at gig was unplanned

A viral clip showing Breaking Benjamin singer Benjamin Burnley addressing his crowd about modding community negativity mid-gig has been explained by the musician himself, who says the moment was never intended as a planned statement.

Speaking to Nexus Mods, Burnley, who releases mods under the name Killemloud, said the incident stemmed from a technical hitch rather than any deliberate decision to address online criticism from the stage. He explained that his drummer’s snare drum head broke during the show, leaving him to fill dead air while technicians carried out repairs.

“What happened was my drummer broke a snare drum head. We were standing around waiting, and in all of my spare time, I work on my own mods just for my own personal game. I just so happened to have been working on that one, and I’d immediately been met with a lot of negativity on the first version of it… It wasn’t a planned thing, and it wasn’t a serious thing.”

Burnley added that he approaches subjects like online criticism with humour, and noted that early versions of mods rarely reflect the finished product once user feedback has been incorporated. However, footage of the incident shows someone at the drum kit throughout the speech, and one audience member can be heard shouting “Play some music!” partway through, while Burnley also referenced having mentioned the mod “every fucking night” on stage, details that sit awkwardly with the idea of a single spontaneous moment.

The mod at the centre of the controversy, called True First Person, was created because Burnley finds it difficult to set up his VR equipment while touring. He explained that the mod adjusts the flat version of Fallout 4 to better match the first-person perspective he prefers from playing in VR, since players never see their own character model while using a headset.

Much of the interview focused on Burnley’s enthusiasm for playing Skyrim and Fallout 4 in VR, which he says sparked his entire modding career. He recalled using a programme called VorpX to play flat games such as Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3 in VR before official VR versions of Skyrim and Fallout 4 existed, and said he initially worked on VR ports of existing mods including Better Vampires and Convenient Horses before creating his own.

Burnley argued that mods matter more for VR versions of these games than for their standard counterparts, since VR often requires additional work to enable basic actions like picking up objects. No explanation was offered as to why True First Person carries Nexus Mods’ “AI-assisted” tag, which the site applies to mods involving limited AI use in areas such as texture or audio upscaling and concept art not present in the final release.