We study the modulational instability and spatial pattern formation in extended media, taking the one-dimensional complex Ginzburg-Landau equation with higher-order terms as a perturbation of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation as a model. By stability analysis for the original partial differential equation, we derive its stability condition as well as the threshold for amplitude perturbations and we show how nonlinear higher-order terms qualitatively change the behavior of the system. The analytical results are found to be in agreement with numerical findings. Modulational instability mediates pattern formation through the lattice. The main feature of the traveling plane waves is its disintegration in pulse train during the propagation through the system.