Ludeon Forums

1) How to install a mod

• Check the mod's OP (opening post) for install instructions. This is the standard installation procedure that applies to most mods but some mods/modpacks require special installation, so make sure to check if the author listed any special steps you need to take in addition to this.
• Download the mod
• Find your Mods folder. If you're on Windows it should be in the same place as the Rimworld.exe, on Mac/Linux it should be where you store the Rimworld app.
• Extract the downloaded mod to the Mods folder. Most mods are packaged in .zip or .rar formats, you will need a program like WinRAR or 7Zip to unpack them, Mac users can use apps like the Unarchiver. Check the new folder to make sure it is placed correctly, if everything is right you should have a folder structure like this: Mods/ModName/About/
• Start Rimworld and open up the Mods menu. If you did everything right the mod should appear in the list of inactive mods. Click the mod to add it to the list of active mods.
• After activating it, the mod will display a number like [5] next to its name. This is its position in the load order. Mods with higher numbers are loaded after and override changes from mods with lower numbers and some mods have dependencies that must be loaded before them. Make sure you read the mod's OP to check if the mod lists any dependencies.
• Restart the game. This is important. Due to the way the game loads mods you must restart the game every single time you open the mod menu, even if you don't change anything, otherwise it can cause all kinds of graphical and other issues until you restart the game.
• Start a new colony and/or create a new world. Some mods require a new colony or world file to work properly. If you're unsure whether a mod requires it, check the OP or ask in the thread.

If you're looking for the old install instructions thread, you can find it here (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=6223.0)

2) How to report mod issues

If you found an issue, bug or error with a mod, first up you should check the OP for instructions on bug reporting. Some mod authors like to use systems like Mantis or Github's issue tracker. If the mod author didn't specify otherwise, post the report in the mod thread. When reporting bugs/errors you should always include the following:

• A description of the issue. Try to describe when or how the issue occured and what exactly went wrong.
• Your mod load order with any other mods you are running.
• Your output_log.txt. To find it go to the place your Rimworld.exe/Rimworld app is stored. There should be a folder called Rimworld914Win_Data or something similar. Open it and there should be a file called output_log.txt. Do not simply copy-paste the content of the file into your post. Instead attach the file to your post. If the filesize is too large for that use the code BB tag and paste the content inside it. If you're on Linux, see this post. (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=18272.msg211424#msg211424)
• Any other special information. For example if you made your own changes to the mod or got your version from a modpack you should mention it in your report.

3) How to update a mod

• Navigate to your Mods folder and delete the old version. Do not simply copy-paste over the old installation or you could run into issues.
• Extract the new version unless the mod author specified some other update instructions.
• Start a new colony and/or create a new world. Sometimes an update requires a new colony or world to be started, so use caution before updating mods in the middle of a running colony.

4) How to recover a broken installation

Should you somehow run into the issue that you cannot start the game anymore after activating a mod and the game doesn't recover the mod list automatically on launch, you can use this method to reset it manually.

• Navigate to your Config folder. By default it will be C:/Users/YourUserName/AppData/LocalLow/Ludeon Studios/RimWorld/Config if you're on Windows (you'll need to enable displaying hidden folders in Explorer view options). If you're on a Mac it should be ./Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/RimWorld/Config
• You should see a ModsConfig.xml file. Delete it.
• Start Rimworld. It should generate a new ModsConfig.xml with only the Core mod enabled.

If you only want to disable a specific mod you can skip steps 2 and 3 and instead open the ModsConfig.xml in a text editor of your choice, find the line where it says <li>ModName</li> and delete it to disable that mod without resetting the entire mod order.

Updated with information on how to recover a broken installation.

Under the "How to report mod issues" I would have a bit at the start saying to read the first post for instructions. A number of mods use the Github issue tracking functionality.

Quote from: Jaxxa on April 04, 2016, 07:57:35 PM
Under the "How to report mod issues" I would have a bit at the start saying to read the first post for instructions. A number of mods use the Github issue tracking functionality.

Good point, added it.

Linux does not generate a logfile by default. To enable logging the binary needs to be called directly - not using the start-script start_RimWorld.sh - with the -logfile option, or said script edited (it uses the option only if the binary has the string 'Dev' somewhere in the filename, which isn't the case for released versions.). In my case I start the game from a terminal in the RimWorld1135Linux directory as follows:
LC_ALL=C ./RimWorld1135Linux.x86_64 -logfile logfile.txt

Quote from: Vee on April 23, 2016, 05:02:35 AM
Linux does not generate a logfile by default. To enable logging the binary needs to be called directly - not using the start-script start_RimWorld.sh - with the -logfile option, or said script edited (it uses the option only if the binary has the string 'Dev' somewhere in the filename, which isn't the case for released versions.). In my case I start the game from a terminal in the RimWorld1135Linux directory as follows:
LC_ALL=C ./RimWorld1135Linux.x86_64 -logfile logfile.txt

Thanks for the information, I linked your post in the OP.

Unstickied because it duplicates this much older thread (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=6223.0) and it looks like this won't be updated any more.

But I thought the point of this was a newer version of that thread, because that thread is from 2014

Sorry, I linked to the wrong thread. And the old one was first posted in 2014, it was updated last month.