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This article is about Modding – changing the original game.
Please note that modding is not maintained by Nine Dots Studio.

The following is a guide for Installing Mods for Outward.

Modding Branch

In order to use mods, you need to be on a Mono branch of Outward.

  • On Steam: Right-click Outward in your Steam library, and choose: Properties > Betas > "default-mono - Public default branch (mono)", there is no access code.
  • On GoG Galaxy: From the Outward screen (where the play button is), click on the Options button to the right of the play button. From there, go to Manage Installation > Configure... > Installation tab. Select the drop down and select default-mono. If you see the "radio buttons", make sure to click the radio button titled Version X.X.X:mono (where "X.X.X" is the highest version number you can see) to update to the correct version.
  • On Epic Store: you are on mono by default and dont need to do anything.

Thunderstore

Thunderstore is a mod database which supports Outward. r2modman is a mod manager which is integrated with Thunderstore, and supports Outward along with other games.

  1. Make sure you are on the mono branch of Outward (see above)
  2. If you have previous mod installations it is recommended to remove all existing mods and mod loaders before you start using Thunderstore/r2modman.
    • Delete (or make a backup of): Outward\BepInEx\, Outward\Mods\, Outward\winhttp.dll and Outward\doorstop_config.ini.
  3. Download r2modman (manual installation), install and run r2modman.
  1. Choose Outward as the game and select or create a profile.
  2. Make sure your Outward installation folder is set. You can confirm by going to the Settings > Locations > Change Outward directory.
    • For Definitive Edition, make sure it points to Outward/Outward_Defed/Outward Definitive Edition.exe.
  3. Install the BepInEx_Outward pack.
  4. Add mods as you desire!

You can launch with mods with the Launch (modded) button in r2modman, or Launch (vanilla) to play without mods. If you launch from your game store launcher or from the Outward.exe directly then it will not launch with mods.

Vanilla Outward

If you are not playing on the Definitive Edition, you will need to use older versions of mods. Check the releases for the mod and pick the latest version that was release before May 17th, 2022.

  • When installing mods in r2modman/Thunderstore Mod Manager, you can pick the version from a dropdown when you are installing it.
  • You will also need to make sure you install mods to the Outward folder and not the Outward/Outward_Defed folder. In R2modman/Thunderstore Mod Manager, make sure your Outward Installation path is set to the vanilla Outward.exe.

Where To Find Mods

  • Thunderstore is a mod database for Outward mods (along with other games).
  • NexusMods contains most Outward mods, though many are outdated.

BepInEx (Manual installation)

BepInEx is a Mod Loader for Unity games. Using BepInEx is simple - just drag and drop, there is no real "installation" process for BepInEx, and no game files are permanently changed. Deleting BepInEx is as simple as deleting the BepInEx folder.

  • NOTE: If you are using r2modman you should not install BepInEx manually, but you can still install BepInEx mods manually by putting them in the BepInEx\plugins\ folder or in your r2modman AppData profile folder.

Before installation

Before you install:

  • Please install 7Zip for Outward modding, and make sure you always use the "Extract Here" when installing BepInEx or mods, unless the mod instructions say not to.
  • Warning: Do NOT install Partiality Launcher, or it will break BepInEx.
    • If you have Partiality Launcher installed (or did have it), you should backup your Outward\SaveGames\ directory, delete the Outward folder, and do a complete re-install of Outward before you continue.

How to install

  1. Make sure you are on the mono branch of Outward (see above)
  2. Download BepInEx here. Make sure to download the Unity Mono _x64.zip version for Outward, and not the Unix or x86 versions.
  3. Place the zip in your game installation folder, eg. for Steam: steamapps\common\Outward\BepInEx.zip.
  4. Right-click the zip file and choose "Extract here", or right click -> 7-Zip -> Extract Here.
  5. Make sure the files look exactly like this: Outward\BepInEx\ (folder), Outward\doorstop_config.ini and Outward\winhttp.dll.
  6. Run the game from your Game Launcher (not directly from Outward.exe), and make sure you see a file Outward\BepInEx\LogOutput.log, this means BepInEx was installed correctly.

Done! You are now ready to install BepInEx mods.

Installing Mods Manually

To install mods manually, you must first locate your BepInEx plugins folder.

  • For R2Modman, go into Settings > Browse Profile Folder
  • For manual BepInEx installs, go to where you installed BepInEx

Mods should each be placed into a separate folder. For example:

BepInEx/
|- plugins/
   |- ModName/
      |- ModName.dll
      |- SideLoader/...

Troubleshooting

If you're having trouble loading a mod there are some things you can try.

Checklist

  • Make sure you are launching the game from r2modman, or if you're not using r2modman then from your Game Launcher (Steam/GoG/Epic).
  • (Steam / GoG users) Make sure your game is set to the Mono branch! Sometimes your launcher may revert to the main branch.
  • Ensure you do not have Outward installed in more than one location. From your game launcher, use the "Browse Local Files" (or equivalent option) and make sure you actually installed mods from where the game is launching from. For r2modman, ensure your 'Outward Installation folder' is set to this location.
  • Right click Outward.exe and click Properties > Compatibility, and make sure you are not running the game in compatibility mode for Windows 8. You can disable compatibility or use Windows 7 mode.

Manual installations only

These steps only apply to non-r2modman installations.

  • Ensure you have placed the files in the correct structure. You should see Outward/BepInEx/core, for example, and not "Outward/BepInEx_{version}/BepInEx/core".
  • Make sure you downloaded the x64 (Windows, Mono) version of BepInEx. There are other options and none of those will work.
  • Some Windows systems may block the DLL files because they're from a different computer. To fix this, right-click the DLL file and select Properties > Unblock (button down the bottom). You should check this for the winhttp.dll file in the main Outward folder, as well as the DLLs in the Outward\BepInEx\core\ folder.

If all else fails

  • Try hard-restarting your game launcher (Steam / GoG / Epic) and trying again.
  • Backup your Outward\SaveGames folder, and do a complete re-installation of Outward.
    • Make sure you completely delete the Outward installation folder before re-installing. Put your SaveGames back after installing.
  • Reach out to the Outward Modding Community Discord and ask for help.

See Also

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