Mod Manager Guide
Hello there!
Understandably, many people are confused about the mod manager, so I made this guide.
I know this guide looks long and boring, but I recommend taking the time and reading at least "The Basics" chapter.
Click to expand
Before you can use the mod manager, you first need to pick the game path, if you haven't already:
Click on "Attempt auto-detect" or on "..." to pick the path manually.
Read more about profiles here.
If you have trouble finding the game location, see: FAQ: Where is the Fallout76.exe located?
When you first start the mod manager, you'll be greeted with this window:
You might want to import mods you've already installed.
You can do this by clicking on "File → Import installed mods":
Ready to mod the game now? Good! Let's continue:
To import a mod, you can simply drag-and-drop a *.ba2 file, an archive (*.zip, *.rar, *.7z), or a folder into the mod order.
Alternatively, you can click on the 
"Add archive" or 
"Add folder" buttons in the left panel.
After importing a mod, the mod manager trys to auto-detect the correct installation options. You might need to set these options yourself, though.
Once imported, when you click on a mod in the list, it will open the side panel:
From here, you can configure the mod.
There are generally three different types of mods:
- .ba2 archives: These files contain textures, meshes, sound effects, interface files, and so on. You can think of them like *.rar or *.zip files.
- .dll files: These files get loaded by the game and contain instructions (= machine code). They basically extend / change the game's functionality.
- Loose assets, such as files in a Strings folder.
The mod manager gives you four options on how to install a mod:
-
Bundle into *.ba2 archives with other mods: This will bundle mods into a
Bundled.ba2,Bundled - Textures.ba2, orBundled - Sounds.ba2. The files will get sorted for you. - Create separate *.ba2 archive: This will create a new *.ba2 archive on every deployment.
- Create separate *.ba2 archive (Frozen): This will create a *.ba2 archive once (it will be stored in a folder: "FrozenData") and then it will just copy and rename that archive into the Data folder. Freezing archives saves time on deployment, which is especially useful for huge re-texture mods (>1 GiB).
- Copy loose files: This will copy files directly into a specified folder without putting them into a *.ba2 archive.
ℹ️ To know how to install a particular mod, you'll need to read the installation instructions of the mod authors carefully.
Let's look at these options in more detail:
If you select the this option, the mod will get bundled in Bundled.ba2, Bundled - Textures.ba2, or Bundled - Sounds.ba2 files.
This option always works (at least for mods that come as *.ba2 files), but the deployment will take longer, as it rebuilds the bundled archives every time.
If you decide to select this option, you'll get a few additional options:
Here, you can give the archive a name:
Also, you can select a preset. Since it is a mod that changes the materials of certain items (it contains *.bgsm files),
you could select the preset "General / Interface / Materials / Animations" or just leave it on "Auto-detect":
You might want to check the "Freeze" checkbox as well.
As said, it'll then pack the archive only once. This will therefore make the deployment process quicker.
By the way, if you wonder about the "Copy loose files" option:
It only gives you the option to select the installation path relative to the game's directory. ("." being the Fallout76 folder)
So, nothing too fancy.
You can click "Attempt auto-detect installation options".
The tool will look at the mod files and try to find the best options for it.
This isn't magic though and it might set wrong options.
The tool will try to detect if a mod hasn't been installed or setup correctly and display a warning in the side panel.
However, it doesn't pick up on everything that could go wrong, so you have to make sure, you read the mod author's instructions carefully.
Here's an example of how the warning might look like:
or:
The final step is to deploy mods.
Click on "Deploy", and the mod manager then starts to go through the list, from top-to-bottom, to install every mod you enabled.
It will also write all file names into Fallout76Custom.ini's "sResourceIndexFileList". (See also Editing the resource list)
Example:
- You have to be logged in to NexusMods. See NexusMods Integration
- Copy and paste the link of each mod into the "Webpage (URL)" textbox of the side panel
(otherwise the tool doesn't know what to do with it)
- Click on "Tools → Update mod information"
Same as above, but you click on "Tools → Check for updates".
(though "Tools → Update mod information" also works)
As of now, you have to do so manually. It will not automatically check for updates.
When an update is available (and you use the NexusMods API), the title of the mod becomes pink:
Or if you use the "Compact" layout, the version becomes bold and pink:
There is no "auto-update" for mods. I suggest to update a mod this way:
- First, download the latest version of the mod from the Nexus.
- Then delete all folder contents. There's a button you can click (see image below).
- Drag-and-drop the archive, folder, or *.ba2 file into the little box (see image below).
- Check, if everything got imported correctly.
- Click on "Set latest version" (if you're using the NexusMods API).
- Deploy.
You can pick where to store mods in the profile options.
If you already have mods installed, you'll have to move the folders to the new location.
By default, it stores mods in the game installation path.
For instance, let's say you set the profile up like so:
Game path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout76
Mods path: D:\Mods\Fallout 76
Then, you'll have to move the "Mods" and "FrozenData" folder into that new path:
D:\Mods\Fallout 76\Mods
D:\Mods\Fallout 76\FrozenData
| Action | Button | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| Save changes | File > Save changes | Ctrl+S |
| Select all mods | N/A | Ctrl+A |
| Deselect all mods | N/A | Ctrl+D |
| Selecting multiple mods | N/A | Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click |
| Enable/disable all mods | .png) |
Spacebar |
| Delete selected mods |  |
Delete or Backspace |
| Move selected mods up and down |
 and 
|
Drag and drop or Ctrl+ArrowUp and Ctrl+ArrowDown |
If you wonder what the buttons in the panel do:
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
|
Add any archive (*.zip, *.rar, *.7z, *.tar, *.ba2) |
|
Add a folder |
|
Check / uncheck selected or all mods |
|
Move selected mod(s) up |
|
Move selected mod(s) down |
 |
Open the folder the mod resides in |
 |
Freeze selected mod(s) |
 |
Unfreeze selected mod(s) |
|
Delete selected mod(s) |
Tip: You can select multiple mods and perform actions in bulk. (Use Shift+Click or Ctrl+Click to select multiple mods)
You can choose between a "Standard" and a "Compact" layout in the settings:
Try them out and see which one you like more.
You can pick whether the mod manager uses sResourceIndexFileList or sResourceArchive2List.
As far as I know, it makes no difference. Defaults to sResourceIndexFileList.
You cannot change the sResourceIndexFileList/sResourceArchive2List in the *.ini file itself, because it will get overwritten by the mod manager.
Instead, you may change it from the settings tab of the mod manager:
⚠️ Important: The list entries are separated by new-lines, not commas! (This is to make it more readable)- "Clean list" will remove non-existing files.
- "Reset" will reset the list, if you made an accident.
- Don't forget to hit "Apply changes".