Installing¶

How to get these mods running in Outward: Definitive Edition.

At a glance - Outward must be on its Mono Steam branch (not the default IL2CPP build). - Mods are loaded by BepInEx 5. - Each mod is a folder under BepInEx/plugins/, alongside the kits it depends on. - Settings live in BepInEx/config/cobalt.<mod>.cfg — see Where settings live.

1. Put Outward on the Mono branch (required)¶

In Steam: Outward → Properties → Betas → select mono, and let it update.

The whole mod stack is built for Outward's Mono runtime. On the default IL2CPP build the mods silently do nothing — the game just runs vanilla, with no error and no log. This is the single most common reason "nothing loads".

You can tell the two apart in the game's install folder (Outward_Defed/):

Build	Tell-tale files
Mono (correct)	`Outward Definitive Edition_Data/Managed/Assembly-CSharp.dll`, a `MonoBleedingEdge/` folder
IL2CPP (wrong)	`GameAssembly.dll`, an `Outward Definitive Edition_Data/il2cpp_data/` folder

2. Install BepInEx¶

Install the BepInEx 5 pack for Outward (available on Thunderstore). Launch the game once so BepInEx generates its BepInEx/ folder, then quit.

Keep the whole loader overlay together in the game root: BepInEx/, winhttp.dll, doorstop_config.ini and mono_fix/. mono_fix/ holds a patched mscorlib, and without it the preloader crashes before any mod loads (it writes a preloader_*.log beside the game executable).

Linux / Proton / Steam Deck: set the Steam launch option

WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winhttp=n,b" %command%

and force a Proton compatibility tool — a native "Steam Linux Runtime" won't load BepInEx. Use the bare winhttp, without a .dll suffix; some Proton versions ignore the suffixed form and the game then runs vanilla.

Three Linux details that look wrong but aren't, and one diagnostic:

A wrapper prefix in the same launch option (a gamemode/keyboard-remapper style WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winhttp=n,b" some-wrapper %command%) is harmless — BepInEx still loads.
The game's working directory is the parent …/steamapps/common/Outward, not Outward_Defed/. That is normal for Outward DE; nothing needs fixing.
A fresh Steam install defaults to the IL2CPP branch, and on it the whole stack fails silently: Doorstop's winhttp loads, finds no Mono runtime to hook, and the game runs vanilla with no LogOutput.log and no preloader crash. Check the branch (step 1) before anything else.
To diagnose a BepInEx that never appears, launch once with PROTON_LOG=1 in the launch option and grep ~/steam-<appid>.log for winhttp, GameAssembly and Doorstop — it shows whether the DLL override took effect and which runtime the game actually started.

3. Install the mods¶

Three ways:

Mod manager — if a mod is published to Thunderstore, install it there and its dependencies come along automatically.
The bundle installer — if you were handed a zip of these mods, unzip it inside your Outward_Defed/ folder and double-click Install-Mods.bat. See Using the bundle installer.
By hand — drop each mod's folder into BepInEx/plugins/, together with the kits it depends on (see the table below). If BepInEx logs a missing-dependency error and refuses to load a mod, one of its required kit folders isn't there.

Dependencies¶

Every mod needs its kits present. A mod manager resolves these for you; installing by hand, add them yourself. Each row lists the mod's full kit closure, not just its direct requirements:

Install this mod	…and also these
Beastwhispering	ForgeKit, SkillKit, CompanionKit, DonorKit, AggroKit, NetKit, StoryKit, SideLoader
DangerousRoads	ForgeKit, SpawnKit, CompanionKit, DonorKit, AggroKit, NetKit
Hireling	ForgeKit, CompanionKit, DonorKit, AggroKit, NetKit
Cloudward	ForgeKit
SpawnKit	ForgeKit, CompanionKit, DonorKit, AggroKit, NetKit

(SideLoader is a separate community mod that Beastwhispering builds on for its custom items and skills. It is a hard requirement: without it, Beastwhispering does not load at all.)

One mod ships a file outside plugins/: Cloudward includes Cloudward.Preload.dll, which belongs in BepInEx/patchers/. In plugins/ it is inert and silently does nothing.

HelloOutward is a template for modders rather than something to play; it needs only ForgeKit.

Using the bundle installer¶

The hand-off zip contains a payload/ folder, BUNDLE.json, install.ps1 and a double-click Install-Mods.bat. Unzip the whole thing (keeping its folder structure) inside your Outward install and run the .bat. It finds the game itself — from where the zip was unpacked, or by probing your Steam libraries — or you can point it at the game explicitly.

What it does, and deliberately does not do:

It refuses outright on an IL2CPP install, with instructions for switching branches. It also refuses while Outward is running.
The bundled mods are deleted and re-copied on every run, so a stale DLL or an orphaned data file from an older build can never survive an install.
BepInEx and SideLoader are installed only if they are absent. An existing copy is left alone, so the bundle can't overwrite or downgrade a setup you already have. -Force overrides that.
It never touches BepInEx/config/ or SaveGames/ — on install or on uninstall. Your settings and your characters are yours.

Option	What it does
`-DryRun`	Print exactly what would happen and change nothing.
`-Uninstall`	Remove the bundle's own mod folders, leaving BepInEx, SideLoader, settings and saves alone.
`-Force`	Overwrite BepInEx and SideLoader as well, instead of keeping what's already installed.
`-GameDir <path>`	Point at the `Outward_Defed` folder if it isn't found automatically.

Run them from PowerShell, e.g. .\install.ps1 -DryRun.

Where settings live¶

Each mod generates its own file on first launch:

BepInEx/config/cobalt.<mod>.cfg

for example cobalt.beastwhispering.cfg, cobalt.hireling.cfg, cobalt.cloudward.cfg. Every setting is written out with its default and a description, so the generated file is its own documentation. Each mod's wiki page lists its keys.

Edit these only while the game is closed. A launch rewrites them, so a change made with the game running is lost.

## Example — BepInEx/config/cobalt.hireling.cfg
[Keys]
## Recruit the nearest recruitable NPC.
RecruitKey = F4

[Recruit]
## How close (m) an NPC must be to recruit it.
RecruitRange = 15

Most mods also read a plain-text command file, BepInEx/config/<Mod>_cmd.txt, used for diagnostics — see each mod's Commands section.

Troubleshooting¶

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
No mods load at all, no crash log	Outward is on the IL2CPP branch	Switch to the Mono branch (step 1)
No mods load, and a `preloader_*.log` appeared	`mono_fix/` is missing from the game root	Reinstall the full BepInEx overlay (step 2)
BepInEx loads but one mod refuses	A required kit folder is missing	Add the kits from the table above
Nothing loads on Linux	Missing launch option / native runtime	Set the `WINEDLLOVERRIDES` option and force Proton (step 2)
Beastwhispering doesn't load	SideLoader isn't installed	Install SideLoader — it's a hard requirement
Cloudward never installs a fetched mod update	`Cloudward.Preload.dll` is in `plugins/`	Move it to `BepInEx/patchers/`
Game hangs (often a load deadlock) and won't die on Linux	`pkill -x wine64-preloader` / `pkill -f <appid>` miss it: the game process's comm is `Outward Definit` and its cmdline lacks the appid	`pgrep -f 'Outward Definitive Edition'`, pick the PID whose `/proc/<pid>/comm` is `Outward Definit` (a load deadlock shows state `S` on `futex_wait_multiple`), then `kill -9 <pid>`. Note `pgrep -f` also matches your own shell — use `pgrep -x 'Outward Definit'` when you only need a yes/no "is it running"

The log to read is BepInEx/LogOutput.log in the game folder. If it doesn't exist at all, BepInEx never loaded — that's step 1 or step 2, not the mods.