RimWorld is a game that mods transform beyond recognition: new races, weapons, furniture and entire mechanics. But before your colony starts living by new rules, the mod has to be installed correctly. There are two ways to do it — through Steam Workshop (one click) and manually (for GOG or DRM-free copies, or whenever Steam is unavailable). We will cover both, plus how to enable mods in-game and in what order to load them.
Installing mods through Steam Workshop
The easiest route. Open the mod's Workshop page (for example, from the mod page on our site there is always a link to Steam) and press Subscribe. Steam downloads the files itself — you can watch the progress in your game library.
- 1Press "Subscribe" on the mod's Steam Workshop page.
- 2Wait for the files to download (Steam library → RimWorld → downloads).
- 3Launch RimWorld and open the main menu → "Mods".
- 4Tick the checkbox next to the mod you want and restart the game.
Done — the mod is active. Unsubscribing in Workshop deletes the files from disk, so if you might need the mod later but it is in the way right now, simply untick it in the mods menu instead.
Installing mods manually (without Steam)
If your copy of the game is not from Steam (GOG, DRM-free) or Workshop is unavailable, mods are installed by hand. Download the mod archive and unpack it into the game's Mods folder.
- Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\RimWorld\Mods (or your game copy's path)
- Linux: ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/RimWorld/Mods
- macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/RimWorld/Mods
- Per-user folder: %APPDATA%\..\Local\Ludeon Studios\RimWorld by Ludeon Studios\Mods — mods here are available to every installation of the game at once
Inside the Mods folder every mod must have its own folder with an About/About.xml file inside. If after unpacking the archive produced a "mod inside a folder" (a folder within a folder), move the contents one level up — otherwise the game will not see the mod.
Then as usual: main menu → "Mods" → tick the checkbox → restart. Manually installed mods show up in the list alongside Workshop mods.
What Harmony and HugsLib are and why you need them
Most serious mods require libraries. Harmony is a shared patching mechanism: mods modify the game's code without conflicting with each other. HugsLib adds common utilities and a convenient error-log viewer. If a mod's description says "requires Harmony" — install it first and keep it at the top of your mod list.
Mod load order
The order in the "Mods" menu matters: libraries at the top, content below, patches at the very bottom. A typical layout: Core → DLC → Harmony → HugsLib → frameworks like Vanilla Expanded Framework → everything else. See our guide on the RimWorld mod load order for details.
How to remove a mod
Untick it in the mods menu and remove the mod from your saves carefully: before disabling, it is best to deconstruct the objects that mod built, otherwise the game will warn you about missing objects. Library mods (Harmony, HugsLib) can stay enabled permanently — they are safe and do not affect saves that have no dependent mods.
Golden rule: before adding or removing big mods, make a copy of your save — the Mods and Saves folders weigh little, but they save a lot of nerves.
Harmony
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Harmony — общая библиотека патчей, которую использует большинство модов RimWorld.
HugsLib
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Библиотека общей функциональности для модов RimWorld + публикация логов по Ctrl+F12.
Vanilla Expanded Framework
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Ядро-библиотека Vanilla Expanded: общий код для всей серии модов VE. Обязателен для многих из них.