Palworld has official Steam Workshop mod support on PC since the v0.7 update of 17 December 2025 — everything else, including Nexus mods and UE4SS, is manual, PC-only, and requires deleting mod files before every game patch.
Copy %LOCALAPPDATA%\Pal\Saved\SaveGames\ somewhere else with the game closed. Pocketpair's own guidance lists corrupted or unloadable save data as a mod risk, and warns that saves containing mod-dependent items or Pals may fail to load once those mods are removed.
The three ways to mod Palworld
| Route | Where mods come from | Difficulty | Works on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam Workshop | In-game subscription | Easy | Steam PC only |
| Nexus Mods (manual) | Downloaded archives | Moderate | Steam PC, Game Pass PC |
| UE4SS + PalSchema | Lua / Blueprint mod frameworks | Advanced | Steam PC, Game Pass PC |
There is no mod support on Xbox or PlayStation 5, and none is planned.
Steam Workshop (start here)
- Subscribe to items on the Palworld Workshop.
- Launch the game and open Options → Mod Management.
- Enable the mods you want, then restart.
Palworld does not load mods by default — subscribing alone does nothing until you enable them in Mod Management. Many Workshop mods list UE4SS Experimental (Palworld) as a dependency, which the Workshop can install for you.
UE4SS — use the Palworld fork, not the upstream build
| Build | Version | Use for Palworld? |
|---|---|---|
| UE4SS-RE/RE-UE4SS (upstream) | v3.0.1 stable | No — crashes Palworld |
Okaetsu/RE-UE4SS experimental-palworld | Rolling, updated 10 Aug 2026 | Yes |
| Okaetsu/PalSchema | 0.6.1 (19 Jul 2026) | Yes, for data-driven mods |
The fork exists because Pocketpair made engine-level changes around the v0.4.15 era that the generic build does not handle. Version numbers were checked against the projects' own release feeds on 13 August 2026.
Exact install paths
| Version | Extract UE4SS contents into |
|---|---|
| Steam | …\steamapps\common\Palworld\Pal\Binaries\Win64\ |
| Game Pass / Microsoft Store | …\Content\Pal\Binaries\WinGDK\ |
| Pak mods (either version) | Pal\Content\Paks\~mods\ — the tilde matters |
Extract the archive contents directly into that folder, not into a subfolder. If it worked, dwmapi.dll sits directly in Win64 or WinGDK.
If you use the Steam Workshop UE4SS, do not also install the GitHub build. The game will crash trying to load both. To neutralise a stray copy, rename its dwmapi.dll to dwmapi.dll.bak.
Turn these UE4SS modules off
In Mods\mods.txt and Mods\mods.json, disable CheatManagerEnablerMod, ConsoleCommandsMod and ConsoleEnablerMod — all three are documented as crash causes in Palworld. Leave BPModLoaderMod, Keybinds and BPML_GenericFunctions enabled.
Client-side vs server-side: the definitive test
Pocketpair documents this directly. Open the mod's Info.json and read the InstallRule section. No "IsServer": true means the mod is not built for servers — only mods built to run on servers will work there.
| Situation | Who installs the mod |
|---|---|
| Single-player | You |
| 4-player co-op world | Every player individually — there is no mod sync |
| Dedicated server, client-side mod | Every player individually; the server does nothing |
| Dedicated server, server-side mod | The server, and only on the Windows server build |
Server-side setup, exactly as documented
- Mods go in
.\Mods\Workshop\<folder>\Info.json, relative toPalServer.exe. - Enable in
Mods/PalModSettings.iniwithbGlobalEnableMod=trueand oneActiveModList=line per mod. ActiveModListtakes thePackageNamefromInfo.json, not the folder name. This is the single most common setup mistake.-NoModsas a launch argument disables everything, which is the fastest way to test whether a mod is your problem.- In
PalWorldSettings.ini,bAllowClientModcontrols whether players with mods enabled may connect at all. - Linux dedicated servers cannot run server-side mods.
The risks, honestly
| Risk | Reality |
|---|---|
| Save corruption | Real and acknowledged by Pocketpair. Saves containing mod-added items or Pals may not load once the mod is gone. |
| Crashes after patches | Real. Old mod files load even when "disabled". |
| Bans | No commercial anti-cheat ships with the game. A 2024 plan for external anti-cheat on official and public servers exists; we could not verify it shipped. |
| Losing support | Certain. Pocketpair states issues that occur while using mods or modified game data are not covered by support. |
| Console modding | Impossible. No route exists. |
Before every game update: the deletion routine
This comes straight from Pocketpair's pre-1.0 advisory of 9 July 2026, which is the clearest official modding guidance the studio has ever published.
- Back up your save data.
- Manually delete mod files and mod loaders from the game folder. Disabling them is not enough — leftover files still load at startup.
- Unsubscribe from Workshop items and delete their leftover files; unsubscribing alone does not clean up.
- Verify integrity of game files: Steam Library → right-click Palworld → Properties → Installed Files → Verify integrity.
- Confirm the game launches clean and unmodded.
- Reinstall mods only once creators have updated them, and add them one at a time, launching between each.
Pocketpair shipped a patch on 30 July 2026 specifically to improve stability when playing with mods, noting it was PC-only and would not affect crossplay with other platforms. If you gave up on mods in the first week of 1.0, it is worth retrying.
Where to find mods
The two main repositories are the Steam Workshop and Nexus Mods, whose Palworld section is organised into gameplay, characters, outfits, audio, animation and miscellaneous categories. Mod counts and download totals could not be verified, so this guide deliberately does not quote them.
One mod is documented in press coverage carried in Palworld's own Steam news feed: modder Fr4nsson's Ultra Graphics mod, which adds ray-traced Lumen global illumination and had reached roughly 18,000 downloads as of July 2026.
What to read next
- Save files and settings — exactly what to back up, per platform
- Performance and crashes — ruling out mods as a crash cause
- Crossplay and servers — where
bAllowClientModlives