Where mods go, game by game

Every game hides its mod folders somewhere different, but the job is always the same: put the right files in the right folders, without losing the originals. Here's where they go for the games people mod most, with notes for Steam Deck and Linux.

New to installing mods by hand? Start with how to install mods manually. It covers the basics that apply to every game below.

GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas (original PC versions)

The classic 3D-era games are pure file replacement: cars, skins and weapons are model (.dff) and texture (.txd) files that replace the game's own. Three tools make it manageable:

• An ASI loader lets the game load plugins (.asi files). For San Andreas, Silent's ASI Loader replaces vorbisFile.dll in the game folder; back up the original first.
• Modloader (modloader.asi plus a modloader folder in the game folder) lets you put each mod in its own folder inside modloader, instead of editing models/gta3.img. Removing a mod is deleting its folder.
• CLEO runs script mods: .cs files go in the cleo folder.

Watch out: most San Andreas mods need version 1.0 (US) of the game. The Steam and Rockstar Launcher versions (3.0) don't work with most mods until you downgrade them to 1.0. Also keep the game out of Program Files, where Windows permissions cause mod-loading errors. Back up Documents/GTA San Andreas User Files too: that's where your saves are.

Steam Deck and Linux: vorbisFile.dll isn't a Windows system file, so Proton loads the game folder's copy without a launch option.

GTA Trilogy: The Definitive Edition

The Definitive Editions run on Unreal Engine 4, so classic mods don't work on them at all. Mods come as .pak files instead:

GTA San Andreas - Definitive Edition/Gameface/Content/Paks/~mods/

Create the ~mods folder if it isn't there, and drop the .pak files in. The same path works for GTA III and Vice City Definitive Edition, inside each game's own folder. Some bigger mods also ship a whole Gameface folder to merge into the game folder, replacing files when asked.

GTA IV: The Complete Edition

• Start with FusionFix. It fixes many of the PC version's problems, includes the Ultimate ASI Loader (dinput8.dll), and adds a file loader. Unpack it into the game folder, next to GTAIV.exe.
• Plugins (.asi files) go in GTAIV/plugins/.
• Replacement files go in GTAIV/update/ (create it if needed). FusionFix loads them from there instead of the game's originals, so the original files stay untouched. Many mods already come packed as an update folder; merge it into yours.

Steam Deck and Linux: FusionFix loads through dinput8.dll, so add WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dinput8=n,b" %command% to the launch options.

GTA V

GTA V has two kinds of mods, and two editions on PC: Legacy and Enhanced.

• Script mods need Script Hook V: put ScriptHookV.dll and dinput8.dll (its ASI loader) next to GTA5.exe. Script mods are usually a single .asi file in the same folder. .NET scripts need Script Hook V .NET too, and go in a scripts folder. Script Hook V now has a build for the Enhanced edition as well.
• Replacement mods (cars, textures, maps) change the game's .rpf archives. Don't edit the originals: with OpenIV's OpenIV.asi, create a mods folder in the game folder and put modified copies there, at the same paths. GTAV/x64e.rpf becomes GTAV/mods/x64e.rpf. On the Enhanced edition, OpenRPF does the same job as OpenIV.asi, with the same mods folder.

Watch out: mods are for story mode only. GTA Online blocks modified games, and using mods online can get your account banned. Keeping replacement mods in the mods folder also means a game update never overwrites them, and removing that folder gives you a clean game.

Steam Deck and Linux: Script Hook V loads through dinput8.dll, so add WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dinput8=n,b" %command% to the launch options.

GTA 6

GTA 6 launches on November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Rockstar has said a PC version is coming later, without a date. Console games can't be modded with files, so there are no GTA 6 mods to install yet.

When it reaches PC, expect the same pattern as GTA V: community tools for scripts and for loading replacement files, single-player only. We'll update this section with the real folders once they exist. Until then, the older GTAs above are a good place to start.

Cyberpunk 2077

Most mods are packed with top folders (archive, bin, r6, red4ext) that merge straight into the Cyberpunk 2077 folder. Loose files go here:

• .archive and .xl files: archive/pc/mod/
• .reds files (redscript): r6/scripts/
• .tweak and .yaml files (TweakXL): r6/tweaks/
• Cyber Engine Tweaks mods: their own folder in bin/x64/plugins/cyber_engine_tweaks/mods/
• RED4ext plugins: red4ext/plugins/
• REDmod mods: mods/ (launch with -modded)

Watch out: big game patches break the core frameworks (Cyber Engine Tweaks, RED4ext, redscript) until they're updated. Never change archive/pc/content, which is the game itself.

Steam Deck and Linux: install d3dcompiler_47 and vcrun2022 for the game with Protontricks (app ID 1091500), and add WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winmm,version=n,b" %command% to the launch options.

BepInEx games (Lethal Company, Silksong, Valheim and other Unity games)

• BepInEx itself goes next to the game's .exe: a BepInEx folder, winhttp.dll and doorstop_config.ini. Use the game's own BepInEx pack from Thunderstore if it has one.
• Mods go in BepInEx/plugins/, ideally one folder per mod. That folder appears after the first launch with BepInEx installed.

Steam Deck and Linux: use the Windows build of BepInEx, run the game through Proton (force it for games with a native Linux version, like Valheim and Silksong), and add WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winhttp=n,b" %command%. If BepInEx/LogOutput.log appears after a launch, it's working.

Skyrim Special Edition

• Everything goes in Data: textures in Data/textures, models in Data/meshes, and plugin files (.esp, .esm, .esl) directly in Data.
• Plugins must be switched on in the game's Mods menu or by a mod manager. Texture and model replacers usually aren't plugins and work as soon as they're in place.
• SKSE (the script extender) goes in the game folder next to SkyrimSE.exe, and the game has to be started through skse64_loader.exe.

Honestly: for long Skyrim mod lists, a mod manager like Mod Organizer 2 is the better tool, because load order matters. Copying files by hand is fine for a few texture or model replacers.

Mod loaders on Steam Deck and Linux

Many loaders start through a DLL with a Windows system name placed next to the game's .exe. Proton uses its own built-in version of those DLLs unless you tell it otherwise. That's what the launch option does:

WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dinput8=n,b" %command%

n,b means "the game folder's copy first, then Proton's own". Set it in Steam: right-click the game, then Properties, then Launch Options. For more than one DLL, list them before one setting ("winmm,version=n,b") or separate them with semicolons ("winmm=n,b;version=n,b").

• BepInEx: winhttp
• MelonLoader: version
• Script Hook V (GTA V), FusionFix (GTA IV), Ultimate ASI Loader: dinput8 (the ASI loader can also be named winmm, dsound and others; use its actual name)
• Cyber Engine Tweaks and RED4ext (Cyberpunk 2077): winmm,version

If it still does nothing: retype the quotes (copied “curly” quotes break it), make sure the game runs through Proton and not a native Linux version, and check the DLL is next to the .exe that actually runs. Folder capitalization matters on Linux too; the Steam Deck modding guide covers that.

One job, every game: BulkFileReplace

Different folders, same job: get the mod's files into the right place, know what changed, and be able to take it back out. BulkFileReplace does that for any game on this page, on Windows, Linux and Steam Deck:

1. Drop the mod (folder or ZIP) and choose the game folder.
2. It lines the mod up with the folders already in your game: modloader, update, mods, ~mods, BepInEx/plugins or Data, even through an extra wrapper folder or different capitalization.
3. Review every change before anything is copied, with textures and text files previewed side by side.
4. Apply. Every original is backed up first.
5. Undo any run with one click. Originals come back and everything the mod added is removed.

It doesn't set launch options or install loaders' extra components, so do those once by hand.

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