How to install mods in Valheim: PC and dedicated server

⚡ The short answer

Valheim has no official mod support and no Steam Workshop. Mods are loaded by BepInEx, a mod loader you add to the game folder, and nearly all of them are downloaded from Thunderstore. They only work on PC: you can't install them on console. There are two ways to set them up, with a mod manager or by hand, and if you play on a server, some mods have to be installed there too.

🧰 Option 1: with a mod manager (r2modman)

This is the easiest route and the one that goes wrong least often.

• Download r2modman from its Thunderstore page, install it and pick Valheim.
• Create a profile. Each profile is a separate set of mods, so you can keep one for every server you play on.
• Find your mods in the "Online" section and download them. The manager also installs whatever each mod depends on, starting with BepInExPack Valheim.
• Click Start modded to play with mods. If you launch the game from Steam as usual, it starts without them.

📁 Option 2: by hand

• On Thunderstore, download BepInExPack Valheim with the "Manual Download" button and extract it to a separate folder.
• Open the game folder: in Steam, right-click Valheim, Manage, Browse local files.
• Copy the contents of the BepInExPack_Valheim folder into it. Next to valheim.exe you should now have the BepInEx folder plus winhttp.dll and doorstop_config.ini.
• Each mod is a .dll file (sometimes with extra files) that goes into BepInEx/plugins.

By hand, dependencies are your job. Many mods need a separate library (the most common one is Jotunn); each mod's page tells you what it requires.

🖥️ Mods on a server: what goes where

On Thunderstore every mod is tagged Client-side, Server-side or both. That decides where it has to be installed:

Mod tag	Where to install it
Client-side only	On the PC of whoever wants it. The server needs nothing.
Server-side only	On the server. Players join without installing anything.
Both	Usually on the server and on every player's PC, in the same version.

Tags are set by the author, so confirm it in the description. PlantEasily, for example, is client-only, while PlantEverything and EpicLoot carry both tags.

The server needs BepInEx as well, and mods go into its BepInEx/plugins folder. If you run your own Linux server, the pack ships a start_server_bepinex.sh script to start it with mods. At ZentexNode you don't touch any scripts: BepInEx is switched on with a panel variable, as explained in how to enable and disable BepInEx on your Valheim server, and you upload files with the file manager or over SFTP.

To get the whole group on the same setup, r2modman can export a profile as a code (in Settings, "Export profile as code"). Your friends import it and get the same mods, versions and config.

🎮 What about console players?

Since version 1.0, released on 9 September 2026, there is crossplay between PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2. But the developers have confirmed there is no mod support on console. In practice, a mod that must be installed on the client locks console players out. If someone in your group plays on console, the safe choice is to play unmodded, or to stick to server-only mods and test them with that person first.

🔄 When the game updates

Mods aren't maintained by Iron Gate but by their authors, and after every big update they take a while to catch up. If the game won't start after an update, or you can't join the server:

• Update BepInExPack and every mod to the latest version, on your PC and on the server.
• If it still fails, take mods out of BepInEx/plugins until you find the one that breaks, and wait for its author to update it.
• Open BepInEx/LogOutput.log: it lists the mods that loaded and any errors.

✅ Before you start

Add mods a few at a time and launch the game in between, so you know which one causes trouble. And back up your world before installing mods that add content: if you remove them later, their items disappear.

If what you want is to play modded with your group without someone leaving their PC on, a Valheim server with BepInEx is the way to do it, and you can carry on with the world you already have: here's how to upload your Valheim world to the server.