A Lethal Guide to Modding

(MODPACK UPDATE) A guide to modding that's so simple your grandparents could understand it! Mainly made this for my friends so they'd stop asking me for help, but you can use it too.

Quick Links

Here are links to websites/tools used in this guide, also: [My Discord] [discord.gg].

Easier Install

[Mod Manager (r2modman)] [thunderstore.io]

Manual Install

[BepInEx] [thunderstore.io] | [Mod API] [thunderstore.io] | [Lethal Company Mods] [thunderstore.io]

Installing r2modman to Manage Mods

Recommended Method!

This method will install a mod manager that will do a few things to make your life easier, like:

• Let you launch your modded version
  
• Let you launch a non-modded version
  
• Keep your Lethal Company game folder in its original sate
  
• Auto-install mods you choose
  
• Show you when a mod needs an update, and auto-update mods
  
• Let you know when a mod is no longer supported/working
  
• Have separate profiles/list of mods you can switch between
  
• Share and sync your mods with friends

So, with that, lets get to installing modman! You can skip to "Using r2modman" if you already have it installed.

Downloading r2modman

Head over to [this link] [thunderstore.io] to grab the mod manager. You'll see a button like this:

After downloading, you'll have a .zip file with the installer for r2modman in it. After opening that, you can drag and drop the "r2modman setup" .exe file anywhere on your computer. You can delete the .zip file now, and double click the .exe file to run it.

After running it, you'll be prompted where to install it. You can basically just keep clicking "Next" unless you want to change your install location for some reason. Once done, you'll get this:

The setup will ask you if you'd like to run r2modman now, you can leave that checked, as we're going to go right into setting up r2modman for Lethal Company. Now you'll get the screen in the next section.

Using r2modman

Lethal Company probably won't be on this list at the top. That's what the search function is for! Click the area that says "Search for a game" and start typing Lethal Company until you see it show up like so:


Hovering over Lethal Company will give you a few things. A star to favorite the game (will always show at the top), a "Select Game" button and a "Set as default" button. If you're only planning to use r2modman for Lethal Company you can click "Set as default." Doing so will auto-select Lethal Company as the game for r2modman when you launch it. Otherwise, hit "Select game." Then move on to the next section.

Installing mods with r2modman

After selecting Lethal Company as your game, you'll get this:



I'll explain the buttons real quick.
You can click on any of the names listed (though you'll probably only have "Default") to select that profile, then:

• Select profile: Will load into your current profile
  
• Create new: Make a blank, new profile for mods
  
• Import/Update: Used later, lets you copy someone elses profile

For now, just hit Select profile. You will see this next:



It's important to note again you can still launch Lethal Company normally by clicking "Start vanilla" or starting it through Steam. Clicking "Start modded" is the only time Lethal Company will load mods with r2modman.

You won't have mods yet, but that will soon change! Click the "Online" tab. Here you'll see a list of all mods from thunderstore.io.



As another quick note, you'll want to download the pinned mods. Most mods will require this (and modman will download them when required), but sometimes mod authors don't list LC_API as a dependency and it causes issues later.

Downloading a mod is pretty simple. Clicking on one will show you this:



Clicking "Download" will, of course, download your selected mod. You'll be asked to select a version, but just leave it at whatever its already at. Then hit "Download with dependencies" to download your mod, as well as any other mods it requires.



Now you've downloaded your first mod!
Feel free to use the filters at the top to get mods fitting what you want, or change the sort to "Download count" to see the most popular mods.

Syncing between friends

Now, here's how you and your friends can sync mods between each other (kind of). Once you have a list of the mods you all want to use (or you're like me and force your friends to use your mods), you can easily share them using r2modman's export/import functions.

Head over to the settings of your profile, then click the "Profile" tab at the top.



Here you can rename your profile, enable/disable everything, update everything, and export your list of mods. Click the Export profile as a code button. You'll get a long string like 018c033a-75c0-4020-3cac-c50dee49083a. Copy the code r2modman generated, and send it to a friend!

Now, here's how you import the profile on your friends end.
Start up modman (close it and re-open it if it's already open) and you'll be at the profile screen again. This time, click the Import / Update button.



Now, click Import new profile (unless you're adding new mods after already importing, then Update existing).



And since we got a code earlier, you'll be selecting From code. Then, enter the code when prompted:



You'll then be asked to give the profile a name. It should have the name of the orignal profile, but you can change it or leave it.



Now that you've done all this, you'll have a new profile after modman finishes downloading all the mods. Select that profile by clicking its name, and click select profile.

Games/Steam Install Location

This part is ONLY if you either have Steam itself installed in a different spot than your C:/ drive (where windows is installed), or if you install your games on a different harddrive/ssd than where Steam is installed. If you've never changed Steam from it's default location and you've never used a different Steam Library than your C:/ drive, you don't have to do either of these.

Both are fairly easy to change/fix in r2modman. To start off, you'll want to load up r2modman, and select Lethal Company as your game (if you didn't set it as default already). After that, open your settings for the game:



Next, you'll want to switch from the "All" tab to the "Locations" tab up top:

Steam is installed somewhere else

This is NOT for when you have a different Steam library for your games.
If your Steam application is installed somewhere else than your default C:/ drive, you'll want to use this setting:




Clicking on this will open a file explorer window, where you'll need to select your Steam.exe. Find the folder where ever you installed Steam:



Just click on Steam and hit "Select Executable" then you're good to go!

Games are installed somewhere else

If you install your games on a separate hdd/ssd than your Steam directory or your default C:/ drive, you'll probably need to change where r2modman looks for Lethal Company. It's the same thing from up top, just a different setting:



You'll get a file explorer like the other option, and you'll need to find your Steam Library's location where Lethal Company is installed. After, just select Lethal Company and hit "Select Executable":

Manually installing mods

If you've already installed and are using r2modman, you do NOT have to do this. This is if you don't want to use r2modman.

I repeat...

DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU'RE USING R2MODMAN/A MOD MANAGER

Again, you should probably use r2modman to install and manage your mods. It gives you a lot less headaches and makes sure to preserve your original files from your game. But if you're weird or just suborn, here's how you manually install mods.

First, you'll want to download [the BepInEx pack] [thunderstore.io] from thunderstore. Hit the "manual download" button.

After that, you'll have a .zip file that looks like this:



Double click into the folder called "BepInExPack". These are the actual files we need. Now, head over to Steam and find Lethal Company.

Right click Lethal Company in your games list and hover over "Mange". Then, "Browse local files". Click this to open your games directory.



Now you should have two windows. One, the .zip file from before, and now the Lethal Company game directory. To finish installing BepInEx, all you have to do is drag and drop these files into the Lethal Company directory. Here's an EXTREMELY needed gif of me doing it because I've had friends SOMEHOW mess this up.

Making sure BepInEx is installed

To make sure BepInEx is working correctly, all you have to do is launch the game. IF you SOMEHOW figured out how to drag and drop files like a tech wizard, you should see a windows CMD console pop up once you run the game. This is BepInEx's log console:



You also need to do this for BepInEx to generate its configs and folders for your game. If this console didn't pop up, you moved the wrong files into the games folders. To be as clear as I can, you do NOT move the folder "BepinExPack" into Lethal Company. You move its contents into the games folder.

Installing mods

Head over to https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/ to gets mods related to Lethal Company. Downloading and installing them is as simple as dragging and dropping files.

Lets find your plugins folder! Open up your Lethal Company folder again (like we did above to isntall BepInEx). After, here's how you find the folder:



If you don't see a plugins folder, run the game first.
Now, lets show you how to install a mod! For this, I'll be showing you how to install MoreCompany, allowing more than 4 people to join a lobby. The link for this mod is: https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/notnotnotswipez/MoreCompany/

For this, you'll hit "Manual download" to get a .zip file containing the mod. The mod might also require other mods. You'll see this on the mod page like:



If there is anyhting besides BepInEx, you'll need to download it too. It doesn't matter what order you download them in.

The .zip file containing the mod will either have a folder in it saying "BepInEx" or "plugins" or something like that. For MoreCompany, it has a folder called "BepInEx". For this you can just drag and drop this folder into Lethal Company's folder and your mod is there. However, I'll show you what file you're actually looking for and how to install a .dll file:



All mods will give you a .dll file. But some mods (like Goku Braken) will give you other files, or require more setup. Generally any folders in the .zip file will all belong in the main BepInEx folder. Most mods should tell you if there's any other installation you need to do in it's description on thunderstore. In Goku Braken's case, you'll need to put its plugin in your plugins folder, as well as a content pack in your bundles folder (or make the folder if it's not there). It's pretty straight forward though.

Create/Using Modpacks

If you'd rather create a modpack over using r2modman's profile export/import feature (which I recommend you do instead), here's how!

First, you need to log into thunderstore[thunderstore.io]. There will be a Login button on the top right of the page.



You can login with whatever platform you want.
Now, you have two ways of doing this. If you're using r2modman you can quickly use all your installed mods for the modpack. If you're not using r2modman (why) it will be a bit more tedious.

Initial files

Before anything else, you will need a set few files for your modpack. These files tell thunderstore info about your modpack, gives it an icon, and lists your desired mods,

Create a folder somewhere, you can name it whatever you like. Inside this folder create 3 files named: "manifest.json", "CHANGELOG.md", and "README.md". Without the quotation marks, obviously.



Next, open the manifest.json file and enter the following:

{
  "name": "MODPACKNAME",
  "version_number": "1.0.0",
  "website_url": "",
  "description": "Modpack Description",
  "dependencies": [
    
	]
}

Change the "MODPACKNAME" to whatever you want your modpack to be called. Don't include spaces in the name. Your "version_number" should change every time you want to update your modpack, this tells thunderstore what version to list/install. It should always go up, never downwards (e.g, 1.0.0 can go to 1.2.0, but 1.2.0 cannot go back down to 1.0.5). You can change your description too.

You should now find an image you want to use as your modpacks icon. This can basically be anything that isn't straight up NSFW content. Use a meme, make a custom icon, whatever you like (just no boobies and nips). The icon MUST be 256 x 256 in size, and must be a .png! You can use an online file resizer to change its size/file type, such as ezgif[ezgif.com].

Name your icon file "icon.png" and put it in your folder where you manifest.json file is.

We'll update "dependencies" as we go through the next steps.

Getting your mod list

With r2modman

(Scroll down if you're not using r2modman (why are you not using r2modman))
Once you have all your mods you wish to include in the modpack installed, head to your Settings page.



Click on the Modpacks tab, and then click "Show dependency strings".



You'll then see a pop-up with a list of name strings from all your mods.



Drag your mouse over from the start till the end of the text, and press Control + C to copy it. Next, paste it into your "manifest.json" file within your "dependencies" list. Yours will probably look like this now (more or less):

{
  "name": "MODPACKNAME",
  "version_number": "1.0.0",
  "website_url": "",
  "description": "Modpack Description",
  "dependencies": [
    BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2100
    2018-LC_API-3.4.3
    Sv_Matt-HideModList-1.0.1
    notnotnotswipez-MoreCompany-1.7.4
    EliteMasterEric-WackyCosmetics-2.0.0
	]
}

Now, put quotation marks around each listing, and a " , " at the end of each mod (besides the last one):

"dependencies": [
  "BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2100",
  "2018-LC_API-3.4.3",
  "Sv_Matt-HideModList-1.0.1",
  "notnotnotswipez-MoreCompany-1.7.4",
  "EliteMasterEric-WackyCosmetics-2.0.0"
]

Make sure to save the file!
Now, move onto the next step (ignore the "Without r2modman" section).

Without r2modman

Find all the mods you want to include in your modpack from thunderstore (e.g, MoreCompany, Hullbreaker, etc.).

Now, go to these two "mod" listings:
https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/BepInEx/BepInExPack/
https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/2018/LC_API/

With this next part, you'll include both BepInEx and LC_API in your modpack. This will also show you how to add other mods to your modpack.

On each page there will be a "Dependency string" section. For example with BepInEx:



At time of writing this is "BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2100" and LC API is "2018-LC_API-3.4.3". You'll want to copy this text and put it into your dependencies within your manifest.json. It should now look like:

{
  "name": "MODPACKNAME",
  "version_number": "1.0.0",
  "website_url": "",
  "description": "Modpack Description",
  "dependencies": [
    BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2100
    2018-LC_API-3.4.3
	]
}

You'll want to put quotation marks around each mods names and a coma after each name (besides the last one) whenever you add mods. I'll add my mods from above and show you what I mean:

{
  "name": "MODPACKNAME",
  "version_number": "1.0.0",
  "website_url": "",
  "description": "Modpack Description",
  "dependencies": [
    "BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2100",
    "2018-LC_API-3.4.3",
    "Sv_Matt-HideModList-1.0.1",
    "notnotnotswipez-MoreCompany-1.7.4",
    "EliteMasterEric-WackyCosmetics-2.0.0"
  ]
}

For now, this will do. Lets get it into the thunderstore itself!

Packing up the modpack

Next, you'll need a program to create .zip files. winRar or 7zip are good examples. I'll use 7zip for this next part (I'm too poor to buy winRar).

Select all your files and add them to a ".zip" file (it MUST be a zip file, not .rar or .7z archive). If you're like me (based and smart) and using 7zip, it will look something like this:
(You drag over the files to select them, then right-click one of them to open the context menu)


Assuming everything was done correctly, we can move onto the next part.

Uploading to the thunderstore

You probably don't have a team setup for mod creation yet, so go here to do so:
https://thunderstore.io/settings/teams/

Click "Create Team" and give it a name on the page that shows up. It's pretty straight forward, no images here!

Now, getting it actually uploaded. While on thunderstore and logged in (see above if you haven't logged in yet). At the top of the website you'll see an "Upload" button. Click this.



Next, we'll be on the upload page. Click the "Choose or drag file here" button. Select the .zip file you just made when it gives you the prompt to fine a file. We'll now have this:



Click "Select" beside the "Team" section, and select the Team you just made. I named mine "MadDragon":



Next, click into the area for the Communities like you did for your Team, and start typing "Lethal Company" until you see Lethal Company show up in the list. Then, just click it.

Next, you should give your modpack some tags (categories) as well. Click the Select box beside the new "Lethal Company" name under Categories. This is all up to you for what you want to list. You should add the "Modpacks" tag first, then add whatever tags that fits your mods, like so:



Next, hit submit and you'll be all done once it finishes uploading (it may take a few minutes)! You'll see something like this at the bottom afterwards:

Using your modpack

When you would like to use your modpack or let your friends use it, you'll pretty much need to use r2modman (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THIS SOLVES SO MANY PROBLEMS USE R2MODMAN). Otherwise, it's pretty pointless.

For this quick example, go to this modpack:
https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/sfDesat/Explorations/

On the modpack page you'll see a "Install with Mod Manager" button:


Clicking this will prompt your browser to open your mod manager (r2modman, thunderstores mod app (r2modman but worse)). Click "Allow"/"Yes"/"Open" (depends on your browser) to open your mod manager and start downloading.

If you're using r2modman (I can't possibly tell you to use it enough), you'll select which profile to download it to. If r2modman is already open it will download to your currently selected profile.

This will install all your listed mods and their dependencies. If you have the know how (it's not hard) to include custom files or configs, it will download those too.

"But Dragon, I don't use r2modman! I like errors and having out of date mods!"
Well, if you're that person, you'll have to manually download each mod and possibly the modpack itself to get its configs or files it came with, then manually install each mod.

You can see the listed mods as dependencies, listed under "This mod requires the following mods to function":



Again, you'll have to download each one (or just the ones you want to use) to use the modpack. This one doesn't come with any extra configs I'm aware of, so you don't have to download the modpack itself.

Sharing your modpack

Quick Reminders, Tips, Recommended Mods

As a MAJOR reminder. You'll also need LC_API to use most mods, and make sure your modding experience is a lot more smooth. You can grab that here: https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/2018/LC_API/

If you have any issues installing mods, re-read the guide. If that doesn't help, you can annoy me on my discord server[discord.gg]. If you're having issues with a specific mod you'll have to refer to its description, its own discord server, or its website/github.

Thunderstore App vs. r2modman

Someone in the comments asked about using Thunderstores mod app, which is technically the same thing as r2modman. However, using r2modman from the listing at this link[thunderstore.io], is generally better. Installing Thunderstores mod app forces you to use Overwolf (a 3rd party app you probably don't want) and also gives you annoying ads. r2modman, though, only gives you the modding application and has no ads. Overwolf can also cause some problems with some games.

Recommended Mods

To save space (and declutter this guide a bit), I've made a modpack to showcase the mods I currently use and force my friends to play with. Take a look over them and see what catches your eye!
https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/MadDragon/ALethalModPack/

Troubleshooting

Having issues installing? Followed the guide but something went wrong? A mod not working? Well, here's where I try to address some issues I see people (usually my friends) run into. The first one is the most common:

"An Error occurred!"

(See the above screenshot)
Sometimes this can happen even without mods. This is usually due to connectivity issues from you to the host/game. I'm not going over that part though.

While modding, this (typically) happens for a few reasons:

• Incorrect mod versions
  
• Missing a mod
  
• Mod installed wrong
  
• Improper config (probably not though)

I've seen a few people get this error from simply forgetting to install LC_API, which is an easy fix, and you should have it installed anyways. Go install it!
https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/2018/LC_API/

If that isn't the case, then to help get rid of this you'll first want to make sure BOTH you and the host has the same mods. Some mods don't require both parties to have the mod (like GokuBracken, Custom Boombox, graphic mods, etc.), but it's generally better to all have the same mods if you're unsure. This doesn't just include you and the host, it means ALL players should have core mods that don't just change graphics or sounds.

Mods like MoreCompany/BiggerLobby that change the game drastically will need everyone to have the mod installed. Unless a mod specifically says only the host needs the mod or it's just changing a your graphics/models/sounds, you should all have it.

You should also make sure you're all using the most up-to date version of any mods you're using. If you and the host both need a mod, but it's an incorrect version, you'll likely run into errors trying to play. r2modman will tell you there's updates to your mods in you "Installed" section at the top. Otherwise, you'll have to check on the mods listing on thunderstore.io manually.

One rare case I saw was me and someone else having a differing config file. I'm not sure why this was the case, but it was simple enough to fix. If you can't figure out what's wrong, try getting everyone to have the same configs as the host (import the hosts mods with r2modman, or share the config files).

Lethal Company doesn't show up in r2modman

This only happens when you're already using r2modman or thunderstores mod launcher. Well, it should only happen in that cause. Either way r2modman may not update correctly sometimes. It will try to update when you launch it and tell you it will update once you close the application. When it doesn't update properly, it won't show you new games added to the list. This is fairly simple to fix.

All you need to do is re-install r2modman from:
https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/ebkr/r2modman/

If this doesn't fix it you should try to fully uninstall r2modman from you computer, then install it.
Re-installing it will make sure it's at the newest version.

A specific mod isn't working!

Having trouble with a specific mod isn't something I can help with, so long as you understood the guide and either installed r2modman to manage your mods, or are correctly installing them manually (do not do both).

Manually installed mods aren't loading/BepinEx window isn't showing

The first step to check for this is making sure BepinEx is actually installed correctly. Like stated in the "Manually installing mods" section, once you run the game BepInEx will open a CMD window to output logging. If you don't see the window, you've installed it wrong.

When you download BepInEx you need to move the files located inside the folder "BepInExPack" into your games directory, NOT the folder itself. If you see a folder named "BepInExPack" inside your Lethal Company games files, you've done it wrong.

Correct folder structure

Incorrect folder structure

If you've done this correctly, you should first run your game without mods then try installing them. If your mod has a folder called "BepInEx" in the .zip file, you can safely drag that into Lethal Company's directory. If it only gives you a .dll file, you'll need to put it in your "/BepInEx/plugins" folder. If you only get a folder with the mods name, put it in your plugins folder as well. Anything else should probably just be thrown inside the "BepInEx" folder.

Mods may also require more setup, make sure to check their description on thunderstore.io to double check what you need to do!

A Thank you

Now that we've finished up and I've hopefully helped you make your game a lot more fun, I wanted to list a quick thank you.

So, thank you to everyone up-voting this guide and giving it rewards! I just made this guide for my friends (and their friends) so they wouldn't have to ask me every time they wanted to use mods. But since creating this I've been graciously given nearly 40k steam points (that's like, a lot) and even had the guide as #1 for Lethal Company for some time (it went back to #1 like 3 times). Those are both major boosts to my ego and I'm sure you'll be happy to know I spent all my steam points on animated catgirls I'll never equip to my profile and emotes to harass my friends with.

Happy modding!

[2% Milf Drinker]

You can delete your profile in r2modman (I think theres a clear mods option in its settings too), or delete everything in your plugins folder.

[Ni-K Foul]

how to delete all mods at ones?

[FoxenWulf]

bout overwolf and thunderstore is dat gud

[joober]

Whoops. Sorry for missing the quick replies. Thank you, nice work!

[2% Milf Drinker]

I was wrong, you CAN do this! If you go to r2modman, load your profile, and click the "Help" tab, you'll find a section at the bottom with some launch options. If you put these as your launch options in Steam for the game it'll use r2modman to launch mods without touching the main directory.

[2% Milf Drinker]

If you install mods manually, launching the game form Steam will launch it modded. Otherwise, there's not really a way to do this. I know you can add shortcuts to Steam but I'm not sure if r2modman supports launching modded from a shortcut or if Steam would support a shortcut with arguments on it.

[joober]

Thanks for the cool guide. I'm sure you're a wonderful asset.

Out of curiosity, I'm currently trying to figure out if there is a way to launch a modded LC client from Steam, without having to launch a mod manager beforehand each time. I haven't seen that listed as a feature for any manager, and it might not be feasible with the way mods are handled for the game. Would you happen to know of any way to do that?

[Slendy_boi12]

Does this have Linux/SteamDeck support?

[2% Milf Drinker]

Finally went over 999 lmao.
Thanks for all the people reading my guide!

[Diamondman0607]

999 current favorites.