The developer has a shorter version of this "tutorial" pinned in the discussion board. But since not everybody checks the discussions first... I figured I'd expand on the topic a bit and make a guide here.


This game was recently updated with a couple of really important patches. Then they released the "full release" version 1.00 on April 10, 2024. A lot of the mods for the game were made waaaayy back like 2 years ago while the game was in early access, and the mods never got a proper update for the game version 1.00. So a lot of the mods that used to be pretty cool are now broken.

So if you want to be sure your mods still work with the current version of the game, check the date the mod was last updated; it should be AFTER 10 May, 2024. Anything before that, no guarantees. It might work fine, but it also may just not work at all, it may work incorrectly, or it may crash your game and possibly corrupt your save file. So try to stick to the newer mods that have been updated specifically for game version 1.0+.

The vanilla experience in this game is actually pretty good as-is, in my opinion. There are very few things that I feel "should" be modded for improvements. But hey, some people just want to tweak everything. Mod at your own risk, use common sense, and have fun!

The game received some MASSIVE update patches leading up to the full release version. IF your game was FIRST INSTALLED before April 10, 2024 - meaning you played it at any point during Early Access development, then you will need to do a clean install.

If your game was FIRST INSTALLED on April 10, 2024 or later, then you should be fine and you can skip this step.


Right-click the game in your Steam Library. Find the option to UNINSTALL the game, and do it.
Open your Windows File Explorer and go to the folder "C:\Users\<YOUR USERNAME>\AppData\Miju Games\Planet Crafter\" and delete all the files in that folder. You can leave the folder there though, as long as it's empty.


Reinstall the game from your Steam Library now.
It may be useful to also use the Steam Library's "validate integrity of game files" tool after you install the game, in case the Steam download utility messed something up.

Run the game once, just to the main menu. Go to the "load game" screen and DELETE all of your old save games that were created before April 10, 2024. Yep, you'll have to start a fresh save for mods to work right.
Now exit the game.

Go online and download BepInEx.[github.com] It should be downloaded as a Zip file. Extract the Zip file's contents into the game's main folder "...Steam/SteamApps/Common/The Planet Crafter/" and then open the folder "BepInEx" there. You'll see only a few files and folders were created for BepInEx. Once this is done, you can delete the zip file.


Run the game, just get to the main menu screen. Now exit the game. This will create the rest of the folders and files that you need for BepinEx to work.
Open the file "...The Planet Crafter/BepInEx/Config/BepInEx.cfg" using a text editor like Notepad++.
On the 17th line in that file, change the value from "false" to "true." The line should say ""HideManagerGameObject = true" when you're done.


Run the game one more time, just to the main menu. Then exit the game. You should see the folder "The Planet Crafter/BepInEx/Plugins" and it should be empty right now. If so, you're ready to get some mods.

Now you can start adding mod files into the BepInEx/Plugins folder. ANYTHING you put in here will be active next time you run the game.

You can't just dump the mod's ZIP file in there though; you have to EXTRACT it first. The .dll file for the mod is what you're looking for. So extract the .dll right into the PLUGINS folder. Some mods will also contain .cfg files; put those into the CONFIG folder next to the bepinex.cfg file that you edited in the previous step. If the game does have a .cfg file, you can open the file with a text editor like Notepad++ and then edit certain parameters for the mod. Like if a mod is designed to make your oxygen drain more slowly for better survival... the cfg file for the mod probably lets you customize how slowly you want the oxygen meter to deplete. Or if a mod lets you stack items in your inventory, the cfg file probably lets you customize how big each stack is allowed to be; maybe you want stacks of 50 or less; maybe you want stacks of 999 so you never need to build another storage chest again.

The most popular place to get mods for this game is on the Nexus Mods website. Google it and watch a Youtube tutorial video if you've never used it before.

Once you've put the mod's files in the proper folders, run the game and they should be active. Some mods that didn't come with a cfg file will also generate one after you've played with the mod active.

If you want to remove a mod completely, just delete its files from the BepInEx/Plugins and BepInEx/Config folders. Easy peasy. But some effects may still linger in your save game file.

If you want to disable ALL mods without deleting any of them, find the file "Steam/Steamapps/Common/The Planet Crafter/winhttp.dll" and rename it. Maybe call it "winhttp.dll.disabled" or something like that?
Mods will be turned off. But your save file will still be marked as "modded."

Then if you want to re-enable mods later, change the file's name back to the original.

NOT ALL MODS WORK WITH MULTIPLAYER.
But some do.
Check the Mod's description on the Nexus Mods site, most of them that will work with multiplayer will have a note there saying that they do.

Some of them require ALL players to have the same mod list installed, and use the SAME mod settings in each mod's .cfg files. If even one person uses a different config setting for the mod, it will break everything.

Some of them allow each player to decide on their own whether they want the mod or not, and other players will NOT see the effects of that mod on other players with or without the mod active.

Some of them only allow the HOST to have the mod active, if a client has it then it will break everything.

Mods might also make it impossible to load a saved game in multiplayer mode. Or to switch between multiplayer and single player on the same saved game file.


So definitely make sure you know what you're doing before you start a modded multiplayer game!!

My recommendation: if you're going to play co-op multiplayer mode, then you should have EVERYONE disable mods and play a vanilla game. And don't swap between modded and vanilla either!!