How to Install Mods on a Conan Exiles Server

Before you start: check the version, protect the save, agree the list

Modding is only for private and community servers. Official Conan Exiles servers do not use Workshop mods, so if you are renting or running a server for friends, make sure you are working on the right kind of server first.

The next check is the branch. Conan Exiles Enhanced is the Unreal Engine 5 build and the default dedicated server branch on Steam. The old UE4 build sits on the conan-exiles-legacy beta branch. Server and players must be on the same version, and Enhanced only loads mods that have been rebuilt for Enhanced. If you are still sorting the base install, this guide pairs well with setting up a Conan Exiles dedicated server.

Before adding, removing or updating any mod, back up ConanSandbox/Saved/game_0.db. That file is your world save on Enhanced. The reason is simple: mods can add items, actors, building pieces or data that your save starts to depend on. If you later remove or replace that content, the save may still reference it. A backup gives you a clean rollback point instead of a damaged live world.

Also decide the mod list with your players before you touch the server. Constantly adding “just one more” mod increases startup time, RAM use and troubleshooting noise. A settled list means fewer restarts, fewer mismatches and much less uncertainty about which change caused a problem. If you are self-hosting and want to understand how extra mods affect the machine itself, the broader principles are the same as general game server hardware requirements.

Pre-flight checklist before adding a mod

If your current setup is already cramped, compare your options in our Conan Exiles server hosting comparison. For people running the server locally, the same planning applies when hosting a server on your own PC: mods are not just files, they are extra memory use, extra startup work and extra admin overhead.

How mods reach a Conan server

The important idea is that Steam Workshop is only the source. The server does not hold a Workshop subscription of its own. Someone has to obtain the mod files, place the .pak files in the server’s Mods folder, then write or update modlist.txt so the server knows what to mount on boot.

There are three common ways to do that work.

All three methods can work. The difference is not magic, only where the admin effort sits. Panel tools and the Windows launcher reduce manual typing, which cuts filename mistakes. Manual upload gives you full control, which is useful when you need to inspect a specific file, fix a typo in the list or deal with a mod that the panel failed to update properly.

Manual install: subscribe, copy the right files, then restart

Manual installation is the clearest way to understand the workflow, even if you later let a panel handle it. The Workshop item on your PC sits under steamapps/workshop/content/440900/<WorkshopID>/. Inside that numbered folder is the actual mod .pak file. That .pak is what the server needs. The numbered folder itself is not what the server loads.

1. Subscribe to the mod on a PC that has the game installed.
2. Let Steam finish downloading it.
3. Open steamapps/workshop/content/440900/ and find the mod’s Workshop ID folder.
4. Open that folder and locate the .pak file.
5. Stop the Conan server before editing files or the mod list.
6. Upload the .pak file into ConanSandbox/Mods/. Create the Mods folder if it is missing.
7. Do not upload the numbered Workshop folders, and do not rename the .pak.
8. Edit ConanSandbox/Mods/modlist.txt and add one entry per line.
9. Start the server and check the log for LogModManager: Mounting mod pak file: lines.

Stopping the server first matters because Conan only reads the mod list at startup. Editing modlist.txt while it is running does not change what is mounted in memory. The server keeps using the old list until the next boot, so “I saved the file but nothing changed” is expected behaviour.

A simple modlist.txt for mods stored directly in the server’s Mods folder looks like this. These names are placeholders, so use your real filenames exactly as they appear on disk.

*FirstMod.pak
*DependencyMod.pak
*MapMod.pak
*SecondMod.pak

The log check is worth doing every time. It tells you what actually mounted, not what you intended to mount. That distinction matters because a typo in modlist.txt, a case mismatch on Linux or a renamed file can leave a mod absent even though the file appears to be “installed” in the folder.

The modlist.txt format, line by line

Each mod goes on its own line in ConanSandbox/Mods/modlist.txt. If the .pak file sits in the server’s Mods folder, the usual format is *FileName.pak. That leading asterisk is the common server-side style used by many host panels and guides because it refers to the local Mods directory cleanly.

Full file paths also work. Funcom’s Dedicated Server Launcher often writes entries as complete paths to the Workshop cache on the Windows machine that runs the server. That is fine for a Windows self-host where those paths really exist. It is not fine to copy a player’s own modlist.txt onto the server, because the paths in that file point to that player’s PC, not to your server.

This is why “I copied my client modlist and now nothing loads” is such a common admin mistake. The server is not checking what the player meant; it is trying to open the exact path written in the file. If that path does not exist on the server, the mod cannot mount.

• Use one line per mod.
• Match the filename exactly, including capital letters on Linux.
• Do not rename the .pak just to make it look tidier.
• If you are converting a client list, change entries to the server-friendly *Name.pak format.
• Edit the list while the server is stopped, then restart.

Linux case sensitivity deserves special attention. On Windows, a case mistake can go unnoticed. On Linux, *MyMod.pak and *mymod.pak are different names. If the file says one thing and modlist.txt says another, the server looks for a file that is not there and the mod stays unloaded.

On Enhanced, Legacy entries are not useful. Since Hotfix 1.0.1 on 6 May 2026, Legacy mods are ignored, and if active mods are modified those old entries are removed from modlist.txt. That behaviour helps, but it is still better admin practice to remove dead Legacy clutter yourself so the load order stays readable.

Load order: top loads first, the lower mod wins

Conan loads mods from top to bottom. When two mods alter the same asset or data, the one lower in the list loads later and overrides the earlier one. That is the core rule behind almost every “works alone, breaks in a pack” problem.

Think of load order as conflict resolution. The server mounts every listed .pak, but when content overlaps it still needs one final version to use. Later loading decides that winner. The benefit of understanding this is that you can place mods on purpose instead of shuffling them blindly after each mismatch or crash.

If a server stops behaving after a reorder, revert to the last known good order and test again one change at a time. Reordering costs startup time and admin time more than player-facing performance, but random order experiments often create two problems at once: a dependency fault and an override conflict. Controlled changes are much easier to read in the logs.

Getting players in without MOD MISMATCH

For a player to join, the client must match the server’s mods, load order and mod versions. The game validates that content on join because the client and server need to agree on the same classes, assets and data. If they do not, the game blocks the connection instead of letting desynchronisation ruin the session.

In practice, players usually see a MOD MISMATCH screen with a Subscribe/Update All option. The client subscribes or updates through Steam, restarts, then attempts to reconnect. The first reconnect after that restart can fail, so tell players to join again once more before assuming the server is still broken.

To reduce confusion, share the exact ordered mod list with your group. A Workshop collection is useful for discovery, but an ordered text list is what settles admin arguments because order matters just as much as the contents. Some host panels also keep a ServerModList value in ServerSettings.ini in step with your server load order so clients can fetch the right mods automatically. That helps players, but the server itself still loads whatever is in modlist.txt.

• Same mods is not enough; order must match too.
• Version mismatch usually means the client updated first or the server updated first.
• After changing the list, expect every player to restart the game client if prompted.
• If one person alone cannot join, compare their order against the server list before blaming the save.

Updating mods safely after a Workshop change

Updates are where most modded Conan servers go wrong. Players’ Workshop copies on Steam usually update by themselves. The server’s copies do not. Until you update the server-side .pak files and restart, the client and server are on different builds and the join check fails. That is why a mod can work perfectly one evening and produce MOD MISMATCH the next morning without you changing anything in the panel.

The safe routine is straightforward because it keeps the save protected and the server state obvious.

1. Announce a short maintenance window so players stop building during the change.
2. Stop the server.
3. Back up ConanSandbox/Saved/game_0.db.
4. Update the server’s mod copies through your panel, launcher or manual upload route.
5. Keep the filenames original and confirm modlist.txt still points to the right files in the right order.
6. Start the server.
7. Check the log for mod mounting lines and test a join before declaring it done.

Patch 2.2.0 is a special case worth remembering. It moved Conan Exiles Enhanced onto Unreal Engine 5.8.2 with Iris networking changes and forced a recook of all mods because of engine serialisation changes. If a mod stopped working around that patch, or works on paper but behaves as incompatible in practice, check that its Workshop update date is after 15 September 2026. If it is older than that, the mod is still flagged as out of date and you need to wait for its author to recook it. Since the June 2026 patch, an incompatible mod shows a popup instead of crashing the game, so the warning itself tells you which mod to check.

The trade-off during updates is uptime versus consistency. Leaving the server online while clients auto-update gives people a bit more play time, but it almost guarantees a mismatch window. A short planned restart is cleaner than an evening of repeated join errors.

When a mod is “installed” but does nothing: ModHttp.ini

Some mods need to talk to a website or service, such as a Discord announcer or other web-driven tool. On a dedicated server, that web access is blocked until you allow specific origins in ModHttp.ini. So the mod can still load, appear in the list and mount normally, but its internet feature stays silent.

On Windows servers the file lives in ConanSandbox/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/. On Linux it is in LinuxServer/. The server log tells you what it wants by printing LogModHttp warnings with the exact lines to add. Approval is per mod, one section per mod, and the origin must match exactly as scheme://host:port.

The quoted value matters. Without quotes, the // in a web origin starts a comment and the line is ignored. That is why a web-enabled mod can look correctly configured at a glance but never actually send anything.

[MyMod]
AllowedOrigin="https://api.example.com"
AllowedOrigin="https://hooks.example.com:8443"

[AnotherMod]
AllowedOrigin="https://status.example.org"

The section names and addresses above are placeholders: copy the exact lines the LogModHttp warning gives you. A DeniedOrigin= line does the opposite and blocks an origin for that mod.

Restart after editing. This approval system exists for control and safety: you are explicitly allowing which remote origins each mod may reach from the server.

Removing a mod without making a mess

Removing a mod is riskier than adding one because the world may already contain data created by that mod. If buildings, items, stations or systems from the mod are present in the save, taking the mod away can leave missing references behind. That does not always destroy a world, but it is exactly the sort of change that deserves a backup first.

1. Tell players what is being removed and when.
2. Stop the server.
3. Back up game_0.db.
4. Remove the mod’s line from modlist.txt.
5. Remove the mod’s .pak from ConanSandbox/Mods/.
6. Restart and watch the log.
7. Ask players to update their own load order if they keep the rest of the pack installed.

If you are unsure how deeply a mod is embedded in the world, treat the removal like an update with rollback ready. The resource cost here is mostly admin time rather than raw server performance, but that admin time is what saves you from having to restore a broken world later.

Troubleshooting mod installs, mismatches and failed boots

Use this as a first-pass fault table. Start with the simplest explanation that matches the symptom, because most Conan mod problems come from file placement, stale versions, order or version compatibility rather than anything exotic.

If you are adding a new mod, the cleanest habit is to test one at a time. That costs a few extra restarts, but it saves far more time than trying to diagnose three simultaneous failures from one big batch upload.

Conan Exiles server FAQ

Do players need to install the mods themselves to join a modded Conan Exiles server?

Yes. Players need the same mods in the same order as the server, and on matching versions. The game can prompt them with Subscribe/Update All, but the join only succeeds once the client has downloaded the required Workshop files and restarted.

Why do my friends get a mod mismatch when joining my Conan Exiles server?

Most often, the server is using a different mod version or a different order from the clients. A Workshop update on Steam commonly updates players before the server, so the fix is usually to update the server’s mod copies and restart, then have players reconnect.

Do old Conan Exiles mods work on Enhanced?

No, not if they are still Legacy UE4 builds. Enhanced uses Unreal Engine 5, so authors had to upgrade, recook and republish their mods, and patch 2.2.0 forced another recook because of engine serialisation changes.

Do I have to restart the server after changing mods?

Yes. Conan only reads modlist.txt when the server starts, so adding, removing, reordering or updating mods does nothing until a restart. Stop the server before you edit the list so the change is deliberate and easy to verify in the log afterwards.

Can I use mods on official Conan Exiles servers?

No. Workshop mods are for private and community servers, not official ones. If you want a modded setup, you need your own rented or self-hosted dedicated server and control over its files and restart schedule.

More Conan Exiles and server modding guides

Our Conan Exiles host comparison and setup guide, plus mod guides for other survival games.