/rwg/ Recommended Mods
1.6 "Odyssey" Update
Unless otherwise noted with a (1.5) next to the title, everything on this list is updated for 1.6. Make a post in the general if you have questions or recommendations - I'm lurking.
This list covers some of the better mods for new players or people who are just getting into modding. It is not a comprehensive list of the best mods. You should search the workshop or ask the general if you're looking for something specific.
Mods by /rwg/: https://rentry.org/mods-by-rwg
Table of Contents:
GETTING STARTED
Installing Mods
Install non-workshop mods by unzipping them into subfolders within your local Mods folder:
Operating System | Default Folder Location |
---|---|
Windows | C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\RimWorld\Mods |
Mac | Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/RimWorld |
Linux (standalone) | ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/RimWorld/Mods |
Linux (GoG) | /home/<user>/GOG/Games/RimWorld/game/Mods/ |
Sorting Mods
Use a tool like RimSort to sort your mods. These are more accurate than the in-game sorting tool and allow downloading mods from Steam without a Steam account.
RimSort
https://github.com/RimSort/RimSort/releases/latest
RimSort | RimPy |
---|---|
✓ Up-to-date sorting rule database, support for custom databases | ✗ Sorting rule database is outdated and throws inaccurate errors |
✓ Faster texture optimization | ✗ Slow texture optimization |
✓ Prevents workshop mods from breaking after updates by removing outdated files | ✗ Does not delete old files, which may cause mods to break after updating |
✗ No color coding | ✓ Color coding |
Open-source, in active development | Closed-source, abandoned in 2022 |
RimPy is deprecated.
Version 1.6 allows modders to change their package ID based on your modlist. Since sorting databases rely on package IDs, and RimPy is no longer in development, it is possible that your modlist won't sort correctly once modders start using dynamic package IDs. If you aren't already accustomed to using RimPy, it is highly recommended that you use RimSort instead.
RimPy
https://github.com/rimpy-custom/RimPy/releases
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1847679158 (required)
PERFORMANCE MODS
Download all of these.
Graphics Settings+
Adds DDS file support and allows tweaking texture rendering. Use this in conjunction with the texture optimizers from RimPy/RimSort to drastically reduce RAM/VRAM usage.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1678847247
Performance Fish and its requirements (1.5)
https://github.com/bbradson/Performance-Fish
https://github.com/bbradson/Fishery (required library for Performance Fish)
Performance - Slower Pawn Tick Rate
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3524116050
Performance Optimizer
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2664723367
Prepatcher (1.5)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934420800
ROYALTY STUFF
More Persona Traits
Adds 100+ traits for persona weapons and an option to disable undesired traits.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2863308112
Royalty Tweaks
Limits throne room requirement to highest-ranking royal. Also re-enables passionate skills.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2018384424
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Empire
Overhauls the Empire faction and adds new game mechanics. There's also a deserter-themed add-on if you want to play against the Empire.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2938820380
IDEOLOGY STUFF
All Ideologions Are Fluid
Reform your "fixed" ideologion without using dev mode.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2872901762
Alpha Memes
Adds new structures, new memes, retextures for new and vanilla styles, and a ton of other stuff. Read the description.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2661356814
More Religious Origins
Adds more structures based on real-world religions and some styles associated with them.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2620745910
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Memes and Structures
Adds new structures, new memes, and a ton of other stuff. Read the description.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2636329500
BIOTECH STUFF
AFU Cosmetic Gene Expanded
Adds dozens of cosmetic genes for your custom xenotypes. Doesn't include any new xenotypes. Compatible with Facial Animation.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2880942803
Big and Small - Genes & More
Adds a ton of genes and has additional modules for factions and races. Compatible with Facial Animation.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2920751126
Biotech Expansion
Gene expansion with add-on modules.
https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2883456211 (collection)
Gene Ripper (1.5)
Skip the RNG hell of gene extraction by forcibly extracting a specific gene, killing the pawn in the process.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2885485814
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3524806362 (temporary 1.6 fork)
Gene Trader
Adds an orbital trader that sells genes.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2886375137
Xenotype Spawn Control
Adjust xenotype spawn rates and inject your own custom xenotypes into factions.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2891975564
ANOMALY STUFF
Anomaly Portal
Adds a new entity and some related content.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259426560
Anomaly Research Asteroid (also requires Odyssey)
Adds an asteroid with Anomaly threats.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3527726648
Better Distress Call
Adds some variety to distress calls.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3305489753
New Anomaly Threats (1.5)
Self-explanatory.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3274840013
PREPARATION
Character Editor
Fully customize any pawn in the world at any time.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1874644848
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2855844396 (vanilla-style UI retexture)
Map Preview
Shows a preview of any tile on the world map. Also has a button to re-roll your starting tile during new game setup.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2800857642
Prepare Procedurally
Set filters for your starting pawns so their skills and backstories complement each other.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3121493365
RandomPlus
Similar to Prepare Procedurally but for individual pawns instead of all starting pawns.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1434137894
AI & COLONIST BEHAVIOR
Animals Logic
Animal-related QoL enhancements.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1098354593
Common Sense
Aims to make your pawns smarter. May not actually make your pawns smarter. Conflicts with some other mods that alter pawn AI.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1561769193
Just Ignore Me Passing
Pawns will no longer stop construction when another pawn passes through the blueprint.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3503627342
Smarter Construction
Stop your pawns from building themselves into a wall or blocking something that hasn't been built yet.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2202185773
Smarter Deconstruction
Stops your pawns from collapsing roofs on top of themselves while deconstructing and mining.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3261302741
STORAGE, HAULING & INVENTORY
Adaptive Storage Framework
Adds more storage options using the vanilla storage system.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3033901359
Does not include any storage buildings! Recommended storage mods:
[sbz] Neat Storage: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3416243474
Adaptive Simple Storage: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3297307747
Reel's Expanded Storage: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3237638097
Awesome Inventory Forked (1.5)
More control of your pawn's inventory.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2669036490
Just Put It Over There
Traders will take new items to your storage instead of dropping them on the floor.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2856471776
Pick Up And Haul o7
Pawns haul more than a single item at a time.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1279012058
Stack Gap
Set stack limits for storage spots. For example, limiting a shelf to 5 medicine instead of 25.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3071298014
Stack XXL
Customizable stack sizes. Store 500 components in one tile instead of 50 to make Tynan cry.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=826366050
While You're Up (1.5)
Pawns haul more than a single item/stack.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2034960453
COMBAT
Guards For Me
Use your colonists as patrol guards, bodyguards, standing guards, and reaction forces.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1855885448
Layered Wall Destruction
Walls degrade and provide less cover as they take damage instead of poofing into thin air when they reach 0 HP.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3024527775
Melee Animation
Nice melee animations, a frustrating lasso system, and a gizmo to violently behead other pawns in combat. Kind of a TPS hog.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2944488802
WARNING: Telemetry
By default, Melee Animations anonymously logs the ID of incompatible mods. You can opt out of this anonymous logging in the mod settings under the Other tab. Logging is not active the first time you launch the game with this mod.
Pocket Sand
Store extra weapons in a pawn's inventory and hotswap them using a gizmo. Good for switching from ranged to melee.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2226330302
MEDICAL
Apply Pressure
Downed pawns apply pressure to the wound that's bleeding the most instead of crawling to a bed.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3293665943
Bed Rest For Food Poisoning
Pawns will rest for food poisoning instead of puking all over your colony and becoming incapacitated while hunting.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2567901366
Bionic icons
Changes the textures for prosthetics boxes and adds icons showing what's inside.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1677616980
Choose Your Medicine
Set which type of medicine you want to use for injuries so you don't waste Glitterworld medicine on a bruise.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2937201140
Compact Hediffs
Makes the health tab more readable, with color coding and progress bars for hediffs.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2031734067
Nice Health Tab
Gives a visual readout of your pawn's health using a doll, with support for modded prosthetics and hairs.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3328729902
ReTend (1.5)
Retend injuries under a specified tend quality.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2996971119
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3523724230 (temporary 1.6 fork)
PROSTHETICS
You should only use one of the big prosthetics mods. For new players, Vanilla Bionics Expansion is best as it covers only what is missing from the base game and is balanced around vanilla prosthetics. For players looking for more variety, Advanced Bionics Expansion, EPOE, and RBSE add their own unique prosthetics with varying levels of absurdity.
[FSF] Bionics Expansion
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1419675146 (Vanilla)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2006925330 (Advanced)
Or Expanded Prosthetics and Organ Engineering - Forked
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1949064302
Or Rah's Bionics and Surgery Expansion
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=850429707
IMMERSION
[CAT] Show Hair With Hats or Hide All Hats
Self-explanatory.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879080074
Interaction Bubbles
Social interactions found in the log tab are displayed in text bubbles above the pawn.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1516158345
Never Generate Relations
Prevents your Glitterworld crashlanded starter pawn from having a tribal grandmother in the rim.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2891797130
Romance On The Rim
Adds romance need and more interactions between couples.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2654432921
Romance Tweaks More Options
More control over romance chance.
https://www.loverslab.com/files/file/8731-romance-tweaks-more-options/
Total Control
Customize non-player faction pawns.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3063465133
Transmog (1.5)
Set your pawn's clothing to whatever you want, regardless of what they're wearing. Purely cosmetic—actual equipped stats depend on equipped apparel.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3222605360
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3526934473 (temporary 1.6 fork)
QOL
Allow Tool
Adds a bunch of QoL designators to the architect menu. Some tools have a large performance impact.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=761421485
Auto-Cut Blight (1.5)
Automatically designates blighted plants for cutting.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3225340303
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3520167264 (temporary 1.6 fork)
Cherry Picker
Remove just about anything you don't want from the game.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3521312241
Dubs Mint Menus
UI overhaul that adds searchable menus, research queues, and more.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1446523594
Food Alert
Customizable display that shows how many days of food the colony has.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2017538067
Food Poisoning Stack Fix
Removes the RNG that occasionally taints your entire food supply.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2843483188
Keyz' Allow Utils
A more performance friendly and slimmed down successor to Allow Tools. Does not require HugsLib.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3524716849
Nice Bill Tab
Redesigns bill tabs with visual breakdowns of relevant info.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3520130671
Resource Dictionary
Deduplicate recipes. For example, if two mods add coal, you can set all recipes to use only one type of coal and safely remove the unused coal from the game.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2817607528
RIMMSqol
Quick and easy edit of almost any value in the game.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1084452457
SimpleCameraSetting
Change minimum/maximum zoom levels.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3232415388
Visible Wealth
Shows a breakdown of your colony's wealth. Helpful to see which items are contributing the most to your threat scale.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3461137081
MISCELLANEOUS
Popular mods that aren't necessary but worth checking out.
Dubs Bad Hygiene
Adds a sewage system, toilets, bathing, hygiene-related needs, and mood effects.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=836308268
Exosuit Framework
Adds a framework for exosuits with a number of QOL improvements over VFE - Pirates Warcaskets.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3352894993
Does not include any exosuits! Full list of exosuit mods:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3352922615 (collection)
Giddy-Up 2
Ride your animals. Be attacked by raiders on animals.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3246108162
MultiFloors (1.5)
Adds z-levels to the game with lots of customization and compatibility with mods like Dubs Bad Hygiene and the Vanilla Expanded pipe network.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3384660931
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3537626590 (1.6 preview)
Research Reinvented
Adds new ways to complete research projects. Fully customizable.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2868392160
RimJobWorld (1.5)
The horny mod for RimWorld. There are additional modules for animations, body parts, clothes, ideology integration, kinks, and more.
https://www.loverslab.com/files/file/7257-rimjobworld
https://gitgud.io/api/v4/projects/8372/packages/generic/rjw/RC-5/rjw.zip (1.6 preview)
Vehicle Framework
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3014915404
Does not include any vehicles! Recommended vehicle mods:
RimThunder Series: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3276606914 (collection)
Vanilla Vehicles Expanded: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3014906877
ANIME
Vanilla hair looks bad on anime heads. Install both of these to fix that:
UNAGI Vanilla Hairs
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3386935298
Vanilla Hairs and Beards Retextured
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2893572291
If you want facial animation:
[NL] Facial Animation
Animates your pawn's face and expressions in an anime style.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1635901197
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2581693737 (optional add-on)
Check out Facial Animations Xenotype Compatibility if you use a xenotype with custom heads. It's not being updated to 1.6, but it should still work in most cases. Compatible with retextures like Unagi.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2950353635
If you're not using Unagi and you have Biotech, get HD Head Attachments for Nals Facial Animation
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917322097
For a full retexture with better support for DLC, get Unagi Facial Animation
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3268178647
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3287187828 (Biotech add-on)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3325531190 (prosthetic eyes add-on)
If you do not want facial animation:
Malang Face and its submods
Nice anime-style face and body retextures with support for Biotech.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2848299855 (collection)
UNAGI Face Lite
Unagi face retexture without Facial Animation support.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3517358612
MODLISTS
CDDA modlist (1.3)
CDDA and assorted post apocalyptic shenanigans modlist. Outdated.
https://rentry.org/8czfy
Yayo modlist (1.3)
Yayo's Combat. A lot of the linked mods are outdated, but there are continuations if you search the workshop.
https://rentry.org/pcnuf