Mods & Mod Managers

The general PC mod ecosystem and the managers that wrangle it. For the specifically-Bethesda Skyrim / Fallout modlist culture see Wabbajack & Bethesda modlists. For developer-side mod authoring / distribution see Game Development → Distribution. For save-file backup of modded playthroughs see Cloud saves.

The 2024–26 reality: Nexus Mods is the gold-standard mod host (paid Premium for fast downloads + bulk; free with throttle), Mod Organizer 2 is the Bethesda gold standard, Thunderstore + r2modman has won the Unity-game mod-loader space (Lethal Company, Risk of Rain, Valheim, Content Warning), BepInEx is the Unity loader sitting under most of it, and CurseForge owns Minecraft / WoW.

Mod hosts

• ★ ★ Nexus Mods — free + paid Premium (~$60/yr or ~$5/mo for unlimited fast downloads + bulk). The default mod host for the AAA / mid-budget single-player PC modding world. Skyrim, Fallout 4, Cyberpunk 2077, Stardew Valley, Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield. Pairs with Vortex / MO2.
• ★ Thunderstore — free; the Unity-game mod platform. Lethal Company, Risk of Rain 2, Valheim, Content Warning, Hades II, etc. Pairs with r2modman / Thunderstore Mod Manager.
• CurseForge — free; Overwolf-owned. Minecraft + World of Warcraft + ARK + RuneScape modding. Required client for many Minecraft modpacks.
• Steam Workshop — free; built-in for participating titles (Cities: Skylines, Stellaris, Garry's Mod, Skyrim, RimWorld, etc.). Auto-syncing; per-game.
• GameBanana — free; the older skin / mod / model host. Strong for fighting games, Source-engine games, FNF mods.
• ModDB — free; legacy; still widely used for older / total-conversion mods.
• GitHub — free; OSS mods often live here directly, especially for code-only mods (Unity, Wine helpers, anti-cheat workarounds).

Mod managers (general)

• ★ Vortex — free closed (Nexus official); Win-only. Multi-game mod manager; "drop a Nexus URL, click install." Conflict resolution, profiles, downloads. Newer-user friendly.
• ★ Mod Organizer 2 (MO2) — free OSS; Win. The Bethesda-modding gold standard. Virtual file system isolates mod files from the game install (no orphaned files, clean uninstalls), profiles, advanced load-order. Steeper learning curve than Vortex but irreplaceable for serious Bethesda mod stacks. See Wabbajack & Bethesda modlists.
• ★ r2modman — MIT OSS; Win/Mac/Linux. Thunderstore client. Per-profile installs, auto-updates, multi-game. The default for Lethal Company / Risk of Rain 2 etc.
• Thunderstore Mod Manager — Overwolf wrapper around r2modman; same backend.
• NMM (Nexus Mod Manager) — free; legacy; replaced by Vortex. Don't pick in 2026.

Mod loaders (the runtime layer)

• ★ BepInEx — LGPL OSS; the Unity / IL2CPP / Mono mod loader that 80% of single-player Unity-game mods sit on. Plugin DLLs, Harmony patches, configuration UI.
• MelonLoader — Apache OSS; alternative Unity mod loader; popular in VRChat (until tightened) and other Il2Cpp games.
• Unity Mod Manager — free; another Unity loader, popular for Pillars / Pathfinder / etc.
• Forge / Fabric / Quilt — free OSS; Minecraft mod loaders. Fabric + Quilt are the modern lightweight stack; Forge is the legacy heavyweight; CurseForge launcher handles them.
• SMAPI — MIT OSS; Stardew Valley mod loader.
• F4SE / SKSE / OBSE / NVSE / xSE — Bethesda Script Extenders; required by most non-trivial Bethesda mods.
• RED4ext / Cyber Engine Tweaks — free OSS; Cyberpunk 2077 modding stack.
• VRCMelon / VRCModLoader (legacy) — VRChat modding (now restricted by official VRChat ToS — flag).

Bethesda-specific patcher / load-order tools

• ★ LOOT (Load Order Optimisation Tool) — GPLv3 OSS; auto-sorts Bethesda load order using community-maintained masterlists. Essential.
• xEdit (TES5Edit / SSEEdit / FO4Edit / FNVEdit) — GPLv3 OSS; Bethesda plugin editor + conflict resolver. Patch creator. The Bethesda modder's IDE.
• Wrye Bash — GPL OSS; older Bethesda batch / Bashed Patch tool.
• DynDOLOD / xLODGen — Skyrim-specific LOD generators.

Pick this if…

• First-time modder, single AAA game: Vortex.
• Bethesda (Skyrim / Fallout) seriously: MO2 + LOOT + xEdit + xSE — and consider Wabbajack modlists.
• Lethal Company / Risk of Rain / Valheim: r2modman.
• Minecraft: CurseForge launcher (Forge / Fabric).
• Unity game with no manager yet: install BepInEx manually; some games have community r2modman profiles.
• Cyberpunk 2077: Vortex + CET + RED4ext.