How to manually install mods when all mods have a mod file called descriptor.mod

[LeoToolstoy]

Automatic launcher installs seem to be hit or miss and I was wondering if we had a more dependable way to install mods like a mod manager perhaps.

[amdhans]

The descriptor file shouldn't be in the /mod folder.

 

The .mod file in the /mod folder should be named the same as the mod.

 

If it is putting the descriptor in the /mod folder, the mod is most likely packed wrong.

[Igoos]

6 hours ago, amdhans said:

The descriptor file shouldn't be in the /mod folder.

 

The .mod file in the /mod folder should be named the same as the mod.

 

If it is putting the descriptor in the /mod folder, the mod is most likely packed wrong.

Sorry, could you rephrase that?

[alienfaction]

The "descriotor.mod" should be inside the mods folder, i.e.

 

Crusader Kings III/mod/Carnalitas/descriptor.mod

 

- Crusader Kings III (folder)

                              |

                               - mod (folder)

                                         |

                                         - Carnalitas.mod

                                         - Carnalitas (folder)

                                                          |

                                                           - descriptor.mod

                                                           - (folders for mod, e.g. gui, common, events. etc

 

[Bolzhano]

8 minutes ago, Igoos said:

Sorry, could you rephrase that?

Let's say that you have a mod called Mod_A installed. In your Documents/Paradox_Interactive/Crusader_Kings_III/mod/ folder should then have a folder called Mod_A as well as a Mod_A.mod file. Inside the mod's folder should then be a descriptor.mod file (and all the other contents of the mod). What he is saying is that if the launcher is installing the descriptor.mod files within the CK3/mod folder, then there's something wrong, likely in how the mod was packed.

[atomhbomb]

33 minutes ago, alienfaction said:

The "descriotor.mod" should be inside the mods folder, i.e.

 

Crusader Kings III/mod/Carnalitas/descriptor.mod

 

- Crusader Kings III (folder)

                              |

                               - mod (folder)

                                         |

                                         - Carnalitas.mod

                                         - Carnalitas (folder)

                                                          |

                                                           - descriptor.mod

                                                           - (folders for mod, e.g. gui, common, events. etc

 

i dragged and dropped both files into the ck3 mod folder. can i get an explanation in laymen's terms?

[Igoos]

42 minutes ago, Bolzhano said:

Let's say that you have a mod called Mod_A installed. In your Documents/Paradox_Interactive/Crusader_Kings_III/mod/ folder should then have a folder called Mod_A as well as a Mod_A.mod file. Inside the mod's folder should then be a descriptor.mod file (and all the other contents of the mod). What he is saying is that if the launcher is installing the descriptor.mod files within the CK3/mod folder, then there's something wrong, likely in how the mod was packed.

Ah, gotcha. Does the contents of Mod_A.mod and descriptor.mod differ?

[Amilyn]

The descriptor inside of a mod folder is not needed as long as there is a Modname.mod in Mod folder (as far as I know, usually works for me like that)

[Igoos]

34 minutes ago, Anisei said:

The descriptor inside of a mod folder is not needed as long as there is a Modname.mod in Mod folder (as far as I know, usually works for me like that)

Is there anything specific that the .mod file on /mod/ should contain?

[amdhans]

Quote

version="1.1.1"

tags={

    "Gameplay"

    "Character Interactions"

    "Events"

}

name="Carnalitas"

supported_version="1.0.*"

path="mod/Carnalitas"

 

Here is the Carnalitas .mod file as an example.

[BeTheB]

Hi, my mods don't get picked up in the launcher, even though I installed them using the method above. Tried the Carnalitas mod from the example as I figured that would certainly work, but to no avail.

Any suggestions?

[Untolddead]

I don't really understand how people are having trouble with this. but here's a video

 

[BeTheB]

Aha, thanks! Created the mod folder in the game directory instead of the Documents folder...

[Igoos]

On 9/23/2020 at 11:56 AM, Untolddead said:

I don't really understand how people are having trouble with this. but here's a video

 

This is a better video

 

[KK33OMG]

I tried the methood but its still says “path in this mod's descriptor file is invalid or does not exist”

[juampi22]

when i download mod sof steamworkshop all have the "decriptor.mod" name

 

so i edit them: rename the files and content of them.

never fails for me

[Guest]

11 hours ago, juampi22 said:

when i download mod sof steamworkshop all have the "decriptor.mod" name

 

so i edit them: rename the files and content of them.

never fails for me

Yup, once you learn how to edit them, it's easy as 3.14.

[KK33OMG]

17 hours ago, juampi22 said:

when i download mod sof steamworkshop all have the "decriptor.mod" name

 

so i edit them: rename the files and content of them.

never fails for me

How do you do it or what do you need to do for it?Im very new on manual mod download so sorry for asking alot of questions.

[juampi22]

well, a mod for ck its always the same

1- a .mod file

2- a folder with modname

 

open with notepad (notepad++ recomended) and edit the path file to the same folder name what you want

 

example the decriptor opened look like this

Spoiler

version="1.0"
tags={
    "Portraits"
}
name="Brighter Portraits"
supported_version="1.0.3"
path="C:/Users/-yourusername-/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Crusader Kings III/mod/brighter_portraits"
remote_file_id="2216544773"

 

in the best cases, you only need to rename the decriptor to the fodler name and nothing more.

in the worst cases you need to edit the decriptor, but its rare.

 

[Kameshenin]

Hey guys, i did exactly the same thing that the guy on the video, i see the mod allowed in the first menu, and turned on for playing it, but it havent any kind of impact in game, its like all is like ever been, so the mod didnt changed nothing, i tryed it with carnalitas, and nothin happened, i chek in the game rules for see if it appears as a carnalitas tittle on the rules config or something as i seen in some pics on that forum, and nothing, all looks similar to basic game, tryied it playing for a couple of hours and nothing different happens... idk why in my computer mods didnt work sad story, it was the same thing with other mods in this game, they had no effect, for sure i checked that the MOD file had the way to the descriptor correctly writted, so thats not the problem,  would like to know what im doing wrong? thx if someone can help

[juampi22]

On 11/28/2020 at 7:51 PM, Kameshenin said:

Hey guys, i did exactly the same thing that the guy on the video, i see the mod allowed in the first menu, and turned on for playing it, but it havent any kind of impact in game, its like all is like ever been, so the mod didnt changed nothing, i tryed it with carnalitas, and nothin happened, i chek in the game rules for see if it appears as a carnalitas tittle on the rules config or something as i seen in some pics on that forum, and nothing, all looks similar to basic game, tryied it playing for a couple of hours and nothing different happens... idk why in my computer mods didnt work sad story, it was the same thing with other mods in this game, they had no effect, for sure i checked that the MOD file had the way to the descriptor correctly writted, so thats not the problem,  would like to know what im doing wrong? thx if someone can help

the mod file needs to be qwith the path of the folder, not the decriptor.mod

 

If it still doesn't work for you, is it possibly for another version of the game?

 

[Kameshenin]

thx for your reply, i think i did it correctly as the video shows, i have a folder called mod, inside of this i have a carnalitas.mod document and a folder called carnalitas that contains the mod archives and the descriptor, basically i just download the mod from the web, extract it and copy paste the items on the mod folder, in adition when the game had a version uncompatible with the mod appears an advise on game telling u that the version is not compatible when u try to activate it so i think the version is right couse it not appears ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ShadeTree1]

On 11/26/2020 at 3:50 AM, juampi22 said:

well, a mod for ck its always the same

1- a .mod file

2- a folder with modname

 

open with notepad (notepad++ recomended) and edit the path file to the same folder name what you want

 

example the decriptor opened look like this

  Hide contents

version="1.0"
tags={
    "Portraits"
}
name="Brighter Portraits"
supported_version="1.0.3"
path="C:/Users/-yourusername-/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Crusader Kings III/mod/brighter_portraits"
remote_file_id="2216544773"

 

in the best cases, you only need to rename the decriptor to the fodler name and nothing more.

in the worst cases you need to edit the decriptor, but its rare.

 

After opening the .mod in notepad, what do we do after we've typed in the correct path? How do we get the new path back to the mod folder? 

[Yeowang - 여왕]

I have the same problem with manual mods not showing up in the launcher and i am experienced in installing mods on CKIII.
Got a new PC and downloaded CKIII today, i installed the mods in C:\Users\username\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings III/mod with the mod folder and MOD file. Yet it doesn't show up.

I really don't understand where i am going wrong here. Used to be as easy as 1,2,3...

[JustAPerf]

On 10/23/2021 at 7:52 AM, MachoPrince said:

I have the same problem with manual mods not showing up in the launcher and i am experienced in installing mods on CKIII.
Got a new PC and downloaded CKIII today, i installed the mods in C:\Users\username\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings III/mod with the mod folder and MOD file. Yet it doesn't show up.

I really don't understand where i am going wrong here. Used to be as easy as 1,2,3...

Yeah, it just doesn't work anymore. I suspect it has something to do with the recent launcher update, around August. Any luck of solving it?

 

I tried the method from Paradox forum, deleted the entire file, reinstall the mod, new or old alike, only the mods existed before the update showed, the newer mods just won't work. I can still subscribe mod from Paradox site though. 

 

 

On 8/17/2021 at 10:44 PM, ShadeTree1 said:

After opening the .mod in notepad, what do we do after we've typed in the correct path? How do we get the new path back to the mod folder? 

The path of your mod is not the same as your game path. If you are using windows, it should be 

C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings III\

 

Within this file, there should be a folder named "mod", which where you put your mod in, if there isn't one, make one, we will call it mod folder from this point.

C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings III\mod

 

Whenever you want to add a new mod into it, you need to put 2 files into this MOD folder. For example, if you download a mod from LL, you will get a zip.

Within that zip, there will be a list of documents. Extract everything into a NEW folder within mod folder, I would advice you to name it the name of the mod for better management, for example "\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings III\Mod\Carnalitas"

 

So within your NEW folder, there are lot of things, now you find the descriptor.mod, cut it, move it to the mod folder from it's folder (aka move it up a level). RENAME your descriptor, since every mod has a descriptor and all of them go to the same location, you will have to rename it. I would advice you to name it accordingly, to your mod's name, for better management.

Example, "\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings III\Mod\Carnalitas.mod"

 

Now that you have the mod "Carnalitas" installed, but you haven't tell the launcher where you have installed it. Use a notepad to read the renamed descriptor, 

create a new sentence, I put it in between "supported_version" and "remote_file_id", I guess it doesn't matter. The full sentence would be,

 

path="C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings III\mod\Carnalitas"

 

Save it. The mod will not show up if you didn't save it.

 

At this point, the mod will appear in your all installed mod list after you press the refresh button on the right hand side, but I suspect it wouldn't work after the recent launcher update.