Getting Started with Kenshi Modding

Kenshi modding is best approached with two pieces of context: the mod catalog leans toward huge content overhauls rather than small tweaks, and mod order matters more than in most games. Kenshi loads mods as override layers — later mods overwrite data from earlier ones — so getting the order wrong means later mods silently undo what earlier ones did.

This guide walks the standard install on the current Steam release.

Step 1 — Subscribe to a mod via Workshop

Open the Kenshi Workshop. Subscribe to a mod. Steam downloads it.

Three good first picks:

• 256 Squad Size — increases the squad limit, useful for the squad-management gameplay Kenshi is built around.
• Recruitable Prisoners — adds the ability to recruit captured prisoners. Lore-friendly QoL.
• Reactive World — increases the world's reactivity to player actions. Substantial content addition; not a tweak.

Step 2 — Order your mods in the launcher

Launch Kenshi. The launcher (before the game starts) has a Mods tab. Your subscribed mods appear here.

This is the critical step: mods load in order from top to bottom. Later mods override earlier ones for any data they touch in common.

General rules:

1. Tweaks and small mods first (UI, balance, individual additions).
2. Frameworks and libraries next (mods other mods depend on).
3. Large content mods last (overhauls like Genesis, Living World).
4. Patch/compatibility mods very last (if you have two big mods that conflict, a patch mod that resolves the conflict goes after both).

Reorder by dragging in the launcher.

Step 3 — Start a new save

Kenshi's save format embeds active mod state. Mid-save mod changes can produce subtle bugs that don't appear until 50 hours in.

The discipline: pick your mod list before starting a campaign. If you must change mods mid-save, back up first and accept the risk.

Step 4 — Manual mod install (optional)

For mods not on Workshop, download the mod folder and drop it into Steam/steamapps/common/Kenshi/mods/. Then in the launcher's Mods tab, enable the mod and order it.

The Kenshi/mods.cfg file lists active mods in order. Workshop and manual mods are tracked the same way.

Step 5 — The Forgotten Construction Set (optional)

If you want to author your own mod, FCS is free with the game. Launch it from Kenshi's main launcher → FCS. The same tool the developers used.

FCS opens the entire game database — every NPC, every dialogue line, every faction relationship. Edit, save as a mod folder, and your changes load in-game.

The learning curve is real but the result is unusually direct: you're editing the game with the developer's tool.

Common gotchas

• Mod loaded but no effect. Almost always load-order. A later mod is overwriting the data you expected to change. Move the desired mod down the list.
• Two big mods conflict. Check Workshop comments for compatibility patches. Most popular overhauls have community-made compat patches for each other.
• Save crashes after adding a mod. The new mod's content references something not in the save's world state. Roll back to a save before the mod was added.
• Performance is terrible. Too many big mods. Kenshi's engine starts struggling around 3-4 large content mods.
• FCS won't open my mod file. FCS sometimes corrupts on crash. The mod's .mod file may need restoring from backup; FCS keeps autosaves in Kenshi/mods/<mod_name>/Backups/.

Kenshi modding rewards picking a small set of high-quality mods over assembling a large list. The community-curated "best of" mod lists are good starting references.