Adding mods to your Palworld server is a great way to tweak your experience in the game. From quality of life mods, improving base building, increasing automation, managing your pals, and even visual and cosmetic mods, there are a huge range available to customize your Palworld experience. And this Apex hosting guide will show you how to install mods on your Palworld server.
Before You Install Any Mods
Palworld server mods come in two types, and we need to handle them slightly differently. Pak mods upload straight to Pal/Content/Paks. UE4SS mods need the UE4SS framework installed first, then live in Pal/Binaries/Win64/ue4ss/Mods.
Three checks before you begin this process.:
- Confirm the mod is server-side. Mod sites list client-only mods alongside server-compatible ones, uaually on the same page. Double check this as a client-only mod on a server won’t do anything.
- Back up your save. Pocketpair’s own mod documentation is blunt about the risk: mods “may cause save-data corruption or crashes.” Ensure you take a backup before you start the process to prevent any potential data loss issues..
- Know your game file. UE4SS mods only run if your server’s game file is set to Palworld (UE4SS). Pak mods carry no such requirement and work on either version of Palworld.
Pak Mods vs UE4SS Mods
| Mod Type | Where It Goes | Needs UE4SS? | Game File Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pak mod (.pak file) | Pal/Content/Paks | No | Either Palworld version Apex supports |
| UE4SS mod (folder of .lua files and scripts) | Pal/Binaries/Win64/ue4ss/Mods | Yes, framework installed first | Palworld (UE4SS) only |
Pak mods are the simpler path: no framework, no game-file requirement, just an upload and a restart.
UE4SS opens up scripted mods that pak files cannot do, but this requires some initial setup, and only on a server already running Palworld (UE4SS).
How to Set Up UE4SS on Your Palworld Server
We have included and configured UE4SS and part of the default Palworld (UE4SS) game file, so for a basic setup there are no additional steps. If you wish to verify your installation, you can also complete these steps manually:
- Download UE4SS from the RE-UE4SS experimental-palworld release on GitHub.
- Stop your server.
- Grab the ue4ss folder and the dwmapi.dll file from the unzipped download.
- Head to FTP File Access, log in, and navigate to Pal > Binaries > Win64.
- Upload ue4ss and dwmapi.dll to the Win64 directory.
- Restart the server. UE4SS setup is complete.
Before you start – the release notes on GitHub advise not to run this build alongside the Steam Workshop version of UE4SS, because having both installed at once will crash the game. If you have used the Workshop build before, rename dwmapi.dll to dwmapi.dll.bak so only one version stays active. UE4SS also has no official Linux support, per the community UE4SS server installation docs, which is why the Palworld (UE4SS) game file is a hard requirement rather than a preference.
How to Install UE4SS Mods
Adding the mods to your server is a straightforward process:
- Go back to the Win64 directory, then open ue4ss > Mods.
- Upload the full mod folder from NexusMods or another mod site to the Mods directory, making sure it is unzipped first.
- Check that the folder actually contains the .lua files, scripts, or other files the mod requires. Upload an empty or partial folder and the mod will not load.
As mentioned previously please double check the mod description to ensure server-side is supported before you upload.
How to Install Pak Mods
Pak mods Are much more to install on your server:
- Stop your server.
- Head to FTP File Access, log in, then navigate to Pal > Content > Paks.
- Upload the .pak files to this directory.
- Restart the server.
Why Your Mod Is Not Loading
Mod failures on Palworld are usually quiet. The server boots, players connect, and the mod simply is not there. There are a few things to check if one of your mods doesn’t seem to be working:
>US4SS Log file – When you launch the game, there should be a UE4SS.log file created in the ue4ss directory. This file should contain timestamps and information that can be used to debug any issues. Searching within the file for keywords like “error”, “fatal”, or “failed” can help you troubleshoot why a specific mod or script is crashing your game.
UE4SS Framework Missing – A UE4SS mod folder sitting in Mods needs the framework to function. If you skipped the setup steps, or restarted before uploading both ue4ss and dwmapi.dll, there is no framework there to load it so the mod will not work.
Client-Only Mod – Some mods only change what a player sees locally and were never built to run on a server. Go back to the mod’s description page and confirm it is listed as server-compatible before you upload it again.
Wrong Game File – UE4SS mods require the Palworld (UE4SS) game file. If your server is not set to this version, UE4SS mods will not run, and every mod folder inside it stays inactive.
Zipped Folder – Uploading a mod as a .zip instead of the extracted folder is a common mistake. Both pak and UE4SS mods must be unzipped before upload.
Removing a Mod – To remove a mod, delete the folder or file you uploaded, then restart the server.
