Now that Palworld has firmly established itself as one of the most popular survival games ever, it’s time to acknowledge the fact that it’s remarkably moddable, too. We’re not too interested in Palworld’s Pokemon mods here, mind: just the regular, gameplay-improving kind, instead, and that’s what we’ll discuss below.
Though it remains to be seen whether Palworld ever ends up on our list of the best PC games with mod support, there are some very interesting mods out and about already. Most of them are, granted, relatively simple gameplay tweaks and quality-of-life improvements, but as long as they improve the game, we’re fans of ‘em!
Modding Palworld
Whether it’s improving your base-building experience or, perhaps, simply making the game (relatively) playable on the Steam Deck, Palworld modders have leaned heavily into the direction of ease-of-use and quality-of-life rather than all-new content. This may end up changing as the game closes in on its 1.0 release, but that’s pretty far out right now, and our selected modlist reflects this fact, too. One of the cool mods you may also wish to check out, for example, is the FPS mod that’s recently come out!
How to mod Palworld
Do keep in mind that modding Palworld takes some legwork at this time. It is recommended that you install all mods manually so as to keep a close eye on whether everything’s been installed properly, and to be entirely certain that all the prerequisites have been set up correctly.
For example, take the first mod on our list: Extended Building Reach. This incredibly useful mod is technically just a simple plugin, but to get it working properly, you’ll first need to install UE4SS, the special script injector utility. This utility is used in a wide variety of Palworld mods, too, so the legwork generally pays off:
- download and extract UE4SS_Xinput.zip to Palworld\Pal\Binaries\Win64 (XboxGames\Palworld\Content\Pal\Binaries\WinGDK if on GamePass)
- open UE4SS-settings.ini
- change bUseUObjectArrayCache to false
- download the Extended Building Reach mod and extract the zip file to Palworld\Pal\Binaries\Win64\Mods (XboxGames\Palworld\Content\Pal\Binaries\WinGDK\Mods if on GamePass)
- rename xinput1_3 to xinput1_4 in case the mod does not work
Note, too, that some mods have their own unique installation procedures you may need to follow. We recommend carefully reading the mod creator’s attached installation guidelines to a T, because otherwise it’s all too easy to mess something up!
Top 10 best Palworld mods to download right now
Extended Building Reach
Building large, sprawling bases quickly becomes a necessity in Palworld, but the game’s relatively short building reach can be a hassle in these situations. If you’re simply looking to slightly improve your build range and make camp upgrades more of a breeze, this is definitely the mod for you. Simple, neat, and infinitely useful – just the way we like it!
Stutter Fix
The only reason Stutter Fix isn’t higher on this list is due to the fact that not everyone is experiencing stutters in Palworld, to begin with, and on top of that, some players simply aren’t all that phased by it in the first place. Stutter Fix will mainly benefit people with small amounts of GPU VRAM and/or those who are stuck playing on spinning rust HDD drives, and in these situations, it’s precisely what it says on the tin.
AlwaysFastTravel
Another simple but unassumingly useful mod is AlwaysFastTravel, and you’ll never guess what it does. All jokes and cheekiness aside, the ability to always be able to jump back to a given fast travel totem is extremely handy, and it’ll allow you to explore to a far greater extent than you otherwise might be comfortable with. This one borders on being a slight cheat, we’ll give you that, but as we said before – that’s just the nature of Palworld modding right now.
Steam Deck Essentials (All Handhelds)
From the maker of the Stutter Fix mod, Hybrid comes the Steam Deck Essentials mod for Palworld, which, in truth, is a must-have for any gaming handheld you might be using. Depending on which of the mod’s presets you end up going with, Palworld could very well end up looking like a current-gen Pokemon title on your handheld, but the simple truth is that this mod massively helps the game’s performance on low-spec rigs, and official Steam Deck optimization isn’t even on the horizon right now. So, make use of this instead!
Palworld FOV Changes 70-150
For whatever magical reason, Palworld is beset by the lack of field-of-vision options by default, and depending on the angle at which you game, this could be a huge accessibility problem for you, too. Enter Palworld FOV Changes 70-150, which does what it says and virtually nothing else! This mod allows you to fine-tune your gameplay FOV to whatever feels best, and yours truly finds it to be an absolute must-have if you’re an ultrawide monitor user.
Enhanced Palworld Visuals
Palworld doesn’t look rough by any stretch of the imagination, but games can always look better, and this isn’t any different. The Enhanced Palworld Visuals mod adds a wide variety of advanced post-processing effects that might not be up to everyone’s tastes, but they sure can look neat when handled correctly. You’re getting fog, depth of field, lens flare, bloom, improved anisotropic filtering, and a sharpening effect all in one go. If you’ve got the hardware overhead for it, you could even splurge some GPU cycles on a bump-up in the game’s internal rendering resolution, which we heartily recommend.
No Food Decay
Palworld’s food decay mechanic is one of its more annoying aspects, and it can lead to you losing out on some hard-cooked goodies if you’re not keeping tabs on them. No Food Decay simply does away with the mechanic as a whole, allowing you to not worry about your Palworld foodstuffs for a change. Another mod that can arguably fall into either the ‘QoL improvement’ or ‘outright cheat’ category, but it’s just too handy not to highlight.
MapUnlocker
Would you like to know just where on earth stuff is in your Palworld save point? MapUnlocker is here to save the day by doing the most obvious thing one could ask for: revealing the entire overworld map all at once. Note, however, that MapUnlocker does not activate all the fast travel totems, which prevents this mod from being a simple cheat. You’ll still need to go around and trigger all the totems yourself, of course, but you won’t need to get lost every couple of minutes to do it with MapUnlocker on.
Carry Weight Increase
As with any other mainstream open-world survival game, Palworld plays host to an almost ridiculous variety of resources. Some of them are rocks and minerals, as it were, and that means they are very heavy by default. Obviously, this means you cannot lug around all that much stuff unless you invest in the appropriate skills, but no one could blame you if you felt that Palworld was a bit too stingy in that regard. Carry Weight Increase fixes this issue with gusto, upping your default carry limit from a meager 300 to a whopping 1,000. Channel your inner Andre the Giant!
Gameplay Tweaks
Now, the mysteriously titled Gameplay Tweaks mod. Unlike the rest of this list, the title doesn’t immediately betray the mod’s purpose this time around, but we think it’s one of the best upgrades you could do to your version of Palworld. Notably, this mod features a whole assortment of buffs and quality-of-life improvements for your in-game avatar. For example, it allows you to tweak your aerial stamina consumption and the probability of rare Pal appearances. There’s a lot to like here, and the best part is that it’s all entirely customizable, allowing you to tailor your experience however you see fit.
Visible Pal Capture Counter
Whether you’ve just begun your adventure, or you’ve been playing for a while and simply need some sweet EXP bonuses through capturing Pals, this handy mod allows you to see how many of a Pal you’ve caught without having to go into the Paldeck. This is particularly handy if you encounter a Pal who’s likely to run away before you’ve managed to figure out if you need more of them or not.
Unified Base Inventory Mod (UBIM)
If there’s one thing that’s preventing a certain amount of enjoyment for the game (at least for me and I’m sure I’m not alone in this), it’s the fact that once I’ve placed down a new base, I’m starting entirely from scratch when it comes to resources. This mod completely removes this issue, because it allows you to access any resource from any of your bases.
Infinite Weight in Camp
Along the same lines, if you’re sick of having to resort to using your Grappling Hook in order to transfer materials around your base, this mod allows you to carry as much as you like, as long as you don’t leave the confines of your base. This one is especially useful when it comes to transferring wood or stone from your Logging Site or Stone Pit, or when rearranging the buildings to make room for larger items, such as the Breeding Farm.
Ore Crusher
Now, I’m not saying that I’m not up for having my bases set up in specific places in order to gather enough resources to build even the most basic items. However, wouldn’t it be nice to have the ability to create those resources on base, while enjoying some freedom to put your second and third bases wherever you like? That’s what this mod provides – the ability to create not only Ore, but also Sulfur, Coal and Quartz.
