SMPC Tool, Overstrike or Vortex: installing Spider-Man Remastered mods

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered keeps its assets in packed archives indexed by a single file called toc. Every mod tool for the game works the same way underneath: it rewrites that index so the game loads replacement assets instead of the originals. That one fact explains nearly every problem people hit, and it's why the most important decision is which tool you use, not which mods.

Pick one tool and only one

Three tools can install mods, and they all edit the same toc. Using two of them on one install is the most reliable way to end up with suits that vanish, crashes on load, or a game that won't start.

Tool	What it is	Good fit if
Spider-Man PC Modding Tool (the "SMPC Tool") by jedijosh920	The original installer the scene grew up on	You follow mod instructions that assume it, or want the most tutorials to match your screen
Overstrike by Tkachov	A standalone mod manager for Insomniac's PC ports, with profiles, load order and a suit menu editor	You'll run more than a handful of mods, or want to add suits rather than replace them
Vortex, with the Spider-Man Remastered extension	Nexus's general mod manager, driving the SMPC Tool in the background	You already manage other games in Vortex and want everything in one place

If you're starting fresh, Overstrike is the easiest to live with. If you already have a working SMPC Tool setup, you don't need to start over: launch Overstrike from the SMPC Tool's folder and it offers to import your existing mods with their load order.

Is Overstrike safe?

It's a fair question, since it rewrites game files. Overstrike is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence, and the full code is public on GitHub. It's actively maintained: version 1.8.1 shipped in September 2026. Download it from that GitHub releases page or its Nexus page, which host the same app. Don't take it from a re-upload site.

It needs the .NET 7.0 Desktop Runtime (x64) installed. If it won't open, that's the usual cause.

Installing mods with Overstrike

On first launch, Overstrike looks for supported games in their usual install locations and offers to create a profile for each. It covers Spider-Man Remastered, Miles Morales, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, so one install serves all three.

1. Put downloaded mods in the Mods Library folder. You don't need to extract them first; it reads .zip, .7z and .rar archives directly.
2. Tick the mods you want. Drag to reorder them. When two mods replace the same asset, their order decides which one you see, so if a mod seems to be ignored, try moving it.
3. Press Install mods. Wait for "Mods installed!" in the bottom-left corner before launching the game.

Every change, including unticking or reordering, only takes effect after you press Install mods again. If you see "Error occurred." instead, the details are at the end of errors.log.

The mod file types you'll meet

• .smpcmod: the general format for asset replacements, including most suits, models, effects and UI changes.
• .suit: a suit packaged to be added to the game's suit menu rather than replacing an existing suit.
• .stage and .modular: formats used by some larger or configurable mods.

That second one matters. With a .smpcmod suit, your new suit overwrites one of the game's, and the original is gone until you uninstall. With a .suit file, Overstrike's Suits Menu tab places it as its own entry, so your collection grows instead of swapping.

Finding suits worth installing

Nexus Mods is the centre of the scene, and the suits category alone holds well over a thousand entries. Sorting by endorsements finds the famous ones. Sorting by last updated finds the ones still working after recent game patches, which is usually the more useful filter.

Read the requirements line on every mod page. Some suits depend on a shared asset pack or a specific tool version, and installing them without it produces broken textures that get blamed on the suit.

When a game update breaks your mods

Patches replace the game's toc, which wipes or breaks installed mods. Here's how to recover:

1. Wait for your tool to support the new build. Check its release notes before reinstalling anything.
2. If the game won't launch, do a toc reset: delete the toc and toc.BAK files from the game's install, then use Verify integrity of game files in Steam. That returns the game to a clean, vanilla state.
3. Press Install mods again to reapply your list.

The same toc reset is how you remove all mods for good, or recover after accidentally mixing two tools.

Miles Morales and Rift Apart

Overstrike manages the other Insomniac ports with the same workflow, and Miles Morales has its own separate PC Modding Tool if you prefer that route. Mods are made per game, though. A Remastered suit won't work in Miles Morales unless its author released a version for that game.