Installing Jedi: Survivor mods: pak files, R457, and UE4SS

STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor has no anti-cheat and no online mode, so modding it is low-risk, but the game's Unreal IoStore packaging catches almost everyone the first time. This guide walks through installing a plain pak mod, then the two loaders the community uses for anything more advanced.

Know your file types

Survivor mods come in two shapes. The simplest is a pak mod, which on this game is actually a set of three files with the same name: a .pak, a .ucas, and a .utoc. They must travel together. If you copy only the .pak, the mod will not load and you will get no error explaining why. The second shape is a script mod, which needs UE4SS to run.

Install a plain pak mod

This covers most outfits, reshapes, and visual tweaks on Nexus Mods.

1. Download the mod and extract the archive somewhere outside your game folder.
2. Locate all three files (.pak, .ucas, .utoc). Some mods bundle several sets.
3. Copy them into your install at SwGame\Content\Paks. On a default Steam install that is steamapps\common\Jedi Survivor\SwGame\Content\Paks.
4. Launch the game. The mod is active immediately, with no loader required.

To remove the mod, delete the same three files. There is no uninstaller to run.

Add the R457 Mod Loader when a mod calls for it

Some mods are written for the R457 Mod Loader, which reads an explicit list of mods to load.

1. Install the loader's files into your game folder as described on its Nexus page.
2. Copy the mod's .pak/.ucas/.utoc into SwGame\Content\Paks as above.
3. Open SwGame\Config\UserEngine.ini in a text editor.
4. Add a line of the form +ModsToLoad="ModName" to the existing list, using the name the mod author specifies.
5. Save and launch.

Do not install both the UE4SS and the R457 version of the same mod. They conflict, and the usual result is that neither works.

Set up UE4SS for script mods

UE4SS (the Unreal Engine Scripting System) enables Lua and Blueprint mods that change behaviour rather than just assets.

1. Download the UE4SS build packaged for Survivor from its Nexus page.
2. Extract the supplied SwGame folder, which contains Binaries and Content subfolders, into your game directory so it merges with the existing folders.
3. Script mods then go into SwGame\Content\Paks\LogicMods.
4. Launch and confirm the UE4SS console window appears, which tells you the framework loaded.

Common gotchas

• The mod did nothing and showed no error. You almost certainly copied only the .pak. Go back and copy the .ucas and .utoc too.
• A patch broke your mods. Title updates shift engine internals. Re-download mods that hook gameplay after a major update before assuming they are broken.
• Two versions of one mod conflict. Pick either the R457 build or the UE4SS build of a mod, never both.
• Denuvo and offline launches. Survivor uses Denuvo DRM, which can make the game fussy about repeated offline starts or version mismatches. That is DRM behaviour, not the mods.
• A mod needs a load-order slot. Read the description; some require a specific +ModsToLoad position relative to others.

A quick sanity check before you start

Two minutes of preparation saves most of the headaches above. Before installing anything, make a copy of your current save and note your game version. If a mod misbehaves, you can then tell at a glance whether a patch changed underneath it, and you can roll back to a clean save without losing progress. Keep the original archive of each mod too, since re-downloading after a patch is how you pick up the fixed version.

Where to go next

For the bigger picture of Survivor's modding scene and what OpenMods catalogues for it, see the Jedi: Survivor overview. The earlier game, Jedi: Fallen Order, uses simpler pak-only mods and is a good place to practise the basics.