How to Install Conan Exiles Mods

Installing mods on a Conan Exiles server is refreshingly simple once you understand two things: how the Steam Workshop delivers mods, and how the modlist.txt file controls which mods load and in what order. Get those right and your server will run a rich mod list without a hitch. Here's the full process.

Step 1: Get Mods From the Steam Workshop

All Conan Exiles mods live on the Steam Workshop. Browse to the mods you want — Pippi, Age of Calamitous, Emberlight, and so on — and subscribe to each. Steam downloads the mod files to your local Conan installation under the game's Mods folder. Each mod is a .pak file that both the server and clients need.

For a dedicated server, the mod files must be present in the server's Mods directory. Depending on how your server is hosted, that means either uploading the .pak files or having the host fetch them from the Workshop for you.

Step 2: Build Your modlist.txt

The server decides which mods to run using a plain-text file called modlist.txt. Each line points to one mod's .pak file, and the order of the lines is the load order. Conan loads mods from top to bottom, and mods lower in the list can override those above them.

A typical modlist.txt looks like a simple list of mod file paths, one per line. You can generate this list in-game through Conan's Mods menu — arrange your mods in the desired order there, and the game writes the modlist for you, which you can then use on the server.

Step 3: Get the Load Order Right

Load order is the number-one thing that determines whether a modded Conan server works. General guidance:

• Large content and framework mods (like Pippi and Age of Calamitous) often have recommended positions — always read each mod's description.
• When two mods change the same thing (two UI mods, two building mods), the one loaded last wins.
• If the game behaves strangely after adding a mod, reordering is the first fix to try.

A wrong order rarely crashes the server outright; instead you'll see missing features, broken UI, or items that don't appear. Methodically reordering usually solves it.

Step 4: Clients Must Match the Server Exactly

This is the single most important rule in Conan modding: every client must have the same mods, in the same load order, as the server. Unlike some games that auto-download mods on join, Conan requires players to subscribe to the server's mods on the Steam Workshop themselves and load them in the matching order before they connect.

If a player's mod list doesn't match — a missing mod, an extra mod, or even the same mods in a different order — they'll be blocked from joining, often with a mod-mismatch warning. The best practice is to publish your server's mod list (a Steam Workshop Collection is a convenient way to do this) so players can subscribe to everything in one click and match your setup exactly.

Step 5: Handle Updates Carefully

When Conan or a mod updates, versions can temporarily fall out of sync, which is the most common cause of sudden connection failures. After any game patch, confirm your mods have updated to the current version and restart the server. Keeping a backup of your working modlist.txt makes it easy to roll back if a new mod version misbehaves.

The Easy Way with Nxeon

Uploading .pak files, hand-editing modlist.txt, and re-syncing after every patch is doable but fiddly. Nxeon's game servers include a one-click Mods manager for Conan Exiles that fetches Workshop mods, lets you set load order with drag-and-drop, keeps modlist.txt in sync, and updates mods automatically after patches. Share a matching Workshop Collection with your players and everyone connects cleanly. Set up your mods once and spend your time playing, not troubleshooting connection errors.