Guides
Marvel Rivals Mod Manager: Install and Manage Mods
The Marvel Rivals Mod Manager is a tab in the RIVALSFPS.GG desktop app
that reads the game's ~mods folder directly. Mods you
installed by hand are already listed the first time you open it, with no
re-import and no library to migrate into. This guide covers what a mod
looks like on disk, how to import one, how to disable one without losing
it, and how the conflict scan works.
Most mod tools want to own your files. They copy everything into a vault, rename it, and the folder in your game install stops matching what the tool shows you. This one takes the opposite position: the folder is the source of truth and the app is a view onto it.
Where the Marvel Rivals mods folder is
Mods load out of MarvelGame\Marvel\Content\Paks\~mods inside
your Marvel Rivals install. Only the parent install directory differs between
Steam, Epic Games and Loading Bay. The tilde is not decoration: Unreal mounts
paks in alphabetical order, and a leading ~ sorts after everything
else, so paks in that folder mount last and override base game content.
A mod in there is one of two shapes. Simpler ones are a single .pak. Most current ones are an IoStore trio: Name.pak, Name.ucas and Name.utoc sharing one stem. All three have to keep that
stem or the mod does not mount, which is why the Mod Manager groups a trio
into one row reading "Mod (3 files)" with the combined size instead of listing
three files you have to keep straight.
Most names also carry a suffix like _9999999_P. The
trailing _P marks the file as a patch pak, which is what lets
it override assets already in the game's own paks, and the number in front
is a chunk id that pushes the mod late in load order. The app prints that
suffix faint beside the name rather than folding it in.
What the Marvel Rivals Mod Manager shows you
The tab sits directly under Home in the left nav rail, marked with a layered stack icon. Each row carries a select checkbox, the mod's name, its chunk suffix, a meta line with file count and size, then an on/off switch and a red delete button. The list heading holds Import, Open Mods Folder, a Tools dropdown, a Refresh button and a search box.
Below your own mods sit two more blocks. Skin Mods collects the character skins the Skin Manager owns, filed as their own category rather than mixed into the list above, and it starts collapsed with its count on the heading. Under that is Installed Mods by RIVALSFPS.GG: what the app itself put in the folder, meaning the active graphic pack and any graphics layers you have applied. Those rows carry no on/off switch, because the Graphic Packs tab owns them. Each one gets a button that jumps to that tab and a Remove button that hands the deletion back to it, so nothing is ever deleted out from under the thing tracking it. The blocks are there so the folder adds up: count nineteen paks in Explorer against the two rows at the top of the list, and the other two blocks hold the remaining seventeen.
How to install mods in Marvel Rivals
Import handles the copy. The file picker accepts .pak, .utoc and .ucas files plus .zip, .7z and
.rar archives, and takes several at once. With the tab open you
can also drag files or archives straight onto the window, which routes them
to the same import.
- Open the Mod Manager tab. If the gold bypass banner is showing, hit Install it first.
- Click Import and pick the mod file or archive, or drag it onto the window.
-
The app stages and validates the files, then copies them into
~mods\External Mods\in a folder named after the mod. - The row appears with its switch on. A name collision comes back as a choice rather than a silent overwrite.
- Launch the game and check the mod in the Practice Range.
Each imported mod gets its own folder under External Mods,
so a trio lands together instead of three files scattered at the root.
Folder structure inside an archive is preserved, and non-mod files such
as readme text and screenshots are left out.
Turning mods off without deleting them
The switch unloads a mod, it does not delete one. On disk an .off marker is appended to each of the mod's files, so Hela_P.pak becomes Hela_P.pak.off, and the files stay exactly where they
were. The engine no longer sees a pak-family extension and skips them.
Switching the mod back on strips the marker again. Nothing is ever moved,
which matters because a pak's path inside ~mods is what decides
its load order. The marker is appended rather than replacing the extension so
a trio's three members cannot collide on one name.
This is what you use when something breaks. With fifteen mods installed and a crash on launch, tick half of them, hit Disable in the bulk bar and launch. That bisects the problem in four or five passes. Ticking any row swaps the toolbar for a bulk bar with Enable, Disable and Delete plus a selection count.
The select-all checkbox on the heading is scoped to the filtered rows, so typing "hela" in the search box and hitting select-all picks only the Hela mods. If mods still are not loading after this, the causes are covered in the mods not working guide.
Conflict detection and how it works
Two enabled mods conflict when they both contain the same game asset. The engine loads one copy, so whichever mounts later silently overrides the other. It is the most common reason a mod that works on its own stops working once you install a second one.
After the list paints, the app reads each enabled mod's asset index and
compares them. For a .pak-only mod it parses the pak's own index.
For a trio it reads the .utoc directory index, because with IoStore
the .pak is a near-empty shell and the real file list lives in
the table of contents. Indexes only: no payload is decompressed, results are
cached per file, and the scan runs after the rows are on screen so it never
holds up the list.
Paths are normalised first, because Unreal mounts every project's Content folder onto the same /Game root. Two mods cooked under different
project names still fight over the same runtime asset, so Marvel/Content/Characters/X and SomeSeason/Content/Characters/X compare as one key.
You get a red banner naming how many mods conflict and how many assets are involved, with a View details button that opens a paged list of the exact assets. Conflicting rows get a red Conflict chip whose tooltip names the other mods. The scan is skipped below two enabled mods, and it can be switched off under the Mod Manager section in Settings.
Resolution is yours. The app never reorders, renames or deletes anything to fix a conflict, because a pak's position in load order is half of why two of them collide. You disable one of the two or delete it, and the banner clears on the next scan.
The other chips on a row
A mod whose index cannot be read, from an unrecognised pak version or a damaged file, gets a Not scanned chip and sits out the conflict check; one bad file must never fail the whole scan. A stale disabled copy beside a live one gets a gold Duplicate chip, usually from an import that kept both. Its toggle is blocked until you resolve it and a "Remove stale copy" link appears on the row. Nothing is deleted for you.
Separately, the app scans the whole Paks tree against a
compiled-in registry of risky paks. A flagged mod with a row here gets a
badge; one with no row, usually because it was dropped straight into Paks\ rather than ~mods, gets a red banner with a Remove button,
since such a pak mounts just the same. Whether mods are worth the risk at
all is covered in this piece on mod safety.
The Tools menu, item by item
Organize Mods
Moves loose mods sitting at the root of ~mods into ~mods\External Mods\, each in its own folder. It is never automatic, and that is
deliberate: relocating a mod changes where it sorts in load
order, which can change which of two overlapping mods wins. On
success it flashes Open Mods Folder gold.
Remove Duplicates
Finds byte-identical copies of the same mod, the usual result of importing one file twice, and offers to delete the spares. It is never name matching, so "Punisher Skin 2" is left alone. The item carries the count when it has one, greys out when the library is clean, and the confirm names every mod that would go and the copy that stays. This is a different job from the gold Duplicate chip on a row, which is a stale disabled copy sitting beside a live one.
Disable Bypass
Removes the signature bypass and nothing else. Every pak and mod stays where it is on disk and just stops loading. It is its own item rather than a side effect of Disable All Mods, so you can do one without the other.
Disable All Mods
Turns every mod off, plus your skins and the app's own graphic packs, so the game runs stock. It does not touch the bypass. It goes one way on purpose: which mods were on is a set of choices you made one at a time, and no single button can work out which of them you actually wanted back. There is no Enable All Mods beside it. To put mods back, tick the rows you want in the list, or the select-all box on the list heading, and press Enable in the bulk bar.
Nothing loads without the signature bypass
Marvel Rivals checks pak signatures and ignores an unsigned one. That
applies to every mod in the folder however it got there, so a fresh
install with ten mods and no bypass looks exactly like a game with no
mods at all. The tab shows a gold banner saying so, with an Install it
button that handles it in one click. The bypass is DeathChaos's work,
redistributed with permission, and it installs into the game's Binaries\Win64 folder.
The same gate covers graphic packs, skins and sound mods, which is why it is one shared install rather than something each tab does for itself.
What it will not do
Nothing here happens on its own. The app's automatic cleanup, the pass that runs just before it updates itself, still only ever touches files it installed, and this tab adds no exception to it: deleting a mod the app did not install is always a button you pressed. Managing someone else's mod means listing it and giving you the controls, not taking ownership of it. The app does not reorder load order, does not rename files behind your back, and does not remove a duplicate or a conflicting mod until you click the button.
Two empty states cover the rest. "No mods installed" prompts you to import or drop one, and "Marvel Rivals not located" points you at Settings. The app is free, Windows only, supports Steam, Epic Games and Loading Bay, and updates itself at launch.
If you came for frame rate rather than cosmetics, the FPS guide covers the graphic packs and Windows tweaks instead.
Common questions
Where is the Marvel Rivals mods folder?
It is the ~mods folder inside MarvelGame\Marvel\Content\Paks in your Marvel Rivals install. If it does not exist yet, create it, or use Open Mods Folder in the Mod Manager and the app takes you there.
Do I have to re-import mods I already installed?
No. The Mod Manager reads the ~mods folder directly, so anything already sitting there shows up the first time you open the tab. Nothing is moved or renamed for you.
Why are my mods not loading in Marvel Rivals?
The most common reason is a missing signature bypass. The game ignores every mod pak until the bypass is installed, and the tab shows a gold banner with an Install it button when it is missing.
Does turning a mod off delete it?
No. The switch appends an .off marker to the mod's files where they already sit, so Hela_P.pak becomes Hela_P.pak.off and the engine stops recognising it. Turning the mod back on strips the marker again. Nothing is moved either way, it is a rename in place.
What counts as a mod conflict?
Two enabled mods that both contain the same game asset. The engine can only load one copy, so one mod silently overrides the other. The app reads each enabled mod's file index and tells you which mods and how many assets are involved.
Can the Mod Manager delete mods it did not install?
Only when you ask it to. Every row has a delete button and the bulk bar has a Delete action, but nothing is removed automatically. The app's own automatic cleanup only ever touches files it installed itself.