Ever since the release of the new Paradox launcher, installing and updating mods has become an increasing problem for GOG Stellaris users.

Note: Some dots have been replaced with a '[]' due to new users not being allowed to post links, implemented to make it more difficult for spam bots to post links.

Hopefully this guide will allow you to download and manage your mods more efficiently, and make adding mods to your Stellaris GOG copy easier.

This guide will be using a mod manager made for Paradox games, previously made specifically for Stellaris called Irony Mod Manager. Irony is extremely adept and well coded and simplifies the installation of mods to a huge degree.

Here is a link to the download page: bcssov[]github.io/IronyModManager/

Installing Irony Mod Manager
After downloading Irony mod manager, you will have to make sure to configure your files and directories accordingly before installing any new mods.

When you first open Irony, you will be greeted with a prompt that will ask you whether or not to check for updates, after which you will be greeted with the main window. At the top middle is where the specific game can be selected, select Stellaris then it should reload and you will be greeted with the main window again.

If you currently have mods installed, they should come up. Irony is able to detect and install mods accordingly by reading the descriptor.mod automatically, without having to manually create a .mod file for each folder within the main /mod/ directory.

Whether if this is your first time downloading or using mods or you already have mods installed, Irony can be configured accordingly to allow for new mods to be installed, loaded and applied to different playsets. Irony can also be used to solve conflicts between mods to better solve mod conflicts and load orders.

Configuring Irony Mod Manager and Mod Directory
If this is your first time trying to get mods to work, it may be daunting to read all of this, it is quite understandable but I sincerely hope this guide will allow you to enjoy Stellaris mods as conveniently and easily as Steam users.

Now with all the technicalities aside, it is time to get some mods.

Click on the red 'Options' button on the top right, you will be greeted by multiple options and parameters.

1) On the top left where it says 'Game Executable', set it to the directory to where your Stellaris is installed e.g:
'C:\GOG Games\Stellaris\dowser[]exe' (without speech marks).

You can either set it to 'C:\GOG Games\Stellaris\dowser[]exe' or 'C:\GOG Games\Stellaris\stellaris[]exe'
(One is the launcher the other is just the game, you can choose depending on preference)

2) On the bottom left where it says 'Data Directory' you can set it to your main Stellaris folder in your documents. To access it, go to My Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris then you might see a folder named 'mod' (depending on whether or not you have installed any mods yet)

If the 'mod' folder is not there, then simply create one and copy and paste the my documents Stellaris directory from your windows explorer window into the 'Data Directory' field on the Irony main window, e.g: 'C:\Users\user\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Stellaris\'

Downloading and Installing Mods
After ensuring that your Irony mod manager is set up and you're ready to move on, you can now start downloading mods from the workshop.

1) Navigate to the Steam Workshop page for Stellaris: steamcommunity[]com/app/281990/workshop/

2) Find a mod you'd like to install.

4) Navigate to steamworkshopdownloader[]io and paste the URL into the bar at the top. After confirming, the mod name and other preview information should be retrieved. Click 'download' and the mod files should begin downloading.

5) After downloading the .zip file, extract the folder that contains the 'descriptor.mod' to your /mod/ folder.

6) Launch Irony, if you have it already open, you can right click on the left side of the menu (the empty box list where it says 'Installed Mods') and click 'Check New Mods'

Note: If you feel that downloading Workshop Items from steamworshopdownloader.io takes too long, you may want to try downloading the items using Steam CMD. (Link down below in Additional Resources)

Applying Mods to Playsets
Now it is time to apply your new mod to a playset and be able to play the game with the mod enabled.

1) On the top right, there is a bar with a '+' and '-' symbol to each side. This is where new playsets can be added or deleted.

2) Click on the '+' symbol, you will be asked to name your new playset, then click 'OK'.

3) You can then either double click or select a tickbox on the mods you wish to apply, they will appear on the right side with a number corresponding to their load order.

4) After you are satisfied with the load order and mods applied click 'Apply' to apply the new mods to the playset.

5) Then click launch, hopefully the game will load, allowing you to enjoy whatever mod you have installed.

Other Resources
- Download Workshop Items through Steam CMD: steamcommunity[]com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1310008131

- Irony Introduction Tutorial Video: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=98dKbDxtqQw

I really hope this guide has helped in making what seemed to be a most daunting and frustrating process a little bit easier. If you do come across any problems, it would be a good idea to post on this thread, and I will try to help you to the best of my ability.

[quote1]
2) On the bottom left where it says 'Data Directory' you can set it to your mods folder. To access it, go to My Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris then you might see a folder named 'mod' (depending on whether or not you have installed any mods yet)

If the 'mod' folder is not there, then simply create one and copy and paste the directory from your windows explorer window into the 'Data Directory' field on the Irony main window, e.g: 'C:\Users\derwi\OneDrive\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Stellaris\mod'
[/quote1]

The above step is not completely correct, the data directory should be set to the Stellaris folder, as in 'C:\Users\derwi\OneDrive\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Stellaris' and not to the /mod/ folder.

Hopefully that clarifies any problems regarding mods not showing up when setting up Irony, the post should be amended soon to correct for the mistake.

keeping your documents in the onedrive space is fucking dum guys
gog mods belong in Documents\Paradox Interactive\Stellaris\mod ... having that folder in C drive or G and inside the onedrive or not is up to how the user sets up their copy of Windows 10 i.e, do they give microsoft control of their files and then complain their game saves don't sync correct

Yeah, I agree, it is quite strange and might lead to problems if your registries are not setup correctly.

On my copy of Windows 10, when I ever I would click documents it would open to that exact directory. The Paradox Installer would also default to that directory too, because the 'My Documents' folder was set to that directory by the 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders' registry.

I have only recently fixed the problem, I am going to edit the guide accordingly so that I don't raise any confusions.

Microsoft moved documents to onedrive space a few builds ago to push onedrive onto users...you can manul remove onedrive and / or just tell it to not auto store every document for easy reading by Microsoft

you do this from onedrive settings and don't need to muck about in your reg

I personally have them in g:\Documents but each to their own... the point is Stellaris will auto rout to your documents folder, where ever that happens to be on your system

p.s, onedrive used to be called skydrive and still has that name in a lot of the reg codes

Thank you for the help, Ill make sure to keep that in mind.

You, my friend, bright my day. This thread, yet simple, contains vital info to make your gog's stellaris modding far easier.
You have my gratitude for discovering me Irony Mod Manager.

Someone please give this man a cookie!

Thanks for this great help!

I can start the ST: New Horizons Mod for Stellaris (Win 10 Pro, 64 bit, i9-10980HK, 32GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU), but I've got a bad bug: After in day every day, there comes an empty box which have to click away to continue. Is this a mod, or a Mod Manager Problem? ... and does anyone has an idea how to solve this (Conflict Solver didnt help).

Greetings from Hamburg

Just wanted to say thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for!

I get lost in the 'downloading mods' part. I get to step 2, find a mod that I want, but then the next step is step 4.
And it seems like I'm supposed to have figured out the mod number in step 3, but step 3 is missing from the instructions.

Am I meant to be using the steam app for this part? I was using a browser, because it was giving URLs to paste in.

never mind, i found a youtube video by searching "how to find mod id steam"