A plugin-based mod loader for StarRupture. Loads automatically via DLL proxy injection — no game files are modified.
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Two builds are published on the releases page:
| ZIP | Use for |
|---|---|
StarRupture-ModLoader-Client-*.zip |
Playing the game |
StarRupture-ModLoader-Server-*.zip |
Running a dedicated server |
That's the folder containing StarRuptureGameSteam-Win64-Shipping.exe, for example:
StarRupture\Binaries\Win64\
The ZIP is already laid out correctly, so extract it directly into that folder — no subfolders need creating by hand. Afterwards you should see:
StarRupture\Binaries\Win64\
├── StarRuptureGameSteam-Win64-Shipping.exe
├── dwmapi.dll ← the proxy the game loads
└── ModLoader\
├── StarRupture-ModLoader-Core.dll ← the mod loader itself
├── StarRupture-ImGui.dll ← client builds only
├── modloader.ini ← created on first launch
├── Logs\ ← created on first launch
└── Plugins\ ← put plugin DLLs here
Everything the mod loader owns lives under ModLoader\; dwmapi.dll is the only file that sits
next to the game executable.
The mod loader initialises automatically via dwmapi.dll. No game files are modified.
Linux users: the mod will not load unless the environment variable WINEDLLOVERRIDES is set to
dwmapi=n,b.
The mod loader ships with no plugins — download the ones you want and drop their .dll into
Binaries\Win64\ModLoader\Plugins\. Client plugins only load on a client, server plugins only on
a dedicated server; the mod loader window says so if you get one the wrong way round.
Plugins are disabled by default. The first time the game runs with a plugin present, a config file is generated for it. To enable it:
- Run the game once, then close it.
- Open
Binaries\Win64\ModLoader\Plugins\config\. - Open the
.ininamed after the plugin. - Set
Enabled=1and save. - Launch again — the plugin is now active.
Repeat for each plugin you want to use. On a client you can do all of this from the mod loader window instead, without editing files.
If a plugin ships a .json file alongside its .dll, it can update itself: the mod loader checks
for a new version at startup and downloads it. The Plugins tab marks those with a green dot
(amber means the plugin has no update manifest and has to be updated by hand). Auto-updating can be
turned off in the Settings tab.
Press F2 in game to open it. Down the left is an icon for each screen:
| Screen | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Plugins | Load, unload and reload installed plugins without restarting |
| Config | Edit each plugin's own settings and keybinds |
| Settings | HUD overlays (FPS, world name, position), auto-updates, diagnostics |
| Logging | Log levels for the mod loader, the game, and each plugin — see below |
| Theme | Font, text size and every UI colour |
| About | Build tag and the plugins currently loaded |
A developer console is on ~ (tilde). Both keys can be changed in
ModLoader\modloader.ini — [UI] OpenKey and [Console] OpenKey.
A dedicated server has no UI, so launch it with -console for a console window with the same
commands. help lists them; plugins, reload, load, unload and rescan manage plugins
without restarting the server, and stop shuts it down cleanly.
The mod loader writes to Binaries\Win64\ModLoader\Logs\ModLoader.log, keeping the last ten runs.
Open the mod loader window and go to the Logging tab to change how much detail it records:
- Log Level — the mod loader's own output. Saved, so it applies on every launch.
- Game Log Verbosity — the game's own log categories, written to
StarRupture.log. Also saved. - Per plugin — a grid with one row per plugin. Turn a single plugin up to read its output
without the rest of the log burying it, or down to silence a noisy one without quieting
everything else.
Defaultmeans "follow the Log Level above".
Per-plugin levels are not saved — every plugin is back on Default next launch.
A plugin that logs heavily while the game is still loading has already filled the log by the time you can open the Logging tab. Add a launch option to have the level in place before it loads. In Steam: right-click the game, Properties → General → Launch Options.
-PluginLogLevel=<plugin>:<level>
<plugin> is the name as it appears in [Plugin:NAME] in the log — the same name the Logging tab
shows. <level> is trace, debug, info, warn, error, or default.
Several at once, comma separated:
-PluginLogLevel=NoisyPlugin:error,OtherPlugin:trace
* sets the level for every plugin you have not named:
-PluginLogLevel=*:warn,PluginImDebugging:trace
Quote the whole option if a plugin name contains a space:
-PluginLogLevel="My Plugin:error"
The Logging tab shows when a launch option is in effect, and Reset All To Default clears it for the rest of the session.
Use the StarRupture-Plugin-SDK — it has everything you need (headers, UE5 SDK, an example plugin, and a pre-built dwmapi.dll) without requiring a fork of this repo.
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Nothing loads at all | dwmapi.dll must sit next to the game .exe with the ModLoader\ folder beside it — not in a subfolder of its own. On Linux, set WINEDLLOVERRIDES=dwmapi=n,b. |
| Plugins not loading | Make sure the DLLs are in ModLoader\Plugins\ and Enabled=1 is set in each plugin's .ini. The Plugins tab shows why a plugin was rejected. |
| "Cannot Load" next to a plugin | It was built for the other target — a server plugin on a client, or the reverse. |
| "Needs Update" next to a plugin | The plugin and the mod loader were built against different plugin interface versions. The tab says which of the two to update. |
| Logs / diagnostics | Check ModLoader\Logs\ModLoader.log. Raise the detail in the Logging tab, or set Level=DEBUG under [Logging] in ModLoader\modloader.ini. |
| One plugin is flooding the log | See Log Levels — turn that plugin down on its own, or use -PluginLogLevel= if it happens during startup. |
| Game stops responding to input | Turn on ModLoader Debug Values in the Settings tab — it names the plugin holding input open. |
| Players dropped during a long map load | The mod loader raises the engine's net timeouts to 300s by default — see Net timeouts. Both ends of the session need the mod loader for this to help. |
A player can be dropped while the host loads a map. The host's game thread does not tick during the load, so nothing is sent — not even keepalives — and the client sees silence for the whole load. Against the engine's stock 60s connection timeout, a load longer than that disconnects everyone still joining.
The mod loader raises both net timeouts to 300 seconds by default. The connection
timeout has a slider in the Settings tab under Networking, which also shows what
the live net driver is actually using. Both are in ModLoader\modloader.ini:
[Network]
ConnectionTimeout=300.0
InitialConnectTimeout=300.0Set a value to 0 to leave the engine's own default alone. Accepted range is 1–3600
seconds; anything outside it is ignored with a warning in the log.
Two things to know:
- Both ends need it. Each side times the other out against its own clock, so the side that gives up is the side that needs the higher value. A vanilla client cannot be helped by a modded host, and vice versa.
- It is not free. A genuinely dead connection — a crashed client, a pulled network cable — now holds its player slot for the full timeout instead of a minute.
This cannot be set from Steam launch options. The engine does read
?ConnectionTimeout= out of the URL it connects with, but there is no way to get an
option into that URL from outside the process in a shipping build.
- Dumper-7 — Unreal Engine SDK generation
- MinHook — Function hooking library
- nlohmann/json — JSON parsing
- IDA Pro by Hex-Rays — reverse engineering the game binary to find hook targets and AOB patterns
- Claude Code — AI coding assistant used throughout development
This is a modding tool for educational purposes. Use at your own risk. The authors are not responsible for any damage caused by using this software. While every effort is made to ensure save file compatibility across updates, this cannot be guaranteed.
Game: Star Rupture · Engine: Unreal Engine 5