Windrose Updated April 27, 2026

Installing Mods with UE4SS and WindrosePlus

Install UE4SS and Windrose mods including WindrosePlus to extend your dedicated server.

WindrosemodsUE4SSWindrosePlus

Overview

Windrose mods are loaded through UE4SS (Unreal Engine 4 Scripting System) or as Unreal .pak files. UE4SS provides a modding framework that mods can hook into. WindrosePlus is the most commonly used server mod and adds admin, RCON, and extended configuration capabilities.

Always back up your world before installing mods, and install one mod at a time so you can isolate problems.

UE4SS Installation

UE4SS must be extracted into the server's Win64 binaries directory:

R5/Binaries/Win64/ue4ss/

If the ue4ss directory does not exist, create it. The UE4SS release package should be extracted so the directory structure looks like:

R5/Binaries/Win64/ue4ss/
  UE4SS.dll
  UE4SS-settings.ini
  Mods/
  ...

Download UE4SS from its official GitHub releases page. Use the version recommended for Windrose — check the WindrosePlus README for the compatible UE4SS version.

Placing Mods

Mods for UE4SS go into:

R5/Binaries/Win64/ue4ss/Mods/

Each mod is its own folder under Mods/:

R5/Binaries/Win64/ue4ss/Mods/WindrosePlus/
  enabled.txt
  Scripts/
  ...

Pak-format mods (.pak files) go into:

R5/Content/Paks/~mods/

Create the ~mods folder if it does not exist. Drop .pak files directly into this directory.

Installing WindrosePlus

WindrosePlus is available at:

https://github.com/humangenome/WindrosePlus
  1. Stop the server.
  2. Back up your world (see backup and restore article).
  3. Download the latest release from the GitHub releases page.
  4. Extract the mod folder into R5/Binaries/Win64/ue4ss/Mods/WindrosePlus/.
  5. Ensure an enabled.txt file is present in the mod folder (create an empty one if missing).
  6. Create windrose_plus.json at the container root if it does not already exist:
{
  "rcon_password": "changeme",
  "admin_steam_ids": [],
  "http_port": 8780,
  "loot_multiplier": 1.0,
  "xp_multiplier": 1.0,
  "stack_size_multiplier": 1.0,
  "server": {
    "bind_ip": "0.0.0.0"
  }
}
  1. Start the server and check the console for WindrosePlus initialization messages.

UE4SS Log

If a mod is not loading or causes errors, check the UE4SS log:

R5/Binaries/Win64/ue4ss/UE4SS.log

This log contains mod load order, errors, and Lua script output. It is the primary diagnostic tool for mod issues.

Enabling and Disabling Mods

Each UE4SS mod folder must contain an enabled.txt file to be loaded. To disable a mod without removing it, rename or delete the enabled.txt file in that mod's folder. Restart the server for the change to take effect.

Installing Multiple Mods

Install one mod at a time. After each install:

  1. Start the server.
  2. Confirm it loads correctly.
  3. Check UE4SS.log and R5.log for errors.
  4. Stop the server before installing the next mod.

This makes it much easier to identify which mod causes a problem if something goes wrong.

Removing a Mod

  1. Stop the server.
  2. Delete the mod's folder from R5/Binaries/Win64/ue4ss/Mods/ (or remove the .pak file from R5/Content/Paks/~mods/).
  3. Start the server.
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