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Mods Not Loading or Harmony Errors

Tags: mods, harmony, troubleshooting, server

Most mod load failures come from folder structure, missing Harmony, or EAC conflicts. Use this checklist to stabilize modded servers.

Free tool: To rule out a structural cause first, paste your Mods folder listing into the free 7 Days to Die Mod Checker, which spots missing dependencies and folder-structure mistakes that stop mods loading.

Verify the Mods folder

  • Use a single Mods folder at the server root.
  • Avoid nested folders like Mods/ModName/ModName.
  • Remove duplicate versions of the same mod.

Install Harmony correctly

  • Do not install Harmony: the game ships it as 0_TFP_Harmony in its own Mods folder and initialises it before every other mod.
  • A second Harmony folder is ignored (Mod with same name (TFP_Harmony) already loaded, ignoring), so remove copies a mod pack brought along.
  • Keep server and clients on the same game build; the shipped Harmony follows the game.

Branch matters for mods. Builds for different game versions are not interchangeable, so a mod compiled against V2.6 can throw Harmony patch errors on V3.0. Match the mod version to the branch, and make sure the client and server run the same branch or players hit an invalid version error - see Version Mismatch.

What the loader checks, and the log line for each

The server logs every folder it looks at as [MODS] Trying to load from folder: 'X', followed either by Loaded Mod: Name (version) or by the reason it refused the folder. Search the log for [MODS] and read what follows each folder:

  • does not contain a ModInfo.xml, ignoring: the file is missing, one folder too deep, or not spelled ModInfo.xml (a Linux server is case sensitive).
  • ModInfo.xml in legacy format. V2 required to load mod: an Alpha 19 or Alpha 20 era file with a <ModInfo> element. Current mods put Name, DisplayName and Version directly under <xml>.
  • does not define a valid non-empty Name or does not define a non-empty DisplayName: the name may only contain letters, digits, _ and -, and the display name must be set.
  • Mod with same name (X) already loaded, ignoring: two folders declare the same Name; only the first loads. The game already ships 0_TFP_Harmony, so a Harmony copy you add is the one that gets ignored.
  • Failed loading DLL: a code mod built for another game version; the DLL has to match the build the server runs.
  • XML patch for "file" from mod "Name" did not apply: the mod loaded, but that one change matched nothing in this version's files and was skipped. Many of these on a 3.x server usually mean a mod written for 2.x.

On V3.0 and later two more silent failures exist: text kept in Config/Localization.txt and interface files under Config/XUi are never read (3.0 moved them to Localization.csv and Config/XUi_InGame), and a property name containing a dot makes the whole config file fail to load. The V3.0 checklist has the details.

EAC and crossplay

  • Most mods require EACEnabled set to false.
  • Crossplay servers must stay vanilla with EAC on.
  • Do not mix modded clients with vanilla servers.

Isolate conflicts

  1. Disable all mods and verify the server loads.
  2. Add mods back in small batches.
  3. Check logs for the first red error after each batch.

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