Mods after the DLC
Brotato supports Steam Workshop mods, but the 1.2 update changed enough that outdated mods conflict. The developers' instruction is blunt: deactivate all mods before playing, then re-enable them one at a time to find the broken one.
Brotato supports Steam Workshop mods, and Primal Dread does not change that. What it changes is whether your existing mods still work, and the developers' own instruction on launch day was blunt enough to quote in full:
"The game has been updated so outdated mods can cause conflicts. Please, deactivate all your mods before playing."
That is not a suggestion to be careful. It is an instruction to run with zero mods until you have checked them, and there is a reason: 1.2.0.0 changed the shop, added a content-toggle system, rebalanced a difficulty and buffed eight characters. A mod that touches any of those is now working against a moving target.
Why content updates break mods
Brotato mods are not cosmetic skins bolted onto a finished game. The Workshop hosts mods that add characters, items, weapons and mechanics, which means they interact with exactly the systems 1.2 changed.
Three specific collisions are likely:
Shop mods. Update 1.2.0.0 changed weapon offer odds and added a class-based offer bonus. A mod that rewrites shop logic is now competing with the new rules, and the failure mode is not a crash, it is a shop that behaves in ways neither the mod nor the game intends.
Content mods versus Item Set. The new Item Set menu switches whole content packs on and off. A mod that adds content is not in that menu, so it cannot be toggled off with it. That means players may believe they have disabled content when they have only disabled the official packs.
Character mods. Eight base characters were buffed in 1.2.0.0. A mod that adjusts those characters' stats is now applying an old balance pass on top of a new one.
Bisect, don't guess
If you want to find the mod that broke, the fastest reliable method is a bisect rather than a guess.
| Step | Action | What you learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disable every mod, start a run | Confirms the game itself is stable |
| 2 | Enable half the mods, start a run | Narrows the problem to one half |
| 3 | Enable half of that half | Narrows again |
| 4 | Repeat until one mod remains | Identifies the culprit in log2(n) runs |
| 5 | Check that mod's Workshop page for a 1.2 update | Confirms whether it is fixed or abandoned |
With twenty mods, that is five runs instead of twenty. With eight, three.
Two shortcuts are worth knowing. If the game crashes before the main menu, the problem is a mod that loads at startup, not a content mod. If the game runs but a specific character or item is broken, the problem is the mod that touches that character or item.
Four symptoms of a broken mod
Not every broken mod crashes. Four symptoms cover most cases:
- A run that will not start. Usually a startup mod or a corrupted load order.
- Missing content. A character or item that should exist does not. Often a mod that failed to load its assets.
- Wrong numbers. Damage, health or shop prices that do not match the game or the mod's own description. Usually a balance mod applied to a changed base.
- A shop that behaves strangely. Repeated offers, missing categories, buttons in the wrong place. Usually a shop mod.
The last one is the most likely in the DLC era, because the shop is where 1.2 changed the most.
Item Set is not a mod manager
Worth saying plainly, because the names invite confusion. The Item Set menu is a content toggle for official expansions and free updates. It has no knowledge of Workshop subscriptions, it cannot disable a mod, and turning a pack off does not remove a mod's content.
If you want a clean run for testing, you need to do both: disable the mods in the Workshop interface, and optionally use Item Set to strip official content you do not want in the test.
Playing modded after the DLC
If you accept the risk, three habits keep a modded setup usable:
- Update mods before playing, not after a crash. A Workshop page that says "updated for 1.2" is worth more than a comment thread saying "works for me".
- Keep a vanilla profile. A second Steam account or a clean mod list lets you check whether a bug is the game or your setup.
- Do not report balance problems from a modded run. The developers cannot act on a report that a character is too strong when a mod changed that character's numbers. This is true for every game with Workshop support, and it is why the launch warning exists.
No mod list, and why
It is not a mod list, and it does not recommend specific Workshop items. The DLC is two days old at the time of writing, which means very few mods have been updated for it, and a recommendation today would be a recommendation for a build that no longer exists.
What it is: the procedure for getting back to a working game, and an explanation of why the shop is the most likely place to find the breakage.
For the patch that changed the shop rules, see 1.2.0.1. For the free content toggle, see Item Set.
Checked 2026-11-04 against the 1.2.0.1 build.