Finding the right mods for Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord can dramatically enhance your gameplay experience. However, wading through countless options to find stable and bug-free mods can be frustrating. This article cuts through the noise and presents five recommended mods that are known for their stability and minimal impact on game performance, allowing you to focus on conquering Calradia. We’ll also explore strategies for ensuring mod compatibility and minimizing potential issues, providing practical advice based on extensive experience.
These mods have consistently proven to be reliable additions to Bannerlord, offering significant improvements without introducing major bugs or crashes. They are also actively maintained by their creators, ensuring compatibility with the latest game versions.
Harmony: This is a foundational mod for many others, providing a framework for code modifications. Think of it as the glue that holds many mods together. Without it, a large portion of other mods simply won’t function. It addresses conflicts between mods that alter the same game code. You’ll likely need this for several other mods on this list, so consider it the cornerstone of your modded experience.
ButterLib: Similar to Harmony, ButterLib provides common code and utilities for other mods, making development easier and more consistent. It’s essentially a library of useful functions that modders can use, reducing redundancy and improving compatibility.
UIExtenderEx: This mod allows other mods to add new elements and functionality to the game’s user interface. It opens the door for more complex and feature-rich mods that wouldn’t be possible with the vanilla UI.
Mod Configuration Menu v5: A must-have for managing your mods. This mod adds an in-game menu where you can configure the settings of other mods, allowing you to customize your experience to your liking. No more digging through config files!
Improved Garrisons: This mod significantly enhances the garrison management system, allowing you to train troops, assign roles, and customize garrison composition. It adds depth to settlement management and reduces the micromanagement involved in defending your holdings.
One of the biggest challenges with modding Bannerlord (or any game) is ensuring compatibility and a stable load order. Here’s a step-by-step approach to maximizing your chances of success:
Read the Mod Descriptions: This seems obvious, but it’s crucial. Pay close attention to any dependencies or known incompatibilities listed by the mod authors.
Use a Mod Manager: Vortex or Bannerlord’s built-in mod loader are highly recommended. These tools help you manage your mods and automatically sort the load order, though manual adjustments are sometimes still necessary.
The Harmony Rule: Ensure Harmony is loaded first. Many mods depend on it, and loading it later can cause crashes.
Library Mods Next: After Harmony, load ButterLib, UIExtenderEx, and other library mods. These generally need to be loaded early in the order.
Core Gameplay Mods: Load mods that significantly alter gameplay mechanics (like Improved Garrisons) after the library mods.
UI Mods Last: Load UI mods towards the end. These often rely on the changes made by other mods.
Test Regularly: After installing a few mods, play the game for a while to ensure stability. Don’t install a dozen mods at once and then be surprised when something crashes. Incremental testing is key.
Check for Updates: Mod authors frequently release updates to fix bugs and improve compatibility. Keep your mods up to date to minimize issues.
I’ve spent countless hours modding Bannerlord, and I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. Here are some insights I’ve gained from my personal experience that you won’t find in most guides:
Don’t Trust “Compatible” Claims Blindly: Just because a mod author says their mod is compatible with another doesn’t guarantee a smooth experience. Always test thoroughly yourself.
The “Safe Mode” Myth: Some guides suggest starting the game in “safe mode” to troubleshoot issues. In my experience, this rarely helps identify the root cause of a crash. It’s often more effective to disable mods one by one until you find the culprit.
Save Game Corruption: Some mods can corrupt your save games, especially those that heavily alter world data. Always back up your saves before installing or updating mods. It will save you hours of frustration. I learned this the hard way after losing a 100+ hour campaign.
Performance Impact: Even stable mods can impact performance, especially on older systems. Monitor your FPS and adjust your graphics settings accordingly. Don’t sacrifice playability for the sake of having every mod installed.
Once you’ve established a stable base with the core mods, you can start experimenting with more specialized mods. Here are a few combinations that I’ve found particularly enjoyable:
Diplomacy + Distinguished Service: Diplomacy enhances the political aspect of the game, while Distinguished Service allows you to promote your companions to noble status. This combination creates a more immersive and dynamic political landscape.
Realistic Battle Mod + RBM Combat AI Module: These mods overhaul the combat system, making it more realistic and challenging. Prepare for longer, more tactical battles.
Calradia Expanded: Kingdoms + Eagle Rising: This combination expands the map and adds new factions, providing a fresh and challenging campaign experience. Note: These are both large mods and may require a powerful PC.
| Issue | Possible Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Game crashes on startup | Incompatible mods, incorrect load order, missing dependencies | Verify dependencies, adjust load order, update mods, disable potentially conflicting mods one by one. |
| Missing text or UI elements | UI mod conflict, outdated UI mod | Ensure UI mods are compatible with the game version, update UI mods, disable conflicting UI mods. |
| Save game won’t load | Corrupted save file, incompatible save game with new mods | Restore from a backup save, start a new game (if necessary). |
| Performance drops | Too many mods, resource-intensive mods | Reduce the number of installed mods, lower graphics settings, upgrade your PC (if necessary). |
The Bannerlord modding community is constantly evolving, with new mods being released and existing mods being updated regularly. It’s an exciting time to be a Bannerlord player.
Official Mod Support: TaleWorlds has been gradually improving official mod support, making it easier for modders to create and distribute their work. This will likely lead to even more high-quality mods in the future.
https://www.taleworlds.com/en/News/541AI-Powered Mods: I anticipate seeing AI being integrated into mods, potentially for things like more realistic NPC behavior or dynamically generated quests.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligenceCross-Platform Modding: While currently limited, the potential for cross-platform modding (allowing mods to be shared between PC and console versions of the game) is an exciting prospect.
By following the advice in this article, you can create a stable and enjoyable Bannerlord experience tailored to your preferences. Remember to be patient, experiment, and most importantly, have fun!