Mods

Since v0.10.0 RetroXR has a mod browser. Mods add to the room (modeled consoles and cartridge shells, whole platforms, rooms, props, television cabinets and controllers) or replace something RetroXR ships. They are published on mod.io, and an initial set of models is already there.

Installing a mod

Open the menu’s MODS tab.

1. The first time, it shows mod.io’s terms. Nothing is asked of mod.io until you agree to them.
2. Browse lists the mods published for RetroXR. Pick one and press Download. It is fetched and checked, and you are shown what it replaces before you install it.
3. It then appears under Installed. Enable it, and press Apply now.

Apply now loads a newly enabled mod without restarting: the room you are standing in is rebuilt behind the loading screen, with everything in it put back where it was. Switching a running mod off, updating or removing one, or loading one that replaces something RetroXR ships cannot happen in place. For those the button reads Restart now, and RetroXR restarts itself and comes back to the same room. Neither works during a netplay session.

Each tile in Browse has a Download or Update button, so keeping mods current is one press.

Packs lists mod packs, which are collections somebody has put together on mod.io. One press downloads a pack’s mods, and removing the pack removes the mods it brought, leaving any you had installed on their own.

Mods are off until you say so

A mod is disabled when it arrives, and that is deliberate. A mod runs with the app’s full permissions, so it can reach your ROMs, your saves, your RomM login and the network, and there is no sandbox to put it in. Enabling a mod is the trust decision, and it is yours. Only enable mods from authors you are willing to trust that far.

RetroXR does not make, host or endorse mods. mod.io scans what it hosts, and a new upload shows as Being scanned by mod.io until that finishes. A mod can be reported from its page in the browser.

What a mod may not contain

A mod is models, scenes, pictures, sound and scripts. It is never a game, and RetroXR will not install a download that carries one, or a program:

• no file with an extension any emulator core loads as content, such as .iso, .nes, .sfc, .bin, .chd and several hundred more;
• no native code, such as .dll, .so, .exe, .apk and the like.

So a mod page is never a way to get ROMs, disc images or BIOS files. Text, pictures and sound are fine.

Installing by hand

A mod is one file, normally a .zip. You can also drop it in the mods folder yourself:

Platform	Folder
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\retroxr\mods\
Linux / macOS	~/retroxr/mods/
Quest	mods/ in the app’s data folder (/sdcard/Android/data/com.xenu.retroxr/files/mods/)

Then open MODS → Installed, enable it, and press Apply now. A file you copy in by hand has been through RetroXR’s own checks, but not mod.io’s scan.

When a mod stops working

RetroXR is young and changes fast, and mods are expected to break when it updates. A mod built for an older version is refused with a message saying what moved, rather than loading and misbehaving. If a mod you rely on stops loading after an update, look for a new version in the browser.

Making mods

Mods are made in Godot, inside a checkout of RetroXR. The modding guide covers the lot: the manifest, adding or replacing a console, cartridge shells, rooms and props, building a pack and publishing it on mod.io.