FAQ

If you installed them through the Hub: this is the most common one by far, and it is not your fault. A game update — and Steam's Verify integrity of game files — both restore the original game file, which removes the AshForge loader's hook. Open the Hub and choose Enable mods again. Your mods and saves are untouched and it takes a few seconds. Mods installed in the game's own Mods folder are not affected by this.

One of the mods in the game's Mods folder could not be loaded. When that happens the game resets its mod list, so every mod is unticked at the next launch — and ticking them again only repeats it until the mod causing it is removed. The most common cause is two mods that each ship a different copy of Harmony, a library many mods use. To find it, close the game and open its log, %APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\Ascent of Ashes\logs\godot.log, and look at the error just above Encountered error while loading mod list, resetting to default: it names the file and the mod folder it came from. Remove that mod, or the one you added most recently, then tick your mods again. Avoid playing on while your mods are unticked: the game auto-saves, and a save made without a mod no longer holds what that mod added. The current versions of the mods in our library keep Harmony in a folder of their own, so they are never the cause of this — if yours are older, update them.

Turn mods off — untick them in the game's Mods menu, or move their folders out of the game's Mods folder, and if you use the Hub choose Disable mods — to confirm the game starts clean. Then add mods back a few at a time to find the culprit, and please report it and say which mods were on — a crash from a specific combination is a bug we want to see.

The AshForge loader runs only mods we have signed. That is a safety feature: a mod is real code, so an unsigned one could do anything to your machine. (The game's own Mods menu does not check signatures — it loads whatever is in its Mods folder — so install mods there only from sources you trust.) If a mod from the mod library is rejected, please tell us — that shouldn't happen. If you are testing a mod you built yourself, see Can I run an unsigned mod? below.

SmartScreen and some antivirus tools flag any installer they have not seen many times before, and a mod loader by its nature modifies a game — that pattern draws attention. Our releases are code-signed. If you are unsure, download only from ashforge.dev/download.

That is expected, and nothing is broken. The Hub is the front door: every other tool installs, updates and opens through it, so starting one on its own hands you back to the Hub. Open the AshForge Hub and pick the tool from its list. The Hub is the only one that opens by itself. If nothing opened at all, the Hub probably isn't installed yet — get it from ashforge.dev/download.

It searches your Steam libraries, including ones on other drives. If your install still isn't found, use Locate game… on the mod-loader bar in Manage Mods and point it at the folder containing aoa.exe. Diagnostics next to it writes a report to your Desktop that tells us exactly what went wrong.

Untick or delete the mods in the game's Mods folder. If you used the Hub, Hub → Disable mods also restores the original game file from the backup. After both, the game is exactly as Steam shipped it.

Our Discord is the fastest way to reach us, and the best place to get a live answer.

Yes. The Hub and the suite are free to download and use for modding Ascent of Ashes.

Windows 10 or 11, or Linux. Install the Hub (~100 MB) — on Windows it's an installer, on Linux a portable AppImage — and it pulls in everything else on demand.

The Hub installer is code-signed, so Windows installs it cleanly without SmartScreen warnings. Everything else is delivered and updated through the Hub from us.

No. The Hub only installs what you open. Grab Canvas for textures or Crucible for testing without pulling in the rest — and add more any time.

Automatically. The Hub keeps every installed tool and the mod loader current in the background — no reinstalls, ever.

Download a mod from the mod library and extract it into the game's Mods folder, then enable it from Mods on the main menu — or install it through the Hub, which also keeps it up to date. Step by step: how to install mods.

Head to the contribute page — it links straight to our public issue tracker where you can file bugs and ideas.

Grab the Mod SDK. It has a working starter mod that builds in one command, and documentation for the loader API. If you would rather build content than write code, start from getting started and the Mod Kit.

Yes — that is how you test your own builds. In the Hub open Manage Mods → Advanced and turn off Require AshForge signatures. You will be asked to confirm, and a warning stays visible while it is off, because with it off any mod in your folder runs. Turn it back on when you are done. A mod in the game's own Mods folder needs no signature to run.

Not always. A mod that only adds or changes content is XML in a folder — no code and no compiler. You need C# once you want to change how the game behaves.

Package it and send it in through Submit a mod, with a link to your source and a short description of what it does. We review every build before signing it and adding it to the library — see the Mod SDK for what we look at.