How to Fish Mods Not Working? BepInEx Fixes After 1.0.11

Updated 2026-09-02 · Steam How to Fish

When How to Fish mods are not working, it is nearly always one of four things: BepInEx never loaded, you launched the game outside your mod manager profile, a listed dependency is missing, or the mod was built for an older patch. The game is on 1.0.11 as of 1 September 2026, and almost every Thunderstore package loads through BepInExPack 5.4.23.5 (the Mono build), so prove the loader first. One file, BepInEx/LogOutput.log, separates all four cases in a minute.

Quick triage by symptom

What you see	Most likely cause
No BepInEx console, game looks vanilla	Loader not beside the executable
Works from Gale but not from Steam Play	Wrong launch path
`LogOutput.log` never names your mod	DLL misplaced, or a dependency failed
Worked before the update, dead now	A patch changed the hooked methods
Works for you, friends see nothing	Not everyone has it, or not at one version

BepInEx never loaded

BepInExPack ships with a BepInEx.cfg that enables the console and extended logging, so a working install pops a console window on launch. No console, no loader, every mod inert. The manual route, per the pack README and the mod READMEs that repeat it:

Extract the archive into a scratch folder — you want the contents of the inner BepInExPack folder, not the folder itself.
Move those contents beside How to Fish.exe (in Steam: right-click, Manage, Browse local files).
You should now see a BepInEx folder and winhttp.dll next to the executable. Without winhttp.dll the loader has no hook into the game.
Launch once and quit. This generates BepInEx/plugins, BepInEx/config and BepInEx/LogOutput.log.
Only then drop mod DLLs into How to Fish/BepInEx/plugins/.

Skipping step 4 is a common self-inflicted failure: installing into a hand-made plugins folder inside a BepInEx that never initialised. To confirm a mod loaded, search its name in BepInEx/LogOutput.log — Death Item Rack's README says to look for Death Item Rack loaded., RandomCreatureSize's for RandomCreatureSize. Patch 1.0.10 also made the game print its version into player.log, under AppData/LocalLow/Dazed Games/How to Fish/.

Launching the game the right way

Two valid setups exist, and they fail in opposite ways.

Mod manager profiles. Gale (v1.22.2, updated 25 August 2026), Thunderstore Mod Manager and r2modman keep mods in a profile outside the game folder and inject them at launch. The BepInExPack README's automated instructions end with "run the game via the mod manager" — not optional, since pressing Play in Steam launches vanilla. Manual installs are the reverse: launch through Steam, as the RandomCreatureSize README specifies.

Do not run both, or you get two copies of a plugin, or a mod that looks installed while the game reads a stale DLL. Gale's README also warns that galemodmanager.com is unofficial and outdated, and that its only official sources are GitHub and Thunderstore. Install steps are on the mods hub.

A patch broke it

Seven patches have shipped since the 20 August 2026 launch. Mods hook game methods; when those change, the mod stops until rebuilt — as the ButterflyKnifeOnShop README puts it, a future update may change game methods and require a mod update.

Patch	Date	Changes most likely to affect mods
1.0.4	2026-08-21	Lobbies raised to 8 players; special characters banned in server names, they broke saves
1.0.5	2026-08-22	Private lobbies; in-game session type; minimum locked fps 50 down to 30
1.0.6	2026-08-23	Saves checked before loading; no crash-save; autosave every minute
1.0.8	2026-08-24	Controller glyphs; FX volume wiring
1.0.9	2026-08-24	Difficulty settings (easy: 25% less creature health, 50% less damage; hard: 25% more of each); Steam connection debug added
1.0.10	2026-08-27	Dropped items saved between sessions (up to 64); cooking washed off tools in water; rich text removed from chat; version printed to `player.log`
1.0.11	2026-09-01	Aim, sprint and nametag toggle options plus a hold-to-attack option; saves verified and backed up; iron sight no longer purchasable; no suppressor-to-compensator downgrade; item dots recoloured (weapons orange, dead players turquoise)

There is no 1.0.7 announcement in the feed; numbering jumps from 1.0.6 to 1.0.8. Anything drawing radar dots or reading weapon attachments touches systems 1.0.11 changed, and anything writing to the save touches a path 1.0.6, 1.0.9 and 1.0.11 all changed — a mod of either kind that died around 1 September needs a new build, not a config change. Full lists are on patch notes.

Dependencies and version mismatch

Thunderstore pins dependencies as exact strings and a manager installs them for you; a hand install does not.

Mod	Declared dependencies
Most mods (KeepInventory, Stackable_Items, BossHP, MorePlayers)	`BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2305`
AmmoCounter 1.0.4	BepInExPack 5.4.2305, HowtoFishLocalizationAPI 1.0.0, HowtoFishIdentityAPI 1.0.0
HeldItemNameHud 1.0.1, ModUpdateChecker 1.0.3	BepInExPack 5.4.2305, HowtoFishLocalizationAPI 1.0.0
Some older packages	`BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2100`, an older pin of the same pack

So read LogOutput.log before blaming the mod: if the package's own log line never appears, a missing dependency is one candidate. What a missing library actually does here is not confirmed yet in any package README, so let the log decide.

Declared game-version support varies too: AmmoCounter says 1.0.9 or newer, ModUpdateChecker 1.0.8 or newer, DevIslandUnlocked 1.1.0 was updated for 1.0.5, and ButterflyKnifeOnShop 0.2.0 was tested against 1.0.10, Unity 6000.4.4f1 and BepInEx 5.4.23.5. A package last touched at 1.0.5 has had five patches land under it; ModUpdateChecker spots exactly that, and HTF Mod Manager adds a MODS tab to Options listing loaded mods.

Config files generate on first launch, not on install — BepInEx/config/howtofish.dynamiccrosshair.cfg and so on. Edit with the game closed, then restart; no file means the mod never ran.

Multiplayer: works for you, not for them

Client-side mods need nothing from anyone: DynamicCrosshair, More_Colours, SeaLegs, HTFSlide, Fishydex and BetterSwimming all describe themselves that way. Networked mods say the opposite:

Mod	Requirement stated in its README
NoSharedMoney	All players, host included
zPaulinsWeaponArsenal	Everyone in the lobby, same version; no host-only install
GrenadesShotgun	All players; if one lacks it, it disables for everyone
DeathItemRack	Every machine, host included, same version

"Same version" does real work there: everyone "having the mod" is not enough if one person's copy is a build behind. Two vanilla red herrings: 1.0.9's Steam connection debug line turns red when Steam itself failed at startup, and 1.0.11 lists an inventory bug on join that made players invisible — the developers wrote "hopefully fixed", so treat it as attempted rather than settled. See multiplayer mods and co-op.

Wrong loader, deprecated packages, and vanilla bugs

Not every package is a BepInEx plugin. BetterDisplay is a MelonLoader mod: its README requires MelonLoader 0.7.3 Open-Beta (Mono) and puts its DLL in the game's Mods folder, not BepInEx/plugins. Wrong folder gives this page's symptom exactly: file present, nothing happens, no log entry.

Thunderstore flags abandoned packages as deprecated. In the 2026-09-02 snapshot, none of the 161 packages here are flagged deprecated, so that flag is no filter yet; judge by updated date and declared game version, both on all mods list, with maintained picks on best mods. Cheat-style packages (aimbots, cheat menus, god mode, money tools) exist here and this wiki does not cover them.

Finally, some failures blamed on mods are vanilla bugs the patch notes address: save corruption (checked and backed up in 1.0.6 and 1.0.11, with 1.0.9's entry worded "hopefully fixed"), loss on crash (1.0.6), black and grey screens on joining or startup (both "(Hopefully!) Fixed" in 1.0.4), and connection timeouts (1.0.10 raised the time allowed to connect, again hedged). To test whether a mod is at fault, move BepInEx aside and launch clean.

Sources and last check

Checked 2 September 2026. Every patch date and behaviour change, including the player.log version print, comes from the official Dazed Games announcements on Steam for 1.0.11 (1 September 2026), 1.0.10 (27 August 2026) and 1.0.9 (24 August 2026), plus the 1.0.4 to 1.0.8 posts in the same feed. Loader behaviour, folder layout, winhttp.dll and the first-launch step come from the BepInEx/BepInExPack 5.4.2305 Thunderstore page; manager launch behaviour and the official-download warning from the GaleModManager README. Every per-mod claim here — dependency strings, declared version support, multiplayer requirements, log lines, config filenames, the MelonLoader requirement — comes from that package's own README and is the author's own testing, not independent verification, as are the package counts and deprecation flags from a 2026-09-02 snapshot. No player-written guide claims are used; where patch notes and a README disagree, the patch notes win. Several 1.0.4, 1.0.9, 1.0.10 and 1.0.11 fixes are worded "hopefully fixed" by the developers and keep that hedge here.