Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the few non-Bethesda titles that modde supports end to end. Its overall status is Done in docs/capability-matrix.toml and on the supported games page: the scanner, conflict classifier, and save tracker are all wired up, and deployment runs a real REDmod deploy pass after staging.

The game id is cyberpunk2077. Use it verbatim with every CLI command and in home-manager profiles.

Engine and status

The numeric Nexus id is present, so Cyberpunk 2077 appears in the UI’s Browse Nexus picker (which needs the numeric id), and the Nexus side panel can fetch mod metadata via REST v1 and GraphQL v2. The mod information dialog is still Partial: only the Nexus-metadata side panel exists — there is no MO2-style file-tree / INI / conflict dialog yet.

Install detection

modde locates the install through its launcher ids. For Steam it uses App ID 1091500 and the steamapps/common/Cyberpunk 2077 directory; for Heroic it matches the GOG app id 1423049311 or the Epic app id Ginger. The same ids drive Proton-prefix discovery for save tracking.

Because Cyberpunk runs through Proton/Wine on Linux, the game writes its saves inside a Wine prefix rather than a native Linux path. modde checks two prefixes, in order:

1. Heroic (GOG / sideload): ~/Games/Heroic/Prefixes/default/Cyberpunk 2077/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Saved Games/CD Projekt Red/Cyberpunk 2077
2. Steam Proton: the Steam compat prefix under steamapps/compatdata/1091500/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Saved Games/CD Projekt Red/Cyberpunk 2077

The first prefix that exists on disk wins. If neither is present (for example, the game has never been launched under that launcher, so the prefix has not been created), save tracking reports no save directory.

Mod directory and deploy strategy

The canonical mod directory is <install>/mods/ — the REDmod loader’s directory. Deployment is a two-step process:

1. Per-mod symlink. For every entry in the profile’s staging directory, modde symlinks the mod directory into <install>/mods/<name>/. If a target name already exists (a real directory, a file, or a stale symlink), it is removed first so the new symlink is clean. This keeps the game directory pointing at modde-managed staging rather than copying bytes around.
2. Post-deploy REDmod deploy hook. After symlinking, modde runs a REDmod deploy pass (see below). This is what turns the symlinked REDmod packages into the game’s loadable mod archives.

Symlink deployment means an uninstall or redeploy is cheap and non-destructive to your staged sources.

The REDmod deploy hook

modde looks for the redmod binary in two places:

• <install>/tools/redmod/bin/redmod (or redmod.exe on Windows) — the copy CD Projekt Red ships alongside the game, and
• anywhere on PATH.

If a redmod binary is found and <install>/mods/ contains at least one subdirectory, modde invokes:

redmod deploy -mod <mods/dir-1> -mod <mods/dir-2> ...

with the game directory as the working directory, passing one -mod flag per mod subdirectory. If the binary is not found, modde logs a warning and skips the step — it does not fail the deploy. That means loose-file content (redscript, TweakXL, CET, .archive files) is still deployed by the symlink pass; only the REDmod-packaged content needs the deploy hook to be registered. A non-zero exit from redmod deploy does surface as a deploy error, with the tool’s stderr attached.

Gotcha: REDmod is an optional component in the GOG/Steam installers. If you intend to use REDmod packages, install the REDmod DLC/tool so the tools/redmod/bin/redmod binary exists, or put a redmod binary on PATH.

Bare-layout recognition

When you install an archive that is not a REDmod package, modde recognizes a “bare” Cyberpunk layout if the extraction root contains any of these top-level directories: r6, archive, archives, bin, engine, mods, red4ext. A bare extract is treated as a single mod and symlinked into <install>/mods/<name>/, preserving the loose-file tree the mod author shipped.

What scanning finds

modde scan --game cyberpunk2077 walks five known mod roots under the install directory and reports a confidence score per discovered mod:

For REDmod packages, the scanner reads the info.json manifest and pulls the mod’s name and version from it (falling back to the directory name when the manifest is missing or unparseable). The manifest fields modde parses are name, version, custom_sounds, and scripts.

Each discovered mod’s id footprint is stable and lowercased, so modde can detect stale duplicates across redeploys — for example a CET mod maps to the directory footprint bin/x64/plugins/cyber_engine_tweaks/mods/<name>/ and a loose archive maps to the file footprint archive/pc/mod/<stem>.archive.

Conflict classification

modde classifies conflicts at the loose-file level. Cyberpunk’s .archive container format is proprietary and not yet reverse-engineered in this codebase, so the classifier does not index inside .archive files — two mods that both ship archive/pc/mod/foo.archive collide on the file itself, but modde cannot peek at the resources packed within.

Conflicts are graded by extension into three severities:

A Dangerous collision means two mods are fighting over executable game logic (scripts, tweaks, or a native DLL) and the result is likely a crash or broken behavior. Config collisions usually need a manual merge. Cosmetic collisions are last-writer-wins texture/material overrides and are generally safe.

See the conflicts guide for how modde surfaces and resolves these.

Save tracking

Save tracking is Done. Once the save directory is resolved (see Install detection), modde treats each top-level save folder as a save and categorizes it by directory-name prefix:

Anything that does not match a known prefix is bucketed as manual (the default category). The scan is non-recursive (each save is one directory), and the user.gls settings file is explicitly excluded so it is never mistaken for a save.

What is fingerprinted. For each save, modde tries to extract a human-readable label. When a save uses CDPR’s NamedSaves, the directory contains a metadata.9.json; modde reads it and uses the customName (or name) field as the label. If that file is missing or has no usable name, it falls back to the save’s directory name. The capture summary is reported by category, so a snapshot tells you how many manual / auto / quick / point-of-no-return saves were captured.

Cyberpunk 2077 also declares supports_save_profiles = true, so its saves participate in save profiles.

Plugin and load-order handling

Cyberpunk 2077 has no ESP/ESM plugin list or loadorder.txt-style ordering the way Bethesda titles do. There is therefore no plugin enable/disable or load-order panel for this title. Ordering is whatever the underlying frameworks impose:

• REDmod order is established by the redmod deploy pass over the mods in <install>/mods/.
• redscript, TweakXL, and CET each resolve their own loading; modde’s job is to deploy the files into the correct roots, not to sequence them.

If two logic mods genuinely conflict, modde flags it as a Dangerous collision (see above) rather than trying to reorder them.

Installer specifics

modde inspects an extracted archive and picks an install method:

• REDmod packages are detected by a top-level info.json plus an archives/ (or archive/) subdirectory. modde records the install as a REDmod install whose manifest is info.json, and the post-deploy hook later registers it with redmod deploy.
• Bare Cyberpunk extracts (loose redscript / TweakXL / CET / .archive trees) are recognized by the top-level directory names listed under Bare-layout recognition and symlinked wholesale into mods/.
• FOMOD installers are handled by modde’s general FOMOD engine when a mod ships an XML installer; see the FOMOD guide. This is the same engine used across all supported titles.

There is no SMAPI or .pak/.ucas/.utoc handling for Cyberpunk — those belong to Stardew Valley and the Unreal titles respectively.

Gaming tools that matter

modde’s tool integrations (modde tool ...) apply to Cyberpunk just as they do to other titles — MangoHud, vkBasalt, GameMode, ReShade, OptiScaler, and per-game Proton settings. See the Tools & Overlays guide for the full workflow.

Cyberpunk does not ship a built-in OptiScaler profile in modde’s registry (its optiscaler_profiles list is empty, unlike Stellar Blade). You can still enable and apply OptiScaler manually with modde tool enable optiscaler / modde tool apply optiscaler, but you choose the proxy DLL and release yourself — modde does not auto-select a known-good proxy for this title. dxgi.dll is the proxy most OptiScaler/upscaling setups use on Cyberpunk.

Wine DLL overrides

Many Cyberpunk frameworks ship as proxy DLLs that hijack a Windows system DLL name in the executable directory bin/x64. Under Wine/Proton these need a native,builtin override so Wine loads the mod’s DLL instead of its own built-in stub. modde scans bin/x64 and emits overrides for any of these it finds:

modde can compute these overrides both from the live game directory and from the staging directory before deploy (it searches nested mods/.../bin/x64 layouts). The detected overrides are surfaced through the Proton tool integration so they end up in your launch environment automatically — no manual WINEDLLOVERRIDES editing required for the proxies modde knows about. If you use a proxy DLL not in the list above, set it explicitly, e.g.:

modde tool configure proton --game cyberpunk2077 \
  dll_override_mode=forced forced_dll_overrides=dxgi,version

Linux / Proton notes and known gotchas

These notes cover the game’s runtime on Linux and macOS, where Cyberpunk runs through Proton/Wine. On Windows the game runs natively — there is no Wine prefix, and saves and proxy DLLs live at their native Windows locations. modde itself runs natively on all three platforms.

• Launch the game once first. Saves live inside the Proton/Heroic prefix. Until the game has been run under your launcher, the prefix (and the save directory) does not exist, and save tracking has nothing to find.
• Install REDmod if you use REDmod packages. Without the tools/redmod/bin/redmod binary (or a redmod on PATH), the post-deploy hook is skipped with a warning. Loose-file mods still deploy.
• Proxy DLLs need overrides. CET (version.dll), ReShade (d3d11/dxgi), OptiScaler (dxgi), and friends will silently do nothing under Wine without the native,builtin override. modde detects the common ones in bin/x64; verify with modde tool status --game cyberpunk2077 and the troubleshooting guide if a framework does not load.
• .archive internals are opaque. modde detects archive-vs-archive collisions by filename but cannot diff their contents, so two large .archive mods that touch overlapping resources may both report clean while still visually conflicting in-game.
• Game runtime differs by platform. The Proton/Heroic prefix paths above are how Cyberpunk runs on Linux and macOS, where it runs through Proton/Wine. On Windows the game runs natively, so there is no Wine prefix — saves and proxy DLLs live at their native Windows locations. modde itself runs natively on all three platforms; see installation.

Worked example

Home-Manager profile

programs.modde = {
  enable = true;

  nexus.apiKeyFile = "/run/secrets/nexus-api-key";

  profiles = {
    cyberpunk-mods = {
      game = "cyberpunk2077";
      installMode = "auto";
      gameDir = "/home/me/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Cyberpunk 2077";

      nexusCollection = {
        slug = "my-cyberpunk-collection";
        version = "2.1.0";
      };

      tools = {
        gamemode.enable = true;
        proton = {
          enable = true;
          settings = {
            # CET ships as version.dll; force the override so Wine loads it.
            dllOverrideMode = "forced";
            forcedDllOverrides = "version,dxgi";
          };
        };
      };
    };
  };
};

See the home-manager module reference for every profile and tool option.

CLI

# Discover the install and inspect what is already there
modde scan --game cyberpunk2077

# Install a mod from a Nexus URL (REDmod, CET, redscript, TweakXL, or .archive)
modde install --game cyberpunk2077 https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/107

# Deploy the active profile: symlinks into mods/, then runs `redmod deploy`
modde deploy --game cyberpunk2077

# Check for conflicts before playing
modde conflicts --game cyberpunk2077

# Capture and list saves from the resolved Proton/Heroic prefix
modde saves list --game cyberpunk2077

# Force a Wine DLL override if a proxy framework is not loading
modde tool configure proton --game cyberpunk2077 \
  dll_override_mode=forced forced_dll_overrides=version,dxgi

See also

• Supported games
• The Witcher 3 — the other REDengine title
• Deployment
• Scanning
• Conflicts
• Saves
• FOMOD installers
• Tools & Overlays
• Nexus integration
• Home-Manager module
• Parity reference