ETS2 mod load order: how to sort the Mod Manager

In the ETS2 Mod Manager, mods placed higher in the active list have more priority: if two mods change the same file, the one on top wins. That’s why the recommended load order is, from top to bottom: small tweaks (interface, economy, real companies), rain add-ons, the weather or graphics mod, sounds, physics, traffic behavior, traffic packs, trucks and trailers, map add-ons and, at the bottom, ProMods and large maps. If an author asks for a different position for their mod, what the author says goes. Below you’ll see how the manager works, examples with real mods and how to find the culprit with game.log.txt when something fails.

Shortcut: load your game.log.txt into the Holymod mod analyzer and it will tell you which mod is failing, which ones are for a different version of Euro Truck Simulator 2 and which dependencies you’re missing. It’s free and the file never leaves your computer.

How the Mod Manager works

The Mod Manager opens from the profile screen, before loading your save. It shows the available mods on the left and the active ones on the right, which you can drag to change their position. What you should know:

• It works per profile. Each profile has its own list of active mods and its own order. You can have one profile with ProMods and a clean one without them stepping on each other.
• It reads .scs or .zip files, and folders too. According to the SCS documentation, a mod can be a ZIP file with a .scs or .zip extension, or a regular folder (each folder is one mod).
• Steam Workshop mods show up on their own. When you subscribe, Steam downloads them and they appear in the manager; you just have to enable them and sort them like the rest.
• It can block mods. If a mod declares required DLC (dlc_dependencies) and you’re missing one, the manager won’t let you enable it. If it declares compatible versions (compatible_versions) and yours isn’t among them, it marks it as incompatible; according to the SCS documentation, in that case it can’t be used.

Manually installed mods go in the mod folder of your user folder: on Windows, Documentos\Euro Truck Simulator 2\mod (if you use OneDrive, inside OneDrive\Documentos); on Linux, ~/.local/share/Euro Truck Simulator 2/mod; on macOS, ~/Library/Application Support/Euro Truck Simulator 2/mod. If the mod folder doesn’t exist, create it with that exact name. The step-by-step is in how to install ETS2 mods.

The priority rule, explained

The game loads the list from bottom to top, so whatever loads last (the top) is what sticks. That has two practical consequences:

• A mod that modifies something from another mod has to go above it. A ProMods add-on goes above ProMods; a compatibility patch goes above the two mods it connects.
• Two mods that change the same thing don’t add up: one overrides the other. With two physics mods or two weather mods, only the top one counts, and sometimes the result is a broken mix.

Recommended order by type

From top (highest priority) to bottom (lowest priority):

1. Economy, interface and companies. Realistic Economy [Quper] asks to go above everything, especially maps; RAGNAROK Economy, above the ProMods Europe DEF file. Use only one of the two. Real companies & gas stations also goes at the very top. GPS and interface mods go here too, such as TJ’s HD GPS.
2. Rain and reflection add-ons. Yet Another Rain Mod and Realistic Rain Reflections must stay above the weather mod.
3. Weather and graphics (only one). New Summer, Frosty Winter, Realistic Weather System or Realistic Brutal Graphics & Weather Winter Snow. All of them above the maps.
4. Lights. Realistic Vehicle Lights or Better Flares (approximate position: their pages don’t set one).
5. Sounds. For example, Iveco Cursor Stock Sounds, above any other mod that changes the engine of those Ivecos.
6. Physics. Ultra Realistic Truck Physics & Cabin Motion or Realistic Truck Physics, never both. If you use mod trucks, physics goes above them.
7. Traffic behavior and density. Brutal Traffic goes near the top of this block.
8. Traffic packs. Jazzycat’s AI Traffic Pack, Bus Traffic Pack and Mr Larrington’s Traffic And Trailer Pack, above the maps. The No Default SCS Cars and Trucks filters can go wherever you like.
9. Trucks, trailers and accessories. For example, the Renault Magnum Megamod or Jazzycat’s Trailers and Cargo Pack.
10. Map add-ons and connectors. Slovensko+ (DEF above its map file), Silesia Rebuild, Portugal Rebuild, always above ProMods.
11. ProMods and large maps, at the bottom. Within ProMods, its DEF goes above its packages. Its official expansions have a fixed position that isn’t the same for all of them: according to their pages, Maghreb goes with higher priority than the main package and The Great Steppe below it. Follow the scheme on promods.net.

There are documented exceptions: Previous Soundproofing (for 1.60) asks for low priority, below the others, and Project Japan asks for its Winter_Sounds file to go first. If a mod’s page specifies a different position, respect it.

A complete example

A ProMods profile for 1.61 with realistic mods could look like this (top to bottom):

Common mistakes and how to fix them

The map won’t load or the game closes while loading

It’s almost always one of these three things: the map is for another game version (a map for 1.60 on 1.61), a map DLC is missing or the order is reversed (the add-on below ProMods). Check the version on its page and the list of mods compatible with 1.61. Some large maps also require raising r_buffer_page_size in config.cfg. With ProMods, go over how to install ProMods.

The manager marks the mod as “incompatible”

The author declared compatible versions in their manifest.sii that don’t include yours. There’s no safe trick: wait for the author to publish the version for your game (check its page) or play on the version it was made for using Steam betas. If the mod won’t even let you enable it and the version matches, you’re most likely missing a DLC it declares as required.

The mod doesn’t show up in the manager

• It’s in the wrong folder (for example, in Documentos instead of OneDrive\Documentos, or in a subfolder inside mod).
• You copied the downloaded archive as is: a .zip that contains another .scs, or a .rar. Extract the .scs files and copy them loose.
• It comes in parts (.zip.001, .zip.002, like Project Japan): you have to join them with 7-Zip first.

It works on one profile but not on another

That’s normal: mods are enabled per profile. Copy the order by hand or create the new profile from the one that works.

Two mods override each other

Two weather mods, two physics mods, two economy mods or two sound mods for the same truck. Disable one. In realistic mods for ETS2 you’ll find the most common incompatibilities.

How to diagnose with game.log.txt

The game writes a log to game.log.txt, inside the same user folder (on Windows, Documentos\Euro Truck Simulator 2). It’s overwritten every time you start the game, so open it right after the failure.

1. Reproduce the error (load the profile until it closes) and exit the game.
2. Open game.log.txt with a text editor and go to the end: the last lines are the last thing the game did before failing.
3. Look for lines marked as errors and pay attention to the file paths that appear. They often point to the file or mod that’s failing.
4. If the log doesn’t make it clear, disable half of the mods, test, and repeat with the suspect half until you find the culprit.
5. When you find it, check its version and its position. If you ask for help on the author’s forum, attach the full game.log.txt.

More tips for choosing what to install in the best ETS2 mods and in our selection of the best ETS2 maps.