If you have installed a mod and are not seeing it in game there are a number of possible reasons as listed below:
1. It is installed in the wrong directory. All mods must be installed in the [game name://data/z/] directory tree.
2. Another mod for the same file is installed 'lower' in the directory tree. For example: Imagine that you have two modded skins for a PzkwVa. One is installed in the folder game name://data/z/Vehicles/German/PzkwVa/ and the other is installed in game name://data/z/Vehicles/German/Panther/. The first installation sits alphabetically lower in the directory tree and is the one you will see in game. (BTW: This is one of the issues in the CMBN All-in-One mod pack, so you need to carefully filter through that install and toss out what you don't want.)
3. The scenario you are playing was not created using the mod. Example: The vanilla game has created only two skins for every Independent Building (except the windmill). These are identified as (00) and (01). Tanks a Lot (TaL) and Kieme have created new skins for only those numbers, so their mods will always show in vanilla scenarios. On the other hand Kandu has created many ADDITIONAL skins numbered (03) through (07). These will only show up in scenarios created using those skins. They will not show up in vanilla scenarios or those of other authors unless these are first edited in the Scenario Editor (they are always available in the Editor). They WILL of course show up in Kandu's scenarios and are usually essential to the historical look of his scenarios.
Corollary - What if I play a scenario created by Kandu and I do not have his building mods installed? No worries. The scenario will still 'play' normally but it will not have the look intended by its author. It will simply default randomly to whatever mods you have installed or vanilla skins.
4. The mod is mod-tagged and the scenario is not. Many of Kandu's mods have been mod-tagged and he has also tagged select mods created by other authors. If the scenario being played does not have the same mod-tag then it will not call the mod. For example: Kandu has mod-tagged a collection of German armour as [12pzr]. The skins of those vehicles have the 12 Panzer Division tactical icon added. The same tag has been added to German portraits with that same tactical icon in the bottom left corner.
Carpe vitam.
Good post — this catches most of the usual causes.
In my case it ended up being load order and the scenario not actually calling the mod I expected. Easy to forget that if the scenario wasn’t built with it (or tagged for it), the game just defaults to whatever’s available.
Helpful reminder — saves a lot of digging around in the data folder.
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