All about Modding Genshin
So, I create genshin skins usable as mods in the game (I'm Anilyan on gamebanana).
The modding community is huge, and has been growing since people started realizing that there are no dangers in doing that, and that everyone can learn. There are lots of clickbaity info out there that make people scared of having fun, believing in bans or thinking that skins are cheating when they don't even change game files and have nothing to do with cheating software.
I was one of the people that started helping provide more SFW mods (and I even have a discord server focused on that for people who have questions and/or would rather avoid nsfw stuff). And it has been a joy seeing others value my work and also learn blender and a bunch of stuff just for the sake of turning designs they like into a reality. So, I think I'm quite qualified to do this post.
TL;DR: No one has ever been banned for using fan skins, in a massive modding community. They are PC-only and easy to use, no private servers required.
What can mods do?
What are Genshin mods? There are many types of mods, but this is exclusively about skins, specifically, 3Dmigoto skins. They don't change game files or cheat the game - instead, they are just a visual overlay not too dissimilar from changing the brightness of your screen - and despite being somewhat limited, they are what allow us to not get our accounts banned.
Can I...? No you can't add primos, no you can't change attacks/skills or their values, no you can't change animations, no you can't get artifacts more easily, etc. You can do those things on private servers, and there are mods that are less limited than 3Dmigoto mods (like melon mods), but those things can give you problems, so use at your own risk, and ask about them in more appropriate servers, not this one - this discord has nothing to do with that. That said, other mods that count as a visual overlay, like making certain UI elements invisible, can still be achieved with 3dmigoto. Either way, the whole Kaveh Destroyer of Worlds episode has nothing to do with skin mods or 3Dmigoto.
How do I revert back to not using mods? There is no such thing as "reverting back" because the game is not actually being changed. Refer to the safety/banning section for more details. Every time you want to see skins in your game, you have to run a certain program before launching the game, otherwise you won't even see it. So if you want to stop seeing mods completely, just never run that, and delete the folders that contain the program and the mods since in that case they will just be cluttering your pc.
What do you need to use mods?
Do I need to play on pc, or mods work on playstation/mobile? Sadly, no. I've only seen one video that seemed to be on playstation but I have no idea of how that was achieved or if it's using 3Dmigoto. Either way, skins are pc only. If you want more details on the possibility of mods for mobile (don't get your hopes high), here: general-questions
So I don't need a private server to use skin mods? Yup, you don't need a private server, skins work perfectly in the official server ^~^
Anything else that I need? You will need to turn off the Dynamic Character resolution, and please watch the entirety of the tutorial I put in this post because it's an updated one, and that will be relevant,
Will I get banned? Is it safe?
Will I get banned for using skins in my official accounts? Like I said, 3Dmigoto doesn't really do things like cheating - the only broken rule is the fact that this counts as a 3rd-party software, but in about 85000 people using mods in the main discord server alone, literally no one has been banned (and most of them mod in the official server, not in private servers). And this has been going for well over a year. Hoyoverse knows about the existence of mods, but they seem pretty indifferent so far, and either way it would be difficult for them to ban people when mods don't change game files, even though mods can be detected.
Can other people in co-op see that I'm using mods and report me? No, because it's just a visual overlay on your side, the characters are not actually wearing another skin/glider. The only way people would know would be if you shared screenshots or recordings with your UID visible. If 2 people with mods co-op, each will see the mods that they picked for the characters, not the mods chosen by the other person. So if they took screenshots and showed them, they would only be denouncing themselves, not the other person.
What if Hoyoverse changes their stance? If they do, they will just issue temporary/short bans, not a permaban. That's what sometimes happens to HSR players and we don't even know if they are banned for using mods or for issues with the anti-cheating system mistakenly accusing people. Either way, the developers of HSR are more strick and people still don't have issues. And the modding community is so large that, if hoyo wanted to ban everyone permanently, they would lose a massive chunk of players. It would be a huge loss for them.
How to use and update/fix mods?
I'm convinced. How do I use mods? Follow this tutorial (embedded below): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAsb__3uK3o&ab_channel=Snowlit It's one of the most updated videos, so I recommend it over older ones, or you will struggle with some issues that arose with game patches.
Where can I ask for help if I find issues? If you are having difficulties, I suggest going to the AGMG discord server (invite: https://discord.gg/agmg - you need to prove you are using mods or trying to access other channels) and ask there in the channel dedicated to help you. You can also join my own discord server, focused on SFW mods, and we have help channels there too.
Why are so many mods broken? It's possible that those were all broken with the game updates. A script to fix them/update mods tends to release a few days after the patch is around, you can just run it in your Mods folder and it will fix all mods inside at once. Look for the version of this tool for the current patch: https://gamebanana.com/tools/15654.
This has already happened several times, so it's not reasonable to expect modders with tons of posts to update each of them when you can just easily fix it yourself and all at once. Only ask for fixes when there are things broken that can't be solved by you, or that require modding knowledge or access to the blend file - and even then, the modders have a right to refuse.
A good way to know if there is a widespread solution that works on multiple mods is to keep up with the announcements in the main discord server AGMG. The best places to check if a widespread solution was already made are either the announcements in the main modding server, AGMG (invite above) OR go to the gamebanana genshin modding section » Tools » Other/Misc (https://gamebanana.com/tools/cats/1239)
I've run the fix but the mods are still broken, what should I do? Most issues you will encounter are in the video I recommended. Either way, these are some frequent problems:
You can't have more than one active mod for a certain character in your Mods folder, unless they are merged (you know that they are merged if you have a merged.ini). This happens because, since we can't cheat the game, we can't add skin slots, and all mods will try to load over the same official skin of a given character - therefore, if you have more than one, they will conflict. Apart from merging, if you don't know how to do that yet, you can also put some mods you downloaded in a separate folder (so, not your Mods folder), or just write DISABLED in the start of the name of the folder with a mod you want to inactivate.
If some parts of the model are not loading properly, try going inside a domain with the modded character. Any mod can have that issue, it's just a loading problem that GIMI sometimes has, but going in a domain tends to reset it.
All mods are broken for you? Did you try disabling the Dynamic Character Resolution in the settings? Because that is required to use mods.
I found this mod where the character floats and/or changes underwater, but it's not working. You are probably not getting the appropriate files to track the character state or offset it, or are not putting them in the right place. Here is a step-by-step guide with pictures of literally all you need.
My mod shows a green reflection in the character menu, how do I fix it? You need to add this ORFix.ini file into the BufferValues folder inside your Mods folder: https://github.com/leotorrez/LeoTools/blob/main/releases/ORFix.ini. If that doesn't solve the trick, that's because the mod creator forgot to also add the line instructed in that link, basically how the picture below shows, but you can do it yourself. This is necessary for all characters released during and after Sumeru.
Pricing and commissions
Why are there so many mods behind paywalls? Actually, there are no mods behind paywalls. Except paywalls put up by scammers and thieves that steal mods that were free. Or that they thought that were paid, but those great heroes didn't even bother to check that all genshin mods can be a maximum of 1 month on patreon before being released for free. They all end on gamebanana or, like I said, in the main modding discord server. So before you subscribe to a patreon selling mods, make sure that you can't find the mod in those platforms I mentioned, and if that is the legitimate creator, subscribe only if you want the mod in early access and/or to support the creator. Because even if you don't become a member, you will still be able to get the mod soon.
Can I see my OC's in Genshin as a mod? Yes, with limitations. Your OC would work as a skin that overrides a certain character, in outfit/body, hair and iris. It won't be an actual new character. Besides, since we have limitations to avoid cheating, we can't add new animations or abilities, and that includes being unable to change the face and eye shape (the iris can be changed, just not the external shape, eyelids, etc). As for the height of a character, that can be changed but comes with certain downsides, like the weapons not being attached to the hands, the animations still looking the same, the camera being stuck at the original level, and the worst offender for me is the face stuck in the same expression and with a bad shading. So take all of that into consideration when picking what character to override, and deciding if it's worth to change the height of a certain character or going immediately for one with the correct height and facial shape.
How can I commission an OC/skin? I suggest going to the main discord server AGMG, verifying/proving that you are using mods in order to access all channels, then head to the commissions-area and see who has commissions open. If you don't want to commission anyone, you can still try your luck in the requests channel in that server, since some people accept free requests and even more if they have a bounty (which is cheaper than a commission).
How to create mods
Where do I start if I want to make my own mods? That depends on what stage are you starting, and if you have any skills that you can reuse for modding.
For example, if you are an artist, you have advantages at texturing, and if you are a 3D modeler or at least know a bit of blender, that will make the modeling easier (yes, genshin mods require blender, so if you are familiar with another software, you will have to learn this one).
It also depends on what your goal is: If you want to do full custom skins and all by yourself, that is more work, but some modders specialize in only one aspect of modding and work in collaboration with other modders. For example, I started as only being a texture artist, and now I also do full custom models, but the weights for my mods are always made by someone else.
Recommended order for absolute beginners: texture mods, small model changes and kitbashing, bigger ports or more ambitious kitbashing, and then custom modeling. If you want, you can do weapon mods too, they are technically simpler than characters.
Are there tutorials that I can follow? Of course ^^ I am making my own written tutorials, some of which you can already find in the Resources folder of this discord. I also compiled a brief list of where you can find videos to follow, here.
Keep in mind that most of these tutorials are about modding genshin, and don't teach you in depth how to model, even though you can still learn a bit from there. But I recommend that you do your own search on how to model things in blender if you aim to do custom models. Keep also in mind that many things that look 3D, in genshin, are actually details painted over textures, so don't go overboard with polygon count. Either way, the guides there are varied and will help with most issues you might find.
What content creators need to know
I'm a content creator. Is there any risk? Don't try to use mods as an official Genshin content creator, since they have your UID and Hoyoverse doesn't officially support mods. Other than that, your account is not at risk unless you show your UID in videos/screenshots, and even then, the chances of someone reporting you are very very slim.
Also, don't post anything that includes the word "mod" in the title, because youtube (and twitch?) flag them and you can have your videos taken down due to it being assumed that you are using a private server - even if that is not the case.
AND DON'T FORGET TO ALWAYS CREDIT MODS. Either way, the risk would be only for the video/channel in question, not for your genshin account.
How do I correctly credit mods? I'm glad you asked, because people often mess up/don't credit/credit the wrong person and reposters - I see my mods poorly credited every single day xD. Always check if a mod exists on gamebanana, and if not, check the main modding discord server AGMG. Why? Because sometimes people repost videos and credit the source of the video, but the person who edited didn't make the mod and often doesn't credit the actual creator(s). (((Blumiekei is the absolute worst offender))) In the discord server, the message posting a mod in the mod-reposting channel is usuall by one of the authors and includes the others, and on gamebanana, you can see what each author contributed with in the sidebar. You should at least say their names when featuring mods, and I highly recommend that you include the link in some way too, even though I understand that not all platforms allow it.
Why should I credit mods that are just ports from other games, that's just laaaaazy... You clearly don't know the work that goes even into a port, so let me enlighten you - using my Inazuma Ganyu as an example: You can see in the 4th picture here that the final textures have shadows that were not in the original, and the image quality is much better. That's because I painted all of that manually - and it took me over a day just for the textures. Then add the time for placing the model, potentially adjusting proportions of individual parts to be more like the canon genshin bodies, bring back some elements from the original genshin character, merge the textures for everything because genshin can only have one texture per group (Body, Dress and Head), adjust the UV's as a consequence of that, then also make the lightmaps and alpha channel so that the game knows what should behave in terms of shadows and outline like fabric, skin or metallic parts, and FINALLY it's time for weights. That are often a nightmare because, due to the limitations of 3Dmigoto in order to not activate the anti-cheat, we can't add bones or new rigging, so we have to work around by transferring weights from the official genshin model. And in the case of this Ganyu, she doesn't originally have long sleeves, so that's a whole other headache that very few modders manage to achieve properly (me not included, the weights of this mod were made by mimo4e since she is one of the very few that is capable).
And if this is too much text for you and you won't bother knowing the work that goes into a port, don't make assumptions either. If it's good enough for you to use/feature, it's good enough for you to credit.
I've seen a mod with the wrong/no credits. What should I do? You can actually list it in the reports channel of my discord. That way, it's easier for the mod author to know (even if they are not there, we can likely find them), and everyone else with an account in the platform where the video/screenshot was posted can also help by asking the person who posted the videos to fix the credits. Some try to delete messages asking for credits, but if there are many people asking for that, they usually get tired and learn their lesson. Usually. Hopefully. I've seen good and bad outcomes at this point.
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