Overview

In Animal-Crossing: New Horizons there are two type of mods, Replacement Mods and Additive Mods, in this guide we’ll go through the process of how to develop your own mod and publishing it on Gamebanana.

Caution

This is a working-in-progress page. More info will be added in the future.

Types of Mods

In Animal-Crossing: New Horizons there are two main types of mods, Replacement Mods and Additive Mods. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the choice of which type to use depends on the modder’s goals and the desired outcome of the mod.

Replacement Mods

A Replacement Mod, as the name suggests, is a mod that simply replaces an existing model in the game. It’s the most used method in the community, as it’s the easiest to develop and use.

These mods can change the aesthetics of the game without having to handle complex files. They are also more ‘stable’ and easier to use, as they do not require (in most cases) a mod manager to be installed.

Additive Mods

A Additive Mod, in the other hand, adds new content to the game such as: furniture, clothing, items, villagers or even new mechanics; but are in general more complex to create and require a deeper understanding of the game file types.

They are also more prone to conflicts with other additive mods, as they change files that other mods can also be using.

Comparison

When comparing both types of mods, we can see that they have different advantages and disadvantages. Here is a table summarizing the main differences:

	Additive Mods	Replacement Mods
Ease of creation	⚠️ Medium	✅ Easy
Conflict Risk	✅ Low (with Mod Manager)	⚠️ Medium
Multiplayer	❌ All players need the same mods	✅ Client Side
Can add content	✅ Yes	❌ No
File Types	BCSV, EventFlow, Model and MSBT	Model and MSBT

Getting Started

Now that you know the types of mods, you first need to decide which type of mod you want to create. If you are new to modding, we recommend starting with a Replacement Mod, as it is easier to create and use.

But to begin with you will need to extract the needed files from your game. You can do this by following our Dumping RomFS Guide.

What do you want to do next? Check our guides!

Replace a Model Want to create your first replacement mod? Check this guide!

Edit Messages (MSBT) What about changing the name of an item? or a villager? MSBT handles all the text in the game!

Edit a BCSCV Are you interested in create your first additive mod? BCSV is the way to go!