Improve your Payday 2 gameplay with a list of the best mods to use in 2024. These modifications are essential if you want to squeeze more out of your heisting experience.
Payday 2 is over a decade old, and in that time has accumulated a massive playerbase, especially when compared to its successor. And with such a high number of players comes new opportunities to tweak and twist the experience.
Luckily, Overkill Software developed Payday 2 with modding in mind. The studio has actively included mod support within the game files, allowing players to change the gameplay up to suit their needs.
So, how do you install mods for Payday 2, and what are the best mods for you to use?
Contents
- How to install Payday 2 mods
- Are mods available on console versions?
- Best HUD mods
- Best gameplay-changing mods
- Best music mods
- Best cosmetic mods
How to install & download Payday 2 mods
There are two types of mods for Payday 2 on PC; cosmetic overrides and LUA hook mods. Each type requires a very different install method, which we’ll go into now.
To begin with, navigate to your Payday 2 install folder. We recommend making a backup of your install folder, in case you accidentally delete something important.
Cosmetic override mods are mods that provide aesthetic changes to the game. For example, replacing a model texture, an audio track, or any other visual asset in the game. Other players won’t be able to see these mods, so they purely only appear in your game.
To install a cosmetic override mod, it’s as simple as dragging and dropping the file into steamapps/common/PAYDAY 2/assets/mod_override.
LUA hook mods are a little more complicated. These are mods that change the fundamental rules of the game. For example, a LUA hook mod could rebalance the difficulty of some weapons or enemies. Or they can outright add new heists, music tracks, and other gameplay assets.
To install a LUA hook mod, you’ll first need a mod called SuperBLT. Think of this as a foundation for Payday 2 that allows you to install new mods on top of it. You can navigate to the SuperBLT page here to download it.
If you’re on Windows, you’ll need to download and install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable package (x86), and then add the latest release of SuperBLT to your steamapps/common/PAYDAY 2 folder. Essentially, put it in the same folder as payday2_win32_release.exe.
Finally, load up Payday 2 and SuperBLT will ask if you want to download the basemod. Select Yes, and wait for the download to complete. After it has finished, you’ll have installed SuperBLT and can begin installing LUA hook mods.
Are mods available on console?
Payday 2 mods are not available on console, so you’ll need a copy on PC in order to play with mods enabled.
It’s also unlikely that mods will ever come to the console versions of Payday 2, due to the complexity of the systems and the fact that Starbreeze has diverted most of its resources to Payday 3.
Best Payday 2 HUD mods
One of the most popular types of mods available for Payday 2 are HUD mods, which change your heads-up display. Basically, any of the information available on screen can be tweaked.
PocoHud
PocoHud is one of the oldest Payday 2 mods, having first been made available in 2014. The mod adds extra information to your HUD, including additional player panel info, trackers for various buffs, and overhead timer info.
It can also tweak other functions of the game such as shuffling the in-game music, giving you more in-depth stats at the end of a heist, and giving you a radial menu for character callouts.
The best part about PocoHud is you can disable as many of the elements as you wish, meaning you can still aim for a minimal look with some of the modules activated.
WolfHud
WolfHud is less of a singular mod itself and more of a collection of various different HUD mods. Its most notable features include real-time information about spawned enemies and assault states, as well as a hovering health bar on-screen and extra stats on the tab menu.
It also gives your HUD a jazzy new look which shows the weapon you are using as well as how much health any converted cops have remaining. You may feel this HUD is a little too busy for your liking, but some of its aspects can also be turned on and off at a whim.
In the end, it does a similar job to PocoHud but looks a little less like the vanilla HUD, so you may prefer this if you’re not a fan of Payday 2’s default look.
Void UI
Void UI gives your Payday 2 HUD a slick new interface. For starters, it’s one of the most unique mods for the game, utilizing a brand-new graphic design in a way that isn’t too obstructive or unreadable, unlike some of the other HUD mods for Payday 2 that are floating around.
Other features in the mod include a scoreboard for seeing teammate loadout and downs remaining, extra labels for converted cops, and an improved chat feature. If you’re a little bored of the default Payday 2 look, this might change things up just enough.
Best Payday 2 Gameplay & Rebalance mods
It’s not just HUD changes you can make to your game with the best Payday 2 mods, though. There are plenty of modifications that actively change the rules of the game to improve the experience for you.
Better Bots
If you’re a Payday 2 player who prefers to go solo, the Better Bots mod is the one for you. This mod improves bot functionality so they’re more capable in a gunfight. This includes new abilities that put them on par with real human players, such as allowing them to dominate cops, throw grenades, and melee enemies.
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It’s also extremely customizable, meaning you can tweak the bots depending on how capable you’d like them to be. This certainly helps you through some of the higher difficulty levels when playing solo. As this is a mod to improve solo play, taking this mod online as a host is not recommended, due to the way it tweaks the game rules.
Meth Helper
One of the most infamous mistakes a new player in Payday 2 can make is blowing up the lab in Rats. In fact, the game’s meth cooking mechanic can be a little hard to understand at first, especially due to Bain’s confusing instructions. The Meth Helper mod alleviates these problems.
Meth Helper displays extra information on the screen when cooking meth in the Rats, Cook Off, Lab Rats, and Border Crystals heists. You’ll now get additional context such as the name of the correct ingredient, when an ingredient has been added, and when the batch is complete. You can also set this so it sends out a message to all other players, ensuring teamwide cooperation.
Silent Assassin
Payday 2’s Silent Assassin mod is a controversial one due to how it completely changes the way stealth works. Killing an unaware guard during the stealth phase now doesn’t set off a pager. Killing a guard when they are aware though, will still trigger a pager. To combat this, the pager limit has been reduced from four to two.
While this is a useful mod for newcomers who are still getting to grips with the stealth mechanics, veteran players will find this trivializes the game. Consider dropping this mod once you’re familiar with how the game works.
Third Person
Exactly as it sounds, the Third Person mod allows you to play the game from a third-person perspective. You’ll get to see your character and their customized outfits in all their glory. After all, what’s the use of spending ages creating your custom masks if you can’t see them in-game?
The Third Person mod comes with some options to change the angle and field of view of the perspective, so you can tune it to your liking. There’s also a keybind present for when you want to quickly switch back to first-person mode. While not an essential mod, it’s still a great addition to the game if you like that.
Best Payday 2 music mods
Payday 2 became iconic for its music. While the soundtrack by Simon Viklund (among other contributors) takes the cake for some of the best video game music of all time, some mods add brand-new tracks to the game.
Payday 3 Loud OST Pack
Payday 3 may be currently in a rough state, but a lot of players have agreed that Gustavo Coutinho’s soundtrack is a banger. This mod adds the loud tracks from Payday 3 into its predecessor, so you can enjoy the new tracks while playing in the classic game.
Despite the change in tone between games, most of these tracks fit quite nicely. The Heatwave track, for example, fits really nicely with the Heat Street heist, while Sky High Score goes well when played on Beneath the Mountain.
Yakuza Music Pack
The Yakuza (or Like a Dragon) series has some really distinctive, sharp tracks that also fit in with the Payday universe. The Yakuza Music Pack adds a lot of these tracks into Payday 2, adding dozens of music tracks to be used in either heists or on the menu. This is a must-have for any Yakuza fans who want to bring their Tokyo brawling experience to other games.
Hotline Miami (Custom OST)
There’s a lot of crossover between Payday 2 and Hotline Miami, due to the fact that Jacket is available as a playable character and there’s a whole heist themed around the 2012 action game. The Hotline Miami Custom OST mod adds a lot of its electrifying tracks from the game into Payday 2, so you can enjoy heisting other people to these new tunes.
Le Castle Vania – John Wick Mode
Another franchise that has a lot of crossover with Payday 2 is the John Wick series. John Wick Mode by Le Castle Vania is probably one of the most iconic tracks to appear in the franchise, appearing during the second movie as Keanu Reeves fights a bunch of guys in Rome.
The John Wick Mode mod for Payday 2 adds the track into the game, so you can play as John Wick and play the John Wick heists while listening to John Wick Mode on repeat.
Best Payday 2 cosmetic mods
Finally, there are plenty of mods that make smaller changes to the world of Payday 2. This includes custom masks, new models, and even new characters added to the game. Here are some of our favorites.
THOMAS replaces Hoxton Breakout Pickup Truck
It wouldn’t be a best mods roundup without including Thomas The Tank Engine in it somewhere. After all, he’s pretty much the first thing most modders set out to add to every new game. This mod replaces the pickup truck during the Hoxton Breakout Day 1 heist with Thomas, so you can choo-choo your way out of prison.
John Wick Custom Clown Mask
As it stands, John Wick is currently the only playable character in Payday 2 that doesn’t have his own clown mask. This mod fixes that, giving Wick a mask inspired by the clown designs the other characters use. There’s an extra option in here too so it will be Wick’s preferred mask when selecting the default mask option.
Keanu Reeves for John Wick (PD2 Wick Head Model Replacer)
Speaking of John Wick, he was the first character to be added as a part of Payday 2’s post-launch support. While Overkill Software improved their character models as time went on, some of its early character designs looked a little ugly. And this was certainly the case for Wick, who barely resembled his live action actor Keanu Reeves.
This mod completely replaces the current in-game model of John Wick with a new one inspired by Reeves’ appearance. Not only does he closer resemble the actor, but it’s also a generally much higher-quality model that fits perfectly in the game.
Tailor Expansion
Tailor Expansion is a lore-friendly mod that adds hundreds of new cosmetic variants to the outfits available in Payday 2. This means extra colors for each outfit if you couldn’t previously quite find the right shade of red for your heister.
It also allows you to select outfits that are heister-specific, such as the default suits or the white tuxedo. Adding this mod means you and your team have many more options to coordinate your outfits together.
L4D2 Nick Character Pack
With his sharp wit, rich-guy attitude, and criminal background, Nick from Left 4 Dead 2 is an obvious choice for a character added to the Payday 2 universe. He would fit right in with the rest of the gang, and this mod adds him as a replacement for Scarface.
The Nick mod features a custom model and textures, along with a new mask and voicelines that helps to sell the mod as if it was an official update from Overkill Software. This is a must-have mod for any fans of both Payday and Left 4 Dead. It’s surprising how well they go together.
For more Payday content, check out our Payday 3 guides below:
Payday 3 PC requirements | All DLC confirmed | All heisters | All missions | How to level up | Best stealth build | Best heists to make cash fast | How to stealth No Rest for the Wicked | Can you play Payday 3 split-screen?
