Proper Load Order & You.

As this guide expands and more clarifications are added to this list please refer to this guide before suggesting where your mod goes. Having mod conflict issues is detrimental to the community if you're telling people your mod goes at the bottom just because you want it to overwrite other mods. This isn't how mods work and this isn't what anyone should be told as this can result in less people using your mod simply because they think its buggy. Below i will list my own mod list and break this down section by section and as to why mods should be placed in this general order.

• High End PC's = about 350-500 Mods
  
• Mid Tier PC's = 250-400 Mods.
  
• "Oh crap i can barely run internet explorer" PC's = 100-150 Mods.

Take these settings above with a very large grain of salt. You can play with a bunch more or a bunch less mods depending on how you optimize your own game.
Kenshi itself requires the user to heavily optimize there game for the best experience. You can find your mods.cfg file here :

• C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Kenshi\data

Open up the mods.cfg file in notepad.
Open a new notepad.
You cut and paste mods in the correct order to the new notepad.
Once the list is done cut the list and paste to the orginal mods.cfg file, hit CTRL + S and you're ready to go! Mods lower in the order overwrite mods higher in the order.

• Opening Statement and break down of my personal mod list
  
• .MOD file names and there order in my mod list.
  
• Section recap - This section is the simplified breakdown of how mods should be placed by category. You can find an easier to read list in the Quick Guide section.

Any sections below without bullet points means you can freely add mods here in any order for the most part.

• World Texture mods
  
• World weather effects mod
  
• Ground Clutter & Foliage mods
  
• Map Mods
  
• UI mods.

• Race unlocks (Base game race unlocks)
  
• Race Additions (New races)
  
• Race cosmetics. (hair, eyes, body features)
  
• Base game & Modded race stat edits.

• Game starts
  
• Recruit mods
  
• Animal additions
  
• Animal addition support mods (backpacks, armor, etc)
  
• Overwrite mod for minor characters. (tame beasties adds recruit mechanic)

• Minor faction edits (changes to spawn mechanics)
  
• Minor faction additions (bounties)
  
• New Minor Factions (factions that are only bar squads or tiny houses somewhere)

• Minor building additions
  
• Minor furniture changes (texture, recipes, models, etc)
  
• Bigger standalone building mods. (wooden watchtower)
  
• Dummies, Furniture mods.
  
• Building overhaul mods. (more building, forgotten buildings)
  
• Building stat edits
  
• Building mechanic edits.

• Standalone weapon/armor mods
  
• Bigger weapon/armor packs
  
• Weapons added to specific factions
  
• Weapon/armor overhaul mods.
  
• Weapon list crafting changes.

• Minor faction additions (adventurers guild, mods that add a small town)
  
• Item Overhauls
  
• Weapon/armor overhauls. (the ones here add in quests,LOCATIONS, bosses unlike the ones in the previous section)
  
• Sectional Overhauls. (mods that edit part of the map)
  
• Faction overhauls. (hives, cannibals, shrieking bandits expanded etc)
  
• Total WORLD Overhauls. (THESE MODS ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH EACH OTHER UNLESS THEY ARE SPECIFICALLY STATED SO. PICK ONE. Or in the case of realpolitik get that with reactive world
  
• Mechanic + item overhauls. (realistically this is just GenMOD for now)
  
• Total overhaul. (Project genesis once its into its beta phase would go after all other mods)

-The mods below are listed in this order because these are the most important to be read and loaded first. Assuming you have no other mods who do something similar (like editing weather or changing foliage, etc.) these mods will be loaded here.

• Texture_Options_512_world_only.mod
  
• Removed Weather Effects.mod
  
• Less_Foliage_and_Rocks_x4.mod
  
• Nice Map [Tpg + Grid + Zones + Zone names + Roads].mod
  
• Dark UI.mod

• World Texture mods
  
• World weather effects mod
  
• Ground Clutter & Foliage mods
  
• Map Mods
  
• UI mods.

-The mods listed here are placed here because these are another strong edit to the base game. These are loaded second because these files are another big upgrade/change to the most gameplay elements when it comes to BASE game modifications.

• More Combat Animation.mod
  
• AnimationOverhaul.mod
  
• Military craft.mod

....animation mods. duh :P

-The mods placed here are in no particular order but keep base game edits close to the top of the list. For instance the mod "playable races/sub-races.mod" is first because this adds all base game races into character creation. The next two mods are mods that add in new races. The mod after this is hat i call an addition mod. It adds color variatons, eyes, faces, hair and body features. The mod after this is a base game race edit.

• Playable Races And Sub-Races.mod
  
• Skeleton SL-M.mod
  
• Skeleton ILA-M MKI.mod
  
• CCO.mod
  
• NoArmorPenalty.mod

Place mods of the following types here in this section.

• Race unlocks (Base game race unlocks)
  
• Race Additions (New races)
  
• Race cosmetics. (hair, eyes, body features)
  
• Base game & Modded race stat edits.

-The mods placed here are not in any particular order except for "kotorstuff.mod & HK-47 recruit addon.mod". This section should be order like this. For reasons that should be obvious by now. kotorstuff adds HK-47 dude. Hk-47 recruit mod makes him recruitable (thus it overwrites the previous mod)

If it adds a new race AND a game start then that mod should be closer to the above section than farther down. you want the new race added and the game start before the other new start mods to ensure any other compatible mods edit the new race and perform other overwrites they need to.

If you have a game start that EDITS existing ones (like holy sword, man with a dog to name a few i know of.) You want these mods after any "new race + game starts" mods.

This section can also technically be just plug and play. The only rule you really have to follow is the overwrite rule.

• The Chosen One.mod
  
• Lazarus.mod
  
• New Recruits.mod
  
• kotorstuff.mod
  
• HK-47 Recruit Addon.mod
  
• GreatDirewolf.mod
  
• Animal Traders.mod
  
• Animal Backpacks.mod
  
• Aminals.mod
  
• TameBeasties.mod

• Game starts
  
• Recruit mods
  
• Animal additions
  
• Animal addition support mods (backpacks, armor, etc)
  
• Overwrite mod for minor characters. (tame beasties adds recruit mechanic)

-This section is also like the above section. These mods simply need to follow the "overwrite rule". These mods here consist of small faction squad additions, small faction additions (the faction itself), or minor changes to relations.

• Regenerates in Towns.mod
  
• More Bountys.mod
  
• Tech Hunters Relations.mod
  
• Taxman Relations plus.mod
  
• The Dark Tech Society.mod

• Minor faction edits (changes to spawn mechanics)
  
• Minor faction additions (bounties)
  
• New Minor Factions (factions that are only bar squads or tiny houses somewhere)

-What good are all these races without some fancy new buildings? The section below is ordered in this order ; Stand alone buildings (these guys are just small additions) > big additions/edits to existing buildings > edits to building areas (mods like slopeless that edit the angle you can place stuff etc.)

• skeletonlimbstorage.mod
  
• MedicalBeds.mod
  
• Work_Bench_Variations.mod
  
• Expanded Lighting.mod
  
• Moisture Farming.mod
  
• Wooden Watchtower.mod
  
• Training Dummies by.Adys.mod
  
• more building.mod
  
• Forgotten Buildings.mod
  
• defensivegates.mod
  
• Slopeless.mod
  

• Minor building additions
  
• Minor furniture changes (texture, recipes, models, etc)
  
• Bigger standalone building mods. (wooden watchtower)
  
• Dummies, Furniture mods.
  
• Building overhaul mods. (more building, forgotten buildings)
  
• Building stat edits
  
• Building mechanic edits.

-The order here is generally up to the user. as these mods are USUALLY simple additions they get added in any order and placed in any order within this section. HOWEVER any mod that edits previous existing factions should be loaded LAST. (these mods are the ones that add cool new items to the faction as a whole). Anything that just adds armor/weapons to the game are okay to be placed anywhere.

• CombatBoots.mod
  
• MorePlate.mod
  
• GusokuArmorV1.0.mod
  
• Nomad Pants.mod
  
• Wolf_Headgear.mod
  
• revansrobes.mod
  
• nomad cape.mod
  
• ImpalerArmor.mod
  
• Plank Shield.mod
  
• Crossbow_expansion.mod
  
• BoltsMoreCharges.mod
  
• Legendary Weapons.mod
  
• Patchwork Armour.mod
  
• Luxury Backpack Mod.mod
  
• Umbra Backpacks.mod
  
• Fox's Weapons Mod Set.mod
  
• Expanded Craftable Weapons.mod

• Standalone weapon/armor mods
  
• Bigger weapon/armor packs
  
• Weapons added to specific factions
  
• Weapon/armor overhaul mods.
  
• Weapon list crafting changes.

-This section is going to be the trickiest for any user. This is going to require a very long bit of reading on your part. I realized this section alone was a little to short and i did say this would be your biggest read. This section here is the biggest when it comes to the overwrite rule. Another quick tip sometimes mods will update a bit more frequently than you know or might pay attention to. GenMOD is a great example of this. This information aside try and place these overhaul mods like this (world/mechanics overhauls) > Genmod.

• READ EVERY DESCRIPTION OF EVERY OVERHAUL MOD. YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHATS EDITED
  
• COMPARE WORLD EDITS. If you have 2 mods that edit the hub which version of the hub do you want?
  
• WHAT MOD DO YOU WANT TO OVERWRITE THE OTHERS? If you have a big ole "expanded cities" you want that mod to be overwritten by "reactive world". For this section i'll try to break down every mods placement.

• Jewy's Limbs Overhaul.mod - Simple limb edit + addition of new limbs. Consider this a "armor/weapon overhaul"
  
• ABSOLVER.mod - Another "armor mod overhaul" but also adds new enemies/locations to the game.
  
• Shidan's Tweaks & Fixes.mod - mechanic "generic" overhaul. Provides base game edits.
  
• RecruitPrisoners.mod - mechanic "generic" overhaul. Provides base game edits.
  
• Adventurers Guild - Lore Friendly Recruitment.mod - new locations + mechanics added/changed
  
• Minor Factions Expansion.mod - world edits + some mechanics changed + new locations
  
• Minor Faction Pacifiers.mod - NPC additions + mechanics added + Overwrites previous mod
  
• Swish Mods East Coast Expansion.mod - Big world addition + mechanics changed.
  
• Swish Mod.mod - Big world addition + mechanics changed.
  
• ShriekingBandit_Expansion.mod - Faction overhaul
  
• Cannibal_Expansion.mod -Faction overhaul
  
• Hiver_Expansion.mod - Faction overhaul
  
• "take over the world mod" - *this mod adds new npcs + buildings and edits world states/adds new ones.
  
• "Reactive world mod" - Overhauls the game completely except from item stand point.
  
• Realpolitik.mod - Provides greater variations of worldstates for reactive world
  
• GenMod.mod - complete gameplay overhaul. New cities + NPCS + Squads + items + mechanics
  
• Genesis.mod - Complete overhaul

Like stated above please carefully read descriptions before placing mods. This section will break most games if you don't take time to sort this out.

• Minor faction additions (adventurers guild, mods that add a small town)
  
• Item Overhauls
  
• Weapon/armor overhauls. (the ones here add in quests,LOCATIONS, bosses unlike the ones in the previous section)
  
• Sectional Overhauls. (mods that edit part of the map)
  
• Faction overhauls. (hives, cannibals, shrieking bandits expanded etc)
  
• Total WORLD Overhauls. (THESE MODS ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH EACH OTHER UNLESS THEY ARE SPECIFICALLY STATED SO. PICK ONE. Or in the case of realpolitik get that with reactive world)
  
• Mechanic + item overhauls. (realistically this is just GenMOD for now)
  
• Total overhaul. (As of right now this is just Kenshi: Genesis)

-Please note that the below mods are non-exclusive. These mods are the overhauls of your overhauls + additional mods. While these mods can technically be placed right after there exclusive required mod(s) id recommend putting them down here to ensure your compatability and that other mods dont try to accidentally overwrite these mods. These types of mods are critical to keeping your game safe from crashes/bugs and if they get overwritten by "newmodedittothehivewithgenmod101.mod" that isnt good ;P

• GenMod_HiveEX_comp.mod
  
• CCO_COMP_MCA.mod
  
• CCO_AOC_COMP_MOD.mod
  
• Resource specific storage 1000.mod
  
• No Cut Efficiency.mod

-These mods are hand picked and placed in this order for compatibility and the overwrites they perform on the game as a whole. Mods like the ones listed below need to be last. Why? Because they cover LITERALLY every merchant in game, added by mods or not. I also highly recommend the first 3 mods for immersion and better gameplay mechanics (i.e. owning your own bar/shop). The last mod is just a personal mod i like that adds "more" money to merchants.

• 
  
• NPC enjoys more shopping.mod
  
• citizens.mod
  
• shoppingecon.mod
  
• shops have more money.mod

Thank you to all the support of this guide! If you like it please share it around and upvote it :)

This is NOT a recommendation on what mods you should play with.