apply and unapply

apply

modctl apply deploys the active profile to your game directory. It computes the desired file state for the profile, compares it against what is currently on disk, and reconciles the difference. Only files that need to change are touched; files that are already correctly deployed are skipped automatically.

modctl apply

Before any game-owned file is overwritten, modctl backs it up automatically. Backups are restored when you run modctl unapply or when a subsequent apply no longer needs to overwrite them.

Previewing changes

Always a good idea before applying, especially after making several profile changes at once:

modctl apply --dry-run

This runs the full planning step and prints every file operation that would be performed, without touching anything on disk.

Drift detection

By default, before overwriting any file it previously installed modctl hashes the on-disk content and compares it against what it originally wrote. This detects external modifications (for example, a game update that overwrote a modded file) and backs up the updated content before overwriting it, so nothing is lost.

If you have many mods and want a faster apply and are not concerned about external modifications, you can skip these hash checks:

modctl apply --no-recheck

Output format

By default apply uses a progress indicator. To print each file operation on its own line instead — useful for scripting or when you want a full record of what was done:

modctl apply --print-ops

Cleaning up empty directories

modctl only manages files, not directories. Directories created implicitly during apply are not removed automatically when their contents are uninstalled. If you want modctl to clean up any directories it emptied during the operation, pass --prune-dirs:

modctl apply --prune-dirs

Directories that still contain files modctl did not install are left alone.

Flags

unapply

modctl unapply removes all files that modctl installed and restores any backed-up game files. The game directory is returned to the state it was in before modctl touched it.

modctl unapply

unapply operates on the actual installed state recorded in modctl's database, not on a profile. This means it works correctly even if the profile that produced the current install has since been modified or deleted; modctl always knows exactly which files it owns and where they are.

Previewing changes

modctl unapply --dry-run

Output format

modctl unapply --print-ops

Cleaning up empty directories

modctl only manages files, not directories. To remove any directories that are left empty after unapply completes, pass --prune-dirs:

modctl unapply --prune-dirs

Directories that still contain files modctl did not install are left alone.

Flags

For a conceptual overview of how apply and reconciliation work, see Overview.