Unreal Shimloader
Unreal Shimloader is a loader shim for Unreal Engine games. Its job is to make UE mods installable and manageable through mod managers - most notably the Thunderstore ecosystem - by giving them a predictable place to load mods from and shimming that into the game.
Why it exists
Section titled “Why it exists”Unreal games don’t have a built-in mod-manager story the way some other modded games do. Shimloader bridges that gap: a mod manager can install Shimloader plus a stack of mods, and Shimloader makes the game pick them up. For players this means one-click install and update instead of manual file drops.
Where you meet it
Section titled “Where you meet it”- As a Thunderstore dependency. If you distribute a Palworld mod on Thunderstore, you typically declare Unreal Shimloader as a dependency so the mod manager installs it alongside your mod.
- As a player, it’s part of what a mod manager sets up for you when you install a Palworld mod through it.
When to use it
Section titled “When to use it”Use Unreal Shimloader when your concern is distribution and installation - getting your mod into players’ hands through a mod manager - rather than what the mod does. It sits alongside, not instead of, the tools that actually build your mod (UE4SS, PalSchema, the asset pipeline).
References
Section titled “References”- Distribution channels and mod-manager setup vary; check the current Thunderstore listing and the loader’s own documentation for your build, since loader details and versions move over time.