Steam Workshop, official catalogues and mod sites: how each game handles mods, and the trade-offs of each route

24 Oct 2026 · 3 min read · ModsDrop

Pictured: RSH Mack R Rigid Addon – Tanker Body for Harven's Mack R, from the ModsDrop library.

Some games put their mods on the Steam Workshop, some run their own official catalogue, and some have no official channel at all. The difference decides how you install mods, how they update, what happens when an author removes one, and why sites like this one exist alongside the official routes. Here is how each of the games we host works, and the trade-offs of each route.

Game by game

Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator: support the Steam Workshop, alongside manual mods in the mod folder. Both appear in the same in-game Mod Manager.
BeamNG.drive: has its own official Repository, browsable inside the game and on BeamNG’s website, alongside manual zips in the mods folder.
Farming Simulator 25: has ModHub, GIANTS’ curated catalogue, the only route on consoles; manual zips work on PC.
GTA V: no official mod channel at all. Everything is manual, through community tools.
Assetto Corsa: no official catalogue for the original game; mods are folders, usually installed with the community’s Content Manager.

What official channels do well

One-click install and automatic updates. Subscribe once, and the newest version arrives by itself.
Some moderation. ModHub and BeamNG’s Repository review submissions; the Workshop relies more on reports.
Integration. The game knows where the mod came from and can show its page.

What they do badly

You do not own the file. When an author removes a Workshop item, it disappears from your game at the next sync, and any save that depended on it complains. A manually downloaded file stays on your disk.
No version choice. An update that breaks your favourite mod reaches you automatically, and rolling back is usually impossible. A manual download lets you keep the version that works, which matters on patch days and in long careers.
Rules and limits. Official channels have content rules, size limits and review queues. Big map projects, conversions with complicated permissions, and mods that change things the guidelines forbid often never appear there.
Lag. Reviewed catalogues can be weeks behind an author’s own releases.

Why mod sites exist

For files that are not on the official channel, for versions the official channel no longer offers, for players who want control over what changes in their game and when, and for games with no official channel at all. A good mod site adds what an official channel does: a page per file with its size, its scan result and its author, and a way to report a problem. ModsDrop shows a VirusTotal result and a SHA-256 for every file, and takes reports from authors seriously, because those are the things a manual download needs most.

Mixing them safely

One source per mod. A Workshop copy and a manual copy of the same mod in ETS2, or a ModHub copy and a manual copy in FS25, conflict. Keep one.
Know which mods your save depends on, and keep manual copies of those if the author allows it for personal use, so an author’s removal does not end a career.
Update deliberately. Before a game update, note which mods you have; after it, update the ones that need it rather than everything at once.

For authors

Many authors publish in more than one place: the official channel for convenience, their own page or a host for older versions and for players who prefer manual installs. That is fine, and it is the author’s choice to make. What is not fine is someone else copying a Workshop or Repository item to another site without permission; licences and reuploads explains why, and how such copies are handled here.

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