Can't seem to get .esm mods to load?

[Dark-Thoughts]

Came back to try to mod Starfield using a mod manager this time and not wanting to wait for Vortex getting Linux support. I just went with a very basic setup of the essentials, like SKSE, achievement enabler and the intro skip, which work fine after some fiddling. I also added an inventory UI mod, which also works fine (but they're just loose files anyway). However, when I try to add a body mod or a universe picker, which are both .esm mods, then they don't seem to work at all. They do appear in the mod manager's plugin list and inside the Plugins.txt but I do not see the body & textures, nor do I receive a message box to choose my universe variant after going through the unity.

The app.log contains a double entry error, but I don't know if that's at all related:

[2026-04-10 19:21:17.116] [error] Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'settings.json'
    at Object.openSync (node:fs:561:18)
    at Object.func [as openSync] (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:2617)
    at Object.readFileSync (node:fs:445:35)
    at t.readFileSync (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:11013)
    at pn.loadSettings (/var/home/*****/Games/stellar-mod-loader-linux-x64/resources/app.asar/electron/main.js:33:205074)
    at /var/home/*****/Games/stellar-mod-loader-linux-x64/resources/app.asar/electron/main.js:50:4788
    at Session.<anonymous> (node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:107089)
    at Session.emit (node:events:519:28)
[2026-04-10 19:21:17.121] [error] Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'settings.json'
    at Object.openSync (node:fs:561:18)
    at Object.func [as openSync] (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:2617)
    at Object.readFileSync (node:fs:445:35)
    at t.readFileSync (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:11013)
    at pn.loadSettings (/var/home/*****/Games/stellar-mod-loader-linux-x64/resources/app.asar/electron/main.js:33:205074)
    at /var/home/*****/Games/stellar-mod-loader-linux-x64/resources/app.asar/electron/main.js:50:4788
    at Session.<anonymous> (node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:107089)
    at Session.emit (node:events:519:28)

[Dark-Thoughts]

Today I tried the Adoring Fangirl mod again too. The optional voice pack works, since it's just loose files, but it does not convert the fan into the fangirl as that main part of the mod is an .esm package. What I noticed is that there's now an additional lower case plugins.txt to the upper case Plugins.txt that was there before.

Plugins.txt contents:

# This file is used by Starfield to keep track of your downloaded content.
# Please do not modify this file.
*sfbgs00a_j.esm
*sfbgs00a_i.esm
*sfbgs00a_g.esm
*sfbgs00a_f.esm
*sfbgs00a_e.esm
*sfbgs019.esm
*sfbgs023.esm
*sfbgs00c.esm
*sfbgs021.esm
*sfbgs00a_d.esm
*sfbgs00a_a.esm
AdoringFangirl.esm
MilkyWayVixens.esm
Aurie_ChooseYourUniverse.esm

plugins.txt contents:

# This file was generated automatically by Stellar Mod Loader for profile "Modded"
*MilkyWayVixens.esm
*AdoringFangirl.esm
*Aurie_ChooseYourUniverse.esm

Since Linux filesystems are case sensitive, the plugins.txt should not even be used by the game. But both files contain the currently three enabled .esm mods I have installed, so technically they should be loaded.

[Dark-Thoughts]

Yep, okay. So, mods with a * are enabled, other's are not. I don't know why but the Plugins list in Stellar and how it handles the Plugins.txt does not seem to work. I had to manually enable the .esm files, which kinda defeats at least half the purpose of using a mod manager.

[lVlyke]

Thanks for the bug report. The issue appears to be, as you noted, Stellar is writing plugins.txt when Plugins.txt already exists. Starfield then only looks at Plugins.txt, so any changes made to the plugins list by Stellar in plugins.txt won't ever be picked up. I just released a new version with a fix that ensures that the existing plugins file is used regardless of path casing. This should fix the issue you're seeing.

You will likely have to delete the duplicate plugins.txt file if you haven't already, but after that everything should work correctly after re-deploying the profile with the new version.

[Dark-Thoughts]

Works now, but on that note I would also suggest to enable "Manage external plugins" by default. That button is a) incredibly obtuse / hidden (it looks like an icon for the plugin list), and b) without it, it will keep disabling Creations on every launch.