Questions on enabling mods in Xenonauts

I realise this is a super basic set of questions, but I couldn't find the answers I sought. Sorry if I missed something obvious!

I figured I'd install some basic mods I liked the sound of - specifically, Fire in the Hole and its sub-mods, Open Doors - Exterior/Interior. I'm using the non-steam version.

First, I tried adding the mods via the "Modding tools". This yielded an error message. (Edit: To clarify, it complains about insufficient rights, but I am running it as admin.) Fair enough! I then did a manual install, moving the full folder into the mod directory. After this, the mods show in the "Load mod" drop-down: Fire in the Hole and both Open Door variants.

The thing is, I get no confirmation that these mods are actually loaded, and the drop-down menu is exclusive. I can set it to say "Load mod: Fire in the Hole", but it doesn't actually confirm the mod is loaded. It also seems exclusive with the other mods I want to load in the sense that I can't select multiple mods. I also can't change the load order.

Is there something very simple I am missing? Can I just install these mod files to the core directory, overwrite the base game files and not have to worry about whether or not it's activated?

Are you using the community edition mod or the experimental branch of Xenonauts (v1.5)?

If you're still using v1.09 (which you will otherwise be doing by default) then none of those mods will work as v1.09 doesn't have the new mod loading functionality that XCE/v1.5 has. So if this is the case, I'd recommend installing XCE or switching on to the experimental branch (details here: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/5958-Xenonauts-Experimental-Builds-Instructions)

Or, wait until the experimental branch is released properly (but there's no ETA on that, although it should be fairly soon).

Well. I expected I'd missed something silly, and I had. Thank you ever so much for your help!

I got it installed. D'you have any other mods you would recommend for a first-time player with a moderate amount of strategy gaming experience coming off of XCOM:EW? (Migrated because I wanted more strategic elements) I see the XCE edition comes with quite a few of built-in mods, so perhaps it's not worth getting Into Darkness and all that jazz for a first-time playthrough?

Heyho.

I recommend for a first playthrough the plain-XCE-Game, its allready "modded" with good stuff but nothing hard-changing (like new weapons etc). After you've beaten the game you can then switch to mods.

If you want to start directly with a mod there are many good like "Magnumnauts", X-Division etc.

Well, the mod-pack is not my favorite and i dont like it either but "Xenophobia" is also there.

Stay crunchy.

I got it installed. D'you have any other mods you would recommend for a first-time player with a moderate amount of strategy gaming experience coming off of XCOM:EW? (Migrated because I wanted more strategic elements) I see the XCE edition comes with quite a few of built-in mods, so perhaps it's not worth getting Into Darkness and all that jazz for a first-time playthrough?

If you like Realism: I would highly recommend my "Building and Salaries Overhaul" Mod

If you like Strategy with Realism: I would recommend "XNT 6.0" + "XNT Patch for X:CE 0.31"

Since you're a First-Time Player I would advise against playing X-Division as it is still in the testing phase.

Well. I expected I'd missed something silly, and I had. Thank you ever so much for your help!

I got it installed. D'you have any other mods you would recommend for a first-time player with a moderate amount of strategy gaming experience coming off of XCOM:EW? (Migrated because I wanted more strategic elements) I see the XCE edition comes with quite a few of built-in mods, so perhaps it's not worth getting Into Darkness and all that jazz for a first-time playthrough?

Lore+ is definitely worth using. I'll recommend my Armoured Assault mod as well (which if you're using XCE is already included) as it's only a relatively small change to the game but gives you a little more options re: vehicles.

Thank you all for the help! Just digging into the game and absolutely loving it so far. Can't believe I held off on buying this game for so long. Will look into all the mods listed!

Thank you all for the help! Just digging into the game and absolutely loving it so far. Can't believe I held off on buying this game for so long. Will look into all the mods listed!

"Community Edition" is mostly there to fix bugs and add little quality-of-life features. You won't notice anything bizarre but it makes everything in your game a little better, slightly more lag-free, and adds a little extra lore.