Guides
Marvel Rivals Skin Add-ons: Tattoos, Hair Colors, Load First
Some skin mods are made for another skin mod: a tattoo set for one mod's Luna Snow, a hair color for someone's remodel. They are meant to run on top of that mod, with both switched on. Since 5.2.0 the Skin Manager in the RIVALSFPS.GG app recognizes these add-ons, shows them under the skin they belong to, and gives an add-on that its base covers a Load first button.
Before this, the app treated an add-on as a rival of its own base: two mods on one costume, only one of which could show. That advice talked people into switching off the skin the add-on needed. This guide covers how add-ons are recognized now, what each state on the row means, and the other Skin Manager changes that shipped with them. For installing, previewing and switching off skins in general, start with Marvel Rivals skin mods.
How the app recognizes an add-on
An add-on is a mod that changes only part of another mod. The Skin Manager compares the files each of your skin mods contains. When every file in one mod is also in another, and the other mod has more, the smaller one is an add-on for the larger one. A tattoo retexture that ships fourteen of the textures a full skin ships is one example.
A few cases are kept out on purpose:
Identical files are versions, not add-ons
Two mods that change exactly the same files are two versions of one skin, and only one of them can show. They share a card instead, covered further down.
Add-ons that work on their own
If every file an add-on changes is one the base game itself ships, it works with or without the other mod. The Skin Manager lists it as an ordinary skin, with no add-on label.
The app's own graphic packs do not count
The check runs between mods you installed. The app's graphic packs touch so many textures that almost any mod would look like an add-on for one, so a mod that overrides a graphic pack is still reported as a conflict in the Mod Manager.
Where an add-on shows in the list
An add-on for one skin is drawn nested under that skin, on a small tree, so the pair reads as one look. The add-on's row carries an Add-on chip. Hover it and it says the mod changes only part of the skin above and that you should keep that skin on too, because the add-on's changes show on top.
When an add-on is not nested, its subtitle says what it sits on instead of what it replaces: "Add-on for" followed by the mod's name. A nested row goes back to saying what it replaces, because the tree already shows the rest. The Mod Manager marks the same mod too: an Add-on chip, or Add-on hidden with a Load first button when its base covers it.
Hidden, Load first, Base off and Turn on base
An add-on with nothing wrong just says Add-on. Two states get a gold chip and a button with the fix.
| Chip | Button | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Add-on | None | The add-on and the skin it was made for are both on. Its changes show on top of the skin. |
| Hidden | Load first | Both are on, but the base skin loads first and covers the add-on's changes in game. |
| Base off | Turn on base | The add-on is on and the skin it was made for is off, so it changes the game's original costume instead. |
Hidden, and what Load first does
Where an add-on and its base change the same file, the one that loads first is the one you see. An add-on has to load before its base for its changes to show, and mods load in an order set by their folder names. When the base sorts first, the add-on's row reads Hidden, and hovering the chip names the mod that is covering it.
Load first fixes that by putting a "!" in front of the add-on's folder name, which sorts it ahead of its base. Nothing else changes, and no file inside the mod is edited. It is the same convention mod authors use for the same job. Importing a mod names its folder after the download, which can drop an author's "!", and that is one way an add-on ends up hidden in the first place. The tab re-reads your skins folder afterwards and the row shows under its new folder.
Base off, and Turn on base
An add-on switched on with every skin it was made for switched off lands on the game's original costume instead, and the row says Base off so that is not a surprise. When the add-on belongs to exactly one skin, a Turn on base button beside it switches that skin on. If you meant to run it on the original costume, you can leave it as it is.
Add-ons shared by several skins
Some add-ons fit several of your mods equally, for example one made for a set of packs that all share the files it changes. Nesting it under whichever pack came first would suggest it was made for that one, so it gets a block of its own after those mods instead, headed "Add-ons for" and their names, or "Add-ons for the 3 mods above" when they sit directly above it.
Skins that share a file or two
Two enabled skins on the same costume used to be grouped as replacing each other, with "Only one of them shows up in game" and a Use this one button that switched the others off. That was wrong for mods that share one texture out of many, such as recolor packs that each ship one common file. Each of them shows on its own, and Use this one switched off packs the player wanted.
Since 5.2.0 the app measures what the two actually share. They are only grouped as rivals when they share a mesh, or at least half of the smaller mod. Then the group's heading names the costume, for example "2 mods replace" followed by the costume's name, with the same note: only one of them shows up in game, so pick which, or leave it and the game will choose. Use this one keeps that skin and turns the rest of the group off. Mods that share a file or two are no longer grouped at all.
Versions of one skin share a card
Some mods come in a few cuts, and two cuts of one skin change exactly the same files. Those now share a card that says they are small variations of one mod and that only one of them shows in game. While one or none is on, the card stays quiet. Turn a second one on and it turns gold with a Use this one button, because then one of them is doing nothing.
The 3D preview in 5.2.0
The eye button on a row opens the skin's 3D preview. In 5.2.0 it shows what the hero screen shows: the costume's hero-screen model, in the hero's own idle animation, with the weapon the hero screen shows attached. Since 5.1.2 the preview has drawn skins in the game's own cel-shaded style.
Recolors preview too. A recolor costume with no model of its own is shown on the model it is a recolor of, wearing the recolor's colors.
What Broken means
A red Broken chip on a row means the game will not show that mod, for one of two reasons. Hover the chip to see which.
The .pak file is missing
Only the mod's data files (.ucas and .utoc) are there. The game loads a mod through its .pak, so with none there is nothing to load and the switch is disabled. Remove stays available. Re-download the mod and add the complete set again.
The textures cannot be read
New in 5.2.0. The files are all there, but the mod's textures are in a format the current game cannot read, so they will not show in game. The app checks this in the background, so the chip can appear a moment after the list. Re-download a newer version of the mod if there is one.
If a skin is not Broken and still does not show, Marvel Rivals mods not working goes through the other causes, starting with the Signature Bypass.
Still client-side
Skins and add-ons change files on your PC only. Other players see the default costume. That does not make them something the game's rules allow: they are modifications of the game's files, and NetEase's published rules prohibit modifying the game client. Are Marvel Rivals mods bannable? goes through what the rules cover.
For every other kind of mod, see How to install Marvel Rivals mods. Everything else in this release is in What's new in RIVALSFPS.GG 5.2.0.
Common questions
What is a skin add-on in Marvel Rivals?
A mod that changes only part of another skin mod, such as a tattoo set or a hair color made for someone's skin. It is meant to run on top of that skin with both switched on. The RIVALSFPS.GG Skin Manager recognizes one when every file it changes is also in another installed mod that has more.
Why doesn't my tattoo or hair color add-on show in game?
Check the chip on its row. Hidden means the base skin loads first and covers it: press Load first. Base off means the skin it was made for is switched off, so it lands on the game's original costume instead: press Turn on base, or switch the base on yourself.
What does Load first change on disk?
It puts a "!" in front of the add-on's folder name, so the add-on loads before its base and its changes show. Nothing else changes. It is the same naming convention mod authors use for the same reason.
What does Broken mean in the Skin Manager?
One of two things. Either the mod is missing its .pak file, so the game cannot load it and the switch is disabled, or its textures are in a format the current game cannot read, so they will not show in game. In both cases re-downloading the mod, ideally a newer version, is the fix. Hover the chip to see which one it is.
Do other players see my skins and add-ons?
No. Skin mods change files on your PC only, so other players see the default costume. It is still a modification of the game's files, and NetEase's published rules prohibit modifying the game client.
