Guides

Marvel Rivals Skin Mods: How to Install and Preview Them

RIVALSFPS.GG October 12, 2026 7 min read

Marvel Rivals skin mods replace a hero's costume on your PC only; other players still see the default costume. Install them into the game's ~mods folder, or import them with the free Skin Manager, which files each one under its hero and names the costume it replaces, read from your own game.

A skin mod is a set of game files, a .pak on its own or a .pak, .ucas and .utoc with the same name, that swaps the meshes, textures or materials of a hero's costume, or of several costumes at once. This guide covers where those files go, how to install one by hand or with the Skin Manager in RIVALSFPS.GG, how many you can run, how to preview one in 3D and how to turn one off again.

Where skin mods go

Skin mods load from the same folder as every other Marvel Rivals mod: MarvelGame\Marvel\Content\Paks\~mods inside your game install. The game also reads the folders inside ~mods, so a skin can sit in a folder of its own.

The Skin Manager keeps the skins it imports in one tree: ~mods\External Mods\Skin Mods\<Character>\<Mod>\, a folder per hero with a folder per mod inside it. A skin you import through the Mod Manager instead is moved into the same tree while File imported skins automatically is on, in Settings > App. It is on by default. A skin that shares a folder with other mods, such as one part of a mod pack, stays with them, and Organize Skin Mods leaves it there too.

The Skin Manager also lists skins you copied in by hand, wherever they sit. The app reads each mod's file index to tell a skin from other mods, so nothing has to move to show up, and nothing is moved unless you ask with Tools > Organize Skin Mods.

How to install a skin mod by hand

Download the skin and extract it if it came as a .zip, .7z or .rar.
Open your Marvel Rivals install folder and go to MarvelGame\Marvel\Content\Paks. If there is no ~mods folder there, create one.
Copy the skin's files into ~mods. A skin that came as a .pak, .ucas and .utoc needs all three, under the names they came with.
Install a signature bypass if you do not have one yet, because the game skips every mod pak without it. Here is what the Signature Bypass is and which files it adds.
Start the game and pick the costume the mod replaces. If you are not sure which one that is, the Skin Manager in RIVALSFPS.GG names it on the mod's row, after the word Replaces.

To take a hand-installed skin out again, move its files out of ~mods, or delete them.

The Skin Manager is a tab in RIVALSFPS.GG, a free Windows app. Import a skin and it is filed under the hero it replaces.

Free for Windows 10 and 11.

Download for Windows

How to install skin mods with the Skin Manager

The Skin Manager is the Skins entry in the app's left rail. Its header holds Browse on Nexus Mods, which opens the Characters category of Marvel Rivals mods on Nexus Mods in your browser, and Open Skins Folder, which opens the Skin Mods folder.

If a gold notice says skin mods only load with the signature bypass, press Install Bypass. It writes into the game's Binaries\Win64 folder, so it usually raises a Windows permission (UAC) prompt.
Press Import and pick one or more .zip, .7z, .rar or .pak files, or drop them onto the window. Several files picked together install as one job, so if Windows asks for permission, it asks once.
The app reads which hero and costume each skin replaces and files it in that hero's folder. A skin for a hero the app does not know yet goes under Other.
The skin is added switched off. Preview it with the eye button if you like, then turn it on with its switch.

An archive that holds several versions of a skin, such as a recolor pack, opens a Choose which to install list when you import it on its own, and each version you check becomes its own mod with its own switch. In an import of several files at once, such an archive is skipped, and the status line says to add it on its own.

The switch turns a skin off without deleting it: it adds .off to the end of the mod's file names where they sit, and turning it back on takes the marker off again. Remove, the trash button, deletes the mod's files. Tools > Disable All Skin Mods switches every skin off in one go.

How many skin mods can you run?

As many as you like, one per costume. Mods for different heroes, or for different costumes of one hero, all show at once. Two mods for the same costume both load, but the game can show only one of them.

Switching on a second skin for a costume that already has one asks first, in a dialog titled Two skins, one costume, with Enable anyway and Cancel. If you go ahead, the list groups the two under the note "Only one of them shows up in game. Pick which, or leave it and the game will choose." Each row in the group gets a Use this one button, which keeps that skin and switches the others in the group off. Since 5.2.0, skins that share only a file or two are not grouped, because each of them still shows.

3D skin viewer: preview a skin before you turn it on

Each skin's row in the Skin Manager has an eye button that opens the skin in 3D, and it works whether the skin is on or off. The preview draws the costume in the game's own cel-shaded style, posed the way the hero screen shows it, with the hero's idle animation and weapon. Recolors preview too, on the model they recolor.

The app does not ship the tool that builds these previews. The first time you open one, it downloads a separate extractor of about 47 MB from paks.rivalsfps.gg, checks it against its SHA-256 before using it, and runs it as a separate program to build the preview. It also fetches a mappings file that matches your game build. Right after a game update, the preview can wait on a new mappings file, and it says so when that happens.

Add-ons: tattoos and hair colors

Some skin mods are made for another skin mod rather than for the game, such as a tattoo set or a hair color for one particular remodel. Since 5.2.0 the Skin Manager recognizes them and shows each one nested under the skin it belongs to, with both meant to stay on. When the base loads first and covers the add-on, the add-on's row reads Hidden, and its Load first button moves it ahead. The full walkthrough is in Skin add-ons and Load first.

Skin mods not working?

Check these three things on the Skin Manager tab first.

A red Broken chip

The mod is missing its .pak, so the game has nothing to load and the switch is disabled, or its textures are in a format the current game cannot read. Either way, re-download the mod, a newer version if there is one. Hover the chip to see which reason applies.

The gold bypass notice

Without the signature bypass the game loads no mod paks, and the tab will not switch a skin on until it is installed.

An add-on that reads Hidden

Its base skin loads first and covers it. Press Load first on the add-on.

If none of those apply, check that the costume you picked in game is the one the mod replaces, and that no other skin on that costume is also on. A skin that shows wrong or crashes the game after an update is covered in skin mods broken after an update. Everything else that stops mods loading is covered in Marvel Rivals mods not working.

Do skin mods change what you own?

No. A skin mod changes how a costume looks on your PC only. It does not add the costume to your account, and other players still see the default costume.

Are skin mods bannable?

No one outside NetEase can promise that a given mod is safe for your account. NetEase's published rules prohibit modifying the game client, and a skin mod is a change to the game's files even though no other player sees it. RIVALSFPS.GG warns about mods it knows can get accounts temporarily banned, which carry a Flagged badge in the Mod Manager with the reason, and every skin can be switched off or removed from the Skin Manager. Are Marvel Rivals mods bannable? goes through what the rules cover.

Common questions

Where do Marvel Rivals skin mods go?

In the ~mods folder inside MarvelGame\Marvel\Content\Paks in your Marvel Rivals install, the folder every other mod uses too. The RIVALSFPS.GG Skin Manager files the skins it imports under ~mods\External Mods\Skin Mods, with a folder for each hero and a folder for each mod inside it.

Do skin mods need the Signature Bypass?

Yes. A skin mod is a mod pak, and the game ignores mod paks until a signature bypass is installed. RIVALSFPS.GG has one built in, and the Skin Manager shows an Install Bypass button until it is installed.

Can I use two skin mods on the same hero?

Yes, if they replace different costumes. Two mods on the same costume both load, but the game shows only one of them. The Skin Manager groups the two, and Use this one keeps the mod you pick and switches the others in the group off.

Can I preview a skin mod before turning it on?

Yes. The eye button on a skin's row opens a 3D preview, and it works while the skin is switched off. Skins you import in the Skin Manager arrive switched off, so you can look first. The first preview downloads an extractor tool of about 47 MB, which the app checks against its SHA-256 before it runs it.

Can other players see my skin mods?

No. The mod changes files on your own PC, so it changes only what your screen shows. Everyone else in the match sees the default costume.