Welcome to Conan Exiles! This game isn’t the easiest game to get into, especially on modded servers. This guide tries to help you get started on Conan Exiles with some essential information. The guide is not comprehensive—you are expected to explore and read what some buttons do for yourself.

Launching the game

The sections below describe the manual way of launching the game and connecting to the server. A third-party launcher exists in Conay, which makes the whole process a little easier and effectively allows you to skip the below steps.

Installing mods

There are two ways to install the mods needed to play on The Thin Veneer:

  1. Subscribe to the Steam mod collection.
  2. Attempt to connect to the server and click on the button to subscribe to all mods.

Updating mods

If a mod is out-of-date, you need to go to its workshop page, unsubscribe from it, wait a few seconds, and resubscribe. This will trigger a download of the latest version of the mod.

Configuring modlist.txt

In order to start Conan Exiles with the server’s mods by default, you should create a file C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Conan Exiles\ConanSandbox\Mods\modlist.txt and populate it with the server’s modlist.txt. The location may differ on your computer depending on where your Steam library is installed.

Starting the game

Start the game as normal. When you do, your screen may be black for a non-negligible amount of time while the game and mods load. The loading time is increased significantly by the mods.

Connecting to the server

You can find the server in the lobby, or you can directly connect to it with the IP address found here.

You may need to toggle ‘show servers with mods’ to find the server in the lobby.

Connection issues

Conan Exiles Enhanced is rather particular about connecting to servers, especially if you have not manually configured your modlist.txt. Here are the rough steps for resolving connection issues if you skipped configuring the modlist.txt:

  1. Connect to the server via direct connect or via the lobby. A screen will open that informs you of a mod mismatch. This is fine. Subscribe to all mods, wait for the downloads to finish, and click on ‘Connect’.
  2. Your game will restart, this time loading the server’s mods.
  3. Immediately as the game reaches the main menu, it will show a pop-up saying that it is attempting to connect to the server. Abort this.
  4. Connect to the server via direct connect or via the lobby, as in step 1.
  5. Be a little patient. Connecting to a server can take slightly longer than you are willing to tolerate.

If these steps do not work, then create a modlist.txt file, or use Conay.

Character creation

When you very first log in, you are shown a character creation screen. You can skip most of it—the only important choices are your character’s religion (this unlocks a religion game knowledge by default) and your character’s name. The character’s appearance is changed after character creation.

Sippy

The next thing that greets you is a pop-up called ‘Sippy’. Sippy introduces you to many of the Tot mod functionalities. You may keep it enabled for your own benefit.

Chat pop-up

Next, there is a pop-up hovering over your chat. Press enter to see the chat, then click on ‘Disable’ to disable the vanilla chat.

Customising your character

Press Shift+B to customise your character using Tot Custom. Sippy explains how this works.

Creating your character sheet

This server has a dice system for resolving outcomes in role-play. The mod is called ‘Roleplay Redux’ (RPR), and it is opened with Shift+R. You can create your sheet under the ‘Dice’ panel.

Conan Exiles settings

There are a few Conan Exiles settings that you may want to change. In the ‘Gameplay’ settings, you may adjust the nudity setting according to your sensibilities.

In the ‘Controls’ settings, you may want to adjust the following:

  • Under ‘Combat’, adjust ‘Block / Offhand’ and ‘Dodge’ to no longer use Control and Alt.
  • Under ‘Movement’, adjust the ‘Walk’ and ‘Auto run’ to something according to your liking.
  • Under ‘Menus’, disable the ‘Toggle Store’ shortcut.

Tot ! Chat settings

Next you will want to customise your chat experience. Hit escape, then click on ‘Sudo Player Panel’ in the top left of your screen. Then click on ‘Chat Settings’ in the left pane. Here are the most important things to change:

  • Under ‘Messages’:
    • Increase ‘Max Local Cache’ and ‘Max Messages Per Channel’ to the maximum values. This lets you keep a longer history of messages.
    • Change ‘Emote Formating’ to ‘Quote Exclude’. This makes emotes like /me waves and says: "Hi!" look nice.
  • Under ‘Windows’:
    • Disable ‘Keep Chat Open After Sending’.
    • Increase ‘Duration Before Fading’ to something comfortable. I find 30 seconds good. Higher is almost always better.
  • Under ‘Notifications’:
    • Enable ‘Notification On Active Channel’ to get pinged whenever you receive a new message.
  • Under ‘Bubbles’:
    • Enable ‘Display Bubbles’ to see chat bubbles over people’s heads. Optionally enable your own bubbles.

Chat

In the local channel, you can configure ranges for your messages/emotes. In the bottom left, click on ‘Say’, and select the range you want. To see approximately how far a message goes, click the eye icon next to the dropdown. To know exactly how far a message goes, look at a player you want to hear you (or not hear you). If you can see their name, they will be able to hear you at the currently selected range.

If you want to ping someone in an emote, prepend their name with @ (e.g. "Hello @Jane!").

Emotes (Devious Desires)

To make your character emote or assume different stances, there is the Devious Desires mod. You open it with Shift+H.

In the bottom left of the Devious Desires side pane, there is a gear icon for settings. You can enable partner and carry scenes there, as well as inventory access. Men can also spawn a ‘dong’ item under ‘Customize’.

The mod has a rather very high smut factor, and it is rather unstable and janky, but it is presently the only game in town. If another mod provides similar functionality in the future, Devious Desires’ inclusion may be reassessed.

Adjust poses

You can alter your character’s poses with Tot ! Custom as well. Hit B to open the poses interface. Sippy explains how this works.

Photo mode

You can take nice screenshots with Tot’s photo mode. To access it, hit Ctrl+B.

The game itself

After you are whitelisted, you are dropped into the desert. The game itself contains a tutorial in the ‘journey’ system. Look at the top right of your screen, or hit J to see the current (and other) journeys.

Finding role-play

When you open the map (M), you can sometimes see little icons where people advertise that they are looking for role-play. Alternatively, ask in global chat, or communicate on Discord.

Last updated 01 Oct 2026, 21:03 +0200. history