A mod changelog is a dated record of what changed in a modded installation: which mods were added, updated or removed, what you edited in the config files, and what broke afterward. Keeping one takes about five minutes a week and pays for itself the first time an update wipes out an hour of tuning you spent by hand. If you want to know how to keep a mod changelog for your own setup, the whole method is one text file, a backup folder, and a rule about never logging anything you have not tested.
Nobody needs this until the day a launcher silently updates forty mods and a world stops loading. Then the difference between people who fix it in ten minutes and people who rebuild from memory is one file.
Table of Contents
- 1What You Need
- 2Step-by-Step: Build and Maintain Your Mod Changelog
- 3Create a master setup record
- 4Give every mod a unique entry
- 5Record load order and configuration changes
- 6Log every update, fix, or removal
- 7Back up before each risky change
- 8Test and close each change with a result
- 9Use the changelog to restore or rebuild the setup
- 10Common Mistakes
- 11Frequently Asked Questions
- 12Where should I keep my mod changelog?
- 13What should I record after a game update?
- 14Do I need a changelog if I only play, not publish?
- 15Is a spreadsheet or a mod manager enough on its own?
- 16What should I do when a mod update breaks my save?
What You Need
Four things, and three of them are things you already have set up for playing.
- A plain text editor or a spreadsheet. A Markdown file named CHANGELOG.md next to your mod folder works well. A spreadsheet with one row per change works better if you expect more than a hundred mods.
- A backup folder outside the game folder. Somewhere you can drop a full copy of your config folder and mod list without the game overwriting it.
- The game’s version information. The exact version or patch number your setup is built for, plus the loader or mod manager name and version.
- A consistent place to write things down. Every mod name, version, install date, config edit, load-order change, removal step and rollback note goes in the same format, every time.
Keep the backup folder on a different drive than the game when you can. A backup that lives inside the installation is one reinstall away from disappearing.
Step-by-Step: Build and Maintain Your Mod Changelog
Create a master setup record
Start with one dated entry that describes the setup as it is right now, before you change anything. Write the game edition, the platform, the game version or patch, your operating system, the loader or mod manager you use, and how many mods are installed.
Name this baseline. When something breaks later, this entry is the state you roll back to, so treat it as the most careful thing you write all year.
Give every mod a unique entry
Use the same fields for every mod, in the same order, so you can scan the list months later. A workable entry holds the display name, the author or source site, the exact version, the date you installed it, the game version it targets, the folder it lives in, any dependencies, known compatibility notes, which config files it generates, and how to remove it cleanly.
The removal line is the one people skip and the one they need most. A mod that needs a dependency removed first, or an asset pack inside a subfolder, takes ten minutes to uninstall cleanly if you wrote it down and twenty minutes of guessing if you did not.
Record load order and configuration changes
Load order is a changelog-worthy event, not a preference. If you moved something in the loader to fix a crash, that move belongs in the log with the date and the reason.
Config edits matter even more, because a fresh install often overwrites a hand-tuned file without telling you. For each edit, note the file name, the setting you changed, the old value and the new value. A line like options.txt: renderDistance 12 to 16, 2026-09-14 takes five seconds to write and tells you exactly what your baseline looked like.
Log every update, fix, or removal
Write each entry as a dated block at the top of the file, newest first, using a fixed set of verbs: added, updated, removed, fixed, reverted. Under each one, add the reason and whether you tested it.
Grouping by verb matters. Six months on, “updated Sodium to 0.6.0” tells you nothing, but “updated Sodium to 0.6.0, changed renderDistance in options.txt, tested in the new world for 20 minutes, no crash” tells you whether to keep going or undo it.
Back up before each risky change
Copy your config folder and your mod list to the backup folder, name the copy with the date and the setup version, then write that backup’s name into the changelog before you install anything new.
Naming the backup in the log is what makes recovery possible. An unnamed folder of copies becomes archaeology the moment you have more than two of them.
Test and close each change with a result
Give every entry one of three closing states: working, uncertain, or reverted. To decide, launch the game, load the area or feature the change affects, and check the error log or console output for new messages.
Marking an entry uncertain is honest and useful. It tells you that if problems appear next week, this change is the first one to disable, and the log already knows it was never verified.
Use the changelog to restore or rebuild the setup
When a world breaks, work backward. Find the last entry marked working, restore the backup folder named in that entry, reinstall the versions listed there in the recorded order, and reapply only the settings you actually want back.
The same procedure rebuilds a setup on a second machine after a reinstall, or hands a working configuration to a friend. A log with exact versions and config values is the difference between a ten-minute rebuild and starting from zero.
Common Mistakes
Most failed mod changelogs fail the same way: they record that something happened without recording enough to undo it.
- Vague entries. “Updated mods” tells you nothing at restore time. Fix: name the mod, the old version, the new version and the reason in one line.
- Missing load order. A fix that worked depends on a load order nobody wrote down. Fix: log every reorder with its date and the crash it solved.
- Only the latest version. Overwriting yesterday’s entry destroys the only record of a state that worked. Fix: newest entry at the top, older entries untouched.
- Unlogged config edits. This is the number one cause of setups that break after an update, because the install overwrites the file you tuned. Fix: one line per edit with file name and both values.
- Unclear dates. “Last Tuesday” fails across a reinstall or a shared setup. Fix: use ISO 8601, 2026-09-14, every time.
- Treating an untested change as stable. Fix: only write “working” after you have launched and loaded the affected content. Everything else stays uncertain.
Two habits keep the file useful. Write the entry the same day you make the change, because memory about which of forty updates caused a problem is worthless within a week. And back up before you edit, not after, since a broken state is not a state worth copying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I keep my mod changelog?
Keep it next to your mod folder as a file named CHANGELOG.md, and copy it into your backup folder so reinstalls do not take it with them. If you expect more than a hundred mods, a spreadsheet with one row per change is easier to filter. If you play with a group, put a copy in the folder you share with them.
What should I record after a game update?
Record the old and new game version, every mod you updated or replaced, every mod you removed because it had no port yet, and any config file you had to redo. Also note whether you stepped through an intermediate version on the way. That last detail saves you repeating a failed jump next time the game updates again.
Do I need a changelog if I only play, not publish?
Yes, if you have more than a few dozen mods or any hand-tuned configs. A launcher auto-update can change dozens of mods in one pass, and nothing tells you which save was last played on which versions. Even a dozen lines per update will tell you what was running when a world worked and how to get back to it.
Is a spreadsheet or a mod manager enough on its own?
A mod manager tracks which mods are enabled right now, but it rarely records config edits, load-order changes, why you made them, or what broke. Its profiles work as snapshots, so use them as the raw material: export two mod lists, compare them, and write one entry from the difference. The changelog is the part your manager does not store.
What should I do when a mod update breaks my save?
Restore the backup named in your last working entry, put the previous version of the offending mod back, and launch to confirm the world loads. Then write the entry: what broke, which version you rolled back to, and whether the fix was the version or a config change. A yank note on that version stops you retrying it next month.
Start tonight with the baseline entry. Write down the game version, the loader, and the exact list of mods you are running right now, then take one backup and note its name. Everything after that is a short dated line at the top of the file, and you will have a setup you can roll back, rebuild or hand to someone else whenever you need to.
