Beat Saber has become synchronous with virtual reality in the minds of many and may be the closest thing we have to a “system seller” – if you don’t count Half-Life Alyx for those die-hard HL fans.
The lightsaber-driven rhythm game isn’t just popular because of its sleek design or ability to combine iconic pop culture paraphernalia with fun gameplay.
Much of the game’s likeability stems from the active modding community that provides a wealth of custom saber and avatar mods and custom maps tracked to some of today’s most popular songs spanning every musical genre.
There’s a lot to discover, but you’ll need to get things set up first.
Beat Saber doesn’t natively support custom mods so you’ll have to use some workarounds to get everything working.
Here’s how to install custom mods on every major headset, including the Oculus Quest 1 & 2.
Things to Keep in Mind:
- The process for installing Beat Saber mods isn’t the same for every VR headset. The Rift S and Steam VR options are similar, but the Quest headsets require a totally different workaround.
- If you’re using a Quest 1 or 2, keep in mind that the process for sideloading mods and custom content changes regularly so the info here might be out of date by the time you read it. If things aren’t working, let us know in the comments and we’ll check for new updates.
- Beat Saber regularly receives patches and, while these updates aren’t (at least, officially) meant to deliberately break the mods, they can mess around with them. Which means you’ll have to update or reinstall some things. Feel free to check back here if your mods are broken after a new update as we’ll try our best to keep this up to date with the latest information.
- There is more than one place to download mods and custom maps, but be careful if you’re not sticking to the sources mentioned here as there’s also a lot of fake websites out there.
The Oculus Store (Oculus Rift) & Steam VR (Vive, Valve Index, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality)
Since the installation process for custom Beat Saber mods and songs is very similar regardless of whether you bought the game via the Oculus Store or Steam, we’re going to list the process for them both here together.
We’ll make sure to let you know when there are any differences so you know what to do based on where your game is installed.
Installing Custom Content Without Mods
You can install custom songs/maps on Beat Saber without having to download a mod manager first.
Beat Saber does support custom songs which show up in the game as a separate level that lists all of the songs in your custom folder (once you’ve got at least one in there).
If you bought and installed the game via the Oculus store, then your folder should be located somewhere like this:
C:\Oculus\Software\hyperbolic-magnetism-beat-saber\Beat Saber_Data\CustomLevels
If you bought and installed the game via the Steam store, then your folder should be located somewhere like this:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Beat Saber\CustomSongs
After downloading a song from a custom maps library like Beast Saber, just extract the files and drop them in the folder.
These will then show up the next time you start up the game, so if the game is already running you’ll have to exit and open it up again to see them.
You can keep individual song files in separate folders within the Custom Songs/Custom Levels folders without an issue, but don’t create multiple folders within folders or the game will have trouble recognizing them.
Where to Get Beat Saber Mods and Custom Maps
There are a number of places where you can get and manage your Beat Saber mods, but for this guide we’re sticking to the most popular (and trusted) one – Mod Assistant.
It natively supports any content you download from the Beast Saber website as well as a laundry list of Beat Saber mods.
Download Mod Assistant from GitHub.
Installing Custom Maps and Mods with Mod Assistant
Follow these steps:
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Open Mod Assistant and set your install folder if necessary
There’s no installation wizard for Mod Assistant because you can just use the downloaded program straight out of the box.
So make sure to place it in a relevant folder or in a place where you can easily access it, like on your desktop.
When you open the program for the first time, you’ll be asked to accept the terms and conditions, go ahead and do so.
Then Mod Assistant will try to locate your Beat Saber install folder.
If you opted for a custom install location then you’ll need to select the proper install folder now.
If you went with the recommended install folder then you can find your game under:
Oculus: C:\Oculus\Software\hyperbolic-magnetism-beat-saber
Steam VR: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Beat Saber\
Mod Assistant can also only work if you have run Beat Saber at least once before installing the program.
So go have some fun in the vanilla game for a few minutes if you haven’t played the game before then you can get started messing around with mods.
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Install the Necessary Mods
Once you’ve selected the right folder and accepted the terms and conditions, click on the “Mods” tab on the left to see the list of mods you can install.
While some mods are optional, there are a few that are required if you want to use custom maps/songs.
These should already be ticked and ready for download, so go a head and click the install button (or the update button if you’ve downloaded a newer version Mod Assistant).
Try to not install a whole bunch of extra mods the first time you’re using this as it might be a little overwhelming with all of the new options when you first enter the game again.
Plus there’s always a chance that any of the mods might conflict with each other or the latest game version and break your game.
Now you’re ready to start installing some awesome new custom maps!
Something to keep in mind: If a new mod-breaking game patch releases (which doesn’t happen with every update) Mod Assistant should release a new version shortly after.
In that case, you’ll need to go download the latest version of Mod Assistant.
Where to Get Custom Maps for Beat Saber
You have two options if you’re installing custom maps via Mod Assistant (and not using an additional song downloader and manager like BeatDrop 2 or the BeatSync console).
The first is to use the mod that lets you download songs (via Beast Saber) directly from the game.
This mod should be among the ones that are automatically ticked for download when you first install the manager.
To use this mod, go into the game then look for the “Mods” button next to the release notes on the left-hand side of the main menu.
If you click on that button another option called “More Songs” will appear and by clicking on that the mod will open up Beast Saber where you can scroll through its catalogue of songs to download.
The second option is to choose and install songs manually from the Beast Saber website outside of the game.
If you have Mod Assistant installed you can head over to the site and browse the songs like you would if you wanted to download them without a mod manager.
Instead of clicking on the arrow download icon, however, you’re going to click on the little cloud icon instead.
This will download the songs via Mod Assistant and automatically install them in the correct folder for you.
You might have to create a profile on Beast Saber to unlock this feature but thankfully it’s free and just takes a couple of seconds.
If that’s the case, you’ll have to upload a profile picture as well before you can start browsing any songs.
Beatsaber on Oculus Quest 1 & 2
While there may be a couple of ways to get mods installed for Beat Saber on the Oculus Quest 1 or 2, the only widely recommended route is by sideloading songs and mods with the BMBF apk.
This works the same whether you’re using the first Quest or its successor, but keep in mind that this is not officially supported so adding new mods can break your game at any time.
Some things to keep in mind:
- Using BMBF will disable some features like online multiplayer, as well as seeing scores and ranking on official leaderboards. These features will appear again if you ever reinstall your game.
- You will need a PC for this process – a macOS or Linux works too, but they might require a few different workarounds. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will focus on how to sideload mods on a Quest using Windows.
- The process for sideloading custom content onto the Quest 1 and 2 changes fairly regularly, so patience is key here. If this process isn’t working anymore then let us know and we’ll check for a new update.
How to Sideload Mods and Games with SideQuest
Before you can install the BMBF apk, you’ll need to install the software that lets you sideload content first.
SideQuest is the go-to program for the Quest, so head over to their website to get started.
Set up and install SideQuest
- Register as a developer on the Oculus website.
You won’t be allowed to sideload any mods, games, or apps on your Quest unless you’re recognized as a developer by the software.
Luckily, this is a pretty easy obstacle to overcome since you can head over to developer.oculus.com (remember all of this is done via PC) to register your new “organization”.
You need to be signed into your Oculus account for this to work.
You can also create a new account, but will need to use that account when you log into the Oculus app and when you use your Quest later on.
- Dowload the relevant version of SideQuest, whether for Windows PC, macOs, or Linux.
Install SideQuest and sign up for an account on the platform’s website (it’s also free).
- Install the relevant drivers (Windows only)
You’ll need to install the driver software for the Quest 1 or 2 via developer.oculus.com (still on your PC).
After the download has completed, unzip the package and then right click android_winusb.inf file and select “Install”.
Follow the installation instructions.
- Enable developer mode
Make sure your headset is on before starting this next step.
Open up the Oculus app – it should be installed on your mobile device, if you haven’t got it already – and go to the settings tab.
In Settings, select your headset then click on the arrow next to it and select ‘More settings’.
Developer mode should now appear listed there.
Just quickly click on that tab and make sure the mode is toggled on before you continue.
Also, check the Unlock Pattern tab in that menu as well to make sure it’s turned off.
You can now reboot your headset by holding in the power button for a few seconds – this step isn’t technically necessary but more of a “just in case”.
- Connect your Quest with the PC via USB-C
Any USB-C cable that allows for data transfer will work for this and you can do this next part with the charging cable that comes with the Quest and Oculus Link cable as well.
Again, make sure the headset is turned on before continuing and if there’s a prompt, agree to “Allow Data Transfer”.
Launch SideQuest then put on the headset as it will likely give you the following message: “Allow USB debugging?” along with the computer’s RSA key fingerprint.
Check the “always allow from this computer box” because you don’t want to have to do this every time you use SideQuest then click “OK”.
If you see any other messages here, then just click on “Allow” or “Not Now” where needed.
And that’s it, you’ve installed SideQuest!
The program should show a green icon in the top left corner if your Quest is connected.
How to Install BMBF
First up, download the BMBF APK (the latest version at time of writing is v.1.13.1).
Make sure SideQuest is open and that the headset is connected to the PC.
To install the apk, you can simply drag it into SideQuest or you can click on the install icon in the top right-hand corner in SideQuest and select the apk file.
Put on your headset next, then go to the Oculus Library and select the “Unknown Sources” tab from the menu.
Click on the BMBF file to run the BMBF launcher then follow the setup instructions.
It may take a few minutes to finish setting everything up, so don’t worry, your installation didn’t freeze.
Important: At some point (or several points) during setup, you may get a pop-up asking you to restore the app.
Click the “Close” button. Do not click “Restore” as this will stop the whole setup process.
After setup completes, the app should automatically open Beast Saber for you, but don’t start downloading any songs just yet.
First, go back to Beat Saber in your Oculus Library then click on the three dots next to the game icon.
Select the “Permissions” tab and make sure that “Storage” is toggled on.
Then you’re done!
Note:
- Run Beat Saber at least once before trying to install a new version of BMBF.
- If you’re having problems here then you might need to uninstall everything – including Beat Saber – and reinstall them for this to work. You can uninstall everything by opening SideQuest, clicking on “My Apps” in the lefthand bottom corner, and clicking the cogs to uninstall Beat Saber, the BMBF apk, and BMBF launcher. It might be necessary to go through this whole process again when a new version of BMBF gets released.
How to Install Custom Songs and Mods on Quest 1 and 2
Easy in-headset method to add custom songs:
Once you’ve installed BMBF, open the Beast Saber website in the browser on your headset.
You can just download any song you like straight from there by clicking the download button.
If you had to uninstall BMBF for whatever reason, you can thankfully reload all of your old songs on Beast Saber in the app by clicking on the “Tools” tab and selecting “Reload Songs Folder”.
You’ll see a big red “Sync to Beat Saber” button in the top right corner, always click it after you’ve downloaded new songs.
Your newly downloaded songs should show up under the Custom Songs tab in Beat saber.
You don’t need to keep the headset plugged in anymore, so you can unplug it now and start playing.
Facebook has now added a warning message that pops up every time you open the modded game – just ignore that and continue on.
Alternative browser method (this is currently the only way to load mods):
Step 1:
Once you’ve installed BMBF, go back to your PC.
Beat Saber should be closed for this whole process.
Head on over to Beast Saber to create an account.
Click on Login in the top right-hand corner and you’ll be redirected to a WordPress login page where you can opt to register a new account.
Don’t forget these login details as you’ll need them later when you want to download (bookmark) songs – but more on that in a bit.
Once you head back to the Beast Saber website, you’ll notice that you can’t browse any songs until you upload a profile picture.
If you’re not comfortable using a personal photo, just find an avatar of Scooby-Doo or something.
Step 2:
Now, notice that SyncQuest has your Quest’s IP address listed on the top bar – but only if your Quest is currently connected to the PC and turned on.
Copy that number and paste it into your browser search bar in the following format: http://192.168.X.X:50000 but replace the two X’s with your Quest IP.
If you get an error page, then repeat the step above where you run BMBF on your Quest via “Unknown Sources” or launch it straight from SideQuest on the PC and try again.
To install custom mods, simply drag the mod files you downloaded into the uploads box on that page and sync it.
If it’s an older mod that isn’t technically compatible with the version of Beat Saber you have, then you will have to head to the “Mods” tab and enable it manually from there.
To install custom songs, keep that tab open and head back to the Beast Saber website where you created a profile earlier.
Click on the “Songs” tab to browse through all of the songs in their library.
You’ll notice that every song has a bookmark icon next to the Twitch and download icons.
Click this to bookmark any songs you want to play in the game.
Step 3:
Switch back to the page you just opened with your Quest IP address and select the SyncSaber tab in the menu bar and toggle bookmarks on.
You can choose how many songs you want it to sync at a time by adjusting the number next to bookmarks with the arrows – the more you add the longer it will take to sync.
After that you’ll need to remember that username you chose earlier when creating an account on Beast Saber and type it into the “Beast Saber Username” field on the page and click the “Queue Downloads” button.
You’ll see a big red “Sync to Beat Saber” button appear in the top right corner, always click it after you’ve downloaded new songs.
Your newly downloaded songs should show up under the Custom Maps tab in Beat saber.
You don’t need to keep the headset plugged in anymore, so you can unplug it now and start playing.
Facebook has now added a warning message that pops up every time you open the modded game – just ignore that and continue on.
What about the PSVR?
Unfortunately, there’s no known way to mod the PSVR version of Beat Saber right now.
We’ll update this space if a method is ever discovered.
