Setting up Grimoire for the first time

Open Grimoire and work through the three steps on the welcome screen. It finds Deadlock on its own in most cases, so usually the only thing you do is click Fix.

Grimoire needs Deadlock installed through Steam.

Step 1: Deadlock Location

Grimoire checks every Steam library that Steam knows about and shows Detected with the path. A library on a second drive is fine.

If it shows Not Found, click Browse and pick the Deadlock folder yourself. You want the folder that contains a game folder, usually:

Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Deadlock
Linux: ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Deadlock
Linux with Flatpak Steam: ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Deadlock
Mac: Deadlock has no Mac version, so it has to live in a CrossOver bottle. Grimoire looks inside your CrossOver bottles, for example ~/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/<bottle>/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Deadlock

Auto-detect also says Not Found when game/citadel/gameinfo.gi is missing. See Step 2.

Step 2: Game Files

This checks gameinfo.gi, the file that decides whether Deadlock loads mods at all.

If it says Needs Setup, click Fix. It turns to Ready. Skip this and mods install fine but do nothing in game.

If the file is gone entirely, Fix cannot help. In Steam, right-click Deadlock > Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of game files, then try again.

Step 3: Autoexec

This one is optional. autoexec.cfg holds console commands that run when the game starts, and the Crosshair and Autoexec tabs write to it.

Click Create if you want it, or ignore it. If you already have one, it shows Found and Grimoire keeps your settings.

Click Get Started. It unlocks once steps 1 and 2 are done. Grimoire opens Browse and starts downloading the GameBanana mod list in the background. Skip for now closes the screen without finishing.

Coming from another mod manager

Open Installed and use Import from other mod managers (once you have mods, it is the two-arrow button in the toolbar). It brings over mods, profiles and crosshairs from Deadlock Mod Manager, or from another manager’s export file.

Changing any of this later

Everything above lives in Settings > Game setup. You can click Auto-detect, pick a different folder, or click Fix Configuration at any time.

If a game update breaks mod loading, Grimoire usually shows a banner at the top of the window. Click Fix now. If there is no banner, go to Settings > Game setup and click Fix Configuration. See fixing mods that do not load.

To see the welcome screen again, use Settings > Maintenance > Reset Setup Wizard. It shows on the next launch, and your mods and settings stay as they are.

What Grimoire writes to your disk

All inside your Deadlock folder:

Mods go in game/citadel/addons as numbered pak01_dir.vpk files. Disabled mods move to addons/.disabled instead of being deleted. Past 99 enabled mods, Grimoire adds addons1, addons2 and so on. See load order.
game/citadel/grimoire holds Locker overrides and any mod you mark Global. See Global mods.
game/citadel/gameinfo.gi gets Grimoire’s folders added to its search paths. Lines from Valve and other tools stay. Before its first edit, Grimoire saves a copy as gameinfo.gi.grimoire-bak.
Each mod folder gets a replays link pointing at game/citadel/replays, so downloaded replays still play.
game/citadel/cfg/autoexec.cfg, only if you asked for it.

Grimoire doesn’t collect usage data. What leaves your machine lists every request it makes.