A guide on how to install mods for Call of Duty: World at War.
Executable Installation
Download the mod and run the EXE. The EXE will be an installer which will guide you in installing the mod.
If your using Plutonium, you will need to install the mod in the Plutonium mods folder. During the installation, it may include an option to change the folder on where to install the mod, which in this case you will change the folder to the Plutonium mods folder. In most cases however, the mod will be installed in the mods folder for the base game, by being installed in the primary folder or the secondary folder. It is highly recommended to create a symbolic link for making the installation of mods for Plutonium seamless and have the mods folder become the same as the mods folder for the base game. Read Symbolic Link section for instructions on how to create a symbolic link. The alternative is after installing each mod in the base game mods folder, you will need to move the mod from the primary folder or secondary folder to the Plutonium folder. Read Mods Folder Paths section on where these directories are located on your computer.
BE CAUTIOUS TO NOT INSTALL MALWARE WHEN RUNNING AN EXE INSTALLER.
Manual Installation
To install mods manually you need to extract the archive files (ZIP, 7Z, RAR, etc) into the mods folder. Read Mods Folder Paths section on where these directories are located on your computer.
If your using Plutonium, the mods need to be installed in a separate folder in order to be accessed when using Plutonium. It is highly recommended to create a symbolic link for making the installation of mods for Plutonium seamless and have the mods folder become the same as the mods folder for the base game. Read Symbolic Link section for instructions on how to create a symbolic link.
Inside the mods folder will be the folder that is the name of the mod itself and all of the mod files will go inside this folder. For example... \mods\Super_Cool_Zombie_Map
Mods Folder Paths
These are the mods folder paths for the game. For the base game in most cases it will be the primary folder. If there is no primary folder path at all, you will have to use the secondary folder path. Due note that the secondary folder path is different on Linux (When using Wine or Proton).
Read Access AppData Folder section for instructions on how to open the AppData folder on Windows.
Primary Folder
C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Activision\CoDWaW\mods\(Mod Name)
Secondary Folder
Windows: C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\Activision\CoDWaW\mods\(Mod Name)
Linux: (Prefix)/drive_c/users/(Username)/Local Settings/Application Data/Activision/CoDWaW/mods/(Mod Name)
Plutonium Folder
C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Plutonium\storage\t4\mods\(Mod Name)
Access AppData Folder
To open up your AppData folder in Windows, press the Windows key + R key and type appdata and press Enter to open the AppData folder.
Symbolic Link
If you are using Plutonium, it is recommended you create a symbolic link of the mods folder to replace the Plutonium mods folder. By creating a symbolic link for the mods folder, the mods folder will be shared for the base game and Plutonium. This makes installing mods easier as well.
To create a symbolic link, first you will need to delete the mods folder inside the C:\Users(Username)\AppData\Local\Plutonium\storage\t4 folder Read Access AppData Folder section on how to get access to your AppData folder on Windows. Then you will need to find the folder of the mods folder for the base game. Read Mods Folder Paths section to get the primary folder path and secondary folder path and find out which of these two directories is used as the mods folder for the base game. Once you found the mods folder for the base game, you need to launch a terminal application. On Windows you can use either Command Prompt or Powershell. On Linux, the default terminal application will work. In the terminal application, enter the following command for the terminal application you are using and folder path (Primary/Secondary) to create the symbolic link.
Command Prompt (Primary Folder)
mklink /J "C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Plutonium\storage\t4\mods" "C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Activision\CoDWaW\mods"
Command Prompt (Secondary Folder)
mklink /J "C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Plutonium\storage\t4\mods" "C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\Activision\CoDWaW\mods"
Powershell (Primary Folder)
New-Item -ItemType Junction -Path "C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Plutonium\storage\t4\mods" -Target "C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Activision\CoDWaW\mods"
Powershell (Secondary Folder)
New-Item -ItemType Junction -Path "C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\Plutonium\storage\t4\mods" -Target "C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\Activision\CoDWaW\mods"
Linux (Primary Folder)
ln -s "(Prefix)/drive_c/users/(Username)/Local/Activision/CoDWaW/mods" "(Prefix)/drive_c/users/(Username)/AppData/Local/Plutonium/storage/t4/mods"
Linux (Secondary Folder)
ln -s "(Prefix)/drive_c/users/(Username)/Local Settings/Application Data/Activision/CoDWaW/mods" "(Prefix)/drive_c/users/(Username)/AppData/Local/Plutonium/storage/t4/mods"