Installing BLE

BeardLib Editor, or BLE for short, is a mod for PAYDAY 2 that adds a fully functional level editor to the game. With it players are able to create their own fully custom missions and levels. Installation is very simple and you can be ready to go in minutes with just a few steps:

Before installing BLE, make sure you have all the requirements installed:

• Download and install SuperBLT by following the instructions on the website.
• Download BeardLib, preferably the Github version, and extract it into
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\PAYDAY 2\mods.
• Additionally some parts of the editor require .NET 5.0 or higher. Download the Microsoft provided exe and run it.

• Now you can download BeardLib Editor from Github and install it by extracting it into .../PAYDAY 2/mods as well.

Launching the game will pop up a message asking you to download the Editor Data, press yes and wait for the download to finish. The data contains important files the editor needs to function properly. You only need to download it once when first installing the editor, or when a major game update releases.

You can now access the editor by pressing the gear button with the cube, or load back into your last edited level by pressing the button next to it.

Alternatively you can access it by going into Options and BeardLibEditor Menu.

Keep in mind that with BLE installed, you will not be able to play with other people because the physics fix required to make the editor work can cause issues in multiplayer. To play with others, either uninstall the editor or press the Disable Physics Fix button in the editor options. Remember to enable it again when you want to use the editor.

External Software

You also need some external software in order to create or edit files for your map:

• Image editors like Photoshop or GIMP to create and edit textures.
• Text editors like Notepad++ or VS Code to edit XML or Lua files.
• Audio editors like Audacity to record or edit voice lines and sound effects.
• Diesel bundle Viewer to open and extract files from PAYDAY 2 directly.
• Not really external software, but the ReLua mod can be really useful to quickly reload your mods without having to restart.

Advanced users may also need:

• 3D Software like Blender or Maya to create custom models.
• Diesel Model Tool to convert your models into the right format.

Additional Debugging Tools:

QA Panel

The QA Panel is a very useful tool for mapping. It shows you the current FPS and how much memory your level is using.

To enable it, right click on PAYDAY 2 in the steam library, go to properties... and type -qa into the text box.