Hydroneer Mods Achievements: How to Earn Steam Achievements With Mods Installed

Nothing deflates a good mining session faster than finishing a build and realizing no achievement popped. If you have been digging for answers on Hydroneer mods achievements, the short version — according to player reports — is that eligibility is tied to each individual save, so a single active mod can permanently lock that world out of the list. This guide covers the rules players have documented, walks through building a clean save that still earns Steam achievements, and looks at one relic-hunting mod that is genuinely useful for scouting locations before you attempt a legit run.

Hydroneer has shipped with Steam Workshop support built into the base game since May 8, 2022, when version 2.0 arrived, according to the community-maintained Bridgepour Hydroneer wiki mods page. That convenience created a side effect that still confuses new players: once any mod touches a world, the save attached to that world can no longer earn achievements. A public Steam Community discussion on Hydroneer achievements from May 2023 documents the exact frustration — an original poster had 76 mods, switched them all off, never touched creative mode, and still got nothing to unlock.

Why Hydroneer Mods and Achievements Clash

The explanation that thread regulars converged on is simple: the rule is per save, not per session. Turning mods off before loading a world does not repair a save that was created while mods were active. One player in the thread argued that the restriction exists for a reason — mods and creative mode can hand out resources that would make the achievement list trivial, so mixing the two would cheapen every unlock. You do not have to agree with the policy to respect it.

Two details trip people up repeatedly. First, creative mode is its own disqualifier: a save that has ever been opened in creative mode loses eligibility even with a completely empty mod list. Second, achievements you have already legitimately unlocked are permanent, so a mistake on one world does not erase progress on your profile. Players who already earned an unlock keep it, but the contaminated save stays locked out for everything else.

The Per-Save Eligibility Rules, Side by Side

Here is how players in that May 2023 thread describe eligibility. This is community reporting, not an official developer statement, so treat it as a strong starting point rather than a guarantee for every patch.

The practical takeaway for anyone researching Hydroneer mods achievements is that modded play and achievement play should be treated as two separate projects, each with its own save file.

How to Set Up an Achievement-Safe Save

If achievements simply will not unlock, work through this order. Each step comes from a player who reported it as the missing piece in their own setup.

1. Clear the mod list. One player reported that unsubscribing from every mod was what finally worked, while another noted that a later update added the ability to disable mods rather than delete them. Either approach is worth trying.
2. Fully restart Hydroneer. Closing to the main menu is not enough — the game needs a fresh launch before a save loads cleanly.
3. Confirm the list is actually empty. From the main menu, open Mods, check the Installed Mods tab, and use Reload Mods after any change. The Bridgepour wiki notes this is also the fix path if the game throws a "Corrupt Data found" error or fails to launch: remove everything and re-download from the mods page.
4. Create a brand-new world. A save made while mods were active will not work, no matter what you do afterward.
5. Never enter creative mode in that world. Not even for a quick test.
6. Check the files if it still fails. One thread participant suggested temporarily moving the contents of Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\1106840 and %localappdata%\Mining\Saved\Paks aside to prove whether a stray mod is still loading. That path is community-supplied, so back up your folders before you move anything.

Switching between playstyles has a rhythm too. To run a modded world, re-enable your mods and restart. To go back to the achievement save, disable everything and restart again before loading it. Skipping the restart is the most common way people accidentally torch a clean save.

What the Achievement Data Actually Shows

For a sense of how demanding the list is, third-party trackers help. As of 2026-11-14, the WeMod Hydroneer achievement tracker listed 78 achievement entries. Its most common entry showed 57% of the players tracked by that service, while 14 entries sat at 0%.

Source: WeMod's Hydroneer achievement listing, captured 2026-11-14. Scope: percentages reflect users tracked by that third-party service, not Valve's global Steam statistics, and the listing showed rate counts without achievement names.

Read those bands and the shape is clear: 52 of the 78 entries sit at 10% or below, so the bulk of the Hydroneer mods achievements list is rare territory rather than early milestones. Note that WeMod is a third-party modding and trainer app; use its public listing as reference data only.

Relic Hunter: Using a Mod as Recon, Not a Shortcut

Relic hunting is the clearest case where planning around Hydroneer mods achievements pays off. A Relic Hunter mod walkthrough for Hydroneer 2.0 demonstrates a tool called the relic finder, sold for 576 in-game currency — or grabbed free if you hop into creative mode. Right-clicking with it equipped pings the nearest relics and prints distances: the spyglass at 44 meters, the goblet at 503 meters, the sword at 33 meters.

As you dig, the tracker tightens. The host closes to within two meters of a target, then one meter, and pulls the relic out. According to that video, the game holds six relics, and four of them can be placed on plinths inside a cave down the road from Ember Cradle, the starting area. Filling the plinths opens a door with treasure behind it, which the host deliberately refuses to spoil.

Turning the Recon Run Into a Clean Run

Here is the catch: this mod is a shortcut, and shortcuts belong in a throwaway world. Use the relic finder in a separate, modded save to learn where each relic sits and how the plinth cave works, then close the game, disable every mod, restart, and create a fresh save for the real hunt. You keep the map knowledge and lose none of your eligibility. The video host makes the same point in spirit — the mod exists for players who do not want to repeat the search over and over.

FAQ

Can you earn achievements in Hydroneer with mods installed?

Not on the same save. Community reports from the May 2023 Steam thread are consistent: a save that was created or loaded while any mod was active can never earn achievements, even if you later disable everything. Start a clean save after a full restart instead.

Do you need to delete mods or is disabling enough?

Players report both outcomes. Some found that unsubscribing from all mods was required, while others said disabling worked after the game added that option — as long as they restarted Hydroneer before creating a new world. If neither works, temporarily moving the Workshop content folder is the deeper diagnostic step.

Does creative mode also block achievements?

Yes, per the same player reports. A save that has ever been opened in creative mode is ineligible even with an empty mod list, which is why the advice is to keep creative mode in a separate throwaway world and never touch it in your legit save.

Where can I check achievement completion rates for Hydroneer mods achievements?

The WeMod tracker page listed 78 entries as of 2026-11-14, with rates ranging from 57% down to 0% among its tracked users. Remember those figures are a dated third-party snapshot, not Valve's global Steam percentages, so check the source directly for anything newer.

Before you install another workshop item, decide which world it belongs to. Keep one clean save for the Hydroneer achievement list on Steam and one modded playground for experiments, and Hydroneer mods achievements stop being a conflict at all.