Route 02 · Installation Guide for Lorn's Lure
THE LOADER
BepInEx 5 (x64) is the loader that teaches Lorn's Lure to run plugins. Install it once; every plugin after this rides on it.
BepInEx sits between Windows and the game: when LornsLure.exe starts,
a small helper DLL in the game folder loads BepInEx, and BepInEx loads every plugin it finds. You
install it once; it does nothing visible on its own, and it’s the foundation every chapter
after this one stands on.
Download the BepInEx 5 (x64) zip
Open the official BepInEx releases page and download the newest 5-series stable asset for 64-bit Windows. At the time of writing that is:
BepInEx_win_x64_5.4.23.5.zipAny BepInEx_win_x64_5.4.23.x release works — the 5.4.23 line
only receives small fixes at this point, so newer patch numbers are always fine.
Extract it into the game folder — right next to the exe
Open your game folder (Steam → right-click the game → Manage → Browse local files) and extract the contents of the zip directly into it. The rule that makes or breaks the install:
When the dust settles, the game folder contains these newcomers:
Lorn's Lure\
├── BepInEx\ ← the loader (only core\ inside, for now)
├── .doorstop_version
├── changelog.txt
├── doorstop_config.ini
├── winhttp.dll ← the hook that starts it all
├── LornsLure.exe ← already there
├── LornsLure_Data\ ← already there
└── MonoBleedingEdge\ ← already there (the "it's a Mono game" tell)
BepInEx, winhttp.dll, doorstop_config.ini, .doorstop_version and changelog.txt sitting beside LornsLure.exe. (This screenshot was taken after the whole guide was completed, so the dates differ — the layout is what matters.)Run the game once, then quit
Launch Lorn’s Lure normally through Steam, let it reach the main menu, then quit. This
first run lets BepInEx build its working folders — plugins, config,
patchers, cache — and write its first log. The game itself looks
completely unchanged, which is exactly right: you haven’t installed any plugins yet.
Verify the loader is alive
Open the BepInEx folder. After that first run it should have grown to this:
BepInEx\
├── cache\
├── config\ ← BepInEx.cfg now lives here
├── core\
├── patchers\
├── plugins\ ← chapter 03 delivers here
└── LogOutput.log ← the loader's diary
BepInEx folder after a first run: cache, config, core, patchers, plugins and LogOutput.log all present.If those folders appeared, BepInEx is installed and hooking the game. If the folder still only
contains core, the hook never fired — jump to
Troubleshooting before going further.
Optional: turn on the log console
BepInEx can open a live console window alongside the game — genuinely useful for watching
plugins load in real time, and this guide’s screenshots of log lines come from the same text.
To enable it, open BepInEx\config\BepInEx.cfg in Notepad and set:
[Logging.Console]
Enabled = trueEverything the console shows is also written to BepInEx\\LogOutput.log, so this is
purely a comfort feature — skip it if you prefer a clean launch.