Rocket League is a fantastic game that is very open to customization. On top of putting together the best car combos, players can also host matches on unique maps built by players. It’s not for everyone, but some players love building unique and crazy maps. They even go as far as adding new rules to each one. There are some out there that change things slightly, like the game mode, and others that turn every map into bouncy castle. Whichever you’re looking to play with, our guide for how to play Rocket League Workshop maps is as follows:
How to Play Rocket League Workshop Maps
1. Search for Map
Finding a new map to play on the Steam Workshop is very simple. All you need to do is load up the community tab for the game in Steam. Use this link.
This is a page where you can browse all of the Rocket League mods that have been uploaded to Steam. There are more than just maps, but for the sake of the guide, we’ll stick to those for now.
I love looking through the available mods for games. You often find something special that you weren’t expecting, and those are always the best. They can totally change your next session playing the game and offer a new perspective on the base game.
At the time of writing, there’s a mod called Minigolf, which is extremely popular. We’ll use this as an example for the rest of this article.
2. Subscribe to Map in Steam
So you’ve found the map/mod you want, in this case, Minigolf. All you need to do now is go ahead and press the subscribe button on the item’s page on Steam. This will trigger the mod to be downloaded to your Rocket League game automatically.
Check-in your library that Rocket League isn’t downloading anything. If it’s all up to date, jump into the game for the next step.
3. Load and Play the Map
Now we come to how to play Rocket League Workshop Maps. With the game loaded up from your Steam account, you then need to select ‘Extras’ from the main menu.
After that, you need to select the ‘Workshop’ option. Since we’re using Minigolf for this example, you then need to look for that map. It should be pretty clear. The UI for finding Workshop Maps is very big and obvious. If you do not see the map you subscribed to, then close the game and double-check that you clicked the button correctly. You may need to subscribe again.
Once you click the map, you’ll be able to play it. There will only be more to this if the mod has an instructional prompt, but even then you’ll actually be inside the mod before this pops up.
With our example, Minigolf, the single-player mode sees you smashing the ball from one side of each map to the other. You need to get it into the hold by hitting it with as few hits as possible. However, there’s also a multiplayer option.
How to Play Rocket League Workshop Maps With Friends
Okay, so you’ve downloaded Minigolf, but you want to play it with your friends. There are two modes for this map if you’re interested. One sees you play a regular game of Rocket League in the custom map. The other is a giant game of Rocket League Minigolf. Exactly the same as the single-player, but with friends.
Actually playing with friends is a little more complex, but totally possible. There’s a bit of set-up, to begin with, but once you’ve done it, you can swap between maps very quickly with friends.
- First, you’ll need the texture files for the Workshop Maps you want to play. This is because unless everyone has the same ones, a content mismatch error will occur.
- The second thing you need is a way to connect with your friends. This could be through IP or a VPN. I’d recommend Hamachi, which is what many Rocket League players use.
- The third thing you need is Bakkesmod and the Rocket plugin for it. You can find Bakkesmod here, and the Rocket plugin here.
- Finally, you need a file location to run your custom maps from.
1. Texture Files
The best thing to do is agree on who will host your games. That player should then log into the Rocket League website and download the game’s texture files. They can then distribute them to everyone else to ensure that everyone has the same version.
From here, every player needs to go into their files, into the Steam files for Rocket League and put these texture files into the CookedPCConsole folder. While everyone is in there, they should create a new folder and call it mods.
2. Connecting
With the texture files dealt with, you should check that you can all connect with the host. We’ll cover how to do this with Hamachi, but it will differ depending on how you’re attempting to connect.
All you need to do is create a new connection, a username, and a password, and send it to your friends. Your friends should be able to then join the network without any issues.
3. Bakkesmod
All you need to do to get this mod is head to the link we provided earlier and clock download. You then need to go to the same link and search for the Rocket plugin, though we’ve also provided a link for that. If you download the plugin while the mod is running, it should do everything for you automatically. If a black box pops up, just press enter to exit when instructed to do so.
4. File Location
During the Texture Files step, I asked you to create a mods folder. We’re going to be using that now. If you have several maps that you want to play with, then store them all here under their respective file names.
When you want to play on a map, you need to change the filename to Labs_Underpass_P.upk. When you then load up Rocket League, it will give you an ambiguous file warning. This indicates that two maps have the same filename, but it will use the one that has been changed most recently.
When you’re in the game, you can open Bakkesmod and set up a match with your friends. There are loads of settings in here, but the most important is the one that enables custom maps. Ensure it’s turned on, and you’ll be able to pick the Workshop Map you all want to try out.
You’ll need to include either your own IP or the Hamachi IPV4, which you can get from the app.
5. Play
That’s all there is to playing these maps with friends. Once you’ve done all of that initial set-up, it’s very easy to download new maps and play them together. All you’ll need to do is rename the map in that Mods folder, and then connect back up through Hamachi or your IP.
Conclusion
That is it for our guide on how to play Rocket League Workshop Maps alone and with friends. As I’ve said a few times, it’s effortless once you know what you’re doing.
There are so many maps out there on the Steam Workshop that it would be a crime not to try them all out. Get out there and see what looks good to you.
Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to play custom Workshop Maps on any other platforms. It’s purely restricted to PC. The Epic Game Store won’t even let you do it. However, since Rocket League is free-to-play, you can download the game on Steam just so you can play with friends for no extra cost.
If there’s something that you think is missing from this guide, please let us know what in the comments.
