Install

Part 2 — First launch and verification

Run the game once so BepInEx builds its folders, then confirm the loader actually attached.

part2 of 3createsconfig · cache · patchers · pluginsproofLogOutput.logtimeabout 1 min

BepInEx builds the rest of its folder structure the first time it actually runs inside the game. Doing this now — before adding any plugin — means that if something is wrong, you know it is BepInEx and not the mod. It is the single most useful minute in the whole install.

Launch the game, then quit

Straight to the main menu is enough. You do not need to start a run.

Start Streets of Rogue the way you normally do — Steam's Play button is fine. Wait until the main menu is fully up, give it a couple of seconds, then quit to desktop.

You will not see a console window, and there is no BepInEx splash. Silence at this stage is normal: BepInEx 5 hides its console by default, and with no plugins installed there is nothing to announce.

Check the folders it built

Four new folders and a log file. This is the proof that BepInEx ran.

Go back to your game folder and open BepInEx\. It should now contain this:

Inside BepInEx\ after one launch. Four of these folders did not exist before you ran the game. — Inside `BepInEx\` after one launch. Four of these folders did not exist before you ran the game.

Item	Meaning
`core\`	Came with the download. BepInEx's own assemblies.
`cache\`	Generated. Speeds up subsequent launches. Safe to delete at any time; it rebuilds.
`config\`	Generated. Holds `BepInEx.cfg` now, and your mod settings later.
`patchers\`	Generated. For preloader patchers. This mod does not use one, so it stays empty.
`plugins\`	Generated. Where the mod DLL goes in Part 3. Empty right now.
`locale\`	Came with the download. Translations for BepInEx's own messages.
`LogOutput.log`	Generated. Rewritten from scratch on every launch. Your first stop for any problem.
`README.md`	Came with the download. BepInEx's own documentation.

No new folders?

If BepInEx\ still contains only core\, and there is no LogOutput.log, then BepInEx did not run. That is a Part 1 problem, not a Part 2 problem — jump to Troubleshooting, which opens with exactly this symptom. Do not continue to Part 3; the plugin cannot load if the loader is not loading.

Read the log

Thirty seconds that will save you from guessing later.

Open BepInEx\LogOutput.log in Notepad. At this stage it is short — about 2 KB. The first few lines are what matter:

BepInEx\LogOutput.log — roughly what you should see

[Message:   BepInEx] BepInEx 5.4.23.5 - StreetsOfRogue
[Info   :   BepInEx] Running under Unity v...
[Message:   BepInEx] Chainloader started
[Info   :   BepInEx] 0 plugins to load
[Message:   BepInEx] Chainloader startup complete

Three things are worth confirming, and only three:

The version on the first line reads 5.4.x — if it reads 6.0.0, you have the wrong branch and the plugin will never load.
The game name on that same line is StreetsOfRogue — if it names another game, you extracted into the wrong folder.
Chainloader startup complete appears somewhere. That sentence is BepInEx saying it got all the way through.

0 plugins to load is the correct and expected result right now. You have not installed one yet. After Part 3 that line becomes 1 plugin to load, which is how you will confirm the mod itself.

Optional — turn the console on

If you like watching things load, open BepInEx\config\BepInEx.cfg, find the [Logging.Console] section, and set Enabled = true. A second window appears alongside the game showing log lines live. It is genuinely useful while diagnosing, and equally reasonable to leave off — LogOutput.log records the same information either way.

Part 2 done

A working, empty BepInEx install. From here, adding any BepInEx 5 plugin to this game is a copy-and-paste. Part 3 adds this one.