DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine

DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine

The DFHack Team · April 14, 2023 · Dwarves, Simulation, Software, Utilities, Moddable

DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine is free to play — no purchase needed. We track it so you know if that ever changes.

PC
Overwhelmingly Positive99% · 1,163125playing now
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →

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DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine price

DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine is free to play — there is no purchase price, on Steam or anywhere else we track. We keep watching it, so if it ever stops being free the price history on this page will show when that happened and what it changed to.

About DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine

✦ AI summary

DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine is an add-on that unlocks extensive modding capabilities and quality-of-life tools for Dwarf Fortress, including bugfixes, automation features, and design blueprints that expand what's possible in the game. It provides players and modders with a powerful framework to reduce tedium, fix issues, and customize gameplay far beyond what raw modding alone can achieve.

DFHack is an add-on for Dwarf Fortress (search for it here on Steam!) that enables mods and tools to significantly extend the game. The default DFHack distribution contains a wide variety of these tools, including bugfixes, interface improvements, automation agents, design blueprints, modding building blocks, and more. Third-party tools (e.g. mods downloaded from Dwarf Fortress Steam Workshop or the forums) can also seamlessly integrate with the DFHack framework and extend the game far beyond what can be done by just modding the raws.

DFHack’s mission is to provide tools and interfaces for players and modders to:
  • expand the bounds of what is possible in Dwarf Fortress
  • reduce the impact of game bugs
  • give the player more agency and control over the game
  • provide alternatives to toilsome or frustrating aspects of gameplay
  • make the game more fun

Our online Quickstart Guide (see the "View the website" link in the sidebar) will help you get up to speed with how to use DFHack. It's also available in-game via the quickstart-guide command.

The best way to make feature requests or report problems is to open an Issue on our GitHub issue tracker (see the "Stats" link in the sidebar).

When reporting problems, links to your zipped, uploaded savegame and mods are immensely helpful, and issues with attached savegames and mods get fixed faster. We need a zip of your mods because we can't load your savegame without them.

DFHack installs directly into your Dwarf Fortress directory, so be sure to install it to the same Steam library and drive as Dwarf Fortress. If you are on Linux, both games must also have the same "Compatibility" setting (e.g. "Steam Linux Runtime 1.0 (scout)").

It is not a problem if you already have DFHack manually installed and are switching to Steam. You can subscribe to the Steam version and it will absorb the installed files. Your saved DFHack configuration in the dfhack-config directory is safe. No additional steps are necessary.

DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine — game info

Platforms
Windows, Linux / SteamOS
Steam Deck
Playable
Player modes
Single-player
PC Game Pass
Not included
More games like this:Linux games

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

✦ AI summary

DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine enhances the already deep Dwarf Fortress experience by making the game more accessible and adding substantial quality-of-life improvements that players consistently praise as essential. The community views it as a must-have companion tool that expands replayability while remaining optional for those who prefer the vanilla experience, with regular updates continuing to expand its functionality.

Recommended Oct 11, 2026
A Must Have addition to Dwarf Fortress!
Recommended Oct 11, 2026
Fantastic game with an insane amount of replayability, fantasy world-buillding, and emergent gameplay/story-telling. Regular updates add variety and more ways to 'have fun losing'.
Recommended Oct 8, 2026
good modding engine
Recommended Oct 4, 2026
Liked by Urist Tzisashregoth for its Difficulty
Recommended Oct 2, 2026
Adds some awsome Quality of life fetures in the base version
Recommended Oct 1, 2026
Thank you.

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