I've been playing since launch day, spent the first week purely vanilla. But since then and 60 90 hours in, I've slowly been adding more and more mods. Which all together make huge improvements to Payday 3. Credit to the modders, they create things that just baffle me as to why they weren't already in the base game.

My recommendations are 'Vanilla plus', in that they are improvements or tweaks inline with the original game. I'm always looking at new mods, testing them out, so you can expect this guide to be actively maintained. You can also find more mods on the modsworkshop hub[modworkshop.net].

• Installing mods for Steam, Epic and Xbox Game Pass PC
  https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3050339730

• Moolah Mod Loader[modworkshop.net] by Narknon[modworkshop.net]
  (Other mods require this to load, no functionality for players)

(See comments section for guide update history)

• https://pd3.gg/ by EeqMCsq
  (Sign up to this site and link your nebula account. You'll be able to track all of your challenges, sorted by category and completion, in real time. As a player this is a seriously useful site and probably my favourite thing on this list. You can also use their vault keypad combination generator tool and check out the sites leaderboards.)

• Challenge Notifications[modworkshop.net] by Sanic[modworkshop.net]
  (Completing a challenge will now show as a notification during heists)
  
• Secure Bag Notifications[modworkshop.net] by Sanic[modworkshop.net]
  (Securing a bag shows as a notification, with the name and value of the loot)
  
• Heist Timer[modworkshop.net] by Sanic[modworkshop.net]
  (A small timer shown during heists at the top of your screen)
  
• Mute Heist Contractors in Menu[modworkshop.net] by smiley[modworkshop.net]
  (When selecting heists, contractor audio is muted e.g.) ^(LeTs gEt yOu bAcK iN tHe sAddLe)
  
• Colored Buffs[modworkshop.net] by candy[modworkshop.net]
  (The skills tree is colour coded by the three main buffs)
  
• Colored HUD Buffs[modworkshop.net] by AvianGenesis[modworkshop.net]
  (During heists buffs are now colour coded instead of all three being white)
  
• Simple Armor + Health HUD (reupload)[modworkshop.net] by LesnovBrascovitch[modworkshop.net]
  (Enemies armor and health is displayed above them) ✨NEW✨
  
• Damage Pop-up HUD (reupload)[modworkshop.net] by LesnovBrascovitch[modworkshop.net]
  (Damage done to enemies is shown as a number, also colour coded e.g. red they're dead) ✨NEW✨
  
• RinoHud[www.nexusmods.com] by Abkarino[www.nexusmods.com]
  (Adds counters to the hud, useful for tracking lots of in game information)

• Always Show Pagers Count[modworkshop.net] by Abkarino[modworkshop.net]
  (Pager count is sometimes hidden, now you will see it from the start)
  
• Immersive Phone Screens[modworkshop.net] by Rhiannon[modworkshop.net]
  (Replaces the simple green tick or red cross with a more immersive screen)
  
• HET-5 Thermal Target Tweak[modworkshop.net] by CzRSpecV[modworkshop.net]
  (Replaces the 'figure' outline with your targets centre of mass)
  
• No Main Menu BGM[modworkshop.net] by smiley[modworkshop.net]
  (Mutes background music in the main menu)
  
• No Main Menu SFX[modworkshop.net] by smiley[modworkshop.net]
  (Mutes the background wind sound in the main menu)
  
• Skip Intro Cutscenes[modworkshop.net]by SwegFish[modworkshop.net]
  (Skips company logos when launching the game❕This mod is installed in the Movies folder, not the ~mods folder)
  
• No Heist Intro Sequences[modworkshop.net]by Jindetta exe[modworkshop.net]
  (Skips the heist intro, instead you just start immediately, FYI you're invisible and won't gain buffs during this time)

• Ammo Counter Blur Fix (HUD)[modworkshop.net] by Unselles[modworkshop.net]
  (Small UI fix)
  
• PD3 - Fixes And Improvements[www.nexusmods.com] by xowny[www.nexusmods.com]
  (Warning, this is an advanced mod, can cause instability or crashes; Provides game config tweaks for better performance and mouse fixes)

• Sharp Detection Bar[modworkshop.net] by Rec0rpse[modworkshop.net]
  (Changes the style of the players detection bar)
  
• DHL Delivery escape van[modworkshop.net] by SwegFish[modworkshop.net]
  (Changes the texture of the escape van to a DHL van (It's immersive plus it's bright yellow, so easy to spot))
  
• Helicopter - PAYDAY: The Heist[modworkshop.net] by Higgue[modworkshop.net]
  (Changes the texture of the helicopter (This is also yellow so it goes nicely with the van))
  
• Less Green Main Menu[modworkshop.net] by GEEKiDoS[modworkshop.net]
  (Small lighting change in the main menu)
  
• Inmersive Luckpicking[modworkshop.net] by Snifft[modworkshop.net]
  (Changes the lock picking minigame ui to show a metal lock)
  
• Kill Count HUD (reupload)[modworkshop.net] by LesnovBrascovitch[modworkshop.net]
  (Press K to display a kill count hud for players in the game) ✨NEW✨

Note: As the game (eventually) gets updated these mods might break or become outdated. I would recommend signing up for an account on modsworkshop and FOLLOW the mods you use. This will notify you of any updates and give you a handy list of every mod you end up using here > followed mods[modworkshop.net].

> Thanks to the modders, for creating all these awesome addons.
> Also thank you, the heister reading this guide, and everyone who's liked and favourited it.
👊😎

If you're interested in other guides I've created, take a look my latest one here:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3057096910
I do not give permission for this content to be wholly or in part re-uploaded in other Steam guides, or on other websites, nor used by any type of generative AI.