Dead Signal Mods (UE4SS)

Free, open-source UE4SS Lua mods, tweaks, and fixes for the game Dead Signal (Steam, Unreal Engine 5.2, single-player horror).

Included mods:

• ShadowToggle is an automatic shadow fix for Dead Signal. It switches shadow quality by room, keeping the "Noir" shadow tell visible where it matters without making you change the setting manually every time you move.
• FlashlightAlways is a flashlight-from-start fix. It skips the mandatory flashlight pickup so your flashlight works from the first second of a new game.
• DoorCodeMemory is a simple quality-of-life memory helper. By default, it only remembers and displays a door code after you enter it correctly, proving you already know it. It gives no advance information; it just replaces writing the code on a real notepad or walking back to the computer to check it again.

Each folder in this repo is one mod. Copy the ones you want into your game and enable them.

Requirements

You need two things: the game, and UE4SS (the free mod loader that actually runs these Lua mods). If you have never modded before, just follow the steps in order; nothing here requires coding.

• Dead Signal on Steam.
• UE4SS v3.0.1 or newer (installed below).

Step 1: Open your game folder

You do not need to hunt through your drive for it. Let Steam open it for you:

1. In Steam, right-click Dead Signal → Manage → Browse local files.
2. A folder window opens. Go into DeadSignal → Binaries → Win64.

This Win64 folder is the one that contains DeadSignal-Win64-Shipping.exe. Keep this window open; it is where everything below goes.

Step 2: Install UE4SS (one time)

1. Open the UE4SS releases page.
2. Under the newest release, download the main zip (named like UE4SS_v3.0.1.zip). Do not download the "experimental", "dev", or "custom" builds.
3. Extract everything from that zip straight into the Win64 folder from Step 1.
4. It worked if Win64 now contains dwmapi.dll, UE4SS.dll, and a Mods folder, all sitting right next to DeadSignal-Win64-Shipping.exe.

Install a mod

1. Copy the mod's folder (for example ShadowToggle) into the Mods folder you just got, so the path looks like:

   ...DeadSignal/Binaries/Win64/Mods/ShadowToggle/
   

2. In that same Mods folder, open mods.txt with Notepad (right-click it → Open with → Notepad). Add a line to turn the mod on, and put it above the Keybinds : 1 line (that line has to stay last):

   ShadowToggle : 1
   

   : 1 means on, : 0 means off. Save the file and close it.
3. Launch the game. To confirm the mod loaded, open UE4SS.log (back in the Win64 folder) and look for the line Starting Lua mod 'ShadowToggle'.

Some mods have extra commands you type into the in-game console. Open it with F10 or the Caret key (^, above Tab). The console is provided by the bundled ConsoleEnablerMod, so it works as soon as UE4SS is installed.

Not working?

• No UE4SS.log and no console in-game: UE4SS itself is not installed correctly. Double-check that dwmapi.dll and UE4SS.dll are in the same folder as DeadSignal-Win64-Shipping.exe (see Step 2), not in a subfolder.
• The log has no Starting Lua mod '...' line for your mod: the mod folder or the mods.txt line is wrong. Confirm the folder name and the name in mods.txt match exactly (case-sensitive), the value is : 1, and the line is above Keybinds : 1.
• mods.txt won't save: if you copied the game into a protected location, Notepad may need to be run as administrator, or copy the file to your Desktop, edit it, and copy it back.

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Mods

ShadowToggle (automatic shadow fix / shadow quality toggle)

Automates Dead Signal's shadow-quality tradeoff so you stop switching it by hand in the settings menu. Shadows toggle on and off automatically based on where you are.

Why: Dead Signal makes shadow quality a no-win choice. Low/off shadows give great room visibility for spotting report items, navigating dark rooms, and reading the security cameras, but hide the "Noir" shadow tell. Medium or higher renders the Noir "is a killer here" tell in the apartment, but darkens rooms and worsens the camera feeds. No single setting is right everywhere.

What it does: Shadows turn ON only while the game reports that you are in the apartment's open-plan living area (computer / living room / kitchen), and OFF everywhere else. Sitting at the desk also forces them OFF for a clearer camera feed. The switch follows the game's room and active-pawn events.

Controls

Input	Effect
(automatic)	Shadows follow the current room and active pawn; nothing to press.
F8	Toggle the automatic switching on/off.
shadow on / shadow off / shadow <0-5>	Force a shadow value (auto overrides it on the next room/pawn event).
shadow auto on / shadow auto off	Pause or resume automatic switching.
shadowstate	Print the cached room, active pawn, and current decision to the log.

Configuration (top of ShadowToggle/scripts/main.lua):

• ON_SHADOW_QUALITY — shadow quality applied when ON (1-5, higher is sharper).
• SHADOW_ON_LOCATIONS — the game room values where shadows stay ON.
• OFF_AT_DESK — set false if you want shadows ON at the desk when inside the area.

Note: ShadowToggle sets r.ShadowQuality directly, which takes console priority. While the mod is active, the in-game menu's Shadow Quality slider will not visibly do anything. That is expected, not a bug.

Retuning the ON rooms: add or remove LOCATION entries in SHADOW_ON_LOCATIONS, press Ctrl+R in-game, then cross a room boundary and test with shadowstate.

FlashlightAlways (flashlight from start / skip flashlight pickup)

Makes the flashlight usable from the start, skipping the mandatory pickup.

Why: grabbing the flashlight at the beginning is a pointless chore.

What it does: the game gates the flashlight behind an inventory item. This mod hooks the game's item-possession check and reports the flashlight as owned, so the normal flashlight key works immediately in a new game. No key rebinding, no commands; it uses the game's own flashlight controls.

Configuration (top of FlashlightAlways/scripts/main.lua):

• FLASHLIGHT_ITEM_ID — the inventory id the game uses for the flashlight (62). Only change this if a game update renumbers items and the flashlight stops working.

DoorCodeMemory (door code memory helper / QoL reminder)

Remembers the apartment door code after you enter it correctly, then shows it on screen while you are away from the computer. The default behavior is a clear quality-of-life helper, not an advantage: you must prove you know each code before the mod will display it.

Why: the door code lives on the desktop computer and rerolls on a timer. When you need the same code again, your choices are to remember it, write it down, or trek back to check. This mod acts as an in-game notepad after a correct entry.

What it does: it privately captures the code when the desktop receives it. By default, DOORCODE: <code> appears in the top-left only after you have entered that code correctly at the apartment keypad. A reroll hides the old code until the new one has also been entered correctly. The overlay stays hidden in menus, before the first reveal, and while you are at the PC.

Controls

Input	Effect
(automatic)	The code shows in the corner while you are away from the PC.
doorcode	Print the remembered code and current state to the log.

Configuration (top of DoorCodeMemory/scripts/main.lua):

• REVEAL_AFTER_CORRECT_ENTRY — true (default) reveals each code only after it has been entered correctly at the apartment keypad. Set false to reveal the initial code and later rerolls after visiting the PC.
• NOOB_MODE — set true for the optional assist mode that shows every code immediately, without requiring a correct entry.
• HUD_COLOR / HUD_FONT_SIZE — overlay colour and text size.
• HUD_LINES_DOWN / HUD_LEFT_PAD — top and left margin of the overlay.

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Development

• Hot reload: enable it once by setting EnableHotReloadSystem = 1 in Binaries/Win64/UE4SS-settings.ini (needs one game restart to take effect). After that, edit a mod's main.lua and press Ctrl+R in-game to reload. No restart.
• Feedback channel: Binaries/Win64/UE4SS.log. Every Lua print(...) shows up there prefixed with [Lua], along with load messages and errors.