Material and Texture Override

cyberpunk-2077 — Mods & Enhancements

Material and Texture Override (by WolvenKit team) is a foundational framework that allows the game to load custom .mi (material instance) and .mlmask (mask) files, enabling modders to create entirely new surface types—like reflective vinyl, holographic chrome, or animated LED textures—for clothing, weapons, and vehicles. It replaces the game's default material binding system, so modded items can use high-resolution 4K textures without being downscaled by the engine. Players install it as a dependency for nearly every visual overhaul mod, from 'Cyber Vehicle Overhaul' to 'Alternative Crowd', because it unlocks the ability to swap textures on vanilla assets without breaking the base game.

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Syntax

Utilities

Example

Downloads: 3,162,299 | Endorsements: 60,667

💡 Notes

By Nim | v1.2 | 60,667 endorsements

🎯 Tips & Tricks

Verify the framework is working by checking a modded item's material in the inventory

After installing, load a save with any modded clothing (e.g., 'V's Jacket Overhaul'). Open the inventory, hover over the item, and press 'V' to inspect. Look for a 'Material: Override' tag in the tooltip. If you see 'Vanilla', the framework isn't loaded. To force-load, open the console and type 'mto.reload()'—this rebuilds the material cache from 'r6/scripts/mto' and 'archive/pc/mod'.

Use Material and Texture Override to disable a broken texture mod without uninstalling

If a texture mod like '4K Crowd Faces' crashes your game, open the mod's folder at 'archive/pc/mod', find the .mi file (e.g., 'face_001.mi'), and rename it to 'face_001.mi.bak'. Reload the game—the framework will skip that file and fall back to vanilla. This is safer than uninstalling the whole mod, which might break other dependencies.

Set custom texture resolution per item to fix blurry textures on high-end rigs

Edit 'Cyberpunk 2077/r6/scripts/mto.config' (create it if missing). Add a line like 'OverrideResolution=4096' for all materials, or target a specific mod: 'OverrideResolution=2048, mods/cyber_vehicle_overhaul/body.mi'. Save, then launch the game and open the console, type 'mto.apply()'. This forces the engine to use 4K textures even if the mod's author set 2K, improving clarity on 1440p monitors.

🔧 Troubleshooting

Crashes on boot with 'MaterialOverride: failed to parse .mi' when using 'Nova LUT' or 'Reshade'

This is a conflict with Reshade's texture hooking. In the Reshade installation folder, open 'Reshade.ini' and set 'TextureCacheSize=0' to disable its texture cache. Then, in the game's console, type 'mto.ignore_resources=true' to skip any .mi files that Reshade has modified. If it still crashes, uninstall Reshade and use 'Cyberpunk 2077' built-in LUT via 'Alternative Lighting' mod instead.

Modded vehicles from 'Cyber Vehicle Overhaul' show as invisible or pink when using 'Material and Texture Override' with 'ArchiveXL'

This is a load order issue. Ensure Material and Texture Override is loaded AFTER ArchiveXL. In Vortex, set 'MTO' to load last in the 'Mods' tab. If manually, place 'mto' folder in 'r6/scripts' and 'ArchiveXL' in 'bin/x64/plugins'. Also, clear 'r6/cache/modded' and relaunch. The pink color indicates the .mi file is missing a normal map; reinstall the vehicle mod and ensure its .archive includes the 'textures' subfolder.

⚠️ Common Mistakes

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👍 Pros

60,667 endorsements
3,162,299 downloads
Category: Utilities

👎 Cons

Requires mod manager installation
May conflict with similar mods

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