How to Install Sider for PES 2021 — Complete Setup Guide for Beginners

By MrRealMod June 23, 2026 PES 2021 | Sider | Mods | PC Guide

If you want to use facepacks, kitpacks, stadium sounds, ball packs, or any advanced mod in PES 2021, you need one tool above everything else — Sider. Without it, most of the best mods simply will not work. This complete beginner guide will show you exactly how to download, install, and configure Sider for PES 2021 on PC, step by step, with no experience required.

PES 2021 Sider PC Mods Beginner Guide Facepack Kitpack

What Is Sider and Why Do You Need It?

Sider is a free, open-source tool created by the PES modding community that acts as a bridge between PES 2021 and your mod files. It runs silently in the background while the game is open and loads custom content — like player faces, kits, balls, referees, and stadium sounds — without actually modifying the game's original files.

This is important for two reasons. First, it means your game files stay clean and untouched, so you can always uninstall mods without breaking anything. Second, it allows you to add and remove mods freely without reinstalling the game or the patch.

Here is what Sider allows you to do in PES 2021:

+ Load facepacks with real photo-realistic player faces
+ Install kitpacks with current season kits for every team
+ Add real ball designs from Adidas, Nike, Puma and more
+ Use real referee kits for every league
+ Load stadium atmosphere and crowd noise mods
+ Apply graphic improvement mods like pitch textures and scoreboard overlays
+ Switch between different content packs without reinstalling anything

Without Sider, you are limited to only option files — which update squads and kits inside the game's Edit Mode but cannot change faces, balls, or graphics. Sider unlocks the full modding experience.

What You Need Before Installing Sider

Before you start, make sure you have the following ready:

• PES 2021 installed on your PC — either through Steam or standalone
• Smoke Patch 21 (SP21) already installed — Sider works best alongside a main patch. If you have not installed Smoke Patch yet, read our guide on how to install PES 2021 mods first
• WinRAR or 7-Zip — to extract the Sider download
• Your PES 2021 installation folder path — you will need this during setup

Where is my PES 2021 folder? If you installed through Steam, right-click PES 2021 in your Steam library, choose Properties, then Local Files, then Browse. This opens the game folder directly. Note the full path — you will need it in Step 3.

Step-by-Step: How to Download and Install Sider

1 Download Sider

The latest version of Sider is always available on GitHub. Search for "Sider PES 2021 GitHub" or check the RealMod download section where we keep an updated copy. As of 2025, the recommended version is Sider 6.4.2 or later. Download the zip file — it will be named something like sider-6.x.x.zip.

Warning: Only download Sider from GitHub or trusted sites like RealMod. Some sites bundle fake versions of Sider with malware. The real Sider is always free and does not ask you to enter any personal details.

2 Extract the Sider folder

Right-click the downloaded zip file and choose Extract here using WinRAR or 7-Zip. You will get a folder named sider containing several files:

sider/
  sider.exe
  sider.ini
  sider.dll
  content/ (folder)
  modules/ (folder)

Copy this entire sider folder and paste it directly into your PES 2021 game folder — the same folder that contains pes2021.exe. Keeping Sider inside the game folder makes configuration much easier.

3 Configure sider.ini

Open the sider.ini file with Notepad (right-click it, choose Open with, then Notepad). This is Sider's configuration file. You need to check two important lines:

Find the line that starts with exe.path and make sure it points to your pes2021.exe file. If Sider is inside your game folder, it usually detects this automatically. It should look something like this:

exe.path = ".\pes2021.exe"

Next, find the line that starts with livecpk.enabled and make sure it is set to 1:

livecpk.enabled = 1

This enables the live content loading that makes facepacks and kitpacks work. Save the file and close Notepad.

4 Run Sider before launching the game

This is the most important step that beginners often miss. You must run sider.exe before you launch PES 2021 every time you want to use mods.

Double-click sider.exe inside your Sider folder. A small window will appear briefly and then minimise to your system tray (the icons in the bottom-right corner of your taskbar). You will see a small Sider icon there confirming it is running.

Now launch PES 2021 as normal — through Steam or your desktop shortcut. Sider will automatically hook into the game and begin loading any mods you have placed in its content folder.

Tip: If the Sider icon does not appear in your system tray, try right-clicking sider.exe and choosing Run as Administrator. Some PCs require administrator permission to hook into game processes.

5 Install your first mod via Sider

Now that Sider is running, let's test it with a simple facepack. Download any facepack — you can find several on RealMod. Extract the facepack and you will get a folder containing face files (usually named with player ID numbers).

Copy that folder into the Sider content directory:

sider/content/livecpk-faces/

If the livecpk-faces folder does not exist yet, create it yourself. Then restart Sider and launch the game — the new faces will load automatically when you start a match.

Understanding the Sider Content Folder Structure

Once you start adding mods, your Sider content folder will grow. Here is how it is typically organised and what goes where:

sider/content/
  livecpk-faces/    — player faces go here
  livecpk-kits/     — kit files go here
  livecpk-balls/    — ball pack files go here
  livecpk-stadium/  — stadium mods go here
  livecpk-referee/  — referee kit files go here

Each mod you download will come with instructions telling you which subfolder the files belong in. Always read the readme file that comes with any mod before installing it.

Common Sider Problems and How to Fix Them

Problem: Sider opens and closes immediately without running

This usually means the exe.path in sider.ini is wrong. Open sider.ini and double-check that the path points exactly to your pes2021.exe file. If Sider is in a different folder from the game, you need to use the full absolute path like C:\Games\PES2021\pes2021.exe.

Problem: Faces are not loading in-game even though Sider is running

Check that livecpk.enabled = 1 in sider.ini. Also make sure you placed the face files inside the correct subfolder — they must be in content/livecpk-faces/ not directly in the content folder itself. Restart Sider after adding new files.

Problem: Game crashes when Sider is running

This is often caused by a corrupt mod file inside your content folder. Try removing all mods from the content folder and adding them back one at a time to find which one is causing the crash. Also make sure you are using a version of Sider that is compatible with your PES 2021 build.

Problem: Sider says "game not found" even though PES 2021 is installed

Open sider.ini and manually set the full path to your pes2021.exe file. Do not use relative paths — use the full path starting with your drive letter, for example C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\eFootball PES 2021\pes2021.exe.

Do You Need to Run Sider Every Time?

Yes — you need to launch Sider before the game every session where you want mods to be active. The easiest way to handle this is to create a shortcut to sider.exe on your desktop and always click that first, then launch PES 2021 from Steam.

Some players create a simple batch file that launches both Sider and PES 2021 together with a single double-click. If you would like help creating that, drop a comment below or message us on Telegram and we will walk you through it.

Pro tip: Once Sider is set up correctly and your mods are all working, the only maintenance you need is adding new mod files to the content folder when updates are released. You never need to reinstall Sider itself unless you upgrade to a new version.

Ready to take PES 2021 to the next level? Download the latest facepacks and kitpacks that work perfectly with Sider — all tested on RealMod.

Browse PES 2021 mods