The Nintendo Switch release of the game got an exclusive variant of Neptune during its release. Unfortunately, this DLC never came to PC, but now you can enjoy it with a mod I cooked up.



This does not add a new character or a skin system into the game, so the way the mod behaves is exactly how it does in the Switch version: the swimsuit variant will replace the default one. This will also replace all the sprites with the ones from the Switch version, pretty much giving you the same experience you'd find there all throughout.

Fortunately, since we are on PC, you can simply uninstall the mod if you wish to go back to using Neptune in her default form.

The mod is stored in a PAK file. Pick one of the links below to download it.

Right-click the game on your Steam library, hover over Manage, and then click on Browse Local Files.



You'll be sent to a folder called Azur Lane Crosswave located inside your SteamApps folder.

Now double-click the Azurlane folder inside this directory, then Content, and then Paks. Ultimately, you should be on the path [...\steamapps\common\Azur Lane Crosswave\Azurlane\Content\Paks] and inside it should be a 3 gigabyte PAK file. That's where the game's data is stored.

Inside this folder, create a new folder and name it ~mods. Not just mods, ~mods. You need that tilde there or it won't work.

In the end, it should look like this.



Open this newly-created ~mods folder by double-cliking it and drop the BeachNeptune_P.pak file you just downloaded here.



That's it, mod's installed. Boot the game and enjoy your new nep.



If you wish to uninstall the mod and go back to default Neptune, just delete the mod's PAK file or the ~mods directory as a whole.

• "Parts of the base sprite's eyebrows stick out from below the updated expression if you pay attention closely to her face during some interactions."

This is not an error with the mod, that's just how the texture is in the original Switch release.

• "How do I unlock Neptune in the game?"

She was a pre-order bonus in the Japanese release of the game. For the Western releases, she was made available as DLC but only available during the game's first month after release.
If you want to get her legitimately, you're out of luck. Obviously, since you're on PC, you can use external software to bypass DLC unlocks, but that's out the scope of the guide and breaking into muddy territory.

• "How 'jyu do dis?"

I extracted the files related to Neptune from the Switch release and adapted everything into a mod. The model, material, and animation files are untouched from the Switch release, but due to differences in formats, I had to rework the textures and sprites.
I conservatively upscaled her body textures since the Switch version had the resolution for them halved in comparison to the ones you find on PC. More precisely, I used chaiNNer with two models - one for removing block compression from DDS files (1x_DXTDecompressor_Source_V3) since I didn't want to have extra compression when cooking them again in Unreal Engine, and another for upscaling (2xFaithfulSPSR), which I only used in the body textures. Sprites are untouched when it comes to resolution.
I also made sure the little upscaling I did wasn't too harsh and didn't mess with any of the color. Basically, I aimed for something better than just scaling it bicubically but also not noisy and sloppy like generic ESRGAN models.