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What is a mod?
A "mod" is short for modification, and provides a way to expand upon the base game. Mods come in all shapes and sizes, and can provide hours more gameplay. Essentially, they're pretty awesome!
How can I install mods?
Mods can be installed with two primary methods. Either using a mod manager, or doing everything manually. Generally, if you are looking to just play with mods, you should use the mod manager. If you are a developer, you should do it manually.
Using the Mod Manager
First, install the Mod Manager here (click Manual Download). Once downloaded, open the zip file, and run r2modman Setup x.x.x.exe. Go through the installation process, and tick "Run r2modman-dsp".
Once the Mod Manager has loaded, you will be prompted with the "Profiles" screen. Each profile can have different mods and different mod configs. Click "Select profile", or create a new one if you would like.
When you initially open a profile, you will be told that you don't have any mods installed. Let's fix that. On the menu on the left, click "Online". This will show a list of all mods that are available for you to download. From here, you can click on a mod that interests you, and you will be able to see more information about the mod. You can also download the mod here.
Now that you have installed all the mods you want, clicking "Start modded" in the top left will launch the game with all the mods you just installed!
Installing via Manual BepInEx Installation
Download BepInEx from here (click Manual Download). Once downloaded, open the zip. Drag the contents of the BepInExPack folder into the root directory of the game (steamapps/common/Dyson Sphere Program).
To install mods, download them manually from Thunderstore. Drag the .dll file (for example MoreSmelters.dll) into the BepInEx/plugins folder.
Now, whenever you launch the game, be it via Steam or otherwise, the game will launch with the mods installed.
However, it is recommended that you use more organization than that. Since .dlls in any subfolder under plugins will all be loaded, it makes more sense to make subfolders under /plugins for each mod you wish to install. That way you can keep them distinct from one another in case you wish to remove them, especially considering some mods have more than one .dll file associated with them, and it may not always be obvious which. Old mods may throw errors, and youi will want to be able to prune them easily.