I can confirm that on a 8.2-RELEASE derived system, the loader is setting module_path correctly: (TPC-F4-42:wheel)# cat /boot/loader.conf.local kernel="STOCK" module_path="/boot/kernel;/boot/modules;/modules" (TPC-F4-42:wheel)# sysctl kern.module_path kern.module_path: /boot/STOCK;/boot/kernel;/boot/modules;/modules