13.1 Game doesn't check supported versions of mods on update

[Dahn94]

After the update to 0.13.1, an older version of BigBags (1.0.9) mod was installed. The game refused to launch due to the changed names for logistic-robot-storage and logistic-robot-speed modifiers. Error displayed is in screenshot below and the game immediately quits.

Obvious workaround is removing the offending mod manually but if we are to rely on the mod portal, this behaviour should be changed to disable mods that are failing to load.

The current Mod Portal behavior of restarting the game after each mod install also seems very tedious when trying to browse/install several mods. Happy to open a new issue for that if warranted.

Screenshot:

Screen Shot 2016-06-29 at 8.08.42 AM.png (275.88 KiB) Viewed 4413 times

[Loewchen]

Mods have to be tested by the mod developer, not the game developer.
NaB

[orzelek]

Mods have to be tested by the mod developer, not the game developer.
NaB

I wouldn't be so hasty with this one.
When game update breaks mod there is no way for mod developer to prevent the issue.

And if you got mod through in game install you can't update it even if fixed version exists since game won't start up with it. And manual removal of it will prevent it's automated upgrade.

[Loewchen]

Mods have to be tested by the mod developer, not the game developer.
NaB

I wouldn't be so hasty with this one.
When game update breaks mod there is no way for mod developer to prevent the issue.

And if you got mod through in game install you can't update it even if fixed version exists since game won't start up with it. And manual removal of it will prevent it's automated upgrade.

But how would you as a game dev be able to prevent mod developers from adding mods to the server that break the game?

[orzelek]

Mods have to be tested by the mod developer, not the game developer.
NaB

I wouldn't be so hasty with this one.
When game update breaks mod there is no way for mod developer to prevent the issue.

And if you got mod through in game install you can't update it even if fixed version exists since game won't start up with it. And manual removal of it will prevent it's automated upgrade.

But how would you as a game dev be able to prevent mod developers from adding mods to the server that break the game?

It would need to be game update based event not mod update based.
Might be tricky to implement properly and belong to ideas and suggestions.

[prg]

Current behavior when a mod is broken: display error message, quit.
Better behavior: display error message, disable mod and run anyway so mod can be updated ingame.

[Loewchen]

It would need to be game update based event not mod update based.
Might be tricky to implement properly and belong to ideas and suggestions.

All the game would really need to do is look into the supported-versions-field of each mod before updating and deactivate those mods who would not support the updated version.

[Rseding91]

Mods have to be tested by the mod developer, not the game developer.
NaB

Yes.

If we disabled a mod the first time it had an error during loading making a mod would be a giant pain the ass. Contact the mod author about fixing their mods.

[prg]

If we disabled a mod the first time it had an error during loading making a mod would be a giant pain the ass. Contact the mod author about fixing their mods.

Now what if a mod gets broken by a game update and users can't run the game anymore to update the mod which might already have been fixed but would still need to be downloaded through the game if you want to avoid making users have to find the mod directory and move files around manually?

[Loewchen]

If we disabled a mod the first time it had an error during loading making a mod would be a giant pain the ass. Contact the mod author about fixing their mods.

That would not be the idea. Add a field in the mod portal what versions of factorio are supported. Before updating factorio deactivates all mods that would not be supported by the new version.
Pretty much the same way firefox does it with add-ons.

[ixnorp]

Mods have to be tested by the mod developer, not the game developer.
NaB

Yes.

If we disabled a mod the first time it had an error during loading making a mod would be a giant pain the ass. Contact the mod author about fixing their mods.

Perhaps a config file directive along the lines of AutoDisableMods=bool would allow mod authors to retain the current behavior where as normal users would probably want to not have their game crash immediately upon load. My reasoning being that with the game having the mod portal integrated into it, it's no longer guaranteed that a player will know how to uninstall a mod manually.

[Dahn94]

The mod portal is unavailable with the current behavior. The ONLY solution is to work outside the game UI and Mod Portal which seems contrary to the goal of integrating the portal in the first place.

A user would have to
a) remove the offending mod, relaunch, find and re-install it (hoping it's been updated in the Mod Portal) and then wait for a 3rd relaunch after install

b) Manually edit modlist.json, relaunch, update via mod portal and then re-enable for a 3rd relaunch

I believe your primary audience is the game player, not the mod developer. Alternatively, if the Mod Portal was made available before processing of mods that would be a better UX experience for users.

[Dahn94]

And if I wasn't clear in the earlier discussion, another option is to disable mods with an old supported version tag once and only once after an upgrade of the game. This might require a new flag to enable/force loading old mods but this approach might balance the competing concerns.

[Dahn94]

I believe this has been addressed/fixed in 0.14. Thanks!