Getting Started with Mods and Mod Managers

[tetryon]

So far, I've been able to successfully download mods. And I've installed them.

But am I missing some big secret with mods, or is the maturity level still low and awaiting Steam Workshop integration and 0.13?

There's two areas I'm struggling with:
1. Getting mods to match a MP server.

I thought there's supposed to be a way to download mods from the server, but instead when I connect I get a huge list of specific mods and specific versions, some of which I'm unable to yet find. They're all in different places.

2. Getting a Mod Manager to work.
I've downloaded and ran FMM (from yareczek). It lists the mods I've downloaded, but doesn't sync up 'Enabled' with in-game factorio's toggled enabled.

It doesn't appear to create 'mod packs'. The List on the left pane doesn't seem to allow me to do anything. I try to drag-and-drop to the right but that doesn't have an affect.

I've also had this issue:

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Fmm
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Access violation at address 007D57D7 in module 'FMM.exe'. Read of address 00000008.
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OK
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[SirRichie]

To provide an answer to some of your questions:
Yes, the maturity level for mods is still very low. Mods are hosted on different platforms (forum, dropbox, github, ...), so there is no central server you could obtain them from. When you try to connect to an MP game with a different set of mods, it will simply not work. Also, switching a mod on or off requires a restart to take effect.

The mod managers are of great help, but they are unofficial tools. Thus, changes to Factorio may cripple their functionality. It is also most likely that they have not been tested on a broad range of systems.