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Greetings:

I'd like to be able to save selected mods to a saveable modlist: so that I don't have to manually siff through the modlist whenever I'd like to change something and instead just select the wanted modlist(name it something like "Space Age Modlist" or "Space Exploration Modlist") and then add or remove mods.


later on could be added:
o Adding modlist selection while creating a new game.
o Showing the selected Modlist for each Savefile: with a dropdown to view what's in the modlist: instead of a gigantic list none can remember.
o The Modpage could offer premade Modlists by other players.


Vantages:
o Would save time.
o Would make mods more accessible.
o And would make organizing mods a lot easier.


Thanks for reading and possibly considering implementation.

there are often suggestions about modlists in game like : viewtopic.php?t=132433

Well I found nothing via search that matched this.

The question rises then: why is not implemented after it has been asked for so often?
It's not like this is time consuming to implement: at least the basic save and load saved lists.

J-L wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 4:35 pm Well I found nothing via search that matched this.

Weird when using "modlist" there aren't that many results.

J-L wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 4:35 pm The question rises then: why is not implemented after it has been asked for so often?
It's not like this is time consuming to implement: at least the basic save and load saved lists.

How would you know what is time consuming ?

Why not use the feature to synchronize mods with a save game ? since that was implemented for people who suggested similar thing

mmmPI wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 5:58 pm
How would you know what is time consuming ?

I program myself.
I'd add this if I could: but it's the base/non-moddable part. Don't know how Steamworks works: but they should have most stuff in place already. Adding the functions and then GUI elements for saving and loading of modlists: plus syncing that with the Steamcloud: shouldn't be much.

The modpage change would probably be the most work.
The other 2 suggestions built atop the basic modlist functions: plus a couple of checks. Though the savefile+selected-modlist stuff would need compatibility for older versions: or just a default to Pre_Saveable_Modlist_Change or something of the sort that non-programmers get.


I don't have the codebase though: but the basic part asked for should be simple to fit in. With how tidy and bugless this is: change of this scale shouldn't be much of a problem. Would be great for longterm in my view.

mmmPI wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 5:58 pm
Why not use the feature to synchronize mods with a save game ? since that was implemented for people who suggested similar thing

Well I like to organize stuff and such a feature would be helpful for that.
Plus if I want to share my modlist from my playthrough and not my entire savefile. I could easily hand it over with this addition or some youtuber or whoever.

Maybe even add a import/export function. Just things that come to mind.

J-L wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 7:03 pm I program myself.

Mmmm I thought it was comon a thing to all programmer to avoid making claim on how much times things takes without seeing the code, a joke sometimes that things takes always more time than anticipated even when you know everything about the code . I would advise against it in the future though it's not an explicit rule . x)

J-L wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 7:03 pm Well I like to organize stuff and such a feature would be helpful for that.
Plus if I want to share my modlist from my playthrough and not my entire savefile. I could easily hand it over with this addition or some youtuber or whoever.
Maybe even add a import/export function. Just things that come to mind.

That's why i suggested to use the sync feature, sharing a modlist is "not good" because you don't share the modsettings, instead what people do is that they share a savegame at T0, you can make one anytime, just restart the game and make an empty save. If you receive such save game you can always quit and re-create another one if you don't want to play the exact same map.

J-L wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 9:17 am Showing the selected Modlist for each Savefile: with a dropdown to view what's in the modlist: instead of a gigantic list none can remember.

I don't understand this, when you load a save game you already have a list of the mods that are inside it, but if the list too long to remember, a dropdown view won't help much imo.

J-L wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 9:17 am The Modpage could offer premade Modlists by other players.

This already exist i think, there is a "modpack" category, which often time is just that, a mod whose only action is to help load a set of other mods. It is also used by people that want to share their modlist/modpack but it require a little more invovlvement, maybe better for you since you are a programmer, you could then include in your mod from the modpack category settings to not only load the set of other mods that constitute the pack, but also add your own custom non-default parameters and tweaks. I did that myself, it's easier than beating the factorio game or just using trains x).

A "savegame" is "easy enough" to share with steam with say non-programmer friend, because you can invite anyone to your game and they can sync the mods when prompt to join your game ( or a multiplayer server) without having to fiddle with the file explorer similarly, downloading a modpack from the ingame portal allows to avoid making the user locate the save or mod folder in their computer ; The person who wants to share has to though, but then it is hosted on the portal anyone can access easily.

Would the modlist add something else ?

If you've got wsl installed you can get close pretty easily. To get fast startup when switching *away* from something that loads slow, like a Pyanodon save is pretty slow to load even with a decent ssd, I forcibly shut off everything with jq.
then a `--sync-mods` start with the save whose settings I want to copy.

So with just that and a symlink to the steamapps/common dir you can set up "model" saves to sync to before starting the game fr.
`jq`'s language is abstruse enough that I haven't bothered working out how to munge multiple mod lists together.

I don't even know why I have to justify this XD.

Any decent modmanager has a basic function for saving and loading ones created modlists: plus modsettings depending on how mods function in that game.

From a programming view it's one more local file: or a folder of those files(whatever one prefers) and thus one more file in the steam cloud or files(though I don't know Steamworks: to know which one is an easier choice). From the GUI side it's a couple of new buttons: textfields and a drop down menu for selection.

This is nothing fancy: just saving files and datastructures that already exist and presenting them. I am not asking for game-mechanics or even something new: just a basic save and load modlist feature for the modmanager. With possible additions to that in the future(that I don't need. I am just trying to give more reasons to implement this: as that would add more longterm value).

mmmPI wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 9:36 pm This already exist i think, there is a "modpack" category, which often time is just that, a mod whose only action is to help load a set of other mods. It is also used by people that want to share their modlist/modpack but it require a little more invovlvement, maybe better for you since you are a programmer, you could then include in your mod from the modpack category settings to not only load the set of other mods that constitute the pack, but also add your own custom non-default parameters and tweaks. I did that myself, it's easier than beating the factorio game or just using trains x).

A "savegame" is "easy enough" to share with steam with say non-programmer friend, because you can invite anyone to your game and they can sync the mods when prompt to join your game ( or a multiplayer server) without having to fiddle with the file explorer similarly, downloading a modpack from the ingame portal allows to avoid making the user locate the save or mod folder in their computer ; The person who wants to share has to though, but then it is hosted on the portal anyone can access easily.

That's dependencies and known compatibilities. Without known dependencies you would to do a lot more by hand: I think that's how it's used to be: but it's some years back I don't remember. Compatibilities/"optional" is quality of life stuff.

mmmPI wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 9:36 pm I don't understand this, when you load a save game you already have a list of the mods that are inside it, but if the list too long to remember, a dropdown view won't help much imo.

It's about preserving previous functionality.
If you change the GUI and savefiles: to show which saved modlist belongs to a save: then there is still no reason to remove already existing functionality.

mmmPI wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 9:36 pm Mmmm I thought it was comon a thing to all programmer to avoid making claim on how much times things takes without seeing the code, a joke sometimes that things takes always more time than anticipated even when you know everything about the code . I would advise against it in the future though it's not an explicit rule . x)

With how bugless this is and how well optimized the game runs: the codebase has to be good. It's not gonna be a spaghetti-pasta codebase.
I'd love to see it: not gonna lie (^_^). If the codebase sucks: which would be surprising to say the least: I'd be sad :,(

quyxkh wrote: Wed Apr 22, 2026 1:00 am If you've got wsl installed you can get close pretty easily. To get fast startup when switching *away* from something that loads slow, like a Pyanodon save is pretty slow to load even with a decent ssd, I forcibly shut off everything with jq.

Code: Select all

jq '{mods:[.mods[]|.enabled=(.name=="base")]}' mods/mod-list.json | tee $_ >/dev/null

then a `--sync-mods` start with the save whose settings I want to copy.

So with just that and a symlink to the steamapps/common dir you can set up "model" saves to sync to before starting the game fr.

Code: Select all

cd /mnt/c/Users/Me/AppData/Roaming/Factorio           # I have a `.appdata` symlink to `/mnt/c/Users/Me/AppData`
jq '{mods:[.mods[]|.enabled=(.name=="base")]}' mods/mod-list.json | tee $_ >/dev/null       # the above reset-to-base
~/.common/Factorio/bin/x64/factorio.exe --sync-mods C:/Users/Me/AppData/Roaming/Factorio/saves/mymodel.zip | cat
# the `| cat` above stops the console output from going utterly wonky

`jq`'s language is abstruse enough that I haven't bothered working out how to munge multiple mod lists together.

I didn't think about that: good to know.

J-L wrote: Wed Apr 22, 2026 6:49 am

mmmPI wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 9:36 pm This already exist i think, there is a "modpack" category, which often time is just that, a mod whose only action is to help load a set of other mods. It is also used by people that want to share their modlist/modpack but it require a little more invovlvement, maybe better for you since you are a programmer, you could then include in your mod from the modpack category settings to not only load the set of other mods that constitute the pack, but also add your own custom non-default parameters and tweaks. I did that myself, it's easier than beating the factorio game or just using trains x).

A "savegame" is "easy enough" to share with steam with say non-programmer friend, because you can invite anyone to your game and they can sync the mods when prompt to join your game ( or a multiplayer server) without having to fiddle with the file explorer similarly, downloading a modpack from the ingame portal allows to avoid making the user locate the save or mod folder in their computer ; The person who wants to share has to though, but then it is hosted on the portal anyone can access easily.

That's dependencies and known compatibilities. Without known dependencies you would to do a lot more by hand: I think that's how it's used to be: but it's some years back I don't remember. Compatibilities/"optional" is quality of life stuff.

Not sure we're talking about the same thing here :

I really mean settings, mod settings are the thing that you can configure with your own mod. If your modlist doesn't use other people's mods default settings because you tweaked some parameter in them for your playtrhu , sharing only the modlist means you also need a way to tell every setting that isn't default. But if you make a modpack, you can make your mod change the default settings of other mods if you mark them as a dependency, they would load before, your mod after, when it loads it changes the settings , and when you or anyone load the game with the modpack, you don't need to tweak any settings, you have shared them thru the mod.


The way you describe what you would do with a modlist appears like it would also require the mod settings to be shared and that's one way to do currently.

J-L wrote: Wed Apr 22, 2026 6:49 am It's about preserving previous functionality.
If you change the GUI and savefiles: to show which saved modlist belongs to a save: then there is still no reason to remove already existing functionality.

I don't understand what you want the dropdown menu to do, hide the list of mod so instead only the "modlist" name shows up ?