Friday Facts #272 - Mod GUI

[Nightinggale]

Just add filters to the list, allowing the user to decide if incompatible mods should be included or not. With a filter "engine", it could be worth considering if other filters should be added as well.

[myricaulus]

I might be drunk due to the christmas party i just attended. But i realized that the pdf was i was downloading from this forum post of the FFF 272 ( fff-271-ManageInstallUpdate-mods-gui.pdf) lacks some context. If you open it you just misses the context. WTF i just just opened. If you could just say what i relates to it would really help to understand the PDF.
Anyway i like factorio and all of the FFFs and i am looking forward every week for the next FFF.
That said, i would like to have clear overview withing the published PDFs linked in FFFs.
I am sorry for me being drunk and me maybe not the most comprehensible part of Community.
I will continue to play the game anyway .

[Philip017]

we should be able to keep multiple versions of the same mod, if the developer updates their mod and we do not like the changes, we can keep the old version to play the save we have already, while updating to the new version to play on a multiplayer server that uses the new version, or for use on a different save.
* sync mods with save should also sync versions of the mod so as to not load the wrong version if multiple versions are installed.
- currently i get around this by storing all mods in a separate folder that is named the same as my save game so i know what mods i used with that save, if this was streamlined better i would be able to avoid this, but this work around i use requires more disk space as each save also has it's own mod files and duplicates of mods for each save.

connecting to a server that does not have a mod checksum that matches the one on the mod portal should allow the mod to be downloaded directly from the server.
- occasionally servers will modify mods to suite their needs but will not upload that version to the portal because it is not approved with the original owner/license or they change the mod for each new map.
- many servers will run custom scenarios because of the need to sync mods with the server. the custom scenario is similar to integrating the mod into the save file.
- getting the mod with the save from the server seems like a logical progression to the custom scenario service currently in use.

The list will be downloaded from the mod portal only when this tab is first selected.

There should be a pop-up when this downloading takes place to let the user know this is taking place and a button to cancel the process if it takes too long, due to server being too slow or if the client's internet connection is too slow, or the user is impatient.
I have noticed that this page can sometimes take a minute to load with as many mods that are on the portal. this will only become longer as more people put mods on the portal.
another solution would be to only load the 100 most popular mods for their version unless someone types in a query for a specific mod, then it can search and load mods specific to that query.

- there should also be a link to visit the mod on the portal via web browser, preferably also using a token to log in the user instead of manual log in.
- there should be a button on mods that have dependency's to download all their dependency's
* or this can be done automatically with a pop up that sates xxx mod requires xxx mod to function, click ok to download all required mods or cancel to skip this mod.

[WIZ4]

Will there be a possibility in the GUI API writing underlined text? Or is underscore available only for links?

Screenshot_3.jpg (27.95 KiB) Viewed 7511 times

[dog80]

this gif xd very nice @wiz4

[Lubricus]

- occasionally servers will modify mods to suite their needs but will not upload that version to the portal because it is not approved with the original owner/license or they change the mod for each new map.

I would say this is bad practice and that the devs don't need to support that. I have changed a mod (private game) because it was more cumbersome to make a mod that moded the mod. I then renamed it so then the game will treat it as an totally different mod, that could be a simple solution.

[provet]

Pleeeaase consider adding folders to the mod selection menu!!

Paint mockup:

[Zomis]

Mod settings or.... mod settings?

If the GUI for modifying which mods are enabled is called "Mod settings", then what should be the name of the GUI where you can change the settings for all the mods? Like enabling/disabling certain ores in Bob's Ores, or changing the per-player configuration of how they want certain GUI-settings for some mods. And why is there no button in the GUI for enabling/disabling mods that leads to the detailed settings for the mods?

[Sander_Bouwhuis]

I hope that you will tie the mod also to the saves.....

I ply currently with some mods, but when i want to do the Lazy-Bastard-mod i need to start a clean game without any mods (which is just fine)
But when i want to switch back to my 'usual' save-game i need to remember all the used mod and toggle them back again.

That could be better solved when loading the save to let the player choose to switch on all the used mods and then automatically toggle them.

100% THIS!

Using different mods for different saves is HELL. Why can't we have something like this:
You have a mods directory, and every time you create a new world the mods are taken into the save. If ever any mods get updated or added, you can ask upon loading a save game which mods to add and/or update.
That way, you can have any combination of mods with as many save games as you want.

Also, the SERVER should push the mods even if the version / checksum is different. You are playing with the SERVER's mods, not your own mods. When you switch to another server you can access that other server's mods. When you switch to a local save game you get access to your own mods.

for local game, this is already implemented, it's called sync mod with saves.

when you load game, there is button for exactly this purpose.

I did not know this was actually useful!
Just to be clear, when I select 'sync mods with saves', does that mean that when I restart Factorio, the game hasn't messed with my mods (enabled or disabled some)? That would be awesome! Are the mods downloaded automatically from the portal?

[Sander_Bouwhuis]

Pleeeaase consider adding folders to the mod selection menu!!

Paint mockup:

Sub-directories would be great. But, you should be allowed to select any/all mods you want per sub-directory. That way we could easily turn on collections of mods for different saves.

[DutchJer]

The issue kept recurring and was incredibly hard to test for because you can't write a test for some logic which doesn't exist yet: you can't test something is correct until you've written it

I myself as a programmer disagree with it, maybe because I work in a different matter (TDD), but I write tests which shouldn't fail if the logic is correct. After that I start writing code. To fix the broken tests. But even then it stays possible to forget things. I write broken code too, like any other programmer. Mostly a case of missing tests.

I really enjoy the good work you do, eventhough I haven't played much lately. I will we back (maybe with streams) when 0.17 hits. Keep up the good work!

[mexmer]

I hope that you will tie the mod also to the saves.....

I ply currently with some mods, but when i want to do the Lazy-Bastard-mod i need to start a clean game without any mods (which is just fine)
But when i want to switch back to my 'usual' save-game i need to remember all the used mod and toggle them back again.

That could be better solved when loading the save to let the player choose to switch on all the used mods and then automatically toggle them.

100% THIS!

Using different mods for different saves is HELL. Why can't we have something like this:
You have a mods directory, and every time you create a new world the mods are taken into the save. If ever any mods get updated or added, you can ask upon loading a save game which mods to add and/or update.
That way, you can have any combination of mods with as many save games as you want.

Also, the SERVER should push the mods even if the version / checksum is different. You are playing with the SERVER's mods, not your own mods. When you switch to another server you can access that other server's mods. When you switch to a local save game you get access to your own mods.

for local game, this is already implemented, it's called sync mod with saves.

when you load game, there is button for exactly this purpose.

I did not know this was actually useful!
Just to be clear, when I select 'sync mods with saves', does that mean that when I restart Factorio, the game hasn't messed with my mods (enabled or disabled some)? That would be awesome! Are the mods downloaded automatically from the portal?

when you click sync mods with save, game shows you dialog with mods, and you can either enable all needed (and disable those, that are not present in save), or select own configuration of mods.
game will automatically download missing mods

not sure what you mean "game will not mess with my mods", because factorio needs preload mods, of course it will enable/disable mods according to save (and apply their settings). but that should not be issue. since when you switching from one save to another, you can always use sync mod button. only downside is, that you always need to restart after sync mod button changes your mod configuration.

[Aervanath]

I'd like there to be a way to download or update all dependencies of a mod with one click. Or, even better, for it to happen automatically when you download or update the mod itself.

It would also be nice if the game could do mod changes without reloading at all; or, at minimum, to be able to make any changes I want in the mod GUI (updating, downloading, toggling) and then have the game reload ONCE, only after I've made all changes and exited the mod GUI.

[vaendryl]

support for mod packs/collections would be great (like seablock).

it'd be useful to be able to have a tab or something dedicated to a pack where the game doesn't automatically update the individual mods (as this might break the pack overall) but perhaps keep the ability to have the whole thing updated by the curator while keeping these files separate from the regular collection of individual mods.

[julius1701]

Can you add a playlist feature fir mods so that you can have multiple sets of mods ready and just need to switch them?

[featherwinglove]

Small typo...

Why thank you. Oh, wait, that isn't about you wanting to go out with me

I like the idea of mod folders in the UI. A difficulty I can see is that making a windows-like click and drag interface would probably require a bunch of middleware that's not in the game yet. Without it, it could be difficult to use UI mod folders. I also like the idea of modpacks which are nothing more than Lua configuration files with dependencies. One "installs" that, and then the game automagically downloads everything in the pack, and it doesn't violate any no-distribution terms because it doesn't distribute mods, simply calls them from the portal.

[0111narwhalz]

I also like the idea of modpacks which are nothing more than Lua configuration files with dependencies. One "installs" that, and then the game automagically downloads everything in the pack, and it doesn't violate any no-distribution terms because it doesn't distribute mods, simply calls them from the portal.

Many Linux package managers (e.g. apt) have a concept of "metapackages" or "package groups." In the simplest case, these metapackages are effectively regular packages that don't contain any functionality of their own, but have dependencies which describe the collection of real packages they represent. More advanced metapackages may have configuration details as well. It's an easy solution to hack together.

[Nightinggale]

it'd be useful to be able to have a tab or something dedicated to a pack where the game doesn't automatically update the individual mods (as this might break the pack overall) but perhaps keep the ability to have the whole thing updated by the curator while keeping these files separate from the regular collection of individual mods.

I don't think loading mods without restarting will ever happen, or should I say I wouldn't want the modding restrictions it could result in. The thing is reading mods isn't incremental. Mods are loaded after dependencies, meaning you can't just reload an updated mod after having loading a mod depending on it. Another issue is mods can actually run lua code on load, which means there can be mods, which very heavily depends on the current way of mod loading (only at startup). It's unlikely that reloading in the main menu will be a time saver anyway because if you have to first discard the mods in memory and then run the entire load routine, you might as well restart the game. It would likely take around the same time.

However only having to restart once would be awesome, not once for updating and once for installing new mods, once for toggling an old mod off etc... with slow start time, this quickly becomes annoying.

[Sander_Bouwhuis]

I did not know this was actually useful!
Just to be clear, when I select 'sync mods with saves', does that mean that when I restart Factorio, the game hasn't messed with my mods (enabled or disabled some)? That would be awesome! Are the mods downloaded automatically from the portal?

when you click sync mods with save, game shows you dialog with mods, and you can either enable all needed (and disable those, that are not present in save), or select own configuration of mods.
game will automatically download missing mods

not sure what you mean "game will not mess with my mods", because factorio needs preload mods, of course it will enable/disable mods according to save (and apply their settings). but that should not be issue. since when you switching from one save to another, you can always use sync mod button. only downside is, that you always need to restart after sync mod button changes your mod configuration.

I never noticed that button! This is very interesting indeed. THANK YOU for pointing this feature out!

[nosports]

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when you click sync mods with save, game shows you dialog with mods, and you can either enable all needed (and disable those, that are not present in save), or select own configuration of mods.
game will automatically download missing mods

not sure what you mean "game will not mess with my mods", because factorio needs preload mods, of course it will enable/disable mods according to save (and apply their settings). but that should not be issue. since when you switching from one save to another, you can always use sync mod button. only downside is, that you always need to restart after sync mod button changes your mod configuration.

Thanks all for pointing out how stoooopied i am ......

i never noticed that