Factorio Forums

I often wish to highly recommend a dependency by making it download by default, but not mandatory so that players are able to opt-out.

The current workaround is to make the mod mandatory, but add a 'Disable mod' checkbox to the dependency. A number of my mods have this checkbox and the drawback is that you aren't really managing your dependencies from entirely within the mod list.

The suggestion is a new form of optional dependency called 'recommended', which is downloaded by default and becomes checked when the mod is checked, but can be unchecked.

One example where this would have been handy: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Small-Spa ... 0910f780d4

This would be super useful for Sea Block! We have a separate "pack mod" that has the dependencies, so they can be automatically downloaded but then disabled. This works but isn't a great solution as many people don't read the mod description so don't get the pack mod.

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/SeaBlockMetaPack

Another ref: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/SolarSyst ... e1fb878bf5

What more can I add then a +1

+1

+1, even just from the end use perspective, being able to install recommended mods without going through the entire list of optional dependencies and choosing some of them or reading the mod page or needing to go to another mod, or even worse - an external resource to get a list of commonly used/recommended mods would be greatly appreciated.

+1, from a dev that does a lot of compatibility fixes between mods it would be very nice to properly recommend mods that play well together and complement each other instead of grouping those with the optional dependencies where I just note that the linked mods are supported.

+1. Lignumis almost requires you to install an inserter fuel leech mod but people complained about UPS and the mod becomes useless after the burner phase. So I want to heavily recommend it but not force players to keep it active. The workaround is to make it optional and check by script if it's installed and display a message if not. That's... ugly.

cackling.fiend wrote: Tue Jun 03, 2025 10:48 pm … So I want to heavily recommend it but not force players to keep it active. The workaround is to make it optional and check by script if it's installed and display a message if not. That's... ugly.

I'm in the same boat with my mods Autodrive and GCKI (both not yet updated for Factorio 2.0), which complement each other but could be used independently. Currently, I have a "nag counter" running so that each player will get a message about missing mods at most 3 times (when a new game is started/mod is added and the next 2 times the game is loaded). A new dependency for recommending a mod without requiring it would allow me to remove some overhead.