How to stop updates from breaking mods...

[KnightCole]

Seriously, even back in beta, every time there was an update, my mods all broke and I had to delete them and start all over. Its looking like thats the case once again. I was playing all day, went out to eat and came back and now none of my mods work.

THe .csv was wiped back to vanilla, but none of my modded files in the data folder were changed, I put my mod lines back in the .csv but it still wouldnt work.

So, what am I missing? How do I make it so every update wont break my mods? I probably will not spend the time to recreate my mods every time an update happens........

 

[Ashram Darkstar]

This is just me, but I copied off the entire game to my SSD drive (I installed it on a different drive), and am running the game from the copy. My SSD drive is where I also did all my mod work. However, this means I have to manually update the game myself. Manually updating the changed files isn't hard, just tedious. Doing this ensures my mod changes are always intact, and I can adapt to game updates if my modded files have been updated.

I suppose you could just always back up any files you changed somewhere safe, so you could reapply your mod changes if this happens again.

 

[KnightCole]

This is just me, but I copied off the entire game to my SSD drive (I installed it on a different drive), and am running the game from the copy. My SSD drive is where I also did all my mod work. However, this means I have to manually update the game myself. Manually updating the changed files isn't hard, just tedious. Doing this ensures my mod changes are always intact, and I can adapt to game updates if my modded files have been updated.

I suppose you could just always back up any files you changed somewhere safe, so you could reapply your mod changes if this happens again.

Except after I put my mod lines back into the new .csv, the game didnt work. I checked the lines, made sure the paths were correct and all that and it doesnt work.

What? Does a new update change the version of the game, and therefore, any files from an older version dont work?

Am I really going to have to delete my entire mod and recreate it from scratch every time there is an update? Copying in old mod files back into the data folder didnt work either. Its like I gotta start all over...

 

[Lynx7725]

In my case, I only have to put back the VersionManifest lines. A lot depends on your exact mods. Mine are introduction of new jsons, so I basically kept all my stuff in a separate mods folder which typically Steam would not touch.

If your mods have to touch the original files, then it is to be expected that an update may kill the changes. That’s part of the price we pay really. The trick thus is to organise the mod to minimise this as far as possible.

Edit: The tricky part about this game is that it does check the integrity of save data, and when it detect items in a save that isn’t in the Manifest, it can lock up. This could potentially be your case, especially if you have been doing development work and have a “dirty” VersionManifest.

 

[Ashram Darkstar]

Except after I put my mod lines back into the new .csv, the game didnt work. I checked the lines, made sure the paths were correct and all that and it doesnt work.

What? Does a new update change the version of the game, and therefore, any files from an older version dont work?

Am I really going to have to delete my entire mod and recreate it from scratch every time there is an update? Copying in old mod files back into the data folder didnt work either. Its like I gotta start all over...

A version update could possibly break older files, that has happened with other games I've modded. I don't know if that is the case here.

In my case, all of my modded files were fine with the exception of the manifest file. I just re-added my changes to the new file and everything was good. All of my changes were fairly simple though, mainly tweaks of existing values. I noticed the MDD database was updated, but I've only read of a few people trying to make database updates.

What files were you updating? I'd double check your manifest file changes first, I've made mistakes updating that file more than once myself.

 

[KnightCole]

Ive put my own changes over in my mods/krl folder, things like my new weapons, new mech variants, later, new pilots.

The rest of my changes have been in the base game data files, changing the shop files, rednecking my own pilots by editing the pictures of the starters, changing salvage amounts and starter lances. so yeah, alot of changes in the data file. I will now keep a folder full of the files I changed with the changes I made, so it will be faster to remake my changes I guess...

 

[GenTask]

I know it sucks Knight, but that's the nature of modding for this game - although sometimes this can be a similar issue for modding other games too. In Beta, the same thing happened for me where things broke between patches.

I recommend using the mod/file structure, so you can keep your files in their own file structure to prevent stuff from being overwritten. Then you can compare your file (for example if you were changing the combatconstant or shop files). If they still don't work after re-editing, you can also check the output log which will often state where the game becomes confused in attempting to load a file from the manifest.

Rule of Thumb: Backup HBS Files, Create copies of your own modded files