So much bad JSON...

[Donvale]

<rant>
Has HBS ever considered cleaning up their JSON files, my god they are a mess!
I know they don't support modding and all, but it must be hell internally as well when 90% of them throw up errors in all the common JSON editors and validators!
</rant>

 

[Donvale]

or is missing a comma

This seems to be the most common error, either an entry in the middle doesn't have it's final comma, or the last entry in a segment has a comma it shouldn't.
I wonder sometimes if they use some tool to merge various settings together (or just a text editor without JSON support) and it simply doesn't see/catch this.
I'm on macOS so I am using TextWrangler (a text editor that has been around for years) which just highlights issues on the fly for me.

 

[Max_Killjoy]

This seems to be the most common error, either an entry in the middle doesn't have it's final comma, or the last entry in a segment has a comma it shouldn't.
I wonder sometimes if they use some tool to merge various settings together (or just a text editor without JSON support) and it simply doesn't see/catch this.
I'm on macOS so I am using TextWrangler (a text editor that has been around for years) which just highlights issues on the fly for me.

Funny thing is, as @Justin Kase pointed out, the "corrected" JSONs that come out of JSON editors seem less likely to work than JSONs that mimic the formatting HBS used.

 

[Donvale]

Funny thing is, as @Justin Kase pointed out, the "corrected" JSONs that come out of JSON editors seem less likely to work than JSONs that mimic the formatting HBS used.

I have not had any issues with JSON I have created using TextWrangler, if they parse correctly they pretty much work every time for me.
The time I really run into issues is when using ModTek and I want to just change a few settings so would like to use the merge function (although it seems to have got better so maybe the author is doing a little trickery to accoiunt for the vagaries in the HBS JSON). I usually just get around this by implementing the replace function instead, but it can mean a large JSON file to change a single variable.

 

[Justin Kase]

Different JSON editors seem to provide some varied results Some want to 'help' you and cause more problems

As far as ModTek, there seems to be some issues with the merge function when trying to merge information into another file in the Mods folder - but it works pretty darn well for any core files. Funny enough, if you add a Mod the old fashion (ie Manual) way, then the merging works well.

 

[Donvale]

Ahh yeah I am pretty careful to not have different mods hitting the same files if I can help it, was never sure which would take precendence and it just seemed easier to avoid it all together!
Have a nice collection of mods that work for me, including JK Variants of course.

 

[Justin Kase]

The newest version of ModTek allows us to specify mod load order - and also to create dependencies (Mod A won't load unless Mod B is there) So, I think you can sort of force the order you want things loaded by making the dependencies include the previous mod(s) in order.

Mighty kind of you to say I've been enjoying reading your feedback in the AI thread