Why no mod manager?

[CjStaal]

Considering this is a heavily modded game and mods run the community, why no mod manager in game? It would be so helpful and would solve a lot of headaches and all around be welcome, even if it makes the next update take longer. People would love it and it would probably bring the support posts down a lot. So why no mod manager? Almost every other game has one. It would be glorious!

[MKI]

Probably will come once all the features of the game are made. Why make an official mod manager when all the things it can manage within the game aren't even made yet? From parts, contracts, planets, textures, reputations, difficulty settings, all of it can be moddable, along with other things that are BOUND to be implimented. (ahem kerbal contracts)

Squad is looking ahead well enough by making things modable. So its possible in the future KSP will get an offical mod manager. But for now leave it to the modders.

[CjStaal]

Meh would make us have a lot less headaches. Instead of complicated mod installs with dependencies it could have it all centralized, and mods wouldn't come with dependencies on them. They would just tell the manager what else needs to be installed.

[ferram4]

There is no mod manager because mod installation is incredibly simple; it's copying folders from an archive into the KSP directory, and that's basically computers 101. When mod installation is that easy, why complicate it with a whole extra program that obfuscates everything and leaves the user in the dark? It's just not necessary.

[Starwaster]

And yet people STILL manage to screw things up on a regular basis, don't they.

The ability for end users to screw up an 'incredibly simple' mod installation rather reminds me of this comic here:

[mattinoz]

I've been wondering the same... they could go further than just mod delivery and keeping them up to date.

Make it part of the game play. Use contracts and reputation as a beta test system. So new mod would start at a high rep requirement but move down as it passes tests and spreads to more players.

[Sirrobert]

Actually, there is one

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/26031-Win-KSP-Mod-Admin-v1-3-11-%281-4-0-PR-15%29-Mod-install-with-a-few-clicks

Meh would make us have a lot less headaches. Instead of complicated mod installs with dependencies it could have it all centralized, and mods wouldn't come with dependencies on them. They would just tell the manager what else needs to be installed.

WTF are you talking about? Mods are already centralized, they all go in GameData, in their own folder

The only mods that require other mods to work state so VERY clearly. And they either redistrubute the part of the mod themselves, so you don't even have to click a link and download something else, or they provide a link to the other mod. Big deal, now you have to download and copy paste 2 files to the same spot, instead of one. And you don't even have to bother about merging the redistrubed part of a mod with the rest of the mod if you already have it, cause that happends automaticly when you tell it to paste

Also: A mod manager doesn't do anything to stop dependencies. Look at Skyrim's mod manager, there are mods there that require other mods, and the ones that do tell you. YOU have to tell the mod manager to download those extra mods. Which only replaces the TINY step of copy pasting the thing you downloaded, with activating it in the manager

Edited October 14, 2014 by Sirrobert

[Red Iron Crown]

I don't think mod management will ever come from a mod. It would have to implemented in stock to gain traction and acceptance, IMO.

Ideally, it would support dependency checking and known incompatibility checking, and support automatic updating from any mod hosting solution. Unfortunately, I suspect the closest we'll see is an updated version of the Curse client.

[CjStaal]

Actually, there is one

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/26031-Win-KSP-Mod-Admin-v1-3-11-%281-4-0-PR-15%29-Mod-install-with-a-few-clicks

WTF are you talking about? Mods are already centralized, they all go in GameData, in their own folder

The only mods that require other mods to work state so VERY clearly. And they either redistrubute the part of the mod themselves, so you don't even have to click a link and download something else, or they provide a link to the other mod. Big deal, now you have to download and copy paste 2 files to the same spot, instead of one. And you don't even have to bother about merging the redistrubed part of a mod with the rest of the mod if you already have it, cause that happends automaticly when you tell it to paste

Also: A mod manager doesn't do anything to stop dependencies. Look at Skyrim's mod manager, there are mods there that require other mods, and the ones that do tell you. YOU have to tell the mod manager to download those extra mods. Which only replaces the TINY step of copy pasting the thing you downloaded, with activating it in the manager

What I mean is when you want to install Mod Y but it comes with Mod x and files to add to mod x. Instead, when you try to install mod y it says you need to install mod x also, but you already have it. so it just installs the files that are needed to add to mod x to make mod y work also.

I don't think mod management will ever come from a mod. It would have to implemented in stock to gain traction and acceptance, IMO.

Ideally, it would support dependency checking and known incompatibility checking, and support automatic updating from any mod hosting solution. Unfortunately, I suspect the closest we'll see is an updated version of the Curse client.

I should have added in-game mod manager. Stock.

[Sirrobert]

What I mean is when you want to install Mod Y but it comes with Mod x and files to add to mod x. Instead, when you try to install mod y it says you need to install mod x also, but you already have it. so it just installs the files that are needed to add to mod x to make mod y work also.

That's what happends when you take the download, copy it to gamedata, and than say NO when the computer asks to overwrite the files that already exist.

You don't need an extra program for that

[tater]

There's a mod manager called JSGME used for Silent Hunter that is in fact generic. It swaps folders in and out of whatever directory space you assign it to.

While I manage to not screw up too badly, given the complexity of some of the mod sets (I'm of course thinking about RSS/RO), it would be really nice to have the ability to have an easier installation. You have a list of 15+ mods you need to apply, and just glossing over 1 is a problem.