Hey! So whenever me and friends play Starbound, we usually do with a handful of mods, and I guess have some suggestions/ideas that I'd like to share and such. (I'm not good at introductions I'm sorry) So, one issue I've had frequently when playing with friends that are joining a week or so after everybody else, is that mods are not updated. Everyone is currently on mod version 1 and the new player downloads the updated 1.1. Now this means that everybody has to then update their mods, which isn't necessarily a bad thing we're just lazy to be honest. So my overall question/thoughts would be are we going to get official mod support in the launcher? Most mods are self-contained within a folder, or even just a file, so I can't see it being too hard to have a simple click to install method on the launcher, which would make installing mods for a large group much easier. On the update front, this method would mean you could have mods auto update when the creator wanted them to, rather than manually, which I generally forget most of the time. Imagine the Steam workshop yet built into the Starbound launcher. (Addition: The ability to create collections such as in the Steam workshop would make playing with friends easier too, as they just have to add one thing and keep updated) Apologies if this has been covered, or asked before. - Thanks tl;dr; Steam workshop style mod support in the launcher
Well, Steam Workshop support is planned for Starbound, and there is also plans for clients to download mods from servers they are connecting to before logging in. Both are planned, but neither has been really worked on so far.
Steam Workshop is planned in the future - but not all mods will be on the steam workshop. It is upto the discretion of the mod author if they wish to put it there or not. Another feature which is planned is server mod distribution. Which is what you see with the .modpak format. Unfortunetly neither of these features have yet to be implemented and may take some time before it becomes part of the base game.
Personal preference. I switch between modpack files and unpacked folders based on what mod I'm working on.
I'll sometimes use folders while I'm working/testing, but when I finish up a mod for publishing I usually pack it. Just think it makes it easier for the players if they only have to handle a single file, rather than unzipping and going through folders.
Yes, but more people attempt to unpack modpack files like a zip file than I would like, and some people might like to peer at the assets of the mod they are downloading, so distributing a modpack would inhibit them.
Basically this. I like easy access to the files. I will often tinker with mods I download too and modpaks, while easily unpacked, are just mildly annoying. I won't distribute a modpak for the same reason. If others want to tinker, then they can without having to unpack anything.
