Server Help Server mod load order issues w/ Asset Mismatch

Grayles Plus is a modded (6 paks) server with asset mismatch enabled. We have run into numerous issues with the server and clients generating different Asset Digest values, even though they have the exact same mods and versions.

This value seems dependent on the order in which the mod paks are loaded. We can control the load order on the server via a config file. However we would need that to match the load order of ALL of our clients. The clients themselves are showing different load orders as well.

It seems that for some people, the mods load in alphabetical order based on the pak file name. Others, by the title of the mod. Still others (Steam Workshop users) load in order in which they were subscribed to, or the workshop downloads completed.

A priority setting in the metadata file can "hard code" load order priority, however, permission from the mod authors to make these changes is not always easy to obtain.

Is there another solution to our problem?

 

How are you controlling the load order via config on the server, and why can't that same method work on the client side?

 

We also do this via the metadata file that is within pak files or for mods that use a folder (for what ever reason).

As the OP says. Load order and such is not consistent. using digests in the configuration file for Starbound is also a mess too.

Some mods don't have priority, some do. Some reply to request but a fair few don't respond. I recommend a template for mod authors to follow, to ensure consistency between all authors and servers / load orders / Digests etc.

 

Pak load order can be controlled via the \Starbound\%OS%\sbinit.config file. Problems with that are...
1. Different clients are loading in different orders, so changing that on the server does no good.
2. There are different files depending on what OS the client is running (Win32, Win64, Linux, OS)
3. If they changed their own sbinit.config file, us supplying one would overwrite that.
4. There is also the issue of the general public not being able to replace a file, or edit one (trying to keep this simple for the masses)