Making Multiplayer Mod-Friendly

Discussion in 'Mechanics' started by Frobob, Jul 9, 2017.

  1. Frobob

    Frobob Orbital Explorer

    Multiplayer's a pain due to mod compatibility causing problems (even if your mods are compatible), so I suggest a system that makes multiplayer servers work server-side instead of client-side, ala Minecraft. This would make inventories, worlds, characters, and crafting GUIs come from the server and not the client, thereby making mod incompatibility impossible.

    I mentioned "server-side characters". This could be handled by either the server sending a set of character(s) that match a player's Steam account, or, if that's not possible, a server-based login system that could use a UI in the client upon connecting to the server.

    If a server uses mods, it could 1. send players a list of requisite mods, with a warning that proceeding without them can and will make them crash, or 2. send that list with a download option to install all requisite mods from the workshop, based on what they already have in their workshop cache. Method 1 would likely be best used in beta only.

    If a player has additional mods that the server doesn't support, none of the items will show up in their crafting GUIs or loot, since both are hosted server-side.

    This would not affect mods that are currently completely client-side, such as retextures.

    Edit: I neglected to mention: the mods the server downloads automatically could be given a tag that makes them not run in singleplayer.
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2017
  2. Guest0241525

    Guest0241525 Guest

    Except last I checked, you can't join Minecraft servers with an incompatible client. Wasn't it even stricter on that than Starbound? :nuruneutral:

    Besides, you can already basically do that. Just create a collection of all mods used on the server, and link players to it.
     
  3. Frobob

    Frobob Orbital Explorer

    Yes, but this method would allow players to have their own set of mods independent of what servers they play on. They could join a server that's modded enough to be a new game and then seamlessly switch to a vanilla server.
     

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