ebkr
[FEATURE REQUEST] - Custom "tag" field with sort option to organize/group mods
What problem does the feature request solve? I currently maintain a few sets of modpacks and I find trying to sort mods by function would be extremely useful. This would allow me to essentially group mods that i define a tag for in a datafield for each mod.
Example mock-up (optional) From a data perspective I was envisioning just a new string field for each mod that is stored in the mods.yml.
This string field would be added to the expanded state of the expander control for each mod so it can be set per mod.
Then an additional option in the sort drop down control just sorts the mod list alphabetically based on this new string field. Likely would want a descending and ascending variants.
Additional information (optional) I was attempting to keep the idea of this simple (I'm also a software dev so simple is usually faster) but I'm not hard set on this as I really just want a way to organize the list in a custom order. I was also thinking about creating group expander items that you can just drag and drop mods into and expand/collapse/reorder as needed but i figured that would be more effort.
+1
Came here looking for something similar. Being able to make a tag such as 'Outdated' or 'Abandoned' would be awesome!
The feature I was thinking about was similar to this, I think.
Basically, I would like to select multiple mods and then group them into a "folder". I think this would be very useful. The user could toggle all the mods in that "folder" or have it where they can separate those non-multiplayer friendly mods from their multiplayer-friendly mods instead of having to create another profile for that.
I could be missing some feature that r2modman has that could make it work like that but I think this would be more visual and controllable than something like modpacks.
After re-reading it slowly again, I'm guessing yours is like a tag system though I do see you talking about something similar to folders at the end there. I figured that since you're wanting something like "grouping" as well, I would go ahead and type this here.
(Hope I'm not misunderstanding what you're wanting though. Brain gone atm.)
Your idea is basically the same, I was just suggesting tags as something that could be quickly added as its just adding another field to their data structure and adding it to the sorting dropdown.
Ultimately I want a way to organize things and folders would achieve that, probably better than a quickly added tagging system tbh, I'm not really picky lol
Custom tags are quite hard to implement in a way that isn’t confusing to users and are both:
- Easy to manage
- Easy to see
In a similar vein, folders have the same, if not worse, visual impact in comparison as they’d be entire collapsible sections too. At what point do folders become user managed vs mod manager managed. One such example could be folders by dependencies, which works until one dependency is required by two mods. Can a user add a mod to two folders? You’d also lose sorting functionality when compared to custom tags.
There are plans to split the interface into installed/dependencies/all tabs which would free up some space in the interface and you’d only have to see ones you’d explicitly installed. There is however no date planned for it.
Another important thing to note is that it probably isn’t going to be used heavily by most people as it’s intended to be a my first mod manager experience, so how that appears on screen would need to not overpower the main interface / add bloat
For me, I just want some type of grouping. I don't make these applications, so I don't have a leg to stand on here.
Though, I wanna provide my very simple thinking to this by saying couldn't dependencies still work even if they're in a folder? (I do also have the question on why a dependency would be in a folder)
I think this would lead back to the tag thing in some way, as the folders are fake but the mod manager displays them as a "folder". You try to disable the "folder" and it'll tell you that you're disabling a required mod. For the "same mod in different folders" thing, I'm not really sure how that should be handled but I do think something indicating there is a mod not enabled in that folder would be a good start.
To be honest, after re-reading your message, I do think this could work better when you get that new interface in. Grouping in the install tab would solve that dependency issue. Sad there is no date for the interface though.
For your "my first mod manager" thing, is there a better one out there? Cause this one seems to be the more popular one but I haven't gone outside the scope of this one.
I should say that it's your mod manager. I do like this one a bit but I just really dislike making multiple profiles. My only jab-to-the-side at the moment.
I don't make these applications, so I don't have a leg to stand on here.
It’s just a feature request, you can explain why you want it and if it suits the manager then it’ll be added, no reason to think the opinion doesn’t matter
Though, I wanna provide my very simple thinking to this by saying couldn't dependencies still work even if they're in a folder?
I was thinking more along the lines of it would be weird if a dependency appeared in two folders when it’s only installed once
I should say that it's your mod manager. I do like this one a bit but I just really dislike making multiple profiles. My only jab-to-the-side at the moment.
This is a funny one because on one hand, sure, making multiple profiles can be annoying, but on the other you can just export a base profile and then all the setup is done for you anyway.
It beats disabling mods and re-enabling every time because having to remember what to turn on/off is difficult to remember. Folders in this case seem like a solution to a problem that is caused by not using profile functionality
For your "my first mod manager" thing, is there a better one out there? Cause this one seems to be the more popular one but I haven't gone outside the scope of this one.
It depends on the community really, Northstar for example has alternative mod managers. For the most part though, not really. That’s the fun part though, it does one thing well and leaves a use case for someone else to create their own manager that fills that gap.
Overall I’m not against custom tags, it’s more that it’s complicated visually to put into the manager without having it either awkward to use or adding too much bloat to the screen. If you have a mockup or something then I can consider it
I guess the big issue is I just don't have that knowledge for making a system that works. Maybe there will be someone who could.
I'll probably un-sub this issue cause I don't think I'm being very helpful with making a case for this. Yea, I'm a bit weird not wanting to make multiple profiles. My reasoning for grouping is just like what I said before, separate the vanilla-safe mods from the mods that add content. Making profiles for both cases is just a hassle for me but that's just me complaining. I do want those vanilla-safe mods but being able to toggle those mods that adds content that isn't compatible with vanilla, would be nice. Those profiles aren't gonna sync when I add another vanilla-safe mod to the first profile. If you wanna know the game, it's RoR2.
Anyways, I do hope that someone, who is interested in doing so, would be able to make this feature make sense. Till then, I'll just deal with what I have. Thanks for the mod manager though!
(Little edit but I wonder if it's possible to sync a specific profile to another profile but not the other way around. Though, that's a whole different thing there.)