I have been asked several time to share my mod list and load order but have hesitated not only because of the time involved and the fact that I have a 5.3 GB Windata folder with 295 files in it, but because I wondered how many player would benefit from it. My system is not for everyone, I am a pick and choose player. I believe the most mods I ever had enable at one time was 51. If you are a player that has every mod you can get your hand on enabled and then have problems and must juggle them around, my system is not for you. Look here:
http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=1790.0 My system is not meant to prevent conflicts but to avoid them, and to make mod selection easier. My system works for me, I have had very few problems. I have never messed with the registry and do not use Debug. I have CC and The North in separate installments of the game, I do not use Mega Mod, or Mod Manager. I have my own mod order. I have only a few mods that tell me where I have to put them. I do not move mods around, I simply enable or disable them. I, of course, move new mods into place and do so immediately, okay and Exit. This is important - when adding a new mod, it appears at the top of the list. Move it to the position you want it in and hit okay and then EXIT (do not quit) Exit. Occasionally I move a mod from one group to another - for example, a supporting mod is updated and becomes what I consider a major mod, or it is one I will use often and must have. An example of my mod groups and enabled mods can be see in the Intro of any of my blog stories after story #15. I began this system at that time when I updated my game from 106 to 107.
I will try to explain my system step by step and how best to set it up, hopefully in a way that is not totally overwhelming. My handiest and most useful tool is a spiral notebook that badly needs rewriting, again. It is divided into 5 sections. There is one section for each of my 4 mod groups which lists the mods themselves along with notes on version numbers, what the mod contains, what mods to use with it, what not to, building colors, different thing like that. The mods in each section are in alphabetical order, with some exceptions. These sections are important to refresh my memory when choosing mods for a map and to avoid problems. The last section lists just the names of the mods from those sections in that order, that is my load order. Note - the mod names are the names as they appear in the game's mod list - not the name of the pkm file. Be sure when you add a new mod to the game that you add mod name and notes to one of the 4 sections in the notebook and its name in the last section. If you move a mod to a different place, also update the notebook.
That last section of my notebook is very important, if you don't want to do the first four sections of the notebook, that is up to you. But at least do the last section, if the mod list gets out of order for any reason, this section makes it easier to restore the order, easier but time consuming and tedious. If only a few mods are out of order I move them back where they should be. If more than a few are out of order, I start at the bottom of my notebook list, find that bottom mod in the game's mod list, and move it to the top. I do this from the bottom up for every mod, and when done the list in the game is back in order, okay and EXIT. To avoid mod list disorder, I do not play more than one map at a time. I do not change the order while playing. If I test something else while a map is being played, I enable test mod and test it on a new map using the same mods that are already enabled. I do not save that test map, just EXIT when I am done.
To start a new map hold down the Ctrl key while starting Banished - continue holding Ctrl key down until small start box appears on your screen - choose Options - then check the box to Disable All Mods - hit okay. Then either EXIT or PLAY. The mod list is now in order and you are ready to select mods for a new map. But first the mod list.
Any questions so far?
