Playing with mods: some troubleshooting notes

[Hekateras]

Since it seems a lot of people are taking a new interest in the game, and especially in playing with mods, here are some basic tips to save time and avoid very common mistakes:

- HOW TO INSTALL/UPDATE MODS: Subscribe to the mod on its Workshop page. Then, launch the game, go to Options > Gameplay > Refresh Mods. Then, relaunch the game. This will sync the content of your Mods folder (in your Steam Invinc install directory) with what you're subscribed to: Unsubscribed mods will be deleted, updated mods will be refreshed, new mods will be downloaded.

- You can also download mods directly through the Steam Workshop Downloader (http://steamworkshopdownloader.com/) if you don't have the Steam version of the game or don't feel like refreshing through Steam. Yes, that means you can use Steam mods with the GOG or Humble Bundle or whatever version of the game!

- Read the mod description. No, seriously. Read it in full. There's a very good chance that whatever thing you're confused by is answered in the description.

- Some mods may require others. Check carefully on the mod's Workshop page to see if that's the case. Most mods will require Sim Constructor (by Cyberboy2000) or Function Library (by wodzu_93).

- Try not to refresh mods while you're mid-mission in any of your saves. Your save is loaded by re-taking all the actions you took and their outcomes. Changing the game logic (=updating mods) may change the outcome and cause bugs. Also, it's not a bad idea to back up your mods folder before refreshing so you can revert to it if it turns out a new update is causing issues and hasn't been fixed yet.

- If naming/renaming mod folders, make sure there are no spaces and no special characters in the name! A mod folder name like "Generation Options Plus" WILL crash the game on load. So will a mod folder name like "GenerationOptions+".

- If you rename a mod folder, you can't continue an existing save started with that mod enabled, the game will consider the mod missing.

- If you ask for help with a crash, bug or mod compatibility issue, always include a log file, as well as a description of the bug and how it occurred! We really can't do much more than speculate without a log file. Note: Not a screenshot of the error. Not the part of the log file you feel is relevant. The entire log file.

- The log file is located on PC in My Documents/Klei/Invisible Inc. It is refreshed/overwitten every time you launch a new game. So if you get a bug, you need to share the log before starting a new session, or the log will not show the bug.

- If using the Quickloader mod, disable batch logging under its generation options. This option makes the log less informative of errors in other mods.

- If you're new to playing with mods and want to try a lot of different mods at once - don't. This will make it hard to find the culprit if you experience compatibility issues/bugs after adding many mods at once. Introduce mods to your game a couple of mods at a time. Alternately, you can start by installing the Community Modpack collection, these mods are proven to work well together. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=885528674

- "I disabled X mod but still get the bug". Unless you physically removed the mod from your Mods folder, you haven't really disabled it. In fact, many issues are caused by mods making changes even when they're not supposed to (e.g. when they're disabled).

- On mod ratings. A fun factoid about the Steam Workshop rating system: It's really screwy and biased against small mods in small communities! If you have under 100 votes or so, your mod will show a 4/5 star rating, even the ratings are 100% positive. 2-3 negative ratings can bring it down to 3/5 stars, even if the overwhelming majority is still positive. (For example, my mod Talkative Agents has 85 positive votes, 0 negative... and displays a 4/5 star rating.) In other words, if they're not language packs (huge userbase, lots of votes), Invisible Inc Workshop mods usually have a rating of 3-4 stars, but even a 3 star rating doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them or that they aren't playable. Be sure to read the comments on a Workshop item if you have concerns about whether a mod is being supported or has gamebreaking bugs.

- And finally: If you have suggestions, comments, want to ask for advice on which mods to play and which mods are compatible or are just looking for a good time, you can always join the Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/aQrXEse ;) This is a good place to report bugs since you can directly tag the mod creators.

[Zorlock Darksoul]

For Mac users, the log can be found by following this path: HD -> Users -> [your user name] -> Documents -> Klei -> InvisibleInc -> logs

[Hekateras]

On Linux, a possible path for the log (not sure how well this holds for different versions of Linux) is ~/.local/share/Klei/InvisibleInc/?

Updated with a few things otherwise.