7D2D Mod Launcher by Sphereii

[Assburgers]

I was using this mod launcher cuz gaming friends and I were playing 7DTD for the first time ever. We were planning to play the game vanilla first and play it modded later when we get the feel and most of the content of the base game. Some time later, they're not as active but I still wanted to play the game by myself and with mods. I wanted to be able to switch between modded and vanilla on the fly if my gaming buddies want to play together again. I thought a modded game might need a mod manager (since I was playing Fallout New Vegas beforehand w/ lotsa mods being handled by Mod Organizer 2) and the first Google result led me to using this thing.

So far my experience with using the mod launcher is... not pleasant. It feels slow, constantly lags/not responding/buttons stop working, and I have to close and reopen the program to get it working again. Installing modlets wasn't a smooth experience either. The program made 3 separate folders of every mod I installed, and when I needed to tweak one of them (cuz it had typos), I needed to edit all 3 (cuz I dunno which folder the game reads). Another modding trouble I had was installing a "better vehicle mods" mod, The mod launcher couldn't install the mod for some reason, so I tried dumping it in the mods folder in the main directory. Then for some reason the mod was installable in the modlets list. Weird. Not sure if the fault lies with the mod itself or the mod launcher. Maybe it's both. Wanting to ask for help / tech support, I tried clicking on the discord link invite on their site and in the mod launcher for support but the link was invalid. Bruh.

So, all you other players who play 7DTD with mods: Are you guys using this mod launcher as well? What was your experience using this mod launcher? Is it actually good and it's just scuffed for me, or is it actually jank for you guys as well? What about the Vortex mod launcher? Are there other methods you do or know to managing your 7DTD mods?

[Sr Humungus]

Never used a mod launcher in this game, installation is easy and modders make readme.txt if there is anything special to install somewhere.

If i want a modded game and vanilla, we usually make a full copy of the game and a launcher in desktop for modded games (copy-paste .exe), and if want to play vanilla (due updates) i play with steam launcher.

Old ways are always the better ways.

[Tahnval]

Originally posted by Assburgers:

[..] So, all you other players who play 7DTD with mods: Are you guys using this mod launcher as well?

No, although I did use it for a short period in the past as a result of my experiences applying lots of mods to some other games. A mod manager can be a useful thing, in some circumstances.

]What was your experience using this mod launcher? Is it actually good and it's just scuffed for me, or is it actually jank for you guys as well?

My experience of it was roughly the same as yours. Hence me not using it any more.

What about the Vortex mod launcher?

Not recommended for use with 7DTD. It's great for many games, but not this one.

Are there other methods you do or know to managing your 7DTD mods?

Manual. 7DTD was explicitly designed for modding, so it's very easy to do. All you need is a web browser (to get the mods) a decompression utility (to extract the mods from the archives they're packed into for convenience and download time) and a file manager (to put the extracted files in the right place. All really basic stuff, already in the OS.

Almost all mods for 7DTD install in the same way - extract the mod files, put them in the mods directory that's already part of 7DTD (part of it being explicitly designed for modding). You don't even need to care about load order for multiple mods. Just plop them in and go, it'll sort itself out. Another part of the game being designed for modding. Actually designed for modding, not with modding added as an afterthought. Older Bethesda games are rightly famous for being highly moddable, but 7DTD is much easier to apply mods to than those games (Elder Scrolls series, Fallout until 76) are.

If you want to be able to switch between vanilla 7DTD and modded 7DTD, there's a very easy and robust way to do that, a way that's at least as good as could be implemented any mod manager (and better than the way implemented by any mod manager for 7DTD). I do it routinely, sometimes with as many as 4 different versions (1 vanilla, 3 modded with different mods).

You can copy-paste the entire 7DTD installation and get a fully functional second installation of 7DTD, complete with a completely separate set of mods. It's that straightforward. The 7DTD installation is that clean. The only "cost" is that it takes up maybe as much as 20GB more disk space. Which is trivial nowadays, when 1000GB is entry level budget kit and some games take >200GB.

The initial installation,the one you installed through your Steam client, will autoupdate (unless you set it to not do so, in your Steam client). The 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc) installations will never autoupdate. So if the base game is updated in a way that the mods you're using aren't compatible with, no problem. No broken save game - your 2nd (3rd, etc) installation that you applied the mods to won't have changed.

To run the second (or 3rd, or 4th, or however many you like) installation, you just run the executable for it.

I'll use my setup as an example.

I created a new directory in the root of my boot drive (you can put it anywhere - I only put it there because it was easier for me to remember, it's my fastest drive and there's ample free space on it) and named it "7dtd overhaul". I then copy-pasted the entire 7DTD installation into that directory, then added mods to it.

I can play that installation with this command - c:\7dtd overhaul\7DaysToDie.exe

For convenience, I created a shortcut on the desktop to that file, so I just have to doubleclick the shortcut icon for it.

It's also possible to add the 2nd (3rd, etc) installation to your Steam client as a new game and run it that way, if that's more convenient for you.

The 2nd (3rd, etc) installation will hook into Steam automatically and run just the same as the initial installation. Same generated worlds available, etc. As part of the way 7DTD is designed, the load/save interface in the game itself will tell you which of your savegames and which of your generated worlds are compatible with the version of 7DTD you're currently running, so it's not even a problem if you're running multiple different installations with different mods on different versions of the base game (which I've done - it works).

7DTD is a absolute breeze to mod, the easiest and most conveniently moddable game I've ever played.

A few weeks ago, I modded Steam installation of Fallout 4 with Fallout London. A few days ago I updated the mod to v1.02 for the numerous fixes (the mod is much bigger than the base game and hugely complex, so there were bugs). I also added a couple of mods for cleaner concrete (I just made it - why is there filth and moss on it?) and cleaner furniture (I just made it - why is it filthy, torn and stained?). That served to remind me just how easy it is to apply mods to 7DTD.

[Assburgers]

Originally posted by Tahnval:

Originally posted by Assburgers:

[..] So, all you other players who play 7DTD with mods: Are you guys using this mod launcher as well?

No, although I did use it for a short period in the past as a result of my experiences applying lots of mods to some other games. A mod manager can be a useful thing, in some circumstances.

]What was your experience using this mod launcher? Is it actually good and it's just scuffed for me, or is it actually jank for you guys as well?

My experience of it was roughly the same as yours. Hence me not using it any more.

What about the Vortex mod launcher?

Not recommended for use with 7DTD. It's great for many games, but not this one.

Are there other methods you do or know to managing your 7DTD mods?

Manual. 7DTD was explicitly designed for modding, so it's very easy to do. All you need is a web browser (to get the mods) a decompression utility (to extract the mods from the archives they're packed into for convenience and download time) and a file manager (to put the extracted files in the right place. All really basic stuff, already in the OS.

Almost all mods for 7DTD install in the same way - extract the mod files, put them in the mods directory that's already part of 7DTD (part of it being explicitly designed for modding). You don't even need to care about load order for multiple mods. Just plop them in and go, it'll sort itself out. Another part of the game being designed for modding. Actually designed for modding, not with modding added as an afterthought. Older Bethesda games are rightly famous for being highly moddable, but 7DTD is much easier to apply mods to than those games (Elder Scrolls series, Fallout until 76) are.

If you want to be able to switch between vanilla 7DTD and modded 7DTD, there's a very easy and robust way to do that, a way that's at least as good as could be implemented any mod manager (and better than the way implemented by any mod manager for 7DTD). I do it routinely, sometimes with as many as 4 different versions (1 vanilla, 3 modded with different mods).

You can copy-paste the entire 7DTD installation and get a fully functional second installation of 7DTD, complete with a completely separate set of mods. It's that straightforward. The 7DTD installation is that clean. The only "cost" is that it takes up maybe as much as 20GB more disk space. Which is trivial nowadays, when 1000GB is entry level budget kit and some games take >200GB.

The initial installation,the one you installed through your Steam client, will autoupdate (unless you set it to not do so, in your Steam client). The 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc) installations will never autoupdate. So if the base game is updated in a way that the mods you're using aren't compatible with, no problem. No broken save game - your 2nd (3rd, etc) installation that you applied the mods to won't have changed.

To run the second (or 3rd, or 4th, or however many you like) installation, you just run the executable for it.

I'll use my setup as an example.

I created a new directory in the root of my boot drive (you can put it anywhere - I only put it there because it was easier for me to remember, it's my fastest drive and there's ample free space on it) and named it "7dtd overhaul". I then copy-pasted the entire 7DTD installation into that directory, then added mods to it.

I can play that installation with this command - c:\7dtd overhaul\7DaysToDie.exe

For convenience, I created a shortcut on the desktop to that file, so I just have to doubleclick the shortcut icon for it.

It's also possible to add the 2nd (3rd, etc) installation to your Steam client as a new game and run it that way, if that's more convenient for you.

The 2nd (3rd, etc) installation will hook into Steam automatically and run just the same as the initial installation. Same generated worlds available, etc. As part of the way 7DTD is designed, the load/save interface in the game itself will tell you which of your savegames and which of your generated worlds are compatible with the version of 7DTD you're currently running, so it's not even a problem if you're running multiple different installations with different mods on different versions of the base game (which I've done - it works).

7DTD is a absolute breeze to mod, the easiest and most conveniently moddable game I've ever played.

A few weeks ago, I modded Steam installation of Fallout 4 with Fallout London. A few days ago I updated the mod to v1.02 for the numerous fixes (the mod is much bigger than the base game and hugely complex, so there were bugs). I also added a couple of mods for cleaner concrete (I just made it - why is there filth and moss on it?) and cleaner furniture (I just made it - why is it filthy, torn and stained?). That served to remind me just how easy it is to apply mods to 7DTD.

Wow, a detailed answer. Cool.

Yeah, part of the reason why I made this thread was because I saw posts back on 2022 that involves utilizing this mod launcher. Wasn't sure if people were still using it since I wasn't here during the pre-v1 modding scene.