How do I start new game with identical settings, mods and mod settings, with different map seed?

[Tommy Smith]

I am a little embarrassed to ask this after playing so long, but how can I do it, without literally taking screenshots of ALL settings, and manually setting them up?

I know how to export map - use map exchange string and seed, to get to the same map, but how settings works (especially since game restarts after changing mod settings from new game menu), is still a partially mystery to me.

Of course I can do it manually, but I wanted to challenge myself to complete certain tasks with identical settings with couple different map seeds and compare times. From my calculations I need 32 saves so yes, I want to ask first, if there is better way.

[Hurkyl]

There's a button to reroll the seed.

So, after importing the map string, you can use that to change the seed while keeping the rest of the settings the same.

[Tommy Smith]

> while keeping the rest of the settings the same.

That's the part. HOW do I make the settings the same?

When I have savegame loaded, and quit to menu, and start new game, there are many settings, especially for mods, that are different (for example mergable chests always default to 1000 spaces, no matter how it was set).

[Hurkyl]

When you import a map exchange string, it sets the settings to those of the map you imported.

[Tommy Smith]

apparently not the mod settings, just base game settings...?

[Hurkyl]

My experience with tweaking settings is only for unmodded game, so I guess I don't know if if mod settings behaves differently.

[Chindraba]

I just caught something in the second post which wasn't clear to me, perhaps to others though in the OP.
The map exchange string holds all the WUBE settings to regenerate the same map. It does not hold any of the settings from mods, nor does it even hold the list of which mods are enabled. It is everything, and only, that is in the WUBE-built GUI for generating a map, the GUI which has the preview button as well as the exchange string import and export buttons.

Some mods have their own settings menu which allow you to set the 'defaults' for new maps, and others do not. Even for the ones which do, not necessarily every possible setting is included. You will have to go through each mod and see if it has any global settings or defaults before you will know which things it will remember from one game to the next. The settings you care about which are not carried over by the mod will, indeed, have to written down, or covered in a screenshot, and then set manually for each new game you make with a different seed.

It is possible, and highly probable, that the mod settings for a new game are controlled by a text file, likely a JSON file, in each mod's directory. If that is the case, and if you have the skill and inclination, you could edit that file to set how each game should start. I can think of nothing else which is likely to reduce the work of making all 35 seeds have exactly the same starting conditions.

At least all the setting in the WUBE set are included in the map exchange string, so you will not have to start at full default settings.

Good luck with your testing.

[jamiechi]

Originally posted by Tommy Smith:

> while keeping the rest of the settings the same.

That's the part. HOW do I make the settings the same?

When I have savegame loaded, and quit to menu, and start new game, there are many settings, especially for mods, that are different (for example mergable chests always default to 1000 spaces, no matter how it was set).

I use the WideChests_104.2.0 mod, and have never had issues like this. It might be possible for another mod to override the WideChest mod settings. Without a list of your mods, I can't help with this. (AAI and SE mods may change some things for the WideChest mod.)

Note that the list of mods are saved in mod-list.json in the AppData/Roaming/Factorio/mods folder, and settings for the mods are in mod-settings.dat (a binary file).

User interface stuff and keybindings are in AppData/Roaming/Factorio/config.ini

Without a mod, when starting a New game, files in Core and Base determine the start settings that you see when starting a new game. Also, I am assuming you are starting the game with the Freeplay Scenario. I am not aware of any mod that changes or sets up all the starting settings. Try searching Factorio Mods for this.

I am currently playing Offline and quite often modify Core or Base files in the Offline folders as needed to get what I want. Playing offline is a good way to experiment and figure out what you want.

It is also easy to open up Your Save zip file and see what is placed in there. Extract the file somewhere, look what is there, change some stuff, and zip it back up. Run from there. :)