How to get mods to load first time every time...

[zaltocleotl[Banned@Paradox]]

No more restarting the game to get mods to load, load them first time.
Open your Steam Library, right-click the game on the left, click on Properties, and in the Launch Options box in the bottom of the newly opened window, copy and paste this...

"E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Cities Skylines II\Cities2.exe" %command% -developerMode

All one line, no break, and replace E: with the location of your Cities installation where you find the Cities2.exe file. You can forget everything after %command% if you don't want developer console in your game. If you leave it, use TAB in-game to open developer console.

Mods will load first time, every time. Interesting, isn't it? With out the Paradox Launcher, mods work first time every time. Very, very, interesting.

My playlist of mods this works with https://steamcommunity.com/app/949230/discussions/0/4361250968410148527/#c4334229775336611046

Doing this may also explain why I have so few CTDs. I pretty much only get a crash to desktop when making a change to lanes using LaneManager mod, and rarely with MoveIt. I haven't had a crash to desktop otherwise since pretty much after the first or second patch/update. Might be completely unrelated, too. Who knows with a game this badly written.

And YES disable the beta launcher if you don't use this kind of shortcut and stick with the Paradox launcher for Heaven's sake.

The Paradox launcher is a use tracker, that's all.

EDIT: Yeah, so I started the game using the usual Paradox Launcher three times in a row and no mods unless I restarted the game. Then I started the game three times in a row without using the Paradox Launcher in the way I describe above and all three times mods loaded first time and work.

EDIT 2: I then started the game three times using the shortcut I describe above, and hit CONTINUE instead of LOAD each time... and guess what... mods loaded fine first time all three times!

HILARIOUS!!! The Paradox launcher is screwing with the mods loading. Predictable. These people are all incompetent.
No wonder I didn't get why so many folks were having crashes and lssues... the Paradox Launcher is a pile of crap code too. GET RID OF IT!

[Mr.D]

Can't be arsed reading all that but the gist is the game sucks because it keeps breaking all the mods you use?

[zaltocleotl[Banned@Paradox]]

Originally posted by Mr.D:

Can't be arsed reading all that but the gist is the game sucks because it keeps breaking all the mods you use?

lol no, the opposite, really. If you want it short and simple...
The game loads mods every time if you don't use the Paradox Launcher.
Simple enough?
Let me elaborate. Without the Paradox Launcher, my game loads faster, doesn't CTD unless it's a mod, and loads mods first time every time even when I use CONTINUE instead of LOAD.
I'll make it even simpler...

Paradox Launcher is why mods don't load the first time.
PERIOD.

Considering the fact that using the Paradox Launcher is meaningless to the player, why even use it? It's just a tracking device that sits between you and the game you paid for. It requires you to do some extra clicking for no purpose other than for Paradox. Start the game without it, and your mods will load every time. And you might not have crashes, as I don't, except when a mod is being actively used, and we all know 'Mod support is in beta stage'.

[norbertlepsik]

Originally posted by zaltocleotl:

Originally posted by Mr.D:

Can't be arsed reading all that but the gist is the game sucks because it keeps breaking all the mods you use?

lol no, the opposite, really. If you want it short and simple...
The game loads mods every time if you don't use the Paradox Launcher.
Simple enough?
Let me elaborate. Without the Paradox Launcher, my game loads faster, doesn't CTD unless it's a mod, and loads mods first time every time even when I use CONTINUE instead of LOAD.
I'll make it even simpler...

Paradox Launcher is why mods don't load the first time.
PERIOD.

Considering the fact that using the Paradox Launcher is meaningless to the player, why even use it? It's just a tracking device that sits between you and the game you paid for. It requires you to do some extra clicking for no purpose other than for Paradox. Start the game without it, and your mods will load every time. And you might not have crashes, as I don't, except when a mod is being actively used, and we all know 'Mod support is in beta stage'.

Hey there - so I just followed your guide, and unfortunately some mods - of course the crucial ones - are not appearing. To be exact: anarchy and better buldozer.
When I open the game, I've received the following error message 3 times:

[object Object]
Colossal.Logging.CustomLogHandler:LogFormat(LogType, Object, String, Object[])
UnityEngine.Logger:Log(LogType, Object)
cohtml.LogWriter:Log(Severity, String)
cohtml.LogHandler:WriteLog(Severity, String)
cohtml.LogHandler:WriteLog(Severity, String, UInt32)
cohtml.Net.ILogHandler:SwigDirectorWriteLog(Int32, String, UInt32)
cohtml.Net.cohtmlNativePINVOKE:View_Advance(HandleRef, UInt32, Double)
cohtml.Net.View:Advance(UInt32, Double)
Colossal.UI.UIView:Update()
Colossal.UI.UISystem:Update()
Colossal.UI.UIManager:Update()
Game.SceneFlow.GameManager:UpdateUI()
Game.SceneFlow.GameManager:Update()

I'm not really familiar with what this could mean, so I'm hoping you might have a better insight for this.
Also, when I've opened the game using your method (or when I did it before), the main menu showed that "Mods loading - Initializing mods" with a circle, that supposed to show the %, but nothing appeared there.

[zaltocleotl[Banned@Paradox]]

You have something else going on. I have no idea what.
I know this works on the three installations I have on three PCs, my two nephews who play, and two friends who play it. It's working for all of us, except one nephew who also has the continuing 'object reference' issue still ongoing and nothing seems to get his mods to load well.

As for the difference in "Mods loading - initializing mods" it looks identical for me. I'll ask my nephews and friends doing this if they notice any difference.

[norbertlepsik]

Originally posted by zaltocleotl:

You have something else going on. I have no idea what.
I know this works on the three installations I have on three PCs, my two nephews who play, and two friends who play it. It's working for all of us, except one nephew who also has the continuing 'object reference' issue still ongoing and nothing seems to get his mods to load well.

As for the difference in "Mods loading - initializing mods" it looks identical for me. I'll ask my nephews and friends doing this if they notice any difference.

I was afraid of hearing something like what you've described :( So the investigation is still continuing for me haha

[zaltocleotl[Banned@Paradox]]

This game is so convoluted and partially done that there is just no way to know what the hell is going on with it.
It's like trying to troubleshoot an entire ship, but the systems are all different and don't interact well and some don't even have diagrams or instructions for them.

[bootjac]

I haven't been able to launch with the launcher since the march update... but skyve works... I still CTD sometimes, but that might just be my system getting overheated (it's old, the fans go into jet plane mode for a few minutes, sometimes they game crashes, but not always)

tl;dr = start the game from skyve, instead of the launcher, or "bare", you may get better results

[norbertlepsik]

So after a complete reinstalling and resubscribing to mods, the error message has gone, however some mods are still not appearing, even though I've opened the game multiple times.

- anarchy is available, however when I open for example the road panel, the button is not there (even though I set it up in the settings)

- better buldozer is not available
- tree controller either
- find it is not working either

but other useful mods such as move it, plopping growables works just fine.

[sternenstaub70]

Originally posted by zaltocleotl:

"E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Cities Skylines II\Cities2.exe" %command% -developerMode

All one line, no break, and replace E: with the location of your Cities installation where you find the Cities2.exe file. You can forget everything after %command% if you don't want developer console in your game. If you leave it, use TAB in-game to open developer console.

It may be a dumb question, but what information is stored in the variable %command% ?
It's definitely not a standard windows variable like %APPDATA% or %TEMP%.

[zaltocleotl[Banned@Paradox]]

Originally posted by sternenstaub70:

Originally posted by zaltocleotl:

"E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Cities Skylines II\Cities2.exe" %command% -developerMode

All one line, no break, and replace E: with the location of your Cities installation where you find the Cities2.exe file. You can forget everything after %command% if you don't want developer console in your game. If you leave it, use TAB in-game to open developer console.

It may be a dumb question, but what information is stored in the variable %command% ?
It's definitely not a standard windows variable like %APPDATA% or %TEMP%.

You know, it's been so long since schooling I don't remember 100%. If I remember right it tells the program that the shortcut is to be treated like a standard command to open the .exe file as an executable (command line) on its own and not rely on any usual or programmed calls to start another app or program alongside or parallel.
But it isn't a variable with a value, there is no value ever set for it, and there is no substitution statement. It is not an 'argument' which is used to pass outside information into the .exe file, it is only a parameter which does whatever the programmer of the .exe allows for the switch/call/tag/parameter to do. CO decided what %command% would allow and what it would do when they wrote the program file. Or they allowed the usual, standard "start it on it's own like a big boy program without training wheels" behavior. A programmer can change things so that it would do whatever they want. They can also make it do nothing with the next update/patch/fix or they could change it to do anything they wanted it to do when you add the %command% parameter. It is up to them. But basic vanilla would be 'treat it like it was started normally on it's own' or 'just start it'.
But like I said, in this case, it is just saying to the Cities2.exe "Hey, run and don't worry about what you usually start up alongside it."
So now it doesn't call and open ParadoxLauncher, it just starts itself (Cities2.exe) all by itself.

I await a more recent programming/coding student or practitioner to clarify.
Or correct.
LOL

If you want to learn more about this, google or search for terms like
"what do parameters do in a program shortcut"
or
"executable file shortcut parameters"
or anything about parameters for a program shortcut

[zaltocleotl[Banned@Paradox]]

My current playlist of mods that all load just fine on first try using the "No PDX Launcher" fix above. Copied and pasted from the PDX Mods website for my account.

Playlist: 1
18 mods
10.44MB

DependencyPack
DependencyPack
0.36MB
V.1
Required by: Gooee, LegacyFlavour, LegacyFlavour, ExtendedTooltip
Enabled

Unified Icon Library
Unified Icon Library
0.61MB
V.10
Required by: Anarchy, Anarchy, Better Bulldozer, Better Bulldozer, Line Tool, Line Tool, Tree Controller
Enabled

I18n EveryWhere
I18n EveryWhere
0.63MB
V.18
Required by: Anarchy, Anarchy, Better Bulldozer, Better Bulldozer, Tree Controller, Asset Packs Manager [Beta]
Enabled

ExtraLib
ExtraLib
0.39MB
V.7
Required by: ExtraLandscapingTools, ExtraLandscapingTools
Enabled

Gooee
Gooee
1.39MB
V.10
Required by: LegacyFlavour, LegacyFlavour, ExtendedTooltip
Enabled

Road Wear Remover
Road Wear Remover
0.01MB
V.1
Enabled

Move It
Move It
0.09MB
V.15
Enabled

Traffic Lights Enhancement Alpha
Traffic Lights Enhancement Alpha
0.7MB
V.4
Enabled

Anarchy
Anarchy
0.86MB
V.8
Required by: Drive-In Cinema Asset
Enabled

Line Tool
Line Tool
0.04MB
V.9
Enabled

Better Bulldozer
Better Bulldozer
0.38MB
V.6
Enabled

ExtraLandscapingTools
ExtraLandscapingTools
1.7MB
V.5
Enabled

LegacyFlavour
LegacyFlavour
0.23MB
V.7
Enabled

ExtendedTooltip
ExtendedTooltip
0.11MB
V.1
Enabled

PedestrianPathfinding
PedestrianPathfinding
0.36MB
V.2
Enabled

Free Range Camera
Free Range Camera
0.37MB
V.3
Enabled

NoDogs
NoDogs
0.01MB
V.1
Enabled

Traffic
Traffic
1.48MB
V.4
Enabled

[norbertlepsik]

Originally posted by zaltocleotl:

My current playlist of mods that all load just fine on first try using the "No PDX Launcher" fix above. Copied and pasted from the PDX Mods website for my account.

Playlist: 1
18 mods
10.44MB

DependencyPack
DependencyPack
0.36MB
V.1
Required by: Gooee, LegacyFlavour, LegacyFlavour, ExtendedTooltip
Enabled

Unified Icon Library
Unified Icon Library
0.61MB
V.10
Required by: Anarchy, Anarchy, Better Bulldozer, Better Bulldozer, Line Tool, Line Tool, Tree Controller
Enabled

I18n EveryWhere
I18n EveryWhere
0.63MB
V.18
Required by: Anarchy, Anarchy, Better Bulldozer, Better Bulldozer, Tree Controller, Asset Packs Manager [Beta]
Enabled

ExtraLib
ExtraLib
0.39MB
V.7
Required by: ExtraLandscapingTools, ExtraLandscapingTools
Enabled

Gooee
Gooee
1.39MB
V.10
Required by: LegacyFlavour, LegacyFlavour, ExtendedTooltip
Enabled

Road Wear Remover
Road Wear Remover
0.01MB
V.1
Enabled

Move It
Move It
0.09MB
V.15
Enabled

Traffic Lights Enhancement Alpha
Traffic Lights Enhancement Alpha
0.7MB
V.4
Enabled

Anarchy
Anarchy
0.86MB
V.8
Required by: Drive-In Cinema Asset
Enabled

Line Tool
Line Tool
0.04MB
V.9
Enabled

Better Bulldozer
Better Bulldozer
0.38MB
V.6
Enabled

ExtraLandscapingTools
ExtraLandscapingTools
1.7MB
V.5
Enabled

LegacyFlavour
LegacyFlavour
0.23MB
V.7
Enabled

ExtendedTooltip
ExtendedTooltip
0.11MB
V.1
Enabled

PedestrianPathfinding
PedestrianPathfinding
0.36MB
V.2
Enabled

Free Range Camera
Free Range Camera
0.37MB
V.3
Enabled

NoDogs
NoDogs
0.01MB
V.1
Enabled

Traffic
Traffic
1.48MB
V.4
Enabled

I got some help on discord, some lovely people found out my issue - it was the gooee mod which left JS related files in the mods folder. Now all of my mods are working. Still, I'm keeping your suggestion, and keeping the "no pdx launcher" option on :) Finally some happy days are coming, first time since the game has launched!