Collection Mods - bcssov/IronyModManager GitHub Wiki

collectionmods

Collection Mods section is where you manage all mods that are going to be enabled in the game. In this section you can manage your load order, check for conflicts and of course apply the mod collection.

IMPORTANT: Before you do anything if the collections section dropdown is empty your first step is to create a new collection.

Creating a collection

First time you take a look at this section you will notice that the dropdown is empty. In order to be able to manage your mods press the "+" button next to the dropdown in order to create one. A new screen will be opened prompting you to enter a new collection name.

newcol

Deleting a collection

In order to delete a collection press the "-" button next to the dropdown. You will be prompted to confirm the action. This action is irreversible and will delete your collection patch mod as well.

Exporting Collection

Export button will prompt you on the location where to export your collection. Export function will:

  1. Export the collection data (name, mod order)
  2. Export the patch collection mod (if available)

Additional options can be accessed by toggling the ... button next to the export button. The supported options are:

  1. Export Order Only: This function will only export the collection name and mod order nothing else.
  2. Export Whole Collection: This function will export your whole mod collection (Patch Mod, Load Order and all Mods)
  3. Export to Paradox Launcher json (<2021.10): This function will export your mod order to a compliant format that Paradox Launcher can use (min version 2021.7.rc5 and max version 2021.9). Please note that Paradox Launcher only exports non local mods therefore Irony export will do the same.
  4. Export to Paradox Launcher json (>=2021.10): This function will export your mod order to a compliant format that Paradox Launcher can use (min version 2021.10.rc). Please note that Paradox Launcher only exports non local mods therefore Irony export will do the same.

Notes:

  • The collection which will be exported is the currently selected one in the dropdown
  • Collection is exported as a zip file

Importing Collection

Import button will prompt you on the location of the exported collection. Once a collection is selected for import it will:

  1. Import the collection data
  2. Import the patch collection mod (if available)

Notes: If a collection with the same name exists that you're about to import you will be prompted to overwrite that collection. If you say yes to the prompt then these actions will overwrite any existing collection data by that name. What this means is that it will overwrite the existing collection mod order, and it will delete any existing patch collection mod and overwrite with the one from the package.

Importing other collections

Next to the import button you'll notice the ... button. Clicking on it will allow present you with these options:

  1. Import from Paradoxos. This will import a valid Paradoxos collection and its associated load order into Irony.
  2. Import from the game. Irony will read the dlc_load.json and import its load order under a new collection named "Paradox".
  3. Import from Paradox Launcher. Irony will import from the launcher SQLite database active playset; its name and load order.
  4. Import from Paradox Launcher Beta. Irony will import from the launcher SQLite beta database active playset; its name and load order.
  5. Import from Paradox Launcher Json. Irony will import from a exported Paradox Launcher json load order (minimum Paradox Launcher version 2021.7.rc5). Irony will accept any paradox launcher json format (<2021.10 and >=2021.10).

Duplicating a collection

Just click on the duplicate button and Irony will generate a new collection using the windows file explorer copy file naming scheme. Or in short a number will be appended to the copied collection.

Renaming a collection

Just click on the rename button and the same screen will be opened as when creating a new collection. Just enter a new name for your collection and hit the OK button. Your collection and patch collection will be modified accordingly.

Merging a collection

If you click on the merge button Irony will offer you a prompt whether you'd like to do a Basic or Compress merge.

NOTE: If a collection already exists with a desired name (Merged prefix) Irony will prompt you whether you'd like to overwrite an existing collection. Choosing "yes" means Irony will overwrite the collection. Choosing "no" Irony will append a number at the end to avoid overwriting existing collection.

Basic Merge

The following things will happen:

  1. Irony will initiate file copy procedure following the mod load order and copy all the files into a huge mega mod.
  2. Irony will create a new empty collection, the name will be the same as the name of the collection you're merging; with a Merged prefix being appended.
  3. Irony will create a new mod under all which content will be dumped (the mod name will be the same as that of the merged collection)

Compress Merge

The following will happen:

Irony will take all mods from a collection and zip them in the mod folder individually (if you have 100 mods in a collection you'll now have 100 zipped local mods). Merged prefix will be appended to these individual mods along with the collection name. This behavior mimics <= 2.3 game behavior where all mods were zipped and is the cleanest "merge" type as the game will behave exactly as an "unmerged" collection as all mods are kept separately. The collection name will follow the basic merge naming convention.

Searching Mods

Unlike Filter Mods in Installed Mods section searching mods will highlight a match. Use the up\down buttons next to the textbox to navigate up\down. The search mods also performs a partial search by name or remote id. Additional filters can be applied using the following syntax:

  1. search term (supports OR operator syntax)
  2. Use && to split various filters
  3. Use || as an or operator
  4. Use -- as a negation operator. All fieldssupport negation operator.
  5. achievements:[yes|true] to include [no|false] to exclude
  6. selected:[yes|true] to include [no|false] to exclude
  7. source:[steam|paradox|local] (supports OR operator syntax)
  8. version:[version syntax] (supports OR operator syntax)

Example:

my mod && achievements:yes && source:steam && selected:no && version:2.0

Or operator example:

my mod || another mod && source:steam||paradox

Negate operator example:

--my mod && source:--local

Sorting Mods

Mods can be sorted by toggling the collection mod name column header. The grid supports sorting by mod name column header only.

Reordering Mods

The reordering can be done by using the numeric up and down textbox buttons, by directly editing the position number in the textbox or by draging and dropping the mod item.

Saving Options

The application will remember all of your options as soon as you perform an operation. What is remembered is the following:

  1. Sort order
  2. Search Mods text

Verifying Hashes

Irony has the ability to verify game and mod file hashes which can be used for MP diagnostics in case you find yourself in a situation where the game hashes don't match. An example use case would be:

  1. Via Irony you share share the load order with your friends as well as the json hash report(s) (using Export Collection Hashes and or Export Game Hashes context menu option)
  2. Your friends import the load order via Irony on their computers
  3. Your friends use the "Verify Hashes" context menu option to validate their installs
  4. If Irony report states that a certain file has any differences the player will sub\unsub from a mod and rerun the hash report
  5. In more extreme cases the mod which is problematic will be manually shared between players

The following procedure can save bandwidth.

Patch Mod Controls

2021-02-19_21-00-46

As of 1.12 version Irony will visually present you information that a Irony patch mod is created and allow you to either toggle on\off the patch mod or completely delete it.

Applying Collection

In order to reflect the collection on the game the collection must be applied this can be done by clicking the apply button. By doing so the changes should be reflected in the Paradox Launcher as well. In the newest Paradox Launcher versions (>= 2020.10) Irony creates a separate playset called "IronyModManager" and sets it as active in the Paradox Launcher.

NOTE: Making any changes via Paradox Launcher will not be reflected in the Irony Mod Manager. In order to make any changes to mod order you must use the Irony Mod Manager for that.

Launching game

Irony will apply the mod collection and then depending on what you set in the options section Irony will run the specified executable when you toggle the launch game command.

NOTE: If you have a steam game installation and steam is not running Irony will attempt to run steam before launching the game. This will allow steam to validate your DLC otherwise they will be unavailable to you.

Resume Game

Irony will perform the same procedures as when launching the game but it will append internally an additional game argument to signal to the game executable to load last saved game.

NOTE:

  • If this option does not show, then there is no valid save game present in continue_game.json
  • Irony will periodically verify if the resume game button needs to be shown or hidden

Conflict Solver

Clicking this button will initiate conflict solver. If this is your first time you will be prompted with a small dialog to select a mode (Default, Advanced or Analyze Only):

Default

This is the mode that was used in 1.0 version and in this mode Irony will respect the descriptor.mod dependencies tag and ignore mods that superseded mods via this tag. Default without localization will behave the same it will only skip localization folders.

Advanced

In this mode Irony will not respect the dependencies tag and instead it will treat these as conflicts. Advanced without localization will behave the same it will only skip localization folders.

Analyze Only

This mode will just analyze conflicts and show them, it will not perform any fixes or patching. This mode in is read-only. Analyze without localization will behave the same it will only skip localization folders.

NOTE:

  • Once a mod is set for the collection there is no supported way of switching to another version
  • A prompt to run Analyze or selected mode will always be presented on concurrent runs
  • This might take some time and might consume a lot of memory (depending on the number of mods being used). For more about conflict solver please see Conflict Solver section.
  • If you ran the conflict solver once and you've modified the collection please rerun the conflict solver again to allow Irony to clean up the patch mod.

Context Actions

By right clicking on a Mod you can perform the following actions:

  • Auto focus You can toggle whether the listbox will autoselect a moved object. This can result in the UI jumping to track the newly selected option.

  • Copy collection to clipboard Irony will copy mod names into your clipboard so you can share with others for debugging purposes (if needed).

  • Import mod order from clipboard Irony will check your clipboard for any valid mod names and if there are any present it'll import mod order from clipboard overwriting your existing mod selection and order. You can use this feature along with copy collection to clipboard; make your changes in some text editor copy that to clipboard and then toggle the import mod order option in Irony.

  • Export Collection Hashes Irony will export all mods file hashes which can be used to verify that the mod files are the same on all computers (this should be used for MP syncing)

  • Export Game Hashes Irony will export all game file hashes which can be used to verify that the mod files are the same on all computers (this should be used for MP syncing)

  • Verify Hashes This option validates an existing hash json report exported using Export Game\Collection Hashes option. Once the validation finishes, and if there are any files that mismatch, it will show a complete report of mismatched mods and files.

  • Open Mod File/Directory It opens the mod location in file explorer.

  • Open Mod Url It opens the mod homepage in the browser.

  • Open in Steam It opens the mod homepage in the steam app.

  • Copy Mod Url It will copy the mod homepage url to the clipboard.