In case anyone is wondering, I am still subscribed to it, I have not seen a workshop download update (where it could be removed without my consent), and can verify I'm still using it in game. So it still exists.... However I can't view the workshop item, but I can see it in the subscribed mods list. It's a bit of an odd state

Well that was an entertaining 2 weeks..... anyways -- nothing to see hear folks, move along, move along now.

It's common in the software industry to agree to a non-compete agreement in order to accept a position of employment. It's also common as part of this agreement to a device invention / intellectual property contract whereby all code and software that a software engineer writes while employed is property of the employer.

I think the public advertisement of boformer as a CO employee on their Steam profile was one of many bad-faith moves on their part. To some, this may have been viewed as an endorsement by CO.

I'm still not understanding how a DMCA applies here...the original framework by Andreas Pardeike, the Harmony mod, and Harmony redesigned are provided under the MIT license... it just doesn't add up to me.

I think I found it for Windows:
"%LOCALAPPDATA%\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines\Addons\Mods"

So a DMCA is the oldest and easiest trick in the book. It's the modern-day cease and desist letter. The basis of the legislation was to prevent financial harm to license holders and protect copyright holders. Last I knew it was formed during the Napster era to prevent people from downloading music that was copyrighted. I know this because I was served a DMCA back then for an mp3. Where the DMCA applies to this case is unknown to me and another example of the mis-use of the DMCA.

There will be a need to demonstrate how an alternative to a community mod would prevent future revenues and profits by CO for this DMCA to be relevant. But for that to happen, CO would need to prove how the original Harmony mod (technically a community contribution and not provided by CO) has contributed to future revenues of CO.

A potential conflict of interest arises here because the author of the original mod is now an employee of CO, and I'm guessing was not employed by CO when Harmony was released years ago. Last I knew, the Steam Community can not be used for financial gain, which is why the "DONATE to Patreon" button exists on many mods -- because paying for downloading a mod on the Steam Community would be against their Acceptable Use Policy.

Is there a way to install a mod without Steam Workshop?

I'm old enough and bored enough of similar situations like what is going on here... running their course and ending poorly. So in the interest of preparing for the worse and continuing to use this great fork, I am interested in a way of installing it via bypassing Steam Workshop.

I have done this with Factorio for mods that go abandoned or if I wanted to run an older copy of the game that is only compatible with older versions of mods.