Modversion 3.1.85 is now live and includes a number of nice features to help solidify the approach.

If a mod activated by a player has a SQL error, the Mod ID and the SQL error will be displayed to the screen and then mod will not be loaded.
You can see an image here:

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/843203260802269215/877588575909212170/unknown.png?width=960&height=447

Also, we have reduces the restrictions on SQL in the data.sql:

• You no longer need to do anything special if you are including the % character
  
• Multi-line SQL commands are now successfully executed!

Finally, your folder names do not need to be integers!

Cheers!

Hi mod team! We're excited to post up the final mod update, version 3.1.83. This final update before the upcoming public release of mods makes some key changes and introduces a built-in mod manager and auto-merge for mods.

On the main menu of the modversion, you'll now find a Mod Configuration menu that will allow you (and players) to pick, activate and give priority order to mods.

This menu is driven by the latest metadata provided by the latest version of the STF Mod Uploader -- specifically icon.png and manifest.json which are created when uploading your mod now. If your mod is showing up only as a number, please be sure to re-upload it using the latest version of the tool.

We've updated the access to the data database (data.db) to allow multiple mods to be merged easily. Any mod that provides a data.sql file will have this SQL run against the game's data.db on launch. With some careful authoring of your SQL, you can create mods that are update-proof and very well set up to merge with many other mods.

This means you should immediately delete your pre-existing data.mp3 file and replace it with at data.sql file.

Two rules of thumb:

• one statement of SQL per line. SQL statements cannot be spread over multiple lines
  
• if using % in a string, escape it with a second % (such as "15%%")
  
  We've tested the majority of ready-to-go mods to make sure they work in the new setup. We'll have one more shot to make any minor cleanups before the release next week, so be sure to post your feedback!
  

We've pushed public release of mods support back by at least a week. We've been working with the final implementation of mod merge on all the platforms, which is of course harder than anticipated.

Up next is a mod creators only release of 3.1.85 which will feature the new mod setup in-game and give everyone in the creators beta a solid set of days to test it out and make any final mod changes.

Then we will go for the next major revision to the entire player base and be live at last!

Modders! With version 3.1.81 now live for modeversion, we're coming around the final bend and headed into the final countdown.

We want to focus this update on a big mod change that is coming -- let's call it Auto-Merge -- that will make your mods more stable, easier to use with other mods and likely to need far less maintenance.

We're now looking at the week of August 16th for the release date for mods. However, our emphasis at this stage is on as smooth as possible release and experience for players, so we will continue to delay if needed.

We are continuing to build up our list of mods to feature and promote during the sale week, so we hope you'll ping us if you're working on something you think would do well in the spotlight.

Join us on our Discord[discord.gg] if you have any specific questions!

Auto-Merge and the in-game Mod Management Menu are not yet available. This update is detailing improvements we plan to release next week to encourage discussion and help everyone prep!

We owe a big thanks to @TheWelp on Discord for building out the Frontiers Mod Manager earlier during the beta. This route for mod merging was successful for many and also helped drive modders to deliver SQL along with other assets needed by their mods.

We're excited to share that the basic mod management within the game will offer the ability to merge multiple mods into the data database upon its release next week.

This mod management menu will allow you view and prioritize the mods in the order you'd like to have them run, and it will create mod_config.txt for you nicely.

Upon restart with the new mods configured, any enabled mod that desires to mod the database can provide a data.sql, which will be applied to the modversion's data database in priority order. Importantly, this:

• Allows multiple mods to change the game database (add ship components, add a Profession, add a story) with lower change of conflict
  
• Allows modders to write SQL that will generally be update-proof and not require an update when we update the modversion of the game
  
• Allows modders to recommend a mod's position within the priority ("this mod should go last")
  
• Allows mod SQL to be executed in locked-down environment in which all non-essential SQL commands are disabled

While it is still technically possible to provide a data.mp3 file in your mod, it will not be recommended and we will be reaching out to every modder before release if these files are still present and working to get them removed if unneeded.

A new Mod Upload tool has been published as well. It will standardize your mod so that its title and icon can be seen in the game (when the mod management menu is released next week).

Our recommendations for icons are:

• PNG required
  
• 256x256px square
  
• Use large fonts if text is included

- Added new PreCondition check for Prisoner Cell availability
- Added 4 new Mission Step types for skill checks (Stealth, Negotiate, Intimidate, Stealth & Electronics)
- Added option to force a Mission to accept on creation
- Added option to link a Mission to a friend or foe Contact
- Improved option for setting Missions as friendly

Modders! We've released another update for the modversion based on the on-going community feedback and feature requests within story modding land.

We've got a number of story mods in the works and a wealth of documentation and some growing examples of what you can do, so check them out in this Google Doc going . We hope you'll join us there if you want to mod in this area:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WfDmr57cHxaiouh-YSJRvGoYFIHv7QiqXSu8PUQLUEE/edit#heading=h.crbnmf4o9ka7

We haven't been able to get to a point we're happy with for the player-facing side of the mod support, so we're pushing back the Mod release date probably 1 or 2 additional weeks. We're still targeting the first half of August and we're close, but we want to make sure its as smooth as possible for players.

We are continuing to build up our list of mods to feature and promote during the sale week, so we hope you'll ping us if you're working on something you think would do well in the spotlight.

If you have any questions or need any help with your specific idea, please join us in Discord[discord.gg] or post to this Steam group discussion board -- we're monitoring both and helping as we can to add extra documentation, provide examples and answer questions (including, "is XyZ moddable?").

Join us on the Discord if you have any specific questions!

- Added ability for BlockGroups to inject randomness (runMultiple=4) into storylines
- Mod-specific spritesheets can now include all images required for Talents, including the small versions previously required to be in crewcombatbatch and combatbatch sprite sheets.
- Fixed issues with mission segments and multiple steps when segment type was COUNTER_SEPARATE
- Mission proc-gen weights now uses the new documented format for greater flexibility in settings weights
- Easily test a mission by setting its proc-gen weight option2= -1
- Fixed issues with templates for professions that were in a mod that was then removed