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Difference between "Game folder" and "User folder" for mods

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting: Bugs, Questions and Support' started by Ananel81, Aug 29, 2024.

  1. Ananel81

    Ananel81
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    Sep 7, 2021
    Messages:
    1,308
    Hi.
    I know that in the user folder you can find unpacked & repo mods files. But what's the difference between putting zip files of mods in the user folder and in the game folder.
    Doing both seems to do the same thing. Does one have a disadvantage?
     
  2. ghost_cauli

    ghost_cauli
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    Jul 14, 2022
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    It's mostly about the fact that the mods folder is loaded over the game folder without actually replacing anything, which keeps your base game safe. If you have a mod that replaces the entire pickup.zip in your mods folder, you can simply remove it and go back to the original one. If you replace the one in the game folder, you'll have to manage backups on your own.

    In other words, the game folder is for the game, the mods folder is for you.

    You could argue that technically mods folder is slower, but in the age of cheap affordable SSDs it is pretty much placebo.
     
  3. DaddelZeit

    DaddelZeit
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    From my own observations, BeamNG.drive handles file overwrites like this:
    Game Files -> Mods -> User Folder -> Cache

    Only files in the mod folder will be considered mods and can be handled as such by the mod manager. While installing into the game files, unpacking into the userfolder or unpacking into the cache directory loads the mod,
    you will not only lose all ability to manage it, but it becomes just about undetectable by the game - that means no information about it in the logs (and by extension no possible support should something go wrong), and no possible overwrite checks (for example: the mod valildation tool).

    The stages of the file system in of themselves are an overwrite of the game files. They are loaded in order after the game files themselves and contained files will be favored above the previous. This way, the game files stay untouched and you end up with sort-of a virtual machine that does not even have access to the outside OS.
    This also enables you to swap out userfolders really easily.
     
  4. Ananel81

    Ananel81
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    Reading your answers, I realize that I may have expressed myself badly.
    I wasn't talking about putting a mod in BeamNG's internal files instead of in the mods folder. I was talking about putting it in "Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\BeamNG.drive\mods" instead of "Users\PC\AppData\Local\BeamNG.drive\mods".
    Or I didn't understand your messages and I'm sorry about that.
     
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