New launcher version: 2021.10

[Deuterium Oxide]

Yuletide is fast upon us once more - Hence this is the last launcher update scheduled for the year. We are not all that keen on releasing too close to the holidays, as you might be aware.

In any case, 2021.10 brings some new features:

New stuff

• Playsets are now synced with the PDX Mods backend - Of course this only happens for mods that actually originate from PDX Modsin the first place. This will allow your playsets to appear on all your computers and hopefully also stay in sync across installations. It might also transpire that console games can pick up your playsets, but that will depend on the in-game implementation of the game itself. More on playset ownership here.
  • Please note: Not all games have the playset feature turned on in the PDX Mods backend. We'll turning it on as we get OK:s from the game teams.
• Mods that are not flagged as supporting your OS will now have a notification of that attached
• An option to activate the playset you are currently viewing / editing in the little menu

Changes

• Improved messaging when closing the launcher during ongoing operations
• Improved messaging when a mod name is already taken (usually by you, earlier )
• Startup time improvements
• Removal of the "news" section when no news are available
• Launcher update completion now more visible

Fixes

• Some layout bugs in the login window
• Mod uploading of mods bigger than 1GB
• Text validation in input fields now working as expected
• Database connection timeout handling

And to all, much merriment and a beauteous new year!

/D2O

 

[Deuterium Oxide]

Could there be a toggle to disable cloud syncing? It occasionally starts to spam me with "cloud state different, which do you want to keep?"
I only have one machine. I won't use this feature and I'd prefer if it didn't bother me about syncing anything.

Ideally, the cloud sync should never spam you - So that's clearly a bug. I'd rather fix that than make janky workarounds Still, if the problems don't go away I'll take "disable sync" under advisement!

Now, could you tell us a bit more about how the problems come about? Do you use exclusively Steam Workshop, PDX Mods, local mods or a mix? Did you interact with PDX Mods web application before the notifications? Do you have any indication or hunch on what may have triggered the desync - resetting system clock perhaps?

 

[Deuterium Oxide]

If this causes issues with playsets, steam mods etc, then you should think really hard if such inherently local functionality should be tied to an always-on model.

Indeed - Clearly an oversight, and one we are now aware of and formulating a solution for. In the mean time, should the servers prove temperamental again, cloning the playset will give you a working copy for you to edit that is not tied to an account.

@rubert - More information on playset ownership can be had here. And yes, of course the aim is to not break any existing features when we introduce new ones. In this case we almost succeeded

 

[Deuterium Oxide]

I did read that but that didn't really explain much. Here's bunch of questions, related to my earlier questions and some new ones:

• Is there option to opt-out from the cloud syncing for the playsets? Personally I think any cloud syncing should be opt-in rather than opt-out.
• Are the playsets public or are there any plans to make them public in the future (similar to Steam's collections)
• If they are public or are planned to be public, will it be opt-in or opt-out? This definitely should be opt-in.
  • If it's opt-out there almost certainly will be "<offensive description>" playsets which the users probably never meant to be public.
• Since this is currently limited to PDX's own mod site, I assume it won't be syncing anything if the user has only mods from Steam installed, is that correct? Are there plans to extend this to Steam mods?

There are several ways to avoid playset sync:

1. Don't use mods from PDX Mods - Sync is only supported with backends that have support for playsets (or "playset-like" functionality)
2. Don't allow the launcher to speak to the network - Just like you do it
3. Don't log in - The solution for the "personal information" sensitive player (see also the GDPR discussion in the linked article)

Playsets are fully private at the moment. There have been discussions on allowing users to share their playsets, no current time-line exitsts for this type of feature. Should playset sharing come to pass, it will require explicit action by the player.

Should Steam start offering a feature similar to playsets, we'll evaluate the success of the current feature implementation and make a decision on if supporting their version would be worthwhile. So the answer would be "no current plans to support this for Steam Workshop".

 

[Deuterium Oxide]

launcher freezes for a good 20-30 seconds on startup since the update. does it every time, just genuinely runs really bad

might have something to do with how its trying to sync my mods to the steam cloud but, like, i havent downloaded anything else and it wasnt like this before

Interesting. Bad, but interesting - although according to our telemetry this version is the best-performing yet, this may explain a fairly substantial number of outliers where long start-up times refuse to budge. I'll message you privately and we can discuss your particular setup!

 

[Deuterium Oxide]

Version 2021.10.1 is now in production - This is a hotfix release with a single fix in it:

• Local users can now edit all playsets, regardless of ownership. Only the owner of the playset can cause it to cloud sync.