Same mod different checksum

[Son_of_Kalev]

Hello

I am creating my first mod and I tried to play it in multiplayer with a friend. Our base game checksums are the same (1835), but when we load up the same and only mod the checksums were different, we still tried to join up in a game but did not succeed. We tried uploading it to steam workshop and both subscribing to it(both tried to upload it too, the checksums were the same on both tries), but also didn't work. We both tried to send original mods files through google drive to make the checksum same(me to him, then he sent the same files back to me, in case of metadata), both of our mods were the same size. We also verified the game files through steam and unsubscribed from all the mods. We also deleted everything in the mod folder. We also edited both of the .mod files to correct the path to mod and also checked that the rest of the file's content is the same. We both could play the mod in singleplayer.

We have previously played several other mods successfully together. We also played a CK2 converted game, in which we had a similar problem with checksums. We got that one working by uploading it to google drive and then both downloading it from there(me also). Then got the same checksums(probably metadata issues). But it did not work with my created mod this time.

The mod includes new provinces, cultures and factions.

 

[Mr. PanDa^^.]

Hey, here is the person referred to as friend in that text. If you have any questions towards me then feel free to ask.

 

[AndrewT]

Our base game checksums are the same (1835)

Is that as viewed in the main game menu or MP lobby? Or only in the launcher? Because that latter place only shows that the checksum ought to be, not what it actually is.

Can you play MP with all mods disabled?

 

[grotaclas]

Do you happen to use different operating systems? Different operating systems treat capitalization and special characters (e.g. ä, á, Å) differently. This can lead to different checksums and even different behavior (e.g. when your mod doesn't override a base game file, because it uses a different capitalization and you have a OS in which capitalization matters).
I'm not 100% sure if capitalization matters, so the first thing which you can check are special characters. Make sure that all files in your mod only contain the following characters:

_-. 0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

If the base game file which you override has a different character(e.g. '), you have to use that one as well, but for your mod it is best to be conservative with the names.
If that doesn't help, it is probably the capitalization, but this is not always easy to check, because I think some file managers automatically show the first letter of a filename as uppercase even if the file actually has a lowercase first letter.

Disclaimer: I'm not working for Paradox. I'm just trying to help people.

 

[Son_of_Kalev]

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I uninstalled and then reinstalled the game and it made the checksums the same. Although I had verified the game, there must have been something different after all. But now everything is fine.

 

[Mr. PanDa^^.]

Is that as viewed in the main game menu or MP lobby? Or only in the launcher? Because that latter place only shows that the checksum ought to be, not what it actually is.

Can you play MP with all mods disabled?

This was the reason. I think it was a bit of a miscommunication on our part with eachother when checking basegame checksums. That was different on the OP, oddly the verification didn't fix it but reinstalling did.

It was odd though that the basegames suddenly had different checksums as that has never been a problem.