
Originally Posted by
bbrass10
Actually, that's not an installer/uninstaller. It's just a mod manager, or a mod switcher. It places the burden of managing mods on the end user. For instance, the user must specify which files from the vanilla installation are required by the mod. How many users are likely to know that information?
A mod installer/uninstaller/launcher would be a tool that works like InstallShield. It would allow modders to "package" their mods along with a set of rules as to how they should be installed, and distribute that package to end users. When the users install the mod, the installer would track changes to the installation like a version control system, so that it can revert back to any previous state. Duplicate files like "readme.txt" would be archived rather than overwritten, so that the user can access them by mod name and version. It would also install a program launcher which allows any given mod or set of mods to be selected via a command line option, which would be used by shortcut icons on the desktop and in menus. The launcher would perform any necessary preparations prior to launching the application. Of course, the installer would include an uninstaller, as well as a "system restore"-style utility that reverts the application to a previous state in case something goes awry.
In short, it will be less work for modders to package and deploy their software; for the end-user, managing duplicate mods would be as easy as Windows' Add/Remove programs and recovering from disaster would be as simple as "System Restore", with additional support for log files that can report the nature of the problem to developers and users.
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