Hello! This patch is all bugfixes and improvements to the way Steam Workshop was integrated into the game. I wasn't happy with how slow the game had become to start up, and there were both bugs and complications in how the mod load order worked that was getting in the way of development, and also people who might have more unusual uses cases which involve multiple installs.
For the majority of people, these changes should be transparent. If you play TCA through Steam, and that's the only place you ever play it or have it installed, you shouldn't notice any differences aside from having to reconfigure your mod load order.
The important takeaways are:
- The mod load order is now stored per install
- Workshop mods are no longer accessible or loaded if you run the game without Steam
- Steam download/deletes Workshop mods only when the game is not running
- If a mod has asset paths that collide with another mods, the mod will disable itself to prevent bugs
Info for modders
The game is a lot more strict now about asset name collisions (the paths which appear in a mod's assetlist.txt), because collisions between these paths can cause some pretty annoying and difficult to track down bugs. I've checked all the mods currently released on Workshop, and there's zero collisions between all of them so as of writing there shouldn't be any issues.
This is an issue that can basically be 100% avoided by just having your mod's root asset folder be something like "why485_a10" or some other unique name. The mod tools already made a big deal out of this, but it's not enforced by the game.
Bugfixes
- Pages should no longer be skipped in the Dogfight and Strike menus on repeat openings of the menu
+ Might fix other strange and obscure bugs related to the instant action UI
- Pages should no longer be skipped on any of the Map, Wing, and generic "Multi-Selector" dialogs if closed on a page greater than 1
- Double loading of mods on startup should no longer happen
- Mods should no longer be downloaded if they are already installed
- Mod load order no longer shared between different installs of the game, causing confusing conflicts
- Mods should no longer be missing from the load order if you don't go into the Modding menu and click Save
- The game no longer redownloads every Workshop mod on startup and every time the game tries to reload data
- Game no longer pauses when going back to the main menu with the Cancel button from the Modding menu
The full changelog has more technical details, and can be found here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1347550/view/545605572912743253
