Progress Update: 09/18/26
Hello everyone! On the heels of the new milestone, I have a few pressing things I want to talk about moving forward.
Advanced Maps is coming out publicly soon. It's Row Crop System, PF Config, and Foliage Destruction all rolled into one mod. Right now, RCS + PF Config are merged, with Foliage Destruction is up next. I merged them to make things easier to manage on my end. Nothing changes for you: same behavior as the separate mods, and you don't have to reconfigure your maps. You do get some new stuff, like more implements that can use rows and better row logic.
Release order stays the same as always. WIP builds go to Tier 2/Collections with instructions included. Once something is stable, Tier 1 usually gets it, then it hits the public release.
On support. Tier 1 is mostly a support tier, meaning I sit with you and work through whatever the game is doing. That eats a lot of time some days, and takes away from the other things I do like writing. ShoddySmile and SoilStabilizer take some of that load so I can actually get work done. Thanks to both of you for minding the fence!
Here's the problem. There is a LOT more script mods out there now, and most of it is jammed in with zero thought about compatibility. Just "make this feature work" and done. A lot of it hides its own errors too, which makes it even harder to help with.
So I can no longer promise my stuff plays nice with everything anymore. I never really could, but now there's way too much of it to even try. What I will keep doing is writing as defensively as I can and leaving everything else alone as best I can. I try to write on top of what's running rather than changing base game data other scripts may depend on. Scripts are not like mods. They do have their own environments, but it all runs together in the same shared space. Every single script is working on the exact same running game process, in other words. That's why scripts are the only things that can really conflict with each other. They are all running over the same functions in the same base game.
For conflicts, here's the process: turn off all your script mods, including scripts included with maps and other mods. Then, add them back one at a time until it breaks. A conflict always takes at two mods, and the one barking isn't always the cause. A lot of times one mod will throw errors because another mod changed or removed a base game value that the one throwing errors relies on. It's not as simple as "this is showing up in the stack, it caused an error". That's always been a very common misconception. The stack itself just shows what ran leading up to the error, usually successfully.
To find out if a mod/map is including scripts - that can honestly conflict just as easily as any other script - open the modDesc.xml of that mod/map and look for these sections:
<extraSourceFiles> is for loading general use scripts into the game. These always run.
<specializations> is for loading vehicle/placeable specialization scripts into the game. This one is a little different, as they don't actually run unless a vehicle/placeable is set to use them.
Support isn't going anywhere. The guys and I will help however we can. The alternative would be raising the price to cover all that extra digging, and I'm not doing that. So instead you get what you've always gotten from me: "here's what I'd do if I were you." Our track record is good and I think it stays that way. I just have to limit what I officially support.
And to be clear, I don't care what anyone makes or puts out. I'm not mod police lol. This is only about what I will personally spend time dealing with.
More updates as I get more finished, later!