What are manifest files ?

[Wolfseye]

Being new to all that, I am slowly geting used to Mods and how they work. I have been dealing with mods for all sorts of games for over 10 years by now, but the way the Mods work in ETS2/ATS is different from how they work with other Games. Like with priorities etc, which I never have seen before anywhere else.

And I noted that some Mods & Models come with Manifest files. I also know that there is already one manifest file that comes with the Game. So now, what do I do when I already have a manifest file, but a Mod comes with yet another, I can only use one file I assume. And what are manifest files exactly ?

I hope i am not bothering you with these kinda beginner questions too much. If so, please say so, and I will try to find my answers elsewhere.
Thank you.

Wolf

[Vøytek]

I was also using mods in many games and here it's very easy, because it's supported by SCS, so we don't have to modify game files with any tools and so on.
Some mods change the same file, that's why loading order is important.

manifest file contains short information about the mod. ETS is reading manifest file of each mod to display its name and icon in Mod Manager.

[Wolfseye]

I was also using mods in many games and here it's very easy, because it's supported by SCS, so we don't have to modify game files with any tools and so on.
Some mods change the same file, that's why loading order is important.

manifest file contains short information about the mod. ETS is reading manifest file of each mod to display its name and icon in Mod Manager.

Thanks for your reply.

And yes of course, its always good if the Game developer supports modding, like for example in ARMA which is I think the biggest modding i ever came across. The Game devs do really literally everything for the people to make mods for, and the amount of mods available there is insane.

But the way how the mods work on this Game, ETS or ATS, is just so different like any other Game i have came across before. Mod order priorities, I cant remember any Game where you had to worry or think about these things. And that makes it quiet complicated, or at least when you start using Mods for this Game. Would you describe Manifest files as the "config" files for Mods, would that be a good description ? So I can wrap my head around the concept.

Not many Mods come with Manifest files, I guess it depends on the Mod and what it does. And to my orginal question, if multiple files have a manifest file (and you can only use one with the same filename in the folder obviously, how does it work with multiple Manifest files ?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

Wolf

[ETS2-User]

What du you mean with multiple manifests? There's one manifest file per mod. Every mod should have one nowadays. After all they exist for almost 2 years now.

[Wolfseye]

Ok, maybe you misunderstood what I ment. Lets say I download a couple of mods, that come with manifest files. Usually its a bunch of folders and a few single files, among those usually the Manifest file. So now Mods (unless from Steam Workshop) go into the Mod folder in Documents\GAME NAME\Mods. And so, if I put mutliple Mods in there which also have Manifest files, which usually are always named the same way, then it would mean multiple files with the same name in the Mod folder. Unless you're telling me, those files have to put somewhere else.

I am new to this, m8. I am just trying to understand the whole system of how Mods work for ETS2/ATS.

Cheers

Wolf

[Vøytek]

Hm... Every mod is a .scs or .zip archive.
Every mod also has its manifest file.
When the game loads every single mod (archive), it also reads its manifest to display that mod's name, icon and description in Mod Manager.

[Wolfseye]

True, most Mods are .scs files. Then many mods / skins etc come packed, which include the .scs file usually. Some are having the file/folder structure. So its not just .scs file the game reads, but also zipped files ? Sorry, I didnt know that. I assumed .scs was the only format.

As an example. This Mod here comes packed, which includes manifest file and a bunch of folders. So how do i use that now ?

WinRAR_2017-03-07_13-17-05.png (61.59 KiB) Viewed 5582 times

Wolf

[Vøytek]

It's a zip file so you just place it in your mod folder and it'll work (you can change its extension to .scs, it won't matter as long as you see that folder structure inside)

[LoaderSaints]

Mod files have always supposed to be normal ZIP files but for some reason modders have always had the habit of naming the ZIP files as SCS files. These files are not actual SCS files. The only real SCS files are those in the game's installation folder and some very few mods' files (like ProMods).

[Wolfseye]

Thank you, I didnt know that.

Wolf