Dependencies

A mod states what it needs in its manifest: the full id of each mod it depends on, and the versions of it this one works with. The bundled ironlark:watchman, which reads a fact the gamemode publishes, is the live example:

[needs]
"ironlark:freeroam" = "^0.1"

Ranges

The value is a semver requirement, matched against the [mod] version the installed copy of that mod states:

Written	Accepts
"^1.2"	1.2.0 up to, not including, 2.0.0
">=2, <4"	any 2.x.y or 3.x.y
"=1.4.1"	exactly 1.4.1

An install holds one version per mod id, so there is nothing to solve: a range either matches the installed version or the session refuses to start, naming both the requirement and what is actually installed. A key that is not an author:mod id, or a value that is not a requirement, refuses the manifest itself — and a mod that needs its own id refuses too.

Enabling and load order

Enabling a mod enables its needs: the session’s set is the closure over [needs] of what the server asked for, so an operator lists what they want and never its plumbing. See Choosing mods.

The load order — and with it init order, the same on every peer — is derived from the same table:

• Dependencies load before dependents. watchman loads after freeroam, always.
• The two baseline mods lead, being everyone’s floor.
• The operator’s list order is only the tiebreak between mods neither of which needs the other, and a mod the closure pulled in takes the position of its earliest requirer.
• A cycle refuses the session, naming the mods in it.

The session-start log states the derived order, one pinned id@version per mod — that line is the receipt for everything on this page.

Packs: a suite as one name

A pack is a mod that is only pins — kind = "pack" under [mod] — for an author who ships and tests several mods as one product:

[mod]
version = "2.3.0"
kind = "pack"

[needs]
"ullanar:ak12" = "=1.4.1"
"ullanar:ak12-maps" = "=0.3.0"

Two rules, both enforced at the manifest:

• A pack pins exactly (=x.y.z). Its members take ranges on the libraries they use; the pack’s job is to name the combination that was tested, and a range there would freeze whatever it happened to resolve to.
• A pack declares nothing. No archetypes, no sounds, no hooks, no code. Enabling the pack is enabling its members; the pack itself is not announced to joining peers, because there is nothing of it to run.

Versioning the pack is versioning the suite: bumping one member’s pin is a new pack version, which is what a server operator actually upgrades.