FAF mods and default FA installation

[Altair4]

Newbie here who just downloaded the FAF client.

I'm a bit confused regarding how FAF handles mods. As far as I know if I download something, say Blackops, via FAF, it stores the mod in its own directory in ProgramData separate from the default FA install. Is that true? Does that mean that if I downloaded Blackops (or another mod) from the GPG forums and installed it normally, I'd have to redownload it via FAF to play it online, and vice versa if I download it from FAF, I have to normally install it to play singleplayer (via the default .exe)?

Additionally, I saw in one of the patch notes that Sorian AI has been integrated in FAF, and I should uninstall it along with LEM from my normal FA installation. I thought mods are kept separate?

Can someone clarify the relationship regarding mods between FAF and the existing FA installation? Thanks in advance.

[FunkOff]

There are basically two kinds of mods that work with FA: .scd mods and mod-manager mods.

Mod manager mods are mods that you could download in the GPGnet mod vault, back when GPGnet was a thing. You would host a game, open the mod manager, and then select which mods you wanted, and these would be applied to your game.

Mod manager mods have several limitations, however. One of them is that, because you have to load the lobby in order to simply select the mod, you cannot mod the lobby with a mod-manager mod.

Therefore, FAF uses .scd mods, which enable modding the lobby, and other things that mod-manager mods cannot do. .scd mods load as soon as FA starts, enabling the power lobby, Nomads, and other cool things.

To keep things simple and use a standard, all mods that are "featured" on FAF have been converted to .scd mods, even if they were mod-manager mods originally. This how it works for phantom, black ops, extreme wars and the like.

However, because FAF uses .scd mods, it can be incompatible with other .scd mods. This is why it is recommended that you uninstall .scd mods, like sorian's AI and sorian LEM.

[Altair4]

Thanks for the clarification. Just to make sure, it's not possible to just have 1 set of mods that can work for both FAF and the default installation? For example, if I dl the .scd version of blackops from FAF it won't work when I run the default FA .exe?

So if I wanted to play with the Sorian AI mod singleplayer in a skirmish game I should put the .scd files in the gamedata folder, and when I want to play online with FAF I should remove them?

[uberge3k]

Thanks for the clarification. Just to make sure, it's not possible to just have 1 set of mods that can work for both FAF and the default installation? For example, if I dl the .scd version of blackops from FAF it won't work when I run the default FA .exe?

Correct. You should not use non-FAF BlackOps when using an FAF executable, as the two are incompatible.

So if I wanted to play with the Sorian AI mod singleplayer in a skirmish game I should put the .scd files in the gamedata folder, and when I want to play online with FAF I should remove them?

Nope. After installing FAF, you can run its executable in single player mode too! Simply create a shortcut to C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\forgedalliance.exe, and use that when you want to play singleplayer. Since it has all the benefits of FAF (up to date patching and integrated Sorian AI), the only reason not to use it would be if you had a singleplayer mod that wasn't yet compatible with FAF such as Total Mayhem.

[the-f]

how to run FAF in singleplayer (e.g. able to save a game) with mods like BO ?
i can run FAF with C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\forgedalliance.exe, but i cant select any mods.

thanks for the help

[Vault54]

You have to first make a shortcut from that exe and then on shortcut right click -> properties there is target section where you have to add parameters to launch blackops.

So target should look like this:

C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\ForgedAlliance.exe /init init_blackops.lua

[eXcalibur]

in the long term, a mod vault is planned which should also work without the FAF client started....

(just look up the post of zep on this page: viewtopic.php?f=32&t=882&start=110)

but for right now the solution described by Vault54 is the only one....

[Ze_PilOt]

I think you didn't understand the message. While a mod vault is planned for a distant future, the FAF featured mod will stay as it is for now. FAF is an online multiplayer lobby, and we don't support offline play (unless it's working out of the box).

That's not because it's impossible, but because I've limited time to work on this, and the priority goes to online functions.

[AnyWho]

If i want to delete mods i dont want. how do i do that?

[ColonelSheppard]

Documents -> MyGames -> GPG -> FA -> Mods

try to use search funciton next time MrThreadnecro :/