Azrael's Mods Guides

Modwright

The Drop Pod (RimWorld players)

Only want one side? The first start asks whether you want the mod manager (The Drop Pod), the mod uploader (The Launch Pad), or both, and shows only what you pick. Change it any time under Options > Appearance > Show; nothing else changes. Settings from an earlier version keep both.

The DROP POD tab is for the mods you play with. It finds RimWorld through your Steam libraries (or a folder you pick with Game folder...) and reads every mod from the base game and DLC, the game's Mods folder and the Workshop. Nothing in the game folder is changed until you press Save to game, which writes ModsConfig.xml and keeps the old one as a timestamped backup next to it. It refuses while RimWorld is running, because the game writes its own list when it closes.

  • Mods: tick a mod to make it active; Up and Down (Alt+Up/Down) move it, or drag one or several mods to a new place (dragging an inactive mod into the list activates it there). Sort orders the active mods by their dependencies and loadAfter/loadBefore lists (version-specific ones included), base game and DLC first; where no rule decides it keeps your order, or goes A to Z. Mods whose rules loop are named, not dropped.
  • Modlists: Save as... keeps the active mods as a named list and Switch to it makes one active. More imports and exports lists (also RimWorld's own .rml files), copies a share code (DROPPOD1:...) to paste in a chat, adds a list from one, and sends the active mods to a Steam collection: a new one, or one you made before, updated to match exactly (inactive mods are taken out; the base game, DLC and local mods without a Workshop id can't be in a collection). Collections go through the Steam client, so Steam must be running and signed in with an account that owns RimWorld.
  • Problems: missing or inactive dependencies, mods loading before what they need, broken load rules, incompatible pairs, mods for another game version, mods installed twice and unreadable About.xml files. The base game and DLC (any package ID starting Ludeon.) are never asked for About.xml fields, and are read even without an About.xml. For your own mods, which sit in the Mods folder and come from the Workshop too, right-click the mod or its problem and tick Ignore "installed more than once" for this mod; it stays off until you untick it. Activate needed mods ticks installed dependencies; Download missing subscribes to linked Workshop items through the Steam client when it is running (Steam then keeps them up to date), else fetches them with SteamCMD and your saved login into the Mods folder; Check for updates asks Steam which Workshop mods are newer, and GitHub about Mods folder mods whose About.xml links a GitHub repository (those can be updated in place, the old copy zipped into the mod-backups folder first).
  • Instances: New... makes a separate setup with its own options, mod list, saves and log (through RimWorld's -savedatafolder switch), optionally on another RimWorld install. Pick it in the Instance list to edit its mods; Play starts it. More exports an instance to a zip (with or without saves), imports one, opens its folder or deletes it. Mods are shared between instances.
  • Saves...: each save with its game version and how its mods differ from the active ones. Use this save's mods makes the active list match (and offers to download missing Workshop mods); only the top of each save is read, so large saves open at once.
  • Test and Read the log: Test starts the game and watches its log; Read the log reads the last one. Errors and warnings are grouped and each names the mod most likely at fault: its code in the stack trace (read from the mod's DLLs, never run), its Harmony patch on a method there, a file in its folder, or its package ID.
  • Insight: hints about the active mods: methods two mods both rewrite with Harmony transpilers, prefixes that can stop other mods' changes, mods that patch per-tick methods, mods heavy on textures or definitions, and your rules file's notes. It also loads every active mod's Defs and Patches the way the game does and shows XML clashes: a mod replacing another mod's def, a patch overwriting or removing what another mod's patch changed (the one lower in the list wins), patches that find nothing (red errors in the log) and XML files that aren't valid.
  • Details beside the list: the picked mod's preview, author, version, needs and needed-by, modlists, your note and description, with buttons for its folder, Workshop page and change notes. Right-click a mod for Why is this mod here? (the rules that put it there) and Note and colour....
  • Undo: Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y undo and redo list changes. Every Save to game is kept in Tools > Load order history, with what was added, removed and moved, and any earlier list can be put back.
  • Tools: Find the broken mod for me (halves the suspects each round until one is left, then puts your list back), Load a Steam collection as a modlist, Compare with a friend's list (from a share code, with Make mine match), Load times (each start timed from the log), Clean up unused mods and settings (to the Recycle Bin, Workshop mods unsubscribed), Turn downloaded copies into subscriptions (SteamCMD copies in the Mods folder handed to Steam, which keeps them up to date), Optimize textures (a DDS beside each PNG of the mods you tick, which RimWorld 1.5+ loads faster and keeps far smaller in video memory; Undo removes them), and Back up the newest save before a risky start.
  • More: export the active mods with their mod settings as a .zip (import takes it too), set launch options for the normal game or an instance, and freeze an instance: its Workshop mods are copied in so Steam updates can't change them, and linked into the Mods folder only while it plays.
  • After Check for updates, the change notes of mods with updates are shown, with risky lines marked. The log window's Report to the author opens a ready bug report on the mod's GitHub issues or Workshop comments. Right-click Modwright on the taskbar to start RimWorld or an instance without opening the window.

The Drop Pod on the command line

SteamCmdHelper droppod lists                  the saved modlists (* marks the one in use)
SteamCmdHelper droppod instances              the instances
SteamCmdHelper droppod active [--json]        the active mods in load order
SteamCmdHelper droppod problems [--json]      problems with the active mods (exit code 1 on errors)
SteamCmdHelper droppod switch <modlist>       make a modlist the game's active mods
SteamCmdHelper droppod play [<modlist>]       start the game, after switching to the modlist

Add --instance <name> to any of them to use an instance. A desktop shortcut to SteamCmdHelper.exe droppod play "Heavy run" --instance Medieval starts that setup in one click.

For mod authors: RimWorld tools in The Launch Pad

Right-click one of your mods > RimWorld:

  • Test in a clean colony: starts the mod with only the game, the DLC and what it needs, in a "Launch Pad test" instance, straight into a test map (-quicktest). Close the game and its log is read for errors that point at the mod. The upload confirmation warns when the last test had errors or the mod changed since, and when a dependency was updated it suggests testing again. Compatibility grid shows the last result per supported game version.
  • Play it live: links the mod's folder into RimWorld's Mods folder (a directory junction), so each build is in the game at once. Only links Modwright made are ever removed; the folder itself is never touched.
  • Edit About.xml: the common fields with the Drop Pod's checks live, and rules picked from your installed mods.
  • Patch check before upload: with RimWorld found, the upload confirmation runs the mod's XML with only the game, the DLC and its dependencies, and names patches that find nothing and defs it takes over from a dependency. Without the game it still flags a def defined twice, a texPath into the mod's own Textures with no texture, and English Keyed texts nothing in the mod mentions.
  • Read a player's log: paste a log or a pastebin/gist/hastebin link and see only the problems in your own mods.

Your own load-order rules

No community rules list is bundled. To add your own rules, pick a JSON file with More > Use my own load-order rules file. Keys are package IDs; every field is optional, and comments and trailing commas are allowed:

{
  "rules": {
    "some.mod": { "loadAfter": ["other.mod"], "loadBefore": ["third.mod"] },
    "big.framework": { "loadFirst": true },
    "slow.mod": { "note": "Slows down long games", "incompatibleWith": ["clashing.mod"] }
  }
}

Sort follows the rules, Problems reports incompatibleWith pairs, and notes show in Problems and Insight.

From the README on GitHub.