Feature request: Per-profile mod directories

[Boobies]

It would be particularly useful to people using several modded versions of the game for the Fabric loader to automatically pick the correct directory so we don't have to manually swap the mods around whenever we are about to launch the game. For instance, I often use the latest release as well as the latest snapshot and have to manually run a script I've prepared to do it for me.

[sfPlayer1]

The usual way to do this is by configuring multiple profiles in the launcher, each with its own game directory and version.

[Boobies]

That works but seems wasteful. If I want multiple profiles for the same game version (e.g., because of incompatible mods), I need to install multiple copies of the same game version. The launcher already has a directory for the installed versions of the game.

[sfPlayer1]

It only duplicates the user data - mods, configs, world saves etc. - not the "version" in launcher terms including MC, fabric-loader, vanilla assets etc.

[Boobies]

"Only" is relative since the world saves by far take the most amount of space; several gigs is not at all uncommon.

[sfPlayer1]

But then those are not backwards compatible with older MC versions, the same applies to most mods and parts of the configs.

[Boobies]

Well that shouldn't matter. The same argument applies to Minecraft in general. If I decide to upgrade a world to a new version, it won't be backwards compatible. Yet, I have the option of doing so or not without copies (unless I ask MC to make me a backup). The argument does not apply to using the same version with different (incompatible) sets of mods.

[liach]

That is the fault of your launcher for copying unnecessary version data. You can just have two folders for your two launch configurations with the same loader+minecraft version combination and different content in the mods directory.

[Boobies]

I thought we are talking about the official MC launcher and I was going by the above answer which said that I'd need that data copied over. I am not currently at home so I cannot see my options. If there is a way to have different configuration folders but keep versions, saves, etc. in a single place, we can close this ticket.

[sfPlayer1]

What I am trying to say is that the user-side benefit for this is quite small/niche.

You'd still need multiple profiles in the launcher, have each profile set some system property like -Dfabric.modsDir=<some path> in the JVM args field without a nice gui element and then still run into problems with other folders containing potentially incompatible contents.

Alternatives on your side may include symlinking the folders you want duplicated across the game directories.

Liach's suggestion only covers the non-user-data as mentioned in my above reply.

Overall I'm not sure - it is fairly easy to add, but poorly accessible and unlikely to be used widely.

[Boobies]

I was thinking of having the Fabric installer set up the profiles properly and then letting the user take care of any edits later on.

[liach]

Eh, if this really becomes a feature, I only see it introducing more trouble than convenience. Even in vanilla, e.g. if you share a same game directory for a Minecraft 1.12 and a Minecraft 1.8 instance, incompatibility across game options (auto jump) arises; when you set to disable auto jump in 1.12 but happened to launch 1.8 once, the autojump setting is removed and when you open 1.12 again, autojump is back enabled (or reset to default)

Given even vanilla doesn't support multiple different game instances sharing a same directory, I'd argue against your proposal.

[liach]

And how about configs? If you want to have 2 sets of different config but want to share everything else (mods, maps, options, etc), should you ask fabric loader for this support? I disagree. And if we replace configs with mods, I don't think it is fabric loader's obligation either. It should, in my opinion, be an option in a minecraft launcher.

[liach]

Vanilla launcher allows you to configure custom game directories. Just put a set of mod into a custom game directory for your purpose.

[Artoria2e5]

Wrote a shell script for (eh) the copying and symlinking stuff. Just note that symlinks are far from universal; you need to be admin on Windows to have them. (Dumb I know.)

https://gist.github.com/Artoria2e5/d398dcbbde037ea115566855860e053a

[Hollikill]

Not sure if anyone is even checking this anymore, but I wrote a program that manages profiles quite nicely. You can find it at my website, accessible at this link:

https://hollikill.net/html/SFP.html

[sfPlayer1]

https://minecrafthopper.net/help/guides/changing-game-directory/ shows the vanilla launcher way.