Explore zip files within the mods folder

[WanderingCat27]

A feature I would love to see is allowing for users to place plain zip files full of mods into the mod folder. It is just a much simpler approach than the curseforge modpack for the user creating the pack.

Many fabric servers ive been on and even one i had myself just post zip file full of mods to extract into the mods folder cause its just easiest. Ive seen many number of times users have issue with extracting zip files or just not being technical and not understanding they need to extract. Ive seen users just place a zip into the mods folder and get confused why it does not work. Or to extract it in the folder but leave the mods within the extracted folder. Would just alleviate one of the infinite number of issues less technical players end up getting stuck on.

I have no idea how hard this would be to implement. I suggest it as a very easy feature for less technical users (and still technical users I would love to just stick a zip file in and be done or if mods update just replace the zip).

[AlexIIL]

From a technical perspective this is fairly simple - mods are zip files, just with a different file extension (.jar). In addition, we already have lots of code for extracting mods from within other mods (thanks to the JIJ system), so actually loading them would be fairly simple.

The question then is then should we support this, or do something other than ignoring them. For example we could show an error message if a zip is found, and looks like it might contain mods (either because it has a manifest.json file like curseforge modpacks do, or just contains lots of mod files inside of it).

(Original discussion is here: #38 (comment), for anyone curious).

[WanderingCat27]

From a technical perspective this is fairly simple - mods are zip files, just with a different file extension (.jar). In addition, we already have lots of code for extracting mods from within other mods (thanks to the JIJ system), so actually loading them would be fairly simple.

The question then is then should we support this, or do something other than ignoring them. For example we could show an error message if a zip is found, and looks like it might contain mods (either because it has a manifest.json file like curseforge modpacks do, or just contains lots of mod files inside of it).

(Original discussion is here: #38 (comment), for anyone curious).

an error can be helpful altho im not sure how it would be handled. would it be a crash because the mod folder contains a zip file? what if the user just left the file in on accident after extracting. That might lead to more confusion rather than less. And if the warning would be designed for a non technical user to actually read it would need to be displayed in a very simple manner. many non technical users dont even read the crash logs and if they do sometimes it just is too overwhelming and comes off as gibberish. The zip file issue is not that hard to diagnose I find and is one of my go to questions when ppl have issues with mods (every technical issue is extra work tho still) so an error would only serve the user and only so far as the user actually reads it. I dont think an error imo would be necessary if the feature were not to be added cause im not exactly sure crashing over finding a zip is preferable to booting up and loading nothing or crashing from accidentally leaving the zip in the folder in what would have otherwise loaded up perfectly fine.

it might get confusing with curseforge modpacks. idk that ive seen a fabric server that uses curseforge modpacks for fabric only plain zips (not to say they rnt used ofc to be clear). I dont have a massive data set of servers ive been in maybe 10-20 tho so its only my personal experience for that respect and very well could be completely off. I just find the approachability of sticking mods into a zip to be greater than the current modpack format. I just think if quilt is going to be reworking the loader its a worthy addition. It is just one less step for the user.