Autosorting

RimPy mod sorting conception

Mod order does not matter if mods do not interact with each other in the way that causes issues. That means we can sort mods as we want to, if that do not cause issues. RimPy sort mods in several steps:

1. It sorts mods alphabetically
2. It uses hardcoded rules to move several mods (Core, HugsLib, Multiplayer, etc) to appropriate places
3. It applies rules provided by mod authors in About.xml files and on mod steam pages
4. It applies community rules
5. It applies current user created rules

The idea of RimPy autosorting is based on users input. Users troubleshoot issue themselves, create appropriate rules and share them with others. We need to make sure that rules are applied similarly, so rule created by one user will solve issue on for others too. That is why we need to unify mod order before applying rules, and that is why first step - alphabetical sorting is needed. Actually, that does not matter, we could also sort mods by packageId or other parameter, but we have chosen mod names for that.

That is important to mention that if users do not have custom rules created, then there will be nothing to apply on step (5) and their mod order will be same.