AE Mod

You can but you can't upload it if there are .dlls in your mod folder as dll's are a security risk and cannot be installed by a user. That is why mods are installed through the mod manager service so the host can approve the dll's and the host is essentially installing teh mod through the game panel not the user so that the host knows whats in the dll's that go in. the security risk is that if we allowed some types of fils, like dll's to be ftp'ed to a server the server could be turned into a 'DDos' machine and other security issues. Many people have mods other than AEMod installed and when the user "Downloads the Mod folder" and then runs the installer and then tries to upload the Mods folder it fails and is blocked if there is a dll in that folder. We had offered AEMod to be installed through the game panel for our users but can no longer offer it because of the installer. Many users have tried his instructions, which are very time consuming and very difficult for many server owners who never use FTP and after they get an FTP program set up and download the Mod folder and run the installer they are then greeted with a failure to upload that folder due to the fact that there Mods folder has dll's in it. We were able to run AEMod up until now by having the game panel mod manager do what the installer does in making sure other mods were installed first and so on, at least with those mods that the creators of those mods would allow us to allow AEMod to edit - some do not want that to be done to tehir mod. Now its not a mod that can be used on a hosted server as the mod manager will not run an installer, again for security reasons and because it maybe changing mods that belong to another creator who has asked that there mod not be changed.

Your present a mod with an installer and in interface for that installer to modifier things chosen by the person installing the mod. In the post it was relatively easy to offer the mod as we could force the mod manager to install the mods that needed to be there to be overwritten by your mod prior to installing your mod. The problem is that a hosted server cannot run that installer and provide access to those choices the installer offers and there are no instructions on how a player can install the mod via uploading the .cs files they want to use or not use and/or configure the mod to turn these things on or off. My company has worked with modders for years on many games and supported them in many ways including offering modders free servers and have worked with many of them to make tehir mod comparable with commercial servers so the mod could be available on commercial servers.. I have never run into a modder that did not want to make their mod available to those that rent commercial servers. I have only twice sine we went into business many years ago had to say no to carrying a mod, the other time was due to the fact that it was as security issue which allowed players to gain admin access to the server and in that case the modder corrected the issue so it could be carried. this was an issue that came up with this mods from many hosts and I was asked to contact you since we work so often with modders to make this easy on users on many different hosts. This is the first time I find that I have to report back to them that the modder is not interested in getting the mod to work with a hosted service.

Since this discussion goes further than I originally expected, I'll give my opinion on it too.

First of all, I'm not really a supporter of external installation tools for installing single mods, even though I clearly see what your motives are for adding one to the AE Mod. Personally, I would not be interested in having to explain such a complex and dynamically adapted installation process individually every time. So I think your decision here is absolutely justified.

Concerning changes to mods on request of hosters, I have a very divided opinion. As a modder myself, I am always happy about any form of criticism and suggestions for improvement to make the mod available and pleasant for as many people as possible. However, as a modder, I still decide for myself which of these suggestions I approve of and do not accept. As the author of the mod, this is still my good right.
Since tigermaster obviously doesn't consider the support of a few hosters as relevant here as a simple installation thinks, with less effort for him, I can understand very well why this has priority for him.

From the modder's point of view it is also not always the best approach to listen to every request from server hosters. If you look at the example of DLL mods on rented servers, I would never go ahead and not publish a mod as a DLL just because a hoster tells me to. Here the fault lies clearly with the hoster and not with the modder. It should also be kept in mind that the hoster earns money with the modder's free work, not the other way around. The argument of security for DLL files is fine and all, but the security problem is not the DLL itself, it's obviously the server structure at the hosters side.
If I can break out with a DLL, the server simply doesn't seem good enough secured to me. Likewise I can get a V-Server from every halfway good hoster, which often has much more performance than the borrowed GameServers, and on which I can install and drive what I want, for cheaper prices in relation. If I do illegal activities like a DDOS bot on there, it is the duty of the hoster to shut down my server.
Therefore it is obvious that the hoster has to fix the problem and support DLLs and not the modder. If he refueses to, well, he is simply not able to compete with other hosters. But this is not the problem of the Modders. It's that simple.

Furthermore I know that installing AE mod on the rented servers of other hosters is no problem what-so-ever. I download the server folder, install the mod with the installer and upload it again. Then if it's possible, why, as a modder, should I focus on individual hosters and not the other way around. After all, the hoster earns the money, not the modder who does it as a free-time activity. Otherwise I can still recommend to my users which hosters support my mod.

As I mentioned above, if it is justified criticism, there is no reason for the modder to deal with it as he would probably do with any other user. In the end, however, the modder decides for himself what he implements and what not.

This is not intended to attack anyone specifically, but to clarify what the induvidual motives are and who has to adapt to the circumstances.

Best Regards
~Kronox

Actually Kronos, I support modders using dll's and when I asked a modder to write a mod specifically for the hosted service to bring server UI options to the hosted server I suggested dll's as a better way to handle thrive code. for many reason. I have no problem with dlls other than I do not allow them to be uploaded via FTP. That is why we offer almost every mod available through the mod managers so users have access to the modders of their choice. Our mod managers is not much different from mod.io which we also support so users can install mods that way. FTP is always a risk for a hoster and some do not even offer it. Its is not that we 'don't handle security well' but often due to how many games are set up as servers, this includes Eco, we have to have security holes in the system to allow the game server to connect and run correctly - this means we have to do other things to protect the users and not allowing the upload of dll's is one of them. The other issue is allowing an unknown .exe to run through the mod manager. Although it is said that nothing else is touched and only the mod is installed the security of the mod manager which does not allow anything but vanilla files to be touched calls errors and is reporting a whole number of files that it is trying to change that its not permitted to as they are not vanilla files touching and or is asking for files that are not there (from other mods not installed) other than just installing its own files and updating some vanilla files. A hoster has the responsibility to not only the client trying to install a mod but to everyone on that same system. A dll that we are unfamiliar with uploaded by FTP could be crafted to do any numbers of things as well as grant access to other servers etc. Our services has supported modders for many years for many games and more often than not we give modders and group of modders free servers for testing and modding on so we do a lot to make support of what they do available and much of what we have learned about security and keeping users safe has come from modders themselves which over the years have accidentally found ways that we could be breached, so our security rules and efforts for the most part have come from modders themselves.

tig3rmast3r

As for instructions on how to extract the game files from the installer, where was that given?

The AE Mod installer never recognizes Arashi's Nature in my install- don't know if that's through fault of something i've done or really rather than AN has since been updated. It always throws this at me when i try to run the server:

System.Exception: Error in Clay at 46: Partial declarations of 'Eco.Mods.TechTree.ClayItem' must not specify different base classes (CS0263)
Error in Clay at 46: Partial declarations of 'Eco.Mods.TechTree.ClayItem' must not specify different base classes (CS0263)
Error in Sink at 49: Type 'Eco.Mods.TechTree.SinkObject' already defines a member called 'Initialize' with the same parameter types (CS0111)
Error in Sink at 58: Type 'Eco.Mods.TechTree.SinkObject' already defines a member called 'Destroy' with the same parameter types (CS0111)
Error in Sink at 72: Type 'Eco.Mods.TechTree.SinkItem' already defines a member called 'SinkItem' with the same parameter types (CS0111)
Error in Sink at 77: The type 'Eco.Mods.TechTree.SinkItem' already contains a definition for 'HousingTooltip' (CS0102)
Error in Sink at 78: The type 'Eco.Mods.TechTree.SinkItem' already contains a definition for 'HousingVal' (CS0102)
Error in Sink at 92: Type 'Eco.Mods.TechTree.SinkRecipe' already defines a member called 'SinkRecipe' with the same parameter types (CS0111)