TBMM/README.md

# Techblox Mod Manager
A manager that handles everything needed to use mods for Techblox.

**Note:** If you already have a mod installed the manager won't know about what files it has until it's updated through TBMM. If you uninstall the mod before updating it, it'll only remove the plugin dll and then treat the other mod files as part of Techblox.

## Features
* Download and run GCIPA if needed
* List, install and uninstall mods
* Keep track of files added by mods and remove them when the mod is uninstalled
* Preview support for the game and mods for it

## Mod requirements
* For a mod to be listed, it needs to have a regular release (so not a prerelease) with exactly 1 recognised attached asset.
* That asset can be either a dll if the mod doesn't have any other files, or a zip archive.
* If the zip contains a folder named Plugins, the manager will unzip it to Techblox's directory instead of the Plugins directory.
* The mod dll must use the same name as the repository, including casing. The manager will rename single dlls automatically but can't handle zipped mods with different names.
* If you have any other files as part of the release, the mod one (that needs to be downloaded to the game) must have the same name as the repository.
* The release tag must be the same as the assembly version of the mod with an optional `v` prefix. It can also have a `-preview` suffix if it **only** works with preview versions of the game
* Add the mod to the list at https://git.exmods.org/ExMods/html-site/src/branch/master/site/mods/modlist.tsv

### Examples
* For a mod named ExampleMod that also needs ExampleDll to work: zip the mod and the dll up in an archive named ExampleMod.zip and make sure the dll is also named ExampleMod.dll
* For a mod named ExampleMod that needs to add an asset to the game, put the dll in a Plugins directory and the asset where it should be in the game and zip that together (Plugins/ExampleMod.dll and TechbloxPreview_Data/...)
* For a mod named ExampleMod that has a separate app for it in the same repository or you want to attach something else in the release, *just do it:* as long as the zip is named ExampleMod.zip the mod manager will (only) download that zip
* If you only have a single dll, it can be named anything, though why would you not name it the same?!