cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/54821902

So I’m new to modding PC games. I wanted to recommend a way using a mod manager called Amethyst-Mod-Manager, which installs and manages game mods from Nexus Mods. It has native support for almost 100 games listed at https://github.com/ChrisDKN/Amethyst-Mod-Manager/wiki#supported-games . But one can add manually more games to the list, but I didn’t test that out. Just tried out modding Stardew Valley for the first time, and plan on trying Cyberpunk 2077 too.

My little documentary of the steps and what is needed:

  1. Download and install the application. Choose from https://github.com/ChrisDKN/Amethyst-Mod-Manager#install options, I chose the AppImage for testing. If it doesn’t have self updating, I might go for Flatpak later.
  2. To download and manage mods from the app, you need an account on Nexus Mods. There is a free tier (which I use) with limitations such as download speed, but it does not cost any money. A new account can be created at: https://users.nexusmods.com/register For me it took a few minutes before the verification email landed, so have this in mind.
  3. If not already connected, in the Amythyst App go to Settings > Connections and click “Login via SSO”. You should be connected to Nexus Mods now and can start adding mods.
  4. Add a game to the list. But first you need to download the game, in order it to be detected. I play on Steam and downloaded Stardew Valley in Steam (because its small, and I wanted to test it quickly). Then come back to the Amythist App and add the game, it should automatically find the location and configure it.
  5. Then I clicked the “Wizard” button on the app and installed “Install SMAPI”.
  6. On the main page of the App, click “Nexus” button, and choose “Open Nexus Mods”. This will open a new tab in the App, listing all mods for the game. Choose what you want to install, in my case I chose “SMAPI” again, the “Content Patcher” and “CJB Cheats Menu”. Click the “Install” button for the mod.
  7. This should open the page in your external web browser (in my case Firefox) and ask you to open the link. Click it and select “Slow download” (if you are on free tier) and the download process should start. It will install the mod for you.

It’s exciting to finally be able to mod PC games as well. And I hope this helps you figure this out, if you are new to this too. Especially so on Linux, where modding was always a bit problematic before. But this makes it so much easier for me to finally try it out. Have a nice day.

Programming@programming.dev

  • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    2 days ago

    Cool to get nice workflows, I just hate that whichever game I look up modding for, it always needs a new modding manager to apply the one mod I’d like.

    Last one I installed claimed it supports many games, and even tweaks its Windows installer for better Proton compatibility, then doesn’t present any kind of list of other ways I can use it.

  • Shayeta@feddit.orgEnglish
    4·
    2 days ago

    Regarding the self-update comment: You can use GearLever, an appimage manager.

    Not only can it handle updating but also automatically creates .desktop start menu entries for launching applications.

    • thingsiplay@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      Do you know how to enable or disable specific mods for a game? I hoped there was a tickbox, so I can disable the cheat engine for a game in example, without uninstalling the mod. Edit: Also that’s wtf huuge list. :D You don’t use all 550 at the same time, right?

      • RachelRodent@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        I am afraid I do use all 580 and counting at the same time. There is a tickbox next to mods no? You can just untick or remove then deploy

        • thingsiplay@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
          21·
          2 days ago

          Turns out I’m blind. Now I see the checkbox, I just needed to be reminded (being sarcastic to myself, not towards you BTW). Thanks.

          Wow so many mods at the same time! How are they not entangle them and be incompatible to any random mod, and what about the performance. Something has to get incompatible with game updates, although I think Skyrim isn’t updated anymore. Just some thoughts I have. Do you have some sort of grouping for these mods, so you could enable or disable groups? It would be useful if we could create our own groups… wow just tried right mouse click and I see grouping options. Amethyst is amazing!

  • Dyskolos@lemmy.zipEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    Uuuuh first time hearing of this one. Will sure try out. Thanks for shearing 👌🏻😊

      • Dyskolos@lemmy.zipEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        And I just installed it, it’s also in the AUR :-) Damn this is not just like MO2, but also beautiful, simple AND on top it integrates thunderstore too (even though we had that with r2modman already). It just found my games, showed me a list of mods to just click. And also adds proton-shortcuts and even mangohud.

        A dream come true for lazy pieces of shit like me ,-)

  • theOneTrueSpoon@feddit.ukEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    This sounds really cool! Has anyone tried it on the steam deck? I’d be interested to know how well it works on it

  • Nelots@piefed.zipEnglish
    3·
    3 days ago

    I tried Limo maybe a year ago, but it was too basic and limiting for my use case. I think I also remember mod conflict resolution being difficult because of the way linux doesn’t consider “data” and “Data” to be the same folder like windows does. I’m currently using MO2, but it’s not natively supported and is pretty hacky and unstable. I have to periodically restart things like bodyslide and outfit studio or it gets unbearably laggy, and looking at file conflicts through MO2 sometimes freezes up my entire system, forcing me to restart.

    I might need to check this out and see how it compares next time I decide to redo my entire skyrim modlist.

    • thingsiplay@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      Hmm, the minimalism style might be preferred by some. This Amethyst tool seems pretty feature rich and complete, as far as I can tell (not that I have any experience with other tools so far). Just out of curiosity, I would like to know your opinion in case you try it out later. Would be interested into a follow up post, if I catch it.

        • thingsiplay@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          I would have thought hardlinks are preferred. I chose softlinks, as this was the default option, but wondered which is better.

            • thingsiplay@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
              21·
              2 days ago

              Hmm, hardlinks actually doesn’t double the file size (it’s not a copy, just a pointer), it just appears to be because each file looks like an independent file. The idea is to have one block for the data that is actually occupying the hard drive (or softdrive like ssd, I use softdrive jokingly), and have as many hardlinks as you want. Basically every file on your system has one hardlink as the base, basically. The real data on disk gets deleted only if the last hardlink to it get removed. The only real limitation is, hardlinks can only be on the same drive.

              So I understand the technical differences. Overall I would think hardlinks are better for this kind of thing, unless the files point to a different disk.