But what about folder "itemicons" (custom skins for inventory) or custom sounds? Can be mod with them fully server side?
I ask this because I'm making a big mod for dedicated servers and I want to know what can't be installed only on the server side, without installing on clients side.
If the game needs to show it or play it, the client has to have it. The server does NOT send down art assets (graphics, models, animations, sounds). Nor does it send down code found in DLLs.
I believe the only server-side only modlets are those that are entirely changes to the game's XML configuration. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
And what will happens if on server will be mod with client-side content? Will the dedicated server offer auto-download when the player joins the server? or player must download such mod only manually from nexus or other place ?
Players must download and install mods themselves. You could perhaps make one large download with all of your chosen mods in it as a convenience for them. This comes with some complications:
- Players might not trust you as you could distribute malware this way, whereas a download from the Nexus gets at least a cursory scan.
- A modlet creator might prefer folks download things directly, rather than have you redistribute things.
If a player joins your server and does not have the necessary client-side modlets installed then they're potentially going to get errors and exceptions as they try to play.
TFP has Steam Workshop support on their list of aspirations. We don't know what all they envision for that. Should that come to fruition in the coming year(s), it might provide some relief. That is, perhaps a server could communicate to the client what modlets from the Steam Workshop are needed and the client could install them automatically. This is not a current feature. I'm suggesting only that the future could be different from what is possible today.