Install from a link

Players add your mod by pasting your repository's address in the launcher's Mods tab (Add from a link). This page is what your repository needs for that, and what the launcher does.

What players can paste#

• https://github.com/<owner>/<repo> (with or without .git or a trailing /)
• https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/tree/<branch>: that branch
• https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/releases/tag/<tag>: that release

The repository must be public: the launcher reads it without an account.

What your repository needs#

• The manifest, where the launcher looks for it:
  • one mod: openrac-mod.json at the top;
  • several mods: one folder per mod at the top, each with its openrac-mod.json (as rac1-mods);
  • or a top-level openrac-mods.json, {"format": 1, "mods": ["a", "b"]}, listing the folders to read (then only those).
• For a native mod, a release with <id>-<version>-<platform>.zip for each platform and SHA256SUMS: the templates' workflow makes them on a tag (packaging and releases). Players never build anything.
• For a script mod, a release is optional: without one, the launcher takes the mod's folder from the repository itself, at its newest commit.

Both templates are laid out this way already.

What the launcher does#

1. Reads your latest release (or the one linked), the files of the repository at its tag, and each manifest.
2. Shows each mod before anything is installed: its name, version and author, the repository and its owner, the games and discs it is for, whether this OpenRAC can load it (and why not), and what it runs: Runs scripts (sandboxed) for a script mod, a warning that it runs code on this computer for a native mod.
3. On Install:
   • a native mod: downloads the archive for the player's platform, checks it against SHA256SUMS, and checks that the manifest inside is the one shown;
   • a script mod: the release's <id>-<version>.zip if there is one (checked the same way), else the repository's own files;
   • then installs it as an archive added by hand would be, switched on.
4. Remembers where it came from, for updates.

It refuses, with the reason: a mod with no archive for this platform, no SHA256SUMS or a hash that differs, a manifest inside that is not the one shown, a mod for another game.

Updates and pinning#

Check for updates (and once a day by itself) looks for a newer release with an archive for the player's platform, or, for a script mod with no releases, a newer commit. The mod's row then offers Update; an update keeps its place in the list, its switch and its settings. A player can choose Keep this version to never be offered one.

Other git hosts#

From other hosts the launcher installs mods without a build (script mods, data packs) through git, when the player has it installed. Native mods need releases, which it reads from GitHub today.