Setting up Mods in Natural Selection 2 Game Server

As of Build 221, NS2 now utilizes the Steam Workshop to install and use mods. This brings about an advantage with the Consistency Checking also implemented in B221, as if a file that does not pass the Consistency Check belongs to a particular mod, the mod will automatically be disabled and the original files loaded instead, allowing the client to continue connecting to the server with only server-approved mods.

Do note that for client-side mods, you do NOT necessarily need to have a mod installed in order to allow players to use the mod. For example, if you are allowing players to use the Minimal Alien Vision mod, then you should be looking whitelisting the file(s) that that mod modifies on #ConsistencyConfig.json instead.

Using Mods

1. To use a mod you must know its mod ID. This is the hexadecimal representation of the mod's Steam Workshop ID.
   • You can use one of the many, many decimal-to-hex conversion websites (or Windows Calculator's programmer mode) to get a mod ID.
   • https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=117887554 gives mod ID 706d242.
   • If you have already used the mod you want in the NS2 client, you can also find its ID as part of the folder names within %APPDATA%\Natural Selection 2\Workshop. Copy the characters between the 'm' and the underscore.
2. To load mods onto your server, you need to define the mods in the mods variable in the Commandline Manager, it should be like this, with a space between each mod:

   706d242 812F004

3. For the server to keep using the selected mods you will also have to add them to the MapCycle.json file. Like this:

   "mods":["706D242","812F004"]

4. When the server starts it will download and install each mod. It will update mods when changing maps.

 Note: Custom maps added in this way will be downloaded by the client no matter which map the server is changing to. See the Map Rotation section for an example on how to do it properly.