Force mod authors to increment version numbers

[dferstat]

Background

When an author uploads a new version of a mod, but doesn't increment the version number, we can end up with two different installed copies of the mod, but with the same version number. Vortex shows two installs with the same version number in the pull-down menu, with no easy way to tell which is which.

 

I have lost count of the times that I've asked mod authors to increment. Most authors are apologetic, and fix the issue once I've explained the problem. A few authors find that re-versioning their files to be laborious, especially if they have many patch files that also would need re-versioning to avoid confusion. This reluctance is understandable.

However, not re-versioning files becomes a pain in the arse for users.

If Vortex users are lucky/observant enough to notice the duplicated version numbers, they can uninstall, and delete, the old version, and then download the new one. If they aren't so lucky/observant, they'll have two installs, with no way to distinguish between them. Their only option is to delete both packages, and install the new one all over again.

 

I don't know what it's like for people still using MO2. But for Vortex users, which must be a large percentage of the people downloading mods, this is a real issue. It doesn't matter if it's just a change to the packaging of the mod; users need to easily tell which release is the most current. 

 

Proposal

Please add some functionality to the file upload page that forces authors to increment the version number if they upload a a new version of a file. It probably doesn't even need to be a sequential increment; just a check that the version number hasn't been previously used would probably do the job. 

 

Thank you for your time, and your patience.

 

[HeyYou]

Aren't they also dated??

[dizietemblesssma]

I too think the file uploads should have separate major,minor,extra version fields with sanity checking to avoid duplication, plus another field for the mod author to fill in anyway they wish that is ignored by Vortex update check.  And once this is done, please, either auto version every mod that has no version number to 0.0.1 or make Vortex ignore them, so my update checks don't keep showing all those non-existent updates for Morrowind and Oblivion:)

 

diziet