VMOD - Mod Organizer for Daggerfall Unity

A GTK4-based mod manager for Daggerfall Unity, written in Rust.

Features

• Modern GTK4 Interface - Native Linux support with Wayland compatibility
• Profile Management - Multiple mod configurations with auto-detection of game folders
• Mod List Display - Drag-and-drop reordering with virtual filesystem deployment
• Mod Sections - Organize mods into collapsible categories with drag-and-drop
• Auto-Sorting - Rule-based load order sorting with transitive inference
• Conflict Detection - Visual file tree showing conflicts between mods
• DFMods Support - View and manage .dfmod asset bundles with cached extraction
• Nexus Mods Integration - Download mods directly via NXM protocol links
• Downloads Manager - Download queue with progress tracking, resume support, and archive extraction
• Backup & Restore - Save and restore mod configurations per profile
• Game Launcher - Launch Daggerfall Unity directly with log viewing

Installation

Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases.

Extract and run:

tar xzf vmod-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
./vmod

Build from Source

System Dependencies:

Fedora/RHEL:

sudo dnf install gtk4-devel glib2-devel

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install libgtk-4-dev libglib2.0-dev

Arch:

sudo pacman -S gtk4

Build:

# Compile GSettings schema (required for development)
glib-compile-schemas resources/

# Build release binary
cargo build --release

# Run
./target/release/vmod

Desktop Integration

Install Desktop Entry & NXM Handler

Run the installation script to add VMOD to your application menu and register it as the NXM protocol handler:

./scripts/install-nxm-handler.sh

This will:

• Install vmod.desktop to ~/.local/share/applications/
• Register VMOD to handle nxm:// links from Nexus Mods
• Update the desktop database

Manual Installation

If you prefer manual setup or installed from a release:

1. Copy the desktop file:

   cp resources/vmod.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

2. Edit the Exec= line to point to your vmod binary:

   sed -i "s|Exec=vmod|Exec=/path/to/vmod|" ~/.local/share/applications/vmod.desktop

3. Register as NXM handler:

   xdg-mime default vmod.desktop x-scheme-handler/nxm

4. Update desktop database:

   update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications

Testing NXM Links

Test that the handler works:

xdg-open 'nxm://daggerfallunity/mods/1/files/1'

VMOD should launch and begin downloading the mod.

Usage

1. Create a Profile - Select your Daggerfall Unity game folder
2. Add Mods - Place mod folders in the profile's mods directory or download via Nexus
3. Reorder - Drag mods to set load order (lower = higher priority)
4. Check Conflicts - Use the conflict panel to review file overwrites
5. Apply Changes - Deploy to the game's virtual filesystem

Organizing with Sections

Right-click mods to move them into sections. Create custom sections to group mods by type (textures, gameplay, UI, etc.).

Auto-Sorting

VMOD can automatically sort mods based on predefined rules. Place a sorting_rules.json file in ~/.config/vmod/ with load order constraints:

{
  "rules": [
    { "first": "mod_a", "then": "mod_b" },
    { "first": "mod_b", "then": "mod_c" }
  ]
}

Each rule specifies that first should load before then. The sorting system uses transitive inference - if you have rules A→B→C and mod B is missing, A will still be placed before C.

Generating Rules from a Mod List

Use the included Python script to generate sorting rules from a text file containing your desired mod order:

python scripts/generate_sorting_rules.py ~/Documents/modorder.txt sorting_rules.json

The script parses a bulleted list of mod names and generates consecutive pair rules. This is useful for converting community-recommended load orders into VMOD sorting rules.

Backups

Create named backups before experimenting with load order. Restore anytime from the backup manager.

Launching the Game

Use the Running Panel to launch Daggerfall Unity and view game logs directly in VMOD.

The Running Panel provides:

• Executable Path - Auto-detected from your profile's game folder (looks for DaggerfallUnity.x86_64 or DaggerfallUnity), or browse to select manually
• Environment Variables - Custom env vars passed to the game process (default: TERM=xterm for proper terminal output handling)
• Tabbed Log Viewing - View game output, Player.log, and VMOD logs in separate tabs
• Process Control - Run/Stop buttons with status indicator

Configuration persisted to ~/.config/vmod/running_config.json.

Nexus Mods Integration

VMOD registers as an NXM protocol handler. Click "Download with Manager" on Nexus Mods to automatically download and queue mods for installation.

File Locations

VMOD uses XDG-compliant directories for all data storage.

Configuration (~/.config/vmod/)

File/Directory	Description
profiles.json	List of game profiles
profiles/<name>/	Per-profile directory
profiles/<name>/mods/	Mods for this profile
profiles/<name>/mod_state.json	Enabled/disabled state and load order
profiles/<name>/sections.json	Custom section organization
profiles/<name>/backups/	Profile backups
sorting_rules.json	Auto-sorting load order rules (see Auto-Sorting)
nexus.json	Nexus Mods API credentials
running_config.json	Game launcher settings

Cache (~/.cache/vmod/)

File/Directory	Description
dfmod_cache.json	Parsed .dfmod asset cache
downloads/	Downloaded mod archives from Nexus
vmod.log	Application log file

Game Directories

Directory	Description
Game folder	Selected when creating a profile (contains DaggerfallUnity.x86_64)
~/.config/unity3d/Daggerfall Workshop/Daggerfall Unity/	Unity player settings and save data

Project Structure

vmod/
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs              # Entry point
│   ├── application.rs       # App lifecycle, NXM handling
│   ├── window/              # Main window
│   ├── mod_list/            # Mod list view and UI
│   ├── conflict_panel/      # Conflict detection UI
│   ├── preferences/         # Settings dialog
│   ├── nexus_api.rs         # Nexus Mods API client
│   ├── dfmod_cache.rs       # DFMod asset caching
│   └── tree_filter.rs       # Reusable tree search
└── resources/
    ├── window.ui            # GTK templates
    └── *.gschema.xml        # Settings schema

License

MIT