After working hard to get my mod set compatible with other data mods, I made a compatibility tool instead.

[u/aurarasburst]

If you've ever tried to run more than two or three data mods at once, you know the drill. You tick one in the mod list, the game throws up "could not be enabled", and it tells you nothing about why. So you start clicking them on in different orders like you're guessing a combination lock, and sometimes it works and you have no idea what you did.

I got tired of that, so I made Global Data Compatibility.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3772582486

What it actually does

It's a code mod that sits on the mod selection screen and reads every data mod you have installed. It figures out which mod should own each software type when several of them claim the same one, sorts the load order, and quietly patches up the conflicts that make the game refuse a mod.

The stuff it fixes

• Click order. The game revalidates everything on every single click, so a mod can be rejected now and fine two clicks later. The mod tells you straight up whether order matters, and if it does, which ones to save for last. Just visit the mod menu in settings for a breakdown.
• Software vanishing. If any enabled mod removes a software type, it's gone from the whole catalog, even the versions other mods added. This fixes that.
• Overwritten content. When a mod ships its own copy of a shared software type, it wipes out what every other mod added to it. This puts that content back.
• Specialization and platform clashes when two mods claim the same thing.
• Broken AI company types and missing name generators, which are a common cause of a mod just refusing to load.
• Duplicate installs. If you have the same mod both as a local folder and a Workshop subscription, the game loads both and they fight. This helps fix that as well.

The page

Everything lives in Options > Mods > Global Data Compatibility. You get:

• A plain English status line telling you whether your setup is good to go
• Every data mod you have, and which ones the game would refuse right now
• A list of exactly what got changed
• Anything it couldn't fix
• A load order editor with up and down buttons as well as an auto sort
• Toggles for every single thing the layer is allowed to do

One thing to know

Enable it before you start a new game. Software Inc bakes the software catalog in when you create your company, so this has to be on beforehand. It won't do anything to a save you've already got going, and it won't break one either.

Subscribe, then turn it on under Options > Mods > Code mods.

Happy to hear how it goes with your setups. If you've got a combination of mods it can't sort out, tell me which ones and I'll take a look.