Since Sponge will be supporting Forge mods, how will mods that require modded client work with vanilla clients?
Bukkit (with MCPC+) had a plugin which allowed separating the modded worlds from vanilla worlds, so vanilla clients would have no problem.
Something like this could be nice in Sponge, if it was a bit more polished…
They won’t quite simply because the client will be missing the data required. However they will still be able to connect to forge servers providing they aren’t missing any of the mods that require a client-side component
Here is an idea that I had that I think could be relevant to this.
MCPC+ was able to bypass this limitation and allow vanilla clients on a heavily modded Forge/Bukkit server, by separating the worlds.
Sending the required content to clients is an interesting idea, but may be controversial for a while (security issues etc)…
It would be nice to have servers with client-server Forge mods, but also allow vanilla clients to access some parts of the server, for example a multi purpose server for both vanilla lovers and mod fans.
I think that I solved the security issue in the last post that I made on that thread. It would be as secure as the plugin uploading and distributing system (Sponge version of “BukkitDev”). The stronger the plugin repository’s security is, the stronger this will be. The repository system is under revision and suggestions can be discussed here:
That looks very interesting, and would indeed be much better than separating the worlds.
Perhaps the separate worlds idea can be kept as a backup plan, incase something goes wrong and that plan is dropped.
If sponge were to create their own launcher, it would make this process a lot easier. Users would make profiles (probably a mix between MC’s profiling system for specifying mc version and other technic details already in mc’s profiling system and the magic launchers design for individual mod selection). If wanted there could be a system similar to technical launcher where you can download others packs (using same DL system I have mentioned).
There is a thread that explains that and some other stuff as well about how Sponge will perform with Non Modded-Modded clients situations and some other stuff:
Sponge, a coremod?And has vanilla Forge…With Plugins?
So since Sponge will be a coremod you will setup a Forge server, but that Forge server will allow non-modded clients to join.
And there are 2 types of Sponge servers then:
-With Mods(like Thermal Expansion,Tinkers Construct, FoodPlus…) and they require the Player that wants to join the server to install them on his client.
-With Plugins(like Essentials,Spleef,GroupManager…) and they will allow you to log onto the server like any other vanilla server and use those plugins properly!Just open you normal Minecraft with the version of that server and join it!Just like a Bukkit server.
However, if the server requires you to install mods, for instance A and B, you will have to install A and B to your Client to join the server!
I am aware of the current Forge methods, this is just a suggestion of an optional alternative to kicking the client and forcing them to download a load of mods (which can be a difficult process with the current setup).
Of course, automatically sending the required content to clients would be the ideal solution, this is just good for those who want both mods and no mods on 1 server.
Sending to the client (unless you can get something hackey with resource packs) will require a custom client