Daggerfall Unity - Mods.json not being correctly written

[MouseProducedGames]

Please make sure the issue is an issue with the mod manager first. If your issue is an in game issue/error, I'm only interested in helping it if the mod manager is causing it.

Describe the bug
Mods.json is not being written correctly by Amethyst; that is, some mods have incorrect titles, and some mods are added that don't actually exist in the modlist (such as "combat log") (edit: "combat log.dfmod" is a part of Vanilla Combat Event Handler, which I have enabled, so this isn't an error). On clicking Play, Daggerfall Unity finds this broken Mods.json, error-checks it, and then replaces it with a default Mods.json containing the hardlinked mods sorted by name, which may cause this error to be missed, but still results in incorrect sorting. Two examples:

[
    {
        "FileName": "daggerfall.harmony",
        "Title": "daggerfall.harmony",
        "Enabled": true,
        "LoadPriority": 37
    },
    {
        "FileName": "loadingscreen",
        "Title": ",\u0000\u0012 -\u0000&",
        "Enabled": true,
        "LoadPriority": 36
    },

2nd

    {
        "FileName": "combat log",
        "Title": "CT\u0000VLog",
        "Enabled": true,
        "LoadPriority": 26
    },

Manager Version
Stable, v2.1.0, AppImage

Is the issue with a specific game or a general Issue?
I have only tested Daggerfall Unity.

To Reproduce
Install mods for Daggerfall Unity using Amethyst Mod Manager. I suggest at least 10 mods to ensure the error appears; I have 38 currently. Some mods appear to install correctly, for example:

    {
        "FileName": "quest actions extension",
        "Title": "quest actions extension",
        "Enabled": true,
        "LoadPriority": 30
    },

Expected behavior
On clicking the Deploy or Play button, a correct Mods.json file is created in /home/{username}/.config/unity3d/'Daggerfall Workshop'/'Daggerfall Unity'/Mods/GameData/

Screenshots

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• Fedora Workstation stable 44 (Workstation Edition) with GNOME Shell 50.4

[ChrisDKN]

Should be fixed in the latest beta.

[MouseProducedGames]

Almost - looks like Daggerfall Unity wants the Mods.json in ascending order of LoadPriority, and Amethyst is writing them in descending order. This is normally fine; Daggerfall Unity just resorts the list in ascending order. However, as I discovered when enabling Beautiful Cites of Daggerfall, and Beautiful Villages of Daggerfall, and their requirements, the reversed load order priority can cause a "required mods are in the wrong order" error in Daggerfall Unity regardless of the mod order in Amethyst, and Daggerfall Unity to write out a new, somewhat incorrect Mods.json:

Amethyst wrote:

    {
        "FileName": "fixed desert architecture",
        "Title": "Fixed Desert Architecture",
        "Enabled": true,
        "LoadPriority": 39
    },
    {
        "FileName": "fixed dungeon exteriors",
        "Title": "Fixed Dungeon Exteriors",
        "Enabled": true,
        "LoadPriority": 38
    },

Daggerfall Unity re-wrote:

    {
        "FileName": "fixed dungeon exteriors",
        "Title": "Fixed Dungeon Exteriors",
        "Enabled": true,
        "LoadPriority": 40
    },
    {
        "FileName": "fixed desert architecture",
        "Title": "Fixed Desert Architecture",
        "Enabled": true,
        "LoadPriority": 41
    },

[MouseProducedGames]

I manually sorted the modlist Amethyst created in ascending order, then validated it as JSON, and made a backup. Daggerfall Unity then, without prompting, resorted at least one mod:

Manually-resorted Amethyst:

    {
        "FileName": "beautiful cities",
        "Title": "beautiful cities",
        "Enabled": true,
        "LoadPriority": 41
    },

Daggerfall Unity resorted to:

    {
        "FileName": "beautiful cities",
        "Title": "Beautiful Cities of Daggerfall",
        "Enabled": true,
        "LoadPriority": 2
    },

I am not sure what's happening; there may be a bug in Daggerfall Unity that messes up mod load priority when required mods are out of order.

[MouseProducedGames]

and some mods are added that don't actually exist in the modlist (such as "combat log").

The "combat log" mod is a part of Vanilla Combat Event Handler, which is why I thought it didn't exist - a search of my modlist didn't show it. I have downloaded a lot of Daggerfall mods. I'm redacting that error for lack of evidence.

[MouseProducedGames]

As of version 2.2.0-beta.7, the LoadPriority field is written in ascending order, but the mod order is still reversed when written to Mods.json; for example, Beautiful Cities of Daggerfall has priority 42 in my Amethyst modlist, but is placed as LoadPriority 6 in the Mods.json file.

[ChrisDKN]

I've tweaked it a bit more and also parse the dependencies from the dfmod files so the in game sorter shouldn't complain about mods in the wrong order

[MouseProducedGames]

It's working so far.