[Modded Server] - Servers don't properly check for steam workshop mod changes

[Juksefantomet]

Hello,

I did some extensive troubleshooting on the matter and these are my findings.

on a debian VM, running systemd service based avorion.

Game files: /home/steam/avorion
Galaxy location: /home/steam/avorion_galaxy/galaxy
Steam workshop location: /home/steam/avorion_galaxy/galaxy/worskshop/appworkshop_445220.acf

On server restart no mods are checked when the following conditions are met:
1. Any mod present in the workshop folder, if version number is manipulated
2. Any timeupdated, size, manifest key/value pair within appworkshop_4455220.acf is manipulated

On server restart, what leads to a faulty start:
1. Removing the folder from the workshop folder but leave the mod_id entry in appworkshop_4455220.acf

What does trigger redownload / version check:
1. Removing the appworkshop_4455220.acf file, if there is no manifest to check against every folder is redownloaded
2. Removing the modid from the .acf file AND removing the corresponding folder with the same id within the workshop/content folder
3. Removing everything within the workshop folder.

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Ultimately there seems to be a lack of version check vs folder presence during the server start routing which results in need of manual steps to properly checking for updated mod versions and/or having the server owner run cleanup / removal commands prior to server start to trigger version checks properly.