It's been quite a while since I've looked at the XML for Fallen Enchantress but I was thinking that many players won't bother installing mods because of the placement of files etc. It would ultimately be much easier for players if mods were packaged in an installer.

The problem with building an installer is mainly one of trust. Can the modder be trusted to only affect their specific files or could they purposely or accidentally change other files? This is a very real issue and one that can't really be solved other than by knowing the modder's work and trusting that.

So is this something that could be useful? Or is it 'too scary'?

I can start building something in Nullsoft / NSIS if there is interest. I gather that many modders would use Eclipse to handle the XML work. And that program can also be used to compile the installer.

We would need a number of checks in the system to ensure some safety when installing the mods:

FE Version Control

Is the best place to check this in the Registry using the Version variable from the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Stardock\Drengin.net\ElementalFE

And is this in a different place for different computer systems (XP etc)?

Game Settings

The installer should change EnableMods=1 in the settings.ini file.

EULA

What EULA should we place as a default in case things go horribly wrong?

Other things

Are there any other considerations the installer should be aware of?

Has anyone else written scripts for Nullsoft? I usually only write fairly rudimentary scripts so having a few people involved would be welcomed.

Would it be useful to have options for installing multiple mods through the one installer where the player can choose which ones are added?