ApacheTech

The "Import from Zip" is all fully manual, and you could do that with Twitch as well. You could fully flesh out your own modpack manually, and then export to CurseForge. You'd then have access to all the version controlling for all the mods you'd chosen to use in your modpack integrated into the pack as standard. You could "Import from zip", just by unzipping the pack into the profile folder, then clicking update. The manual stuff isn't the issue. It's the lack of one-click-installs. If VS created a bespoke mod manager and launcher that worked very much like Twitch, with version control for individual mods, as well as modpacks, in-built search functions, with one-click installs for mods, modpacks, resource packs, and moving forwards, different shaders, skins, and pre-genned maps, it'd be good. You'd also need to be able to use multiple instances of the game as standard, be able to use multiple accounts as standard, and be able to seamlessly use different versions of the game in each instance, without it asking to uninstall other versions. To me, creating a MultiMC-esque clone would be largely pointless. So much of it is manual that we might as well just copy zip files into folders, and call it all done. Creating a Twitch Launcher clone, however, would add huge playability to the game. You shouldn't need to manually download any file, open any browser window, or open Windows Explorer at all, ever, to be able to mod the game, and run multiple instances, over multiple versions, on multiple accounts. Comparing to MC isn't fair, in this case. There's a lot of variables there, and it is all run by the modding community, not by Mojang. Different modding groups tearing the community is different ways. Up until 1.12.2, it was largely harmonious, with Linux lagging behind, doing their own thing. After 1.13, it all changed, but that was nothing to do with Twitch, or with MultiMC, it was all down to the developers of the modloaders. With VS, modloading is fully integrated into the game as standard, so these deviations wouldn't affect it. Do it right, once, and it only ever needs to be refined, not overhauled. It's a perfect fit for the Twitch Launcher, and creating anything bespoke would only ever be an imitation of what Twitch and CurseForge currently offer.

"What everyone should do", and "what everyone does do" are two very different things. "What people does do", regardless of the atrocious grammatical consequences of such a phrase, is much closer to "what people will do" than what they should do. MultiMC is terrible compared to Twitch Laucher for Minecraft. With Twitch, it's an all-in-one. One click install, one click updates, and each mod is available to search for right there. Until Fabric came along, at least. I'm now forced to use MultiMC, and I miss almost everything about the Twitch Launcher because of it. With Twitch Launcher, I could just browse through the modpacks, install as many as I like, in the background, while I browse for more. Each would be loaded into it's own profile, and everything is set up for me. No browser, no websites, no other installs, everything in one place, as it should be. The only thing it lacked was the ability to easily create desktop shortcuts for different packs. You say that MultiMC does everything Twitch Launcher does... but it doesn't. The only packs you can install are legacy packs. There's no options to install maps, resource packs, or individual mods from a list. There's no version control for individual packs. All of that is manual, and there's no indication that manual version control is needed when a new version is released. It's nothing like Twitch Launcher. MultiMC also doesn't support Forge for the last 3 updates of the game. I use it because I'm forced to, because Schematica is no longer being maintained, and Litematica is only available for Fabric. Working in-house, within a nice bubble of self-control is fine. It works for small indie games that have no real ambition to grow. If Vintage Story wants to stay as a small enterprise, and remain fairly hidden then more power to it. Fight the system! But fighting the system comes at a huge penalty. Places like Steam may take 30%, but that is 30% of the millions upon millions of new customers it opens the game up to. If the game used MEF for plugins and mods, you'd have full support for adding and taking them away without restarting the game, regardless of what platform you get the mods from. You can build a very robust and secure modding API around MEF that seamlessly integrates into the existing architecture, because it revolves purely around the strategy pattern, to create a strongly typed base for reflection. A lot of Unity projects are moving to MEF for that reason. It's massively powerful in what it can do. For a long time, it was just seen as an IOC container, but it's perfect for game modding.

Not even with WINE? It's a shame that Nexus Mod Manager has fallen to the doldrums. Curse and Steam are the only two realistic options for mod management. I prefer Curse because you can use different modpacks, different game versions, and different accounts. With Steam, it would be impossible to use a camera account, without re-activating HyperVisor. Curse (Twitch) gives a massive amount of flexibility, which is exactly what you need for these games. If I'm on a multiplayer server running 1.12.8, and I want a sandbox world in 1.12.9-rc.1 for mod development, and carrying on my 1.12.6 SSP with different mods, complete with the ability to use a camera account for third person timelapse videos... that's only possible on Curse. VS could include a launcher manager that offers all of this, but it would still be all in-house, and wouldn't bring in any new footfall. With Curse, and Steam, you get the potential of millions of new customers, instantly, at no extra cost. You also save yourself from being the first line of tech support for the platform. All of the "hwo i intsal yr sftwr??1?!?" emails get sent to Twitch, not to here. It would instantly integrate the game into the live stream community, which is fast outpacing YouTube as a gaming platform. Let's Plays are still the best "Try before you buy" method of introducing new players to a game, and so everything to make that as easy, and seamless as possible is good. Being able to launch the game, and manage it all through the Twitch Launcher is the best possible way to do that. Linux users... well, there can be a bespoke native launcher in with the game as well. Linux has always been clunky, and unelegant compared to Windows, when it comes to stuff like this. As Twitch grows to take over from YouTube, they may expand their platform to Linux as well, in which case, you'll have automatic support there as well. That's up to the Live Stream community to put pressure on the platform to expand though, and for game developers to do the same. Facts and figures are needed for that, but the vast majority of users will be using Windows, and will have access to Twitch, and Steam, and will automatically know how to use both platforms.

Adding this to the Twitch Launcher would make playing, managing, and modding the game much easier. Especially as the game grows, being able to launch multiple instances of the game with different settings, different game versions, and different modpacks will be massively beneficial. Creating a bespoke launcher is ok, but with Twitch Launcher you get all the footfall as well, increasing the popularity of the game, and encouraging more sales. Bespoke isn't always best. With Twitch Launcher, you get all the support from them, it's a ubiquitous piece of software that millions of people who play Voxel games already use, and know how to use. You get full community access, and many professional modding outfits release mods purely for Curse Forge. It should either be Curse Forge, or Steam Workshop.