The Dink Network

I've often thought that if the dmod format had been standardised a bit later, it could have become a fully-fledged package/mod manager rather than a simple replacement for zips and RARs, in which if someone had used a graphics pack or a scripting library, it could be auto-downloaded at the same time and reused, saving data for all. Unfortunately this did not eventuate, but something similar could be patched in for checking engine features at the very least.

It might be easier in the future to add a metadata system to Martridge or another frontend that lists required engine features in a YAML file or similar that could assist in warning the user before they attempt to launch. It could very easily be patched into existing mods, as it would involve adding a file rather than having to comb through and edit individual scripts, or could even be included with the frontend itself as a sort of master list. Future engine forks could also read the metadata and have a compatibility mode where they pretend to be another engine etc.

It is worth considering that a lot of recently-released d-mods don't even bother to check to see if 24-bit mode is enabled even if they require it, suggesting sloth would be the main hurdle to adoption.