About.xml

This article is supposed to explain what tags are available in the About.xml file & what the tags do & how you should use them. The exact format of the article is still under development, please help.

(Yes, I'm aware that I'm not writing this as objectively as an article should be (sorry), but I feel I need to explain what this article should aim towards, please DON'T just delete it! )

Tags

These are the tags I have found in various mods I have downloaded, but I don't understand all of them, i'm not sure if all of them even CAN be combined with each other & therefore I need help from more experienced developers.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ModMetaData>
    <name>Example Mod</name>
    <author>Mod Author, Contributing Author, Other Folks, etc.</author>
    <url>www.anything.com</url>
    <packageId>AuthorName.ModSeries.ModName</packageId>
    <supportedVersions>
        <li>1.1</li>
        <li>1.2</li>
    </supportedVersions>

    <description>Sample description.
        
Which spans multiple lines. Is also includes whitespace, so unless you want ugly indentation on the workshop, you need to have it un-beautified like this.
    </description>

    <modDependencies>
    <!-- Using hugslib as an example here. -->
        <li>
            <packageId>UnlimitedHugs.HugsLib</packageId>
            <displayName>HugsLib</displayName>
            <downloadUrl>https://github.com/UnlimitedHugs/RimworldHugsLib/releases/latest</downloadUrl>
            <steamWorkshopUrl>steam://url/CommunityFilePage/818773962</steamWorkshopUrl>
        </li>
    </modDependencies>
    <modDependenciesByVersion>
        <v1.1>
            <li>
                <packageId>UnlimitedHugs.HugsLib</packageId>
                <displayName>HugsLib</displayName>
                <steamWorkshopUrl>https://github.com/UnlimitedHugs/RimworldHugsLib/releases/latest</steamWorkshopUrl>
                <downloadUrl>steam://url/CommunityFilePage/818773962</downloadUrl>
            </li>
        </v1.1>
    </modDependenciesByVersion>

    <loadAfter>
        <li>UnlimitedHugs.HugsLib</li>
    </loadAfter>

    <incompatibleWith>
        <li>erdelf.HumanoidAlienRaces</li>
    </incompatibleWith>
</ModMetaData>

Tag	Explaination
name	The name of the mod.
author	The mod author names, usually set to your Steam/Forum name. Can be a list separated by " and " or by commas.
authors	An alternative way to input multiple author names. Formatted as a standard list of strings, using <li> nodes.
packageId	Added in 1.0. Please make it human readable. Avoid acronyms where possible. Normally qualifiers separated by periods.
url	A URL to be displayed on your mod info page(if available). Can be set to link to anything. Most link it to their Github/Workshop page/forum post.
supportedVersions	Lists which versions of Rimworld your mod is compatible with. If your mod doesn't break across versions, list them all here.
description	Describes your mod, can be multiple lines long. Whitespace sensitive.
descriptionsByVersion	Same as above, but by version. Directly type description between <v1.3> and </v1.3>, for example.
modDependencies	List of other mods which your mod requires to function. Format and tags given in the example About.xml above.
modDependenciesByVersion	Same as modDependencies, except it specifies which mod version it needs.
loadBefore	Lists of packageIds of the mods which should be loaded after your mod. Helps ensure your mod is loaded before another.
loadBeforeByVersion	Same as above, but by version.
forceLoadBefore	Lists of packageIds of the mods which are forced to be loaded after your mod by the in-game mod manager.
loadAfter	Lists of packageIds of the mods which should be loaded before your mod. Helps ensure your dependencies are loaded in first.
loadAfterByVersion	Same as above, but by version.
forceLoadAfter	Lists of packageIds of the mods which are forced to be loaded before your mod by the in-game mod manager.
incompatibleWith	List of packageIds of any mods which are incompatible with your mod.
incompatibleWithByVersion	Same as above, but by version.

Notes

• If <author> and <authors> are both defined, then the list in <authors> will be appended to the end of the list given in <author>.
• The matching description in <descriptionsByVersion> will take priority over <description>, otherwise <description> will be used by default. The same applies to all other "ByVersion" alternatives.
• The "forceLoad" tags aren't very useful because many players use 3rd-party mod managers.

Questions

• <ModMetaData>/<packageId> How is this determined?
• Are <ModMetaData>/ <modDependencies> & <modDependenciesByVersion> mutually exclusive? or can both be present in the same file?
• I think there exist some kind of: <ModMetaData>/ <incompatibleWith> / <li> /<packageId> tag, but I haven't seen it in any of my downloaded mods, please add it if you know more about it.