61 · MooCon

The most professionally run fork in the family. MooCon had a named dev team, a public forum, a versioned release line running 1.0.0 → Final, a structured changelog, an auto-updater, and an add-on system designed so other people’s scripts could plug into it.

Three versions are documented here: 1.7.0, 1.9.0, and Final.

All three fingerprint to 0.69a. 1.9.0 and Final are 85-of-115 identical to each other — Final is a small increment, not a new generation.

The 1.9.0 extract nests everything one level deeper, under construction/. That is an artifact of how it was packaged, not a different layout.

The project, not just the mod

MooCon is the only fork here with visible project infrastructure [mod-script]:

Please report Bugs and Exploits with as much information as possible.
You can report them to: foocumber@absfoocumber.com

Also, feel free to submit ideas to us via the MooCon Forums at:
moocon.foocumber.com

Thanks,
  - The Dev Team.

MooConVersionInfo.txt is a 315-line changelog covering 1.0.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.1.0, 1.2.0, 1.4.0, 1.5.5, 1.6.0, 1.7.0, 1.8.0 in a consistent Added / Removed / Changed format [mod-script] — a real release discipline, and a far better artifact than any other fork in this family produced.

It ends with a two-word epitaph [mod-script]:

//Moocon's done.

It also names its dependencies honestly

From the 1.8.0 entry [mod-script]:

- Added in crash protections (Credit: Electricutioner)
…
- Forced to rewrite the Swinging Door because of Electricutioner...

Electricutioner is the TribesNEXT author (07 · Community Patches). The second line is a fork having to adapt because the community patch changed behaviour underneath it — the exact dependency risk documented in Modding against a patched install. Worth noting that the relationship ran both ways: crash protections flowed in, a door rewrite was forced out.

1.7.0 — the light fork

62 % of 0.69a survives untouched. Only 18 new files, and 3 removed. This is a fork that extended the base rather than rewriting it.

New [mod-script]:

Three of those deserve attention:

MergeTool.cs — merging saved buildings together. Base Construction can save and load a structure (Building systems); MooCon adds combining them.

preBuild.cs — prefabricated structures deployed as a unit. The logical endpoint of a save/load system: if you can serialise a building, you can ship one as a placeable object.

SaveFileConverter.cs — migrating saved buildings across formats. Once players have invested hours in structures, your save format becomes a compatibility contract. MooCon is the only fork here that shipped a converter, and 1.8.0 records SaveBuilding.cs being rewritten with the note that “savebuildingCentered now works nicely” [mod-script].

1.9.0 — the reorganisation

The identical-file count collapses from 62 % to 21 %, with 55 files removed and 58 added. That looks like a rewrite. It is mostly a reorganisation: the flat script tree is restructured into categories [mod-script].

packs/decor/          Effectpacks.cs, decorationpack.cs, stairPack.cs
packs/structural/     door.cs, forcefieldpack.cs
packs/power/          switch.cs, tripwire.cs
packs/misc/           telepadpack.cs
packs/baseSupplies/   vehiclepad.cs
weapons/tools/        constructionTool.cs, dragonmissile.cs
vehicles/air/         vehicle_bomber.cs, vehicle_shrike.cs
vehicles/hover/       vehicle_artillery.cs, vehicle_tank.cs
MPM/                  AntiNuketurret.cs

A file that moves counts as one removal plus one addition, which is why the diff looks violent. Base Construction keeps everything in flat packs/, weapons/, vehicles/ directories; by 1.9.0 MooCon had enough content that flat directories stopped scaling.

The lesson for a large fork: the mod-path stack does not care about your directory structure — only the exec() paths do (Mod paths and overrides) — so reorganising is cheap mechanically and expensive socially. It breaks every downstream patch and every wiki instruction that names a path. Do it once, early, or not at all.

1.9.0 also adds PhysScripts/ with Moveables and Tools subdirectories.

Final — the increment

85 of 113/115 files identical to 1.9.0. The visible addition is cChatCommands.cs, alongside two subsystems shipped as top-level directories [mod-script]:

Addons/       addonexec.cfg
CashScripts/  Cashconfig.cs  cashCommands.cs  cashfunctions.cs  cashvariables.cs  jobs.cs

The add-on system

From the 1.8.0 changelog [mod-script]:

- Easy add-on system, used so you can customize your server, makes great for independent
  scripters who want to give there scripts to other people with less hassle.
       *Current downloads for add-on's are listed on our forums*

This is the single most interesting design decision in the fork family. Every other Construction derivative is a fork — to add something, you copy the whole mod. MooCon built an extension point: Addons/addonexec.cfg lists scripts to load, so third parties ship a file rather than a fork.

It is the same problem the support pack solved for client-side scripts, solved independently for a server-side mod, and it is the correct answer to the composability cost that file shadowing imposes on this family.

The cash economy

CashScripts/ — Cashconfig.cs, cashCommands.cs, cashfunctions.cs, cashvariables.cs, and jobs.cs. A currency system with jobs, on a building sandbox. Several forks in this family drift toward RPG structure (see 68 · QuantiumX, 66 · Ultimate Build 2.0); MooCon’s is the most cleanly separated, sitting outside scripts/ entirely.

Things worth stealing

For someone working on it

• Target 1.9.0 or Final, not 1.7.0. The directory reorganisation is the dividing line and everything after it assumes the new layout.
• Use the add-on system rather than editing scripts/. It exists precisely so you do not have to fork.
• Library.cs is MooCon’s, not Construction’s — check there before adding a helper.
• The extension checklist in Building systems still applies, with paths adjusted for the categorised tree.

Related

• 58 · The Construction Mod — the 0.69a base and fork-family table
• 09 · The Support Pack — the same composability problem, client side
• 07 · Community Patches — Electricutioner and the door rewrite