Developing in multiple different versions of Forge [Solved]

[SerpentDagger]

I've long-since switched over to Forge 1.16, but recently got a feature request on an older mod, which I wanted to look into implementing. I opened up my old workspace, and discovered that the build path is no longer valid, because the new Forge dependencies overwrote the old ones.

I suppose I could rerun the setup tasks every time I switched workspace (right?), but that seems like an impractical solution.

Is there any way to have non-colliding build paths for the two workspaces, so that I can develop in multiple versions simultaneously?

Edited September 13, 2021 by SerpentDagger
Solved

[Luis_ST]

what do you mean by "develop in multiple versions simultaneously" exactly

also note that the last supported version is 1.16.x

Edited September 12, 2021 by Luis_ST

[Draco18s]

I use different workspaces for each version of Forge.

Re-running setup might not be sufficient, as the server resources have moved a couple of times, so the old setup files might not be downloading from the right URL.

[SerpentDagger]

  On 9/12/2021 at 8:35 AM, Luis_ST said:

what do you mean by "develop in multiple versions simultaneously" exactly

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I want to develop my 1.16 mod on and off (and update to 1.17), but also be able to tweak mods in older versions of the game, without having to re-download the LWGJL dependencies every time I switch. This would be accomplished by having each version of Forge download LWGJL to an independent directory, instead of the default (which is what causes the new version to overwrite the old).

  On 9/12/2021 at 8:35 AM, Luis_ST said:

also note that the last supported version is 1.16.x

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Indeed. I'm not asking for help in outdated versions, just trying to work with more than one at a time.

 

  On 9/12/2021 at 4:42 PM, Draco18s said:

I use different workspaces for each version of Forge.

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I do that also, but the problem is that the dependencies (LWJGL3, to be specific) of the new version of Forge overwrite the dependencies of the old one, since they're downloaded to the same workspace-external directory. The build path is also set up to expect them there, so if I were to move the files, I'd have to manually reconfigure the build path to point to the new location. That would be tedious to do for every single file, and the problem would rear up again if I ever had to re-run setup for some other reason.

  On 9/12/2021 at 4:42 PM, Draco18s said:

Re-running setup might not be sufficient, as the server resources have moved a couple of times, so the old setup files might not be downloading from the right URL.

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This is interesting. In truth, I haven't re-run setup for the older version, because doing so would overwrite the newer LWGJL files, and I'd rather be able to keep developing in the current version. I was mostly expecting it to work, however, when I tried it. Does this mean that it isn't possible to develop in old versions at all, or simply that the new resulting file structure wouldn't necessarily match the expected build path of my old project? If the latter, wouldn't re-running setup also reformat the build path to match? I thought that was automatic.

[Draco18s]

Specifically which version are you wanting to go back to?
And honestly, run the setup for it and see what happens.

[SerpentDagger]

  On 9/13/2021 at 3:10 PM, Draco18s said:

Specifically which version are you wanting to go back to?

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I was going to make a tweak in a 1.12.2 mod. (The graphing calculator linked to in my signature.)

  On 9/13/2021 at 3:10 PM, Draco18s said:

And honestly, run the setup for it and see what happens.

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I've done that now, and everything works. The 1.12 version of LWJGL didn't overwrite the 1.16 one (Their file paths diverge at the version number of LWJGL), which left me somewhat puzzled as to what happened to the 1.12 stuff to begin with.

Between these two Minecraft projects, I ported the graphing calculator to a standalone Java application, and installed my own version of LWJGL to work with. I think that must have overwritten the 1.12 set, and then was overwritten by the 1.17 set before I missed the 1.12, leaving me to think that 1.17 was responsible for both. All very irritating. lol

I ought to apologize for this post, then, since it isn't really a Forge issue. When I do more work with my personal LWJGL projects, I'll install the libraries to a different directory from the one Forge uses, since apparently the installer has the same default. Thanks for the help!