I like how MagicLauncher can take modules from just about anywhere and get Forge to load them, and it can even extract pertinent metadata from the various .jar files. I know how to extract metadata, but the method that MagicLauncher "preps" the JVM so that when Forge loads up it just uses those modules eludes me. MagicLauncher is of course closed source, so nobody can look at that for an example. I just wanted to replicate its behavior in an open source launcher.

 

I tried to follow the loading process of Forge but it unfortunately confused me. Near as I can tell, it loads something called "coremods" (which itself is an entirely undocumented term), then just goes straight to the game. Most mods are not "coremods" and only certain ...bytecode transformers? are coremods. Real gritty stuff, not the likes of a minimap or a Zelda style auto-jump. So where does it load mods? Can I get it to recognize classes already in the classpath as mods? Is there some list I can append class objects to in order for them to be loaded like mods?

 

I was going to do the hack of "delete everything in mods except configuration which is there sometimes and symlink all the mod files into there" but it really seems inelegant compared to what MagicLauncher manages to do. Any ideas how to replicate that?

All magiclauncher does is add '.disabled' to the end of mods that are disabled.

FML only loads .zip or .jar files, not .disabled files.