exportconsthtml=`<p><strong>Hey creators!</strong></p><p>Over the years, we've taken in lots of feedback regarding how we identify client-side and server-side mods and modpacks on Modrinth. It's a surprisingly nuanced issue, and careful consideration has finally led us to implementing a new system that fixes many of the issues with the old one.</p><h2>What do I need to do?</h2><p>If you want to jump right into what you need to do now, just visit your <a href="/dashboard/projects" rel="noopener nofollow ugc">Projects page</a> and look for any of your mod or modpack projects with an orange warning button next to the settings button. This will take you to the new Environments page in your project's settings with a bunch of different options for configuring your project's environment.</p><p><img src="/news/article/new-environments/env-settings.webp" alt="Screenshot of the new Modrinth Environment settings page. A warning message explains that the environment system has been updated. Options are listed with radio buttons, including Client-side only (selected), Server-side only, Client and server, and Singleplayer only, each with descriptions and sub-options."></p><p><strong>If you do not verify your environments, in the future a warning may display on your project to inform users that the environment information may be outdated or incorrect.</strong></p><p>Read on to learn more about why we've made this change and for a more thorough explanation of each option, in case you find any of them confusing.</p><h2>What was wrong with the old system?</h2><p>Originally, Modrinth's environment metadata came in the form of two fields for Client-side and Server-side compatibility. Each option could be set to 'Required', 'Optional', or 'Unsupported'. This did the job, but it left some ambiguities and led to many confused creators mis-labeling their mods.</p><ol><li><strong>Certain combinations of options don't make logical sense</strong>, such as both sides being 'Unsupported', or one side being 'Optional' and the other being 'Unsupported'. To some people, they may feel that since <em>installing</em> the mod is optional, that might be a logical choice, when users and automated tools might be expecting it to be labeled as 'Required'</li><li><strong>Terms like 'Unsupported' are interpreted differently</strong> by different people. If something is 'Unsupported' on the server-side, does that mean it crashes when installed on a server?</li><li><strong>Most server-side only mods also work in Singleplayer</strong>, even if they don't perform any functions on the client-side directly. Some creators of server-sided mods chose to mark client-side as 'Optional' because of this, even if it did absolutely nothing on the client-side because in order to use it in Singleplayer, you technically install it on the "client"</li><li><strong>Not all real-world combinations even could be represented</strong> by this old system. There are some mods that only make sense in a singleplayer environment, or some that only make sense on dedicated servers and <em>not</em> in Singleplayer.</li><li><strong>Conflicting information is out there</strong> on what exactly these terms meant. The website told creators to treat the client and server as the <em>logical</em> client and servers, but some other people's guides and tooling treated them as referring to the <em>physical</em> client and server. This includes the Modrinth Pack (.mrpack) specification, which confusingly uses the same required/optional/unsupported terminology to refer to the physical sides when defining which files should be installed in the client and server distributions.</li></ol><h2>How does the new system work?</h2><p>The new system enumerates all expected use-cases into distinct options that can be handled in unique ways by tools like launchers, mod managers, and modpack assemblers.</p><p>The new options are as follows:</p><ul><li><strong>Client-side only</strong> (<code>client_only</code>)<ul><li>All functionality is performed exclusively on the client side. Should be compatible with
