Hey, let me see if I can help. Let's take a look at Steam's local cache of mods:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\600480

In here you'll see a load of folders with different numbers, each one of these corresponds to a mod. I wish that Steam named these folders with human-readable names, it would this process much easier. ;)

To work out which folder corresponds to which mod, you can go into the folder, open the info.data file in a text editor (e.g. Notepad) and you'll see the name of the mod there.

What I'm trying to work out is where the problem is. Is the problem with Steam downloading the mods to its local cache? Or is the issue with the game trying to access or process the mods from Steam's cache?

One thing you can try is sort the folders by the Data Modified or Date Created column in Windows Explorer. Go into the folder with the most recent date and see what the name of the mod is. Is it a mod you recently tried to download? If so, then it looks like the Steam portion is working OK.

If none of the recent mods you've tried to download are there, then it looks like it is an issue with Steam downloading them.

Let me know how it goes and I'll try to suggest solutions either way.

The mods were in that folder you mentioned, but they weren't on My Games\Megaquarium\Mods which is why they weren't working. I copypasted them into there and now the're working, but it seems like i'll have to do that everytime i download a new mod, which will be a pain.

How strange, well then it's definitely a problem on the game side. I'm happy to take a look at your log file to see if there are any clues in there. Perhaps it's something I can fix on my side. :)

You'll find your log file here:

C:\Users\<insert username>\AppData\LocalLow\Twice Circled\Megaquarium\output_log.txt

You can post it using https://pastebin.com/ if you like.

The LocalLow folder doesn't appear

That's strange, perhaps it's a hidden folder.

Here's another method you can use:
1. Hold down the windows key, then press 'e'. This will open windows explorer.
2. Click the address bar at the top and copy and paste the following:

C:\Users\<insert username>\AppData\LocalLow\Twice Circled\Megaquarium

(You must replace "<insert username>" with your windows username. You hopefully know this already, it's basically one of the folders inside the C\Users\ folder.)

3. Hit the Return/Enter key.
4. This should open up the folder even if the LocalLow folder is hidden. You should be able to see the output_log.txt file there.

https://pastebin.com/a7n78Q28

Here's the error:

"Mod metadata query timed out. Cannot install new mods without metadata. Please try restarting the game."

So the "mod metadata query" is basically the game asking Steam for a list of the subscribed mods. With this information, the game can work out which mods are new and need copying to the My Games\Megaquarium\Mods folder and also if any installed mods need updating because the creator has pushed an update.

The game gives Steam 20 seconds to come back with this information, but it normally comes back in less than a second. I've done some trials to see if the number of mods makes a difference, but it doesn't seem to. I tried it while subscribed to 82 mods and it's still coming back in just over a second.

What's quite annoying is the query is not throwing an error, it's just timing out, which means I don't have any feedback on what is going wrong.

Out of interest, how many mods are you subscribed to? (You can just count the number of folders in My Games\Megaquarium\Mods.)

Thanks, i just deleted that senctence and it's working now!

Great!

This is happening again, and this time the "metadata query" line isn't there so idk what it is
https://pastebin.com/tsct1FV7

Hmm, looking at the log there doesn't seem to be anything wrong.

In fact, the last time you ran, a few new mods seemed to be installed:

[Yellow Bellied Sea Snake|2475978835] Installed to local mod folder.
[Mesoamerican Barrier Reef Pack|2233945454] Installed to local mod folder.
[Deep Sea Pack Part 2|2475305379] Installed to local mod folder.
[Picturesque dragonet|2178838019] Installed to local mod folder.

Do these show up in game?

Also, can you check whether they exist in your local mod folder?

C:\Users\<insert username>\AppData\LocalLow\Twice Circled\Megaquarium\Mods

There should now be a folder in there called "Yellow Bellied Sea Snake" etc.

Bit of a puzzle. :?

i actually downloaded these mods a long while ago, though they're disabled rn, i think the game just chose them at random
i'll try to just unsubscribe from everything later

nevermind, the problem just kinda solved itself i guess, just entered the game and the mods were all there, still thanks for the help!