Let a mod ranking decide whose version of a function wins

[TheValiantOne]

First increment of ranked overrides: an opt-in mod ranking that resolves the whole-function tiebreak.

Why this lever

Reading the code surfaced a distinction worth stating up front: merge order and tiebreak-winner are different things.

• The existing per-file orderOverrides sets the chain order, and demands you name every mod for the file it covers.
• When two mods edit the same function differently, the winner is picked by "most distinct from vanilla wins" — order-independent, and with no way for a user to express a preference.

"Ranked overrides by originating mod" targets that second lever, which didn't exist. This adds it without touching ordering.

Behaviour

• Consulted only at the point FunctionLevelMergeEngine was already going to pick a whole side. A ranking never overrides a clean, genuinely-merged result.
• Partial by design. Rank only what you care about; a pair where neither side is ranked returns PreferredSide.None and behaves exactly as before. A ranked mod beats an unranked one.
• The accumulated side takes its best rank. A chain step's old side is the merge of everything before it, so it carries several mods at once. Without this, a highly-ranked mod would stop winning the moment one more mod merged on top of it — the opposite of what ranking it means.
• Every ranking-driven choice lands in the same Decisions audit trail as every other non-mechanical decision, naming the ranking as the reason.

Configuration

Through the existing order file's reserved "*" entry:

{
  "*": ["modIWantToWin", "modSecondChoice"],
  "game\actor.ws": ["modA", "modB"]
}

That reuses every existing path at once — both hosts' --order-file, the MCP merge_conflicts orderOverrides argument, and the Vortex extension — with no new config surface. * is safe as a sentinel because it's a reserved character in Windows paths, so it can't collide with a real relative path; MergeConflictsHeadless strips it before ResolveMergeOrder can see it as a path override.

Verification

18 new tests, 193 total, all passing. dotnet format whitespace --verify-no-changes clean.

Rank comparison both directions, ranked-beats-unranked on either side, the accumulated side taking its best rank, case-insensitivity, all three no-opinion cases, and the order-file plumbing (extraction, blank trimming, and that the reserved key never reaches ResolveMergeOrder).

Next

This is the by-mod increment. By-function overrides ({"path.ws": {"CR4Player.OnSpawned": "modX"}}) are the natural follow-on and fit the same seam — ResolveUnit already has the unit name in hand where it consults preferredSide.

AI-assisted development

Produced by Claude Code (Opus 5). Design shape (which lever, where configured, how strict) was chosen by the repo owner from options; implementation and tests are mine. Test and format results are from real runs.