[2022] Mod.io is the problem. This mod framework is the cause of the recent performance issues, and the reason -disablemodding works to fix them even with no mods installed. Other games with mod.io have similar issues. mod.io is a known problem in the indie games scene.

Just dropping by to say we are planning to look into this and why it is happening. It might take a little while to get a clear impression of what is causing this due to pre-holiday patching and other stuff. As far as I've heard, our reports on performance drops stem from a specific Season 3 patch, which might coincide with a plugin update, but we'll see if that checks out.

Meanwhile, please keep a lid on the hot takes and the conspiracy theories. What we need is data points, not anecdotal opinions of performance in other games. If you can find specific posts with documentation it will be a great help in piecing together this puzzle.

And just to make it clear; as has already been stated in the comments, mod.io was chosen for a lot of reasons - including potential console support, allowing people not interested in mods to opt out, and community moderation among other things.

Edit: I've run some tests on old builds, and this did begin in a specific Season 3 patch. We've gathered logs and are investigating if it's something we did, or a plugin update from mod.io or something completely different, but this specifically is a recent issue and not something that has existed since we implemented modding support. Emphasis in case there's been other issues that I'm personally unaware of, since I don't want to get pitchforked.

Yeah, it is the module that is causing it, not the mods, but I believe it’s our integration of the modding module and not the module itself that’s causing it. It should be fixed soon.