Fevix wrote:
Factorio requires you to restart to load the new mod set
Minecraft requires you to restart to load the new mod set
Rimworld requires you to restart to load the new mod set
Starbound requires you to restart to load the new mod set
What game are you playing that allows you to just exit to main menu and select new mods? Because that is definitely NOT the norm.
COI is actually less restrictive than the above, because as long as you haven't loaded a save, you can freely edit the mod selections. None of the mods above allow you to freely enable and disable mods before loading a save.
World of Warcraft
However, when you're in the main menu of COI, the game won't let you disable mods that are in use by other save files. Yet, when you start a new game, a window pops up after you select your mods, and you have to wait for the game to verify and load them. Selecting "New Game"—even in the base game without mods—could potentially clear out any previously loaded mods and simply re-verify and reload them from scratch.
I haven't tested what happens if I load a different save file that uses a different set of mods—specifically, whether it might accidentally carry over mods from the previous save into the newly loaded one.
Plus, switching from the game back to the main menu takes a little while...