Edit 2: As of !skins most recent update on 2025-07-02, most of what I said here about !skins compatibility is no longer true, as expected in my original comment, !skins was updated, and this information is no longer "Current", so any information relating to !skins bugs isn't relevant, but the stuff about this mod's difference being the dependency it requires is still true. This comment is also still a mess though, I'm just here to edit in the !skins update, not format this monstrosity lol, sorry.
Oh okay yea that's actually a lot more different than I initially thought, I just wasn't thinking it fully through lol.
My first thought was just "Wait doesn't this already exist? It just depends on CharacterModHelper instead of !skins? But I know !skins already has compatibility with CharacterModHelper Characters? So what's actually new about this?"
But its just simply, that it doesn't depend on !skins, which as you said is a character selector, which might not actually be necessary for only one skin.
For people who download that other version of Gear Girl who only want it for the Gear Girl skin, and none of the selector stuff, this version is actually an upgrade.
Now this part might be beside the point, but just to also add on to how this current version is actually different from the other mods current version, I've got some issues opened with !skins (only like 2 days old because I reported late, that's my fault, absolutely no blame to Penguin_spy there) and actually have mods uploaded solely to allow compatibility with !skins and other certain mods, but this CharacterModHelper version completely bypasses that. I expect !skins to get updated at some point to fix these issues anyways, but for the time being its nice to be able to
- Use Quick Ride and create a game with the custom skin without it crashing.
- Handcraft Nauvis Science with Nuclear Science, and handcraft Military items with Castra
Both of which are things you are not able to do with the !skins version, that I tested work perfectly fine using this version.
A lot of what I said here will probably change at some point once it isn't 2 days after the report (and I'll edit this once it does, I don't like leaving outdated information around), but for the time being this is all true, and the stuff about not needing a character selector will stand true forever. (Edit 2: Has been updated!)
Definitely a lot more differences than my initial thought of "Wait that's just the exact same thing though." If you only use the one Gear Girl skin, this version is better. If you want compatibility with other skins and to select them, then Penguin_spy's version is better. (Not true! Continue reading!)
Edit 1: My misunderstanding is continuous, thought not severe. "If you want compatibility with other skins and to select them, then Penguin_spy's version is better." is not even entirely true, if I actually read the description of this mod it states that it is also intended to be compatible with character selectors like MiniMAXIme, which I just tested and is also working.
So unless you are doing something that specifically requires !skins, I'm pretty sure this version is a straight upgrade compared to Penguin_spy's version... The ability to allow the user to only use the character selector if they go out of their way to get it makes way more sense than including it by default as a dependency to one skin, like the current other Gear Girl 2.0 does.
tldr;
This version works in the PI-C CharacterHelperMod/MiniMAXIme relative world, while the other version was made specifically to be used with !skins. (Which, to be fair is compatible with both CharacterHelperMod/MiniMAXIme, but the selector from !skins can be entirely unwanted in the first place if you are only using one skin)
Edit 2 tldr addition; so if you only want the one skin, you can use this version and add in compatibility with other skins using CharacterHelperMod/MiniMAXIme later, or if you know you want more skins you can just use the !skins one in the first place, the difference between the 2 as a user is just "do you want the skin selector built in? use the other one. Do you not want it built in? use this one"
