mod fails to load here is the message: https://ibb.co/MN697NV

I can't reproduce the issue on 0.17.79 with no other mods, so I'll need some more info.

• Which Factorio version are you running?
• Which other mods do you have enabled?

version 0.17.79

modlist is here: https://pastebin.com/N6WGJyG2

Well, that's a lot. You'll forgive me if I'm not going to download 300 mods by hand.
Any idea which one might be mucking with labs? If not, a copy of your factorio log file might help. It's factorio-current.log in your game folder.

heres the factorio-current.log: https://pastebin.com/1mJV14Qf

Thanks, that helps. You seem to be running a mod that adds a second tier lab, internal name lab-2. Any idea which one that is?

Big Factories is using that as a base template for the big version, but apparently it's invalid at the moment it makes the copy. Try disabling that mod and see if the error goes away. If it does, this is probably a bug in the other mod, not in Big Factories. Still, if it is I can probably work around it if I know which mod it is.

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/bobtech has a lab-2

I can't reproduce this with just Big Factories and Bob's tech either. The lab-2 as added by Bob's is fine. I would like to help you further, but there's not much I can do without knowing which mod is causing the issue.

hey i took a look at the mods for you and those:
aai-industrys
madclown-science
darkstar-utilities
DragonIndustries
MoreSciencePacks
Natural_Evolution_Buildings
pyanodon suite with bobs and angels and PyCoalTouchedByanAngel

are the ones that add a lot of stuff maybe also a lab-2.
It's a wonder darkstar, bobs-angel, pycoal, dragonindustries and aai is running together. most of the time they have a lot of conflicts between them.

It's a wonder darkstar, bobs-angel, pycoal, dragonindustries and aai is running together. most of the time they have a lot of conflicts between them.

Agreed, the combination of that many mods is not something I can support.

If someone can figure out which small number of mods I need to reproduce the issue, I can help further.

I got to reproduce the error with:
Big Factories
FactorioExtended Plus Machines (and FactorioExtended Plus-Core) enabled and no other mods.

The Error is not present, if you disable the recipies to craft/mine them in the startup options.
Hope this helps.

@Nyhmus: Just for completeness, I tried running BigFactories with aai-industrys,DragonIndustries,Natural_Evolution_Buildings and PyCoalTouchedByanAngel. This works.

Thanks, that should help. I'll have a look when I have time, but it might take a while.

Well, I've reproduced the issue. Can confirm that Big Factories somehow cannot find the icon, even if it's exactly the same as the original icon, and it works for FactorioExtended-Machines just fine. I have no idea why, the same strategy works perfectly when combined with other mods. So if someone knows why an entity with icon = "__FactorioExtended-Plus-Machines__/graphics/icons/assembling-machine-5.png" is fine for the original mod, but causes problems for Big Factories, I'd love to hear it.