I'm not the mod creator, but I am a random person who has gotten the mod to work, so...

***How long ago did you even try this? I'm asking for the updated game.
The following applies to the way the game and mod worked updated an hour ago, thank you very much.

***Since I can't get it to work, the mod must be broken!
No. Just because someone can't get it to work does not mean it actually does not work.

It does work. I just tested it. THE MOD DOES WORK. It works today, Monday 25th of November 2024.

Before complaining, START A BRAND NEW GAME after subscribing and enabling the mod, where you disable EVERY OTHER MOD. It will work.

***Do industries need workers to function?
No. All this mod does, is make industries attract workers, just like city industrial buildings. There is no mechanism to check whether the industry actually has any employees, just like city industrial buildings don't actually "need" people. If the game had any code to check for a workforce, I'm sure this would have worked for industries too, but it doesn't so they don't.

***Do industries need to be upgraded if a new game is started?
You don't need to do anything but wait*. It takes the game some time to internally adjust destinations, so run the game on x4 speed for a good while before you even check. There is zero reason to look for mistakes, broken connections etc (or go online to complain about bugs ;-) if you haven't first let the game run for a good long time to adjust its destinations.

*That's not actually the full story - you do need to check so people can actually get to their workplace. If the industry is right next to a city, some people will walk there. But mostly, you should expect to provide a commuter line (bus, tram, rail etc).

*** Can I add this mod to an existing game?
On an existing game, initially started without the mod, just like with just about any game state, the industry does need to "change state" for it to update in a way that registers it as a possible destination (in the city info screen). For instance, when it upgrades its capacity. I guess this is mostly relevant to a map where it is already running at full capacity. There you either need to strangle the goods flow, forcing the industry to downgrade, or, quicker but cruder, you delete the industry and replace it with a new copy.

You would think you should delete all the industries on the map manually and build new copies. Honestly that's overkill. Any industry you hook up to your transport network is very likely to increase capacity sooner or later, and when it does, it will start accepting workers.

The *really* easy answer is: after subscribing to this mod, start a new map.

*** Is there a reason people can't use their cars to go to an industry?
I just tested this. I wanted to know whether the type of street had anything to do with this. (Country roads don't allow people and buildings to interact, which is why cities automatically convert them into city roads as the city expands. And out in the boondocks there's no city council to do this for you.)

But it appears it doesn't matter. If the industry is close by, a town's population will see it as a destination, regardless of road type. (They will drive there or walk there, or indeed, use your buses etc) If it's "outside" the city, they won't go there unless you provide a commuter line. (And there is an upper limit to the distance/time spent commuting, so don't expect people taking a job at an industry at the other end of the map) As a rule of thumb, expect industries to employ local people from one of the closest towns.

I honestly don't know why people can drive to another city's industry building but can't/won't drive their cars to an industry. Maybe the mod creator knows this, maybe not.

***Won't this mod enable many more industrial jobs than commercial ones?
Yes, but it's not as if that's a problem.

If you want to, you can use the Sandbox city editor to lower a city's industrial size to compensate. But to be clear, you don't NEED to do any of this. But if you do, in theory, this should make the town's citizens take all the jobs at the industry, rather than just some of them.

For example: if a town is hooked up to two local industries, one that's working at 200 capacity, the other at 600 capacity, that's 800/4=200 industrial jobs.

If the town is originally size 100 across residential, commercial and industrial sectors, and has expanded to +400% (due to connections and satisfying its cargo demand) it should currently be very roughly 500 people, 500 commercial jobs, 500 industrial jobs.

If you edit the industrial size down from 100 to 50 (but keep residential and commercial the same), that will eventually cut the town's industrial sector in half, losing ~250 jobs. Now those 200 jobs from the industries will come in handy in preventing mass unemployment. Since all those jobs are now needed, I think your commuter line should see a spike in usage.

Just a crude example - please don't worry about the details, I just wanted an example to get the point across.