--- a/artifacts-common/src/main/java/org/dive4elements/artifacts/common/utils/Config.java	Thu Jul 26 14:36:32 2018 +0200
+++ b/artifacts-common/src/main/java/org/dive4elements/artifacts/common/utils/Config.java	Tue Sep 04 16:44:31 2018 +0200
@@ -76,8 +76,7 @@
         return config;
     }
 
-    public static Properties loadProperties(final String CONFIG_FILE_LOCAL) throws IOException {
-        final File configDir = getConfigDirectory();
+    public static Properties loadProperties(final String CONFIG_FILE_LOCAL, final File configDir) throws IOException {
         final File configFile = new File(configDir, CONFIG_FILE_LOCAL);
 
         InputStream reader = null;
@@ -119,6 +118,21 @@
     }
 
     /**
+     * returns the path to modules-config, which is a subfolder of config
+     */
+    public static File getModulesConfigDirectory() {
+
+        final File configDir = getConfigDirectory();
+        final File modulesCfgFile = new File(configDir, "modules");
+
+        if (!modulesCfgFile.isDirectory()) {
+            logger.warn("'" + modulesCfgFile + "' is not a directory.");
+            return CONFIG_DIR_DEFAULT; // or null?
+        }
+        return modulesCfgFile;
+    }
+
+    /**
      * Replaces the CONFIG_DIR_PLACEHOLDER alias with the real path
      * of the configuration directory.
      *