KSP 1.4.4 List of mods and plugins

[BaldyMike]

Just purchased KSP and was wondering what would be good, useful mods/plugins to download.
Also...how far off can the version of a mod/plugin be off before it wont work?

New to KSP so any advice would be welcomed :)

[Chimera]

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/155960-community-mods-and-plugins-library/

Happy reading

[Mannschaft]

This post is already out of date lol

[()Alf]

As new player i suggest to read this one ;) : https://steamcommunity.com/app/220200/discussions/0/1762481957307589623/

[van Leeuwenhoek's mustache]

Before this thread fills up with discouraging comments, let me point you to four fundamental mods that, imo, every KSP player should use (regardless of experience):

1- Kerbal Engineer Redux
This mod provides fundamental technical data about your rocket design (TWR, DeltaV, etc.)
Without this information, you'd be clueless about the viability of your rocket designs.
You'd waste countless hours on trial and error tests, which would teach you next to nothing about the fundamental reasons behind the failure of your rocket designs.

2- Editor Extensions Redux
This mod provides additional construction options (extra angle snap modes, extra symmetry modes, special placement modes, etc.).
Stock KSP provides limited construction options, which leads to available rocket space being wasted, and limited design possibilities.
For instance, imagine that you have a huge fuel tank on your rocket, which could potentially accomodate 20 symmetrical radial attachments. With stock KSP you would only be able to attach a maximum of 8 or so, besides, angle snap options are also limited, which leads to clearance and placement problems with radial attachments down the line.
That's one of the reasons why Editor Extensions is so damn useful.

3- RCS Build Aid Continued
This mod shows torque forces from RCS thrusters and engines of all kinds, as well as other kinds of forces. It also shows the different Centers of Mass of each rocket stage (empty CoM, average CoM and CoM when fully loaded).
In practice, these indicators will help you identify potential design problems before launch.
Also, it's a neat mod for RCS thruster placement, since the torque indicators will guide you towards the optimal placement locations.

4- Docking Port Alignment Indicator

It's a very simple mod which provides a cool guidance interface for docking.
You'll still need to maneuver the ship manually during obrital docking attempts, of course, this mod won't guide the ship for you or anything of the sort.
It'll just provide a cool and reliable indicator which displays information from all the relevant vectors, so you can reliably align your ship's trajectory with the target's trajectory and dock.
It also allows you to rename docking ports (which is useful in orbital stations, since they usually need to be equipped with several docking ports).

Watch this to get a sense of how this mod works (tutorial starts at 8:33):
https://youtu.be/ynKnP1hpxSc?t=511


Of course, there are plenty of other great mods out there, but these four are essential imho.
They improve KSP a lot, without adding "cheat features".

As for the time it takes for mods to become obsolete, it depends on the changes made between one version of KSP and the next.
Your best bet is to test the mods with every new version of KSP and visit their official KSP forum threads when they stop working.

[()Alf]

i disagree, it takes you off of learning things. Read my link, there are mods listed as well, but also some who share my point.
But it's your choice of course

[van Leeuwenhoek's mustache]

Цитата допису ()Alf:

i disagree, it takes you off of learning things. Read my link, there are mods listed as well, but also some who share my point.
But it's your choice of course :KOh:

Sure, as if newbies without an engineering degree would ever figure out stuff like torque forces, TWR and available DeltaV just by trial and error...

Anyway, that's not the point... the point is that with those mods, new players can avoid dozens of hours of pointless torture, cluelessness and frustration (which would lead to many of them giving up on KSP, thus failing to understand the physical principles behind it).
At least with these mods they'll learn what those terms mean and why are important.

Not gonna start an argument about this, I've already said my piece.
If you want to keep pretending that people who discover this game have an engineering degree (or juggle complicated equations like it's nothing) , go right ahead, ^^

[()Alf]

I don't have some engineering degree and i don't know the meaning of most terms, but maybe i'm just too oldschool, when we played and learning by doing games without any clues some decades ago ;)

For me, trial and error is interesting, especially with KSP, but of course, everyone like to choose his/her way of KSP experience.


I "feel" the way how this physics are working, i don't calculate except for those vanilla options (except 1 tool "precise maneuver"). And, with some experience, you can even "feel" how much fuel you need for outer planets (of course not perfect match, maybe having a bit too much fuel, but it's ok).

[Technicalfool]

Trying the game in its bare stock form first is always a good idea. It also helps to have a bone-stock install around if you find and want to report any bugs, as once you start modding, bug reports become much less useful, except maybe for reporting bugs in the mods.

That said, a lot of people get good mileage out of the Kerbal Engineer Redux mod, simply for providing some extra information as a HUD.

Mods like Planetshine and Scatterer tweak light sourcing and shaders, basically making the game look pretty.

Given v1.4.5 has just been released and it's unknown how many mods are going to break, you may want to use the Beta channels feature of Steam to retrieve an earlier version that's more compatible with existing mods.

I'd also recommend, once you've gotten mods working and have a stable working modded game, copy it out of the steamapps location and run it entirely separately from Steam. You'll lose the workshop craft/mission sharing, but you'll also not get any nasty surprises if updates happen and you're not on a beta branch. Plus if you're going to run modded anyway, you might as well give the KerbalX or Craft manager mods a try[kerbalx.com], which basically do the same thing as the Workshop, but tailored for KSP and not dependant on Steam.

[Manwith Noname]

Цитата допису Technicalfool:

...You'll lose the workshop craft/mission sharing, ...

Kinda. You can still subscribe to things in Steam and grab them out of the workshop folder they get downloaded to, then copy them to the appropriate folder of your backup.

I haven't copied out any versions of KSP since workshop was added so I haven't checked whether all those juicy Steam hooks still function from within an external copy or if it breaks completely.