Are mods bad for my computer?

[Firehawk]

Hey Everyone

I love KSP! I have around 100 hours in it and to be honest the vanilla game is starting to get boring. I've seen a really cool mod (I think it's called the lazor guided missiles mod). The thing is, I recently purchased a new laptop which is far better than my older one. I bought this one so I could play some games on a little higher quality but also for school meaning it has to stay fast. I heard mods are actually really bad for your computer... Is this true? And if I do decide to install it, what is the safest website to get it?

Thanks!

Koen

[Cynabal]

I mod most of my games these days iv never heard of it being bad for your pc, its usually just a modified or new file you add to the game directory. Worst i can see is the mod being poorly optimised.
www.cursed.com is the place for ksp mods i think, just read reviews of the mods.

[Bomoo]

All mods will do is make the game use more of your system memory. Aside from that, no, if you download from reputable sources.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forums/35-Add-on-Releases-and-Projects-Showcase

[95Bravo95]

Loading up your computer with "crud" used to be a really bad thing, before NTFS became the common format for hard drives, but it's not so much a problem these days. Just don't go filling up your 500gb drive with 490gb of crap, and it should be relatively alright.

There are still things you can do that will tank up a computer, but adding some mods to KSP shouldn't kill the system.

[RalphRoberts]

Originally posted by 95Bravo95:

Loading up your computer with "crud" used to be a really bad thing, before NTFS became the common format for hard drives, but it's not so much a problem these days. Just don't go filling up your 500gb drive with 490gb of crap, and it should be relatively alright.

There are still things you can do that will tank up a computer, but adding some mods to KSP shouldn't kill the system.

like he said, the only problems will be if you accidentally download malware of if you fill your ENTIRE hard drive up. :)

[Ancient Sumerian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHud-jA3AaA&index=26&list=UU2K1DWjfWnNy43egTFm2WeQ

[Rhadamant]

The only time a mod would be bad for you is if it was coupled with viruses or malware, which is not likely to be the case. Most mods don't contain dll files or executables so your risk of malicious mods is very low.

Getting mods off of kerbal's official forums is a great place at http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forums/35-Add-on-Releases-and-Projects-Showcase
Or curse at http://www.curse.com/ksp-mods/kerbal

[CrossDressiNate]

Mods are the reasons why so many people prefer PC over console. Mods,by themselves are not bad for your computer or our gam. But lets someone decided to upload (reupload) a mod thats featured on another modding site and they wished no one to reupload it anywhere, it could have a virus. Especially if its a really random website. Like someones personal blog or some ♥♥♥♥ like that. That rarely happens. The only mod I've ever heard of ever having a virus was Knights of the Force for Jedi Academy. But I have a feeling that was a lie spread around by people who didn't like the guy for using other mods to make his mod. I've been modding games since the 90's.

[CrossDressiNate]

If you're worried about virus', malware, keyloggers, adware, trojans, etc then you better have a anti virus AND an anti-malware AND a registry cleaner program. Most premium anti-virus do have a registry cleaner and some even have malware detection. Though I still recommend a seperate anti-malware program to go along with you anti-virus.

[J-Curwen]

Originally posted by CrossDressiNate:

If you're worried about virus', malware, keyloggers, adware, trojans, etc then you better have a anti virus AND an anti-malware AND a registry cleaner program. Most premium anti-virus do have a registry cleaner and some even have malware detection. Though I still recommend a seperate anti-malware program to go along with you anti-virus.

or play the game on linux, there the 64-bit version is bug-free ;)
But seriously, registry-cleaners are usually crap and hurt more than they do good. A free anti-virus programs like comodo or avira anti-vir is enough. You cant be 100 % save, especially with windows anyway.
These days the vast majority of viruses get downloaded trough your browser. So use either adblock or noscript-extensions.

But if you download mods from curse or the official forum you can be sure, that they dont contain a virus. The forums are controlled by to many people and curse runs checks on everything thats uploaded there.

[Mr.Sandman6144]

Agreed with Sandor, I have the game for Ubuntu 14.04LTS. Honestly though, you just have to be careful about where you get the mods and what buttons you have to click. Also, beware of Adf.ly.

[quasur]

I think a mod or 2 will be allright. I almost went crazy on the stuff like mechjeb and redux. The smaller mods that make a big difference, they take up a small amount of space and is pretty basic. If your worried dont get more than 3 mega part packs like B9 Aerospace. As forwhere you get the mods, The main mod site is pretty liable[www.curse.com]. Make sure you know whats buttons to press :D

[ClaymoreRabbit]

Originally posted by Dutchgamer1982:

mods are not bad for your pc.. in itself.

-> however adware, malware, spyware, virusses, banners, registy keys, etc are.
when you visit webpages/download stuff, there is always a change they contan this kind of bad crap.
And in general the more obscure the source, the greater the change it contains any of this unwanted bad stuff. and illigal downloads, games and porn are the 3 most common spreaders of infectious files.

So it's not installing the mod that the problem as long as the installer itself does not install all kind of crap) it is downloading it, or better put, the many times instead of downloading a mod, you download other crap.
Good viruskillers, mallware and spyware protection etc may go a long way against that, but all it needs is 1 bad click and gone is all your work.
As a rule I would say don't dpwnload or game on any machine that also contains data that can't be missed. (as in schoolwork, regulair work, or private files (photo's, letters etc)
-if you still ignore that warning, better be sure at least all data is backupped, hard-formatting your system and reinstalling usually takes 3 hours and solves all this kind of crap, but it also means you will lose all data installed on it.

And than there is the problem of fractioning and dead ends.. every time you install something on your pc. it has a change to add processes (things that will start up when you start up your laptop pc, even when you don't activate the installed programm. Needless to say this makes your system slower.
You can clean this registery, but than you would need to know what your doing.. and know what you are installing.
Mods can add to this problem, if they use their own installers, and such (KSP mods do not, so no problem there, but for other games, there are mods that have that problem.
Now if you de-install information from your disks, it causes fractioned files, it makes your system slow. running defractioning programs does help a lot in that end.
but de-installed programs always leave behind a few foldrs and files, that are just trash taking unwanted space. as such, the more you install and the more you de-install the slower your system gets.. installing all programs you need fresh and than never install anything else after that, is the best recepy for a fast system.

The risk for KSP in specific if you still want to play it :
-the mods for this game itself are low risk, no .exe files and such only folders, very little risk of infections (however do watch those folders you add, as said no .exe should be in there... so if there is, it's bad)
-but most mods for this game are downloaded as a zip-file that has risk involved, better not download those on your scool-laptop, download them on your other one instead, if you extracted them and they are ok, install them on your normal ones.

Ey! You! Stop hiding! i saw you in the "What did you do today?" thread! :P (FOR THE FATHERLAND!)

[ASB]

I play KSP with TUFX, EVE, scatter, and like 20+ other mods on my 5 year old macbook while getting 40 fps almost all the time. Does that answer your question? lol.

[arjensmit79]

Bored after 100 hours and wanting lasers ?
This kinda sounds like trolling or not the game for you.
100 hours is barely enough to get a start on the learning curve for this game.

[Goose]

this is a 2014 thread necro and the original topic has already been answered.