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What mods should I use to make KSP as beautiful and realistic looking as possible.

Basically, as the title says. The normal textures are OK and the graphics are kinda meh. Gameplay is fine at the moment but I'd like to see something more appealing so are there any mods for this?

Dear people, The tutorial @Poodmund suggest me to watch really helped but now I got another problem. I made a texture for the gas giant but there is something I'm missing. It's hard to explain so I'll just show you: https://postimg.org/image/p9kulykod/ The texture has this line. I mean, it doesn't blend well. I don't know how to explain it but I'm guessing you can see it for yourself. Hopefully somebody can help me with this! Thanks for taking a look

Dear readers, What's best to do for getting textures for gas giants? I know you can't really use PQS mods and SE (Space Engine) isn't the best choice either. I've really done enough research, but I still can't figure out what's best to do. Hopefully somebody can help me with this! Thanks! Just leave suggestions down below.

Creating Procedural Planet Textures (Heightmap & Colour) using Adobe After Effects Abstract To create an Adobe After Effects template that will allow for the generation of Planet/Moon Heightmap and Colour Maps for use with KSP by utilizing fractal noise layering to allow for ease of use by those that may not understand noise generation or subsequently, PQSMods/libnoise functions. The Adobe After Effects project can be download and used from here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zss8ydp80zm6h7b/Planet Textures.aep?dl=0 ----- I recently rediscovered the power and effectiveness of After Effect's Fractal Noise libraries whilst working on unrelated projects and considered that it would be a powerful tool when used to create base textures for planetoids in KSP; if utilised correctly. Due to the way After Effects generates the noise, most noise created would be generated outside of the -180 to 180 degrees phase and therefore would not be seamless in the workspace and also the noise is created in a rectangular image space and therefore there would be significant 'pinching' distortion at the poles. To rectify this, the noise image space can be distorted using polar deformation to remove this issue and finally some manual seam blending can be introduced using a small mask to cover any inconsistencies that blends in with its surrounding environment. Finally, the resulting greyscale heightmap can be colourized depending on the lightness using a custom gradient scale to create a coloured ScaledSpace texture that varies with colour proportional to altitude. These textures can be rendered out of After Effects (at 8192x4096 in the attached project) for further use within KSP or for additional image manipulation work. The greyscale heightmap can be passed through a normal map generator to give you the bump map to be used in-game (remember that KSP uses inverted Red to the Alpha channel and the Green channel duplicated to RGB). Anyway, I have done some quick and dirty previews as to what can be achieved with not a terrible amount of effort, as you can see, bodies with complex and noisy terrain can be generated alongside those with mostly flat, rounded slopes: The above planetoids have all been generated using textures rendered straight from After Effects with the normal maps used being from the http://cpetry.github.io/NormalMap-Online/ tool by utilizing the greyscale heightmap. Above is a preview of one of the example bodies shown from Front, Left, Back, Right, Top & Bottom respectively to show the total lack of polar 'pinching'. Mini-guide Below I will list the respective stages of the process within After Effects to allow for the easy use of the attached project above. Panel 1: Noise Layers In this panel, you are required to generate the main features of the terrain by using multiple layers of fractal noise to build up a greyscale, rectangular base for your heightmap. As you can see, in the example above I have layered 6 noise layers to create the shown effect. The parameters listed against the Fractal Noise effect can be changed to alter the generated noise to your liking with a dynamic preview being shown in the composition work space. Ensure to layer blend your multiple noise layers to obtain the result you desire. Panel 2: Polar Distortion This panel requires no input by the user and simply takes the generated image from Panel 1 and applies the polar distortion required to create an even and consistent terrain distribution at the poles. Panel 3: Seam Blend for Heightmap The source image from Panel 2 is shifted horizontally by half a phase to show the seam error in the center of the image space. The mask in this composition can be resized, the feather adjusted and the opacity altered etc. to try and completely remove the seam whilst maintaining a good transition in the terrain on either side. This process can be seen below: This finalizes the greyscale heightmap for your body. Panel 4: Colourization The Colorama effect is applied to the source image from Panel 3 that allows you to create a gradient map that is directly proportional to the brightness of the texture. Many effects can be created here in the way that LUTs are used to colour terrain maps, realistically or not and even to reflect habitable Earth-like worlds. In the example below a simple rocky style gradient has been applied. Panel 5: Spherical Preview In this panel, you can rotate the colour map on the X, Y and Z axis (Y axis being the most useful) to give a real time preview of the body as a sphere. ---------- Once you are happy with your terrain maps, simply add Panel 3 and 4's composition frame to the render queue and generate your heightmap and colour map textures respectively. Ultimately, a Kopernicus config will be required to be written to use your textures to create the body within KSP. ---------- Disclaimer: I appreciate the fact this may not be a desirable way to generate terrain for use within KSP as basing your terrain of a heightmap texture can cause some rough, pixel'y terrain at the pixel boundaries... especially on larger bodies. Nonetheless, PQSMods still remain a confusing matter to many people and this method may be "good enough" for some to achieve the results they require. I post this up as a fleshed out proof of concept and nothing more.

I've put together most all the textures I was able to find for Procedural Parts, for my own use. I wondered if anyone would be interested in this as a small mod add on.

So I have downloaded 1.2... maybe I read something wrong somewhere so if I have please ignore my first question: 1, Fuel Flow display / overlay. I read on 'DevNote Tuesday' (and saw a dev picture) a few weeks back, maybe a month or more, that there would be a new fuel flow overlay in the build screens to show the direction & priority of fuel flow. I cannot find this option or see anything that looks like the screenshot I saw. Did this make it into v1.2 or have I misunderstood how this functionality works? 2, Low Res Textures (even when 'Fantastic' mode is set) My PC is good enough to max out the KSP settings so I run everything on the highest graphics settings. I noticed that some parts are worse than others but notably the large SAS module (the dark grey one) has some very poor texture quality even with the maximum texture quality mode enabled. I am aware that when you change this setting in the Graphics menu a restart is required but even then, yes they do improve but no where near what I would call 'fantastic'. I don't run 4K res or anything like that, just a standard 1920x1200. Is this normal or am I expecting too much? thanks,

So I've been trying to add planets using Kopernicus and everything appears to be going well. However, there are a few technical questions that remain, if anyone could answer would be super helpful! What is the correct or preferred format for Normal maps? I've been using .DDS, DXT5 format with so-so results. I tried using DXT5_NM but my planet vanished. I've also tried using a normal full color normal map (normally hued blueish) but that also causes my planet to vanish, so instead I use a gray scale. Also tried a .PNG format as some have suggested- but my planet also vanishes.

I was thinking of dabbling in Blender a bit and making a planet could be a fun project, but the question is: how are textures mapped? Is there a guide anywhere? There are many common types, cylindrical, spherical, etc. Also is there a guide to supported texture types, color, bump, diffuse, etc. ? Thanks! *perhaps I should specify, I'd like to use Blender's texture paint tools to make the textures so I need to emulate how KSP handles it.

All of my asteroids appear completely black, with no texture, even in sunlight. I've tried verifying the game cache, reinstalling the entire game, and reinstalling the game with the Steam cloud off, all with no luck. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this would happen, and how to fix it? Running on a late 2013 Macbook Pro, OSX El Capitan 10.11. KSP version 1.1.2. Link to the log file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h24m9aqe081rj3r/Player.log.rtf?dl=0 Here are some examples of what I'm seeing:

So you have your own planet or moon and you want to make it look as good from close by as it does from up in orbit? Good terrain textures are the best way to make this happen. In this tutorial I will explain how to properly apply both stock and custom terrain textures to your planets using Kopernicus. This lesson is based on what I learned myself while learning to do this for my own mod OPM. The tutorial consists of 2 parts: Applying textures to the terrain Making the textures appear where you want Texture application Note: for this step you can use built-in textures from the game or use your own custom textures. I will explain how you can do both. Open up your body’s cfg in something like Notepad++ (Windows’ Notepad won’t do). To edit the terrain textures we have to use the Material node. If you've never touched terrain textures, you probably won't have this in your config yet. Here is where it goes (excuse bad formatting, blame the forum software): @Kopernicus:AFTER[Kopernicus] { Body { PQS { Material { } } } } So material is where we're going to do our magic. There's one thing that we have to do outside of the material node though and that's to set the material type. Not all stock planets use the same one and, since some types work less well than others, we're going to define the type so that we're always working with the best one. @Kopernicus:AFTER[Kopernicus] { Body { PQS { materialType = AtmosphericExtra Material { } } } } From now on everything we'll be doing in side of the Material node. For those who've dabbled with texturing before KSP 1.1, note that AtmosphericExtra is the successor to AtmosphericOptimized. If you used that before, use AtmosphericExtra now. Before we start writing the material, you need to know that there are four texture slots we can use: Low: covers the lowest part of the terrain Mid: covers the area between low and high High: covers the highest part of the terrain Steep: covers all the steep areas like cliff faces, crater walls, the sides of mountains, etc. It will overlap with the three previous areas as steep parts can be anywhere So now we know that, we can start adding the textures to these areas: Material { steepTex = CTTP/Textures/snow steepTexScale = 1,1 steepTexOffset = 0,0 steepBumpMap = CTTP/Textures/snow_normal steepBumpMapScale = 1,1 steepBumpMapOffset = 0,0 lowTex = CTTP/Textures/snow lowTexScale = 1,1 lowTexOffset = 0,0 lowBumpMap = CTTP/Textures/snow_normal lowBumpMapScale = 1,1 lowBumpMapOffset = 0,0 midTex = CTTP/Textures/snow midTexScale = 1,1 midTexOffset = 0,0 midBumpMap = CTTP/Textures/snow_normal midBumpMapScale = 1,1 midBumpMapOffset = 0,0 highTex = CTTP/Textures/sand highTexScale = 1,1 highTexOffset = 0,0 highBumpMap = CTTP/Textures/sand_normal highBumpMapScale = 1,1 highBumpMapOffset = 0,0 } You see a lot of repeating stuff, so I'll only need to explain four of the values to help you understand what everything does:. ...Tex: sets the main texture for this area ...BumpMap: sets the bump map (or normal map) texture for this area. This doesn't have to look anything like your main texture, but if you want a unified look it's best you do. ...Scale: sets the scale of the texture on the X and Y axis. The default 1,1 is what looks the best, so use that. ...Offset: offsets the bumpmap from the main texture on the X and Y axis. The default 0,0 is what looks the best, so use that. You'll see I've pointed the textures to a folder called CTTP. This is the Community Terrain Texture Pack (still need to make a thread for this how others can use this). This is how you point to a custom terrain texture. Just replace the folder path to the one that matches your texture (YourModFolder/Textures/YourTexture for example). You can also use the builtin terrain textures found in KSP. These are lower quality and not all textures have a matching bump map, but you won't have to put custom textures in your mod. Here's a list of builtin terrain textures. To apply them you have to use a different folder path: midBumpMap = BUILTIN/RockyGround Next we're going to define how often these textures are applied to your planet. To prevent this code from becoming to long, imagine that the previous entries are also in Material. Material { steepNearTiling = 5000 steepTiling = 50 lowNearTiling = 5000 lowMultiFactor = 50 lowBumpNearTiling = 5000 lowBumpFarTiling = 50 midNearTiling = 5000 midMultiFactor = 50 midBumpNearTiling = 5000 midBumpFarTiling = 50 highNearTiling = 5000 highMultiFactor = 50 highBumpNearTiling = 5000 highBumpFarTiling = 50 } The higher the values you give to this tiling, the more detailed the terrain will become. Too much however will create noticeable tiling, making it look fake. So there's a fine balance. 5000/50 as shown above works well for textures with 1024x1024 resolution and what's on the texture looks close by, rather than far away. Is it 1024x1024 and the texture is far away (the case for CTTPs cliff and beach textures for example) than I've found 2500/25 to be a good fit. An explanation of the rest in the code above: NearTiling determines how often the texture tiles close to the player Tiling, MultiFactor and FarTiling (Squad didn't make it consistent) determine how often the texture tiles far away from the player. This works best if lower than NearTiling Steep only has NearTiling and Tiling for some reason, and these settings are used for the main texture and the bump map STILL WRITING, WANTED TO MAKE SURE IT SAVED

Hello, I'm rather new to modding KSP and Unity in general. I am attempting to add fog and clouds to KSP and I have really no clue where to begin. I've searched Google high and low as well as the forums and all I could find is incomplete code snippets so small that they really don't help much. If someone has the time and knowledge, would you lend me a hand. Below is my code so far. I think I am on the right track with making a gameobject, assigning it's .maintexture to be my texture I choose, adding a mesh, creating vertices, triangles, etc. but I really have no idea if this is correct and if it is, where do I go now. using System; using System.IO; using System.Collections; using UnityEngine; using KSP; namespace Clouds { public class Clouds_Main : MonoBehaviour { bool debug_output = false; Texture2D white_clouds = null, storm_clouds = null; private float lastFixedUpdate = 0.0f, logInterval = 2.5f; Mesh light_cloud_mesh = new Mesh(); Mesh dark_cloud_mesh = new Mesh(); public Material light_cloud_material; public Material dark_cloud_material; GameObject dark_cloud_gameObject; GameObject light_cloud_gameObject; /* Caution: as it says here: http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/ScriptReference/MonoBehaviour.Awake.html, use the Awake() method instead of the constructor for initializing data because Unity uses Serialization a lot. */ /* Called after the scene is loaded. */ void Awake() { if (white_clouds == null) white_clouds = LoadPNG(@"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Kerbal Space Program\GameData\Wind Mod\S_Cloud4.png"); // Load the S_Cloud4.png Icon image into memory if (storm_clouds == null) storm_clouds = LoadPNG(@"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Kerbal Space Program\GameData\Wind Mod\D_Cloud1.png"); // Load the D_Cloud1.png Icon image into memory light_cloud_material.SetTexture(0, white_clouds); dark_cloud_material.SetTexture(1, storm_clouds); } /* Called next. */ void Start() { dark_cloud_gameObject.AddComponent<MeshRenderer>().material.mainTexture = dark_cloud_material.GetTexture(1); dark_cloud_mesh = dark_cloud_gameObject.AddComponent<MeshFilter>().mesh; dark_cloud_mesh.Clear(); dark_cloud_mesh.vertices = new Vector3[] { new Vector3(-0.5f, 0, -0.5f), new Vector3(0.5f, 0, -0.5f), new Vector3(0.5f, 0, 0.5f), new Vector3(-0.5f, 0, 0.5f) }; dark_cloud_mesh.uv = new Vector2[] { new Vector2(0, 0), new Vector2(0, 1), new Vector2(1, 1), new Vector2(1, 0) }; dark_cloud_mesh.triangles = new int[] { 0, 1, 2, 2, 3, 0 }; light_cloud_gameObject.AddComponent<MeshRenderer>().material.mainTexture = light_cloud_material.GetTexture(0); light_cloud_mesh = light_cloud_gameObject.AddComponent<MeshFilter>().mesh; light_cloud_mesh.Clear(); light_cloud_mesh.vertices = new Vector3[] { new Vector3(-0.5f, 0, -0.5f), new Vector3(0.5f, 0, -0.5f), new Vector3(0.5f, 0, 0.5f), new Vector3(-0.5f, 0, 0.5f) }; light_cloud_mesh.uv = new Vector2[] { new Vector2(0, 0), new Vector2(0, 1), new Vector2(1, 1), new Vector2(1, 0) }; light_cloud_mesh.triangles = new int[] { 0, 1, 2, 2, 3, 0 }; } /* Called every frame */ void Update() { } /* Called at a fixed time interval determined by the physics time step. */ void FixedUpdate() { if ((Time.time - lastFixedUpdate) > logInterval) { } } /* Called when the game is leaving the scene (or exiting). Perform any clean up work here. */ void OnDestroy() { } Texture2D LoadPNG(string filePath) // Converts a .png image into a BYTE array that Unity needs in order to display as a GUI image { Texture2D temp_texture = null; // Ensure the texture is always reset byte[] fileData; if (File.Exists(filePath)) { fileData = File.ReadAllBytes(filePath); temp_texture = new Texture2D(2, 2); temp_texture.LoadImage(fileData); //..this will auto-resize the texture dimensions. } else { if (debug_output) Debug.Log("[WIND MOD : Gui Draw] Icon file does not exist in location: " + filePath); } return temp_texture; } } } I would greatly appreciate any help you can give. Thanks in advance.

Ok so I'm fiddling around with the idea of making some custom parts for areas of the game that (at least in my opinion) could use some help. I am an engineer by day and have extensive experience working with 3D CAD software, notably SolidWorks. I read an old post where a guy asked if it's possible to model parts in CAD, but he was referring to the AutoCAD, which is Autodesk's most basic 2D CAD software. So if I were so bold and brave as to undertake a project of making some custom parts, would I be able to model them in SW? SolidWorks has the capability to export 3D models in a variety of different file formats, but I'm not sure which ones would be required to import into blender. Could an experienced modder chime in and let me know please? The ability to do this would vastly soften my learning curve for making a mod (so long as I don't have to jump through too many hoops to make it work). Thanks!

Update 1.1 is here Changelog: >Version 1.1 >Codename "Rainbow Update" >New textures: Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo, and Violet Metals, and Gay Pride Texture >Updated to KSP 1.1.2 Pack Download Textures My YouTube

Mod has been moved to here: Thanks!

Hi, i just installed ksp 1.1 (of course keeping 1.05 with al the mods ;-) ) and the first thing i noticed is although i set the better graphics option, full res textures and so, the vessel parts in the VAB or in the misssions looked better in 1.05. What am i doing wrong? Nevermind this, i relaunched the game and now it looks fine. How can i delete this post?

I've been asking myself a very certain question numerable times that it's not even funny anymore. "How to do we make Kerbals look more awesome". Then it hit me, well I think the more appropriate phrase would be - It Lithobreaked itself into my brain. As all of you people know that the majority of life's numerous problems can be solved with one easy solution, and that solution is just slapping a pair of eyebrows on said problems and calling it a day. [bad example commin' up nice & toasty] [Didn't have time to cook up a proper texture, so I just slathered a Female Kerb's texture on Jeb's face]

Hi I hav been approaced by a fellow KSP player to make a spacestation simulation game based in UE4 and we have accross the board decided to go with the ksp style of textures insuide and out. im knew to texturing so if anyone could give me some serious pointers as o what goes into makeing a texture to be stock style or might possible want to participate as a textuerer any help would be appreciated. (im also gonna use this for my mods as well so it is kninda on topic) thanks

Created a new mod to save graphics memory! Without sacrificing parts or texture quality, this mod unloads and loads textures on the fly! Increase texture resolution to max again! Now with updating loading while textures/parts load, IVA texture handling, and caching the full-sized textures! No duplicate textures are loaded into memory! Fixed certain parts, now unloads only once new textures are loaded. DTL disables ATM now, as there are conflicts. On DirectX 9 with tons of parts, the system memory went from 3205MB down to 2520MB! DX11 and OpenGL use graphics memory first, and system memory for spillover, so if you use these graphics platforms, this will not likely show anything on system memory unless you use LOTS of part mods with big textures, or have small available graphics memory. Side effects include: increased loading times at start Slight lag when adding new parts when building craft Increased loading times when launching new crafts VAB/SPH low res "icons". Adding many more mods and/or maxing texture resolution Download Here: https://github.com/rbray89/DynamicTextureLoader/releases/tag/DTL-1.1-1 Currently broken due to unity bug. Working on fix/workaround. This is done in my spare time, and any contribution helps! Source: https://github.com/rbray89/DynamicTextureLoader License (MIT): https://github.com/rbray89/DynamicTextureLoader/blob/master/README.md