How Do I Make A Addon For KSP

[Skyworks]

Hey I have some experience doing things like coding, 3d modeling, etc.. and I have been wondering how can I make a Kerbal Space Program Addon

1. What coding language do I use

2. What do I use to make 3d Models

3. How can I make textures for it

4. How can I put it all together and make it work on Kerbal Space Program

[passinglurker]

1. I don't code but I'm pretty sure unity (the engine ksp runs on) likes C# or some higher level language like that...

2. Whatever exports in a format unity accepts I've seen people use 3Ds-max, wings 3d, maya, blender, sketchup, Etc. I'd personally recommend blender at least for the mu import plug-in to help you learn by reverse engineering working parts.

3. Ksp uses the common dds format and since stand alone format converters exist you can basically use anything even paint (don't actually use paint if you don't already have a pro graphics editing program then I'd say grab gimp because it had most of the features of the big boys and it's free/open-source)

4. This part is done with the unity editor (the editor for the engine ksp runs on) you'll need "part tools" for the ksp specific exporting bits which can be found and downloaded from the pinned threads in this forum.

I'm afraid the documentation for modding ksp isn't very clear what I'd recommend is following roverdudes twitch streams, reverse engineer working parts and copy what they do, and ask specific questions for specific problems as they come up. people are more inclined to give advice for small problems than write a full tutorial.

Edited July 6, 2016 by passinglurker

[liquidhype]

1. I believe KSP uses C#.
2. Most people who make part mods uses Blender for modeling. It's free, and easy to get support from fellow forum dwellers.
3. To make textures you can use GIMP (which is free), Photoshop or any other image manipulation software.
4. To "put it all together" you have to import your assets (textures, models) into Unity and export them through it.

I suggest reading up on this page in order to familiarize yourself with how the process works.

EDIT: Well dang, I posted this literally 2 seconds after you @passinglurker

Edited July 6, 2016 by liquidhype

[Akira_R]

All of the above information is correct, however the ultimate question is, what do you want your mod to do?

Mods can vary in complexity from just doing some simple .cfg edits where all you need is a text editor, too adding all new functionality to the game using C# and a unity development environment.

[Fengist]

19 hours ago, liquidhype said:

1. I believe KSP uses C#.
2. Most people who make part mods uses Blender for modeling. It's free, and easy to get support from fellow forum dwellers.
3. To make textures you can use GIMP (which is free), Photoshop or any other image manipulation software.
4. To "put it all together" you have to import your assets (textures, models) into Unity and export them through it.

I suggest reading up on this page in order to familiarize yourself with how the process works.

EDIT: Well dang, I posted this literally 2 seconds after you @passinglurker

1.Every KSP modder I know of does use C# so you'll need Visual Studio. Unity also works with JS.
2.Blender is one modeller.  Some of us buck the trend and use another free one, Wings 3D
3.I personally use Fireworks.
4. Unity for the models, C# for any plugins.

You'll also want to have a few other things handy:

Pain reliever:  For when facedesk... repeatedly.
ESP: To read Squad's mind. For when you spend hours trying to figure out how something works and can't because there's no documentation.
Alcohol: For when you realize how many WEEKS... MONTHS... YEARS you've invested working on your mod only to have it busted to the point of being useless by the latest patch.

And I'm certain there are other things I could include, but you get the gist of it.

Enjoy.