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Joined before purchasing KSP


mangulator

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I had seen videos on Scott Manley's YouTube site of KSP and thought it would be interesting to explore the program.  I have a beast of a laptop with a i9 cpu and 128 gb of memory and a Nvidia 2080 graphics card with 1 tb PCI Express SSD so I knew running the program would not be a problem and could get into learning how to run KSP.

I don't really play computer games that much, I mainly have the latest and fastest possible hardware on my PC systems in order to run the software needed for editing tasks.. Most I know that assemble their computers with the latest and most powerful hardware are Gamers who need the power to achieve the best game play so I figure  I should have no problems running KSP .

I have been going through a few KSP Toutorials along with watching others using KSP on YouTube and I am thinking of  purchasing the program.  I am wondering thought if I should get the main program and from what I can see the two add on all at once. It appears that the main program is $39.99 and each additional upgrades are $14.99 each. I have a STEAM account but think it might be best to download the program directly to my laptop,  the reason being that whenever I do log into STEAM I'm always getting updates and it sometimes takes a minute or two before I can start playing a game.  This might be caused by my lack of logging in for months at a time  but I still think having the program separate and as a stand alone will be more convenient.  But if someone has information that going the STEAM route would be better please let me know. 

I plan on reading through the WIKI pages on how to use the program and learning as much as I can from the videos before I make the decision to purchase.  I suck at math and have difficulty with the metric system but I have always been interested in space and NASA. I have been following Space X and Blue Origin along with anything new related to rockets and the ISS. 

I think KSP will be interesting and fun. From what I have seen so far it looks like a fun way to learn.  I can remember very clearly watching the Apollo 11 Moon Landing and have been interested in the space program ever since. 

I thought I would introduce myself and say "Hello to All" and I look forward to visiting this forum in the near future. 

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First of all: Welcome to the Kerbal World! I do play KSP through Steam, and have not looked into how to install KSP without Steam, or its advantages. I do know that the $39.99 for KSP is definitely worth it, and that Steam sometimes gives sales on the DLCs and probably the base game as well. Also, and I do need to check on this, but I believe you can change the measurement units from metric to standard in the settings, but correct me if I am wrong.

One thing I have noticed is that you should try to have enough RAM and hard drive space to make KSP run at a good speed. I was, just a couple months ago, playing on a different computer. It had an almost full hard drive, (Can't remember the RAM on it, but it is pretty important for computer speed) and it took almost 10-15 minutes just to LOAD KSP!! :confused: I hope you do decide to purchase KSP and have lots of fun and learn from it.

Good luck!

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I bought from the store and when a new version comes out I do a fresh download. That way it happens when I want, and I can keep copies of my previous versions for reference and nostalgia. :) You can carry your progress over between versions by simply copying the saves. 

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23 hours ago, Ben J. Kerman said:

First of all: Welcome to the Kerbal World! I do play KSP through Steam, and have not looked into how to install KSP without Steam, or its advantages. I do know that the $39.99 for KSP is definitely worth it, and that Steam sometimes gives sales on the DLCs and probably the base game as well. Also, and I do need to check on this, but I believe you can change the measurement units from metric to standard in the settings, but correct me if I am wrong.

One thing I have noticed is that you should try to have enough RAM and hard drive space to make KSP run at a good speed. I was, just a couple months ago, playing on a different computer. It had an almost full hard drive, (Can't remember the RAM on it, but it is pretty important for computer speed) and it took almost 10-15 minutes just to LOAD KSP!! :confused: I hope you do decide to purchase KSP and have lots of fun and learn from it.

Good luck!

You mentioned of having enough RAM and Hard Drive Space.  In my post I listed a few components installed in my laptop.  I have 64 gb. of DDR4 RAM and have a 1 tb. PCI Express SSD running in raid 0. I also have an additional on board 1 tb. SSD.

Do you think I need more RAM? Should I consider bumping up to 128 gb. of RAM , my laptop will except the upgrade.. I have plenty of space on my C drive and D drive because I off load my finished work to an external storage system in order to keep the on board drives free for large video files I need to work on. I do the same on my desktop.  I mentioned my laptop because I use it more often on quick work and some gaming,  my desktop is designed more for detailed work where I need a lot of monitor space when editing.  I have three 27" monitors across my desk in order to move editing pallets to the side and have the middle monitor for expansion of what I'm working on at the time. Plus it has 128 gb. of DDR4 RAM so maybe I should consider installing KSP on my desktop. 

What seems like a hundred years ago I was into Flight Simulation and Driving Games. I still have my Thrustmaster flight controllers I used when playing Falcon 4.0 and MS Flight Simulator I also have a Cyborg Joystick,  will these controllers work with KSP vs. using a keyboard. I have never been very good at using a keyboard in games, I even have a Play Station type controller.  As I mentioned I rarely play any games on my computers anymore but will occasionally play a game of PGA Golf or a game of Chess. I started to play World of Warships and World of Tanks but never really got into playing them. 

But I am curious if one of my Flight Controllers would work in KSP allowing me to bypass the keyboard for Flight controls,  if anyone has or is currently using a flight controller for flying their rockets or space planes please let me know if it is worth it.

I really appreciate your input on the memory and storage issues,  maybe I should wait on any up grades in hardware until I actually upload the program.  I also appreciate your input on using STEAM and will probably go that route since I already have a few games tied into STEAM.

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22 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

I bought from the store and when a new version comes out I do a fresh download. That way it happens when I want, and I can keep copies of my previous versions for reference and nostalgia. :) You can carry your progress over between versions by simply copying the saves. 

I was wondering if you can only have KSP on one PC at a time. Even though I do not have STEAM loaded on my desktop I know according to STEAM that if I did load STEAM to my desktop my games would be there and playable because I have an account with them.

But you mentioned having purchased the program as a stand alone and uploading it to your PC. As a direct download are you limited to one PC?    Are you able to load the program to multiple computers if you purchase a direct download of the game from KSP and then copy that download and transfer it to another PC you own?

Thanks for the input,  if direct download will allow me to download to multiple PC's then maybe going that route will be best, as I mentioned it just seems like whenever I log on to my STEAM account I get a bunch of updates and I only have three games on the account. 

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33 minutes ago, mangulator said:

You mentioned of having enough RAM and Hard Drive Space.  In my post I listed a few components installed in my laptop.  I have 64 gb. of DDR4 RAM and have a 1 tb. PCI Express SSD running in raid 0. I also have an additional on board 1 tb. SSD.

Mate that’s more RAM than you’ll ever need. 
KSP isn’t a very big game, even with tons of mods. 
 

It sounds like you have a very beefy PC overall. You probably don’t have to worry about performance. 

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20 hours ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

@mangulator

Howdy!

You don't need much math ability, or knowledge of the metric system to be good and have fun!

Scott's videos are great and very helpful, so you should already be prepared.

I would recommend you familiarize yourself with the keybinds and controls. 

Fly safe! :happy:

Yes it was Scott Manley's YouTube channel that introduced me to KSP. I had started watching him because I have always had an interest in anything related to space and he just has a way of explaining things in a way that allow me to understand .

He has even teamed up with another YouTube 'r who talks about space related topics and I recently viewed the two of them using KSP to attempt to recreate crafts designed by NASA back before the Apollo Program.  I found it very interesting watching Scott Manley use KSP to recreate these craft and launching them to see if they worked. It was when watching these videos I decided to really take a good look into KSP and boy am I glad I did.

As far as metric and imperial units I found a conversion app for my tablet and figured I could use it side by side with my laptop when running KSP that way I could use a separate device for converting instead of pausing the program in order to convert something.  I figure if I decide to use my desktop then I will be able to use a separate monitor for this information. 

I am wondering if anyone is running KSP on multiple monitors and if so does it add to the overall experience?

I've been working my way through the KSP WIKI pages trying to familiarize myself with the program along with watching the video tutorials on YouTube. 

I wish there was a trial version of the program I could use as I go through these videos and the KSP WIKI pages. I have run across a few sites that claim to offer "Free" downloads of the programs but I have always stayed clear of these types of sites due to so many having viruses. 

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7 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

I believe the EULA specifies one PC at a time. 

Thanks,  that's good to know.  I think though if I go through STEAM for my purchase of KSP I should be able to use the program on another PC if I load my STEAM account to it. I read it somewhere that your content in your account is playable on any PC that has STEAM loaded onto it and all you need to do is log in. I may be wrong,  but as I'm researching KSP I think I will just be using my laptop because it's what I use the most. I have it on a portable laptop desk in my living room and I can use it while sitting in my easy chair,  plus this way I will be able to run tutorial videos on YouTube on my TV while learning the program. 

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16 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

Mate that’s more RAM than you’ll ever need. 
KSP isn’t a very big game, even with tons of mods. 
 

It sounds like you have a very beefy PC overall. You probably don’t have to worry about performance. 

That's good to know,  I wasn't sure how much power the program would use. I have seen and owned games that need a lot of cpu , memory and graphics power to function properly.  I built my recent desktop using the newest and fastest hardware possible,  not for gaming but sound/video and image editing.  The hardware and software needed for these tasks is very power hungry and in order to accomplish your tasks in a reasonable amount of time you need the fastest hardware possible.  I'm not saying you need huge amounts of power for editing imagesor video,  you can easily edit with much less but the type of editing I do I need the fastest possible in order to achieve my goals in a reasonable amount of time.  My Stepson loves it when I'm upgrading my equipment because I give him my old equipment which for him is great because he plays all kinds of PC games and what I'm essentially getting rid of is still extremely fast equipment for gaming.  So it ends up being a win, win. 

I am not able to build my own laptops so I work with a company that builds to the customers specs, this is why I currently have a beast of a laptop.  My only complaint is this one can not be used in the field. It requires two 110 volt outlets  just like your home outlets and has two heavy power cords with power bricks that are a 1 1/2" x 3" x 9 " each. I could run it on just one but would not be able to push it to full power.  It has a battery like every laptop,  (why I don't know) but from what I have read it will only last 20 minutes or so, I have never even tried it on battery alone. I mentioned that it has 64 gb. of RAM  and is capable of up to 128 gb. I went with 64 gb. I figured I could save a few dollars and if I needed to max it out the modules might be cheaper in the future.  I don't plan on upgrading this laptop for several years. 

Thanks so much for the input, I'm slowly learning more and more about KSP.   I only need to research more about what version I should purchase,  if I should go with a direct download of the program or to order through my STEAM account.  I don't think I'll  ever wish to use my desktop unless I learn that using multiple monitors is beneficial,  but I am hesitant of only being able to download to a single PC. I have downloaded the same software to multiple machines before and I am aware that at times work or progress is not shared between units, but I am able to use the same software across multiple PC's.

One other question,  should I get the two add on programs at the same time?

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9 minutes ago, mangulator said:

One other question,  should I get the two add on programs at the same time?

I'd recommend only the base game first and if you manage to land on the mun and get back you'll know wether the dlc's (and the game) is for you :).

Making history is great because it adds new parts, which aren't strictly necessary though. Breaking Ground adds robotics and surface science which is neat, but also not required to enjoy the game as it is.

Also, there is a ton of mods which can shape the game to your liking, but it is usually recommended to play vanilla through one time before touching mods.

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