How do i create mods

[krblman]

How exactly does one create a mod for Kerbal? I just wanna add some command pods, fueltanks, and engines. That's all I need to know, I can figure out the rest.

 

And if I have to use blender, can you tell me how to timewarp 30915 years into the future where AI is advanced enough that you can become a superhuman and learn to actually use blender?

 

Jokes aside I can use blender to some extent, it's just very hard.

[Caerfinon]

You might look through the mod tutorials. A little dated, but some information is still useful

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Category:Modding_Tutorials

This tutorial;

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Tutorial:Making_an_asset_from_start_to_finish

involves using the unity software to finish you part before exporting it to an mu, however most people use the blender plugin to skip these steps.

Blender is not the only utility to do the graphics part, it is however the most popular.

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by Caerfinon

[krblman]

14 minutes ago, Caerfinon said:

You might look through the mod tutorials. A little dated, but some information is still useful

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Category:Modding_Tutorials

This tutorial;

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Tutorial:Making_an_asset_from_start_to_finish

involves using the unity software to finish you part before exporting it to an mu, however most people use the blender plugin to skip these steps.

Blender is not the only utility to do the graphics part, it is however the most popular.

 

No matter what I do the part ends up gray. I use GIMP, and I'm using the DDS format, but I also tried PNG.

[Burning Kan]

 

maybe useful

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, krblman said:

No matter what I do the part ends up gray. I use GIMP, and I'm using the DDS format, but I also tried PNG.

Never use GUMP unless you have no choice, and even then consider that a pen and paper will be easier to produce a decent result with.

Try Paint.Net, it’s like a very lite free version of photoshop with layers etc and can read and convert .dds without any special plugin.

That said, it’s much much easier to import the textures into Unity separately from the model, in .png format (make sure you don’t export them on the model from blender as it can mess up UV maps in unity unless you know how to fix - there is a check box when you export the model to exclude the textures). Not sure how well versed with Unity you are but you need to create a material, set the shader to a KSP one (assuming you’ve installed part tools) then assign your texture to that material which you finally drag onto your part. If you’ve done it right, the texture will appear on the model in the viewport as if you were looking at it in blender.

When you export, make sure you check the compile materials box. Once exported (it exports as .png) you then convert to .dds (remembering to flip y axis as they are read upside down) using paint.net or another converter. Note as well you have to keep the name of the exported texture the same as when it was exported ie if it was exported as “mytexture.png” you have to make sure it’s called “mytexture.dds” or it won’t recognise it.

[Snark]

Moving to Add-on Discussions.