How to make a new install of KSP

[Kapitalizing Every Word]

I wanted to play KSP with RSS/RO/RP-1 but I don't want to delete my saves and mods even If I backuped them is there a way to do this?

[jimmymcgoochie]

It really is as simple as copy and pasting the whole KSP directory to make a second copy. But before starting anything, a few things to consider:

• Where did you get KSP from? It’s really easy to get different versions of KSP via Steam, but doing so via other platforms e.g. the KSP store might be a bit more difficult. For RO/RP-1 you want to use KSP 1.10.2, don’t use anything newer as they’re not yet compatible and you’ll have a lot of headaches with it (I know, I run my RP-1 game in 1.11…)
• Did you put mods into your only copy of KSP? If yes, copy the whole KSP folder and paste it somewhere else (desktop would do for now) to keep your existing modded game and saves safe.

With that done, delete the original copy and reinstall a fresh copy of KSP 1.10.2, then make a copy of that right away and save that on your desktop too. Add all your RSS/RO/RP-1 mods to this new copy of 1.10.2, best done via CKAN. You should end up with two copies of KSP on your desktop- the original one with your current mods and saves in it and a new one with RSS/RO/RP-1 in it- and a plain stock copy which you can then use to create more copies of KSP in the future.

It’s always a good idea to backup your saves separately before doing any mod installation or game copying, do that first and avoid the horror of losing your saves to corruption or just deleting something you shouldn’t have.

[Kapitalizing Every Word]

22 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Where did you get KSP from?

I did get it from steam 
 

22 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Did you put mods into your only copy of KSP?

Yes I did (just visual though)

26 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

With that done, delete the original copy and reinstall a fresh copy of KSP 1.10.2, then make a copy of that right away and save that on your desktop too. Add all your RSS/RO/RP-1 mods to this new copy of 1.10.2, best done via CKAN. You should end up with two copies of KSP on your desktop- the original one with your current mods and saves in it and a new one with RSS/RO/RP-1 in it- and a plain stock copy which you can then use to create more copies of KSP in the future.

I plan for my stock/visual mods install to be my main one. Do I just move it to desktop delete the first install RSS/RO/R-1 and then move the stock/visual mods folder where it was before?

[jimmymcgoochie]

Don’t put mods into the Steam copy of KSP. Steam-mangled KSP installs is one of the most common things I see in this section of the forums, just don’t. Leave the Steam copy of KSP with no mods at all, that will be your base copy whenever you want to make a new modded copy. Each new copy you make should have a different name e.g. 1.10.2 RSS so you can tell them apart; CKAN can do all the mod wrangling for you and track many different copies of KSP, on different versions, with different mods in each.

Right now I have at least ten separate copies of KSP on CKAN- 1.12.2 GPP for the Space Race I’m running, 1.12.1 Snarkiverse for a career play through I’ve been doing reports for, 1.11.1 RSS/RO/RP-1 which I also have a report for, at least three different copies with JNSQ and different game versions and mods in each, my old 1.7.3 first ever career, a couple of old Kerbalism-based copies for an old report I did last year and a few miscellaneous test versions- plus modless copies of 1.8.1, 1.9.1, 1.10.2, 1.11.2 and 1.12.2 which I use to create new modded games, plus the Steam copy which just sits there to get game updates (not so important now that there won’t really be any more game updates, but I expect a 1.12.3 at least).

KSP has no limits on how many copies you can make and adding mods or updating/deleting saves in one won’t do anything to any of the others. Use that to your advantage and there aren’t really any limits to how many KSPs you can have; well, except your available data storage, and the inevitable load speed decreases from filling them up, and in some rare cases running different versions of KSP one after the other can cause strange things to happen, but that’s about it really.

[Kapitalizing Every Word]

Thanks a lot