[1.12.x] (Kopernicus) BetterKerbol v1.0.1 - A Kerbol graphics enhancement

[Lt_Duckweed]

Too long has stock Kerbol gone unloved. No longer will it sit at the center of the solar system, ugly and drab. With new high resolution textures, Scatterer support, and custom light curves, BetterKerbol attempts to remake Kerbol as eye candy worthy of pretty screenshots.

Towards this end, the radius has also been tweaked by an imperceptibly tiny amount, to get around a quirk in KSPs engine. This change does not effect the orbits of the planets, as Kerbol's mass is unchanged. Experience the searing light of Kerbol as you approach the corona, or watch is it dims to a pale flicker as you travel beyond the orbit of Eeloo.

Additionally, for those who desire a more realistically scaled Kerbol, that better aligns with stock scale, a optional patch is provided to reduce the radius of Kerbol by a factor of 4.24x

Changelog v1.0.1

• Fix optional rescale not applying
• Clean up readme

Features

Base

• 8k Photosphere and Corona textures

• A visual surface that aligns with the true surface, opening up the possibility for spectacular close passes

• Scatterer configs for close up corona glow and sky tint when in the Kerbolar atmosphere

• Custom light curves for starlight that realistically changes brightness with distance from Kerbol

Optional

• Reduced radius by 4.24x, bringing Kerbol into line with the 1:10.63 scale of the rest of the Kerbal universe

Notes

• Due to a long-standing bug with the way KSP calculates solar heat, temperatures near the surface are extreme, with radiant power density approaching infinity! Bring your exploit shielding or it's a one way trip!

• No sunflare is provided. If using Scatterer, pick your favorite sunflare mod, personally I recommend Sunflares of Maar.

• This is my first Mod, pls be gentle.

Gallery

Spoiler

Download

• CKAN

• GitHub

• SpaceDock

Installation

Base

• Extract the zip file

• Place the GameData folder into your KSP directory

Optional - BetterKerbol Rescale

• Open the Optional Mods folder

• Place the GameData folder into your KSP directory

Provided Compatibility

• Scatterer, v0.0831

Requirements

• Kopernicus (latest version for your specific version of KSP, or latest backport release for older KSP versions)

• ModuleManager 4 or newer

Recommended Mods

• Sunflares of Maar

Licensing

• BetterKerbol is licensed by Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Lt_Duckweed

[An Amongus Sussy Player]

Decent, I honestly really like the corona texture

[Grem]

What a beauty ^^ I've been waiting for such an upgrade for Kerbol for a long time, thanks a lot for the work!

Edited March 23, 2022 by Grem

[Clonos]

this mod is really neatly made, absolutely digging the corona! well done and good luck on any future endeavours! 

[alberro+]

Man those pics look stunning. Is there any chance it could have JNSQ compatibility?

[Lt_Duckweed]

48 minutes ago, alberro+ said:

Man those pics look stunning. Is there any chance it could have JNSQ compatibility?

I can take a look at JNSQ compatibility when I get some time!

[Socowez]

The changelog mentions a v1.0.1 update, but the latest GitHub release is v1.0.0. Is the newer version on SpaceDock?

[Lt_Duckweed]

4 hours ago, Socowez said:

The changelog mentions a v1.0.1 update, but the latest GitHub release is v1.0.0. Is the newer version on SpaceDock?

Thanks for pointing it out, I forgot to update the github link in the OP.  Should point to the correct release now.

[Stone Blue]

4 hours ago, Lt_Duckweed said:

Thanks for pointing it out, I forgot to update the github link in the OP.  Should point to the correct release now.

Might be easier to just have the link directed at the releases *page*, rather than a specific release... that way you never have to update the link for each release... Latest release will always be at the top of the page, and the first one people see ... vOv

GREAT job on this! Looks awesome

Edited September 18, 2022 by Stone Blue

[HebaruSan]

23 minutes ago, Stone Blue said:

Might be easier to just have the link directed at the releases *page*, rather than a specific release... that way you never have to update the link for each release... Latest release will always be at the top of the page, and the first one people see ... vOv

Or you can link to https://github.com/jamespglaze/BetterKerbol/releases/latest , which will always automatically redirect to the most recent release.

[physius]

Congrats on the release! This mod has been added to my essentials for best KSP graphics

[adriangm44]

Wow! This looks fantastic! Will it work having the Scatterer Sunflare in its config folders?

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, adriangm44 said:

Wow! This looks fantastic! Will it work having the Scatterer Sunflare in its config folders?

Probably yes, tested recently with Kabrams sunflares and worked flawlessly

[CoriW]

Would this be compatible with an existing save? I started a new save last week and didn't stumble upon this mod until later on.

@Lt_Duckweed

[Lt_Duckweed]

3 hours ago, CoriW said:

Would this be compatible with an existing save? I started a new save last week and didn't stumble upon this mod until later on.

@Lt_Duckweed

It should be fine to add it to an existing save, I swap it in and out from time to time when testing.  ~~Just don't put a craft in orbit around a quackpack body and then uninstall.  The game will not be happy if it is trying to place a craft and the body it orbits doesn't exist anymore.

Edit: I wasn't paying attention and thought this was my other mod lol.  This should still work fine to swap in/out for a stock scale system, but a rescaled system will probably not work too great.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Lt_Duckweed

[Zelda]

Speaking of using on an existing save, I think it might be an issue if you're using a rescaled system. I added it in to my 2.5x save and the planets were in very different positions along their orbits, which would have resulted in a few in-progress missions being nowhere near their target on arrival. I removed the mod and the planets reverted back to where they were before. So while nothing broke per-se, there may be side effects.

All that said, I loved the way Kerbol looked with this mod and am planning on using it with my next save!