Toggle mods per save file and integrated CKAN

[Tekaoh]

I'm not sure if this has already been covered or if anyone else has already thought of it.

One thing that I'd love to see in KSP2 is the ability to turn mods on and off per save file without having to totally uninstall the mod or manage many copies of the entire game. I've seen this done in some other games and it's super great. I like to play with different combinations of mods and having to have many copy/pastes of the entire game directory means I don't get cloud saves for all those copies.

I've also seen in some other games where you can install user published mods from right within the game. This is also super cool. The community has done an excellent, outstanding, most wonderful job of building and maintaining CKAN for KSP and they diserve many, many thumbs up and heart emojis for their work. But I wonder in KSP2 if we could have this integreted in the game. It might make modding more approachable and perhaps easier to manage if it's implemented well.

Thoughts?

[BowlerHatGuy3]

Out of all the things on this sub forum, an easier way to install and update mods is mandatory. I shouldn’t have to leave the game to install them. The process should be nothing but a search and click.

[jastrone]

mods from inside the game is a bit unusuall and maybe more effort i think its better with maybe steam workshop if the game comes to steam. but managing mods in different savefiles yes defenetly

[t_v]

1 hour ago, jastrone said:

mods from inside the game is a bit unusuall and maybe more effort i think its better with maybe steam workshop if the game comes to steam. but managing mods in different savefiles yes defenetly

I think it is the opposite. If KSP 2 mods work anything like KSP 1 mods, then every time you add or remove mods, you need to re-load everything. This is because mods can take priority over other mods in complex ways, and all the part modules will have to be re-constructed to avoid unintended behavior. In the other hand, toggling mods from a launcher or before starting up the game would work much more easily, and databases of mods that you can download from can also be implemented nicely. 

[zeekzeek22]

Mods from inside games aren't that unusual. Like, Fallout 4 has an easy menu in-game. Minecraft has the toggleability. It's a concept that's been around for a while and there are multiple examples of it's integration. Not saying it's easy, but it's got precedent, and it really feels like that's a tool they'll give modders.

[Nazalassa]

You mean, something like in Minetest? I agree.

[Ashandalar]

Factorio is an excellent example I'd point to for mod integration in the official game client. Mod developers can submit their mods at mods.factorio.com (a subdomain of the official Factorio domain) and are then searchable in-game via the mods menu. The menu handles all the relevant package management, such as downloading dependencies, determining version compatibilities, and updating mods, like CKAN does for KSP, but built-into the game client itself. Single-player saves and multi-player servers can have their own set of mods independent of one another, and the client prompts you when you attempt to load a game with different mods than the active client, giving a button to automatically synchronise with the save or server. And with all of this, you can still manually copy mod files into the appropriate directory, for example if you're mid-way through developing a mod, or don't want to use the in-game menu for whatever reason.

Edited November 10, 2022 by Ashandalar

[TheOtherDave]

Allowing mods to be toggled per-save? Yes, I definitely think that’s reasonable.

I’m not so sure about integrating something like CKAN, though… I mean yeah it’d be nice, but I think that’s a bigger commitment than a lot of people realize.

Edited November 12, 2022 by TheOtherDave