[1.12.X] Modding guide : How to beautify KSP (Feb 2023)

[lBoBl]

Disclaimer(s) :

• This guide assumes that you know the basics of how to install a mod manually and with CKAN. If you don't, check this post first.
• This will be demanding for your hardware. I will indicate which mods are the most demanding and provide an alternative when possible. Stated performance impacts were only measured on my hardware, your experience may differ.
• I have a core i7-5820k and a GTX 1080 with 24GB of RAM, I get about 60-90 fps @1080p flying a reasonable craft, as usual it gets worse with big crafts.
• This is not a modpack. Neither I nor the mod authors guarantee in any way that all of these mods will work smoothly together and you will need to download each one separately.
• You may experience crashes or glitches, do no expect a 100% polished and bug-free experience. If in need of support, read this.
• You are not bound to these instructions and may choose to install only some of the mods or add other ones on top of them. You will not be surprised to learn that choosing or configuring a visual mod is often a matter of personal preference.
• If you own one of these mods and wish to see it removed from the list please send me a dm.

When you're done things should look like this

My goal here is to provide you with instructions to make your KSP look better while preserving the original vanilla gameplay, therefore this guide contains no parts mods or QoL mods. It's up to you to add those if you want. 

Alright let's get started! This assumes that you are starting with a clean install of KSP, your GameData folder should only contain a Squad and SquadExpansion (if you have DLCs) folder. I encourage you to start the game and check that everything is working periodically during the install, particularly after step I.1 and I.2. 

I. Environment

1.  Clouds 

Use EVE Redux, which is a faster version of EVE. If you wish to, you can follow the link on the mod's forum post to the author's Patreon which will give you early access to the new version of the mod with gorgeous volumetric clouds. This is the version I am using in my screenshots. It will come out of early access at some point. If you are using this early access version, it comes bundled with Scatterer which you won't need to install separately. This option has a high performance impact, but surprisingly less so than you might expect. It runs a bit better than Spectra with Scatterer in my case.

If using the stable currently released version of EVE Redux instead, you will need to download separate configs. I recommend using Spectra, and installing it via CKAN. It will automatically install EVE Redux as a dependency, but you can also download and install both manually. You will need to install Scatterer separately, either manually or from CKAN. Installing just EVE with the spectra configs has a moderate performance impact. If you add Scatterer, it may have a high performance impact.

         2.   Terrain 

Parallax 2 will make all planets and moons look way more gorgeous, with terrain tessellation and a realistic high density of surface features, such as rocks, trees and grass. It has a high impact on performance. I recommend a manual install. Make sure your follow every step on the mod's forum page. Make sure your Kopernicus version matches your game version if you are not using the latest KSP version. Make sure to set your terrain settings according to the instructions found in the Parallax forum page.

          3.   Skybox

Download Texture Replacer. You will find links there to different skyboxes, choose one you like. My favorite has always been Rareden's 8k skybox but Poodmund's skyboxes are great too. In both cases make sure you follow the instructions. Using Rareden's I ended up having the milky way's core aligned with the sun, so I flipped it by renaming the files, i.e. switching positive and negative for the X and Z images, and just rotating both Y images by 180 degrees. This is purely optional and there is a cleaner way to do it using a custom config file, look at Poodmund's config files for examples. This has a low performance impact

          4.   Distant Objects and Skybox dimming

Download and install Distant Object Enhancement from CKAN or from the forums. Once in game, launch a craft to space and then find the mod's icon in the appbar to open its settings. Skybox dimming is cool, but by default the maximum skybox brightness it allows is 25%. I usually crank that back up to 100%, or sometimes disable skybox dimming entirely because I like to admire a beautiful skybox in its full undimmed glory. I also like to lower the flare saturation by a lot, because when I look at Mars in real life it looks a pale orange-white and not bright orange.  You might like seeing really colored planets from afar though, the choice is up to you. I also like to show planet names on mouse over, which also needs to be enabled in the in-game DOE settings. This has a low performance impact

           5.  Emissive planets

Download Planetshine. Once again you can install manually or from CKAN, and I encourage you to find the in game settings and tweak them to your liking. I personally like to raise the vacuum ambient light level a bit, to around 0.10, and crank the planetshine effect intensity to the max to make it extra noticeable. This has a low to moderate performance impact, depending on your chosen settings.

          6.  Sunflare

If you installed Scatterer, you can choose to modify its default sunflare. One I've always liked to use is JadeOfMaar's Ursa Minor Sunflare, but unfortunately it is not really compatible with the current version of scatterer. However a good person in the community by the name of FridgeOfCanada provided us with a glorious new config in this post. You need to follow his instructions carefully or it will look weird. Alternatively you can always use your preferred sunflare but make sure its config is up to date for the current scatterer. This has a low impact on performance

          7.   Kerbal EVA footprints

You can use Kopernicus Expansion Continued-er so that your Kerbals on EVA can leave footprints when walking on the surface of planets. Download KEX-Plugins.zip and KEX-Examples.zip. Extract KEX examples.zip, go inside GameData/KopernicusExpansionExamples/StockFootprints and copy the Configs folder. Extract KEX-Plugins, go to KEX-Plugins/GameData/KopernicusExpansion and paste the Configs folder there. Open the plugins folder and delete everything except common and footprints. Then move the KopernicusExpansion folder to your GameData.

          8.   KSC

For a better looking Kerbal Space Center with lots of additional launch pads, landing zones and other facilities, you can use the fantastic KSC Extended. You can safely install it from CKAN, if installing manually make sure that you install all the dependencies which are listed on the mod's forum page. You might also consider installing Modular Launch Pads if you want to build custom launch towers for your rockets. (I'm mentioning it here despite it being technically a parts mod, because it won't impact vanilla gameplay too much and is mostly cosmetic.)

II. Vessels and Kerbals

You can of course add mods to get new parts but with the following instructions you can make vanilla parts look better without changing any of their other characteristics.

         1.   Reflective and colorable parts

Download and install Textures Unlimited. Then download and install Textures Unlimited Recolour Depot.  I recommend manually installing both, in that order. TURD will allow you to recolor your parts through a GUI or just quickly make them look metallic. If you own DLCs or if you plan to use mods, make sure you grab the corresponding TURD add-ons from the mod's forum page. This can moderately impact your performance

          2.   Engine plumes

Download and install Waterfall Core and Stock Waterfall Effects. You can use CKAN for this step. This can moderately impact your performance.

          3.   Sounds

Download and install Rocket Sound Enhancement, with its default configs. You can do this on CKAN. I said I was going to make your KSP beautiful, but I never said it was limited to visuals  This will make your rockets sound epic. It has a fairly low impact on performance

           4.   Reentry

Grab Reentry Particle Effect Renewed, from the forums or from CKAN. Fairly simple mod that makes your reentry look more epic. It does not affect gameplay in any way. It has a low impact on performance

           5.   Kerbal heads

If you installed Texture Replacer in step I.3. you can use Benjee10's Historical Kerbal Heads. Follow the instructions on the forum page. 

          6.   Suits

Benjee10's Historical Kerbal Suits. You don't need Texture Replacer for this one, but if you have it installed follow the relevant instructions on the mod's forum page. The new suits will appear as new variants (color schemes) for the default and making history suits.

III. Post Processing 

As an additional extra step, you can add TUFX for some post processing effects. It has a relatively high impact on performance. I recommend grabbing a bunch of profiles from CKAN to try them out and choose the one you like.

Aaaaand, that's it! Congratulations, your KSP should now be absolutely beautiful and run like garbage. You can of course tweak each mod's options to your liking, add your favorite QoL mods, make this yours. Have fun!

 

CREDITS : 

• EVE Redux and Scatterer by blackrack
• Spectra by HafCoJoe
• Parallax 2 by Gameslinx
• Texture Replacer by shaw
• Distant Object Enhancement /L by Lisias following up on Rubber Ducky's,  MOARdV's and TheDarkBadger's work
• Planetshine originally by Valerian now maintained by Papa_Joe
• Ursa Minor Sunflare by JadeOfMaar and frigdeofcanada
• KSC Extended by JadeOfMaar, using assets from Damon and Omega482
• Kerbal Constructs by AlphaAsh, continued by Ger_space
• Textures Unlimited and TUFX by Shadowmage
• Textures Unlimited Recolour Depot by Manwith Noname
• Waterfall by Nertea, Stock Waterfall Effects by Knight of St John
• Rocket Sound Enhancement by ensou04
• Reentry Particle Effect Renewed by leatherneck6017 originally written by pizzaoverhead
• Benjee10's Historical Kerbal Heads and Suits by Benjee10 (surprise I know)
• Kopernicus Expansion Continued-er by MrHappyFace maintained by StollD aka Thomas P. (previous), Vabien

Edited March 28, 2023 by lBoBl

[gneoff]

I followed this guide to a T and it still looks pretty much like stock.  It does look like theres some compatability issues with the most recent scatterer, but it really looks like nothing is working? My water looks like a bad airport carpet.

[lBoBl]

On 4/22/2023 at 12:44 AM, gneoff said:

I followed this guide to a T and it still looks pretty much like stock.  It does look like theres some compatability issues with the most recent scatterer, but it really looks like nothing is working? My water looks like a bad airport carpet.

Check your GameData folder, especially if you installed some mods manually. Make sure everything is properly extracted and where it should be. 

If you're using blackjack's Patreon version of EVE, make sure you're using the version of scatterer included in the download. If using Spectra, the easiest way is probably to install it from CKAN. If that doesn't work, try installing it manually. 

If you aren't really familiar with installing mods, make sure to check this forum post. 

[Cabal]

Followed this and everything looks good besides this annoying effect: When leaving the atmosphere of Kerbin, another flat hexagon-like atmospheric layer pops up through which I'm flying. It seems to come with the most recent EVE Redux Mod. I tested it various times and don't know what causes it.

[jine]

Nice guide, thank you for the mod list, I will try it. Just curious when you specified your specs there is "GTX 1080 with 24GB of RAM". Is there GTX 1080 with this amount of RAM or you mean PC RAM? Thank you in advance.