Fine! I'll mod my game!

[TimePeriod]

Scott Manly recently released a video listing all the mods he is using including all the pathces and updates to them. It has a lot of good mods.

[Jouni]

The only mod I'm currently using is the Docking Port Alignment Indicator. It allows me to align the roll of docked modules about 10 times more accurately than without it. I can also avoid having docking lights for docking in darkness, which helps reducing the part count.

I used MechJeb back in 0.22 and 0.23. The update to 0.23.5 broke it, and because I don't like to manually update software every year, I'm currently playing without it. The information displays are very helpful, and it's also useful for speeding up routine stuff, when you have a lot of things going on simultaneously.

Just before 0.23.5 came out, I was considering to install the Kerbal Alarm Clock to help managing complex missions. Now it's not so relevant, as I'm only doing simple things, until I bother to update MechJeb.

The Kethane Pack was useful for my first major interplanetary missions, as well as refueling large ships orbiting Kerbin. Exploring the system becomes much easier, when fuel can be found everywhere. Now I don't use it anymore, as kethane makes interplanetary travel too easy.

The next time I start a career mode game, probably in 0.24, I'll install Ferram Aerospace Research and Deadly Reentry. They just add some features I expected to be in the stock game when I started playing last year.

[Bobbydylan]

After I started watching Scott Manly's interstellar series, I did a clean install, with these mods:

KW Rocketry. Seriously, It's great.

FAR. Makes the game more difficult and easier at the same time. Really great mod.

Kerbal Alarm clock. This is a must.

Kerbal Engineer. Soooooo useful!

Enhanced Navbal. Also, so good you wonder why it's not stock.

ScanSat. Makes satellites useful. Great for seeing what Bioms you've been to, and where they are.

None of the above will change the core game experience much (Except FAR, learn to launch again) but add quite a bit of functionality to the game.

[Kuldan]

And just for the sake of completion, there is a "total conversion of sorts" that makes the game more realistic, and much, much harder:

"Better than starting manned" revamps a lot of the part stats, the science system, makes deadly reentry a must, and in general makes the game much more challenging to play.

(Oh, and for good measure, the guy who does it also tends to fix a lot of stock bugs for "his" version of the game as well):

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/61632-0-23-5-Better-Than-Starting-Manned-Career-Mode-Redefined-%28v1-533-April-9th%29

I actually never play stock career anymore, it is always BTSM for me now. Career in stock is not really a challenge, whereas BTSM is giving me headaches for nights to solve a singular engineering problem in the restraints I have - and the feeling of accomplishement is much greater as a reward.

[LostElement]

Lack Luster Labs

FAX

KSP Interstellar

NovaPunch

PlanetFactory

AIES Aerospace

Space Factory.

Deadly Re-entry

Realistic Solar System

Real sized planets.

Procedural Fairings

Procedural parts

Better Atmospheres.

Visual Enhancements

and many many more. Looks the the Add-ons and Release thread. There are plenty there

[ArmchairGravy]

While I've used Kerbal Engineer and Kethane from the get-go, I too have finally broken down and added more mods, and am waiting for some polish on a couple more before I add them. I've begun the slow slide into mod madness.

Here's what I'm running now:

Kerbal Engineer

Kethane

Kerbal Alarm Clock

ScanSat

Chatterer

[Garek]

I've begun the slow slide into mod madness.

It's mostly a slow slide into spending far too many hours managing your mods and hanging around on the mod forums instead of actually playing or even doing something not-KSP. At least in my experience.

[fireworks_display]

Thanks for the thread OP, I've hijacked the contents for my own means and ended up with:

Mechjeb - only using the autopilot for stuff I've done 100 times already, mostly got it for nodes and delta-v stuff

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/mechjeb/

Kerbal Alarm Clock - stops me missing those maneuvers and having to do another lap/crashing in a fiery ball of death and reloading

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kerbal-alarm-clock-2/

BTSM/Deadly Reentry - makes the career mode more interesting

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/61632-0-23-5-Better-Than-Starting-Manned-Career-Mode-Redefined-%28v1-533-April-9th%29

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/54954-0-23-5-Deadly-Reentry-Continued-v4-6-4-7-14

FAR - makes designing efficient rockets take more time and explosions...which is fun

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/ferram-aerospace-research/

I'm not bothered with huge great part lists (did that on my last install and got tired of the extra load times) - next up is gonna be some beautification with the mods recommended by Fenrir at least until I melt my GPU

EDIT: Having just installed BTSM it doesn't play nice with some of the other mods, so trying to work out which one(s) it doesn't like atm

Edited April 25, 2014 by fireworks_display

[Stormweaver]

Thanks for the thread OP, I've hijacked the contents for my own means and ended up with:

Mechjeb - only using the autopilot for stuff I've done 100 times already, mostly got it for nodes and delta-v stuff

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/mechjeb/

Kerbal Alarm Clock - stops me missing those maneuvers and having to do another lap/crashing in a fiery ball of death and reloading

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kerbal-alarm-clock-2/

BTSM/Deadly Reentry - makes the career mode more interesting

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/61632-0-23-5-Better-Than-Starting-Manned-Career-Mode-Redefined-%28v1-533-April-9th%29

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/54954-0-23-5-Deadly-Reentry-Continued-v4-6-4-7-14

FAR - makes designing efficient rockets take more time and explosions...which is fun

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/ferram-aerospace-research/

I'm not bothered with huge great part lists (did that on my last install and got tired of the extra load times) - next up is gonna be some beautification with the mods recommended by Fenrir at least until I melt my GPU

I'd point out that, while technically compatable, FAR will throw any gameplay/balance you would get from BTSM out of the window.

[Magnet_man16]

KAS! Is a get

[mellojoe]

PorkJet's Mk2 Spaceplane Plus

Someone previously listed his inflatable habitat parts, which are nice. But take a look at his Spaceplane parts. Yeah ...... stunning. Too pretty, and by itself is a small enough package of parts not to be too overwhelming. B9 parts are brilliant, but there are (what feels like) thousands to pick and choose, and it just becomes hard to remember what you want or where it is or what is availible. The Porkjet parts are easy, and pretty, and simple. I recently found them, and I love them.

[fireworks_display]

I'd point out that, while technically compatable, FAR will throw any gameplay/balance you would get from BTSM out of the window.

Hehe, well either Kerbal Alarm Clock or Mechjeb was freezing it anyways so I'm gradually adding the others in as I go to see what I can get away with, might end up with double installs, one for messing around in a FAR sandbox and the other using the BTSM career mode (was new to BTSM today and it's awesome)

[Tank Buddy]

I also broke down and use the following:

RCS Build Aid- Show how to balance RCS, also can give you the dry center of mass; very helpful in aircraft building. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/rcs-build-aid-v0-2/

Kerbal Engineer-Excellent readout of useful and interesting information. A must have for advanced players. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/0-18-1-kerbal-engineer-redux-v0-5/

Mk. 2 Cockpit internals-Self-explanatory. Provides an IVA for the inline jet cockpit. Very cool looking. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/mk2cockpitinternals/

Probe IVA- Why not? http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/ksp-probecontrolroom/

Other cool mods:

Enhanced Navbal- Lets you see anti-normal/normal and other vectors available on maneuver nodes. No need to guess. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/enhancednavball/

Hot Rockets- Different exhaust textures for jet and rocket engines. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/?p=52593

Procedural Farrings-cool if you want them. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/procedural-fairings/

[Tortoise]

Make sure you get TAC Life Support

[Franklin]

I've always got such an internal struggle with using mods.

I'm fine with tool mods (MechJeb, more VAB tools, diagnostics/calcs, etc.) and backend improvement mods (texture replacers, memory-freeing mods, etc.) but I always worry modded parts are going to come with a balancing bias, or they don't 'fit' the stock Kerbal style because the designer has an image in his head what he thinks KSP should look like.

I need all the parts to look like the stock style and be balanced against the stock parts, otherwise I get itchy and annoyed.

Plus you grow dependent on them in that if you put up stations or rockets with custom parts, then one day decide you don't like those parts and remove the mod, all those stations and rockets are then broken.

That said, I see KSPX as more of an expansion pack than a mod, which is nice. And Porkjet's habitat parts are so pretty, I may be tempted assuming they're balanced against the stock stuff well.

[Galacticruler]

all the above/previous page lists are in general better than stock. I'd start slow.

if you want, try my parts pack. It lacks a general theme, but it does have it's uses.

EDIT:

Linked in my sig, towards the bottom.

Edited April 25, 2014 by Galacticruler

[Robotengineer]

Deadly re-entry, FAR, HGR, RLA-stockalike, etc. depends on what type of game you want to play.

[DaPatman]

Personally, I only use mods that give me either extra information or new things to do. So I use:

• Enhanced Navball - Never spend ages looking for the maneuver node on the navball again.
  
• Kerbal Alarm Clock - A must-have if you often find yourself running simultaneous missions. Even if you don't, it's still very useful.
  
• Kerbal Engineer Redux - I find it very useful for checking how much delta-v I have left, and for gauging actual burn times when I need to stage mid-burn. It also makes night-time landings much easier to gauge.
  
• Docking Port Alignment Indicator - I haven't actually had cause to use it yet, but since I've never successfully docked two craft together, I figure this might make it easier to do so in the future.
  
• Tree Loader - I find that it's too easy to unlock everything in the stock tree in a relatively short amount of time if you know what you're doing, which I do. This lets me use a tree where it is harder to unlock everything. Once an update incorporating the ARM parts is released, I intend to make Ackander's Vertical Tech Tree that tree, since I won't have to worry about mod parts being in the wrong place within the tree balance-wise, even if I install further mods in the future (which I would like to do at some point).
  
• Persistent Trails - I have a desire to circumnavigate every celestial body (except Kerbol and Jool) with a rover (not necessarily the same one each time), and intend to use this to record my journeys.
  
• Kethane - A refuelling station in orbit around Minmus is much easier to keep supplied if you're bringing the fuel from Minmus, rather than Kerbin. I just wish the scanner parts worked even when the craft they're on isn't the active vessel.
  
• Kerbal Attachment System - When a craft arrives at said refueling station, I don't need to dock the one to the other. (I fail at docking, remember?) Instead, I just need to go on EVA and connect a pipe from the station to the craft, disconnect it once refuelling is complete, and fly away. Or you could build a rover out of cubic octagonal struts after landing, or use the winch to make a crane game - the possibilities are endless!*
  
• Achievements I like having targets to aim for, and what is an achievement, if not just that?
  

As I said above, I'd like to add more, including some beautification mods, but I don't think my laptop can handle any more mods, so they'll have to wait until I can afford a better one.

[Mischief]

KAS. Kerbal Attachment System. It gives you a reason to send out repair/recovery missions, lets you refuel without messing with the incredibly twitchy and unreliable docking ports, lets you tow damaged ships instead of just scrap them. Lets you very effectively launch parts to assemble ships in orbit.

It adds dramatically to the list of things you can do in the game, especially when combined with Kethane, without in any way being overpowered. For example you can build bases on distant worlds, mine and refine kethane into fuel then distribute that fuel to stations and ships. You can do so with difficulty but it's not the absurdity that trying to do so with docking ports alone would be.

Engineering Redux.

FAR, though it makes most of the game a lot harder.

Kethane.

Personally though?

Kerbpaint.

It's not just about making a rockin' looking SSTO.

It's about making a rockin' looking SSTO and painting it red.

[Fiddlestyx]

Fine! I'll mod my game!

Fine! I'll let you mod your game!

[emerson]

Active Texture Management: Now if you did decide to install some of these visual upgrades plus a number of different parts, you might find yourself inching closer to hitting the 32-bit RAM limit. Use this plugin to take care of that problem.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/59005-0-23-5-Release-3-1-Active-Texture-Management-Save-RAM-without-reduction-packs%21

[yaur]

Engineer is the one "must have" mod IMO. Its the one that tells you if you built wrong or flew wrong.

Alarm Clock is "must have" if you want to run more than one mission at once.

ScanSAT is fun and doesn't unbalance the game beyond giving a little bonus science.

MechJeb and Kethane are both game changers in the easier direction. If you want an easier game try one or both (though it takes self discipline to not have MJ ruin the game for you).

Remote Tech and FAR are both game changers in the harder direction. If you want a harder game try these one at a time.

Parts are relatively difficult to balance vs stock and I would suggest staying away from them until you are comfortable with the whole modding thing.

[Dispatcher]

Lots of good choices in earlier posts. I've been a minimalist in mod use but I think you can't go wrong with Kerbal Engineer Redux. Perhaps MechJeb as well. Protractor can be useful. I don't have the links handy but they're probably linked in earlier posts.

I use my own humble parts a lot; see my sig line for such.

Have fun with what you choose!

[Skorpychan]

Kerbal Engineer Redux and Mechjeb are must-haves for me. Because data readouts and rendezvouses.

I took up Kethane a while ago, because it interests me. Also, it saves hauling return fuel out to the outer system.

KAS is also a possible for me, because useful parts.

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

Inferno robotics.

Just yes. WALKING MECHS ON THE MUN!? WOHOOOO,