Dealing with mod setup

[Garoad]

So today (without Spaceport), I'm wondering how everyone is dealing with the hassle of setting up mods.

Does everyone spend hours searching scattered sites and the forums, reading readmes, unpackaging/installing, and individually testing each one? (Really, the first and last steps are the most painful when you throw in version incompatibilities.)

After returning from a break the game is always at a new version, meaning you pretty much have to go through this setup process all over again. Sometimes my dread at doing all the mod setup stops me from bothering at all - which sucks. Maybe I just don't like the game enough for it to be worth it, I don't know, but I'm always curious to check back periodically hoping that things will improve over time.

Anyway, is there a new tool or utility out there which can take some of the pain out of this? Is there any potential for the creation of such a tool if none exists?

[Master Tao]

There are several good tools. I use thread subscriptions on the forum and the Follow feature on KerbalStuff. It took some time, but it also helped to learn the folder structure for mods, so that I can recognize how to install most mods without the readme – anything that heavily modifies other mods, though, and I still need to read the instructions. I also find narrowing down searches helps enormously for finding mods:

cargo bay site:forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com

That search will return forum posts mentioning "cargo bay" with either Google or DuckDuckGo.

Whatever free benefit I receive from modders is worth this relatively small hassle.

[regex]

Man, I'm getting some serious deja vu...

So today (without Spaceport), I'm wondering how everyone is dealing with the hassle of setting up mods.

How were the Spaceport days any different than now? I don't recall it ever being a centralized location nor did I get any mods from there because the site was basically garbage

Does everyone spend hours searching scattered sites and the forums, reading readmes, unpackaging/installing, and individually testing each one?

About two hours to do my full install of ~30 mods.

Anyway, is there a new tool or utility out there which can take some of the pain out of this? Is there any potential for the creation of such a tool if none exists?

You should totally get together with some dudes and write one. Alternatively, find one of the defunct ones on these very forums and revive it.

[Padishar]

Well, I start with a completely clean install of the latest KSP and then go to the sticky thread at the top of the add-on releases and project showcase sub-forum and check if all the mods that I want to use are listed as compatible. If they are then I download the latest versions and install them. If not all are compatible then I will either live without that mod for a while or will simply continue to use the old version of KSP until they are. The whole process, including completely deleting the game from steam and doing a clean install, takes me approx. 20 minutes for my standard mod loadout...

[Garoad]

Man, I'm getting some serious deja vu...

?

How were the Spaceport days any different than now? I don't recall it ever being a centralized location nor did I get any mods from there because the site was basically garbage

Sure it was centralized, certainly much more so than now. Yes it did stink pretty bad for various reasons, but being the "official" repository wasn't one of them. Even with the trash it was easier to download 90% of the mods you want from there, and MUCH better for browsing and discovering new mods than going through the forums randomly. You can't search for it if you don't know it exists. I don't want to get into this since it's irrelevant now, but a simple block user function and fixing the duplicate problem would have eliminated the major pains.

About two hours to do my full install of ~30 mods.

I'm talking about the entire process, including locating stuff. In my experience it's more like an entire evening at best, but usually more as you find that you missed things you had previously, or need to address problems. Maybe you're installing simple mods.

You should totally get together with some dudes and write one. Alternatively, find one of the defunct ones on these very forums and revive it.

Yeah, not really helpful - the questions were do any exist (currently active, obviously) and is the concept itself feasible. If you don't like the question, there's no need to respond with negativity, simply move on.

[Garoad]

Looks like some possible answers, thanks to those offering other useful suggestions.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55401

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/26031-Win-KSP-Mod-Admin-v1-3-9-Mod-install-with-2-klicks

[regex]

and MUCH better for browsing and discovering new mods than going through the forums randomly.

I generally found the forums much more useful than randomly scanning a horrible website like Spaceport. YMMV, obviously.

I'm talking about the entire process, including locating stuff.

Oh. I use bookmarks and subscribe to my favorites so finding the mods I use is a really easy process. I also surf the forums a lot, including the Add-on Development forum, so I'm generally up on what's going on and I'll use Google to search the forums if I need to. My "two hours" included downloading, unpacking, categorizing, making ModuleManager scripts, recopying textures, pretty much everything. I use a full Realism Overhaul setup nowadays, it's fairly complex.

Yeah, not really helpful - the questions were do any exist (currently active, obviously) and is the concept itself feasible. If you don't like the question, there's no need to respond with negativity, simply move on.

No need to be adversarial. How was that negative? If you think it is something worth doing, get together with some people and do it! There are several defunct ideas out there you can check out, maybe they just need reviving?

[Garoad]

Oh I could tell your tone was a little tongue in cheek or something. No matter, there seems to be a project active.

I'm not sure how you do the installs so fast, I always have problems locating specific stuff or issues that take forum research, patches, fix downloads etc. to resolve.