What mods to use/compatible with Career Mode

[Zerro]

Greetings,

Last time I played KSP, there was no Career Mode. I was thinking about getting back into the game but have been out of touch with the modding world so I was wondering what is still good and compatible out there?

So far I was thinking about: B9, KW Rocketry, Better Than Starting Manned, MechJeb, Kethane, Station Science, KSP Interstellar, Lazor Docking Cam

I was also wondering what mods you people recommend? I like having more variety when choosing ship parts. I really like spacestations and probes; I believe I used to use Kosmos so I was wondering if Kosmos is still around and if there are other cool spacestation mods. I like the idea of having to think about life support and I was considering either Ioncross or TAC. And I was just wondering what other cool mods you think I should look into to improve my KSP experience.

Thanks for the advice

[WololoW]

First suggestion would be to take BTSM with a grain of salt. I say this because on its thread, the creator says that it was not really meant to be used with other mods, and is not balanced to do so.

My next suggestion would be to click the mod-list link in my signature. All of the mods there have been tested in .24.2 and seem* to work nicely together. They will give you a lot to work with and a lot to explore.

*They have worked for me for many very long sessions without crashes.

[Zerro]

First suggestion would be to take BTSM with a grain of salt. I say this because on its thread, the creator says that it was not really meant to be used with other mods, and is not balanced to do so.

My next suggestion would be to click the mod-list link in my signature. All of the mods there have been tested in .24.2 and seem* to work nicely together. They will give you a lot to work with and a lot to explore.

*They have worked for me for many very long sessions without crashes.

Thanks! The list looks great!

I removed BTSM

Any reason why KSP says that Kethane is incompatible?

Do all the mods appear in career mode?

[magico13]

If you want stations/bases I would suggest MKS/OKS (Modular Kolonization System/Orbital Kolonization System). Coupled with that for life support I would suggest TAC Life Support (as MKS is designed to use it and will allow you to make fully self sufficient bases). MKS has a bit of a learning curve to it, however, so be prepared for that.

If you care about reusability at all and want to be able to drop stages and have them be recovered (along with the funds they are worth) then I would suggest StageRecovery or DebRefund (both make assumptions based on the dropped stage as to whether it will land) or FMRS or TTNeverUnload (those two have a cooler method of dealing with dropped stages. FMRS makes you fly them down manually and stitches the saves together while Never Unload just causes physics to keep being applied to it). With that said, dropped stages aren't often worth a whole lot of money, so it may not be worth concerning yourself with if you really don't care.

Edit: Kethane hasn't been updated to the latest version yet (Majiir is very busy in real life right now). Karbonite is an alternative which is included with MKS, if you decide to try that out.

[Zerro]

If you want stations/bases I would suggest MKS/OKS (Modular Kolonization System/Orbital Kolonization System). Coupled with that for life support I would suggest TAC Life Support (as MKS is designed to use it and will allow you to make fully self sufficient bases). MKS has a bit of a learning curve to it, however, so be prepared for that.

If you care about reusability at all and want to be able to drop stages and have them be recovered (along with the funds they are worth) then I would suggest StageRecovery or DebRefund (both make assumptions based on the dropped stage as to whether it will land) or FMRS or TTNeverUnload (those two have a cooler method of dealing with dropped stages. FMRS makes you fly them down manually and stitches the saves together while Never Unload just causes physics to keep being applied to it). With that said, dropped stages aren't often worth a whole lot of money, so it may not be worth concerning yourself with if you really don't care.

Edit: Kethane hasn't been updated to the latest version yet (Majiir is very busy in real life right now). Karbonite is an alternative which is included with MKS, if you decide to try that out.

I was wondering, how does TAC compare with Ioncross?

[magico13]

I haven't used ioncross since 0.21 (it may have been 0.20) because it didn't update for a long time. TAC at the time felt more complete even though it was just a pre-release. IMO, TAC has become the standard life support mod that people use, but I don't know if that's just my perception or if that's actually true. As for actual mechanics as of 0.24, I can't help you there. TAC recently changed resource densities so that the units are more realistic, but I find it to be more confusing and not as convenient as the old units (which were basically one unit = 1 day of life support for 1 kerbal).

[Zerro]

Well I will definitely try TAC.

So far I added:

000 Toolbar

Chatter

ConnectedLivingSpace

DeadlyReentry

Debrefund

Engineer Redux

Fineprint

Firesplitter

Fustek

KSPX

KWRocketry

MechJeb2

Mobstats

ModularFuelTanks

NavyFish

Nereid

NorthkeSerCom

OpenResourceSystem

ScanSat

ShipManifest

SpaceplanePlus

StationScience

ThunderAerospace

Treeloader

WarpPlugin

ModuleManager v2.2.1

I keep on getting an error 'Too many heap sections' (using Vista64bit) after the game loads 40-60%. Any suggestions on how to fix this problem?

[WololoW]

All of the mods from my list are for use within Career mode, and to use them in Sandbox you would simply take out the mods that do not apply (Debrefund, MCE2, FinePrint, etc.)

TAC-LS does seem to be the standard LS mod currently. There are several resources you must manage with it(more than IonCross) and as mentioned above, it is the LS mod that MKS/OKS was designed to use.

TAC-LS has Oxygen(& Co2), Food(& Waste), Water(& Waste Water) resources(& Byproduct Resources) that it introduces, and also makes use of Electricity. TAC-LS has configurable resource depletion rates, but at its stock rates, can be more difficult(for me, = more fun) to manage than the other life support mods.

EDIT* I use 32bit KSP, ATM, and -force-opengl to get my RAM usage as low as possible (Note, -force-opengl should only be used if you know what you are doing, know what it is doing, and are okay with anything that comes from using it.) - Without those 3, my game was unplayable with the amount of mods listed in my signature.

[Zerro]

Well I re-installed KSP and dumped the following mods:

Chatterer

SpaceplanePlus

TAC Fuel Balancer

Game seems to be loading fine (haven't altered any game settings yet. I wonder if switching to a higher res will affect this).

Debating whether to put SpaceplanePlus back in. I don't normally mess around with spaceplanes. I'm also unsure if TAC Fuel Balancer would add anymore value to my gaming experience

[magico13]

I definitely suggest Active Texture Management if you want to run any appreciable number of mods. Even the basic version helps substantially, and if that's not enough then I suggest the aggressive version. Spaceplane Plus is nice if you think you want to use planes (and will be included in stock soon) but if that's not something you're interested in then there's not much point (I'm considering adding it for the cargo bay, which is helpful when you use FAR or NEAR).

TAC Fuel Balancer is a plugin, so it won't really affect RAM usage that much. You may find yourself in a situation where it would have been helpful to keep, but it's up to you.

I had another suggestion but just totally blanked on what it was. If I remember and it's worthwhile, I'll edit it in later.

Edit: it was EVE. Environmental Visual Enhancements

Edited August 23, 2014 by magico13

[Wanderfound]

Current modlist here. Bold ones strongly recommended. Italicised ones essential for spaceplaners:

Action Group Manager

Active Texture Management

Extended Trim

EVE

DR

Editor Extensions

Enhanced Navball

FAR

Mechjeb

Hot Rockets

Navball Docking Alignment Indicator

Final Frontier

NRAP

Part Angle Display

Part Highlighter

Procedural Fairings / Wings

RCS Build Aid

Smokescreen

Spaceplane Plus

TAC-FB

TAC-LS

Kerbal Alarm Clock

EVA Parachutes