Recommendations for mods?

[Cobalt60]

So I have played KSP for a while now and I have mechjeb installed. However, in the face of hundreds of pages of other mods, what other mods should I use?

I would rather not have something like KW Rocketry or B9 Aerospace as I don't really want too many new parts.

Any recommendations for me?

[Streetwind]

I recommend that you post mod-related threads in the modding subforum

Other than that, in no particular order:

- Kerbal Construction Time

- Ferram Aerospace Research & Deadly Reentry

- TAC Life Support

- Everything by TriggerAU ever

- Trajectories

- ScienceAlert

- RCS Build Aid

- Docking Port Alignment Indicator

- Stock Bug Fix Modules

- Sane Strategies

- A tech tree, like the one in this week's Modding Mondays post

- DMagic Orbital Science

EDIT: to clarify, these are individual suggestions, not a must-have list... take a look at them and go with whichever ones you like.

Edited February 4, 2015 by Streetwind

[eddiew]

Hmm... things with not too many parts... I'd suggest starting with:

Kerbal Construction Time (no parts, all gameplay changes)

...works well with....

Transfer Window Planner and Kerbal Alarm Clock

KSAEA Tech Tree Rebalance (no parts, puts stock things in more sane places in the tree)

Contract Science Modifier (no parts, stops the lazy science points from contracts - you don't need it, go field science only and do a lot more exploring!)

Antenna Range (no parts, makes you use the higher powered stock antennae to get your science transmissions back)

FAR (no parts, make stuff fly like common sense says it should)

DMagic Orbital Science (a handful of science instruments, no large pieces)

Station Science (handful of large orbital modules)

*edit* Streetwind's suggestions above are all pretty good too

[micha]

Depends on what you want in your game.

The list of mods I personally play with is here.

I would consider the following functional mods as absolutely essential:

Kerbal Alarm Clock, Docking Port Alignment Indicator, Kerbal Engineering Redux (or MechJeb), Stock Bug Fix Modules, and possibly Precise Node.

All others depend on what you want - more science, more pretties, more parts, ...?

Here is a list of plugins and mods.

Also check out KerbalStuff and Curse.

CKAN does a pretty good job managing your mods.

[Cobalt60]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Van Disaster]

B9 procedural wings ( is a seperate mod ), Procedural fairings and maybe the procedural tanks - those will all *remove* parts because now you can delete all the static sized parts if you wanted.

TextureReplacer - not only can you swap textures, but it unloads nearly all loaded textures once you've started the game even if you don't do anything else with it.

FAR ( Ferram aerospace ) - changes atmospheric work considerably and is something I consider stock.

Karbonite or Kethane - lets you mine stuff, they're both also parts packs but you can remove all the things like engines if you like & still have the basic mining & processing functionality left.

Extraplanetary Launchpads - would need one of Karbonite or Kethane, but lets you build stuff off Kerbin.

I've not used MKS but it would seem to have a lot of gameplay additions revolving around colonization. Obviously it's also a parts pack, because at some point you need extra parts when you're adding new gameplay elements.

[Red Iron Crown]

This mod-related question is being moved to General Add-on Affairs, the place for all your mod-related questions.

[WuphonsReach]

My current minimum acceptable list of mods are (these are the lightweight ones):

KAC (Kerbal Alarm Clock) - Which makes managing time and schedule constraints much easier then stock. You can see when upcoming burns will be occurring to avoid scheduling two burns at the same time.

KCT (Kerbal Construction Time) - Building rockets and planets or researching tech now takes time. You can choose to invest funds/science to speed up how fast tech is researched (Upgrades -> R&D -> Development) or setup multiple production lines in the VAB/SPH. Gives a meaning to the game calendar, but also serves as another drain for science/funds.

ActiveTextureManagement - Reduces memory use (I use aggressive mode).

Blizzy Toolbar - A lot of other mods require it.

Connected Living Space - More of an API for other mods, but connects the various parts of the station together to make it easier to move crew around.

Contract Window - A better contract window to let you see what contracts you have accepted and what the conditions for completion are.

Deadly Reentry (DRE) - More fire and flame.

DPAI (Docking Port Alignment Indicator) - Best mod for docking.

Ferram Aerospace Research (FAR) - Aerodynamics that make sense.

GovFunding - Set it up to give you a small infusion of cash every day / hour / week / whatever. Gives additional meaning to the game calendar.

Haystack Continued - A better way to search for ships, set them as targets or jump between ships.

Improved Strategies - Fixes the admin building.

Kerbal Engineer Redux (KER) - Better information in the SPH/VAB about rocket/plane design and how much DV you have per stage.

Kerbal Joint Reinforcement - Improves the connection strength between parts for slightly less wobble.

MechJeb2 - Because after the 10th launch of a particular rocket design, I'd rather just let the ascent guidance module handle that phase of flight.

Precise Node - The best way to work with setting up and adjusting maneuver nodes using the number pad on the keyboard rather then fiddling with the little nubbies on the node.

Remote Tech - Distance now has meaning when it comes to communications. You have to setup a communications network, deal with distance and line of sight issues and the speed of light delay.

S.A.V.E. - Automated backups (KAC also does backups), which also backs up your .craft files.

Ship Manifest - The best way for moving resources around on a vessel (fuel from one tank to another, for instance).

Stage Recovery - Gain back some funds from your booster stages if they have enough parachutes (and possibly heat shields or re-entry engines).

Stock Bug Fix Modules - Fixes some things like the EVA ejection fix.

TAC Life Support - Gives additional meaning to the game calendar when dealing with vessels containing kerbals. You can't leave Jeb in orbit for 10 years without supplies. See also the Snacks! mod for something simpler.

UbioWeld Continued - Weld various pieces together (like a fuel tank + RCS tank) to produce a lower part count with equivalent functionality.

...

For the heavier mods (lots of parts):

KAS (Kerbal Attachment System) - For the cost of 6 or 8 parts per docking port pair, you can create struts between the two vessels during EVA to make the connection far less wobbly. Also has many other interesting goodies.

DMagic Orbital Science - more science parts, for use by orbital satellites.

Greenhouse Mk1 - A greenhouse for TAC Life Support to create food/water/oxygen

KW Rocketry - Additional SRBs, fuel tanks, engines. Note that the fuel tanks have a 1:10 dry:wet mass ratio compared to 1:9 for the stock 2.5m tanks. Also adds larger diameter tanks.

Modular Rocket Systems - A great set of parts.

SCANSat - Gives a purpose to orbital sats. Also useful with MKS/OKS and Karbonite.

SpaceY Heavy Lifters - Larger engines / fuel tanks.

MKS/OKS - More station parts and surface base parts, plus additional resources and logistics.

Karbonite - A mineable resource on the moons/planets of the Kerbol system.

[PDCWolf]

6sCompartmentTubes - Non updated mod, Updated it myself and changed some modules to stock funcionality (originally it uses firespitter), but back then we didn't had cargo bays or the updates to the modules that they use.

Adjustable Landing Gear Way better than the stock one, thread says 0.25 but works correctly if you get the latest firespitter.dll

blackheart's textures for procedural fairings - There are textures for both procedural fairings and procedural parts. They still work because they are textures only.

Community Resource Pack - For me it came with Karbonite+, if you don't use resource mods it is useless, and if the resource mod you use doesn't come with it then you'll download it in vain, that's why I don't link it.

Custom Asteroids - Still works, adds some really good and needed diversity to the asteroid system.

DDSLoader - Let's KSP load dds textures when the game starts, paired with converted textures, makes KSP load crazy fast (my game loads in about 30 seconds, no SSD or anything of the sort)

Deadly Reentry - Adds reentry heat, it's mostly not-deadly unless you do aerobrakes at 12km/s, it's actually more probable for your crew to get killed by g-forces than because of their capsule exploding due to heating.

Distant Object Enhancement - Adds albedo effect to the general skybox and creates flares for planets and objects you have in low orbits (you can see satellites passing by from KSC, or Moho right before the sun rises or sets for example)

Ferram Aerospace Research - Because the stock aero model is dumb. Check this thread if you have any doubts regarding difficulty or how permissive FAR is.

Firespitter DLL - Cause some things which I can't remember now require it (ALG is one, can't remember the rest)

Hullcam VDS - Adds cameras you can attach to stuff, if you like rocket .....

Kerbal Attachment Stuff - Crazy bananas mod that adds stuff like hooks, winches, etc letting you create things like cranes or doing a Philae-simil landing on an asteroid by shooting harpoons (actually hooks in the mod but whatever, it's freaking cool) at it.

Kerbal Engineer Redux - Loadsa data, if you have mechjeb then keep it and don't download this, they cover the same stuff, although differently.

Kerbal ISP Difficulty Scaler - In its simplest form, it balances FAR to keep the same requirements to orbit that stock has (~4500m/s dV), otherwise it lets you balance the values however you want and also fix stuff like thrust scaling with ISP instead of fuel consumption.

KerbalJointReinforcement - Because rockets, planes, joints and structural elements are not made of jello.

Kronal Vessel Viewer - Lets you create pretty blueprint-like images of your

rockets and planes (obviously has no impact on anything, just a visual thing for showing your stuff to others)

NavHud - You no longer need the navball, this thing shows you the vectors and lines IN FLIGHT, really configurable so don't worry if the default setting doesn't appeal to you.

Procedural Fairings - HURR DURR AERODYNAMICS, If you install far, you either get this or KW or Aies or get really creative because you'll definitely need some fairings.

Procedural Parts - Installed this recently and I don't use it to completely replace stock, but rather to fill its gaps (like very small or very big rockets or sizes in between the existing ones. With some extra texture packs they look really good.

RealChute - Because parachutes don't magically deploy in a fraction of a second exposing themselves (and your ship and crew) to forces that would rip them apart if they weren't such magical devices in game.

Regolith - Comes bundled with Karbonite+, if you download it by itself, you'll see nothing because it's a framework to create mods on top of, not a mod by itself.

RemoteTech - Adds need for relays, connectivity, line of sight and a toggle able signal delay for probes, if you want a less intrusive and easier version, look at antennarange.

Science Funding - Gives you funds for the science you do.

StretchySNTextures folder is a texture pack for procedural parts

TAC Life Support - Life support mod. Adds the need for food, electricity, oxygen and water and a lot of cylindrical parts to do different things with those four resources like recycling them for example.

ToadicusTools - Comes bundled with other mods

UmbraSpaceIndustries - Contains Karbonite+

Wolf - Contains my TWISB - Stock Rebalance Patch and other stuff that shall see the light sooner or later.

[impwarhamer]

I have plenty of mods I could recommend, but you definitely have to try some of the graphics mods, it makes everything look 100x better.

There are a few packs out there which combine all the stuff you will need.

Try searching:

Better Atmospheres

Astronomers Visual pack

Renaissance Compilation

Some screenshots so you know what I'm talking about: