So, I love planet packs. I love exploring new worlds, establishing communications, and setting up colonies. I love habitable worlds. I love strange and interesting new worlds. I appreciate some fine little dust balls, and I enjoy gazing at the majesty of real purdy gas giants.
But my problem has always been that new planet packs might add a half dozen (or more) new planets, and I only really want a couple of them. Some huge packs only add a handful I REALLY love, and many packs put new planets so far away from Kerbin that It would take ten thousand Kerbal lifetimes to get there, or leave the solar system so chaotically arranged that planets actually collide (or, you know... just kind of.. clip through each other... like wall hacks.) Some packs use their own textures, some reference CTTP, or their own textures. Sometimes, the same exact artwork is loaded in multiple different folders, saturating my system memory with three instances of the same high-def picture of some lovely, lovely dirt.
So I built my own solar system in an attempt to capture exactly what I want in my little sandbox. I call it "Kerbal Impossible Solar System."
I wanted many planets, and even new systems to explore. I wanted a veritable smorgasbord of habitable planets to colonize, recourse rich bodies to exploit, dangerous worlds for Jeb to go give his life for the cause on.
Well, I've filled it up with planets that many of the very talented modders have created and shared with us. I've combined and organized all the extra resources that they use, like textures and decals, and such to reduce the memory overhead. I've adjusted the science values to be more appropriate, and I'm in the process of creating descriptions and appropriating mining resources. After that, I'll be working on setting up EVE atmospheres and Scatterer configs. Maybe I'll add mod support for things like research bodies, if I'm feeling especially willing to punish myself.
At this point, I've put a pretty large amount of work into this project, and I would share it so you can see where I'm at so far... I totally would...
But, I've stolen, BLATANTLY STOLEN the fine work of MANY of the modders in this community. I haven't asked anyone for permission to use their planets in a pack yet, because I wasn't originally planning on uploading this. While I am sure *some* of the victims of my wanton theft would be happy to share their colormaps, heightmaps, biome maps, and Normals, others, I am sure, would not allow me to make use of their artwork and files. I'll start asking some of the folks that I have... erm, "Borrowed from" and see if they mind lending the fruits of their labors to this ridiculous enterprise, but I don't suspect that every planet artist will be on board to have their products so shamelessly exploited. We shall see.
So, I guess I'm just kind of posting, first of all, to test the waters and see if this is a project that would generate any real interest. Those in search of realism obviously wouldn't be interested, but there are plenty of other packs that strive for realism. This pack seeks to maximize the things that an intrepid explorer, a true capitalist... a conquest minded imperialist, would appreciate. Even just people who want to get out and explore, don't really care where they end up, and don't want to have to worry about transfer windows, or plan gravity assists Kerbin years ahead of time.
And secondly, to ask if anyone has planets that I may use? Maybe you are the creator of a popular planet pack, and would be happy to let me pilfer your artstuffs. Maybe you've made planets in the past, but never found a place to put them to good use. Maybe you are just really good with GIMP and like making planets, and wouldn't mind helping me fill in the gaps with some custom requests. Anything helps. (I can't actually draw / draft planets myself, so I really am totally dependent on the charity of this community if you guys want to see this come into fruition. Of course, credit will be given where it is due.