Returning to the game after a long absence with some questions

[SpacedInvader]

So, the last time I launched a rocket was way back around July / August. Since then life and various other distractions have kept me away from KSP. Lately, I however, I've been bitten strongly by the KSP bug and have committed to making a return. This comes with a few questions for the community:

First, with 1.0 coming in the relatively near future, I'm wondering if it makes sense to start a serious career game when it could be made obsolete / incompatible within a few weeks?

Second, in the past I only ever made it to Minmus before getting involved with RSS and forgetting completely about the Kerbol system. This time around, I'd like to actually explore that system, but being used to RSS, I'd like it to be super hard / realistic mode. With that in mind, what mods should I be looking at to put together the most realistic Kerbol system beyond the basic FAR, DRE, RT2, and TACLS?

Finally, I've read that the most recent version not only has a known memory leak, but also broke Load on Demand, which I considered to be a must have mod. In the past I ran a heavily modded install (40-60 folders I'm my GameData directory) and I'm wondering how 0.90 handles large quantities of modes?

Anyway, thanks in advance for your help and I look forward to reading through your input.

[Robotengineer]

So, the last time I launched a rocket was way back around July / August. Since then life and various other distractions have kept me away from KSP. Lately, I however, I've been bitten strongly by the KSP bug and have committed to making a return. This comes with a few questions for the community:

First, with 1.0 coming in the relatively near future, I'm wondering if it makes sense to start a serious career game when it could be made obsolete / incompatible within a few weeks?

This depends, IMO, it doesn't make much sense to play career when a major update is just a couple weeks away, however, it depends on your play style and whether you are ok with starting over halfway through, etc.

Second, in the past I only ever made it to Minmus before getting involved with RSS and forgetting completely about the Kerbol system. This time around, I'd like to actually explore that system, but being used to RSS, I'd like it to be super hard / realistic mode. With that in mind, what mods should I be looking at to put together the most realistic Kerbol system beyond the basic FAR, DRE, RT2, and TACLS?

You might want to try kOS, or just play RealismOverhaul, there are also numerous RSS configs for various scales of the stock system, 2x, 3.2x, 6.4x, 10x, 1/10x, etc. On the career mode side, RP-0 is a career mode overhaul for RSS/RO, and Better Than Starting Manned is a stock career mode overhaul.

Finally, I've read that the most recent version not only has a known memory leak, but also broke Load on Demand, which I considered to be a must have mod. In the past I ran a heavily modded install (40-60 folders I'm my GameData directory) and I'm wondering how 0.90 handles large quantities of modes?

Running a heavily modded install is almost impossible in 0.90.0 with 32-bit KSP, and the only stable 64-bit is Linux, so if you use Linux, it's great, I can personally recommend getting Linux just to use KSP. There are some mods that help you get by with some mods on 32-bit though, Active Texture Management is your best bet, there is also a way to force KSP to use OpenGL, although I have not used it.

[diomedea]

My advice is certainly to wait and start a new career once KSP 1.0 is released. It includes a wealth of important improvements, including fixing many bugs you would certainly find in 0.90.

[TMS]

Second, in the past I only ever made it to Minmus before getting involved with RSS and forgetting completely about the Kerbol system. This time around, I'd like to actually explore that system, but being used to RSS, I'd like it to be super hard / realistic mode. With that in mind, what mods should I be looking at to put together the most realistic Kerbol system beyond the basic FAR, DRE, RT2, and TACLS?

Stock equivalent of DRE is in 1.0. No word on quality or relevance of it. Expect something lightweight which will need modding.

Resources (fuel mining) are also in 1.0, but it is restricted to a single resource. The resource system is being built by a hired modder and, as such, is mod-friendly and looks like it will be expandable to cover life support. The author of the resource system will be releasing a life support pack separately, so TAC-LS will have some competition.

Stock aero is being overhauled, but will almost certainly not come close to FAR. The new aero system will have an "off switch" accessible to modders, so I expect FAR to continue in some form.

Finally, I've read that the most recent version not only has a known memory leak, but also broke Load on Demand, which I considered to be a must have mod. In the past I ran a heavily modded install (40-60 folders I'm my GameData directory) and I'm wondering how 0.90 handles large quantities of modes?

Anyway, thanks in advance for your help and I look forward to reading through your input.

0.90 is effectively broken - modded or otherwise. Memory leaks all over the place. I gave up on it and reverted to 0.25. YMMV.

Nobody knows how 1.0 will perform. Automatic texture conversion has been discussed in the devnotes, but there's disagreement on how that affects the overhead. LOD has been dead for a while. ATM is your best bet, if you're happy with potatoes for textures.

Might want to wait until the post-release mod updates happen and see what's-what.

Edited April 5, 2015 by TMS

[SpacedInvader]

Is 0.90 really that broken? One of my concerns in starting to get back in to KSP is the ending of x64 support. I have thought about setting up a dual boot for KSP, but, without starting a debate about how good Linux is vs Windows, it's a level of complexity I'm not that interested in adding to my gaming.

[John FX]

If you really want really hard then try BTSM (Better Than Starting Manned). It's very finely tuned to be 'just possible'

[forenci]

0.90 is effectively broken - modded or otherwise. Memory leaks all over the place. I gave up on it and reverted to 0.25. YMMV.

I'm not so sure about that. Personally I and several others I know have been playing KSP heavily modded on .90 without any real issues.

[Wiseman]

I'm currently playing a heavily modded .90 game, and it's working well for me. The memory leak is real, so I just accept that I won't be able to use Astronomer's Visual Pack until it's been addressed. OpenGL is enough to get me hours of playtime in a single sitting without crashes, so it's not something I worry too much about.

As far as actually starting fresh now, I think the thing to consider is what you will enjoy doing for the next few weeks until 1.0 drops. I like to vary my play experiences, never using the same game-changing mods twice (SETI-Balance Mod + Community Tech Tree + MKS/OKS is my current playthrough, last time it was Jumbo32 + Real Fuels, for example). You can reasonably expect that RSS now (or even 6.4x or 10x Kerbin) will feel different than it will after 1.0, where you may even try the stock aero, heating, and ISRU. Every game for me feels different, which is how I'm still obsessed after all this time.

[yardpup01]

Since you want to play a heavily modded game, I recommend playing now. It will be a few weeks before 1.0 drops, and you don't know how quickly the mods you want will update. Things like RO with all of its dependencies can take quite a while to update.

[impyre]

I asked myself this same question a few weeks ago. I decided to go ahead and start anyway. My thinking is "I'd rather not play without my favorite mods, K&W... KER, KAS, USI, and more... they will take time to catch up after 1.0 is released... so I won't be playing 1.0 right after release anyway. As for difficulty, I personally like TACLS, DRE, and NEAR. Ultimately, it's easier to get to space... harder to get back in one piece (and thus harder to complete missions). I also tweak game settings to pay out less for contracts, so I have to be more budget conscious and accept contracts very carefully. I think it keeps the basic feel of KSP while also adding extra layers of difficulty. I'm struggling in career mode right now with getting a working temporary heavy launch vehicle. I'm mid-tier, so I'm making more and bigger launches... and designing new rockets every time is becoming less and less appealing, but my heavy lifting tech is a bit limited... so I'm trying to find something that works.

Oh, also I use stage recovery (that's the big reason I decreased contract payout).

[SpacedInvader]

I'm not so sure about that. Personally I and several others I know have been playing KSP heavily modded on .90 without any real issues.

I'm currently playing a heavily modded .90 game, and it's working well for me. The memory leak is real, so I just accept that I won't be able to use Astronomer's Visual Pack until it's been addressed. OpenGL is enough to get me hours of playtime in a single sitting without crashes, so it's not something I worry too much about.

This has been my understanding for the most part, though I've seen mixed comments about how much modding affects the resulting memory leak. I guess it may relate directly to which mods are in use and how close they take you to the memory cap. I'm curious though how it manifests itself? I read somewhere that it's specifically related to how long you stay on a particular scene?

Since you want to play a heavily modded game, I recommend playing now. It will be a few weeks before 1.0 drops, and you don't know how quickly the mods you want will update. Things like RO with all of its dependencies can take quite a while to update.

I do remember this being an issue with each update cycle. The devs would release an update and then it would take the mod community a few weeks or even months in certain cases to be able to bring all of my favorite mods into compatibility.

I asked myself this same question a few weeks ago. I decided to go ahead and start anyway. My thinking is "I'd rather not play without my favorite mods, K&W... KER, KAS, USI, and more... they will take time to catch up after 1.0 is released... so I won't be playing 1.0 right after release anyway. As for difficulty, I personally like TACLS, DRE, and NEAR. Ultimately, it's easier to get to space... harder to get back in one piece (and thus harder to complete missions). I also tweak game settings to pay out less for contracts, so I have to be more budget conscious and accept contracts very carefully. I think it keeps the basic feel of KSP while also adding extra layers of difficulty. I'm struggling in career mode right now with getting a working temporary heavy launch vehicle. I'm mid-tier, so I'm making more and bigger launches... and designing new rockets every time is becoming less and less appealing, but my heavy lifting tech is a bit limited... so I'm trying to find something that works.

Oh, also I use stage recovery (that's the big reason I decreased contract payout).

NEAR?

[Wiseman]

This has been my understanding for the most part, though I've seen mixed comments about how much modding affects the resulting memory leak. I guess it may relate directly to which mods are in use and how close they take you to the memory cap. I'm curious though how it manifests itself? I read somewhere that it's specifically related to how long you stay on a particular scene?

My experience has been that scene swaps are what really makes it blow up. I have the graphical memory monitor mod installed, which has a nice, small indicator on memory usage. It stays pretty static until I start doing a lot of launches or jumping back and forth between ships and the VAB, then it starts creeping up. I launch at 1.8GB in use, but during a busy session over a few hours I'll wind up close to 3.2GB. Back when I was using Astronomer's, which has a pretty hefty memory impact (even with ATM), I was starting at 2.8, and would crash around 3.5 within an hour usually.

[GluttonyReaper]

In terms of difficulty, there's always KIDS. If you haven't heard of it before, it allows you to scale ISP for all engines, which I've found is quite nice for making things like SSTOs a lot more difficult, and rockets in general a lot bigger.

[SpacedInvader]

In terms of difficulty, there's always KIDS. If you haven't heard of it before, it allows you to scale ISP for all engines, which I've found is quite nice for making things like SSTOs a lot more difficult, and rockets in general a lot bigger.

I never had much luck getting KIDS to work correctly. It either seemed to have no effect, or in some cases, the opposite of the desired effect. That said, I can't rule out the possibility that I was just using it wrong.

[Yemo]

If you want to start a new balanced game, you might want to take a look at the SETI-BalanceMod in my signature.

I just updated it to remove the procedural parts dependencies.

It provides a whole new career/science experience.

You start with unmanned rockets and airplanes, do not get drowned in science after the first couple of unlocks due to ridiculous contract rewards.

There is a new contract progression, which is much more credible than the stock progression, which offers you a duna landing right after your first mun mission.

A lot of rebalances in terms of mass/costs/technodes.

Use it with the CommunityTechTree, many mods are supported but not required, eg complexity mods from FAR to TAC life support and RemoteTech.

[basic.syntax]

My experience has been that scene swaps are what really makes it blow up. [...] jumping back and forth between ships and the VAB...

That's what I see in .90 as well. When starting out with a new craft, I may revert back to the VAB to make changes 10, 20 times in a single game session, and that new craft building session is usually ended for me, lol. I've never lost anything of consequence, because of the automatic craft save when you go to the Launchpad. I only use two mods of any consequence, KAC and Kerbal Engineer. (I wouldn't get too invested in a new career game, with 1.0 this close.)

[Guest]

Second, in the past I only ever made it to Minmus before getting involved with RSS and forgetting completely about the Kerbol system. This time around, I'd like to actually explore that system, but being used to RSS, I'd like it to be super hard / realistic mode. With that in mind, what mods should I be looking at to put together the most realistic Kerbol system beyond the basic FAR, DRE, RT2, and TACLS?

Real Fuels with the Stockalike engine configs, Real Solar System with the 64K config, Procedural Parts, and pretty much whatever other mods and parts packs you want will end up being a more realistic stock-ish experience. The payload mass is less than KSP but more than RL, the distances are a bit more forgiving so a crewed Eeloo or Moho journey is still in the realm of possibility, etc... Feels like how stock KSP should actually be.

E: Don't use Realism Overhaul with that setup, it'll make things way too easy. The great thing about 64K is that you can use parts packs pretty much as-is.

Edited April 7, 2015 by regex