Kerbal Space Program 1.0.4 best mods for graphics (interstellar style)

[jonathantm]

I was tired of incompatible and unrealistic Visual Environmental Enhancement mods for 1.0.4 , so I decided to spend some time working on an improvement for these mods of graphics. The result was: More realistic clouds, clouds's shadows, atmospheric reflection, sun lens effect and city lights!

Of course not everything into these mods was changed, only the scripts of the mod Visual Environmental Enhancement!

This compilation of mods is made up of carefully selected mods, files and some scripts that were changed (by me) for the atmospheric effects. It uses the mod Distant Object originally made by MOARdV from the thread http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/98943 and its licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 , Visual Environmental Enhancement originally made by rbray89 from the thread http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55905 and Planet Shine originally made by Valerian from the thread http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/96497 and its licence http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

It's made for KSP 1.0.4, so, no crash will happen! Don't need Texture Replacer, Active Texture Management or OpenGL!

And remember: The less mods you add to the game, the faster it will run! I made this compilation of mods prioritizing a fast performance of gameplay (and more realism hehehe)!

A printscreen to show how Kerbin will look like after you install it!

I didn't take more printscreens because the video already shows everything...

All what you need is in this link below, don't need anything else!

Download it: <snip>

HOW TO INSTALL:

In the link you will find two folders (like the image below), after you finish downloading them paste them into your KSP's folder, it will ask you to replace "GameData", "KSP_Data" and "sharedassets9.assets", replace them all!

Make a backup of the file "sharedassets9.assets" before doing that!

(Warning: If you already have DistantObject, PlanetShine and Visual Environmental Enhancements in your game, please uninstall them before you past the two folders!)

Watch the video I've made to show you how realistic it is.

Remember: If you want to turn off the stars, you can do that via the menu of the mod DistantObject (during gameplay)! And if you want to make the darkside of planets actually dark just like in real life, you can do that via the menu of the mod PlanetShine (during gameplay).

Please, ask me any doubt you have!

(Sorry for any English mistake, I'm still learning it)

Edited September 26, 2015 by Red Iron Crown
Removed link.

[Arteals]

After unzipping zip file, there are 3 folders gamedata, GameData and KSP_Data. GameData has 4 folders, but they are empty, gamedata has 8 folders... seems like a mess

It looks great, but still to hard for my device

Edited September 24, 2015 by Arteals

[Stevie_D]

A new visual package has been sorely needed.

My only niggle is that it isn't realistic to simply turn off all the stars, since that isn't what happens in space. What happens is a very dramatic effect that when you are looking at a bright light source, the stars do go out. However, whenever you turn away from the light source, the stars instantly come back, and are very, very vivid. The same effect as in a flashlight interrogation you see in the movies - the moment the interrogator turns the light on, you cant see his face behind the light anymore. Turn it off again? his face re-appears. If you watch any footage of the Virgin Galactic test flights, you see this effect with dramatic results, and they aren't even fully in space. So going whole hog and turning off all the stars is perhaps a bit -too- far in the opposite direction.

But that apart, the planets in your mod do look mighty fine!

[jonathantm]

After unzipping zip file, there are 3 folders gamedata, GameData and KSP_Data. GameData has 4 folders, but they are empty, gamedata has 8 folders... seems like a mess

It looks great, but still to hard for my device

That's not the way I did put the folders into the dropbox, I'll download it and check if there's something wrong with it.

I opened it right now and they don't appear to be empty to me, and the other folder "gamedata" you mentioned makes me confused, I didn't really put it there. I'm downloading it anyway, if I find out something wrong, I'll solve it!

- - - Updated - - -

A new visual package has been sorely needed.

My only niggle is that it isn't realistic to simply turn off all the stars, since that isn't what happens in space. What happens is a very dramatic effect that when you are looking at a bright light source, the stars do go out. However, whenever you turn away from the light source, the stars instantly come back, and are very, very vivid. The same effect as in a flashlight interrogation you see in the movies - the moment the interrogator turns the light on, you cant see his face behind the light anymore. Turn it off again? his face re-appears. If you watch any footage of the Virgin Galactic test flights, you see this effect with dramatic results, and they aren't even fully in space. So going whole hog and turning off all the stars is perhaps a bit -too- far in the opposite direction.

But that apart, the planets in your mod do look mighty fine!

Thank you for your support!!

I completely agree with you! When we turn our back to the sunlight, if there's no huge object (in front) to reflect the sunlight into our eyes, we see stars! You are right, but in the video I said "as almost all the time we are in the sunlight's presence, it's better to turn off the stars... During the gameplay, even if you aren't looking at the sun, you are looking at your spaceship or a planet, which will reflect the sunlight into you eyes anyway. That's why I decided that this way will be better, not perfectly like in real life, but at least a little more realistic. By the way, in the menu of the mod DistantObject there's the option to adjust it, you can (for example) put a very bright skybox and then adjust it to disappear when you look at a brightside of a planet or even the sun, maybe with the accurate adjustment it might be satisfactorily like in real life. But sadly, still when you look at your spaceship, it won't affect the brightness of the stars no matter how close to the spaceship you look.

- - - Updated - - -

After unzipping zip file, there are 3 folders gamedata, GameData and KSP_Data. GameData has 4 folders, but they are empty, gamedata has 8 folders... seems like a mess

It looks great, but still to hard for my device

I finished downloading it right now, I unzipped the file and there only had 2 folders as expected. "gamedata" and "KSP_Data", I noticed that it's not written "GameData" but "gamedata"... The folders' files are fine, all the files were there. There's no other "GameData" folder, only "gamedata", but this little difference of uppercase letters is insignificant, when you paste the two folders into the game, it works fine. I recommend you to reboot the computer and try to download it again, it must be a bug in the downloading process. Tell me if it worked. If the problem remains, I'll share these files via something else...

[LitaAlto]

So which mods are in this compilation? And did you check their licenses to ensure they could be bundled here?

[jonathantm]

So which mods are in this compilation? And did you check their licenses to ensure they could be bundled here?

Distant Object, Planet Shine, and the readjusted files of Environmental Visual Enhancements... I didn't check licenses. But if the creators of them want me to take it out of here, I do it, and then I put only the readjusted files of Environmental Visual Enhancements into an auto-installing rar... What do you think?

[rabidninjawombat]

Jonathantm, you have alot of problems with this post

1. You bundled lots of mods together for download without: First, mentioning or crediting the makers of these mods who put hours and days of work into these mods. This is an explicit violation of there licences. You really need to review the licenses of the mods you have here. The first post makes it appear that you are taking full credit for the development of these mods when at the most you modified some config files.

2. You violated rule number 7 of the add posting rules.

7. Legal boundaries

You may not decompile, modify or distribute any of the .dll files or other files KSP comes with beyond content of the GameData folder. Follow the EULA. For assemblies, you may only use exposed public or protected members of classes, and you may not examine the code within any member.

You cannot distribute any modified Asset files (the one in KSP_Data).

[jonathantm]

Jonathantm, you have alot of problems with this post

1. You bundled lots of mods together for download without: First, mentioning or crediting the makers of these mods who put hours and days of work into these mods. This is an explicit violation of there licences. You really need to review the licenses of the mods you have here. The first post makes it appear that you are taking full credit for the development of these mods when at the most you modified some config files.

2. You violated rule number 7 of the add posting rules.

You cannot distribute any modified Asset files (the one in KSP_Data).

I clearly said that I just made some adjustments, I don't want to take the credits of this, I'm not doing this for money or views, I was working on these adjustments to make it more realistic for my own gameplay, when I finished it, I noticed that I should share it for other players to have fun as well. If an admin thinks it shouldn't be here so I'm sorry and going to delete the thread.

But if it's only a matter of giving the credits for the mod makers, then I'll edit the thread to write their names with the credits.

[Nhawks17]

I'm going to offer a little help here so you don't get in some major trouble:

First things first, you're violating Astronomer's license first and foremost by distributing his textures, he only states that you can distribute configuration files unless permission is explicitly given to distribute anything other than that.

Second, Distant Object Enhancement can be used but you need to give explicit credit to MOARdv, a link to the license he/she is using, I've gotten that for you, it is at this link. If you do that, you can distribute it

And finally, PlanetShine is fine as well you just need to provide credit and provide a link to the license, which you can find here

It's nice to see someone working on an updated visual pack, you just need to make sure you don't get in trouble with the Moderators Hope this helps.

Edit:

Also, from what rabidninjawombat shared, you'll need to remove the Sharedassets file from the download. Although I've seen people distribute that (KSPRC, RVE) that rule seems pretty clear but who knows.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Nhawks17

[Glaran K'erman]

Jonathantm, you have alot of problems with this post

1. You bundled lots of mods together for download without: First, mentioning or crediting the makers of these mods who put hours and days of work into these mods. This is an explicit violation of there licences. You really need to review the licenses of the mods you have here. The first post makes it appear that you are taking full credit for the development of these mods when at the most you modified some config files.

2. You violated rule number 7 of the add posting rules.

You cannot distribute any modified Asset files (the one in KSP_Data).

Eh, go easy on him rabidninjawombat I no way interpreted the OP, even before the edits, as taking full credit. You're taking it a bit far on the lecture with that one.

But to jonathantm you definitely need to be all good and such with your licenses and regarding the 'modified Asset files' that rabidninjawombat mentioned, yea I don't anything about that but if it's true I would definitely not want to overstep my bounds in that department. (<--ninja'd by post above in regards to this stuff)

[jonathantm]

I'm going to offer a little help here so you don't get in some major trouble:

First things first, you're violating Astronomer's license first and foremost by distributing his textures, he only states that you can distribute configuration files unless permission is explicitly given to distribute anything other than that.

Second, Distant Object Enhancement can be used but you need to give explicit credit to MOARdv, a link to the license he/she is using, I've gotten that for you, it is at this link. If you do that, you can distribute it

And finally, PlanetShine is fine as well you just need to provide credit and provide a link to the license, which you can find here

It's nice to see someone working on an updated visual pack, you just need to make sure you don't get in trouble with the Moderators Hope this helps.

Edit:

Also, from what rabidninjawombat shared, you'll need to remove the Sharedassets file from the download. Although I've seen people distribute that (KSPRC, RVE) that rule seems pretty clear but who knows.

Thank you for your advice, it really helped a lot! I also see many people doing the same, and I can't see anything wrong about sharing these files, everyone knows who made them. I edited it the way I could and I will still think about how I'm gonna deal with the Visual Environmental Enhancement's files.

Once again, thanks for the help!

- - - Updated - - -

Eh' date=' go easy on him rabidninjawombat I no way interpreted the OP, even before the edits, as taking full credit. You're taking it a bit far on the lecture with that one.

But to jonathantm you definitely need to be all good and such with your licenses and regarding the 'modified Asset files' that rabidninjawombat mentioned, yea I don't anything about that but if it's true I would definitely not want to overstep my bounds in that department. (<--ninja'd by post above in regards to this stuff)[/quote']

I'll do it, thanks for your advice!

[LitaAlto]

Thank you for your advice, it really helped a lot! I also see many people doing the same, and I can't see anything wrong about sharing these files, everyone knows who made them. I edited it the way I could and I will still think about how I'm gonna deal with the Visual Environmental Enhancement's files.

Once again, thanks for the help!

- - - Updated - - -

I'll do it, thanks for your advice!

Actually, no, not everyone knows. Which is why I asked.

If "many" people are doing "the same" in this forum, Squad will shut them down. They cannot accept the legal burden of distributing unlicensed software on this forum, which is why the moderators are very rigorous about removing DL links if there is no license, or if you're distributing others' software without respecting the original license terms. (If you're talking about Reddit, then that's up to Reddit to worry about, but license violations are still a big deal.)

It's nothing personal--Squad has to protect themselves legally, so it's up to us to help make it easier for them by respecting the licenses of other mod-makers.

[jonathantm]

Actually, no, not everyone knows. Which is why I asked.

If "many" people are doing "the same" in this forum, Squad will shut them down. They cannot accept the legal burden of distributing unlicensed software on this forum, which is why the moderators are very rigorous about removing DL links if there is no license, or if you're distributing others' software without respecting the original license terms. (If you're talking about Reddit, then that's up to Reddit to worry about, but license violations are still a big deal.)

It's nothing personal--Squad has to protect themselves legally, so it's up to us to help make it easier for them by respecting the licenses of other mod-makers.

I understand, thank you for the hint!

[123nick]

is this compatible with OPM, Trans-keptunian, and new-horizons? also, why do we need to replace shared assets? in ksp_data?

[wx7]

OP, I just tried out this mod and frankly, it's amazing.

It looks really good and I can't notice any FPS changes (note that I'm using a laptop).

I've read these things about the license, and I don't want you to have to delete this amazing mod.

So, please give credit to the other mods' makers, include their licenses, credit SQUAD and all these things.

About the "you cannot share KSP files" thingy, I heard that SQUAD's current license is just a standard one and that they're not exactly strict about it.

So I don't think that sharing that asset will give you many problems, since other graphical mods also do that.

But if it does, just do it like Better Atmospheres did (I think that was the mod): Instead of giving the asset, put the images you'd replace in it inside a folder with instructions on how to edit the asset. Done.

Keep up the nice work.

why do we need to replace shared assets? in ksp_data?

It replaces Kerbol's texture, AFAIK. Well, at least it did in BE/EVE.

Edited September 24, 2015 by wx7

[jonathantm]

is this compatible with OPM, Trans-keptunian, and new-horizons? also, why do we need to replace shared assets? in ksp_data?

You don't need to replace assets if you don't want to change the sun flare, the file is equal except the sun lens effect that was changed.

It's probably compatible with OPM, Trans-keptunian, and new-horizons, as far as I remember, these mods you mentioned don't really change the original planets, they only add new ones, is it right? The matter is the original planets, if you add a mod that changes something related to the original planets, it might cause some conflict.

- - - Updated - - -

OP, I just tried out this mod and frankly, it's amazing.

It looks really good and I can't notice any FPS changes (note that I'm using a laptop).

I've read these things about the license, and I don't want you to have to delete this amazing mod.

So, please give credit to the other mods' makers, include their licenses, credit SQUAD and all these things.

About the "you cannot share KSP files" thingy, I heard that SQUAD's current license is just a standard one and that they're not exactly strict about it.

So I don't think that sharing that asset will give you many problems, since other graphical mods also do that.

But if it does, just do it like Better Atmospheres did (I think that was the mod): Instead of giving the asset, put the images you'd replace in it inside a folder with instructions on how to edit the asset. Done.

Keep up the nice work.

It replaces Kerbol's texture, AFAIK. Well, at least it did in BE/EVE.

I'm glad that you liked those adjustments, I don't really want to take the credits for anything, I just wanted to share something for other players to have fun as well, I hope nobody gets angry about these shares. I don't think it's gonna happen but if this thread be deleted, the video will remains, people still can download it and have fun.

[SmashingKirby148]

It's made for KSP 1.0.4, so, no crash will happen! Don't need Texture Replacer, Active Texture Management or OpenGL!

And remember: The less mods you add to the game, the faster it will run! I made this compilation of mods prioritizing a fast performance of gameplay (and more realism hehehe)

Ummmm... You sure about that?

HOW TO INSTALL:

In the link you will find two folders (like the image below), after you finish downloading them paste them into your KSP's folder, it will ask you to replace "GameData", "KSP_Data" and "sharedassets9.assets", replace them all!

Make a backup of the file "sharedassets9.assets" before doing that!

(Warning: If you already have DistantObject, PlanetShine and Visual Environmental Enhancements in your game, please uninstall them before you past the two folders!)

Even though I followed the instructions perfectly, it keeps crashing. My computer is very good, and I even deleted the PlanetShine + DistantObjectEnhancement mods and reinstalled them fresh just to see if that would help. Nope.

Are there any mods incompatible with this one? If so what are they?

Wait! I fixed it. I deleted PS and DOE and it worked.

My suggestions would be to make Kerbin a bit more blue, and make the clouds at least a little transparent. I know you were trying to make it look like the movie, but it looks a small bit weird. And Duna too. It's starting to look pink. O.o

Besides that, I am very happy of your work, and I'm excited to see what happens in the future.

~ SmashingKirby

Edited September 25, 2015 by SmashingKirby148

[jonathantm]

My suggestions would be to make Kerbin a bit more blue, and make the clouds at least a little transparent. I know you were trying to make it look like the movie, but it looks a small bit weird. And Duna too. It's starting to look pink. O.o

Besides that, I am very happy of your work, and I'm excited to see what happens in the future.

That's a very recent picture of earth taken by NASA's Climate Observatory Satellite some months ago (this year):

Actually the earth's clouds are a little bit transparent in some places... Maybe I could make a new readjustment (a second one to share here) to make Kerbin looks like the earth in this recent picture. Maybe by decreasing the altitude of the atmosphere's brightness to make the clouds more visible like in that picture, it would be awesome...!

I'm not promising to do anything, but if I do, I'll share the readjusted files in this thread here (on the first page)! Thank you for suggesting it, I appreciated it!

[SmashingKirby148]

That's a very recent picture of earth taken by NASA's Climate Observatory Satellite some months ago (this year):https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/earth-blue-marble-dscvr.jpg?quality=65&strip=color&w=1041

Actually the earth's clouds are a little bit transparent in some places... Maybe I could make a new readjustment (a second one to share here) to make Kerbin looks like the earth in this recent picture. Maybe by decreasing the altitude of the atmosphere's brightness to make the clouds more visible like in that picture, it would be awesome...!

I'm not promising to do anything, but if I do, I'll share the readjusted files in this thread here (on the first page)! Thank you for suggesting it, I appreciated it!

You're very welcome. Another thing you can do is do the suggestions and share them for download, but also keep the old one. That way, people can deside which one they like better, and then everyone wins!

[SmashingKirby148]

Also, how do I remove Duna's effects? Not just the pinkness from orbit, but the clouds on the surface. Is there a way that we, the players, can do that?

[jonathantm]

Also, how do I remove Duna's effects? Not just the pinkness from orbit, but the clouds on the surface. Is there a way that we, the players, can do that?

Actually yes, you would need to understand the scripts in the Clouds folder to change it, but here is what you want, I made it for you: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u9601qhmmdeegaw/AAAqwkd-fVZL-oOBxCek7Ugba?dl=0 After downloading it paste it into your game's folder.

I deleted the scripts of Duna's effects (it includes clouds and atmospheric reflection, in other words, default configuration) and makes Kerbin more blue as you asked. I didn't even check it for myself to see how it is now LoL, tell me if it's the way you wanted.

- - - Updated - - -

Just reminding: The folder BoulderCo must be into GameData.

[Keras]

Thanks for bringing back the clouds

Looks good, I only removed the lightning (looks too much like texture flickering imo) and increased sky brightness from DO to 50% (I don`t want space to be such a dark place all the time).

PS: On a side note I don`t really like slogans like "this is the best graphics mod in the world". Sounds too much like cheap PR.

Also if you are thinking about updating/providing different versions you should consider adding a version number.

Edited September 26, 2015 by Keras

[jonathantm]

Thanks for bringing back the clouds

Looks good, I only removed the lightning (looks too much like texture flickering imo) and increased sky brightness from DO to 50% (I don`t want space to be such a dark place all the time).

PS: On a side note I don`t really like slogans like "this is the best graphics mod in the world". Sounds too much like cheap PR.

Also if you are thinking about updating/providing different versions you should consider adding a version number.

"this is the best graphics mod in the world" is actually too exaggerated, I agree! hahaha But I think the way I wrote (best mods for graphics) is fair because I didn't see any better mod for graphics that's compatible with 1.0.4. To set a version for every future adjustment I make is a great idea, thank you for suggesting that!

[SmashingKirby148]

Actually yes, you would need to understand the scripts in the Clouds folder to change it, but here is what you want, I made it for you: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u9601qhmmdeegaw/AAAqwkd-fVZL-oOBxCek7Ugba?dl=0 After downloading it paste it into your game's folder.

I deleted the scripts of Duna's effects (it includes clouds and atmospheric reflection, in other words, default configuration) and makes Kerbin more blue as you asked. I didn't even check it for myself to see how it is now LoL, tell me if it's the way you wanted.

- - - Updated - - -

Just reminding: The folder BoulderCo must be into GameData.

Wow! You made it for me!? :'D lol XD

It's great! It's absolutly amazing! Still though, is there a way I can change the clouds myself?

Edited September 26, 2015 by SmashingKirby148

[jonathantm]

Wow! You made it for me!? :'D lol XD

It's great! It's absolutly amazing! Still though, is there a way I can change the clouds myself?

You're welcome!

If there's an easy way of doing that, nobody told me yet... The only way I know is by changing the scripts of those files into the folder Clouds, "cloudLayers", "12 Astronomer's Surface Glow" and "10 Astronomer's Atmosphere".

- - - Updated - - -

It's on "Kerbal Space Program\GameData\BoulderCo\Clouds". Just open the files as a notepad and edit them.