essential mods

[Clear Air Turbulence]

Hi there

Noob, sandbox, playing on a recentish MBP (Mavericks OS), 8 MB of Ram)

I am sure this has been done to death on this forum, but I haven't found a really clear answer in my various searches. I want to know what people think are the most essential and basic mods to add enjoyment and fun to game play. Also: what are the performance / stability implications of running lots of mods?

My experience so far:

I have tried some of the 'cosmetic' mods (texture replacer, planetshine, etc) but they seemed to create many issues. I suspect that they slow down gameplay a lot. And once I am far away from Kerbin, they don't seem to make much difference.

KER, DPAI and MapView Plus seem really useful. I would not be able to play the game at all without KER. RCS BuildAid seems good. They help me get my craft optimised and help with simple task

M*chj*b - I gather this is a heated issue. I find there are some things (landing, launching, rendezvous and docking) that I can do without MJ. At the moment I am using it like an extended version of an alarm clock: I create a maneuver node and then ask MJ to implement it. Beats time warping or waiting for hours.

Now: parts & other add-ons. Which are recommended? I have tried the Near Future series & they look cool. KIS & KAS - they seem enormously popular. Can't really figure out why. Is it a colonization thing? Will I need it when I am setting up bases on planets? At the moment I am still just building space stations and flying missions around Kerbin. Most important: will adding a lot of parts impede game performance?"

[Van Disaster]

If you do anything more than launching rockets, Ferram Aerospace. If you like flying aircraft, Pilot Assistant. FAR does most of it's stuff in it's own thread, and PA is a small plugin, so neither seem to cause a hit. Ignore people complaining about MJ, they've been doing it forever, it's dumb & won't ever stop. I'd get PreciseNode because I prefer it as a node editor, and Kerbal Alarm Clock because it's an actual alarm clock.

KAS lets you basically dock anything just by connecting a hose between the objects. I'd not do that in space though, you cause all sorts of amusement... for connecting ground stuff it's magical.

[Joonatan1998]

The bug fix modules are the closest thing to "essential" mods I know.

[Guest]

Realism Overhaul is the most essential set of mods. Turns KSP into a detailed spaceflight sim with a realistic solar system; no more "LiquidFuel" or toy solar system nonsense.

[moogoob]

I'd say that this question is intensely personal, and you're likely to get different answers from everyone. For me? I only use four:

Planetshine is one, and it shouldn't slow you down so much... you can change the settings to reduce the number or quality of lights if you need to. I find it well worth the visual effect in orbit around planets like Duna, Eve and Jool.

EVE (the mod, not the planet) is good, but I disable the city lights as I don't find them very nice. The clouds are a great visual indicator of altitude but can make eyeballing a landing hard on Kerbin and especially Eve (the planet, not the mod).

Mechjeb (or Kerbal Engineer Redux) - essentially, anything that can give you readouts in flight. The autopilot features are nice of course, but what I find MJ really good for is the many, many customizable readouts. Delta-V and TWR charts by stage are crucial for building and apoapsis height/time to is very useful when doing ascent manually. I also set it to tell me the current biome, a suicide burn countdown and even my current vehicle's cost (helps in career mode to get a good sense of worth of what you're trying to not crash.)

Asteroid Day Mod - my only part mod, and then only because it's both by Squad themselves and has giant Ox-Stat solar panels and a huge HECS probe core, plus more contracts to complete.

That's my answer, I'd be happy if others' priorities differ from mine. Mods are about making the game your own, after all!

[Guest]

I'd say that this question is intensely personal, and you're likely to get different answers from everyone.

This poster gets it, and it's the reason why OP has never found a "clear answer"; there is no "clear answer".

[Clear Air Turbulence]

Yes, I understand it is intensely personal. But it's good to know why people like some mods and not others

PreciseNode looks good.

For me, Planetshine just does not work. My Module manager says my version is out of date, and that's it. And I have the latest version downloaded :|

[moogoob]

Yes, I understand it is intensely personal. But it's good to know why people like some mods and not others

PreciseNode looks good.

For me, Planetshine just does not work. My Module manager says my version is out of date, and that's it. And I have the latest version downloaded :|

Mine says that too, but it still works in-game.

[legoclone09]

I think StockRT, StockSCANsat, and StockLS are good mods, haven't used StockLS yet, but they enhance stock while maintaining stock. KER/MJ/VOID for in-flight, and RLA stockalike and Lack's SXT for nice very stockalike parts.

[JedTech]

Portrait Stats - displays the type and level of each Kerbal in your current crew. Highlight the type or level icon to view experience stats of current and past mission

Docking Port Alignment Indicator - great informational aid for docking

Landing Height Display - change the main altimeter to show height above terrain when in navball toggle is in surface mode.

Kerbal Engineer Redux - great for mission planning and awesome informational huds.