Start Modding.

[p14082003]

Hi guys!

I know there are a lot of modders out there so I want to ask you. 

What tools and programs do I need to start moding?

the most I did was to edit stock parts and change thrust or fuel consumption.

I know some programming and I won't be shy to learn a new one. 

I have a lot of free time and I wanted to try this.

[TheMightySpud]

I'm new to this myself, but.....

A programming environment for c# (I believe Visual Studio Express is free)

If you want to make your own parts, some kind of 3D modelling program (Blender is free, and seems popular around here).  Just did a really quick poke around and found this, I don't know how up to date or accurate it is, but it should be a start

Sketchup is also a possibility, however I'm not sure if it has UVmapping tools and I think you have to get the pro version to get fbx export capabilities.

A copy of the Unity Game Engine (it's free for non-commercial use).

The KSP Part Tools addon (From Here), it's linked elsewhere on the forum, but it's a pig to find.

Notepad (yep, not kidding ;-))

A read through of this (and always handy to keep closeby for quick reference) 

And then there's this......umm.....there are gaps, but again, it's a start.

And if anything stumps you etc.  Just ask questions, people seem to be helpful and pleasant enough

 

And Welcome to the club

TheMightySpud

[p14082003]

Thanks

I use notepad++. I'll download those Programs and I'll search tutorials

[jkortech]

I suggest Visual Studio Community 2015 over Visual Studio 2015 Express.  It has more features and enables you to install Visual Studio Tools for Unity (which can be very useful for debugging).

[artwhaley]

All of spuds answers are good ones, but you don't need all of that for every type of modding - There are two distinct flavors of modding with totally different toolchains (though of course you can do both and make them work together).

 Visual Studio is the right answer if you want to create plugins - extending the behavior of stuff in the game.  You don't need much more for this.

If you want to make new parts that just use the existing behaviors - , then you want a 3D suite (Blender) and Unity to convert your models to ingame assets, along with an image editor for textures.

[p14082003]

how do I know which version of Unity the game uses?

 

[TheMightySpud]

Ah, my bad I forgot to mention that. lol.

It seems that most people recommend 4.2.2 because after that version some things were removed from Unity (I think mainly the ability to animate emissive textures, for turning on lights and the like)

The Part Tools package (0.23 I think) supports upto a later version but off the top of my head I can't remember which.  For most 'compatibility/features' I'd stick with 4.2.2 personally.

TheMightySpud

[sarbian]

It is nice of you to reply but if you are new to this you should not explain other how to do things....

The OP asked about coding. As the others stated VS 2015 community is the way to go and you don't need anything else.

For info about modelling your best bet would be to ask in the Modelling and Texturing Discussion section.

This section is about code and it would be better to stay on topic.

[TheMightySpud]

Wow,

Okay, I'll refrain from trying to help from now on.

[p14082003]

Mighty spud actually helped. I saw a couple of vids, and you need those Programs.