Stand Alone VAB + SPH Program (?)

[shadragon]

One thing I'd like to see is a stand alone version of the VAB and SPH so we can fiddle with ship designs outside of the main game. 

When I'm at work, I'm often patching servers late into the evening or away at remote sites doing maintenance. The patch installs can take literally hours and having the ability to work on ship designs as updates are grinding away in the background would be great. I can't install the full game on my work laptop for obvious reasons, but a stand alone (and maybe freeware) version of the SPH and VAB would let me work on my designs when I'm otherwise unoccupied watching a progress bar. 

You'd need the main game to fly them, of course, but just being able to manipulate a new rover design or sort out staging on a heavy lift vehicle would be great. I could sync the designs to my home account through Dropbox as well.  

[Red Iron Crown]

On 9/6/2016 at 1:30 PM, shadragon said:

I can't install the full game on my work laptop for obvious reasons, but a stand alone (and maybe freeware) version of the SPH and VAB would let me work on my designs when I'm otherwise unoccupied watching a progress bar. 

Why can't you use full KSP? It's a standalone program, no install privileges are required.

I can see this being useful if the hardware requirements were significantly lower (i.e. you could use it on machines that otherwise couldn't run KSP), if they could be brought down to tablet level then it would open up even more opportunities.

[The_Rocketeer]

A standalone VAB would still have to load all the parts, the 3d engine... everything except physics. It would take up almost as much drive space and require a comparable level of computing power to run. I don't see the advantage in a standalone over just installing the game on a portable device.

[Red Iron Crown]

6 minutes ago, The_Rocketeer said:

A standalone VAB would still have to load all the parts, the 3d engine... everything except physics.

Not necessarily. I can edit craft (painfully) with a text editor, surely there could be some step between that and a full blown VAB/SPH that might be useful, even if it has some limitations.

[shadragon]

To run KSP I need Steam as my purchase was through there. My workplace specifically bans Steam installs on work laptops (as one of my less regarded colleagues used to do his massive Steam downloads on work Internet, slowing everyone else down dramatically). 

With a stand alone design program, I wouldn't need the Steam component and boom, I'm legal in the eyes of the ever watchful and draconian firewall monitors. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I thought it would be worth mentioning. Cheers. 

[The_Rocketeer]

I guess it depends how much you want the standalone to be like the VAB. What I mean is, lifting the VAB out of KSP and calling it a standalone wouldn't be much of an improvement on just leaving the rest of the game there.

The other option, designing a completely new system to achieve the same functionality as the current VAB has, for the sake of editing when you can't play... that seems like a pretty untenable cost/benefit analysis to me.

22 minutes ago, shadragon said:

To run KSP I need Steam as my purchase was through there.

No you don't. Copy the game directory out of the Steam folder, it will run from anywhere.

Edited September 7, 2016 by The_Rocketeer

[regex]

You can literally put KSP onto a thumb drive, although I don't think it would run very well from there.

1. Create a new install directory by copying your Steam install directory (within Program Files/Steam/common/SteamApps, I think).

2. Remove the asset bundles to speed up loading slightly.

3. Prune the Squad folder in Gamedata of any parts you don't use.

You now have a pared-down install that can be loaded and run pretty quickly. When i was actively modding (i.e. when KSP had very long load times) this was my SOP.

[FullMetalMachinist]

@shadragon I don't think this has been said yet, but not only does KSP not have to be "installed" like other games or programs, it has no DRM of any kind. 

You can literally have as many copies on as many computers as you want. Or even keep copies of previous versions. 

For example, I have a folder on my computer called "KSP Backup." In it is a folder for each version of the game going back to 0.9. In each of those folders are two copies of the game. One is a periodic backup of the game that I'm actually playing, and the other is a clean copy of the stock game. That way if I ever need to get a fresh copy (like if a mod messed something up) I can just copy that, instead of waiting to download the whole game again. 

I also have a copy on my laptop for when I travel. 

[shadragon]

@FullMetalMachinist I get that. The real reason I don't want the full game is so I can't play it. I know me and I'll be sitting there thinking "I'll just take this for a short test flight" and next thing it'll be 3AM and I'll be in orbit around Ike.  

When I'm home, the wife eventually gives me the "You've been playing that too long" tap on the shoulder. At work, in a remote server room, not so much.

[FullMetalMachinist]

18 minutes ago, shadragon said:

@FullMetalMachinist I get that. The real reason I don't want the full game is so I can't play it. I know me and I'll be sitting there thinking "I'll just take this for a short test flight" and next thing it'll be 3AM and I'll be in orbit around Ike.  

When I'm home, the wife eventually gives me the "You've been playing that too long" tap on the shoulder. At work, in a remote server room, not so much.

I see, apologies for my confusion. I interpreted your OP as basically "I'm unable to download KSP to a work computer", not "it'd be a bad idea to make KSP accessible while I'm at work."