Back from hiatus and looking for a challenge.

[GwynJHawke]

Im starting a new career mod and was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions for mod choices. I've stepped away for a little while and want you to really make things interesting. I know I want life support mods, extra planets, EPL, but does anyone have suggestions on those or any other types of mods I should try. I really want to make this interesting and challenging. 

[septemberWaves]

Outer Planets Mod, Xen's Planet Collection, and Arkas are some great planet mods for adding stuff to the stock Kerbol system. Or if you want more of a change, New Horizons not only adds new celestial bodies, but also rearranges the Kerbol system entirely.

As for parts mods, there's quite a few great ones:

• Mark One Laboratory Extensions - adds a bunch of low-tech stuff based on the US's Gemini program. It's great for career because it allows for more variety with the beginnings of the tech tree. And the Buffalo MSEV is a mod by the same author which adds in a bunch of great parts for building rovers and other things. Also by the same author is Pathfinder, which is pretty great if you want to massively expand ISRU functionality.
• Some incredible parts mods are the mods made by Nertea (Near Future stuff, Kerbal Atomics, Cryogenic Engines, Stockalike Station Parts Expansion), and mods by Necrobones (Modular Rocket Systems, SpaceY and SpaceY Expanded, Fuel Tanks Plus, Color Coded Cannisters, Lithobraking Exploration Technologies). With all of those parts mods the possibilities for what you can create in the game are vastly expanded. They're great mods for both aesthetics and functionality.
• Kerbal Inventory System and Kerbal Attachment System are must-have mods. In case you don't already know, these two mods have a combined functionality of giving kerbals inventories, and the ability to directly interact with things whilst on EVA. If you have them both, there is also Surface Experiment Package, which adds KIS/KAS-assembled science experiments which are deployed on the surfaces of planets and gather data over time.
• DMagic Orbital Science. Exactly what the name implies, it basically adds a lot of science equipment primarily for use in orbit (though there are a few surface-specific experiments too). 
• ScanSat, Tarsier Space Technology, and CactEye-2 Orbital Telescope give increased functionality to probes. Scansat is particularly useful if you're going for rather exhaustive exploration of a celestial body, CactEye adds telescopes that work well with KIS/KAS (they can be upgraded by a kerbal on EVA), and TST adds telescopes that don't need much maintenance but are still quite useful.
• There's also some smaller mods that are quite good for adding functionality and filling niches. VX Series II Engine Pack adds a bunch of great engines, both for atmospheric and vacuum uses. Planetary Base Systems is great for making surface bases. It's also good for other purposes if you're creative enough. If you like planes, try Mk2 Expansion and Mk3 Expansion, as well as MkIV Spaceplane Parts - they give enormous variety to what can be done with plane parts. Modular Pod Extensions provides useful expansions to the Mk1-2 command pod. Universal Storage is good for making compact designs.

I also know of some great utility mods:

• You probably know of Kerbal Alarm Clock, but I'll mention it in case you don't. It lets you add alarms for in-game events like maneuvers.
• MechJeb adds a huge amount of information displays as well as some optional autopilot features. Its delta-v readout is particularly useful for designing spacecraft with efficiency in mind.
• Editor Extensions Redux is one of the most useful tools available for spacecraft construction. It adds a vast amount of extra functionality to the vehicle editor in the VAB/SPH.
• Final Frontier provides achievements for kerbals. It's quite nice for tracking which kerbals have done what things.
• GPO Speed Fuel Pump is an easily-configurable fuel pump mod, for when fuel lines are inconvenient or just too many parts.
• TRP Hire makes hiring kerbals work better.
• Trajectories shows approximations of atmospheric entry trajectories. It's not always right but it can be quite useful.

[GwynJHawke]

I'm running on 1.2, so i know most of those are up to date with that mod. For some reason I can't get OPM to work right . I've got the most recent Kopernicus update, KAS/KIS, all the NFTech, Atomics, Cryo. They all seem to work, but i can seem to get OPM to work right.

Plus TAC LS.

[septemberWaves]

All planet packs require Kopernicus. Kopernicus is version-locked. If you're on 1.2.2 there is currently no version of Kopernicus that works. It should be out in a couple of days, but until then no planet mods will work.

Also, OPM requires the CTTP folder that is included with the OPM download, and Kopernicus requires the ModularFlightIntegrator that is included with the Kopernicus download. Otherwise the mods will not work even when Kopernicus is updated to 1.2.2.

And for when Kopernicus is updated, I'd also like to recommend Sigma Binary. It turns Plock-Karen into an actual binary system.

[septemberWaves]

Actually I just checked Kopernicus and it has been updated with a 1.2.2 version at some point within the last couple of hours.

[GwynJHawke]

I downloaded 1.2.2 last night, but i was having the same issue with an early version of 1.2 from before i took my little hiatus. I had TAC LS, NFTech, Cryo and Atomics, and a number of others. They all seemed to work together except OPM. Just downloaded Kopernicus 1.2.2, so lets see how this goes...

Don't you just love minor version updates?

 

[GwynJHawke]

Welp... Eeloo has disappeared.... but no new planets.  

 

Did i download the death star at some point?

[septemberWaves]

Try getting rid of all the mods in your gamedata folder and restarting (it helps to keep a backup folder of all up-to-date mods somewhere on your computer so that you don't have to download everything again if you don't need to - you can also have separate folders for different sets of mods if you use different mods at different times). Start with getting OPM working, since that's what's not working.

For just OPM, your gamedata folder should contain the following:

• CTTP (textures and things for OPM)
• Kopernicus
• Modular Flight Integrator
• Outer Planets Mod
• Squad
• ModuleManager 2.7.5

Make sure they're all the latest versions. If it still doesn't work, something strange has happened with OPM. Try re-downloading it. And actually, it might help to re-download everything.

As it happens, I'm about to test out a heavily-modded game with a lot of things that use Kopernicus (OPM, XPC, Arkas, Duna Restoration Project, Jool Biomes, Sigma Binary (which modifies OPM) and Sigma Dimensions (which modifies Eve based on some custom configs I have)). If it doesn't work, then there are probably some major issues with KSP 1.2.2 and Kopernicus.

Edited December 7, 2016 by eloquentJane

[GwynJHawke]

I'll trouble shoot this in a while, but haveI mmentioned how wonderful you are Jane? Thank you so much for your suggestions, assistance, and advice.

[septemberWaves]

I'm able to get Kopernicus working perfectly with the aforementioned setup. I have a lot of other mods installed, and three planet packs and four planet editing tools are working fine in 1.2.2. Presumably they would work on their own as well. I can only suggest re-installing all of your mods and building your modpack up from nothing - starting with Kopernicus, OPM, and Sigma Binary, since those are what appear to be causing the problem. I have the latest versions of all three of those so I would suggest deleting your existing files and reinstalling.

I hope my advice can help you to get these things working. If it doesn't solve the problem though then I don't know what else might work, and I would suggest posting a question about it in the technical support thread for modded installs.

[GwynJHawke]

IT WORKS!!!!! Now to add my favorite mods one by one.

[Vanamonde]

Mod question moved to the modding subforum.