Ability to have different mods in different saves without having to have a new installation of KSP for each mod set

[michaelt359]

What I am requesting is for the KSP devs to implement a way to manage mods in game and assign them to different save files that way we don't need new installations everytime we want to try a different set of mods.

This would not be difficult to implement and would make modding the game feel much cleaner and save space on SSDs/HDDs

Thoughts?

[mattinoz]

3 hours ago, michaelt359 said:

What I am requesting is for the KSP devs to implement a way to manage mods in game and assign them to different save files that way we don't need new installations everytime we want to try a different set of mods.

This would not be difficult to implement and would make modding the game feel much cleaner and save space on SSDs/HDDs

Thoughts?

 

I would like this very much.

[Joseph Kerman]

We could do this, OR...

Make a bunch of your customized folders with certain mods so that you could select what to have at the moment by just placing one folder.

[pandaman]

Nice idea.

8 hours ago, michaelt359 said:

 

This would not be difficult to implement and would make modding the game feel much cleaner and save space on SSDs/HDDs

Thoughts?

If you know enough to know how easy it is to do then you know enough to write a mod to do it.

I don't, but I do know enough to know that things that look like they are easy to do very often aren't.

 

Edit...   Sorry, that came across as a bit harsh, I should have phrased it better.  I don't know much about coding as such, but i do understand the problems associated with doing something 'simple', only to find that it has many complexities and consequences that were not apparent to you when you had the initial idea.  And i also know that coding is riddled with these issues.

Edited February 24, 2018 by pandaman

[hms_warrior]

actualy it should be not to complicated (actual code monkey here) Most likely they just iterate over the gameData Folder and load each mod. If they create a Folder for each save and iterate over that instead...done. (However that would mean you have to create your savegame first, than close the game, copy your mods in the new folder and restart). They could do a simple text file for each savegame with the mods to load, but than you need an ingame screen to select the mods...that would mean actualy a bit of work. (like you select addons in WoW)

[John FX]

1 hour ago, pandaman said:

Nice idea.

If you know enough to know how easy it is to do then you know enough to write a mod to do it.

I don't, but I do know enough to know that things that look like they are easy to do very often aren't.

 

Edit...   Sorry, that came across as a bit harsh, I should have phrased it better.  I don't know much about coding as such, but i do understand the problems associated with doing something 'simple', only to find that it has many complexities and consequences that were not apparent to you when you had the initial idea.  And i also know that coding is riddled with these issues.

Coding is coding. Every change, or feature, will need coding to some degree and there are always problems when coding, changes change things and you have to deal with that. This is normal. Problem coding is when you have an issue with something like multiplayer time warping, the issues are not doing the coding, they are external to the code. Trying to find an acceptable way for the idea to be implemented.

When someone says something would not be difficult to implement what they are meaning is, it is just another coding job. In this case, it would be to inject code into the mod loading code so you could have an option to selectively not load some mods. Then in the cheat menu where you can reload all assets, expand that to unload all the assets then reload them based on a checklist. Then activate particular checklists based on the loaded game so selected mods are loaded when you load a save. Not too hard but time consuming and I am sure a better solution exists. Personally, I know coding but not the language used for KSP or the mods. This means I know enough to know should be relatively easy but could not do it myself. I admit that lately the `if it is so easy why do you not do it?` response to suggestions is wearing thin for me, like `there's a mod for that` which was the retort to suggestions for a while.

It is like knowing a job would be easy for a plumber, like changing a radiator, but being unable to do it yourself. You could quite accurately say "That should be an easy job to do (for a plumber)" and your mate saying "if it so easy, I am sure you could do it yourself". The logic does not stand up to scrutiny. In a similar way, the suggestion from the OP would be an easy job (for a coder). If you are familiar with the code of the game, changes like this are pretty easy. It's your job.

It would be a time consuming to do of course but so is all coding. Also the method I suggested might take as long as loading the whole game...

Often, a solution when coding that works is very easy. What is hard is making your code elegant, small, and fast. And bug free of course.

[pandaman]

@John FX

Thanks for your far better illustration of the problems associated with coding than i could have provided.  Like you i get a bit fed up with the common responses such as..

'There's a mod for that', probably winds me up the most.

'Idea x should be easy to implement'.  Often, i get the impression this comes from someone who doesn't see, understand or think about the possible 'knock on effects' of making one apparently simple change, and how to address them.  Mostly i think it's just not in their field of expertise or how their mind works.  For me it's the kind of thing i deal with fairly regularly (just not with coding), from people who should really have a bit better inderstanding by now. So my respose 'if its so easy then do it yourself', was probably a bit 'sharp' and out of order too.

Apologies all round.

[Gargamel]

How hard is running multiple installs?  If you are worried about HD space, just save copies of the GD and saves folders, and run one install. 

It would be a trivial script to write to manage this for you outside the game, and act as a launcher.   In fact, I believe JSME might be able to be tweaked to do this already. 

Adding a step in the already lengthy load process that will annoy 99.9% of the users out there doesn't make sense to me. 

[Abpilot]

I like the idea...it would require the game data folder to function in the save files