Compatible Craft Versions List for Every Versions

[FahmiRBLX]

Basically a question every of us scratches our head; which versions of my craft compatible with? I also got this issue, and about to be ready to submit a craft to Kerbal Express Airlines challenge. I currently have 1.1 and is my crafts compatible with 1.3, 1.4 and above? And what game versions of craft origin is compatible with which version?

[swjr-swis]

A few rules of thumb regarding craft compatibility across KSP versions:

1. Likeness, compatibility, and performance are only guaranteed (*1) in the exact version/patch the craft was created in. The KSP version a craft was created last edited in is saved in the craft file, and KSP checks this at loading.
2. In general, older versions of KSP will refuse to load craft files created in newer KSP versions, identifying them as 'incompatible' in the load dialog, to avoid compatibility problems.
3. You can fool older KSP versions to read newer craft files, by editing the craft file. BEWARE: the craft may have issues affecting its performance that are difficult to spot/debug; the game can/will often not identify this for you.
4. In general, KSP is programmed to load, and where needed convert (*2) craft files from older versions. The game will generally show some message or error if it cannot correctly load an older craft file... but not always.
5. BEWARE: KSP has little to no intelligence built-in to deal with parts that have changed significantly. Eg. parts that changed size will end up clipped or leave gaps, if resources changed the old values will be retained, etc.
6. Some differences across versions/patches will cause weird loading errors, where no error is shown but a craft ends up loading only partially, or never finishes loading.
7. IMPORTANT: Make backups of your craft files before unleashing a new version of KSP on them. KSP can and will overwrite craft files, sometimes silently, and you may never be able to return to a working file unless you have backups.

It is very hard to make specific statements regarding craft compatibility across versions, because it all depends on the exact changes made and whether the craft's parts, design, and/or configuration touch any of those changes. It is more likely for craft files to work within the same major version, but don't trust on that ('minor' patches have regularly made changes with big impact on crafts).

(*1: warranty void if you actually attempt to load a craft file. KSP sometimes kills a craft even in the original version it was built in.)

(*2: 'conversion' is often limited to updating the version nr stored in the craft file, which will happen silently if you save the file - and saving happens sometimes even without making changes.)

Edited August 9, 2018 by swjr-swis
qualified some absolutes

[Rocket In My Pocket]

My current save was started back around 1.3 I think? All my crafts still work.

The older the craft though, the more likely something has changed so much as to make it not work.

Edited August 9, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket

[FahmiRBLX]

About editing the craft file. May I know how can I perform this?

 

Tried right-clicking it, but all it brings to me is nothing that relates to editing its config. Have I need to change its format to .cfg?

Oops, accidently selected the game to defaultly open those.

[bewing]

Craft files are just text files. So you can right click, choose "open with" and choose notepad, wordpad, or any other text editor. Make sure the extension is set back to .craft once you are done editing it.

 

[swjr-swis]

8 hours ago, FahmiRBLXian said:

About editing the craft file. May I know how can I perform this?

Like @bewing said, they're just plain text files - they just end with the extension '.craft'. Any text editor you have installed can edit them.

Make a backup copy of the file you want to edit so you can get back to the original, and you can experiment without worry.

 

Do me a favour though: please, please change your folder view settings to show the file extensions. I don't know who at Microsoft decided it was a good idea to make that an option, let alone turn it off by default, but I sincerely hope that the closest those persons get to UI programming in their next seven lives is by cleaning out pig sties.

 

[Kryxal]

Microsoft sometimes seems to work this way:

1: Show the user only what they need to see

2: In Microsoft's opinion, the user doesn't need to see much of anything

[FahmiRBLX]

I've successfully tried it. Thanks, guys.