When and why did you start modding KSP?

[Epicdreamer]

As a result of the forum topic "(Why) Do you start a new save when a new KSP version comes out?" I started wondering when and/or why you fellow Kerbonauts started modding your KSP install.

Back in 2016, after playing vanilla for a few months and reaching Eeloo with a probe for the first time there was a moment with a space station in LKO when I forgot to add solar panels (noobish?) I started looking around online hoping that somewhere I'd find an answer to the question if I could retrofit the station with solar panels...or retrofit anything up and orbiting with things I  could (and absolutely would!) forget in the future. Also I really missed a 2,5m 6 way hub in the vanilla parts catalogue.
When I took a first look at the KSP forum to find more gameplay related answers I was pleasantly surprised by the generally friendly tone of the messages, and the amount of activity by forum users. So ofcourse I ended up on the forum again in search for answers on this latest question.

 Modding games was new to me. Sequels yes, expansions (cd-rom, dvd-rom, later DLC's) yes, but modding? Before KSP I was on kind of a big break from gaming, persuing hobbies in the fysical world instead. So modding was quite unknown to me, though I heard of it before. Then I discovered the "add on release" page and found the answer I was looking for in the form of KIS (& KAS)...and ckan. Now I'm not really a techkid, physics wonder or programmer, so ckan, which takes care of for example dependencies, was a bulls eye for me. And so modding began. I found the  2.5m 6way hub in the form of DrJets chopshop, which has been in my much used modlist ever since...there are quite a few beautiful mods providing several hub parts, but drJet's was my first. A new dimension of gaming opened up to me. Without modding, I probably would have put KSP aside more than a year ago.

I'm curious what your stories are!

ps: great thanks to the modmakers for their excellent work, the online community and moderators for keeping this the best gaming forum I have ever stumbled upon!

[razark]

41 minutes ago, Epicdreamer said:

I started wondering when and/or why you fellow Kerbonauts started modding your KSP install.

When?  Shortly after I started playing and realized mods existed.

Why?  To add things I want/thought added to the game.

[Superfluous J]

Before leaving Kerbin's SOI.

Because I wanted to do it with mined fuel and in 2013 that meant mods. 

[purpleivan]

I think the first mod I added, after a few months playing the game vanilla, was Chatterer.

Now I barely notice that the mod's installed, but back in the day, hearing the crew happily chatting away really gave the game some extra character.

First useful mod was KER for the readout in the VAB, then Planetshine and EVE for some pretty visuals.

Edited December 28, 2018 by purpleivan

[Heliocentric]

When : When I got KSP

Why : I wanted hyperedit

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by HelioCentric

[Lapis]

when: 1 month after I started playing ( I had built a mun base)

why: I was bored

I then got entranced by the variety of the mods, installing more serious ones like KER an Airplane plus ( at first I installed silly/random ones) 

Edited December 28, 2018 by lapis

[klgraham1013]

When:  Around 0.19 probably.

Why:  Well, I mean, Squad wasn't going to add that stuff.

Things like information displays and life support.  Some part mods.  Clouds.  Fixes to gameplay.  That sort of thing.

Edited December 28, 2018 by klgraham1013

[razark]

1 hour ago, purpleivan said:

Now I barely notice that the mod's installed...

I've become that way about a few mods, but especially Chatterer and Docking Sounds (and formerly the RCS Sounds mod).  I am so used to them that it becomes very obvious, jarring even, when I don't have them installed.  Which I consider a very high compliment to mods that add absolutely nothing to gameplay.  Creating the right atmosphere for KSP helps the immersion so much that lacking them brings me out of the game.

[djr5899]

For me, probably about a month after I got the PC version of the game.  I had tried the demo years ago, but didn't think my laptop was powerful enough to really play it.  It ended up being released for XBOX 360, so I bought that version.  Never really made it that far....mostly Kerbin orbits and some Mun missions....maybe 1 or two Minmus flybys.  I wasn't very efficient with my rockets.

Last year, I heard a new, revamped version was coming out for XBOX One.  While impatiently waiting for the Enhanced Edition for XBOX (which I still bought, too), I finally broke down in November 2017 and bought the PC version.  Best decision I ever made.

Anyways, about a month or two into the PC version, as I really started to do things the right  way (like not launch rockets straight up to orbit), I had a lot of trouble with docking.  So Docking Port Alignment Indicator was the first mod I broke down and installed.  KER followed shortly thereafter, then a few others like RCS Build Aid, Surface Lights, and [x] Science.

[Geonovast]

I don't remember exactly when, but it was around the time I built a station LKO, and then pushed it out to the Mun.  I realized I really needed precisely rotated docking, and at the time the only real option was Konstruction!  I really installed it for the rotate snap, but of course the welding was awesome too.  Of course, now we have DockRotate!

After that it just snowballed.  LS, KER, too many parts to count,  Then I got a computer good enough for visual mods, and it snowballed a bit more.

 

This was 1.3, my first version of the game.

Edited December 29, 2018 by Geonovast

[pandaman]

Don't remember when with any kind of accuracy, but played at least 2 years pure stock.  Then got really frustated with lack of Dv info when building so got KER, and soon after KAC.

Still play with very few mods, and would rather have the 'essential' design and planning tools (and clouds) in stock.

[Lisias]

About six to seven months ago. I remember precisely the moment.

I had a somewhat unpleasant time installing Mono on a MacOS machine to use CKAN. By an incredible lack of luck,  the next day a huge update fest happened and broke my installation. It took me almost a week to detect the problems and rollback the mods that triggered the breakage. 

it took me about a month to detect the unholy interactions that were feeding the Krakens (how silly I was - I didn't found half of them!) to know what mods could  not be updated together. 

And then I noticed that we were focused on updating add-ons to KSP 1.4, and not on fixing bugs. And got a bit frustrated, as my window for hard playing KSP was closing and I wasn't managing to really play the thing.

So I remembered I'm a professional on this trade, and forked my first project. I fixed it, and learnt a huge loot of tricks and quirkies. I succeeded on it, so I decided to fix another one. And that gone on - something was wrong, I just fixed and applied a pull request instead of opening a bug report (when I had really fixed a bug - features that I though would interest only me I didn't). 

Since I was developing on a machine and was playing on another(s) I decided to proper "publish it" using ".version" files, and let ksp-avc do its job on remembering what was good to be installed on the playing machine on the weekend.

And then, one day, I saw an announce of a maintainer looking for someone to pass the Torch on an add'on I just had fixed a bit, and though to myself "hell, why not? What could possibly go wrong?"

And here I am.

 

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by Lisias
Tyops. As usulla.

[swjr-swis]

19 hours ago, Epicdreamer said:

I started wondering when and/or why you fellow Kerbonauts started modding your KSP install.

When: almost immediately after the first install and play-testing a bit, looking at the install files, and discovering that many files were text format and editable. The oldest archived game I still have that I marked as modded is a 0.7.3 install.

Why: because the files were editable. Simple curiousity about what the changes would do in-game, or because it showed potential for improvement/correction of a few things I felt could be better.

[Pthigrivi]

I held out quite a while, till after 1.0 I believe. Something about holding to stock felt more purist and I enjoyed the process of working within the constraints of career mode. Eventually though I really wanted to use life support and found things like alarm clock, precise node, better burn time and mech jebs dV and aerocapture prediction were positively necessary to the kinds of complex space infrustructure projects I was interested in. 

[Klapaucius]

I tried a few different parts mods early on, but nowadays I am stock for craft--I like the challenge of being forced to work with what I have, and it allows me to share more widely on KerbalX. However, playing KSP now without Scatterer and Environmental Visual Enhancements is, as @razark said, jarring.  I'm also a huge fan of Camera Tools.

Finally, I've got several saved versions of KSP with different planet packs installed.  I love flying around Kerbin (or using Mission Builder to take my planes to other atmospheric worlds in other planet packs) testing things I have built and exploring.

The first mod I ever installed, I think, was Maneuver Node Evolved. I find the stock node too small and fiddly, and this made life a lot easier.  I have not done space missions for a while, so I will be looking at Precise Node when I get back to that.

[Gapone]

When: Since the first version I played

Why: I don't remember

But the stock readouts are out, i might uninstall KER.

Edited December 31, 2018 by Gapone

[RealKerbal3x]

20 minutes ago, Gapone said:

But the stock readouts are out, i might uninstall KER.

When the stock dV readouts came in 1.6, I uninstalled KER and used Basic Orbit (for orbital info in flight view) in conjunction with the stock dV. The dV readout seems to be quite accurate, but I've found it doesn't like the OMS engines from Cormorant Aeronology (I haven't tested any other mod engines).

[l0kki]

When: Just after i got the game

Why: I wanted to nuke the KSC with NKD

[dallascwbys9]

I started modding because i was watching videos about ksp and seen stuff that wasnt in the game for me, and then it was just a downward spiral untill im at the mod addicted self im at now

[Tyko]

When: within an hour of my first install - install KER

Why: because I wanted a DV readout and other stats like time to AP.

[Tonka Crash]

I originally bought KSP on the Xbox and after getting frustrated with that FUBAR POS went online and found this forum and found out that it was a port from PC and you could mod the PC game. I bought the PC version with MH and installed CKAN and KER before I even launched it. Then I started figuring out how to write my own MM patches to fix mods that didn't behave like I wanted.

[Starman4308]

Originally, likely just MechJeb for dV and some maneuver planning.

After making a large Mun space station, and I think launching something towards Duna, I decided "This isn't hard enough", so I installed Realism Overhaul.

I backtracked a bit, and went for 6.4x/Real Fuels.

Haven't really looked back to stock-scale systems. They just feel too puny to me now.

[villetuomas]

I think I played stock for a couple of months. I then launched a mobile lab to Minmus which didn't have enough electricity to transfer all that science back to Kerbin so I started checking the forum if I could retrofit some solar panels and batteries on it. I installed KIS/KAS and soon after a bunch of other mods and started testing on building bases and stations. In the end I ditched that save before I got back to the Minmus lab. Currently I think KER and docking port alignment indicator are something I could not play without (still getting to grips with stock dV). Most other things I have are just cosmetic.

[Johnny Wishbone]

I started playing KSP back in early 2013, and I've never modded it. I happily play 100% stock to this day.

[MechBFP]

Once I needed a dV calculator to build my Eve lander. Also to easily determine the best transfer window to get to Eve.