Mods for a stockalike hardcore-style career

[Marandil]

tl;dr: I'm looking for a set of mods for a hardcore-ish/real-ish/stockalike-ish career, because my old set is not really playing well together.

Full:

For a month or so I have been playing a career campaign focused on "Iron man" or "Hardcore" style - no quicksave, no reloads, no reverts to launch; no 3-rd person view during launch/manual steering, only cameras or map view, etc. I am quite happy with the experience, but it turns out the mods selected do not always play well with each other. I listed my concerns below. I am looking into restarting with a new set of mods (and possibly on a new KSP version) and would like to hear your suggestions regarding mod selection and interactions.

Note: I'm not really into bumping the challenge by simply making the game extremely hard or going full RO; instead I want to be forced to plan ahead. Try and experiment, but with consequences. E.g. no manned flights, unless I'm certain I have an emergency plan and so on.

I'm currently playing with the following mods (+/- dump from `ckan list`)

KSP Version: 1.6.1.2401

Installed Modules:

- B9PartSwitch v2.6.0
- BluedogDB v1.5.2
- ClickThroughBlocker 0.1.7.1
- CommunityCategoryKit 4.1.0.0
- CommunityResourcePack 1.1.0.0
- CommunityTechTree 1:3.3.6
- ContractConfigurator 1.27.1
- CrewQueueTwo 1.1.9.1
- CryoEngines 1:0.6.5
- CryoTanks 1.1.1
- DeployableEngines 1.0.0
- DMagicOrbitalScience 1.4.2
- DMagicScienceAnimate v0.21
- DockRotate v1.6.1.32
- DynamicBatteryStorage 2:1.4.0.0
- EasyVesselSwitch 1.10
- EditorExtensionsRedux 3.3.20
- FerramAerospaceResearchContinued 3:0.15.9.7
- FirespitterCore v7.12.0
- FMRSContinued 1.2.7.4
- Galileo's Planet Pack 1.6.3.1
- HeatControl 0.4.10
- HullcamVDSContinued 0.1.11
- KerbalActuators
- KerbalAlarmClock v3.10.0.0
- KerbalAtomics 1:1.0.0
- KerbalAtomics-NFECompatibility 1.0.0
- KerbalChangelog v1.1.4
- KerbalConstructionTime 1.4.6.1
- KerbalEngineerRedux 1.1.5.7
- Kerbalism 2.1.2
- KerbalRenamer
- Konstruction 1.1.0.0
- Kopernicus 2:release-1.6.1-2
- kOS 1:1.1.6.3
- KRASH 0.5.29.8
- KSPRescuePodFix 1.5.3.13
- KSPWheel 0.14.12.31
- MagiCore 1.3.1.5
- ManeuverNodeEvolved 4.0
- MarkIVSpaceplaneSystem 3.0.4
- MechJeb2 2.8.3.0
- MechJebForAll 1.3.0.5
- ModularFlightIntegrator 1.2.6.0
- ModuleManager 4.0.2
- NearFutureConstruction 1.0.6
- NearFutureElectrical 1.0.0
- NearFutureElectrical-Core 1.0.0
- NearFutureLaunchVehicles 1.1.10
- NearFutureProps 1:0.5.0
- NearFuturePropulsion 1.1.0
- NearFutureSolar 0.8.15
- NearFutureSolar-Core 0.8.15
- NearFutureSpacecraft 1.2.2
- OhScrap
- RasterPropMonitor 1:v0.30.6
- RasterPropMonitor-Core 1:v0.30.6
- RecoveryController 0.0.3.7
- RemoteTech v1.9.1
- SCANsat v18.10
- ScrapYard
- ScrapYard_ContractConfigurator
- Sigma88LoadingScreens (unmanaged)
- SpaceXLegs (Kerbal Reusability Expansion) 2.8.4
- SSTUTools
- StageRecovery 1.9.1
- StationPartsExpansionRedux 1.1.0
- SuitProg
- TexturesUnlimited 1.3.6.20
- Toolbar 1.7.18
- ToolbarController 1:0.1.6.20
- TrackingStationEvolved 4.1
- Trajectories v2.2.2
- UniversalStorage2 1.6.0.9
- USI-ART 1:1.1.0.0
- USI-Core 1.1.0.0
- USI-EXP 1.1.0.0
- USI-FTT 1.1.0.0
- USITools 1.1.0.0
- WaypointManager 2.7.5
- [x] ScienceContinued 5.20

Some of the problems I've had:

• SSTU/Kerbalism - apparently Kerbalism doesn't properly model SSTU solar panels and they simply don't work if the vessel is unloaded. (https://github.com/shadowmage45/SSTULabs/issues/707)
• OhScrap! - it would be cool if the part failures were somewhat integrated with Kerbalism; instead I observed they only happen on loaded vessels, which creates 2 problems:
  1. Easy to cheat by only loading vessel to perform an action
  2. When I had to keep a vessel loaded for a longer period of time (actually because of the previous SSTU issue with solar panels on unloaded vessels) my whole probe became a shining red lightbulb within real-time seconds (in-game month), even on tested parts .
• SSTU/RemoteTech - apparently SSTU probe cores are incompatible with RemoteTech and therefore totally ignore the RT requirements/model and are always controllable. This totally ruins balance and because so many SSTU parts have the probe core functionality, this became quite a weird ballache .
• Kerbalism - with the current mod pack I'm stuck at 2.1.2, because updating to 2.2 basically breaks the game to a point where it crashes upon save load. This is most likely a weird interaction with one of the other mods (likely `[x] Science!`, but not for sure: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/172400-literally-every-ksp-version-since-14-kerbalism-v212/&page=61)
• I might have some problems with missing GPP + Kerbalism configs, but didn't run into them yet.

Has anyone else tried this kind of experience? What mods did you choose? Any recommendations?

[Tyko]

ReScale your system to 2.5 or 3.2x That'll increase your overall challenge level. ReScale does work with 1.6 and seems to work fine with 1.7 too...

As to your list of questions - you'll probably get more help asking each of those questions on the forum for their respective mods rather than posting a long list and expecting everyone to sort through it for you.

 

[Marandil]

@Tyko: I may give ReScale a try. I was reluctant to it because it used to break stuff.

I posted the problems to highlight the issues I had in the current run and would like to avoid in the future. So far it seems that dropping SSTU and OhScrap is the way to go (AFAICT the issue with Kerbalism is more complicated and requires wait for a next release anyway).

I'm rather looking for suggestions on what to drop & what to add to make this work .

[Nightside]

Yep- it sounds like you need to make a choice between SSTU or Kerbalism.

 

[Tyko]

15 hours ago, Marandil said:

@Tyko: I may give ReScale a try. I was reluctant to it because it used to break stuff.

 

ReScale works just great. I've been using it in every version of the game since 1.2.x.   Again..if it's "breaking stuff" why not raise specific issues in those mod threads? Then maybe you'll find a solution because it's not breaking "stuff" for most people

[kerbnub]

I've been trying for a similar experience. It seems you have pretty much everything I do difficultywise, but I second rescaling to 2.5 or 3.2x. Rockets look and launches feel much more realistic and satisfying and spaceplanes aren't so OP anymore. Really feels like stock should have been one of those, as I'm finding reasons to use parts or techniques I never needed to before, and futuristic tech now fits in nicer as well. I'm considering making the jump to RO or at least something RealFuels based though, and going with Interstellar-Extended, if it's not too hard to get working right and can work with Kerbalism.

I'm curious how you're using Kerbalism, since you also have Oh Scrap! and USILS. Is it mainly for the way it handles unloaded things? If you do end up dropping Kerbalism,  I'd recommend Kerbal Health to get the psychological failures in (and add a new dimension of goals/upgrades). I was considering taking Kerbalism myself though for the same reasons you hard regarding Oh Scrap!

On 4/13/2019 at 10:28 AM, Tyko said:

ReScale works just great. I've been using it in every version of the game since 1.2.x.   Again..if it's "breaking stuff" why not raise specific issues in those mod threads? Then maybe you'll find a solution because it's not breaking "stuff" for most people

Have you had issues with incorrect terrain colliders? I found myself drifting through some peaks in a very low Mun orbit without exploding. And are rescue contracts still not scaling? Either way, I'd still recommend Rescale, as those were minor issues for me.

[Tyko]

4 hours ago, kerbnub said:

On 4/13/2019 at 9:28 AM, Tyko said:

ReScale works just great. I've been using it in every version of the game since 1.2.x.   Again..if it's "breaking stuff" why not raise specific issues in those mod threads? Then maybe you'll find a solution because it's not breaking "stuff" for most people

Have you had issues with incorrect terrain colliders? I found myself drifting through some peaks in a very low Mun orbit without exploding. And are rescue contracts still not scaling? Either way, I'd still recommend Rescale, as those were minor issues for me.

I haven't seen the Mun peak issue, but I also haven't tried colliding with any mountains intentionally      I play Science mode, so not sure about contracts. You might want to ask on the ReScale forum page.