Should I use CKAN?

[Cloakedwand72]

I currently use CKAN to handle my mods & individual updates & dependencies. Though it has a few bugs that makes me uninstall KSP for a clean install. What do y'all recommend do it via CKAN or all manuals? And is their ways to keep track of mods that need updates other than CKAN?  

[Gargamel]

Moved to Add-on discussion.

 

To answer the question though, it all depends on how much you want to be hands on with your mods.  

[Lapis]

I have never used CKAN so i might be biased.  it all depends on how hands on you want to be(like @Gargamel said moments before me), if you don't want to worry about being up to date and just want to play then use CKAN, if you want complete control over it(and a bit of frustration sometimes) manual might be better

Edited November 17, 2019 by lapis

[flart]

I always use CKAN and have never questioned about using it.

But also don't forget about the AVC.
It's a mod, that check other mods for an update, and show their status on a startup, so playing with mods and without CKAN isn't so awful as it could be.
You just need manually check mods, when AVC tell you. But why if there is CKAN?

[Cloakedwand72]

15 minutes ago, flart said:

I always use CKAN and have never questioned about using it.

But also don't forget about the AVC.
It's a mod, that check other mods for an update, and show their status on a startup, so playing with mods and without CKAN isn't so awful as it could be.
You just need manually check mods, when AVC tell you. But why if there is CKAN?

AVC sometimes isn’t reliable when a you test a old mod & it says incompatible. But I like that AVC checks for stuff that needs updating. Also do all mods have a version file?

[flart]

8 minutes ago, Cloakedwand72 said:

Also do all mods have a version file

it's not all, but the most of them. I think there are more mods with .version, not on the CKAN, than on the CKAN without .version

[jimmymcgoochie]

Not all mods are on CKAN, although I don't have a specific example to add here. There are also plenty of mods that are on CKAN which haven't been updated in quite a while (some are still on KSP v1.0 or even earlier!). I tried using CKAN but found the UI clunky and unintuitive, the sorting functions unhelpful (some mods claim to be v1.8.2 dependent, but there is no 1.8.2!)

I've always done mods manually but there's plenty of work involved: finding the mod(s) you want on spacedock/github/curseforge/somewhere else I haven't found yet; downloading the latest version (or a specific version of the mod to work with a specific version of the game, I've seen plenty of people on the forums say they only play KSP at v1.3.1 and refuse to update beyond that and I currently have both 1.7.3 and 1.8.1 with different save games and different mods in them); unzipping and storing the mods somewhere- it's a good idea to keep a mod library of some kind and with some type of version control like Git you can keep track of them all without a huge amount of effort- and removing old versions if necessary; removing the old version of the mod from your GameData folder (if you have an old version installed) and copying the new one over. 
Doing that for a small number of mods isn't that difficult; doing it for 50 of them, with different mods being updated at different times (or all at once if a big release comes along e.g. KSP 1.8) and in some cases different websites being updated at different times for the same mod, becomes a pretty big headache.

My advice to you is: Try using CKAN, and if it works for you then run with it, but if not stick to a relatively small list of mods that is easy to keep track of and run version control (use a Git repository in your mod library folder) so you can always roll back if necessary. Keep an eye on the mod sections of the forums to see when updates are released, and a quick 2 minute check of a few mods on spacedock/curseforge/whatever while the game loads up isn't a bad idea at all.

[HebaruSan]

10 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

(some mods claim to be v1.8.2 dependent, but there is no 1.8.2!)

That's not true. CKAN's infrastructure verifies that a mod is designated for at least one real version before indexing it.

Here's an example. KerbalOccupationColors's current release has a .version file with an error, in that it requires KSP 1.99999.99999 or later. The CKAN bot isn't indexing it because of that:

http://status.ksp-ckan.space/

Edited November 22, 2019 by HebaruSan

[jimmymcgoochie]

23 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

That's not true. CKAN's infrastructure verifies that a mod is designated for at least one real version before indexing it.

Here's an example. KerbalOccupationColors's current release has a .version file with an error, in that it requires KSP 1.99999.99999 or later. The CKAN bot isn't indexing it because of that:

http://status.ksp-ckan.space/

I see a whole lot of mods with a maximum version of 1.8.9 which might just be future-proofing by the mod makers. 

I just re-downloaded CKAN and am trying to get it working with my KSP v1.7.3 which has a lot of mods in it already but it doesn't seem to be detecting them very well. In addition CKAN can only download one mod at a time- not so good when it's a big one like interstellar extended and you could have lots of other mods downloading at the same time if you did it yourself.

[HebaruSan]

2 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

I see a whole lot of mods with a maximum version of 1.8.9 which might just be future-proofing by the mod makers. 

Ahh, I see. If you look closely, those will also have a minimum version of 1.8.1 or earlier, hence not "v1.8.2 dependent".

2 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

I just re-downloaded CKAN and am trying to get it working with my KSP v1.7.3 which has a lot of mods in it already but it doesn't seem to be detecting them very well.

Yeah, you won't have much luck attempting to manage manually-installed mods with any automated tool. Try starting a fresh instance and then installing the mods you want with CKAN.

2 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

In addition CKAN can only download one mod at a time- not so good when it's a big one like interstellar extended and you could have lots of other mods downloading at the same time if you did it yourself.

Also not true! If you install multiple mods at once, it downloads them all in parallel.

[jimmymcgoochie]

15 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

Also not true! If you install multiple mods at once, it downloads them all in parallel.

But if you go through the list of mods and click 'download contents' it only does one at a time and will give you an error message if you try to do a second.

I've found at least two mods that aren't on CKAN that I'm currently using, and another which is on an old version (the most recent version was released in June this year so it's not exactly hot off the press) that I've had to install manually to avoid breaking my save games and wiping out pretty much all of my in-flight craft and taking most of my Kerbals with them.

[HebaruSan]

2 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

But if you go through the list of mods and click 'download contents'

But you don't need to do that to install them. Just check the boxes to install and it'll download them in parallel, just like you want.

2 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

I've found at least two mods that aren't on CKAN that I'm currently using, and another which is on an old version (the most recent version was released in June this year so it's not exactly hot off the press) 

There may be reasons for that (some authors asked not to be listed, the most recent version may not be compatible with your KSP), or it may be fixable. We can check if you say which mods they are.

[DeadJohn]

I like CKAN. It makes it very easy to find when the mods I use are updated, and to search for new mods that I might want to try.

I always backup my entire KSP folder before making mod changes. That's to protect my savefiles in progress if a mod or CKAN horribly breaks things. It's also a good way to temporarily try a mod; backup folder, install mod, play, restore from backup. That IMO works better than uninstalling the mod because things like The Janitor's Closet continue to keep traces of uninstalled mods.

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

I like CKAN, but it only shows mods that are your version, when many older part mods work perfectly well with the current.

Edited November 26, 2019 by έķ νίĻĻάίή

[Sppion1]

28 minutes ago, έķ νίĻĻάίή said:

I like CKAN, but it only shows mods that are your version, when many older part mods work perfectly well with the current.

Actually, you can choose to tell ckan that he can install mod for 1.6.0 for ex.

I don't remember where, I don't have it right now, but somewhere there is a settings to choose compatible ksp version, with a dropdown menu, and you can tick ksp version you allow ckan to download mod for. For ex if you tick 1.6.1, it will treat 1.6.1 compatible mod as compatible with your current ksp version. Just be carefull, as it doesn't actually check compatibility, you are forcing him to treat all 1.6.1 compatible mod as compatible, when some are not.

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

[Cloakedwand72]

On 11/26/2019 at 6:27 AM, Sppion1 said:

Actually, you can choose to tell ckan that he can install mod for 1.6.0 for ex.

I don't remember where, I don't have it right now, but somewhere there is a settings to choose compatible ksp version, with a dropdown menu, and you can tick ksp version you allow ckan to download mod for. For ex if you tick 1.6.1, it will treat 1.6.1 compatible mod as compatible with your current ksp version. Just be carefull, as it doesn't actually check compatibility, you are forcing him to treat all 1.6.1 compatible mod as compatible, when some are not.

All right. Are parts mods & dependency's comparable with the latest version of the game?

[DStaal]

18 minutes ago, Cloakedwand72 said:

All right. Are parts mods & dependency's comparable with the latest version of the game?

Part mods are almost universally forward compatible.  There have been a couple of breaking changes to parts in KSP's history, but only a couple, and only to certain types of parts.

Code-based mods (mods with .dlls) are *usually* compatible as long as the underlying version of Unity doesn't change - but may have other issues on a mod-specific basis.  Expect them to nearly always work within a release series (1.7.0, 1.7.1, 1.7.2, etc), and likely to work if the version of Unity didn't change between release series, and to require at least a recompile (usually - not always) if Unity did change.

The Unity version changed from 1.7.x to 1.8.x.

 

Specific mods will likely have something in their threads on their own take on the issue, and part mods that depend on a .dll mod may work with newer versions of the .dll or not.

[Cloakedwand72]

1 hour ago, DStaal said:

Part mods are almost universally forward compatible.  There have been a couple of breaking changes to parts in KSP's history, but only a couple, and only to certain types of parts.

Code-based mods (mods with .dlls) are *usually* compatible as long as the underlying version of Unity doesn't change - but may have other issues on a mod-specific basis.  Expect them to nearly always work within a release series (1.7.0, 1.7.1, 1.7.2, etc), and likely to work if the version of Unity didn't change between release series, and to require at least a recompile (usually - not always) if Unity did change.

The Unity version changed from 1.7.x to 1.8.x.

 

Specific mods will likely have something in their threads on their own take on the issue, and part mods that depend on a .dll mod may work with newer versions of the .dll or not.

All righty. Would B9 aerospace parts pack work with the new KSP version? Same with mods for 1.4.1 version of the game?

[DStaal]

6 hours ago, Cloakedwand72 said:

All righty. Would B9 aerospace parts pack work with the new KSP version? Same with mods for 1.4.1 version of the game?

I would expect so, if it's a pure-parts mod.  However, it's not one I use myself, so I'm not sure.