Removing mods and continuing a game

[mockingking]

Hi there,

if I install a mod pack containing parts, then use those parts in a vessel, then uninstall the mod - can I still load my game? Will the vessel be missing those parts? Will the vessel disappear altogether?

Thanks in advance for any elucidation.

[Blaarkies]

The vessel will disappear from that universe. So rescue any kerbals/science from that vessel before uninstalling mods. Also, if you load up that saved vessel in the VAB, I believe it doesn't load either.

[mockingking]

Thanks for that warning!

[DeadJohn]

Adding to what @Blaarkies said, you'll get a warning message when you load a game that has vessels in flight with unrecognized parts. If you continue the problem vessel(s) will disappear.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Remove a mod with parts, and everything that contained parts from that mod (in flight or in the VAB/SPH) will disappear. The in-flight ones will be gone forever and if you save the game then add the mod back, they will NOT come back! If you re-add the mod later the VAB/SPH versions will work again without any problems, as long as you have all the required parts installed it doesn't care where they come from.

[VoidCosmos]

What if you have missing modules? Will the craft load in the VAB?

[steve_v]

41 minutes ago, VoidCosmos said:

What if you have missing modules?

Missing partmodules will only trigger a warning on craft-load. Some unused data may remain in the save, but it shouldn't cause problems.

[VoidCosmos]

1 minute ago, steve_v said:

Missing partmodules will only trigger a warning on craft-load. Some unused data may remain in the save, but it shouldn't cause problems.

Sometimes they do not work for me

[steve_v]

10 minutes ago, VoidCosmos said:

Sometimes they do not work for me

The game really wasn't designed for this situation, but in the vast majority of cases (and every case I have personally seen) vessels with missing partmodules will still load. If they don't, you'll have to talk to the author of the mod that introduced them.

In any case, the real solution is to be sensible and actually test the mods you want to use before you commit to a long-lived save with them. That and have backups.
I've never seen a single game that has a reliable mechanism for cleaning up after removed mods, and KSP is no different.

Edited March 24, 2020 by steve_v

[jimmymcgoochie]

On 3/24/2020 at 5:18 PM, VoidCosmos said:

What if you have missing modules? Will the craft load in the VAB?

Missing modules won't stop the load, it will just show an error. It will probably give you a warning about 'unknown part modules' in the VAB/SPH or launchpad/runway dialogue boxes, but they'll work the same as they do if you've never had the missing mod installed at all. Examples include FAR, texture changes without the required switcher e.g. firespitter installed and so on. They will usually load the game files in and then make their changes, so without the mod the game will still load the parts as they were.

Some exceptions are modded parts that have requirements e.g. some science parts will use the DMModuleScienceAnimateGeneric plugin to produce animations like deploying/retracting, so removing this plugin can cause the parts to stop working and they simply become dead weight.