Which is better? Downloading directly from the store or from Steam? Which is better for mods?

[Larry Kerman]

I am trying to decide between purchasing KSP via Direct Download and Steam. I also am trying to figure out which is better for mods. Any preferences?

[James Kerman]

Welcome to the forum @Larry Kerman. There is no difference in modibility between steam or direct download. The one issue you may have with a steam install and mods is that auto updates tend to throw your saves out and you may need to wait a while for your favorite mods to update. There is a mitigation for this - KSP does not contain any DRM so you can leave the steam install location vanilla and copy and paste another copy of KSP to a different location which will make your modded install immune to updates.

[OHara]

Some players use the Steam Workshop to post their craft to share with others.  Only people who bought KSP through Steam can download those craft.  The workaround here is to ask the poster to post the craft on KerbalX.com.

[Tonka Crash]

I don't know if it matters, but I always try to buy direct rather than a 3rd party reaeller. Why share my money with someone that has nothing to do with making the product I'm buying?

[Superfluous J]

The benefit for Squad in using Steam is the same as the benefit for a farmer selling to a grocery chain instead of directly to the public. If there's a problem for the consumer the middleman handles it. Also, the middleman has made a lot of the mistakes already so there tend to be less of them now.

[Geonovast]

I say neither.  Get it from GOG! https://www.gog.com/game/kerbal_space_program

Although it really doesn't matter where you get it from, as far as the game itself is concerned, there's no difference.  If you want to support Squad directly as much as you can, get it from the store.  If you want the easiest method of installation, get it from Steam.  If you just really like GoG, get it from there.  Otherwise I say get it from whichever venue throws it on sale first.

 

Also moving to Kerbal Network.

Edited May 5, 2020 by Geonovast
Moved

[adsii1970]

I have a copy from the Steam store and a copy directly from the KSP store. (Long story, don't ask...) I can state with great certainty there is no difference in how the game from different sources handles mods. 

Hope that helps you. 

[Larry Kerman]

Alright. Thank you!

Edited May 5, 2020 by Larry Kerman

[archiebald]

If it's not too late - don't go the steam route.  I've been reading dozens of additional issues caused by steam installs and most importantly, their auto updates.

Edited May 6, 2020 by archiebald

[Superfluous J]

9 minutes ago, archiebald said:

I've been reading dozens of additional issues caused by steam installs and most importantly, their auto updates

There are 2 very easy ways to keep from auto updating KSP in Steam, setting the specific version in the Steam "Betas" tab and copying your install out of the Steam folder and playing it from the copy.

It's no harder really than manually installing from the store.

Edited May 6, 2020 by Superfluous J

[archiebald]

12 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

There are 2 very easy ways to keep from auto updating KSP in Steam, setting the specific version in the Steam "Betas" tab and copying your install out of the Steam folder and playing it from the copy.

It's no harder really than manually installing from the store.

Don't disagree, but over the last couple of years I have seen literally hundreds of posts from obvious newbies suffering massive frustration after installing via steam.  It's not only auto updates, there are many cases where "file re-verification" was required due to corruption even after many days / weeks of play.

I personally have used steam for some games where there is a definite benefit, but with regard to KSP there are no advantages and many disadvantages it would seem.  If steam had a proper workshop set up for game mods with version and conflict checking then I would have no problem recommending it.  As it is, they just have few craft files shared, but there are other sources including this forum and kerbalx if using other people's designs is your thing. (never saw the point in that personally)

Plus, I would much rather support the devs as directly as possible.  Each to their own I suppose.

[Larry Kerman]

Thank you, I think I will download it directly from the store.