CKAN (The Comprehensive Kerbal Archive Network) - v1.33.2 Laplace - KSP 2 support!

[DasSkelett]

(Download the latest release)

The Comprehensive Kerbal Archive Network (CKAN)

The CKAN is an Open Source, community-driven mod management solution for Kerbal Space Program and Kerbal Space Program 2.
The CKAN client, available for Windows, macOS and Linux, enables easy installation, uninstallation and updates of mods.

The client provides strong guarantees on consistency. It will not allow outdated mods to be installed unless you explicitly override the version awareness, nor will it allow a mod to be installed without its dependencies or alongside conflicting mods. It will never leave mods in a half-installed state. It will never overwrite a file owned by another mod, nor a mod that was installed outside of the CKAN.

If you've used package managers (apt, winget, choco, pip, CPAN, ...) before, then the CKAN might be familiar for you. Like the App Store or Play Store for your phone, the CKAN knows which version of KSP you're running, which mods are compatible, and how to install, uninstall, and manage them.

The CKAN has a GUI which is stable on Windows and Linux. On Windows, simply double-click the ckan.exe file. On macOS and Linux you need Mono installed, then run it with "mono ckan.exe", or look for the CKAN entry in your launcher. Users of macOS 10.15 (Catalina) and higher will launch into the ConsoleUI by default, since the GUI is no longer functional since Apple decided to stop supporting 32-bit applications.

CKAN is powered by a big metadata repository, containing metadata about many mods available for KSP. Each mod release has its own .ckan file containing author, version number, relationships, installation instructions and more. They are automatically generated by template .netkan files  by our NetKAN bot. You can find out more about how everything works behind the scenes here.

Download (v1.33.2)
Please take 3 minutes to read the user guide when downloading CKAN for the first time.
Please bring virus detection to the attention of the company that produces your virus scanner. They are false positives and it's in their responsibility to fix them, we can't help you.

Picture of the GUI:

Notes:

• If you encounter problems with a mod installed via CKAN and you suspect that they're caused by incorrect installation, please report them to us first, don't bother the mod author.
• We encourage you to report bugs on our issue tracker instead of the forum thread. Bug reports tend to get lost here, and the nature of forum threads make communication for proper investigation complicated.
  You should also check whether there's an existing report of the same bug, there might already be a known workaround.

Further resources:

• FAQ
• CKAN user guide
• Adding a mod to the CKAN (for authors and users)
• CKAN wiki
• CKAN clean & reinstall process (Solves most CKAN errors)
• CKAN Discord
• Client issues tracker (please report bugs here)
• Metadata issue tracker (report problems with mod availability or incorrect installation here)
• All releases
• Source Code
• Changelog
• CKAN metadata specification
• Old thread

CKAN is licensed under the MIT licence , the source code is available in the GitHub repository.

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by DasSkelett
Release v1.33.2 Laplace

[Miguelsgamingch]

A New CKAN Generation Borns

With @DasSkelett Taking Over The Project!

Also Old Thread Has Been Locked RIP

Edited September 24, 2020 by miguelsgamingch

[Guest]

@linuxgurugamer @HebaruSan (i tagged you too as to our previous chat)

Hi I'm sorry to bother you. I'm not sure if this is even the correct topic thread (but seems you'd be the person to ask?)

I'm a longtime ksp player and forum member, but I'm very new to releasing packages for KSP (or for anything).

I'm learning github and just getting use the basics of releasing stuff.

ANYHOW... when looking at the documentation for avc related to ckan I believe its your fork.

What zip compression methods are supported by ckan (I had an error using PPMd zips trying to save users bandwidth lol) out of my standard options:

deflate i know is supported, is deflate64? or others in 7zip like Bzip2, LZMA?

sorry to bug you again, but thanks lol

oh yea PS: kinda off topic but how the heck do I make "optional" packs with my release version (aka like how some packs have version x.y.z in both "LR" & "HR" versions, sometimes with more than 2 like RSS-textures has)

I feel I'm abusing ckan bandwidth with poor packaging methods (and that I basically know "just enough" to hurt myself/my mod)

Edited September 24, 2020 by Guest

[Guest]

new thread link?

edit: i'm dumb... this is the new 1

PSA: no PPMd compression method zips for ckan (and no GitHub desktop uploads of files over 99.9mb)  

Edited September 24, 2020 by Guest

[linuxgurugamer]

Just use a regular zip program.  Pkzip, 7zip, etc are all good.  You could even use Windows if you are doing it by hand.  On Linux, use zip.

this really belongs on the CKAN thread.

[Geonovast]

A couple of posts have been merged in from another thread.

[Nicky21]

I get an error i've never seen before while trying to download teh latest Kopernikus mod:

https://imgur.com/a/uRGAEAM

 

[DasSkelett]

51 minutes ago, Nicky21 said:

I get an error i've never seen before while trying to download teh latest Kopernikus mod:

https://imgur.com/a/uRGAEAM

 

Looks like @R-T-B replaced that version shortly after the upload. Our bot already caught it and updated the metadata, just hit "Refresh" now and try again.

[R-T-B]

30 minutes ago, DasSkelett said:

Looks like @R-T-B replaced that version shortly after the upload. Our bot already caught it and updated the metadata, just hit "Refresh" now and try again.

Yeah I did, apologies.  I was hoping nobody would spot it but I had an embarrassing typo-bugged release stretch from working too late, lol.

Edited September 25, 2020 by R-T-B

[DasSkelett]

On 9/24/2020 at 9:46 AM, Aazard said:

What zip compression methods are supported by ckan (I had an error using PPMd zips trying to save users bandwidth lol) out of my standard options:

deflate i know is supported, is deflate64? or others in 7zip like Bzip2, LZMA?

I took a look at the docs of the library we use, and it only supports "deflate" (and "store", which isn't a compression method though). As far as I can tell that's also what most zip utilities are limited to.

On 9/24/2020 at 9:46 AM, Aazard said:

oh yea PS: kinda off topic but how the heck do I make "optional" packs with my release version (aka like how some packs have version x.y.z in both "LR" & "HR" versions, sometimes with more than 2 like RSS-textures has)

On CKAN's side we just give optional packs different identifiers, and make the optional pack depend on the base mod. They can have totally different version numbers, although it would make sense to keep them in sync to not confuse everyone.

For something like textures with different resolutions, that aren't really optional because you need one (and only one) of those resolutions installed for the mod to work, we use so-called "virtual modules". We make the base mod depend on some new identifier that all the texture modules provide. During the installation process, the user gets asked to choose one of the available texture modules.

On 9/24/2020 at 9:46 AM, Aazard said:

I feel I'm abusing ckan bandwidth with poor packaging methods (and that I basically know "just enough" to hurt myself/my mod)

It's mostly SpaceDock that gets to feel the big zips, but bandwidth isn't really a problem there currently.
As you mentioned above, splitting the optional extras into a separate mod is a good start to reduce the size, so is separate mods for different resolutions. Then you should also make sure that your zip only contains files really needed for the mod to work, plus a README and LICENSE file. So no documentation, or other files that are "by-products" of the modding process.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, DasSkelett said:

I took a look at the docs of the library we use, and it only supports "deflate" (and "store", which isn't a compression method though). As far as I can tell that's also what most zip utilities are limited to.

On CKAN's side we just give optional packs different identifiers, and make the optional pack depend on the base mod. They can have totally different version numbers, although it would make sense to keep them in sync to not confuse everyone.

For something like textures with different resolutions, that aren't really optional because you need one (and only one) of those resolutions installed for the mod to work, we use so-called "virtual modules". We make the base mod depend on some new identifier that all the texture modules provide. During the installation process, the user gets asked to choose one of the available texture modules.

It's mostly SpaceDock that gets to feel the big zips, but bandwidth isn't really a problem there currently.
As you mentioned above, splitting the optional extras into a separate mod is a good start to reduce the size, so is separate mods for different resolutions. Then you should also make sure that your zip only contains files really needed for the mod to work, plus a README and LICENSE file. So no documentation, or other files that are "by-products" of the modding process.

1 more time...

its my morning lol

can u link me to how to package "optional resolutions" for the same mod/version?

[Gargamel]

Apparently malwarebytes updated recently, and today I get a hit on CKAN as being malware.   I didn't change anything, their algorithm did.  Went to the MB forums to report a false positive, and it looks like somebody beat me to it:

https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/264513-false-positive-on-the-64-bit-executable-ckanexe/

Looks like they are adding CKAN to their white list. 

 

Annnddd... since I posted this, they've issued an update, and CKAN is no longer appearing as a threat.  \o/

Edited October 1, 2020 by Gargamel

[DasSkelett]

22 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

Apparently malwarebytes updated recently, and today I get a hit on CKAN as being malware.   I didn't change anything, their algorithm did.  Went to the MB forums to report a false positive, and it looks like somebody beat me to it:

https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/264513-false-positive-on-the-64-bit-executable-ckanexe/

Looks like they are adding CKAN to their white list. 

 

Annnddd... since I posted this, they've issued an update, and CKAN is no longer appearing as a threat.  \o/

Argh, I hate AV software. Especially those that come with AI detection.
To be fair, CKAN downloads stuff from the Internet and puts it into other programs' folders, which can look kinda shady from the outside.

Anyways, thanks for reaching out, and thanks to WoodenPlankGames (couldn't find a matching username on the forums) for reporting the false-positive. I am also positively surprised by the response time of Malwarebytes.

[Keithv708]

3 minutes ago, DasSkelett said:

Argh, I hate AV software. Especially those that come with AI detection.
To be fair, CKAN downloads stuff from the Internet and puts it into other programs' folders, which can look kinda shady from the outside.

Anyways, thanks for reaching out, and thanks to WoodenPlankGames (couldn't find a matching username on the forums) for reporting the false-positive. I am also positively surprised by the response time of Malwarebytes.

By the way ckan was getting flagged as malware by microsoft defender too submitted the ckan exe and the out come was not malware so they removed the detection

[kcs123]

4 hours ago, DasSkelett said:

Argh, I hate AV software. Especially those that come with AI detection.
To be fair, CKAN downloads stuff from the Internet and puts it into other programs' folders, which can look kinda shady from the outside.

Anyways, thanks for reaching out, and thanks to WoodenPlankGames (couldn't find a matching username on the forums) for reporting the false-positive. I am also positively surprised by the response time of Malwarebytes.

I know the feel. On my regular job, I have to exclude all project folders from scaning. Otherwise it constantly poping up that (put_project_name_here).exe is changed and can be dangerous, or it is unknown software with low reputation, etc. Of course that exe was changed, because I just recompiled it . And of course that is unknown, because it is not created for mass public use.

[Krzeszny]

There's no way to copy a game instance while skipping the mods, is there? This could be a useful feature.

[kcs123]

1 hour ago, Krzeszny said:

There's no way to copy a game instance while skipping the mods, is there? This could be a useful feature.

Uhm. Most of the folks do other way around. Keeping original game intact, especially if you use steam or other platform with automatic updates. So, you can always create as many as you like instances of stock game and then apply mods on new copy. Therefore such feature is not needed.

[Krzeszny]

1 hour ago, kcs123 said:

Uhm. Most of the folks do other way around. Keeping original game intact, especially if you use steam or other platform with automatic updates. So, you can always create as many as you like instances of stock game and then apply mods on new copy. Therefore such feature is not needed.

I could be (or even should be) doing it like that but then I wouldn't be able to play the Steam instance with mods.

Copying the modded Steam instance and uninstalling all the mods isn't so bad with an SSD, though, especially that KSP updates are so rare. You're right, the feature isn't worth the time of the CKAN developers.

[kcs123]

17 hours ago, Krzeszny said:

I could be (or even should be) doing it like that but then I wouldn't be able to play the Steam instance with mods.

And you never should play steam instance with mods, despite being possible. When next KSP update hits, steam will update KSP imediately too. With high chance that your saved game will become corrupted due to broken mods on update. Plenty of people have learned that on hard way.

If you do things opposite way, you can deceide if you are going to create another instance of KSP, or you can try to copy steam files over your moded KSP instance. You would have much better control how your game instances and mods will be updating.

Despite how you deceide to do on your machine (whaterver suits you better, for whatever reason), I highly recommend to read following thread:

Even veteran players can find useful tips in that thread, using CKAN or not.

Edited October 14, 2020 by kcs123

[kerbiloid]

Is there a possibility to use CKAN to update a mod collection outside of KSP?

I actually use not so many mods at once, but prefer to keep the general mod collection up-to-date.

So, it would be nice just to download "new" archives without installing.

Edited October 21, 2020 by kerbiloid

[DasSkelett]

1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

Is there a possibility to use CKAN to update a mod collection outside of KSP?

I actually use not so many mods at once, but prefer to keep the general mod collection up-to-date.

So, it would be nice just to download "new" archives without installing.

There's the download cache which works well for caching  mods and (re-)installing them later without needing to redownload them.
You can see which mods currently have one or more versions of it in the cache if you set the filter to "Cached".
However on its own you can't see which version is cached in the GUI, only if you open the cache directory in a file manager. And to "update" a mod in the cache you would first  have to purge the old version from the cache and then re-download it ("Right click > Download contents").

But you could combine that with a fake KSP instance (under "File > Manage KSP instances > New KSP instance > Clone or fake new instance"). When you install a mod into that fake instance, it'll also be downloaded into the cache. You can select which version of a mod to install so it's matching the KSP versions of your other, real instances.
You can use CKAN's built-in update mechanism to keep your cached mods up to date.
You will also have to deal with relationships this way though, so dependencies will always be downloaded too, and you can't have conflicting mods installed in the fake instance at the same time. To circumvent the second problem you could remove all mods again after you've installed and cached them once, or you create further fake instances.
Make sure that the cache size is set to unlimited in the settings, otherwise CKAN will delete mods again once it hits the limit.

[kerbiloid]

Thank you for the information!

[linuxgurugamer]

I'm trying to install Astronomer's Visual Pack into a 10.1 install.  According to what I see, the Max KSP version is 1.10.9.

 

Yet when I select the textures, I get the message that it depends on AVC, which is not compatible:

 

Not sure what's going on, would appreciate a pointer

 

[HebaruSan]

9 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Not sure what's going on, would appreciate a pointer

[linuxgurugamer]

1 hour ago, HebaruSan said:

Ummm, I don't have that one installed, I have a compatible version installed: