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Essential mods


Apocalyptapig

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So, I recently discovered that you can add mods from earlier versions using CKAN! (yeah, I know, i'm an idiot :P) So, I'm looking for some utility mods. Like, think mods like KER or KAC. Anyone have any ideas for mods that don't really change the core game that much, but are good utilities?

edit: preferably for v1.9x or above, sorry I forgot to include that in the post :P

 

Edited by Apocalyptapig
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Mod lists are always subject to personal opinion and play style and none of them are really "essential", I'd say.
Out of the 90 mods I use with 1.10, these are among those I consider "good utilities":

ABookCase Orbital Reference System - I mainly use this to check the orbit altitude when placing maneuver nodes
Alternate Resource Panel - shows the time remaining until a resource runs out or fills up. use with Olympic1's ARP Icons
CapCom - Mission Control On The Go - accept or review career mode contracts in flight
Chatterer (+ Extended) - un-mute your Kerbals. I disabled the science transmission sound, though (fun fact: those sounds can be decoded into images)
Double Tap Brakes - lock brakes by double-tapping the B key
Easy Vessel Switch - alt-click to switch to a vessel instead of cycling through everything in range
Editor Extensions Redux - I mainly use the "v" and "h" keys (center surface attached parts or align with a selected part). The strut alignment tool is nice when it works (sometimes it doesn't)
Hangar Extender - building large stations or ships quickly exceeds the bounds of the editor building. this mod removes the walls
Kerbal Alarm Clock - ok, KAC actually is an essential mod :) "pause the game 10 minutes before the reentry pod reaches Pe"
Kerbal Engineer Redux - while KSP includes many of the important readouts in stock, I like to have them all on-screen in flight. KER's HUDs do exactly that
LightsOut Relit - nobody adds lights to their crafts. but when you do, this mod can turn off the lights in the VAB/SPH for easier spot tuning
QuickGoTo - from Mission Control to the VAB, from a flight scene into R&D, all with a single click
QuickStart - continue the game just where you left it
RCS Build Aid Continued - it's more than just RCS. "did I pack enough parachutes?", "what's the engine torque due to asymmetric vessel mass?"
Tracking Station Evolved - sort vessels in the tracking station by type/body/etc.
WasdEditorCameraContinued - I don't use it as the main editor camera but it comes in handy when you need to work on an outrigger and don't want to move the whole craft
Wwwwwwwww - ran out of EVA fuel two kilometers from your pod? Press ctrl-shift-w, point the Kerbal in the right direction and wait

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5 hours ago, HansAcker said:

Mod lists are always subject to personal opinion and play style and none of them are really "essential", I'd say.
Out of the 90 mods I use with 1.10, these are among those I consider "good utilities":

ABookCase Orbital Reference System - I mainly use this to check the orbit altitude when placing maneuver nodes
Alternate Resource Panel - shows the time remaining until a resource runs out or fills up. use with Olympic1's ARP Icons
CapCom - Mission Control On The Go - accept or review career mode contracts in flight
Chatterer (+ Extended) - un-mute your Kerbals. I disabled the science transmission sound, though (fun fact: those sounds can be decoded into images)
Double Tap Brakes - lock brakes by double-tapping the B key
Easy Vessel Switch - alt-click to switch to a vessel instead of cycling through everything in range
Editor Extensions Redux - I mainly use the "v" and "h" keys (center surface attached parts or align with a selected part). The strut alignment tool is nice when it works (sometimes it doesn't)
Hangar Extender - building large stations or ships quickly exceeds the bounds of the editor building. this mod removes the walls
Kerbal Alarm Clock - ok, KAC actually is an essential mod :) "pause the game 10 minutes before the reentry pod reaches Pe"
Kerbal Engineer Redux - while KSP includes many of the important readouts in stock, I like to have them all on-screen in flight. KER's HUDs do exactly that
LightsOut Relit - nobody adds lights to their crafts. but when you do, this mod can turn off the lights in the VAB/SPH for easier spot tuning
QuickGoTo - from Mission Control to the VAB, from a flight scene into R&D, all with a single click
QuickStart - continue the game just where you left it
RCS Build Aid Continued - it's more than just RCS. "did I pack enough parachutes?", "what's the engine torque due to asymmetric vessel mass?"
Tracking Station Evolved - sort vessels in the tracking station by type/body/etc.
WasdEditorCameraContinued - I don't use it as the main editor camera but it comes in handy when you need to work on an outrigger and don't want to move the whole craft
Wwwwwwwww - ran out of EVA fuel two kilometers from your pod? Press ctrl-shift-w, point the Kerbal in the right direction and wait

Thank you so much, HansAcker! I've added Chatterer, Double-tap Brakes, Easy Vessel Switch, RCS Build Aid and Tracking Station Evolved, and they're all awesome! :D I think my favorite rn is chatterer, I just love the little beeps and, well... chatter! And TSE is so incredibly useful that it makes me wonder how I ever played ksp without it. Thanks for recommending these awesome mods!

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So... my simple mod list to keep things not very stockish

Community Part Titles

KER with an extensive HUD setup

KAC 

TWP

Navball Docking Alignment Indicator

Smart Docking Aid

EVA Transfer 

Precise Manouverer

 

Simplex Resources to push for a slightly more complicated ISRU process and better fuel/mass fractions without changing gameplay.  But still very stockish.

The engine nerf that comes bundled with the Simplex TechTree.

 

I also play with kOS for launches only.

And kerbalism which changes a whole bunch included jumping to craft and background processing.  But thatbis out of scope for the OP.

 

Edited by theJesuit
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I consider mechjeb also vital nowadays. The boring idea of constantly burning at right the correct time is just annoying, similarly after you've made 20+ transfers it's just a matter of inserting those - and then mechjeb just solves that.

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Here's my 0.02 (insert local currency unit here):

  • MechJeb- so many useful features in one handy place, even if you have to unlock them through the tech tree and sometimes does really weird stuff (55km/s burn for a LKO rendezvous!?);
  • GravityTurn- I dislike the complexity of MechJeb's ascent autopilot and GravityTurn does a great job of just chucking rockets into orbit with some simple configurable stuff, plus it can learn from mistakes when it launches too low and burns up (keep the initial turn angle below 12!), and it can even do circularisation burns via MechJeb once out of the atmosphere;
  • StageRecovery- because why wouldn't you want to stick parachutes on your launch rockets and recover the dropped stages for sizeable refunds? Only applies in career, but it's a big boost to early progress or if you turn the funds income down to be able to get a significant fraction of the dry cost back with each launch;
  • Kerbal Alarm Clock- as long as you set the alarms right, you'll never miss another node again and that's just the start of its utility;
  • KIS and KAS- I admit I wasn't really sold on the idea the first time I tried it, but I've come around to it because being able to break out a spanner and (de/)construct stuff in the field is a really useful trick;
  • SimpleLogistics- if you have Breaking Ground, delete the deployable science (and deployable batteries if you have that mod) configs as they will break 1.10, but after that it's a great little mod that allows local resource sharing on the ground without having to do complicated docking/grappling plus you can refuel a craft in seconds with a few simple clicks, dodging fuel transfer issues completely;
  • SCANsat- yes, there are parts in this one, but you can get science by parking probes in orbit and leaving them for a while plus the maps it generates are very useful for picking out landing sites or biome/anomaly hunting;
  • Bon Voyage- if you use rovers but hate driving them for hours to get places, just slap a Bon Voyage controller on it (the RoveMate probe core gets one built in!) and let it drive in the background while you do something more interesting somewhere else;
  • Where Can I Go- it tells you in the VAB/SPH editors exactly how far you can go, based on average delta-V requirements for various transfers, features compatibility with a few different planet packs and also works in orbit;
  • Astrogator- tells you time to the next transfer window, delta-V required, burn time and can even plot the nodes for you and time warp to the window (I think that needs KAC), plus it can target tracked asteroids/comets and works in pretty much any solar system you throw at it- modded, rescaled or even both!

If you have the DLCs then look at Missing History (plugs a lot of gaps in the 1.875m parts lineup) and Deployable Batteries (make your Breaking Ground deployed science stuff work in the dark) too, but both of those include new parts so might not be what you want.

I think that should be enough for now...

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KSP-Recall for landed vessel sliding fixes(should come with Tweakscale, but can be used standalone)

Parking Brake to do it manually if the above doesn't help(wheeled rovers mostly)

Trajectories allows calculating atmospheric reentry and landing paths by maneuver nodes and in flight scene.

PartCommander can access any part's right click menu without needing to catch it by mouse, just choose from the list.

Surface Mounted Lights adds some parts, but also allows to tune light angle and range of stock spotlight and floodlight, making them much more powerful and flexible.

Dynamic Battery Storage fixes dangerous stock bug with batteries losing charge on timewarp and also allows for electrical and thermal planning in VAB.

JettisonFuel to jettison fuel from any tank without inflating partcount and questionable interfaces.  Also allows to shutdown solids in emergency, like IRL military boosters do.

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