Painful new beginner. Tutorial troubles! Please advise.

[mrsidknee]

I'm a brand new player and I'm having a lot of difficulty getting started with KSP.  I've tried doing the "Training" and a couple tutorials (both written and on youtube) but I'm really struggling.

I think part of my difficulty is that the tutorials I'm looking at tutorials written for other versions.  I try to follow along and do what they do in the tutorial or video and I don't seem to have the same parts, options, or controls.  

Is anyone aware of tutorials that are for the windows player version 1.10.1.2939?  I'm assuming at some (or all) of my problems have to do with version differences?  

Do you reccomend any particular tutorials or beginner walks throughs?

I'll end here and say thanks, but if you are interested in the specific issues I am having, they are down below.

Thanks, 

Sid

Specific problems:

Tutorial:_Walkthrough_for_Ye_Compleat_Beginner (https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Tutorial:_Walkthrough_for_Ye_Compleat_Beginner)

The tutorial says to set it on Career/normal then go to the launch pad and open Kerbal 2 stock rocket.  When I go to open, only the Steam tab has listings but no Kerbal 2.  I'm stuck.

I tried to troubleshoot on my own, so I restarted the game and set it on Career/easy.  When I get to the VAB,  I can open Kerbal 2 but it says the mk1-3pod is missing.  When I try to go to the launch pad, I get a message saying that the vessel has experimental parts which are not available at the moment.  I'm stuck.

Suggestions?

-----

Tutorial:  Guide to Kerbal Space Program...for Complete Beginners (by Quill18 on youtube.com)

He says he has version 1.3.  My screen says I have version 1.10.1.2939, which confuses me because I just bought it so I'm not sure how I can be using a younger version.

As soon as we get to the VAB, our parts look different but I can mostly figure out what he is using.  Once we get out to the launch pad with our simple command pod, he is able to move his pod around and tip it on the side using QWEASD.  I can make the arrows move on pitch/yaw/roll but my pod won't move.  He ends up getting more points than I do, which enables him to pay for R&D, which opens up new parts.  I am unable to follow along after this.

[Streetwind]

Yeah, those tutorials are all woefully outdated.

My advice would be to divest yourself from the aspiration of doing everything right the first time, and just try stuff out. Because KSP as a whole is a game about trying, failing, and learning from your failures. Kerbals are funny little creatures that are entirely expendable... that's the point. If your rocket blows up, so what. Just build a better one next time, solving one small problem at a time.

But if you want to learn from tutorials, the first stop should be the ingame training missions. If you have those done, then start a game in Science mode (not Career). And then, look for a tutorial on how to perform experiments and earn science points.

This one here might be of interest to you. It's a video series of someone starting a Science mode game as a tutorial for the absolute beginner. He's using version 1.8.x, which is reasonably recent - the two updates since then have only added bugfixes, visual improvements, and lategame content. So there should be few, if any, hangups over differences between his and your game version.

 

EDIT:

4 hours ago, mrsidknee said:

He says he has version 1.3.  My screen says I have version 1.10.1.2939, which confuses me because I just bought it so I'm not sure how I can be using a younger version.

You are not using a younger version Or rather - you are, if "younger" is to mean "more recently released". What you probably meant was "a smaller version number", which would indicate an older, less recent game version.

Regardless: his version was "one point three". Your version is "one point ten". That is seven updates newer than what was used to record that old video. The thing about version numbers is, they're not decimals that can tick over. The point is just a separation character, not a decimal point.

The first number is called the release. Which is 1, because the game is finished and fully released as "version 1". Before KSP was fully released, it used to start with a 0 as its release version. You generally only increment the release version if you update the game to such a degree that you practically want to re-release it - for example, if it gets a major content expansion or a complete rework. But since KSP publishes its content expansions as optional downloadable addons (DLC), there was no reason to ever increment the release.

The second number is the major version, which is to say, the level of major updates. Every time an update is published, the major version increments. And yes, it can go to 10 or higher. It can go as high as you want. It is entirely independent from the release version.

The third number is the minor version. This is for little fixes that need to be made after an update is released and potentially brings new bugs with it. Again, this number is completely independent from all other numbers and can go higher than 10, or even 100.

So, your version number of 1.10.1 would read as "one point ten point one", or in human-understandable terms, "the first bugfix of the tenth update of the first release of KSP".

Edited December 2, 2020 by Streetwind

[vv3k70r]

4 hours ago, mrsidknee said:

I try to follow along and do what they do in the tutorial or video and I don't seem to have the same parts, options, or controls.  

Do in game tutorials. They are very good.

Try, error, do not care about how it goes on the begginig.

 

[Popestar]

1 hour ago, vv3k70r said:

Try, error, do not care about how it goes on the begginig.

 

This is probably the wisest piece of advice.  KSP isn't like other video games, so trying to "win" right out of the box isn't what your goal should be.  Set a goal, such as "quick flight, landing somewhere without blowing up, and recover the vessel".  Then build a ship for that, and launch.  Did it work?  If so, set a new goal.  If not, modify the ship and try again.  Rinse and repeat.

With that said, the in-game tutorials are invaluable for new players.  I highly recommend looking at those as they will give you the basics of playing.

[mrsidknee]

Thanks for all the info.

I've done the first five of the in game trainings, which took me multiple days to get through, but I am struggling even with that.  I can't figure out how to do exactly what the tutorial asks for and it won't let me progress until everything is perfect.  On a positive note, I've gotten a lot of practice and I feel pretty good about how to use the keyboard controls. 

 

I'm not worried about breaking the game but I guess I am worried about not getting it right.  Sounds like I need to let that go and do more experimenting.  I will definitely check out the tutorial that Streetwind posted.

 

Hope everyone is well.  Thanks for the info!

Sid

 

 

[vv3k70r]

2 hours ago, mrsidknee said:

I've done the first five of the in game trainings, which took me multiple days to get through, but I am struggling even with that.

Do not worry. Game is easier, especialy easier after these tutorials. Tested on my 12yo son.

2 hours ago, mrsidknee said:

I can't figure out how to do exactly what the tutorial asks for and it won't let me progress until everything is perfect.

Yes. I spend days with son explaining him that it is how technology work. Read, understand, execute according to plan. Exactly acording to specification. After You learn the trade You can experiment with own ideas.

[Superfluous J]

3 hours ago, mrsidknee said:

Sounds like I need to let that go and do more experimenting.

Very much this.

The tutorials are good but they can be a bit annoying at times, diverting your attention away from what you need to do by telling you what you need to do, and by the time you understand what they're telling you, you're well past where you needed to do it. Better in my mind is to try to get WHAT they're telling you to do, and then trying it in a real game.

I would suggest starting a new Science Mode save. Like Sandbox, you can play forever and never lose... just litter the ground with failures you can clean up or ignore. Like career mode, though, it limits the parts you have available so you don't get overwhelmed with hundreds of potential things to add to your craft. The limits really force you to learn how to do the simple things.

And of course as you get specific problems, we're always here