Planet mods - old saves

[AlpacaMall]

Hi everyone,

I'm considering installing one of the new/extra planet mods (OPM, RSS, etc, not sure yet), but I'm also progressing nicely in my original stock save. If I install the mods, will I still be able to play on both the stock solar system and a modded one, or will installing the mod make me unable to play my stock systems?

[adsii1970]

@AlpacaMall:

Unless you add a mod that reorganizes the stock system, you can add other mods and not lose or corrupt your saved game. It's safe to add Outer Planet Mods which simply just adds planets to the stock system. Best thing to do is to read the mod description before you add it.

[AlpacaMall]

Thanks!

 

[jimmymcgoochie]

Some planet packs are built to add to the stock system- OPM is a good example, however it also moves Eeloo to be a moon of the new planet Sarnus so be careful if you have any missions on/at/going to Eeloo. Others like XPC, MPE, Corelian (makes Dres a moon), Valor are also available but might not work well when they’re all combined; as far as I know XPC has a patch to work with OPM but you’d have to check the others yourself.

Planet packs which replace the stock system also exist- Galileo’s planet pack, Beyond Home and JNSQ are some examples. Don’t install those and open a save using the stock system, bad things will happen to your active crafts. GOP and BH are very different to the stock system and both have a second star (Grannus for GPP, white dwarf Kerbol for BH), but JNSQ is a redesigned and expanded stock system with a 2.7x rescale to make the game considerably harder due to the increased delta-V; if you want to try the real solar system, JNSQ is a good stepping stone to get used to the higher speeds and greater distances.

There are planet packs that add new solar systems as well- Grannus can be added as a standalone secondary system, for example. Some system replaced planet packs e.g. GPP also have patches to make them secondary systems instead of replacing the stock system and these can be combined, some by design- GPP and Grannus are designed to work together with either of them as the primary star or with Ciro orbiting the stock system and Grannus orbiting Ciro, and there’s a patch to upscale the Grannus system as a secondary star for JNSQ.

For any planet pack, you’ll need to install Kopernicus for it to work. Kopernicus is version-locked to a specific version of KSP and won’t work in other versions so make sure you get the right one.

If you just want to add some planets to the stock system, OPM is a good choice and MPE can add more to the stock-scale Sol system feel with various analogs to real objects in the Solar system. If you’re prepared to start a new save (copy the whole of KSP first!) a system replacement can be good fun and bring new challenges; a rescaled system is more difficult but also more rewarding when you succeed at the same tasks that are easier in the stock system.

Unless you’ve been playing KSP for a while and really know what you’re doing, I advise against jumping into RSS and realism overhaul etc., there’s a huge difference between stock KSP and RSS/RO/RP-1; that being said, the greater challenges can also be much more rewarding- I’m playing an RP-1 career game right now and it’s good fun to land probes on the Moon a whole year before the real Sputnik 1 ever flew.

Edited January 31, 2021 by jimmymcgoochie