Is Realism Overhaul Appropriate for me?

[Lakerats]

• I am running KSP stock version 1.11.2.3077. 
• I installed Breaking Ground (1.6.1) and Making History (1.11.1) last Fall.

I am looking for a mod that will improve the graphics quality of my game.  Being a Scott Manly  follower, I am always fascinated by the realistic complexity of his program.  The main features that impress me the most are the "REAL" Earth and its clouds, the magnificent LIM views and the detail of the Mun and other bodies.   I want that too!

Having the right PC to support this endeavor is not a problem.  Currently I am running a Windows 10, 64-Bit;  an AMD Ryzen 7 3200 Plus 8-Core, 32GB Ram - soon to be 64; nVidia GeForce 2080X Super with 32GB VRAM. Motherboard:    Watercooled ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4; 4.34TB between an HDD and 2 SSDs, etc, etc.

The questions:

• Is the currently available Realism Overhaul compatible with the KSP Version 1.11.2.3077?
• Is Realism Overhaul compatible with "History" and "Ground"?
• Although the video is 4 years old, Scott Manley talks about the need to "downgrade" the current version to be able to use Realism Overhaul (He went from 1.5 to 1.2P.  This bothers me a lot!
• He also discussed the need to install several other programs/mods in order to install & run Overhaul properly.  This also bothers me.
• I see quite a few posts in the forum talking about crashes, hang-upsm, reduced FPS, et.  Maybe I should just forget the whole thing.
   
• Are there any less volatile options for me?

Thanks in advance.

 

 

[DeadJohn]

I've never played with Realism Overhaul so I can't say much about it. It's a complex mod and understandably lags behind KSP by several versions. My understanding is that RO's purpose is to make KSP more realistic and difficult (ex. fuel ullage, weaker reaction wheels, decreased solar panel effectiveness), rather than improved graphics.

If you mainly want better graphics and less complexity than RO, start with the Scatterer and Environmental Visual Enhancements mods. You'll get clouds, atmospheric haze, colorful sunsets and sunrises, and ocean waves.

I highly recommend the JNSQ modded planet pack for experienced KSP players. It's more challenging than stock but not as much as RO. Some key points of JNSQ:

• Great graphics. It works with Scatterer and EVE.
• Kerbin and the rest of the system is rescaled by 2.7x. You'll need larger rockets to reach orbit. SSTO spaceplanes are no longer trivial to build. Kerbin reentry heating is more dangerous.
• Planets have been re-imagined and added.  Duna and Eve are similar but noticeably different, while the outer planets are changed much more.
• Note that the JNSQ thread says 1.8.1, but I've encountered zero issues with KSP 1.10.1. JNSQ's main dependency is Kopernicus and as long as that gets updated JNSQ should work with newer KSP releases.

 

[jimmymcgoochie]

RO isn’t a graphics mod- in fact it has nothing at all to do with how the game looks. It’s all about making the game more like real life rocketry by adding in complexities like ullaging, limited engine ignitions, realistic fuel mixes and fuel tanks, and removing the near-magical reaction wheel abilities that stock KSP has.

I’m running RO and RP-1 In KSP 1.11.1 right now (because 1.11.2 wasn’t released when I upgraded and bumping a minor version isn’t worth the hassle) and honestly, I think 1.10 is a better bet- the additions in 1.11 aren’t really relevant to RO or RP-1 and are more of a hindrance than a help depending on what other mods you’re using- changes to RCS and EVA jetpacks are the biggest issues for me. 

RO and RP-1 just had new releases which bump them up to 1.10 support and everything will run in 1.10 quite happily too; with a PC as potent as that, look at EVO instead of RSSVE as I think it looks much better and comes with up to 64k texture sets. Performance can be a little bit of an issue but only when using large vessels or those with many parts, much like stock KSP, or running with really high resolution textures.

Re. the DLCs, Making History isn’t all that useful for RO or RP-1 as the only parts you really get out of it are generic copies of real pods- Gemini and Vostok/Voskhod- and that’s pretty much it; BG isn’t configured at all, so none of the robotics, surface features or deployable experiments are available (I made a patch to make the latter usable but haven’t yet tested it) so you’d be better off just deleting both DLCs to save some memory and load times.

If you’ve never done an upscaled system before, try one of those first- JNSQ is a good example, or you could try one of the sub-scale real solar systems (quarter scale would be a good choice). The jump from stock Kerbin to Earth is pretty huge as Kerbin is less than 10% of Earth’s size and the orbital velocity is close to four times higher in LEO than in LKO, but getting used to a larger system first makes that jump less of an issue; or at least, it did for me.

If you’re only interested in good graphics in the stock Kerbol system, try a mod like AVP or Spectra to improve the planets’ appearances, add in TUFX and Magpie Mods to make some parts look nice and Restock if you want a new look for the stock parts.

[Gargamel]

Moved to Add-On Discussion. 

15 hours ago, Lakerats said:

•  
• He also discussed the need to install several other programs/mods in order to install & run Overhaul properly.  This also bothers me.
• I see quite a few posts in the forum talking about crashes, hang-upsm, reduced FPS, et.  Maybe I should just forget the whole thing.

Mods are not some retail software package that have a funded staff and such.   They are user contributed add-ons to the game itself.   A lot of them build on the work of others, and will not function at all without other mods installed.   It would be pointless to have each mod author re-invent the wheel with each new mod.    There is to be expected bumps and hurdles when you start installing multiple software packages from different authors that may or may not have coordinated their efforts.    When you start to mod the game, with more mods and more complex mods, you have to expect some tweaking and bug hunting is required. 

So it comes down to what balance you prefer.   Do you want the cutting edge tweaked out game that may or may not require fiddling to get it to run, or do you want a 'simple' game with some minor tweaks that boots up every time?  

 

 

15 hours ago, Lakerats said:

Although the video is 4 years old, Scott Manley talks about the need to "downgrade" the current version to be able to use Realism Overhaul (He went from 1.5 to 1.2P.  This bothers me a lot!

Why does this bother you?   Mods are not released on the same schedule as the base game.   Some mods, as mentioned, are huge packages that required a lot of work from the author to make them compatible with the game.   When the game goes through a major update, and changes how the mod interacts with the base software, you can't expect mods to either work or be instantly updated.   Modders write mods in their own time, and sometimes real life gets in the way and they can't touch the mod for a little while.   It's not uncommon for some mods to be a version or two behind.  

[Lakerats]

OK folks.  I'll give a try.  I may be old but i STILL still know a DMA from an IRQ.  However... I have been through an alphabetical listing of Mods and cannot locate the downloadable files: ModuleManager 4, Kopernicus, Eve, or JNSQ.  I am partially blind (no, really) but this is ridiculous!  Can you point me in the right directions?  I'd be grateful.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Lakerats

[jimmymcgoochie]

9 hours ago, Lakerats said:

OK folks.  I'll give a try.  I may be old but i STILL still know a DMA from an IRQ.  However... I have been through an alphabetical listing of Mods and cannot locate the downloadable files: ModuleManager 4, Kopernicus, Eve, or JNSQ.  I am partially blind (no, really) but this is ridiculous!  Can you point me in the right directions?  I'd be grateful.

Where are you looking?

I recommend using CKAN to do your KSP modding as it deals with all the details- dependencies, version control, updates- and adding or removing mods is as easy as clicking a check box and hitting 'apply'. JNSQ, Kopernicus, EVE and module manager are all there (as are many others) and CKAN can also offer recommendations and suggestions based on some mods which give you additional mods to complement those you've seleted- for example, scatterer for atmosphere and ocean effects if you install EVE.

If you want to do your modding by yourself, check the forums- most mods have a forum page with a link to download that mod. Many are also listed on SpaceDock (https://spacedock.info/kerbal-space-program) and/or CurseForge (https://www.curseforge.com/kerbal/ksp-mods) and if all else fails, search for them on github.

Spoiler

EVE:
https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/196411-19-111x-eve-redux-performance-enhanced-eve-maintenance-v11121-31012021/
JNSQ:
https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/184880-181-jnsq-090-03-feb-2020/

Kopernicus:
https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/200143-181-1111-kopernicus-stable-branch-last-updated-march-14th-2021/
(Make sure you get the right version of Kopernicus for the version of KSP you're using, otherwise it won't work!)
Module Manager is often bundled with other mods, but if you want it separately
https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/50533-18x-110x-module-manager-414-july-7th-2020-locked-inside-edition/