Meta An Open Letter from the KSP1 mod developer community to the KSP2 player base and development team.

[Poodmund]

Dear Kerbal Space Program 2 player base community and Kerbal Space Program 2 developers,

This is an open letter from the Kerbal Space Program 1 mod developer community to everybody involved in Kerbal Space Program 2.

As a summary, this letter will cover the following points of topic:

• The KSP1 mod development community feels that the game is not yet ready for modding in an effective and manageable way.
• An official mod loader is not currently available for the game, which brings with it several challenges.
• We would like to address the issue of 3rd party mod loaders.
• There are currently a lot of bugs in the game, and fixing these may have significant changes on API.
• Game-breaking bugs and performance issues should be prioritized before focusing on modding.
• There is a disparity in the design direction of parts and features, and it would be beneficial to have clear guidance on this before modding in earnest.
• The KSP1 mod development community is publicly addressing these areas of consideration for the benefit of the KSP2 player base understanding.
• We would like to address the KSP2 player base regarding mod developers and their work.

As members of the Kerbal Space Program 1 mod developer community, we wanted to address the current state of the game concerning Kerbal Space Program 2 mod development. We understand that many players are eagerly anticipating the release of mods, and we too are excited about the possibilities that modding can bring to the game. However, at this time we believe that the game's state does not allow for the Kerbal Space Program mod development community to engage, wholeheartedly, in effective and manageable mod development.

The primary reason for this is that the official mod loader is not yet available for use. Without this tool, mod developers are unable to create mods for the game and distribute them to players for use in an easy and managed way. Whilst we understand that the development of the official mod loader is a complex process that takes time, we prompt the Kerbal Space Program 2 development team to take into consideration its completion and publication so that modders can have a stable and public platform to build from in a standardized manner.

We also want to acknowledge that third-party mod loaders have already been created and are being used by some members of the community, however, we believe that it is important for the Kerbal Space Program 2 development team to provide an official mod loader that is fully supported and integrated into the game. As a long-standing community of over a decade, the Kerbal Space Program 1 mod developers have always been very collaborative and have worked together to find agreeable standards within the mod development community using platforms that serve the needs of plugins/parts/gameplay/etc. mod creators in a managed and communicative way.

While we appreciate the efforts of third-party mod loader creators, we believe that the official mod loader will provide a more stable and consistent platform for mod development alongside 3rd party tools, where necessary, to leverage processes that the official mod loader may not support or does not provide the scope for a mod’s development and implementation. We hope that the Kerbal Space Program 2 development team will consider this and review the timeframe of the development, and release, of an official mod loader that is fully supported and integrated into the game at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Furthermore, there are currently a significant number of bugs present in the game that must be addressed before modding can commence in earnest. The fixing of these bugs may affect the API, making it difficult or even impossible for modders to create content that is stable and compatible with the game, potentially disrupting player experience. We challenge the development team to prioritize the resolution of these bugs so that mod developers can work with a stable and reliable platform.

As addressed above, we appreciate that there are many significant bugs and performance issues currently in the released version of the game that are affecting player experience and gameplay. We feel that these should remain the focus of development to ‘fix’ the game for the core audience.

Additionally, we have noticed a significant disparity in design direction between the game and its predecessor, Kerbal Space Program. This has left many mod developers unsure of how to approach mod development for Kerbal Space Program 2, as the game's direction is not yet clear. We ask that, in due course, the development team provide guidance and documentation on mod development so that we can better understand the game's design and create mods that are in line with its vision, not only from a codebase standpoint but, more importantly, from an artistic design standards aspect.

We appreciate the hard work that the Kerbal Space Program 2 development team has put into the game so far and we understand that creating a game of this magnitude is no small feat, however, we believe that modding is an essential part of the Kerbal Space Program franchise experience and we hope that the development team will consider our concerns and work to ensure that mod developers have the tools and support they need to create great content for the game.

While it may seem as though the previous number of points are solely addressing the game’s development and that it may come across as directed towards the Kerbal Space Program 2 development team, we would like to clarify that our primary intention is to convey these points to the Kerbal Space Program 2 player base clearly and transparently. We feel it's essential for the Kerbal Space Program 1 mod development community to express our views and standpoint, publicly, to the player base for clarity. Rest assured that we believe the Kerbal Space Program 2 development team is already acutely aware of the issues raised in this letter.

Finally, we would like to reiterate a plea to the Kerbal Space Program 2 player base to please be patient as the game's development progresses. We understand that it can be frustrating to wait, but we believe that the development team is doing its best to create the best game possible and to provide a platform to use to create mods. We also ask that you please be respectful of the existing mods, their licenses, and their authors. Mod development is an important part of the Kerbal Space Program community, and we ask that you respect the hard work and dedication that goes into creating these mods.

To conclude, we urge you to enjoy the game and the community. Kerbal Space Program has always been a game that encourages exploration, creativity, and innovation. Let's continue to support each other and make the most of this incredible game... and to the KSP2 development team, "Good luck, we're rooting for you!"

Thank you for your attention and for your understanding.

Sincerely,

The Kerbal Space Program 1 (and hopefully 2 going forward) mod developer community

Signed:

@610yesnolovely - Reviva, Wacapella, Kplanes
@Acea - Naval Artillery System
@Ailex - Starilex intra-vehicular solutions : Mk.1 pod 'needle', Starilex Nightstar
@AlphaMensae - Modular Launch Pads
@Angelo Kerman - Airships (Heisenberg), BARIS, Blueshift, Buffalo 1 & 2, Classic Stock Resources, DSEV, EVARepairs, Kerbal Flying Saucers, Mk-33, MOLE, More Servos, Pathfinder, Sandcastle, Servo Controller, SLOTH, Snacks, SunkWorks, Wild Blue Core, Wild Blue Decals, Wild Blue Tools
@Arrowstar - KSP Trajectory Optimization Tool (KSPTOT)
@astro_119 - AeroSpace Technologies and Reusable Operations (ASTRO) 
@ballisticfox0 - KSRSS, Gas Giants Enhanced + Moons, Beyond Home
@Balto-the-Wolf-Dog - Prakasa Aeroworks
@Beale - Tantares (LV) (SP), Commonwealth Rockets, Project Manager, Netptune Camera, Gemstone LV, Special Delivery
@benjee10 - HabTech2, Shuttle Orbiter Construction Kit, Artemis Construction Kit, Planetside Exploration Technologies, reDIRECT, Historical Kerbal Heads & Suits, Coriolis Space Systems
@blackheart612 - Airplane Parts Plus, Grounded
@blackrack - Scatterer, EVE-Redux, Singularity
@blowfish - B9PartSwitch, B9 Aerospace, Advanced Jet Engines, Simple Adjustable Fairings
@cineboxandrew - ReStock, Conformal Decals
@CobaltWolf - Bluedog Design Bureau
@Consta - ArchaeSP
@Daishi - Universal Storage 1 & 2
@Damon - Tundra Exploration, Tundra's Space Center, KSC Extended, KRE (Kerbal Reusability Expansion), Shangsheng Orbital
@DMagic - SCANsat, DMagic Orbital Science, Contracts Window, CapCom, Tracking Station Evolved, Basic Orbit, Universal Storage 1 & 2
@DRVeyl - RealAntennas, Procedural Parts, Procedural Fairings, Realism Overhaul, Realistic Progression 1, Realism Overhaul mod suite, RealFuels/MFT
@DylanSemrau - Photon Corp, Boring Crew Services, Chrayol Design Org, Provenance Aerospace
@Eskandare - Kerbin Side Remastered (KSR), Eskandare Aerospace (EA), Carrier Vessel Expansion (CVX), Unnamed Submersible Base Mod (Unreleased), Unnamed O'Neill Station Experimental Mod, Thermonuclear Turbine (TTX), Kerbal Rotor Expansion (KRX), Kerbal Shuttle Orbiter System (KSOS)
@EStreetRockets - ORANGES, Rocket Motor Menagerie, Asbury Western Stars Industries, Eisenhower Astronautics
@flart - Speed Unit Annex, Community Part Titles, KVASS, Water Launch Sites, Utility Weight, CommNet Antennas Extension / Info / Consumptor
@GregroxMun - Alternis Kerbol Rekerjiggered, Seven Worlds of SLIPPIST-1, Whirligig World, Week World Planet Jam, Planet Jam 2
@hemeac - Kiwi Tech Tree Overhaul, Mid Century Rocketry, Aerobee Rockets, Kiwi Suits
@Icecovery - Automated Aerial Refueling System, Comfortable Landing, KSP Secondary Motion, Custom Parachute Message, Shaddy
@Invaderchaos - Bluedog Design Bureau, Optimized Rocketry and General Exploration Systems (ORANGES), BDB Now in Colors, SOCK Recoloured, KSRSS
@jrodriguez - BDArmoryContinued, PhysicsRangeExtender, BDArmoryMultiplayer, BDModularMissiles, OfCourseIStillLoveYou
@Judicator81 - SimpleRepaint, PartInfoInPAW
@Kari - Starship Expansion Project
@Katniss218 - CameraToolsKatnissified, StagedAnimationKatnissified (Animkat), EngineLightKatnissified, RSS planets, Katniss's LUT, Parts Pack, Cape Canaveral & Baikonur Cosmodrome
@Knight of St John - Stock Waterfall Effects (SWE)
@Lil_Bread402 - Transport Space Technology/Systems, StarstroSpaceSystems, SSOUPP, SOCKrepainted, reCOLOR
@linuxgurugamer - 290 Mods (at time of writing) including: Anyres, AQSS - AutoQuickSave System, Automated Screenshots, BigBen, Bob's Panic Box, Click Through Blocker, ConstantTWR, Craft Import, Fill It Up, HeapPadder, IFI Life Support, Integrated Stack Decouplers, JanitorsCloset, Kaptains Log, KRASH, KSPLogger, LoadingScreenManager, ModularSegmentedSRBs, ModuleAnimateGenericEffects, ModuleAnimGenericResourceUsage, ModuleSequentialAnimateGeneric, Notes2Log, PartInfo, PatchManager, ShowFPS, StockDefaultSettings, Toolbar Controller, TotalTime, TutorialFixes, Vessel Notes & Logs
@Gameslinx - Parallax, Beyond Home, After Kerbin, Before Kerbin
@Maffif - Models for KSP: Interstellar, Bluedog Design Bureau and SK Nuclear
@MATVEICH_YT - Shuttle Payload Delivery Systems, H-II (H3) Transfer Vehicle, reCOLOR
@Morphisor - History of Spaceflight, Research Advancement Division, Bluedog Design Bureau contracts
@NathanKell - Modular Fuel Systems, Real Fuels, Real Solar System, Realism Overhaul, Realistic Progression 1, RealHeat, Staged Animation, AJE and SolverEngines, Kerbal Konstructs, Proc Fairings, Proc Parts, KSP Community Fixes, Contract Configurator, TestFlight
@Nessus_ - Tundra Exploration configs
@Pkmniako - Other Worlds (2015, 2017, 2023)
@nightingale - Contract Configurator, Strategia, Waypoint Manager
@Norange - XN Aerospace
@Pak - Cormorant Aeronology - Mk3 Space Shuttle
@Pehvbot - Less Real Than Realism, Less Real Test Flight, Rackmount
@pizzaoverhead - Atmospheric Sound Enhancement, Battery Indicator, CollisionFX, FreeIVA, KerbTrack, RCS Sounds, Reentry Particle Effect, Sound Overhaul, Soundtrack Editor, Water Sounds, Wheel Sounds
@Poodmund - Outer Planets Mod, ReStock, Pood's Skyboxes
RO/RP-1 Team (@Al2Me6, @siimav, @Stonesmile, @Theysen & more) - Realism Overhaul, Realistic Progression 1
@Rodger - Bumblebee, Bluedog Design Bureau
@R-T-B - Kopernicus (v1.9.X+)
@Rudolf Meier - Infernal Robotics Next, Kerbal Joint Reinforcement Next
@sarbian - ModuleManager, MechJeb 2, SmokeScreen, CustomBarnKit
@severedsolo - Bureaucracy, Earn Your Stripes, Oh Scrap, Where Can I Go, Alarm Enhancements, All Aboard, PAWS, Double Tap Brakes
@sirkut - Infernal Robotics
@SofieBrink - Starship Expansion Project
@stratochief66 - Real Solar System, Realism Overhaul, Realistic Progression 0
@stupid_chris - RealChute
@sumghai - SDHI Service Module System, SDHI Strobe-O-Matic Warning Rotator Lights
@themaster401 - Astronomer's Visual Pack, Better Atmospheres Reborn
@TiktaalikDreaming - The Nexus
@tony48 - KSRSS
@Zarbon44 - Intercolor
@tygoo7 - Dodo Labs, Tundra Exploration
@Vals_Aerospace - Coscoroba Logistics
@ValiZockt - Smart Docking Aid, Kerbalism Companion Calculator, Plugins for HabTech2, Planetside Exploration Technologies, Historical Kerbal Suits and Tundra Exploration
@Viper - Bluedog Design Bureau
@VITAS - SpaceDock, DMP
@Zoeille - Aurora Space Center, Apollon, Picsou
@Zorg - Bluedog Design Bureau, RealPlume

If you are also a member of the mod development community and agree with the sentiment expressed above, please feel free to post in this thread communicating as such.

Post on the /r/KerbalSpaceProgram sub-Reddit: "Making a mod is hard, making a game is harder."

EDIT: I will try to keep the post up to date with signatures as much as I am able to.

[sym]

TLDR:

The Kerbal Space Program 1 mod development community wrote an open letter to the Kerbal Space Program 2 team expressing their concerns about the lack of an official mod loader, the presence of bugs in the game, and the disparity in design direction. They ask for the prioritization of fixing bugs before modding and for clear guidance on mod development. They also ask the player base to be patient as the development team works on creating a stable and supported platform for modding.

[munix]

I definitely agree with the sentiment of the whole post, but I'd just like to point out:

4 minutes ago, Poodmund said:

We also want to acknowledge that third-party mod loaders have already been created and are being used by some members of the community, however, we believe that it is important for the Kerbal Space Program 2 development team to provide an official mod loader that is fully supported and integrated into the game. As a long-standing community of over a decade, the Kerbal Space Program 1 mod developers have always been very collaborative and have worked together to find agreeable standards within the mod development community using platforms that serve the needs of plugins/parts/gameplay/etc. mod creators in a managed and communicative way.

While we appreciate the efforts of third-party mod loader creators, we believe that the official mod loader will provide a more stable and consistent platform for mod development alongside 3rd party tools, where necessary, to leverage processes that the official mod loader may not support or does not provide the scope for a mod’s development and implementation. We hope that the Kerbal Space Program 2 development team will consider this and review the timeframe of the development, and release, of an official mod loader that is fully supported and integrated into the game at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Considering how early in the development of the game it seems we are, there's a pretty big chance that many of the APIs that mods are using/will use will have breaking changes no matter what mod loader you're using. Also future changes to the official mod loader after its first release might have the same effect, much more likely so if it's released sooner than later.

[Poodmund]

EDIT: I'll add further signatories here to preserve the OP for posterity, seeing as there has been a direct reply to it from the Community Manager.

@AtomicTech - ReStock-Waterfall Expansion, AtomicTech Inc. Junkyards
@Clonos - PlanetJam 1
@dboi88 - Coyote Space Industries
KIU Team (@OldCopper, @mark7, @Launcelot) - KIU Chinese Pack (KCLV, KCHS, KCDE)
@magico13 - Kerbal Construction Time, StageRecovery, ScrapYard
@TheGhastModding - PlanetJam 1 & 2, Kopernicus Expansion Continueder

---

This is me speaking personally now (  ), yeah I appreciate what you're saying, Munix and I would agree that is likely to be the case. I'd like to also highlight the section, "alongside 3rd party tools," and what that implies. I reckon that a lot of the modders listed above will most definitely utilise 3rd party tools/libraries etc. alongside an official mod loader to leverage their customisability and rapid iteration potential.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Poodmund

[Arrowstar]

Feel free to add me as a signatory to the letter.  I develop the KSP Trajectory Optimization Tool (KSPTOT), which includes a KSP plugin mod.

[cheese3660]

Heya!

As one of the lead devs on the Space Warp Modloader project let me address a few things

1. I fully agree with a lot of the sentiment here

2. I fully hope that space warp eventually becomes obsolete and unnecessary, it would mean the game devs did a good job in adding mod support

   • For this to happen though, it would require the devs to implement an API and features that are at least as good as what Space Warp has implemented and will be implementing, and at the moment there is no API, and from what I have heard, part modding will be the first thing supported.

   • But that said at least C# support would be decent as well, then I could switch space warp to a library

That said, I would love for official modloading to be out sooner rather than later. I just hope it provides a powerful enough API sooner as well.

Thank you,

cheese3660

Edited March 1, 2023 by cheese3660

[AaronDoesSpace]

well said, I am currently very sad that modding is nigh impossible.

 

I hope for change soon 

[Clonos]

yeah i agree w/ that (pj2 dev)

[Dakota]

Heya, thanks for this - truly an awesome effort. Going to bring this to the development team and we'll give you an update shortly.

[AtomicTech]

Do add my signature to the list; I'm right behind the rest of y'all

(For reference, I've done Restock Waterfall Expansion and AtomicTech Inc. Junkyards while contributing to countless others such as Stock Waterfall Effects, a number of Linuxgurugamer mods, another number of zer0Kerbal mods, and a few others!)

Edited March 1, 2023 by AtomicTech

[MiffedStarfish]

The artstyle/design direction point is bang on. I'm not ever going to model a single asset for KSP2 when they can't even figure out how many polygons a cylinder should be made out of, and that's literally just the most basic example. I have no idea what they want the game to look and be like (though its certainly not anything like Kerbal Space Program) and I don't think they do either.

Edited May 14, 2023 by MiffedStarfish

[TheGhastModding]

I also agree. Feel free to add me too. I have yet to release my largest project, but I contributed to both Planet Jam 1, Planet Jam 2 and Kopernicus Expansion Continueder.

Although I have personally chosen to hold off on porting my mods to KSP 2 until the game has reached 100% feature parity with the original, I wish everyone else the best of luck, and happy modding!

[Kerbart]

1 hour ago, Poodmund said:

Furthermore, there are currently a significant number of bugs present in the game that must be addressed before modding can commence in earnest. The fixing of these bugs may affect the API, making it difficult or even impossible for modders to create content that is stable and compatible with the game, potentially disrupting player experience. We challenge the development team to prioritize the resolution of these bugs so that mod developers can work with a stable and reliable platform.

I would add to this that mods might also introduce new bugs, further muddying the waters for the devs when bugs are being reported.

[Poodmund]

12 minutes ago, Dakota said:

Heya, thanks for this - truly an awesome effort. Going to bring this to the development team and we'll give you an update shortly.

Hey Dakota, I hope all is well at IG HQ!  Glad to see that you've found this amongst the all the action and thank you for passing on our words, I think a pertinent point to reiterate is that "We feel it's essential for the Kerbal Space Program 1 mod development community to express our views and standpoint, publicly, to the player base for clarity. Rest assured that we believe the Kerbal Space Program 2 development team is already acutely aware of the issues raised in this letter."

I'm sure you're all going a million miles per hour at the moment... or, well... 447040m/s as we should say.

[SydKhaos]

Well put!

I'd put my name on it, but not a mod developer (outside of a few assets I made for other mods that i doubt are even still posted). 

I agree with all of it from a player/heavy mod user standpoint too.

[bbepis]

Here's a practical counterpoint. Say that IG did spend the next 6 months releasing the very first version of their official mod loader & in-game modding API.

What do you do if that API doesn't contain everything you need to get started? Do you wait an additional arbitrary amount of time hoping that they add the obscure piece of data / function that you need to perform the work you want to do? Or do you unofficially grab / manipulate that through unoffiical channels (i.e. private / reflected classes), going against the rationale listed in the OP?

It is placing undue responsibility on the dev team to support things that they cannot possibly forsee and respond to instantly. If I wanted a new feature in the API, am I forced to hope that the dev team stays constantly 100% in tune with the modding community and can get every feature request out in a timely fashion? You certainly wouldn't be able to contribute to the codebase and add that functionality to the API yourself

What happens if the dev team decides to rework the API, because of internal refactoring or if they decide they don't like the structure of the current API version? What if they deprecate and remove older versions, making older plugins not work anymore?

You have seen several implementations of community maintained modding APIs that take the games volatile internals and presents them in an abstracted way the community can use without fear of anything breaking. If the dev team already has an absolute mountain of work on their plate, do you wish to add to that? Or have a solution where literally every modder can contribute to to get the wheels rolling again?

Edited March 1, 2023 by bbepis

[DylanSemrau]

1 hour ago, Dakota said:

Heya, thanks for this - truly an awesome effort. Going to bring this to the development team and we'll give you an update shortly.

Godspeed, we all appreciate it. o7

[HebaruSan]

10 minutes ago, bbepis said:

What do you do if that API doesn't contain everything you need to get started? Do you wait an additional arbitrary amount of time hoping that they add the obscure piece of data / function that you need to perfrom the work you want to do?

FYI, for KSP1, they exposed all the public classes, properties, and functions as a de facto API:

• https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/ksp/api/class_vessel.html
• https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/ksp/api/class_orbit.html
• https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/ksp/api/class_celestial_body.html
• https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/ksp/api/class_part.html

This allowed mods to do almost anything, for no extra effort on the developers' part. At this point I haven't seen anything to make me think that they've changed their mind about how to handle that.

[WarriorSabe]

While I've yet to personally play 2, from everything I've seen from those who have, this all makes a whole lot of sense. Modding after all works best when there's 1) actual direct support for it and 2) a game that actually functions properly, so those should definitely be priorities (and even just from modding KSP1 I've been running into issues caused by the shortcomings with both, I'm looking at you infinite-distance directional sunlight)

[bbepis]

10 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

At this point I haven't seen anything to make me think that they've changed their mind about how to handle that.

From the way I see it that's not how they're intentionally going about it. IG wants to have an explicit modding interface that you use when making addons; see KSP.Sim.impl.lua.SpaceSimulationLua and KSP.Modding.ModAPIv_0_0_1_1.

[Gotmachine]

2 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

This allowed mods to do almost anything, for no extra effort on the developers' part. At this point I haven't seen anything to make me think that they've changed their mind about how to handle that.

It is also a pretty limiting factor in that we are limited to what the "API" is made to expose for stock KSP needs. There are massive holes in the stock API.
I definitely hit that wall many times, and I can also say with some confidence that it has been a rampant issue in the KSP 1 modding scene at large, resulting in plugin authors having a tendency to use weird, convoluted, underperforming, buggy solutions to simple problems.

I'm pretty much in agreement with @bbepis here. A community driven modding library/API has many benefits (as long as we don't have 10 competing ones) :
- The extra layer of abstraction of stock codebase mean that when the stock codebase does breaking changes, it's a breaking change that has to be dealt with once at the API level, instead of a breaking change for every single mod.
- We can add whatever we need to it without having to rely on the goodwill, plans and ability of the devs to do it. There definitely wasn't any official channel during the KSP 1 lifetime for requesting API additions.

[cheese3660]

15 minutes ago, Gotmachine said:

I'm pretty much in agreement with @bbepis here. A community driven modding library/API has many benefits (as long as we don't have 10 competing ones) :

As long as we don't have 10 competing ones, hopefully Space Warp in its hopeful redirection to a BepInEx library will start providing a standard one.

[R-T-B]

1 hour ago, Gotmachine said:

It is also a pretty limiting factor in that we are limited to what the "API" is made to expose for stock KSP needs. There are massive holes in the stock API.
I definitely hit that wall many times, and I can also say with some confidence that it has been a rampant issue in the KSP 1 modding scene at large, resulting in plugin authors having a tendency to use weird, convoluted, underperforming, buggy solutions to simple problems.

I'm pretty much in agreement with @bbepis here. A community driven modding library/API has many benefits (as long as we don't have 10 competing ones) :
- The extra layer of abstraction of stock codebase mean that when the stock codebase does breaking changes, it's a breaking change that has to be dealt with once at the API level, instead of a breaking change for every single mod.
- We can add whatever we need to it without having to rely on the goodwill, plans and ability of the devs to do it. There definitely wasn't any official channel during the KSP 1 lifetime for requesting API additions.

Kopernicus tried for months to avoid using anything but the public APIs while maintaining the customizable scatter system.  We failed.  We then had a choice to either keep the poor performing system we had, or go outside the API and fix it properly.

I'll let you guess what we did, but @Gotmachine already certainly knows the answer.

Edited March 2, 2023 by R-T-B

[magico13]

As the original dev of Kerbal Construction Time, StageRecovery, ScrapYard and a bunch of small mods, I'm in agreement with a lot of this letter (consider me signed). I won't touch modding KSP2 until there's an official loader. An unstable API is fine by me at this stage of the game's development but I'm not going to go through a third party loader when the base of one exists in the current code. There's danger in too many competing standards and the fragmentation it can cause.

[JonnyOThan]

1 hour ago, bbepis said:

From the way I see it that's not how they're intentionally going about it. IG wants to have an explicit modding interface that you use when making addons; see KSP.Sim.impl.lua.SpaceSimulationLua and KSP.Modding.ModAPIv_0_0_1_1.

KSP1 would load all dll files in GameData, had attributes to configure when classes would get instantiated, and allowed for loading custom PartModules from any loaded assembly.  None of that kind of thing exists in KSP2.  It doesn’t require 100% accurate foresight on the part of the developers, just building an ecosystem.

Edited March 2, 2023 by JonnyOThan