The best stable mod package: One Stop Shop?

[Socraticat]

I'm trying to get back into KSP1, but I'm finding that the Stock KSP1, while nice, is not as appealing to me anymore as KSP2. I've experimented with modding KSP before with some moderate success just before the final update, and since then haven't gone back to it because so many of the mods were outdated or incompatible with one another.

What I'd like to know is if there is a stickied post available that I can't find, or some sort of a guide like a "One Stop Shop" for mods. Not a mod download site- I'm looking for a user friendly How To guide.

I've tried Kopernicus for real scale Kerbin... Never got it to work with the release available at the time.

I tried some Interstellar engines, fuel, and mining... Unfinished when I tried, had to install some prior version of the game anyway...

I find myself trying to set up a beautiful Modded KSP and always end up disappointed waiting for KSP2 (until a few weeks ago). Anyone else have this trouble? Who's got the secret notebook for making Modded KSP1 stable?

Edited March 25, 2023 by Socraticat

[Gotmachine]

Coming up with a *stable* and somewhat enjoyable modded KSP install can indeed be quite the challenge.
You won't find any "how to guide", because everyone has different desires in term of what combination of mods they want.

I'd say that the only controlled, beginner friendly modded ecosystem is RO/RP1.
It's by far the most actively maintained, and the team actively work to ensure that the core and supported mods work well together and provide a good user experience.

But in the general modding jungle, things can indeed get ugly. My recommendations would be :
- Avoid any mod that isn't somewhat actively maintained and explicitly updated for the latest major KSP version (1.12.x), and stick to the widely used "quality" mods.
- Don't go overboard with how many mods you try to combine, especially the big mods, and don't try to combine mods that have some overlapping in functionality / purpose
- Some "big mods" are doing things in a way that tend to cut them from the general ecosystem. Examples of such mods are Kerbalism or KSPIE. Those are two mods that work relatively well "alone", but have tons of compatibility issues with many other mods.

But I share the feeling that the KSP 1 modding scene has somewhat failed to deliver a polished experience, at least on the "going beyond the stock gameplay" side.
I'm still profoundly dissatisfied with the modded career mode experience. There are good ideas here and there, but nobody managed to consolidate them in a polished and well integrated way. The best effort is again RP1, but its focus on realism isn't for everyone.

Anyway, if you want some personal recommendations :
- For the planet pack, either JNSQ (a re-imagination and expansion of the stock system) or KSRSS (1/4 sized real solar system). Both provide great and somewhat up-to-date visuals and the 2.5x scale is a perfect balance for stock-sized parts to get that feeling of "real rockets" instead of "toy rockets".
- For additional parts, restock/restock+ and the near future suite (and various other part mods by Nertea). This provide everything you can possible need with minimal overlap, and with great integration, as well as some relatively polished gameplay mechanisms. The only  thing that is somewhat missing is surface base parts, which can well covered by Planetside Exploration Technologies
- For progression mods, I would always recommend Strategia and the most well known Contract Configurator packs, which while not a game-changer, at least turn the mess that are the stock strategy and contract system in something vaguely coherent. I'm not a fan of the various tech tree mods beyond CTT, I think the whole "get science points to unlock parts" gameplay loop is boring and broken anyway, and alternate tech trees invariably come with tons of compatibility and balance issues.
- For life support, ISRU and offworld base building mods, that's where things start to become real messy. There is the USI LS/MKS option, which is somewhat complete and relatively well integrated with the various part mods, but I personally find the thing shallow, cumbersome and frustrating to play with as well as somehwat buggy. Kerbalism has great life support and science progression mechanisms, but its resource and ISRU systems are incomplete, it's reliability system is annoying, its radiation system is quite limiting and it is a bit buggy and has major incompatibilities with other mods. TAC-LS is cumbersome and buggy. For LS, Snacks is... somewhat decent if you want something simple. Offworld rocket building can be covered by EPL, which is... lets say functional.
- There are some mods attempting to implement whole new gameplay mechanisms like KCT, ScrapYard or Bureaucracy. I personally find them poorly thought and poorly implemented, and they come with their own caveats in terms of bugs and incompatibilities.
- I'm personally staying away from anything "interstellar". That doesn't add much in terms of gameplay and the large distances are causing various bugs. In terms of parts and "technologies" to get there, KSPIE is a hot and buggy mess, and FFT are just overpowered engines that don't really create much additional gameplay considerations.

[Wowa Ilyich]

Thanks Gotmachine for your insights. I stopped playing KSP1 because there is now way in hell I could enjoy a non-Kerbalism experience. Yet, as you mention, Kerbalism is not complete and as a player unfamiliar with modding, trying to figure out the various incompatibilities became a major frustration for me. 

For me, Kerbalism is what the stock game should deliver: What is the point in a space simulator that doesn't factor in life support? The science system and the automation functionality is GREAT. I really hope that KSP2 will integrate the Kerbalism experience in the future or that the modding community will be able to make a KSP2 Kerbalism truly great.

[darthgently]

My gut says the only way to get a very stable KSP1 mod ecosystem would be the unlikely addition of a very mod friendly API via community fixes or other and the recoding of major mods to this API.  The API would provide a unified smart window manager, a unified keyboard and mouse input manager, a unified scheduling of mod code execution based on priority (alongside mod devs not flagging all their mod's code stretches as being the most important thing all the time... yeah right, lol).

I don't see a lot of probability of the above happening.   But maybe?  Maybe someday when KSP2 is glorious and KSP3 is in EA and T2 in celebration decides to release dinosaur KSP1 code as open source (as long as I'm dreaming...).

Edited April 1, 2023 by darthgently

[Gotmachine]

The KSP "API"  or codebase isn't really the problem. Arguably the modding community could have come with better tools/workflows in some areas.
But ultimately, it's just that the manpower to come up with more polished/ambitious gameplay mods is lacking (again, at the exception of RP1).
The KSP modding scene is just not as big and dynamic as it was in the KSP 0.9-1.7 era, and remaining modders have somewhat given up on the idea of extending/reworking the KSP gameplay/features.

[Socraticat]

Wow, thank you so much for these responses! I've learned so much already!

Shout out to @Gotmachinefor an amazing and thoughtful response. I appreciate you!

[Lisias]

The analysis is incomplete.

11 hours ago, Gotmachine said:

The KSP modding scene is just not as big and dynamic as it was in the KSP 0.9-1.7 era, and remaining modders have somewhat given up on the idea of extending/reworking the KSP gameplay/features.

The KSP modding scene is, indeed, shrinking since the golden days. An analysis of the available data from CurseForce and SpaceDock clearly indicates that since 2016 we are facing a continuous and still ongoing outflux of "manpower".

All the rest is mere consequence.

A healthy discussion about what happened (and is still happening) on this Scene is a sine qua non condition not only to try to stop the current bleeding, but also to prevent the same to happen prematurely on KSP2.

Assuming, of course, that the process didn't already started.