Please Help w/ New Older Build

[Fizzlebop Smith]

I have a career save with over 800 hours that i would like to keep intact, along with the modded install. How can i go about making a new install of an older version without messing up the instance with my current career save. 

My first foray into modding was well before i learned the ins and outs, and it was the very first KSP1 that i installed. I do not have much experience in the realm of computers and am probably over thinking the hell out of this.
I know that I cannot just rename the primary KSP1 folder and still have everything work like it should.. right? It would mess with that String Association with the Filepath?

So I am thinking of PC meal moving all my mods and saves into a different Instance that i cloned. (I now keep a Vanilla)
Delete the Primary Install 
Install Via steam Beta Branch with Desired Build?
Install Mods

Would this be the easiest way? I dont want the main career save to be what gets updated when i select the new build and have never messed with different branches. Does it prompt me to make a new install or try to "update" existing install.
Thank you for your patience with my lack of knowledge in this area

[Caerfinon]

When I played I have KSP1 via steam. I never played the steam instance but kept it around to get updates and occasionally use the beta feature to install older versions. 

For game play I copied the game files from the steam install to completely different directories on my machine  and started each instance with a shortcut to the exe file in the  directory . In these instances I installed mods for  various development and gameplay purposes. 

[Fizzlebop Smith]

So renaming my game folder to KSP1.1 would still work as long as I make a new shortcut?

 

[Lisias]

1 hour ago, Fizzlebop Smith said:

So renaming my game folder to KSP1.1 would still work as long as I make a new shortcut?

 

Yes!

If fact, I have about a dozen with different configurations and eve KSP versions.

KSP doesn't have any DRM or whatever preventing  you from doing it (some other games do).

[Fizzlebop Smith]

Thats much easier than I thought. 

I (for some dumb reason) thought things would break and I'd have to manual edit filepath details of some specific files.

Now I feel a more comfortable to play around with some of the older mods.

This made my evening.

Thank you all very much for taking the time.

[Lisias]

18 minutes ago, Fizzlebop Smith said:

I (for some dumb reason) thought things would break and I'd have to manual edit filepath details of some specific files.

It's not an unreasonable expectation - some programs really need things like that.

But KSP is not one of them (someone in the early days did some pretty nice, long standing decisions for us!)

Edited June 18, 2024 by Lisias
Tyops. Surprised?

[Nuke]

just backup the saves folder.

i used to do everything manual before, but somewhere along the line i gave up and started using ckan. you can export the mod pack and then stick that with your save backup. then when you want a new instance, install the game, dlc, ckan, and then load your modpack and finally restore your saves folder. does not work with all mods though, some aren't on ckan or require further modification to function. those have to be done manually. this stands to be more streamlined now that ksp1 is finalized. historically this is where modding gets gud.

Edited June 18, 2024 by Nuke