Compilation of modding information links for 0.19/20/21/22/23 - Last update 24th Jan

[hoojiwana]

Hm, well I'm having the issue of trying to have a few fx_exhaustFlame defined in a part's cfg, but either only one is showing up or they're all stacked on the center, despite having different co-ordinates in the cfg. What am I doing wrong then?

I don't think the coordinates in the fx actually do anything. If you're trying to create an engine with multiple nozzles you have to define multiple thrustTransforms. Each transform will then inherit the same fx, and that will be centered on the thrustTransform itself.

[Nicky89107]

I made an Iva modifying tutorial for the .20 part tools if anyone cares: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/35714-Tutoria-Modifying-Exporting-Internals-in-20-Part-Tools?p=449925#post449925

[joedude69]

I don't think the coordinates in the fx actually do anything. If you're trying to create an engine with multiple nozzles you have to define multiple thrustTransforms. Each transform will then inherit the same fx, and that will be centered on the thrustTransform itself.

I find it helps to make them all the same name so you don't have to change anything in the cfg, Like adding more thrust modules.

[BlazingAngel665]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/38408-Rotating-solar-panels-%28Unity-configuration%29

This link provides many useful pictures in the OP that help with rotating solar arrays.

[hoojiwana]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/38408-Rotating-solar-panels-%28Unity-configuration%29

This link provides many useful pictures in the OP that help with rotating solar arrays.

Added. Hopefully more information on solar panels will come out of that thread.

[KhaosCorp]

So I had decided to try and learn how to add Airlocks. Followed the wiki tutorial from OP but I am having issues. It says step 3 is to 'tag' the airlock mesh as an airlock and then rename a layer 'Part Triggers'.

I dont have Airlock or Ladder option in the tag menu when the mesh is selected...when anything is selected. I also cant seem to rename a layer to save me life.

Do i not have PartTools installed into Unity properly? Or maybe not loading it into the GameObject right (i make empty object, 'add component>ksp>part tools' is how i add it)

[hoojiwana]

The tag manager is a bit unintuitive. After you've selected add new tag, click over on the side, not on the name of the item you want. I had the exact same issue for when I wanted to fix some fairings until I accidentally clicked where I was supposed to.

[KhaosCorp]

Ah there we go lol.

Thanks for fast reply bud =) I was sittin here feelin kinda dumb.

[Adie123]

You may want to change the link of 'Repeating Animation in Reverse' on your list to this link http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25135-Space-Shuttle-Atlantis-WiP?p=551627&viewfull=1#post551627 ... I found a couple of methods that require lesser cfg code. One does exactly the same, the other runs better if you want your animated part to function like one of the landing gear parts does. (not necessarily for landing gear, but how the toggle control works).

[KhaosCorp]

I can not find any info on making a normal spotlight to save my life. Not even a little tidbit of a hint. Can someone please give me a little nudge the right way.

[Adie123]

I can not find any info on making a normal spotlight to save my life. Not even a little tidbit of a hint. Can someone please give me a little nudge the right way.

Ive tested static lights that are always on, but im guessing u want them toggleable?... Have you tried to just take the cfg code from a vanilla light and placed in your cfg part with the correct name of an object in your part that needs to light up? (as a guess)

MODULE

{

name = ModuleLight

lightName = spotlight ***Object name in your part*** (i maybe wrong with this)

useAnimationDim = true

lightBrightenSpeed = 2.5

lightDimSpeed = 2.5

resourceAmount = 0.04

animationName = LightAnimation ***i guess an animation that changes the brightness/colour of said object***

useResources = true

}

EDIT**** nvm, i tried many variations of cfg code with and without light component added to an object in unity. Zero success

Edited August 1, 2013 by Adie123

[elind21]

bookmark, thx for this, very helpful. still need advice on c# though...

[elind21]

i have an issue where all of my objects are rotate 90 degrees of the correct angle. i am using blander and unity 4 and i have tried rotating on every axis in both (separately of course) anyone know hoe to fix???

[jdsutton]

In blender rotate the part -90 degrees, hit control-a then set rotation, then rotate it by 90 degrees. Now it should appear in unity with a rotation of 0 degrees and face the right way in KSP.

[Jahulath]

Hi, I stumbled on the name Soulburn3D today (totally unrelated to KSP), I've encountered Neil Blevins before when I started learning 3d modelling and his web page was an incredible source of useful information to me!

You can find it here but it comes with the caveat that he is a digital artist not a game modder IMHO that's only the difference between a chef and a cook because we all want to make amazeballs looking stuff right(?) So you will need to take inspiration rather than match paint to numbers so to say.

So that you can see why I got excited he is responsible for these and I have seen a tutorial making one it takes like 5 minutes... (Sorry Large Images from his display!):

[gl0ryh0und]

Trying to add an airlock to crew cabin I'm building, and in Unity I can add tags, but they don't appear in the tag drop down, just in the layers drop down.. I followed the instructions in the wiki, but I must be missing something.

[WinkAllKerb'']

Amazing link compilation to get started thks hoojiwana (while investigating around the [model] structure also found this very generic infos on a dev blog that could help http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/entry.php/168-Modders-Corner-Getting-Started-Modding-KSP )

[Tiberion]

If you are reading this then you have probably made your way through the steps of modeling and texturing your part and then setting it up in Unity and exporting it as a .mu file with its associated texture files (.mbm, .png, or .tga)

The last step is making a folder in the GameData directory of your KSP install for your part to exist in, so the game can load it.

The first thing you will need to do is create and edit a config file (part.cfg) for your part, which tells KSP what to do with your .mu file and what type of part its going to be.

I have made a simple example config file for you to begin with. It is mostly generic, but includes a couple of functional examples of what you'd use for a simple cylinder-style fuel tank with top and bottom nodes and an example of how you add fuel resources to a part at the bottom. Do not worry, these can easily be changed to suit your own needs.

Download the example Craft file here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46506740/part.cfg

To open and edit this file you will need a text editor. Windows comes with a simple, functional text editor called Notepad, and it will work for your purposes. If you need something more functional, you can try Notepad ++ or Textpad

(Note: If you aren't using a Windows Operating System, don't worry! Any plain text editor for your OS will work to open and edit cfg files.)

.cfg files are not associated with any program by default. You can either open your editor and use the File -> Open menu, or you can right-click on the config file and use Open With... to browse to your editor of choice. There is a checkbox to enable windows to remember this and do it every time when you double-click from now on. If you have issues with this post a reply and someone can give you some more details.

Once you have the file open in your editor, you are ready to make your changes. There are quite a few topics on setting up a specific part type, and there is a full list of config options posted on the wiki. Which options you use will depend entirely on what you part is and what it will do.

The most important part is at the top of the file. It is where you give your part a unique Identifier Name which is what KSP uses to reference it in save files and craft files. It MUST be unique and now share this name with any other part you have installed in KSP, and you should try to make sure that its unique in such a way that no other mod might use it. For instance, in my Novapunch mod all part identifiers start with the prefix "NP_" which means that as long as no other author uses that prefix they will always be unique.

example:

name = NP_HugeFuelTank1

---------------------------------------------------------

The next line is

module = Part

this line tells KSP what sort of object its going to be within the game. For almost all parts now, you'll want to leave this as "Part" and move on. We'll add specific functions later.

----------------------------------------------------------

Next is the author field.

author = Your Name Here

You should put your name here to tell people that you made the part. If you are editing a part someone else made, you should leave their name and adds your to it, rather than deleting them.

-----------------------------------------------------------

The next part tells KSP what model file (.mu) to load. The simplist way to do this is to place the .mu and its texture files in the same folder as your config, and then add the Mu file's name to this line:

mesh = model.mu

If you didn't name your file "model" then you'll replace it with your own name. you do not need to add the texture files to the config when using .mu files, those are hard-coded into the .mu file itself.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The next two lines are related to your model and allow them to be displayed and manipulated in the right size:

scale = 1.0

rescaleFactor = 1

scale tells KSP what measurement 'size' applies to your model. scale 1 means that 1 unit is 1 meter, whereas scale = 0.01 means that 1 unit is 1 centimeter. This is important mostly when you are setting up attachment nodes for your part. If you scale is 1 then setting your node 1 unit away is 1 meter, but you'd need to use 100 to get 1 meter if your scale is 0.01. Your scale is probably 1.0 unless your 3d software is set up differently on purpose. If you aren't sure then ask and someone can help you!

Note that "scale" has nothing to do with how big your part appears in the game, and changing it does not affect it. The next entry is for that.

rescaleFactor allows you to multiply the size of your part automatically. If you use rescaleFactor = 2 then your part will be twice as large as it was in Unity. If you want to appear exactly as you sized it in Unity or your 3d program, then use rescaleFactor =1

BE AWARE: If you leave it blank then KSP is going to apply the default rescaleFactor, which is actually 1.25. I won't go into the reason that is the default, but if you want it to be the actual size you made it, be sure to set rescaleFactor to 1.

-------------------------------------------------

The rest of the config is going to vary depending on what you have made. You can use the links below for more indpeth explanations of the options you have before you.

Modding information Compilation Thread - a master list full of lots of useful links for modding in KSP. You probably found this post from there.

Note that it has links to descriptions for all of the different part types in the list. If you are making an engine, then read the entries under engine and you will find info on the modules you might want to include.

The Kerbal Wiki Config File Documentation Contains a rundown of most of the stock config file entries. it doesn't have everything, but its a great place to learn the basics of config files.

Note that this entry is somewhat out of date. There is currently an updated one under development that can be found HERE Be sure to check them both over to find the best information you can. And when in doubt, reply here and ask!

--------------------------------------

Once you are done, you just need to set up your files within KSPs directory. Mods are stored in the GameData folder, inside a subfolder unique to you. You should open up the KSP folder and then open the GameData folder. Inside you will see a Squad folder as well as folders for other mods you have installed. Make a new one for your mod. It should look like this:

Next, open up your new folder. In here, you should make another folder for your part. (If you have a lot of parts, you can also make subcategories here, like a folder that will contain all of your fuel tank parts.

In the beginning, you should make a separate folder for each part you make. There are advanced techniques you can use if you share one model and texture between parts, but that can come later. (You'll find more information on that in the Compilation post I linked earlier. Look for MODEL node topics)

Here is an example of three new parts in your mod folder:

Now you can go into your part's folder. This is where you will place your .mu and texture files (.mbm, .png, or .tga files) as well as your part.cfg file.

It will look like this:

(Note the Open with.. Dialog there, set up to open cfg files in Notepad every time)

Once you have got your exported model and textures in there, and your part.cfg file edited up, its time to load up KSP and see if it works.

Good luck!

Keep in mind this is only a starting port. The variations of configs are endless. Don't be afraid to look at other part configs for examples. And never be afraid to post a thread and ask for help if you don't understand something. We're always willing to help.

Thank you for reading, and may you find success in your modding endeavors!

Edited September 10, 2013 by Tiberion

[Dispatcher]

PS -- if you are running under another operating system besides Windows, you may use any text editor to read, write and save your .cfg file.

[Tiberion]

PS -- if you are running under another operating system besides Windows, you may use any text editor to read, write and save your .cfg file.

Yep, sorry, I thought about adding a note about that but forgot to go back. I did so now.

I'll come back and add some snazzy markup when the forum post editor is fixed, I really don't feel like doing it manually right now.

[hoojiwana]

Updated links to work with the new forum URLs. If you find any that are still broken please post here or PM me, thanks!

[Ledenko]

Hey guys, I'm busting my head with mesh colliders - I made one for my module but I think what I've done is actually a workaround - I made a lower poly mesh of the module, added it to unity, gave it a mesh collider and removed it's render properties, thus giving the module a collider that doesn't render, but as far as I know, there's a way to add a normal mesh, except I have no idea how. I tried naming it node_collider but that had no effect, I read it has to be tagged, but tagged how? I'm sorry, I'm sure this stuff is basic for people versed in Unity, but I'm utterly lost...

If anyone could help me with a step-by-step tutorial, I'd appreciate it

[Mulbin]

Just a quick question....

I've made a simple mod part in blender... textured it in blender... created collision mesh in blender. It works just fine as a dae file. But every time I say I've made a part the old way people just flame me and say it doesn't work... when it clearly does because I'm using the parts in my game. Then they flame me and say I should be using unity as well.

So can someone please explain (nicely) why, when the mod already works fine straight from blender, I need to involve yet another program, seemingly for no reason? I know there must be an answer to this question but so far people just tell me "thats just how its done now" without actually explaining why.

presumably MU is better than dae in some way?

For now obviously I'll just keep making my parts with blender as they work just fine, but if there is something to be gained by adding the extra work in unity I'll start using the new method!

Thanks in advance.

[Jahulath]

Just a quick question....

I've made a simple mod part in blender... textured it in blender... created collision mesh in blender. It works just fine as a dae file. But every time I say I've made a part the old way people just flame me and say it doesn't work... when it clearly does because I'm using the parts in my game. Then they flame me and say I should be using unity as well.

So can someone please explain (nicely) why, when the mod already works fine straight from blender, I need to involve yet another program, seemingly for no reason? I know there must be an answer to this question but so far people just tell me "thats just how its done now" without actually explaining why.

presumably MU is better than dae in some way?

For now obviously I'll just keep making my parts with blender as they work just fine, but if there is something to be gained by adding the extra work in unity I'll start using the new method!

Thanks in advance.

Hi, personally I use Unity because it makes life easier however it also has some bells and whistles... adding shaders like specular or alpha, setting up animations on your models, processing baked animations into useable movements and for me the biggest win is the ability to rotate your model and texture it in a ksp like rendered environment. As an example, I've been messing with IVA - that has rotation different to EVA... I can make my part and then fettle it in unity until it works. Adding lights too, that's a bell and animating textures (forgot about that whistle)... any help?

[Mulbin]

Hi, personally I use Unity because it makes life easier however it also has some bells and whistles... adding shaders like specular or alpha, setting up animations on your models, processing baked animations into useable movements and for me the biggest win is the ability to rotate your model and texture it in a ksp like rendered environment. As an example, I've been messing with IVA - that has rotation different to EVA... I can make my part and then fettle it in unity until it works. Adding lights too, that's a bell and animating textures (forgot about that whistle)... any help?

That's great! Many thanks. My parts are fairly basic and un-animated so blender (with it's slightly shiny material) has done everything I need so far... but the addition of specular and alpha and especially lights sounds great.

I'll give Unity a try next week