Vanilla or Mods?

[Lobo1544]

I have recntly have been playing with a few mods, which I like, but they just add TOO MANY PARTS (cough cough KW Rocketry). I think I'm going to delete all the mods and start a new game. So I was wondering what you have to say on the subject. Do you play with mods? what are the pros and cons of playing with them?

[sal_vager]

Addons can add so much to KSP it's unreal, but you can easily find yourself installing everything just to see what it does.

It's the curse of the moddable simulator, just like with flight sims, you can quite easily find you have installed a hundred aircraft that you only fly once but never remove, just in case you might feel like flying it again one day

[Karriz]

I try to avoid mods which just add new parts I don't really "need".

KSPX is probably the only parts pack I've got. Other mods I have add some functionality, like kethane, cargo bays, robot arms etc.

The optimization is the main limit for me, as my 4GB RAM gets quickly filled. Hopefully 0.20 will help, since it'll.load parts more efficiently.

[Comrade Jenkens]

I've got the same problem, I've just installed everything and now the menus are just clogged up with a mess of parts.

I'd recommend KSPX as it sticks to the style of stock parts so everything looks like it belongs there. I also just pulled out the fairing parts from KW rocketry to use on the stock rockets.

At the moment I have around 20 mods installed so i may just start with a clean install.

[Brotoro]

I generally prefer vanilla for my parts. The mods I use are mostly the ones that help get around User Interface problems (Haystack and Improved Maneuver Nodes), give me lots of information and some help (MechJeb and Engineer), make my life a bit easier in tedious activities (Lazor Docking Cam), or let me do something not possible with existing parts that seems natural to the level of technology in the game (like using Damned Robotics hinges to fold up a rover).

[Unistrut]

I try to keep the mods down as I've found myself far too often in the situation described above with a million and one things that I use once. That all break with the next update.

That being said, I couldn't live without the ISA Mapsat. Not only does it give you useful maps, it also gives you a reason to launch probes everywhere, and try and get them in specific orbits.

I've only just started using MechJeb, but that was because I'd gotten to the point where I'd done the "Launch from KSP, go to 120Km parking orbit" so many times it had not only ceased to be fun, but had become so tedious that I was putting off doing other, fun things because I didn't want to slog through launching all the fuel and parts into orbit.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Unistrut

[astropapi1]

Go for mods! Try Sub-assembly saver/loader and haystack if you're going for plugins. And if you're going for parts, use KSPX and KW rocketry.

[Wait- Was That Important?]

I'm at a comfortable stage of mods, that is, I've balanced them all a bit to correct some issues (like KW 3.75m fairing bases weighing a stupidly huge amount) and removed various parts.

I'm using 20 or so different mods but only have 359 parts because I've trimmed the various packs until I have exactly what I need.

[zekes]

Personally i love vanilla with a few things (Subassembly loader, payloader, etc.) To make the game that much easier.

[Netris]

Play with a game without mod is just like driving a car without any option

[Van Disaster]

I pull out the bits I really don't use, but I'm happy with the mods I have. I pretty much exclusively use KW for rocket parts, for instance ( other than the bits it doesn't have ). Being able to use one part instead of many multiples of others ( wings for instance ) makes such a difference.

[The Space]

Vanilla so the game doesn't get too easy

[lobsterbark]

I'm at a comfortable stage of mods, that is, I've balanced them all a bit to correct some issues (like KW 3.75m fairing bases weighing a stupidly huge amount) and removed various parts.

I'm using 20 or so different mods but only have 359 parts because I've trimmed the various packs until I have exactly what I need.

Iv'e pretty much done exactly the same thing. It takes a while though.

[lobsterbark]

Vanilla so the game doesn't get too easy

You need to try mods, to fill in the current gap.

[soranno]

I had a bad experience with mods that add a great many parts (my own fault naturally). I hardly ever used any of the parts that had been added, but all the while I was using a strut, that I hadn`t even noticed was a mod part, on many of my designs. So one day I decided, I don`t need all these parts clogging up my menus, and removed the mod.. next time I put a ship on the launch pad half my active flights were deleted

Anyway, aside from choosing a select few parts from a few mods, I am using mostly addons that add to the depth of the game, or provide an otherwise unavailable utility. Such things as subassembly loader, crew manifest, kerbal alarm clock etc, as well as mapsat, remote tech, kerbal attachment system, to name a few.

The game takes on largely a new dimension when addons such as these are brought into play, more so than adding larger tanks or more engines etc.

Looking at some of the old life support mods now.. I`m thinking I`d like to try it. But it would probably have to be on a new save. Also they seem to be mostly out of date and no longer being updated

[stargazer1235]

I try to limit my mods, I prefer to play vanilla but I do use one or two mods like the alarm clock which doesn't Change game play.

[rryy]

I only really have mods like Kerbal Alarm Clock, Subassembly loader, Kerbal Engineer, and Quantum Fuel Transfer. The only mod that adds more parts is Kethane and one of the Bobcat rovers.

[SecondGuessing]

I use mechjeb (solely for pre-flight information), kerbal alarm clock and sub-assembly loader. They both add things that I feel should be in the game anyway, and they don't make it unbalanced (not that many mods do, this game has a rather sane modding community... most of the time).

[Westo454]

I haven't messed around with mods in 0.19 yet, although I had kethane on my 0.18 install, as well as mechjeb.

[CalculusWarrior]

I haven't messed around with mods in 0.19 yet, although I had kethane on my 0.18 install, as well as mechjeb.

That's essentially what I do--have one install (mostly) mod-free, where I do all of my 'proper' KSP missions. I consider achievements done with overpowered engines, etc to be somewhat cheating, so I mainly use that second install for having fun with the mod parts and seeing what I can do with them. If I find a mod doesn't take away from the vanilla experience and in fact adds things to do (ISA MapSat being a great example here), then I'll pop it in my main install.

I like how KSP is very easily modded, and I hope that it remains so in the future; the creativity out there is awesome!

[ouion]

I would prefer SB Plugin,Bobcats soviet pack,and KSPX stock pack.

[BaneOfPilots]

You can create separate KSP games. For example, I have my usual heavily modded one and a different KSP that's completely stock. The modded one is in my documents while stock is in my desktop.

[CoriW]

Personally I really dislike mods that add a whole bunch of parts, I've been debating on KSPX for a long time but still am just putting off using it simply because it adds "A whole bunch of parts" (Also because the dev of that mod is now a KSP dev so I hope to see some of those parts in Stock hopefully within the next few updates.)

So I usually try to get mods that don't add too many parts, and don't make things too easy.

- MechJeb (Solely for informational readout and the occasional launch because honestly launches have just become tedious for me now.)

- KerbalAlarmClock (No actual parts added, yay! Should be in the stock game in my opinion)

- Protractor (Usually I just use MechJeb for the burn maneuver nodes and then do them myself, but I keep this on hand just in case.)

- Engineer Redux (Solely use this for information on my ships in the VAB, can be really handy to know stage DeltaV.)

- Subassembly Loader (Awesome to be able to load up pre-built rocket pieces like launchers etc. Pretty sure this feature is actually being added to vanilla soon, which will be awesome.)

- Haystack (Switching ships has never been easier!)

- Kerbal Crew Manifest (Just got this one, no opinion formed on it yet.)

- Deadly Reentry (This is literally a must for me now, can't wait until reentry heat is actually in vanilla. Aerobraking an interplanetary ship through Jools atmosphere at 10km/s has never been harder!)

- Kerbal Attachment System (This one is interesting, I haven't tried much with it yet. I've seen it used and it seems like something that'd be awesome for SkyCranes.)

- RemoteTech (Adds a whole new layer to the game, who knew satellite networks could be so much fun!)

- Kethane (Pretty much to tide me over until the vanilla resource system comes out.)

- ISA Mapsat (Awesome terrain maps!)

- Quantum Struts (I hate when my docked ships blow up in my face due to poor connection quality... This fixes that.)

- Lazor Docking Cam (For some reason I'm better at docking by eyeballing it, but I keep this around because uhm... I really don't know.)

- Rototic Arms Pack (Just got this to make my space stations look cool, which it does a good job at doing.)

[Qumefox]

Play with a game without mod is just like driving a car without any option

And playing KSP with lots of mods is like driving a car that has 400 spare tires..

Or in mechjeb's case, having a chauffeur, so you're not driving at all, only along for the ride.

Vanilla so the game doesn't get too easy

Some of us run pretty much vanilla because we LIKE the fact it's not just easy mode.

[Kerbol Prime]

I mostly play vanilla. I just use mechjeb and subassembly loader.