Writing addons - Where to begin?

[luckruns0ut]

I was looking for somewhere I can learn about making mods for KSP and how to integrate them etc. I am very experienced with both Unity and C# so I won't have a problem with actually writing them, I'm just unsure of how to go about it.

[UbioZur]

This is your best friend: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/48311-How-to-make-a-NON-PART-plugin?p=640212&viewfull=1#post640212

A bit outdated for some stuff, but still really good to start nd set up the environment/make the a part addon:

(especialy if you can mix it with the previous one)

Mostly to make model more than code, but still some usefull links in there: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/25013-Compilation-of-modding-information-links-for-0-19-20-21-22-Last-update-21st-Oct

Extremly usefull: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/7544-The-official-unoffical-help-a-fellow-plugin-developer-thread/page42?p=611180&viewfull=1#post611180

Creating a dev install (with faster load time): http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/49842-2nd-KSP-Install-for-modding?p=650249&viewfull=1#post650249

irc channel: #kspmodders on ircnet

And of course this forum look on it, especially the help a fellow developer thread (it's full of resources)

Since you can't access a debug console, use a lot of Debug.log() to log the progress and what is in the variables etc...

Also if you find a plugin that does womething similar to what you are looking for, have a look their code to see how they do, what function they use etc...

[Bilfr3d]

Also if you find a plugin that does womething similar to what you are looking for, have a look their code to see how they do, what function they use etc...

I know this was originally intended for another person (your reply that is), but how do you look at the code?

[blizzy78]

I know this was originally intended for another person (your reply that is), but how do you look at the code?

Plugins posted on the forums are required to provide source code.

[TaranisElsu]

I have been working on a set of examples that I hope people will find useful for learning how to write plug-ins for KSP and as a starting point for their mods: https://github.com/taraniselsu/TacExamples

I hope that helps.

[luckruns0ut]

Thanks for all of the useful links.

[Camacha]

So, plugins are written in C#? I am indexing which languages are suitable for what purposes, but the many varieties of C are a bit confusing to me.

[damny]

So, plugins are written in C#? I am indexing which languages are suitable for what purposes, but the many varieties of C are a bit confusing to me.

C# is not really a variety of C, it's Microsoft's idea of how to do Java with C-like syntax on the .Net runtime.

Nowadays, and thanks to mono and Xamarin, C# is suitable for a lot of things, including applications for Windows, Linux, OS X, iOS, and Android.

[EndlessWaves]

So, plugins are written in C#? I am indexing which languages are suitable for what purposes, but the many varieties of C are a bit confusing to me.

Plugins are common language runtime libraries, aka .NET dlls. I guess it should be possible to write them with any .NET language as in theory they all combine to the same end result but the developers provided the initial examples in C# and everyone followed them. So far nobody has has done more than tinker with other languages as far as I know.

As damny says, C Sharp isn't that closely related to old fashioned C and it's direct extensions (C++, Objective C) so stick to C# materials.