An easier way to get mods.

[Kerbiter]

Why not open the Spaceport INSIDE KSP and install mods DIRECTLY TO KSP?! That would be smarter.

[tetryds]

I belive that Spaceport 2 will allow that.

Or maybe even navigate and find mods from ingame, who knows?

Still, installing mods on KSP is so easy...

[Millst0ne MK II]

Or you could learn to install them yourself, considering it involves simply dragging the files over. If you can't do simple things like drag and drop a file somewhere, you got no business being on a PC imo.

[Murph]

I don't think this is something that's needed in either the short or medium term, to be honest, and would much rather see development effort staying focussed on fleshing out the core game itself. It might be something that should be considered for inclusion in KSP 1.0, but really isn't needed at the current stage of development.

It would also require a fairly strict standardisation on the packaging of mods, and require some way to resolve conflicts and dependencies (some mod packs include other mods required for some of their functionality, e.g. B9 includes the Firespitter plugin, but not the rest of Firespitter).

[BlackBicycle]

The game is engineered in such a way (as are most software products that deal with a lot of user-made content), that is needs to be restarted in order to compile a set of "what's in there". Therefore, it is not possible to load mods "on the fly" without making KSP much more complicated. That's how I see it.

[Monty_Droppings]

The game is engineered in such a way (as are most software products that deal with a lot of user-made content), that is needs to be restarted in order to compile a set of "what's in there". Therefore, it is not possible to load mods "on the fly" without making KSP much more complicated. That's how I see it.

1)alt+F12= Debug menu.

2)"reload all parts"

3)Profit.

[BlackBicycle]

Haven't done this, but.. doesn't it take the same time as loading the parts when you start the game?

[Superfluous J]

1)alt+F12= Debug menu.

2)"reload all parts"

3)Profit.

Does that take less time than loading the game? I was not aware of this and the biggest problem I have testing mods is that it takes minutes to load the game. Not a big deal to play, but if I want to run a dozen tests that's a half hour of dedicated time, staring at my screen. It's too short a time to do anything else, and too long a time to sit through that many times.

[stupid_chris]

Does that take less time than loading the game? I was not aware of this and the biggest problem I have testing mods is that it takes minutes to load the game. Not a big deal to play, but if I want to run a dozen tests that's a half hour of dedicated time, staring at my screen. It's too short a time to do anything else, and too long a time to sit through that many times.

That takes far less time than reloading the game. less than a minute with a heavy modded game.

[BlackBicycle]

less than a minute with a heavy modded game.

How long does your heavily modded game take to start then? Approximately of course : )

[Superfluous J]

That takes far less time than reloading the game. less than a minute with a heavy modded game.

Sweet that will make so many things easier. Amazing the obvious things you can still learn after playing a game for months

[vexx32]

Alright, question: Is that function capable of loading plugin dlls, or is it restricted to parts?

[ferram4]

My tests have indicated that it doesn't seem to work with plugins and also seems to break ModuleManager. I haven't tried in a while, but I see no reason that should have changed.

[Frostiken]

We need something like the Nexus. The current method is a mess. Spaceport is useless, and the forum listing is confusing, requires you to constantly dig through several pages deep, it's not always obvious if you have the most up-to-date version... guh.

[Amram]

I think the one thing we really need from Spaceport, is some form of automated updating for mods, which is something that if spaceport were integrated directly into KSP, and installed mods directly into KSP, would make sense to also be built into Spaceport. You open KSP, it lets you know 3 of the 37 installed mods have new versions, would you like to download the updated versions?

For that matter, toggleable, and defaulting to yes, grab the new version, don't even bother asking me, just do it.

Do that as the first step to loading parts, so before even one part is loaded, check the mods.

Less forum refreshing by players that are merely checking to see if one of their mods updated or not.

An end to hunting through page after page looking for where the thread for that one random little mod is, just to find its still the same version, hasn't updated yet.

Hopefully an end to modders having to deal with explaining that the bug being experienced died three versions ago, the player should update sometime this decade.

[ToteBaggs]

I dont suppose it would be too much to ask if this "Spaceport 2" that they are working on, might have its own local to explore in KSP like "right down the road about 40 miles away beside jeb's junkyard emporium and off the west side highway right next to the chunky-cheese" different kerbal locations you have to visit in order to look up those parts you may want.

kinda like a "Mall" mode if you will within KSP

[astropapi1]

How long does your heavily modded game take to start then? Approximately of course : )

Mine takes about five minutes.

Vive la mods!

[ferram4]

It would be great, but there are quite a few serious issues that need to be answered about how mods will have to work with this kind of system:

How much leeway will modders get in specifying installation instructions for the program? Will we be heavily limited in what we can do because the mod installer will only do so much?

What happens when the installer screws up? It will eventually, and who is responsible for fixing that? Odds are the user will expect the mod author to fix it, and we won't be able to do it, since we can't deal with that code. But then given that SQUAD currently doesn't provide support for modded installs, unless that changes that means that no support will be provided by those responsible for the issue. And no matter what happens, the user is ticked because the modder can't help and SQUAD appears to screw them over.

Given the above, will SQUAD provide support for issues caused by the mod installer screwing up? And what will be the criteria necessary to prove that it was the installer that screwed up and that it is not the mod itself?

Since the mod installer will remove any need for the user to go into the GameData or KSP_Data folders, will the installer also remove mods as well? Will it be able to submit bug reports to the modders, since if asking a user to copy over a folder is too much, surely asking them to go through folders to find a specific file to upload for us to troubleshoot is too much?

Will the mod installer be able to handle a list of conflicts between various mods?

This essentially makes modding appear far more difficult than it actually is, since an installer implies a more complicated set up than simply copying folders; will this discourage people who might be capable of modding, but won't get into it because it appears too difficult?

On the other hand, will this encourage people who probably shouldn't be using mods (little kids, the hopelessly computer illiterate) to install them, with the attendant increase in entitled and confused requests for support that modders will have to deal with? The moderately computer literate already given sub-standard bug reports, and I don't like what my imagination can come up with for what the computer illiterate will be like.

The thing I'm concerned about is that something like this will help most users only a little bit while adding more hassle for modders.

[S4qFBxkFFg]

Just a thought - could this be done with something like the various Linux package managers (e.g. apt-get)?

Squad could probably have a repository in place of Spaceport, for all I know it could be used to distribute the whole game, plus mods too.

The reason I'm asking is that these problems (distributing software and ensuring it's updated, with all dependencies satisfied) have been solved already, and the code is probably available.

Not sure if it could be made to work with Windows/Mac OS, but it may be worthy of consideration.

[Murph]

Not sure if it could be made to work with Windows/Mac OS, but it may be worthy of consideration.

MacOS X is a Mach kernel, with BSD Unix runtime, and a fairly complete GNU toolset, so just about anything which runs on Linux will run on MacOS if source is available and doesn't do something completely weird, or rely on something very specific to the Linux kernel. I.e. it's not binary compatible, but it's about 99% source compatible. In many ways, the core of OSX is what Linux has been targeted at emulating since its inception. The Apple-specific stuff is very much a layer on top of a mostly traditional Unix core which has been extended and enhanced, but retains pretty much all of the important Unix heritage.

Windows has the POSIX API and BSD streams, then there's stuff like cygwin, so it's certainly possible to port those types of tools from the Unix world across to it, although some will be easier than others to port.

[vetrox]

A way thats similar to steam workshop seems to me the way to go.

If KSP ever utilizes a "launcher" then you should be able to just subscribe to the mods you like on the spaceport and the launcher will check that mod for any updates before running the game. I dont know if thats how the nexus does it as any mods i get for my games are usually from steam workshop

EZ (well its probably not)

[vexx32]

KSP has a launcher. It's just that Steam makes that function redundant, so it's disabled for the Steam version.

[Kerbiter]

OK, well I'm gonna detail it right now.

When you get a mod, you have to grab the stuff and put it in the bin. It takes lots of time for a mod pack. Maybe when you click SpacePort, it would auto-open a window INSIDE the game, and you pick your mod (or multiple mods). Then it shows a shopping cart if you wanna install multiple mods, and you proceed. Then it downloads the mod, AND installs it FOR YOU!!!!

[Pixel of Life]

It would also require a fairly strict standardisation on the packaging of mods, and require some way to resolve conflicts and dependencies (some mod packs include other mods required for some of their functionality, e.g. B9 includes the Firespitter plugin, but not the rest of Firespitter).

This could easily be solved by having separate sections for the plugins and not packaging them with the rest of the mod. Download the mod first, then get the necessary plugins.