Can i make another KSP install if im on Steam?

[3mon]

Hi!

As the topic title says, i bought KSP on Steam, and now im wondering: is it possible to make another installation of KSP? I always played stock, or with a few mod parts at most. Now i have my eye put in various game changing mods (Alternis, Planet Factory come off the top of my head), but i dont want to mess up my existing stock saves. So what i'd like to do is making another independent install and mod it heavily.

Is it possible at all? Thanks in advance for the help!

Edited December 27, 2013 by 3mon

[FenrirWolf]

Just copy your Kerbal Space Program folder to another directory and it will be a fully functional copy of the game. On Windows it would be located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Kerbal Space Program

[3mon]

So i just go and copy it to another path and send the .exe as a shortcut to the desktop? I never paid attention to it and im in the office atm, hence the question: Is there a normal KSP.exe in there? Because the shortcut for KSP i have right now is a Steam one (rungameid:xxxxxx)....

[FenrirWolf]

Yup, there's a plain ol' EXE file in there.

[Sirrobert]

Yes, KSP can be run without steam. So you can have multiple KSP's installed at the same time.

Not a common thing on steam though

[3mon]

Cool, thanks! Will do as soon as i escape the cotton plantation

[SRV Ron]

Just copy the game folder to a different location and create a shortcut for the desktop from the KSC.exe. Highly recommended should you want to play with the alternate Kerbal mod.

[3mon]

Just copy the game folder to a different location and create a shortcut for the desktop from the KSC.exe. Highly recommended should you want to play with the alternate Kerbal mod.

Yup, that's exactly what im planning! I will probably make 2 more installs, one for Planet Factory and one for Alternis

[Dwight_js]

Hi all,

I've tried to copy my KSP folder to a location outside of the Steam folders, and the game launches fine, but a number of my in-progress flights are missing, and when I look at the game time it's a day earlier than in the Steam folder game. Are there save game files that are located outside of the KSP main folder that I also need to move?

Thanks.

[technicalfool]

Hi all,

I've tried to copy my KSP folder to a location outside of the Steam folders, and the game launches fine, but a number of my in-progress flights are missing, and when I look at the game time it's a day earlier than in the Steam folder game. Are there save game files that are located outside of the KSP main folder that I also need to move?

Thanks.

No idea about Steam specifically. However, if Steam has installed KSP into "c:\program files" anywhere (as opposed to SteamApps, assuming SteamApps isn't somewhere in c:\program files), then Windows Vista and 7 will redirect any write attempts to your Virtualstore location. This is usually in C:\Users\[YOUR USER NAME]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore.

This may or may not help, but it's worth a punt. Failing that, you could try a disk-wide search for *.sfs files?

Edited May 21, 2014 by technicalfool

[Dwight_js]

if Steam has installed KSP into "c:\program files" anywhere (as opposed to SteamApps), then Windows Vista and 7 will redirect any write attempts to your Virtualstore location. This is usually in C:\Users\[YOUR USER NAME]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore.

This may or may not help, but it's worth a punt. Failing that, you could try a disk-wide search for *.sfs files?

Interesting, I'll have to take a look at that. Thanks for the suggestion.

My overall goal is to avoid KSP being upgraded when the next version comes out. Can I accomplish this by using the KSP.exe in the Steam folder? Or do I have to move KSP right out of the Steam folders?

[technicalfool]

Can I accomplish this by using the KSP.exe in the Steam folder? Or do I have to move KSP right out of the Steam folders?

In this case, I think you do have to copy the whole game out of the normal install folder. Steam has a tendency to auto-update things unless you specifically tell it not to (and even then, you're giving it a polite request and not an order).

Not like it's a major big deal though, so long as you have the disk space. KSP doesn't use sucky DRM (hello Steamworks) that would stop you from copying the whole KSP folder wherever you like. Or even, zipping the folder up into an archive of older KSP versions for posterity.

[SRV Ron]

Interesting, I'll have to take a look at that. Thanks for the suggestion.

My overall goal is to avoid KSP being upgraded when the next version comes out. Can I accomplish this by using the KSP.exe in the Steam folder? Or do I have to move KSP right out of the Steam folders?

KSP is totally independent of the Steam Client. Just copy the entire folder to another location and create a shortcut icon to the desktop. That folder can be located anywhere such as another hard drive. You then run that copy totally independent from Steam.

You can also create test copies if you want to add mods to the game. That way, you won't have to worry about corrupting the original install or having mods fail to work when the game gets updated in the Steam folder.

[Dwight_js]

Hmmmmmm. I've copied the KSP folder out to the Program Files (x86) folder a couple of times now, but every time that I fire up the program and start my savegame, it's a day earlier, I've got one fewer tech nodes unlocked, and as a result I'm missing satellites.

I've compared the persistent file, and it shows all the same tech nodes available. I haven't seen where it records the date yet, but unless that's different, I'm at a loss for why I don't get the identical game state loaded in the copied version.

[Dwight_js]

Well, I seem to have found a solution. I launched my Steam copy and made a quicksave, then I copied the save folder over to the non-Steam copy. Loading the quicksave moved me forward to the correct time and loaded the missing vessels.

Now I just have to find out where the GUIs for Kethane, Engineer, and my life support went....

[Dwight_js]

So I copied the KSP folder to the root of my C: drive, and it runs fine right out of the box. Seems like the permissions restrictions in the Program Files folder causes all kinds of problems if you move your game there.

Only question left: When I launched my C:/ksp copy, it tried to connect to the internet! I had my firewall block it since my whole goal is to stop it from upgrading when the new version comes out. Does the non-Steam version of KSP also communicate with the web when launched, or is there something that Steam installs that persistently tries to make contact?

[SRV Ron]

So I copied the KSP folder to the root of my C: drive, and it runs fine right out of the box. Seems like the permissions restrictions in the Program Files folder causes all kinds of problems if you move your game there.

You are correct. The x86 program folder causes all kinds of problems when Windows 7 redirecting saves and other things to strange locations. KSP will run from a D drive or even an external backup device.

Only question left: When I launched my C:/ksp copy, it tried to connect to the internet! I had my firewall block it since my whole goal is to stop it from upgrading when the new version comes out. Does the non-Steam version of KSP also communicate with the web when launched, or is there something that Steam installs that persistently tries to make contact?

Use the KSP.exe to start the program. Using Launcher.exe causes KSP to check their website for updates.