If You Could Make a Mod, What Would it Be Like?

[Thomas988]

Modelling is hard. Texturing is hard. Coding is hard. Making mods is hard!

I, along with what I'll assume is many of you all, have no clue on how to make a mod. But that doesn't stop us from thinking "Man, I wish I could make that into a mod!" So, supposing you could make a mod of your own, what would it be like?

It's hard to say what I would make. Probably something with warp drives and other solar systems. Because...why not? Anyways, I'm interested in hearing your ideas for mods!

EDIT: As a sidenote, if this thread should be somewhere else, feel free to move it, mods.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Thomas988

[Sirrobert]

I have the utmost respect for modders, mostly because I would never be able to do something like that myself.

Both in skill, and in creativity. I'm pritty good at imagining how a concept would play out, but I suck at thinking of new concepts.

Fun story about my modding experience: I once wanted to add an enchantment from 1 Skyrim mod onto a set of boots from another mod.

It took me 2 hours and 5 trys to get it right

[Alshain]

First, let me say: wrong forum. But until a moderator moves it, let me say coding isn't hard it's just thinking like a computer that people have trouble with. To me you can say "What do you think about it?" but a computer would respond with "what does "it" refer to?" In coding you have to learn to be very specific even to a point of redundancy.

"If a equals b and c" is not the same thing as "If a equals b and a equals c"

Coding isn't hard. Modeling on the other hand, that's artistic stuff I can't do. I'm still learning the API for KSP but I will never be able to make parts.

[problemecium]

I presume this thread is not for those who can and do make mods, but until that rule is made official let it be known that I would make exactly what is in my signature.

Actually I suppose we can use this thread for dreaming about mods we still aren't qualified to undertake. Someday I think it'd be cool to make a mod that adds more solar systems, but not in the way the Planet Factory derivatives have been doing it. I'd have KSP store ships in the save file with a line indicating which star system they're in; there'd then be a menu in the Tracking Station to choose a system to view and load that system in the planetarium as if it were the Kerbol system. There would also be some mechanic for discovering new stars using a telescope or something, with a pseudorandom generator for the planets, and when a ship exits the "SOI" of Kerbol or another star it immediately transitions to the SOI of whichever star it was heading towards.

I have all kinds of ideas for implementing this, but I'm not really up to the scripting challenge - I don't even know if KSP can currently support this without bugging out on a whole new level.

[Moss]

I dunno bout mods. But I'd definitely make the standalone "Kerbal Train Simulator"

[General Rarity]

I dunno bout mods. But I'd definitely make the standalone "Kerbal Train Simulator"

That's... not a bad idea.

[FleetAdmiralJ]

First, let me say: wrong forum. But until a moderator moves it, let me say coding isn't hard it's just thinking like a computer that people have trouble with.

With me, I know how to code (generally), I just don't know C# specifically .

For me, I like to make some base and space station parts. I know there are already some mods for those, but quality ones seem few and far between. The problem for me on those is the actual modeling part, both the software and the skill to actually do the "art" part of it

[Sirine]

I wish to turn Kerbin to a 35 degree angle.

[GoSlash27]

Kerbal Propulsion Laboratory.

You can design and build new non- stock parts (wings, engines, etc.) through a virtual "KPL" facility, but here's the kicker: The add-on generates the final part through your experimenting with parameters in the interface. You could have a virtual materials lab, virtual wind tunnel, etc. The better you understand the real world physics, the better parts you can make.

[Tw1]

That's... not a bad idea.

I attempted a railway mod, but ran into problems.

I'd consider giving it another go if someone could do some code for it.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Tw1

[Thomas988]

I attempted a railway mod, but ran into problems.

I feel like that's a pun. If it is, that's funny. If it isn't, I'm insane.

[Voculus]

A runway that can float on water.

[Wanderfound]

I'm kinda amused by the idea of Kerbal Laboratory Simulator.

Research labs blow up plenty often already (uni labs tend to have OH&S standards on par with a Chinese coal mine; I saw several researchers blasted or poisoned into hospital during my time as a scientist); adding Kerbals to the mix should produce something akin to Terry Pratchett's alchemists.

[SkyHook]

I feel like that's a pun. If it is, that's funny. If it isn't, I'm insane.

A good pun would be this: "I tried to create a railway mod, but it went off track"....now that's funny!

Anyway, my mod would be a total conversion mod with the latest and greatest in ISRU and Life Support technologies and parts for every playstyle.

[metaphor]

I presume this thread is not for those who can and do make mods, but until that rule is made official let it be known that I would make exactly what is in my signature.

Actually I suppose we can use this thread for dreaming about mods we still aren't qualified to undertake. Someday I think it'd be cool to make a mod that adds more solar systems, but not in the way the Planet Factory derivatives have been doing it. I'd have KSP store ships in the save file with a line indicating which star system they're in; there'd then be a menu in the Tracking Station to choose a system to view and load that system in the planetarium as if it were the Kerbol system. There would also be some mechanic for discovering new stars using a telescope or something, with a pseudorandom generator for the planets, and when a ship exits the "SOI" of Kerbol or another star it immediately transitions to the SOI of whichever star it was heading towards.

I have all kinds of ideas for implementing this, but I'm not really up to the scripting challenge - I don't even know if KSP can currently support this without bugging out on a whole new level.

That is exactly the mod I was thinking of. I didn't think of using save files though, that's a neat idea. I was thinking of using different save games for different systems. So once your ship went a certain distance away from a star (like 200 million km), a menu would open up showing all the available systems to travel to, which it could do if it had some kind of warp drive part on the ship. Then you could go out to the main menu and load a game with the name of the other system, where the ship would appear at some point far away from the star (although save files might be a better idea). The planets could be procedurally generated like in Space Engine. I have an idea of the probability distributions of the randomized parameters of planets. But I'm kinda waiting for some mod that can make planet parameters more visible and easier to change.

[Mitchz95]

I'd like something that makes fuel flow a little more logical and/or intuitive.

[Guber K.]

I think I'd do a mod that had different natural resources that could be mined/gathered. Those resources would then need to be researched or refined into new materials that could be used to build better or different parts. It would expand the R&D part of the game.

[timsfitz]

I would love the ability to make actual starships the Kerbals can move around in like The Enterprise or other science fiction ships. The game is set in current technology setting. I would like it to continue as the game years progress and science is gathered to have more futuristic ships possible.

[Xacktar]

My mod would allow people to pick the design and layout of their own Space Center... then they could pick a place on the equator for it to be at. The kicker? Up to 8 friends could do the same and show up on your planet, the game would read activity from your friends and show news alerts and track their launches as they play. You would also get monthly newspapers like Simcity 2000 used to do, detailing the success (and major fails) that happened that month.

Ah, in my dreams...

[Rusty6899]

I'd make a command pod with a hand crank generator installed and a remote guidance unit with a small solar panel already attached.

I might try to make more uses for EVAs, particularly with more realistic damage modelling which required skilled Kerbals to carry out repairs and manual construction in orbit. Basically, Kerbals would have a crow bar and some gaffa tape and could prise apart or stick together two parts. Moving parts around would work a lot like docking, but with a Kerbal(s) holding them and using EVA propellant. I'd also make a few changes to science, contracts etc. just to see if I could make them any better.

I haven't used any mods yet (although I think I might start fairly soon) so I don't know how much of this is already available.

[SpacedCowboy]

I would love two or three more KSC's to launch from!

[G'th]

There's two mods I'd really love to make if I had the knowledge and ability.

The first one is a definitive Space Shuttle replica that's actually modular (So you can use the parts to create your own versions from the ground up).

The second is a mod for various atmosphere effects and other things. Things like huge clouds of launch steam, visible sound barriers being broken (ala Saturn V pictures), etc etc.

[Vanamonde]

As the subject of this discussion is mods, the thread has been moved to the Add-on discussion sub-forum.

[merendel]

If I had the time, inclination, or knowlage to actualy code up a mod (tweeks to parts dont count thats easy) I'd probably not make a mod that added parts or significant new mechanics. I'd try to make a mod that allowed a player to force various nodes to be visible despite KSP hiding them to reduce clutter. Close approach possition nodes in particular are very twitchy if your not already very close to dead on hiting the orbit of your target. This gave me no end of hairpulling moments trying to intercept moho. Being able to turn on equatorial AN/DN for your current orbit would also be rather nice.

[Master Tao]

One I've considered would make a great addition to Distant Object Enhancement. I've wanted to make a optical telescope mod that would procedurally generate deep field views based on the skybox.