I'm considering moving my KSP into steam

[Pawelk198604]

I bought game in 2012, i play it from time to time, i have steam i like it due it's 75%-85% discounts:D and possibility to buy interesting games not available in Poland.

I would wan't transfer game to steam but i'm afraid that mods will not work on it, and transferring my save files.

[federicoaa]

Why not, playing in steam is the same, just with the steam overlay.

Once you install the game on steam, just move the gamedata and saves folders from your previous install and you are done.

[Brofessional]

There's no difference between the two versions.

[Pawelk198604]

Why not, playing in steam is the same, just with the steam overlay.

Once you install the game on steam, just move the gamedata and saves folders from your previous install and you are done.

There's no difference between the two versions.

Does you prefer steam version over regular one version, does steam version have any advantages, in the end i once read that Squad not wanting to include Achievements, so there any good reason for a transfer?

[worir4]

Does you prefer steam version over regular one version, does steam version have any advantages, in the end i once read that Squad not wanting to include Achievements, so there any good reason for a transfer?

You get the Steam overlay which allows you to use stuff such as the web browser without having to alt tab. Mods work the same and so does pretty much everything else. I think neither versions will have achievements so there is not really much difference. Also steam version updates automatically. But really there is not much difference.

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

Agreed, no difference - only reason to get it n steam is to get auto-updates and to track how long you spend in-game!

You can add shortcut to KSP in steam if you don't want to pay again though...

[Norpo]

As a steam user:

The thing I like about the steam version is that you're not forced to run it on steam, since it comes with the KSP.exe inside the folder. Thus, if you choose for whatever reason you don't want the steam overlay tracking playtime, you find it takes up RAM and you never use it etc., you can just run it through the KSP.exe and not get any of the steam effects.

Some games require you to be online, but KSP doesn't, which is nice if for whatever reason your internet goes dead. So, I can't think of any DISADVANTAGES through running it with steam. Just don't expect some weird Steam-Only-Benefitstm[citation needed][1][2]

[1]: These exist?

[2]: May or may not exist.

[Ippo]

So, I can't think of any DISADVANTAGES through running it with steam.

I can think of one: mandatory updates. When a KSP update is available, you can't play unless you update the game - and if you play with many mods, you'll often want to delay upgrading by at least 2 weeks.

[Norpo]

I can think of one: mandatory updates. When a KSP update is available, you can't play unless you update the game - and if you play with many mods, you'll often want to delay upgrading by at least 2 weeks.

Hm, good catch. Does it also happen if you run it through the KSP.exe? I can imagine running it through the steam shortcut could cause problems, but i'm not entirely sure how it's updating system works. If it updates the folder on the fly without caching the files first, then it'd cause problems for sure.

I'll have to test that when 0.90 comes out, I guess.

[djnattyd]

I can think of one: mandatory updates. When a KSP update is available, you can't play unless you update the game - and if you play with many mods, you'll often want to delay upgrading by at least 2 weeks.

You can run KSP without ever opening Steam once it's downloaded. I was running 0.24 for three weeks after 0.25 was released before I updated. Not to mention, you can simply rename the KSP folder to something like Kerbal Space Program 0.25 and Steam won't touch it again.

[merendel]

You can also add a shortcut to your current KSP in steam that should alow you to use the overlay as well if you really wanted it. Just go to the games menu and select add Non-Steam game to library and browse to find ksp.exe. If you then launch the game from that shortcut in your steam library it will try to add the overlay to the game. I actually did this to world of Warcraft years ago when I still played that game and had steam overlay while raiding. I haven't specifically tested this trick with the non steam KSP but I dont see any reason why it wouldn't work. (note you'd still need to get your updates from the KSP downloader not steam)

[Corw]

I can think of one: mandatory updates. When a KSP update is available, you can't play unless you update the game - and if you play with many mods, you'll often want to delay upgrading by at least 2 weeks.

Updates are not mandatory. You can set any game in Steam not to be updated.

[merendel]

Updates are not mandatory. You can set any game in Steam not to be updated.

Many wont let you launch them from steam if it thinks they need an update however. You can sorta end run this by going to the beta setings and selecting an older version of KSP that matches what you had installed but they normaly only go back 1 or 2 versions.

[Alshain]

By far, the biggest advantage to Steam is that it does not suffer from launch overcrowding. No one ever comes on the forums and complains they can't download the newest patch from Steam, I see plenty of that from the Squad store. Simply put, Steam is a distribution service... it's what they do, and they do it well. They provide plenty of bandwidth for downloading, because they have to.

Squad on the other hand has limits which are set by what a small company can afford to provide. So when everyone tries to download that patch at once, you end up being denied for anywhere from a few hours to a week (extreme case).

Many wont let you launch them from steam if it thinks they need an update however. You can sorta end run this by going to the beta setings and selecting an older version of KSP that matches what you had installed but they normaly only go back 1 or 2 versions.

If you want to run an old version, just don't run it through Steam. All you lose is the overlay.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Alshain

[Ippo]

Does it also happen if you run it through the KSP.exe?

You can run KSP without ever opening Steam once it's downloaded.

At this point you are just basically not using it through steam, so there's no real incentive to moving it to steam... Note that I have it on steam, so I know how you can elude the updates, but if you have the store version, why bother?

Updates are not mandatory. You can set any game in Steam not to be updated.

However, what steam actually means is "I will not update it until you try to launch it, and then I'll update the first time you run the game". In fact, you will find a lot of threads of people complaining about that, if you try searching.

It's good that KSP lets you use the "beta" to stay at the previous version, though, so I'll use that come 0.90 (since I have finally found my ideal mod setup and I'm not willing to let it go just because an update came out...).

[LethalDose]

, so there any good reason for a transfer?

Uh, steam will track your game time... Which may or may not be a good thing...

[Richy teh space man]

Uh, steam will track your game time... Which may or may not be a good thing...

It doesn't track you if you run the ksp.exe from the directory itself.

If you do run it rhough Steam though you can post screenshots to your Steam profile.

[djnattyd]

At this point you are just basically not using it through steam, so there's no real incentive to moving it to steam... Note that I have it on steam, so I know how you can elude the updates, but if you have the store version, why bother

For the reason mentioned by Alshain.

[godefroi]

Here's the question; why NOT transfer to Steam? Squad already got their money, so it costs them nothing. As has been said already, nothing can beat Steam for getting new updates, and you can run your Steam KSP EXACTLY (EXACTLY) like you can run your non-Steam KSP, Steam doesn't need to be involved in any way. I, for example, keep an extra copy of my (Steam) KSP in a different folder for BTSM.

[JeanHavoc]

I also do not have the Steam version of KSP. Mostly because when I bought my copy there -was- no Steam version, and I've just elected not to change over. Primarily this is because I see no actual benefit to making the move. As it is you can put KSP into your Steam menu and launch it from there, and get the Steam overlay and take screenshots in Steam all without giving up your Store copy. Unless/until they can show me an actual benefit to doing something differently, I'm going to keep things as they are.

[Higgs]

My version is the steam version, mostly because that's how I discovered the game. I run off the included .exe from the DL so I don't have the overlay. It still tracks game time and auto updates. That being said the real difference between ksp.com version and steam is auto-updates from steam, time tracking (how long you have used the game) and that's it. Same game either way, just the source of where you get it is different. Think of it like this, it's like buying a movie at a discount store versus buying the same movie at a dedicated movie retailer. Same thing different place.

[The Destroyer]

I just like it for overlay and hour log.

[Bill Phil]

It gets tedious to move to other computers ( don't worry, they're mine!) but it does auto-update.

[jake9039]

so... have you heard of the beta program? it allows you to go back 1 update

[Sli 41]

Do it so you can see you logged 5 hours when you thought it was only 1.