Help me make KSP beautiful

[Red Iron Crown]

So I just built a new PC that should have enough graphical oomph to run visual improvement mods. I must admit that I am not up to date on the state of the art in VFX mods or how to make them work well, so I'm turning to the community for advice. What are the best mods to make KSP look great?

Some details:

- I play with stock parts for the most part and the stock system. Not looking for pretty part packs at this time, though there is a mod that makes stock parts prettier, isn't there?

- I use the Win32 version of KSP and would like to avoid ATM or -force-opengl if at all possible (is this reasonable?).

- I strongly dislike the lens flare effect, if a mod implements them and they can't be disabled then I'm not interested.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[zekes]

I like the Renaissance mod. It has dynamic lighting, clouds, and city lights, as well as re-tetures for a lot of stock parts.

[r4pt0r]

My recently began research into mods has shown me the Renaissance Compilation, and it looks really interesting. I'll be digging into it and others this weekend since the ones I want have all updated to .90 now.

So full disclosure here, I cant say if its any good from experience.

[Xaiier]

- I play with stock parts for the most part and the stock system. Not looking for pretty part packs at this time, though there is a mod that makes stock parts prettier, isn't there?

Yes, http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/92764

[michaelsteele3]

Okai tiem to make et fabuloz

stewp 1: Get glittar!

stewp 2: taws et on ur computor!

stewp 3: fabuloz! beutiful!

__-__-_-

But on a serious note, Renaissance.

[Ignath]

I agree with all the things posted thus far, but to answer your questions specifically:

- I play with stock parts for the most part and the stock system. Not looking for pretty part packs at this time, though there is a mod that makes stock parts prettier, isn't there?

Yes, Ven's Stock Part Revamp does this, as well as KSP Renaissance Compilation. You can use both at the same time but may have to remove some files due to compatibility issues. I'm not sure anymore (since Ven changed his install procedure with the most recent update) what happens with the 2 conflicting parts between packs, but removing them from one or the other is simple.

- I use the Win32 version of KSP and would like to avoid ATM or -force-opengl if at all possible (is this reasonable?).

Questionable as to whether this is reasonable or not. Renaissance compilation has the requirement of other mods to run (Environmental Visual Effects (EVE) for the clouds and city lights effects and Texture Replacer (to change kerbal faces, hair, suits, planet textures, skybox), PlanetShine to get a nice reflective effect of the planet on your vehicle, RSS to get rid of the white horizon, Custom Asteroids for Rings around planets, Distant Object Enhancement for more accurate skybox rendering when looking into the sun (no visible stars due to brightness)). Guess it just depends on how big your GameData folder and the memory footprint gets, but I had it (Renaissance) installed with a few other mods and crashed constantly from memory restrictions. ATM completely reduces this (I have 23 mods installed currently, including Renaissance and over 1Gb of overhead on RAM right now w/ATM.).

It also depends on what exactly you want. Renaissance includes Rings around Jool and some other things to space as well. Some of these mods can be left out if you just want a "stock" look with enhanced visuals and clouds.

My suggestion would be to install everything without ATM and try to load up and see...if you crash due to memory, install ATM BASIC and test again. My guess is the BASIC pack of ATM will do, as it doesn't sound like you plan on installing much else in the way of mods.

- I strongly dislike the lens flare effect, if a mod implements them and they can't be disabled then I'm not interested.

Renaissance has a lens flare effect, but I don't believe the .assets file is the same in .90 as it was in .25 (you have to change a .assets file in the KSP_Data folder to install the lens flare) so it wouldn't work. You also have to install it yourself, so if you don't install it, it's not changed.

[Red Iron Crown]

Thanks for the recommendations, I had a chance to mess around with this stuff last night and thought I'd report my results so far:

- Ven's Stock Revamp is gorgeous, though it does add a few non-stock parts. Highly recommended for stock part players.

- I had trouble getting the Renaissance mod working, but had good success with Better Atmospheres. Clouds, city lights, rings for Jool, just beautiful.

- No ATM or force-opengl was required on my lightly modded Win32 install.

- I don't think of myself as a shallow, appearance-oriented person, but the better visual effects have greatly improved my enjoyment of the game. Some of the wonder of seeing things from orbit for the first time has been restored to this old player, and I was definitely secreting endorphins when I watched Jool rise from Laythe orbit.

Next up: HotRockets

[r4pt0r]

-scissors activate

I don't think of myself as a shallow, appearance-oriented person, but the better visual effects have greatly improved my enjoyment of the game. Some of the wonder of seeing things from orbit for the first time has been restored to this old player, and I was definitely secreting endorphins when I watched Jool rise from Laythe orbit.

I completely understand. just adding purely graphical mods make a world of difference to me as well. GTA4, Half-life 1&2, Elderscrolls games, all can get a breath of fresh air from a fresh coat of paint. It can make it feel like a new world.

[John FX]

Planetshine. Simulates light reflected off the body you are orbiting. Subtle but good.

EVE (obviously)

Ambient Light Adjustment (might not play well with planetshine, depends which you prefer)

Realplume (Needs to be installed with Ckan AFAIK, can`t find a thread) makes better exhausts in vacuum etc.

There is more but I have to take my dog to the vets right now.