What are the best Kerbal Space Program mods?

Question

38

Options
Considered

226

User
Recs.

Aug 12, 2018

Last
Updated

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The Best 2 of 38 OptionsWhy?

Best Kerbal Space Program mods	Price	Last Updated
94 Kerbal Engineer Redux	-	Aug 7, 2018
90 Environmental Visual Enhancements	-	Jul 31, 2018
86 Active Texture Management	-	May 18, 2018
-- Chatterer	-	Jul 31, 2018
-- Infernal Robotics	-	Aug 8, 2018

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36 Other Options Considered

Active Texture Management

Top Pro

Reduces texture memory use, including mod textures

All textures can be compressed & resized to save RAM. There are two modes of compression - basic and aggressive. Both compress to DXT and generate minimaps for all non-normal map textures, with aggressive mode having a max of 256x256 and basic mode having a max of 512x512 size for normal maps that it resizes to half the size. See More

Top Con

ATM becomes ineffective as most mods texture file use .dds format

Top Pro

Can save vast amounts of space

In some cases up to 50% of space is saved. See More

Top Con

Adding more system memory might be a better option now that KSP support 64 bit

Top Pro

Aggressive mode eliminates the need for texture reduction packs for mods

Active Texture Management will optimize all textures to use less memory so there's no need to use separate texture reduction packs for each mod. It you choose to use texture reduction packs regardless, you might need to edit the config file at: BoulderCo/textureCompressorConfigs/textureCompressor.tcfg See More

Top Con

Slight increase in initial game load time

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Hot Rockets

Top Pro

Improves engine effects

Top Pro

Very low memory cost

Hyper Edit

Add Video or Image

Cargo Transportation Solutions

Add Video or Image

Final Frontier

Top Pro

Allows Kerbals to get awards

Triggertech Alarm Clock

Top Pro

Mission Alerts & Overview

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score 52 · Accepted Answer

Kerbal Engineer Redux

Top Pro

Shows important statistics when building crafts and in-flight

Shows important statistics when building crafts (mass, deltaV, thrust, ISP - while on Kerbin, in vacuum, or on other atmospheric bodies) and in-flight (all of the above + periapsis, apoapsis, orbital period, time to ap, time to pe and many many more). See More

Top Con

Less readable than some alternatives

The same information is presented in a more intuitive and readable way by DMagic's "Basic Delta V" and "Basic Orbit". See More

Top Pro

Helps with design, flying, transfers, orbital encounters, etc

Top Pro

This is not an autopilot

As opposed to MechJeb, which is considered "cheats". KER helps a ton by providing already available info in a very accessible manner. See More

The Best 2 of 38 OptionsWhy?

My Recommendation for Kerbal Engineer Redux

My Recommendation for Kerbal Engineer Redux

Shows important statistics when building crafts and in-flight

Less readable than some alternatives

Helps with design, flying, transfers, orbital encounters, etc

This is not an autopilot

My Recommendation for Environmental Visual Enhancements

My Recommendation for Environmental Visual Enhancements

Allows choosing only the wanted enhancements and skipping others

8K textures don't work on Macs

Elmo Elmo

Prettifies the game

36 Other Options Considered

My Recommendation for Active Texture Management

My Recommendation for Active Texture Management

Reduces texture memory use, including mod textures

ATM becomes ineffective as most mods texture file use .dds format

Can save vast amounts of space

Adding more system memory might be a better option now that KSP support 64 bit

Aggressive mode eliminates the need for texture reduction packs for mods

Slight increase in initial game load time

My Recommendation for Chatterer

My Recommendation for Chatterer

Adds radio chatter

KSPFanatic 102

WorthyVejovis

My Recommendation for Infernal Robotics

My Recommendation for Infernal Robotics

Adds mechanical parts such as pistons, hinges, flanges and rotators

Not every part works correctly

KSPFanatic 102

My Recommendation for Tweakscale

My Recommendation for Tweakscale

Makes career mode easy

Change Object Size

KSPFanatic 102

My Recommendation for Distant Objects

My Recommendation for Distant Objects

Polish game

KSPFanatic 102

My Recommendation for ScanSat

My Recommendation for ScanSat

Create maps

Helps with landing the spacecraft

My Recommendation for Hot Rockets

My Recommendation for Hot Rockets

Improves engine effects

Very low memory cost

My Recommendation for Texture Replacer

My Recommendation for Texture Replacer

Let's you change textures

Some bugs and issues installing textures

KSPFanatic 102

My Recommendation for Mechjeb

My Recommendation for Mechjeb

Very nice for simulations and beginners

Feels like cheating

KSPFanatic 102

Has autopilot features

Makes the game very easy

Automates some tasks, while still keeping you in charge

My Recommendation for Hyper Edit

My Recommendation for Hyper Edit

My Recommendation for Navyfish Docking Port Alignment

My Recommendation for Navyfish Docking Port Alignment

Adds a display that assists in docking

Most of the features are already in game

My Recommendation for Dmagic Orbital Science

My Recommendation for Dmagic Orbital Science

Adds a lot of science equipment

Can get very confusing

My Recommendation for Connected Living Space

My Recommendation for Connected Living Space

This has been added to the vanilla game in 0.25

Allows moving Kerbals between connected spaces

My Recommendation for Cargo Transportation Solutions

My Recommendation for Cargo Transportation Solutions

My Recommendation for Final Frontier

My Recommendation for Final Frontier