Illustrated Guide Chapter 0: Installing and Patching

#Chapter 0: Installing and Patching

I'll begin with a new mostly-clean install of KSP 0.25. I've installed the current versions of Ferram Aerospace Research because I prefer not to fly in stock aerodynamics if I can avoid it, and Procedural Fairings because fairings are important to get the full benefits of FAR. I've also installed Active Texture Management because I'd rather not be interrupted by out-of-memory crashes. Here's what my KSP install looks like:

If you have had any previous version of Interstellar or Interstellar Lite installed, delete GameData/Interstellar, GameData/WarpPlugin, GameData/OpenResourceSystem, GameData/ORSResourcePack, and GameData/TreeLoader if any of them are present. Also delete any copies of these folders or any of their contents located anywhere else in your KSP directory.

##Installing Interstellar

I've downloaded Interstellar 0.13 from https://bitbucket.org/FractalUK/kspinstellar/downloads/KSPInterstellar-v0.13.zip and extracted the zip file to a temporary folder:

Copy OpenResourceSystem,ORSResourcePack, and WarpPlugin from the archive's GameData folder to the GameData in your KSP install. Do not copy TreeLoader if you're on KSP 0.25 or higher. TreeLoader hasn't been updated for several KSP versions and no longer works. We'll install the replacement, TechManager, in the next step. Copy ModuleManager over if you don't already have ModuleManager 2.5.0 or higher, and delete any older versions that were installed. Here's what my GameData looks like now:

##Installing TechManager

Download TechManager from https://kerbalstuff.com/mod/297/TechManager and install it by copying the TechManager folder in the zip into GameData.

##Patching

KSP 0.25 corrected a long-standing bug with part scaling, causing several models that appeared at the intended size in 0.24.2 and below to appear undersized in 0.25. Some fuel tanks that start empty or partially filled by default have negative empty costs. I've compiled the best fixes I've been able to find and added a few of my own.

You can download the patches from https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qb2vxu06hjadq0/KSPI_scale_fixes.cfg?dl=0 or copy the code from here into a .cfg file using your favorite text editor. Install KSPI_scale_fixes.cfg in GameData or any subfolder of GameData. ModuleManager will process the patches no matter where you install the file, so choose a location that will make sense if you need to find it again. I put it at the top level of GameData so it's easy to see and clear that it's not part of the Interstellar package; depending on how cluttered your GameData is, you might prefer to put it under WarpPlugin to make it easier to remember that it modifies Interstellar.

// Corrections for Interstellar parts whose scale factors were affected by
//  changes in KSP 0.25

@PART[AluminiumHybrid1]:AFTER[WarpPlugin] {
    @MODEL {
        @scale = 1, 1, 1
    }
}
//Magnetic Nozzle and ATTILA fixes by Jim Meillente

@PART[KSPIMagneticNozzle1]:AFTER[WarpPlugin]
{
    @MODEL,0
    {    
        @scale = 0.825,0.7,0.825
    }
    @node_stack_top = 0.0, 0.401, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 1
    @node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.21, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 1
}
@PART[KSPIMagneticNozzle2]:AFTER[WarpPlugin]
{
    @MODEL,0
    {
        @scale = 1.675,1.4,1.675
    }
    @node_stack_top = 0.0, 0.80, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2
    @node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.50, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2
}
@PART[KSPIMagneticNozzle3]:AFTER[WarpPlugin]
{
    @MODEL,0
    {
        @scale = 2.5,2.1,2.5
    }
    @node_stack_top = 0.0, 1.205, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 3
    @node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.75, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 3
}

@PART[FNSmallerAugmentedArcjet]:AFTER[WarpPlugin]
{
    @MODEL,0
    {
        @scale = 0.825,1.18,0.825
    }
}
@PART[FNSmallAugmentedArcjet]:AFTER[WarpPlugin]
{
    @MODEL,0
    {
        @scale = 0.80,0.55,0.80
    }
}

@PART[BigXenonTank]:AFTER[WarpPlugin] {
    @MODEL {
        @scale = 1, 1, 1
    }
    @scale = 1
    @rescaleFactor = 4
}

@PART[AntimatterTank*]:AFTER[WarpPlugin] {
    costOfResources = #$/RESOURCE[Antimatter]/maxAmount$

    // We should be able to pull the cost of antimatter from the resource
    //  definition. Since that runs into a bug in versions of ModuleManager
    //  below 2.5.3, I've copied and pasted the current number.
    // @costOfResources *= #$@RESOURCE_DEFINITION[Antimatter]/unitCost$
    @costOfResources *= 4819.22

    @cost += #$costOfResources$
    !costOfResources = null
}

@PART[FNDeuteriumCryostat2] {
    // If I subtract this tank's 18,000 deuterium and the 1.25m tank's 2,250
    //  tritium from the configured cost, I get √2,350 empty cost.
    // This figure is calculated to give the same √2,350 empty cost using the
    //  correct 18,000 tritium.
    @cost = 41,486,042.8
}

##Starting a Career

When you start a career save with TechManager installed, you will see a prompt to select which tech tree configurations will be enabled in this save.

If Interstellar is your only mod that uses a custom tech tree, enable TechManager and select "Unofficial KSPI" as the only active tree.

The beginning of a career with Interstellar is similar to stock. A few resource tanks that are used along multiple branches of the tree are added to the "Start" node, but you won't need to use them until later.

You will likely see the message "An update to the KSP Interstellar tech tree is available."

This is a check that the Interstellar plugin performs to ensure that TreeLoader is configured correctly. Go ahead and hit "install" to keep Interstellar from asking in the future. Because we aren't actually using TreeLoader, you can ignore the message telling you to restart KSP.

Next: Chapter 1 - Heat and Radiators