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Installation

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ballisticfox edited this page Dec 28, 2025 · 7 revisions

Installation | DISCLAIMER: DO NOT FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS UNLESS THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN REMOVED

This page is currently under active-development and is subject to change

Sol has two primary methods of installation, CKAN and a manual install.

Sol has 5 different presets built for player's ease, these are: RP-1, Real, Quarter, Stockalike, Custom.

Sol has the ability vary planet texture resolution per-system, because of this, CKAN will walk you through each system allowing you to choose a resolution to install. I've provided what I would personally recommend for each preset but these will obviously vary from player to player.

It is recommended that most users use CKAN to install Sol.

CKAN / RP-1

  1. Search RP-1 Express Install, select it.
  2. Hit apply, when prompted with the option between RealSolarSystem and Sol, select the latter.
  3. When prompted with a preset, select RP-1.
  4. You will then be prompted with a texture resolution for each system, the following are highly recommended:
 1. Mercury:        8k
<---------------------->
 2. Venus:          8k
<---------------------->
 3. Earth-System:  16k
<---------------------->
 4. Mars-System:   16k
<---------------------->
 5. Jupiter-System: 8k
<---------------------->
 6. Saturn-System:  8k
<---------------------->
 7. Uranus-System:  4k
<---------------------->
 8. Neptune-System: 4k
<---------------------->
 9. Asteroid-Belt:  4k
<---------------------->
10. Kuiper-Belt:    4k
  1. Install blackrack's volumetric clouds V5 manually, the V3 version on CKAN will not work.

CKAN / Real

  1. Search Sol-ExpressInstall, select it.
  2. Hit apply, when prompted with a preset, select Real.
  3. You will then be prompted with a texture resolution for each system, the following are highly recommended:
 1. Mercury:        8k
<---------------------->
 2. Venus:          8k
<---------------------->
 3. Earth-System:  16k
<---------------------->
 4. Mars-System:   16k
<---------------------->
 5. Jupiter-System: 8k
<---------------------->
 6. Saturn-System:  8k
<---------------------->
 7. Uranus-System:  8k
<---------------------->
 8. Neptune-System: 8k
<---------------------->
 9. Asteroid-Belt:  8k
<---------------------->
10. Kuiper-Belt:    8k
  1. Install blackrack's volumetric clouds V5 manually, the V3 version on CKAN will not work.

CKAN / Quarter

  1. Search Sol-ExpressInstall, select it.
  2. Hit apply, when prompted with a preset, select Quarter.
  3. You will then be prompted with a texture resolution for each system, the following are highly recommended:
 1. Mercury:        4k
<---------------------->
 2. Venus:          8k
<---------------------->
 3. Earth-System:  16k
<---------------------->
 4. Mars-System:   16k
<---------------------->
 5. Jupiter-System: 8k
<---------------------->
 6. Saturn-System:  8k
<---------------------->
 7. Uranus-System:  4k
<---------------------->
 8. Neptune-System: 4k
<---------------------->
 9. Asteroid-Belt:  4k
<---------------------->
10. Kuiper-Belt:    8k
  1. Install blackrack's volumetric clouds V5 manually, the V3 version on CKAN will not work.

CKAN / Stockalike

  1. Search Sol-ExpressInstall, select it.
  2. Hit apply, when prompted with a preset, select Stockalike.
  3. You will then be prompted with a texture resolution for each system, the following are highly recommended:
 1. Mercury:        4k
<---------------------->
 2. Venus:          4k
<---------------------->
 3. Earth-System:   8k
<---------------------->
 4. Mars-System:    8k
<---------------------->
 5. Jupiter-System: 8k
<---------------------->
 6. Saturn-System:  8k
<---------------------->
 7. Uranus-System:  4k
<---------------------->
 8. Neptune-System: 4k
<---------------------->
 9. Asteroid-Belt:  4k
<---------------------->
10. Kuiper-Belt:    4k
  1. Install blackrack's volumetric clouds V5 manually, the V3 version on CKAN will not work.

CKAN / Custom

  1. Search Sol-ExpressInstall, select it.
  2. Hit apply, when prompted with a preset, select Custom.
  3. You will then be prompted with a choice of system scale, your options are Real, Quarter, Stock

Real scale attempts to accurately represent our solar system to its full capacity, this is about 10.63x stock scale. This will require either SMURFF or RSS-Adapter to play properly as stock parts aren't balanced for this size.

Quarter scale will scale the system down by 1/4th its real size, this is about 2.65x stock scale. This scale is appropriately balanced for stock parts and even recommended for mods like BDB.

Stock scale will scale the system down by 1/9th its real size, this is about 1.18x stock scale. This scale allows you to freely explore our solar system with minimal hassle.

  1. You will then be prompted with a choice of systemReferenceFrame, your options are Ecliptic, ICRF

Ecliptic attempts to match everything with Earth's ecliptic plane as a reference of 0 degrees. This setting also puts moons in reference to their parent body's equator. In general this will feel very close to stock or KSRSS.

ICRF uses Earth's equator at the epoch as the reference, there are no additional coordinate transforms, some systems may seem tilted or even vertical which is closer to reality, but with KSP's limitations related to axial tilt, may feel strange.

  1. You will then be prompted with a choice of LunaReferenceFrame, your options are Ecliptic, Equatorial, ICRF

Ecliptic - Inclination of 5.16 degrees, relative to Earth's orbital plane.

Equatorial - Inclination of 28.73, tilted relative to Earth's tilt.

ICRF - uses the ICRF reference frame, tilted 23.52 degrees, the inclination here would come from axial tilt and LAN placement but due to KSP lacking axial tilt it causes problems for users as it doesn't pass over Cape Canaveral like it would in real life.

  1. Install blackrack's volumetric clouds V5 manually, the V3 version on CKAN will not work.

Manual Install

Warning: There is an expectation you know how to install mods manually, it is recommended you use CKAN.

Set Up:

Use a fresh KSP install, technically not required but will minimize breaking things

If you are using RP-1, install it via CKAN now.

Completely remove old Sol Versions, RealSolarSystem/KSRSS/RSS-Reborn suite

For Sol this is Sol-Configs and Sol-Textures

For RSS this is RealSolarSystem, RSSVE and RSS-Textures

For KSRSS this is KSRSS and possibly AtmosphericBeats

For RSS-Reborn this is RSS-Configs, RSS-Terrain, RSS-Textures, RSSVE-Configs and RSSVE-Textures

Download the package at the resolution you want, hit the "continue to:" link to bring you to the next page

Preset Information

RP-1:

SystemScale: Real
SystemReferenceFrame: ICRF
LunaReferenceFrame: Equatorial
  • RP-1 Biomes Addon reduces the biomes to the same number as base RSS.

Real:

SystemScale: Real
SystemReferenceFrame: ICRF
LunaReferenceFrame: Equatorial
  • No Notes

Quarter:

SystemScale: Quarter
SystemReferenceFrame: Ecliptic
LunaReferenceFrame: Equatorial
  • No Notes

Stockalike

SystemScale: Stock
SystemReferenceFrame: Ecliptic
LunaReferenceFrame: Ecliptic
  • I suggest using FR - Kourou as your launchsite as it is relatively close to the equator.

Player Information

Planets & Technical

Credits & Licensing

  • [Credits]
  • [Licensing]

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