Configuration

Configuration

All tunables live in GameData/Relativity/relativity.cfg, read via GameDatabase — no recompile to retune, and it is ModuleManager-patchable so modpacks can override it. Delete a line to use its code default, so the mod runs fine with an empty or absent file.

RELATIVITY
{
    betaMin = 0.01
    betaSane = 0.995
    debugMode = false
    kerbalismDilation = true
    attitudeExponent = 1
    kerbalismExcludedRules = radiation
    attitudeSkipModules = ModuleControlSurface, ModuleAeroSurface, ModuleGimbal
    rp1RetirementDilation = true
}

Keys

Key	Default	Meaning
betaMin	0.01	Activation gate. Below this β the whole layer is identity — no thrust correction, no resource scaling, dashboard idle. In-system speeds are always below it, so this keeps the mod interstellar-only. See The Physics#6-safety-guards.
betaSane	0.995	Kraken fail-safe ceiling. At or above this β the layer treats the vessel as glitched and disables (logs one line). Sits just above any legitimate drive.
debugMode	false	true = per-engine AddForce census + extra diagnostics in KSP.log; false = one aggregated line. The LCtrl+LAlt+C census respects this.
kerbalismDilation	true	Scale Kerbalism metabolic resource use (food/water/O₂/…) by 1/γ. Set false to leave Kerbalism untouched.
attitudeExponent	1	γ-exponent on rotation authority (The Physics#4-attitude-turning-slows-as-1γ). 1 = physical 1/γ; 0 disables the attitude slowdown (turning stays instant); higher = more sluggish.
kerbalismExcludedRules	radiation	Comma-separated Kerbalism rules left at coordinate time (not dilated). Radiation must stay here so dose keeps ticking at ×1.00 — this is the "radiation, not starvation" design. Stock and ROKerbalism both name it radiation.
attitudeSkipModules	ModuleControlSurface, ModuleAeroSurface, ModuleGimbal	ITorqueProvider modules not slowed by the attitude 1/γ. Every other torque provider (stock or modded reaction wheels / RCS) is auto-discovered and scaled — add a module here to exempt it.
rp1RetirementDilation	true	RP-1 only. Push a crew's retirement date forward by their accumulated dilation, so retirement counts the crew's proper time rather than the calendar. Independent of RP-1's own (capped) "interesting flight" extension.

Visual layer

The relativistic visual effects (Visuals) add their own keys to the same node. Only the player-facing ones are listed here — the full tuning surface (beam curve shape, floors/caps, white bleed, dither, sunflare shield…) is deliberately ModuleManager-only, with live dev sliders behind debugMode.

Key	Default	Meaning
dopplerVisual	true	Master switch — false never loads/applies the visual layer.
dopplerForceHDR	true	Force the flight camera stack to HDR while the layer is active (float buffers stop the beamed sky from banding). Sub-relativistic play keeps the stock LDR stack.
dopplerColorStrength	1.0	Hue-shift strength. 1.0 = physically exact timing (the sky dims aft faster than it visibly reddens); raise it to make the colour arrive ahead of the dimming.
dopplerAberration	true	Star-bunching sky warp (galaxy cubemap + live rear-detail camera above β ≈ 0.5). false = colour/beaming only.
dopplerBodyWarp	true	Also aberrate the apparent direction of planets/moons/sun (render-only; distance/size preserved).
dopplerVesselMask	true	Keep engine plumes at their stock colour (hidden plume-layer render; runs only while engine/RCS thrust is flowing). false = plumes ride the sky effect.
dopplerSuppressScattererTAA	true	Suspend Scatterer's own TAA while the visual is active (its projection jitter shimmers under beam amplification); restored after.

Optional / advanced

• doseBeamingExponent — an optional forward-beaming boost to radiation dose at high β (models blueshifted/beamed cosmic rays). Off by default (dose stays ×1.00). A positive value scales dose by roughly (γ(1+β))^exponent. Enabling it strengthens the radiation-is-the-constraint design. Add it to the node if you want it.

ModuleManager patching

Because the node loads through GameDatabase, ModuleManager is not required just to run the mod — it is only needed if you want to patch these values from another config. Example patch:

@RELATIVITY:FOR[YourModpack]
{
    @betaMin = 0.05
    @attitudeExponent = 0
}

See also

• The Physics — what each threshold actually controls.
• Compatibility — which of these keys matter for Kerbalism, RP-1, and autopilots.