Difference between revisions of "Tutorial:Making a planet"

Revision as of 05:06, 14 July 2015

It was never very easy to create planets in KSP - it often required decompiling, which is against the EULA. After a long time looking, a mod called Kopernicus was released and found, making it easy to make planets.

Specifications

• Length: 15-30 minutes
• Difficulty: Medium
• For version: 1.0.x

Steps

1. Obtaining the prequisites

You will need:

• A text editor
• An image editor
• Kopernicus 0.1

Many developers prefer text editors like Notepad++, a rather advanced program. Image editors usually are advanced, but even Paint would work. You can find Kopernicus here.

2. Setting up the basic file

Create a file, and name it: PLANET.cfg Change PLANET to your planet or moon's name. Inside the file, write this in:

@Kopernicus:AFTER[Kopernicus]
{
 Body
 {
 }
}

This declares that the file is a Kopernicus configuration file and a celestial body.

3. Adding the essential modules

Kopernicus configs are broken up into different segments described as in this tutorial as modules. An @ symbol before a module overrides the existing module - allowing for Kerbin to turn orange or something. It is unknown whether children of modules are affected by the parent's overriding. The 2 required modules are Properties and Orbit. They require several parameters, listed here:

Properties
{
 description = in game description
 radius = half of the diameter of the planet - used to define size of sphere with texture
 geeASL = planet's gravity in Kerbin gravities
}
Orbit
{
 inclination = distance at ascending node from horizontal in degrees, relative to the parent's equator
 eccentricity = unknown, perhaps the ratio of pe:ap and vice versa after 0.5
 semiMajorAxis = average of pe and ap: pe + ap / 2 = this
 longitudeOfAscendingNode = unknown, perhaps distance from 12:00 in degrees relative to the parent | set to 0 for max safety
 argumentOfPeriapsis = unknown, set to 0
 meanAnomalyAtEpoch = ^
 epoch = ^
 referenceBody = body the planet is orbiting, Kerbol is Sun
}

4. Choosing what to do

Use the code bible below to help you find what you want to do.

Done!

At the moment, coding in Kopernicus is not completed, due to the enormity of the subject. It will be done soon.