Plugins
Plugins are user-made addons which add to or change the behavior of KSP. They consist of one or more DLL files written in the C# programming language. Plugins allow changing how the game itself works, anything from showing new information windows to making a hovercraft part, or even new planets. Plugin support was added to KSP in version 0.14, and is available on all operating systems.
Using Plugins
To use a Part Module Plugin, just drop the DLL into KSP/GameData/ or a new sub folder inside it. To stop using a plugin, just delete it or move it outside the KSP/GameData/ folder.
Creating Plugins
Plugins can be written in any text editor and compiled with a standalone compiler, but the easiest way to start coding is to use an Integrated Development Environment or IDE for short. An IDE is a program that helps you to write code (in our case the language C#). Listed here are some of the most popular options.
| IDE | License | Windows | Mac | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio | Freemium[1] | style="background: #9f9; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-yes" | Yes | style="background: #f99; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-no" | No | style="background: #f99; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-no" | No |
| MonoDevelop (aka Xamarin Studio) | LGPLv2 / MIT (Free) | style="background: #9f9; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-yes" | Yes | style="background: #9f9; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-yes" | Yes | style="background: #9f9; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-yes" | Yes |
| SharpDevelop | Open-source (Free) | style="background: #9f9; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-yes" | Yes | style="background: #f99; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-no" | No | style="background: #f99; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-no" | No |
| JetBrains Rider | Commercial/Some open-source | style="background: #9f9; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-yes" | Yes | style="background: #9f9; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-yes" | Yes | style="background: #9f9; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;" class="table-yes" | Yes |
[1] Free without restrictions for individual users, larger teams have to pay to use multiple licences
Getting Started
See the below links for setting up your chosen IDE for building KSP plugins. Once you're ready to build, try creating your first module.
