Tutorial:Changing Part Configuration Files

Introduction

This tutorial will explain how to change your part.CFG files to edit certain parts. This tutorial does NOT explain how to edit the actual part appearances. This tutorial assumes you are using KSP with the ARM patch (0.23.5) or higher versions. The main topics covered here will be:

• Finding the file(s) on windows or mac.
• Changing the name or description of the part.
• Changing the amount of fuel, etc. and the issues associated with that.

Specifications

• Difficulty = Hard
• Estimated Time of Completion = As little as 15 minutes. Longer if you edit more than one file.

WARNING

As with any computer program, editing the files comes with the inherent risk that you could damage the program. This tutorial SHOULD NOT damage your game, but the KSP Wiki cannot guarantee that your game will be undamaged by editing part.cfg files. By proceeding you signify that you accept the risks involved in this undertaking and that the KSP Wiki is not responsible for any damage to your game or computer caused by your editing of the game files. Should your game malfunction, a full re-download may be required to fix the game.

Step 1: Locating the CFG files on Windows

• This works for Windows XP through Windows 8.
• By default, the file should be in your Downloads folder. If it isn't there, then you moved it. Perform a search of your computer for "KSP". If you still can't find it, make sure you search your entire computer, not just your main drive. If you still can't find it, maybe you didn't download KSP.
• When you find the folder, open KSP. There will be another subfolder with the version. Open that.
• Now, find the folder called "GameData".
• Open "GameData".
• From here you will find two other folders. The "NASAmission" folder, and the "Squad" folder. You may see more folders if you install mods for KSP. The "NASAmission" folder contains all the parts created with the help of NASA in the most recent update, like the new four block engine, or the Launch Escape System. The "Squad" folder contains all the parts found in every KSP update before this, like the Command Pod Mk1, or the Mobile Processing Lab. We will open the "Squad" folder.
• From here, you will find the folders containing just about every object in the game. Since we are editing parts, open the "Parts" folder (obviously).
• From there, you will find more folders, each one representing a tab in the Vehicle Assembly building. For this tutorial, we are going to edit an engine! So, open the "Engine" folder.
• Now you will see a folder for EVERY engine in the game, except for the new ones added in the ARM patch because they are in the NASAmission folder. Lets edit the Skipper engine.
• Open the "engineLargeSkipper" folder. You will find all the files associated with that engine.
• The only file we are interested in is the part.cfg. All the other files are for the actual 3D model-what we see when we grab it in the VAB.
• So, right click on the "part.cfg" file.
• Click open with…and open it with notepad.

Step 1: Locating the CFG file on a mac.

• Find your "KSP.osx" folder and open it. Inside you are gonna see many, many items/folders. We are only concerned with the folder named "Gamedata"
• Open "Gamedata". Inside you will see two folders. One is called "NASAmission". This folder contains all the stuff found in the ARM update from NASA. We are only interested in the "Squad" folder. It contains all the parts made by squad.
• Open "Squad". When you do this, you'll see many folders. These folders contain all the objects in the game. For right now, we are only interested in parts, so find the Parts folder.
• Open the "Parts" folder. From there, you will find more folders, each one representing a tab in the Vehicle Assembly building. For this tutorial, we are going to edit an engine!
• Open the "Engine" folder. Now you will see a folder for EVERY engine in the game, except for the new ones added in the ARM patch because they are in the NASAmission folder. Lets edit the Skipper engine.
• Open enginelargeSkipper. Now, the only file we are interested in is the part.cfg. All the other files are for the actual model, what we see when we grab it in the VAB.
• Right click on Part.cfg and open it with notepad.

Step 2: Editing the files.

The following instructions work for both Windows and Mac.

• Upon opening Part.CFG, you will see many confusing things written. Don't mess with the first things. Scroll down to the sub-tab "editor parameters".
• Now lets see what each thing does.

Tech Required

In the CFG file, it is specifically called TechRequired. From here you can edit the name of the tech that you have to research in the R&D facility. Make sure you spell the name of the tech you want it to be correctly or the part will not appear or be usable in career mode.

Entry Cost

In the CFG file, it is specifically called "entryCost". Currently, this holds no purpose. Change it if you want. Assumably, it will be the cost to research the part once money is added to career mode.

Cost

Obviously, its the cost of the part. As there is no monetary system in KSP right now, there is no need to edit this file. Still, if you want to, go ahead.

Category

This is the category the part appears under in the VAB or SPH. You can change this to any of the tabs in the buildings, but be careful to spell it correctly, or the part won't appear at all!

subcategory

Not sure what this is. I advise not messing with it.

Name

Called, "title" in the CFG file, here you can edit the name of the part. Pretty simple.

Description

Here, you can edit the parts description. Pretty straightforward.

Basic Informations

You would see this if you go down a bit further:

 {
   mass = 2.25
   dragModelType = default
   maximum_drag = 0.2
   minimum_drag = 0.2
   angularDrag = 2
   crashTolerance = 12
   maxTemp = 4000
 }

"Mass" is pretty straight forward, and also "crashTolerance". Min and Max drag are the drag the part generate in different situations. For example, an air-intake's max drag can be up to something like 3. "maxTemp" is the max temperature your part tolerate, if the temperature goes beyond this point, you would most likely lose the part of your ship.

Specific Impulse

For engines, you should find something like this: (This is the .cfg of the nuclear engine)

 atmosphereCurve
 {
   key = 0 800
   key = 1 220
 }

The "0 800" is the vacuum isp of the engine. The "0" seem like to be the atmosphere pressure when the isp is presented. The "0" is vacuum, and "1" is at sea level. But anyway, I wouldn't mess with the number over there. The "800" and "220" is the isp of the engine, and should be what you are looking for.

Modules

I highly do NOT recommend to mess with those. It's the part that defines the characteristics of the part. The parachute have a "module {name = parachute}", and the engines have "module {name = engine}", and under each, there's stuffs that defines it. For example, gimbal range, max and min thrust, heat production, etc. But anyway, say you have KAS, and want the Kerbals to grab something that's not in KAS's list, you can copy the

 module 
 {
   name = KASModuleGrab
   ... ...
 }

Part to the part you desired and run the game. Be careful about this part, something weird would happen if something goes wrong in the Module area.

Moving on

Now, proceed further down in the file and locate the "Standard part parameters tab". From here you can edit the basic physics of the part, from its size to its crash tolerance. Each one is a numerical value that is unlimited.

Moving on more

Below that you will find the actual fuel and thrust for the part. These are spread out throughout the file and you will need to read through to find them. You can edit the minimum thrust or the maximum thrust. You can also edit just about anything related to how the part behaves in the game.

Finishing up

When you are done, save your work and open up KSP. See if your changes worked. If the game messes up, you did something wrong so restart. Here's just a couple things to make note of:

• If you change the engines thrust, it will burn more fuel. So, if you change the thrust to an insane amount like 100000000000000, you will run out of fuel in about a millisecond. Just a word of advice.
• Messing with stuff that was not covered in this tutorial is not recommended, as the author(s) have not experimented with them. If you do encounter any problems, re-downloading the game will fix them.
• It is recommended that you always have a backup of the file you are editing so that you can quickly fix problems without having to re-download.

Thanks for reading, and happy editing!