Setting up Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is a program (more specifically IDE, or Integrated Development Environment) that makes it easier to code applications for Windows. For KSP, it is used for developing part modules via the C# IDE, although any program that can compile C# is sufficient.

Prerequisites

In order to complete this tutorial you must have the following. Plugins may be written in other environments.

• Microsoft Windows XP or above
• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or above
• For Windows 7 or 8 Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop or for Windows XP Microsoft Visual C# Express 2010
  • You can also use Visual Studio 2012 (2010 for XP), which is functionally similar.
• Kerbal Space Program 0.14 X1 or above.

Setting Up

1. Close any solutions you currently have open by choosing File > Close Solution.
2. Start a new solution either by selecting New Project from the Home screen, or by using File > New... > Project...
3. Create a new Class Library project for C#. Name it whatever you like. (We're using MyKSPProject for this tutorial, so replace MyKSPProject with whatever you're using.)
   

   Setting up the class library project
4. In your Solution Explorer (the pane on the top right of the screen), right-click on MyKSPProject and choose Add Reference.
   

   Adding references
5. Switch to the Browse tab.
6. Find and add the following DLLs as references:
   • KSP_INSTALL_FOLDER\KSP_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll
   • KSP_INSTALL_FOLDER\KSP_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.dll
7. In your Solution Explorer (the pane on the top right of the screen), right-click on MyKSPProject and choose Properties. Change the Target Framework to 3.5 (Visual Studio will default to a newer framework version). You may have to save your solution before you are allowed to do this.

Great, you're all set! Now continue to creating your first module!