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Installation Guide

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JonnyOThan edited this page Aug 8, 2024 · 85 revisions

This is complicated, please follow the steps carefully. Start from a clean install of KSP 1.12.3 or later.

This mod is still in very early development. The primary focus is on flying a ship in IVA and moving around in EVA. As such no other scenes are supported: map mode, VAB, any kind of UI interaction, etc. Keeping that in mind, you are welcome to try it out and report any issues or feedback.

Note the native dependencies for KerbalVR are only built for windows currently - if you are a linux or mac user please get in touch!

Upgrading from a previous install

If you already have this fork of KerbalVR and you're just upgrading to a newer version, you don't need to follow this entire guide. Read the release notes carefully for any new dependencies or files to install. Then delete your old KerbalVR folder and replace it with the new one.

Supported Platforms

KerbalVR uses SteamVR - you must install it in Steam if you don't already have it. KerbalVR should work on any SteamVR-supported headset. There have been reports that the SteamVR Beta and especially the theater mode do not work with KerbalVR. Use SteamVR 2.3.

You can play KerbalVR directly with an Oculus link cable (or whatever other SteamVR connection your headset supports), Virtual Desktop, or ALVR. Both Virtual Desktop and ALVR support playing without controllers, but only ALVR supports individual finger tracking. Note that it is difficult to move around in IVA mode when not using a controller (you must grab the walls and pull), and moving in EVA mode is not supported at all.

A note on IVA selection

The pods from KSA IVA Upgrade are the primary development platform for VR. They will give you the richest VR experience since they were designed from the ground up with VR in mind. However, KSA does not include IVAs for all the stock parts. DE_IVAExtension has been the standard IVA pack for all stock pods for a long time now, but they do not include many props that you may want when playing in VR. You can install both of these if you also install Reviva which allows selecting different IVAs for the same set of parts. Note that with Reviva you must actively select the IVA to use, or else you will just get the stock default.

MAS vs RPM

MOARdV's Avionics Systems and RasterPropMonitor are two systems that drive all the interactivity in IVAs. RasterPropMonitor (RPM) is older and has a wider range of support. MOARdV's Avionics Systems (MAS) is newer and doesn't have as many IVAs built on it. KerbalVR primarily supports RPM, but as of version 0.8.1 will also work with MAS. You can install both RPM and MAS and they should work together, but at higher performance cost. You can also install MAS alone and enable the ASET-to-MAS upgrade patch that will attempt to convert most ASET-based props to the MAS system. Read the MAS documentation for details. This should allow most ASET-based IVAs to work in MAS.

If you find props that don't work in VR please make a note of which IVA you're using, which system (RPM or MAS), and report it on the discord or issues tab.

1. Install Dependencies

Download the most recent release zip file: https://github.com/JonnyOThan/Kerbal-VR/releases. DO NOT click “download zip file” on the main GitHub page. Extract the KerbalVR zip to a folder on your computer, but DO NOT install it to KSP yet.

Automatic Installation

The zip file contains a .ckan file which you can use to get all the dependencies. (CKAN is a mod manager, you can get it here: https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN/releases). In CKAN, go to Settings -> Compatible Game Versions and check the boxes for KSP 1.8-1.12 (not all dependencies are officially supported on the latest version, but they do work). Then go to File -> Install from .ckan and select the KerbalVR-dependencies.ckan file. You will then be presented with some options about what to install. KSA IVA Upgrade is listed as a dependency, and DE_IVAExtension and Reviva are listed as suggestions. Read the notes on IVA selection above before deciding what to install.

After installing the dependencies with CKAN, continue with Step 2.

Manual installation

Dependencies

Optional, but useful:

** NOTE: This mod contains a JSI folder which you MUST merge with the one from RasterPropMonitor. They are two separate mods in the same directory! Also, you should delete the MiniAVC.dll file inside the JSI directory that comes with this mod - it's out of date.

Choose an IVA Pack:

Read the notes on IVA selection above and install either KSA IVA Upgrade or DE_IVAExtension (or both and Reviva).

2. Verify

At this point you should launch the game and verify that you can use the IVA in the mk1pod. If you can't, you installed something wrong and there's no point in continuing until you fix it.

3. Enable Unity VR

Run vrinstaller.exe and point it at your KSP install directory (where the game executable is - not GameData). For a typical steam install, that might look like this:
image
If it ran correctly, you should see some messages that say "SUCCESS:"
image
This program will modify the globalgamemanagers file to enable native unity VR support. It will make a backup of the old file if you want to restore it. You can also run ksp with -vrmode None on the command line to disable VR (I'd suggest making a shortcut that launches it with VR disabled). Note that when KerbalVR is installed in GameData, it modifies some props in ways that make them non-functional when playing with VR disabled. You can move or remove KerbalVR temporarily if you want to play without VR and you shouldn't have to undo the change to globalgamemanagers as long as you use -vrmode None.

4. Install KerbalVR

Copy the GameData and KSP_x64_Data folders to your root KSP directory. They should merge with the directories that are already there: image

5. Visual Mods

KerbalVR is compatible with the following visual mods, with the given requirements:

  • Parallax

  • Waterfall

  • Planetshine

  • TUFX version 1.0.5 and later

  • Blackrack's Volumetric Clouds:

    • Version 4 (released December 12 2023) is not supported.
    • Version 3 (released August 26 2023): copy RaymarchedClouds-VR-8.26.23.zip over the top of your EVE install.
    • Version 2 (released May 21 2023): no additional steps
    • Early Access (released January 13 2023): copy the EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements folder from KerbalVR's Optional Mods folder over the top of your EVE install.

  • Non-volumetric EnvironmentalVisualEnhancementsRedux version 1.11.7.1 and later

  • Non-volumetric Scatterer:

    • Version 0.0876 or later have not been tested.

    • Install version 0.0838:
      image

    • Then copy the Scatterer folder from KerbalVR's Optional Mods over the top of your scatterer install.
      image

  • Visual mod packs that depend on scatterer and EVE (AVP, BoulderCo, Spectra, etc) should work as long as you follow the above requirements.

Other visual mods are untested; use them at your own risk.

6. Running the game

Connect your headset to your PC (using a link cable, virtual desktop, ALVR, etc). Make sure SteamVR is closed. Launch KSP like you normally would. SteamVR should launch itself. If it doesn't, something probably isn't installed correctly. (Note: after you've got KerbalVR running successfully, you don't have to close SteamVR to launch KSP. This is just a diagnostic step to make sure things are working).

The install checker will run during loading; if you see a KerbalVR dialog box, follow its instructions.

When you get to the main menu, you should see VR headsets on the kerbals. If you don't, something isn't installed correctly. Load into your game like normal. Once you get to the flight scene (actually controlling a ship), press alt-V to activate VR mode.

7. How to Fly

See the user guide for instructions on how to control the ship: https://github.com/JonnyOThan/Kerbal-VR/wiki/User-Guide

8. Support

If you run into any problems, please report them on the Discord Server and include your ksp.log file

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