Presets: An Overview
Presets are KCT's new way of handling settings. They make it easier for players to adapt KCT to their specific play styles on a per-savegame basis. Additionally, the system allows other mods, such as RP-0, to include recommended settings without overwriting any files.
In short, Presets are a new settings system that make it easier to play how you like.
It means that they can choose from a variety of play styles without messing around in config files, and without screwing up their other saves.
These players can now test out new configs and playstyles without worrying about screwing up their configs, without affecting other saves, and can now share their awesome Presets without potentially screwing up anyone else's configs either. Additionally, you'll love the new Presets GUI which allows you to edit EVERY setting, including the Formulas, in-game, including the ability to save the current settings as a new Preset.
I would love to see what new play styles you come up with. Please post your presets on the forum and you might see them in future KCT releases!
Mod authors, you can now include KCT Presets in your mods without touching a single KCT file or folder. If KCT is installed, it will automatically find your Preset (assuming you've set the folder structure up correctly, see below) and users can select it. If KCT isn't installed, it'll simply get ignored. This means you can easily ship a recommended set of configs to be used with your mod (see RP-0 as an example that does this. Other mods that could use this feature include ExtraPlanetary Launchpads to make build times match up better, or Better than Starting Manned to add some time-based requirements to their redefined Career mode).
Additionally, when a user is using a Preset without making any customization of their own, any changes you make to the original Preset file will automatically be reflected in the user's settings. If they make any changes, however, their settings will be unaffected.
When you start a new game you are greeted by the KCT First Start window, which has two buttons (1 - Choose Preset and 2 - Spend Upgrades) (see picture below). You should first choose a Preset (second picture below). At first, the "Default" Preset will be chosen. For a typical KCT installation, this is the one you should use. Press the Save button to close the window, then assign your upgrade points.
Alternatively, you can select another Preset (if using RP-0, choose the RP-0 Preset, for instance), or you can make alterations to the currently selected Preset. If you are planning on making the same change in every save (such as always disabling Tech Unlock Times), you may want to save the settings as a new Preset (see below).
If you choose a Preset that doesn't give you any starting Upgrade Points, then you will not be taken back to the First Start window as you won't need to spend any Upgrade Points, otherwise you must go through the Upgrades GUI before you can continue play (you do not need to spend any, but you must be made aware of its existence).
In this section I will explain what each individual setting corresponds to. Since the Presets window is broken into 4 groups (Features, Time Settings, General Settings, and Formula Settings), I will discuss them by group.
Most of these are toggles that turn various features on or off. Some depend on others in order to work. They are outlined below. NOTE: By default these are all enabled.
Mod Enabled : The "Master Switch", so to say. When disabled, KCT isn't active for the save.
Build Times : Enables build times for vessels. Prerequisite for Launchpad Reconditioning, Tech Unlock Times, and KSP Upgrade Times.
Launchpad Reconditioning : Enables reconditioning and rollout times. Reconditioning occurs after a launch and prevents new launches until complete. Rollout occurs before launches and represents the time to roll a rocket out to the launchpad. These only affect the launchpad, not the runway.
Tech Unlock Times : Enables time requirements for unlocking tech nodes. Science or Career mode only.
KSC Upgrade Times : Enables time requirements for upgrading KSC buildings. Career mode only.
Allow Simulations : Enables the use of simulations. When disabled, you cannot simulate vessels before building them. Prerequisite for Simulation Costs and Must Visit Planets.
Simulation Costs : Makes simulations cost funds to perform. Disabling makes simulations free. Career mode only.
Must Visit Planets : Requires the player to send a vessel to a planet/moon's SOI before a simulation can be performed there. When disabled, all planetary bodies can be simulated around without prior visits.
Upgrades From Tech Tree : When enabled you will earn one upgrade point for every tech node you unlock.
Starting Upgrades : The only non-toggle in this group. Defines the amount of upgrade points you get for free at the start of the game in Career, Science, and Sandbox modes respectively. Comma separated integers only please!
These are the "quick and simple" ways to control how long most things take in KCT. The Formulas section below provides much, much finer control over times, but is also substantially more complicated. Formulas generally can disable these or re-purpose them for entirely different things, so if they don't change anything it's likely that the Preset designer doesn't want you to alter how long things take.
Overall Multiplier : The "Master Switch" for nearly ever time formula. Generally, doubling this doubles how long everything takes, and halving it makes everything take half as long.
Build Effect : Defines how much using the same parts across builds should reduce build times (encourages using similar designs). In "Default" this multiplied by the number of times a part is used is in the denominator of the BP formula (the formula that determines how many Build Points, aka BP, a vessel costs. Essentially the number of Kerbal-hours required to build the vessel)
Inventory Effect : Defines how much of an effect using parts from the Inventory should have on build times. In "Default" this is in the denominator of the BP formula. It is 0 if the part is not being used from the Inventory.
Reconditioning Effect : Defines how the Build Point cost of reconditioning and rollout is affected by mass.
Max Reconditioning : Defines a maximum Build Point value for reconditioning and rollout.
Rollout-Reconditioning Split : This slider determines how much of the reconditioning/rollout time should be spent on rollout vs reconditioning (before launch as opposed to after launch). Rollout and Reconditioning have one total value that is calculated and then split between them according to this value.
These are not part of any Preset but are instead are global settings that are saved in the KCT_Config.txt file. They affect all saves!
Max Timewarp : If you want to have the Warp To Complete buttons use a lower maximum warp, you can set that here (for instance, if you have epilepsy the Sun rising and setting rapidly in the Space Center scene can trigger an attack, so you might lower it [or time warp in the Tracking Station])
Auto Stop TimeWarp : Automatically stop timewarp whenever anything is about to finish, even if timewarp was started by something external to KCT (such as manually warping).
Auto KAC Alarms : Automatically create Kerbal Alarm Clock alarms for the next thing to finish.
Override Launch Button : When enabled, pressing the launch button in the editor causes a popup that lets you build or simulate a vessel. When disabled, the launch button is greyed out and you must build or simulate through the KCT GUI in the editor.
Use Toolbar Mod : If you have Blizzy's Toolbar Mod installed, you can make KCT use it rather than the Stock toolbar. If the toolbar mod isn't installed then this is ignored.
Use Message System : Receive a message in the Stock Messaging System (contract completion/failure thingy) whenever a ship is finished building and a few other instances.
Debug Logging : Enable KCT's debug messages in the log file. Very, very helpful to me for debugging errors, so please enable this when reporting bugs!
These settings give you ultimate control over how KCT calculates nearly everything (build rates, simulation costs, upgrade point costs, tech unlock rates, etc). You can even make vessel build times be mass based rather than cost based, or can disable build times completely but make it so you can only launch one vessel a week. They're extremely powerful, and each is defined using a "formula" using a special math parser.
Because these are quite intricate in comparison to other settings, they are outlined on their own page here.
Now that you've customized your Preset how you'd like, you'll want to save it for future use. This is quite easy to do, simply press the Save As New Preset button in the bottom left of the Presets GUI and a new window will pop up to let you name and save your Preset (image below)
Here you must define a few things about your Preset.
Preset name : What your Preset's name will be (only displayed when selected)
Preset short name : How your Preset is tracked internally, and the name that is displayed in the list with the other Presets.
Preset author(s) : Put your name here. You did all the work, you should get the credit!
Preset description : Use this space to give a short description about your Preset. It might be something like "Makes KCT use realistic time scales"
Show in X Games : You can choose whether or not your Preset should appear in the list in each game mode.
Save : Save the Preset.
Cancel : Close without saving.
If you see a warning that a Preset with that short name already exists, it is alerting you that you'll be overwriting an existing Preset and you should select a new short name. If there is no Save button and you see this warning, that means the existing Preset does not allow for it to be overwritten and you MUST select a new short name to save the current Preset. The prevents you from accidentally overwriting default settings, but allows you to overwrite your own Presets. To disable overwriting a Preset you must alter the Preset file itself, out of game.
Presets are saved to the GameData/KerbalConstructionTime/KCT_Presets folder as shortname.cfg
See the Preset internals page for more information about the "behind the scenes" of the Presets system.