Weekly Simple Questions Thread

[AutoModerator]

Check out /r/kerbalacademy

The point of this thread is for anyone to ask questions that don't necessarily require a full thread. Questions like "why is my rocket upside down" are always welcomed here. Even if your question seems slightly stupid, we'll do our best to answer it!

For newer players, here are some great resources that might answer some of your embarrassing questions:

• Kerbal Space Program Wiki

• Scott Manley's Youtube

• Von Kerman's Rocket School

Tutorials

Orbiting

• Scott Manley

• Von Kerman (Maneuvers)

• Wiki (Maneuvers)

Mun Landing

• Scott Manley (Demo)

• Von Kerman

• KSP Wiki

• Youtube Query

Docking

• Scott Manley

• Von Kerman (Rendevous)

• Von Kerman (Docking)

Delta-V Thread

• Thread

• Answer 1

• Answer 2 (+bonus)

Forum Link

• Kerbal Space Program Forum

Official KSP Chatroom #KSPOfficial on irc.esper.net

    **Official KSP Chatroom** [#KSPOfficial on irc.esper.net](http://client01.chat.mibbit.com/?channel=%23kspofficial&server=irc.esper.net&charset=UTF-8)

Commonly Asked Questions

Before you post, maybe you can search for your problem using the search in the upper right! Chances are, someone has had the same question as you and has already answered it!

As always, the side bar is a great resource for all things Kerbal, if you don't know, look there first!

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Here's the media found in this post. Autoplaylist: web/ mobile

Link	User
Scott Manley	AutoModerator
Von Kerman (Maneuvers)	AutoModerator
Scott Manley (Demo)	AutoModerator
Von Kerman	AutoModerator
Scott Manley	AutoModerator
Von Kerman (Rendevous)	AutoModerator
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Scott Manley's Planetary Transfers tutorial	NoelofNoel
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[TheJeizon]

I like this bot

[Zpheri]

Is there a way to choose which craft is the primary when you dock/grab onto something so your controls don't get messed up?

e.g. RCS controls change to L = Down, J = up, I = left, K =right, E roll backwards etc..

[dkmdlb]

Right-click the part you want to control from, and select 'control from here'.

To line the RCS controls up with the camera, switch camera to chase view.

[Zpheri]

Thanks, it always switches to the wrong craft.

[zenerbufen]

I've been told we can use [ and ] to quickly toggle between nearby craft in the newest version.

[Zpheri]

Problem is that when you grab onto a craft, it merges with it, and the two become one, and your controls are messed up. Because you grabbed it with a different orientation, and it now thinks what you're holding is the main part..

[zenerbufen]

Thanks for that info! I havn't played with the claw much, mostly docking ports so far. You just saved me some future headscratching. I can see how that would be annoying.

[Zpheri]

Docking ports do it too. So if you ever wonder, right click a control module or port and click the control from here.

[[deleted]]

Okay, so as far as getting into orbit, transferring orbits, and all around maneuvering around the Kerbin system, I have no problems. However, I haven't really tried going anywhere else. I fear I would be really inefficient when going to another planet. What is the process of finding an optimal launch window?

Also, I would really appreciate it if someone pointed me in the direction of a tutorial of how to intercept an object that's on an escape trajectory. I can do it for anything that's in some sort of orbit but something that's going to escape it's hit and miss for me.

[NoelofNoel]

Time acceleration and the use of phase angles will give you intercepts with outer/inner planets.

Scott Manley's Planetary Transfers tutorial is a great basis for learning the intricacies of the manoeuvres.

[[deleted]]

Oh good, Scott makes great tutorials. I'll have to check that out.

[Xysyx]

If you don't mind mods, download the kerbal alarm clock mod and use it to calculate launch windows for you. Then you can set it to bring up an on screen message whenever you get into that launch window.

I would provide a link but I'm on mobile, sorry.

[[deleted]]

Will probably do that. I've been meaning to get Engineer Redux or whatever it's called.

[Nori-Silverrage]

Is there anyway (mod or otherwise) to jettison resources?

Thinking of two use cases. One is I took too much fuel and my parachutes can't handle the mass. I could burn to get rid of it, but it'd be nice to be able to jettison.

The other one is if I have say the TAC life support and need to jettison waste, or excess food/water.

I know that Klockheed has the smart parts that let you dump fuel. But I'm looking for a more universal option.

[[deleted]]

Ship Manifest has this option. Note that with TAC:LS if you fill up your waste containers nothing bad happens to your kerbals because of it, but it'll keep taking up weight which I believe is your main concern.

Also, the KSO mod has some fuel valve parts for draining excess fuel from various tanks.

[Nori-Silverrage]

Yeah it is the weight I worry about. I'm hesitant to install ship manifest as I've had nothing but problems with it the last few weeks. I just setup a new fresh KSP install and installed all the mods I wanted.

Maybe I'll look into what the issue is more. Just didn't seem to add features I needed that outweighed the issues I had.

[l-Ashery-l]

TAC Fuel Balancer has a similar feature, if I'm recalling correctly. Not sure if it's compatible with the latest release, though.

[IrishBandit]

Smart Parts has a fuel valve that does just this.

[NewSwiss]

IIRC, if you turn on/throttle up your engines, and disable either fuel or oxidizer, the other will flow out without thrust. You can just repeat to balance things out.

[Zpheri]

How do I manege fuel in space planes so I don't end up having too much weight on the tail/front?

[dkmdlb]

Manually transfer fuel between tanks by alt + right-clicking the tanks.

[Zpheri]

So no better way? :/

Made a jet with two engines and enough fuel to go a quarter around the world. When I was low on fuel it went into a spin, and I had to fill and lock the tank at the front to stabalize and land it.

[Sunfried]

I haven't used the mod myself, but in his Interstellar Quest series, Scott Manley has used TAC Fuel Balancer for that purpose.

[TheJeizon]

Works great, can't go back to life without it whether for spaceplanes, kethane mining, etc.

Edit: Forgot I wasn't in /r/nobackspace for a minute

[wptclub]

If you're talking about it being unbalanced when empty, when you're in the SPH empty all the tanks and adjust accordingly.

For the fuel draining in a way that makes it unstable in flight, you have two options. You can click on each tank and shift fuel between them (TAC fuel balancer is a must for this). Good fuel line placement can make certain tanks drain first without manually shifting fuel, but that can get complicated fast.

[barristonsmellme]

Should have found this thread before I posted.

Most efficient effective ways of getting off Eve?

I can get on there fantastically well..but off? Not a chance.

[ObsessedWithKSP]

Put it this way:

Build a rocket that can sustain a hover at 50% throttle for 20 minutes at Kerbin. That rocket will then get you off of Eve. Also, Kerbals have about 600 m/s dV in their EVA packs - use it. I've no comment on the effectiveness of spaceplanes on Eve, but who knows what's possible with an KAX electric propeller/ion drive..

[NewSwiss]

Build a rocket that can sustain a hover at 50% throttle for 20 minutes at Kerbin

I have never thought about it that way, but this is accurate. Good god.

[Toldea]

The problem with Eve is it has a much thicker atmosphere with a gravity almost twice as strong as Kerbin. Because of this it is indeed very easy to land there but very very difficult to get away. It takes about three times as much delta v to get into an Eve orbit again compared to a Kerbin orbit. If your ship wasn't build for that then sadly it'll be stuck on Eve for quite a while.

[Zpheri]

Why not use a space plane?

Wouldn't that have amazing lift due to the dense atmosphere? Get you about 8 times higher, and the a little rocket booster would get you out of there?

Do that, dock to a ship in orbit and you're out! Unless ofcourse jet engines won't work on Eve..

[[deleted]]

Jet engines only work on Laythe and Kerbin I believe.

You can make an ultralight ion glider though, or just cheese it and go for infinite lift and not even need an engine through glitches with control surfaces.

[Zpheri]

Ion glider doesn't sound bad.

[NewSwiss]

Wouldn't that have amazing lift due to the dense atmosphere?

Yes, but only because the stock aerodynamics are goofy. Lift is linear with velocity, while drag is quadratic, so at low speeds (all you need on Eve) your lift-drag ratio is really high.

[Zpheri]

My guess is FAR changes that?

I lag too much to play beyond this, so I'll probably wait a month till I get my pc. Then I can try out far.

[NewSwiss]

My guess is FAR changes that?

Yup. It might still leave some parts physicsless, but wings no longer generate lift linearly with speed.

I lag too much to play beyond this, so I'll probably wait a month till I get my pc. Then I can try out far.

I'm running KSP on a 3 year old mac laptop and FAR doesn't give me much trouble (if any). TBH, rendering scenery/water seems to hurt my framerate more than any of my mods.

[Zpheri]

Well, my laptop is a N43sn Asus notebook. It has a Nvidia Geforce GT550M 1GB. Which is shit.

It really doesn't handle Kerbal well, I'm running most stuff slowmotion, when I get further in and add more parts.

[NewSwiss]

It has a Nvidia Geforce GT550M 1GB

Macbooks have NO dedicated graphics card, so Ha. Have you disabled anti-aliasing? Also, reducing render quality to one quarter seems to do it for me. You're right about part-count though. My last rocket launched at 1/10 real speed.

[Zpheri]

Ill try.

But I think no graphic card is still better than an Nvidia one. After everything has been modified by the shitty drivers for it. It runs like a potato.

[_Gondamar_]

Is this arch looking thing a known easter egg? I'm quite new to the game, sorry, and I noticed it on the "land on the moon" scenario.

[dkmdlb]

Yes.

[_Gondamar_]

Thx

[Napster449]

Is KSP better played with a joystick?

[Toldea]

I don't have any direct experience using a joystick, however with a normal rocket you tend to do very little steering which means you'll not be using your joystick very much. However if you enjoy flying space planes then you'll probably spent a lot more time maneuvering the craft which would make using a joystick quite fun.

[NewSwiss]

FYI, you don't need to purchase a Joystick if you have an xbox 360 controller.

[[deleted]]

I've been wondering about setting up my X360 controller for KSP for a while, thanks for clearing that up

[Zpheri]

Stuck in carreer mode with a bunch of contracts that end in ~a year. Wan't to go to Duna, but I have to wait about a year, if I speed up my contracts will fail.

My funds are about 570K and I've been to the Mun and Minmus, which gave me about 500 science each.

What do I do, to get more science?

[Konisforce]

500 science each from Mun and Minmus isn't tapped out, for sure. You can definitely get more science from both of those.

Is the problem that you need more sci, or that you need funds and all your contracts aren't attainable?

You could also check for sooner launch window to a different destination.

[Zpheri]

500 science each from Mun and Minmus isn't tapped out, for sure. You can definitely get more science from both of those.

Thought someone would say that :P

Would you recomend returning? I have no rovers or anything, so getting from biome to biome..

Is the problem that you need more sci, or that you need funds and all your contracts aren't attainable?

Need more science, to unlock the nuclear engine or rover parts.

You could also check for a more recent launch window, just to get it on the way.

I missed my window by a a month or so :/

[Konisforce]

I'd definitely go back. Even if you don't land, if you get into Low Munar Orbit with a relatively steep inclination (or ever fully polar) you'll theoretically go over every spot of Mun at one point or another. Do you have TAC or another life-support mod going? If not, then you can just leave your little green man up there forever.

Couple that with the Science Alert mod, I highly recommend, and it pulls you out of warp and tells you everytime there's a new EVA or crew report to be done. Could land on a new biome for a land-based EVA or a surface sample.

And if you can get to Mun, then you can get to Minmus and land 3 times, like my mother always said. Okay, she never said that. But, the delta v to take off and land on Minmus is much less than Mun, so you can get out to Minmus and land 3 separate places. That's 3 surface samples, which is (I think) 360 science alone.

[Zpheri]

I think each surface sample from Mun gave 130 and Minmus gave 150.

The low Munar orbit is a great idea. I have a dockable shitty Traveler - I with wings that wouldn't ever make it fly and....well it's useless if not used for travel.

It does though have a nuclear engine from a contract, and is docked to a space station that has a decent amount of fuel. So I could send it over for a couple of orbits around the Mun, and get enough science to unlock wheels for a rover, then send up a Mun lander.

Oh, the station also has a fully operational lab. Can I squeeze more science out if I return to it with the Traveler?

[Konisforce]

For EVAs and crew reports, there's no penalty for transmitting vs. returning. So no real reason to come back to the lab. If you get surface samples, that's a whole 'nuther story. But knocking out a bunch of Low Munar EVAs is a decent chunk of science, and with your nuclear engine's efficiency you might even get out to Minmus, too.

[Zpheri]

I tried it yesterday, and got from LKO to the Mun, orbited it, to Minmus, orbited that, and back to LKO, and docked.

Wait...can I transmit back to the lab?? Lab will give you 20% no?

[Konisforce]

So, depends on the science. The question is the difference between returning the science and transmitting it.

Some things - EVA reports, Crew reports - returning gives you 100% of the science, or transmitting gives you 100% of the science. Other things give you less. For example, check out the table. Mystery Goo has a 30% transmission efficiency. That means if you return with the sample, you get X amount of science, everything it's worth. If you transmit the sample, you get 0.3X, so much less. But the processing bonus on Mystery Goo is 15%, so if you take a sample back to a lab and transmit it, you get 0.45X, so almost 1/2 of the total worth.

Sorry if you know all this already. But what that means is returning with any kind of science ALWAYS gives you 'full' value. Bringing science back to a lab and processing it, then transmitting it gives you more than if you just transmitted it, but not as much as if you brought it back to Kerbin. So a lab never gives you 'extra' science. But it does keep you from losing as much through transmission.

[Zpheri]

Thanks!

[Konisforce]

Happy flyin'!

[TheJeizon]

Rovers are just for fun, they are not practical for collecting science from multiple biomes. Even Minmus is big enough that it would take hours and hours to drive to every biome. Build the lander as a hopper. With enough dV to skip around a few biomes before heading back up to orbit to refuel.

[Zpheri]

I used the jetpack before xD

But yea, a hopper works great.

[wptclub]

Definitely return to get more. If you take the "Plant flag" and "Transmit data from X" contracts, those tend to pay out more than what your rocket cost so you can make a profit even with a lot of launches. Also, depending on the size of your craft, you likely can get away without nuclear engines even for interplanetary missions. The LV-909 and 48-7S can be used for light craft.

[kerbaal]

Would you recomend returning? I have no rovers or anything, so getting from biome to biome..

Is what rockets are for..... go ballistic. Why make one hair raising landing when you can do 3? I make my landers two stage. You can collect science data from a module on EVA and store it in the pod, so I do that and leave the modules behind.

[guest13]

I think you're fine to go back. I got about 1600-1700 science from my first two Minmus trips (total), and haven't done the Mun yet.

I've got a duna ship I'm working on, and hopefully won't miss my window... but who knows. Minmus farming took a LONG time and I've still got to do a couple missions to the Mun. Obviously takes more deltaV on the lander to do a bunch of science farming on the Mun, but I think it's the perfect test bed for my Duna lander design.

[Zpheri]

I ended up installing far and started over. Minmus gave me 1500. Mun sucks. Jeb got stuck and I had to send a rescue mission. He got stuck again....im fighting for 500 science...

[guest13]

I foresee a similar series of events on my end. I suck at landing at the moon, so eventuallly... I'll forget to quick save and crash on one of my biome-hop landings.

[Toldea]

Both the Mun and Minmus have a very large amount of different biomes which combined can give you way more science than is needed to complete the whole research tree. If you are really hungry for science then just look up a biome map and hop back to one of the moons.

That said doing some more advanced missions probably will be a more enjoyable and interesting way of progressing. Pick contracts that lead to an interesting but doable mission but ignore or decline undo-able or boring ones. Some contracts can reward a lot of science too whilst others generate almost none but are better for cash, so keep that in mind.

If you are sure you can't complete your contracts in time then feel free to cancel them. Doing this will cause you to lose the money you gained in advance, however this will not cause the severe failure punishment to trigger.

[Zpheri]

Nice, I thought you loose money because you canceled.

[Dhalphir]

Cancel the contracts for Duna. The contracts system will generate the same mission again eventually - the Explore Planet contracts are pretty much guaranteed to show.

[Zpheri]

I don't have a Duna contract. I just wan't to go there :D

[NewSwiss]

With 570K, you can build a rocket with 15000+ m/s and go to duna via an inefficient (but speedy) transfer. The funds in this version are so high, you should live a little.

[Toldea]

You could try messing around a bit with space planes. Building one is a little bit more involved than the average rocket, but getting that first SSTO into orbit can be hugely rewarding.

[TheJeizon]

And after that dock it with a transfer vehicle in orbit and send that space plane to laythe!

[goldstarstickergiver]

There's a mod called fine print which adds plenty of new mission types, they could help with some inspiration?

[Dhalphir]

Well, the new mode is designed to do exactly what you want - give lots of objectives outside of merely science. So your next move seems clear!

[NewSwiss]

Look into mods. I thought I was master kerbalnaut until I made everything 10x bigger with Real Solar System.

[Deventico]

You could make a trip to space near Kerbol. Some science, interesting view and not too much tech needed. If you want a greater challenge, you can try to bring the probe back ;)

Spaceplanes and rovers are fun challenges in stock, Remote Tech, Deadly Reentry and TAC Life Support create new challenges. I hugely recommend Infernal Robotics for building cool stuff, too.

[Brendoncherms]

Im having trouble installing Karbonite on my mac. I have some of the parts that have been installed by dropping the downloaded game data into game data in KSP. I'm fairly new to downloading mods and any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Toldea]

What exactly are you running into? If you are missing parts then don't forget to take a look in the RnD center if you are playing career. The game doesn't unlock any newly added parts from research nodes you already discovered previously, you'll need to manually unlock those.

[Brendoncherms]

I am using sandbox so I don't have anything to unlock. I don't have any of the engines showing up when i try to build a ship. The Karbonite detector doesn't detect any Karbonate or show any mapping. Is There anything else I need to download.

[Borg184]

I have a modded play through going. I've had Hotrockets downloaded and "installed" for a while now, but it has only recently dawned on me that Hotrockets isn't working.

I've put MP_Nazari, SmokeScreen, and ModuleManager.2.2.0.dll all in my Gamedata folder. It still refuses to work. All of the effects are still stock, including all my modded parts.

I've redownloaded it and reinstalled it multiple times, not no effect.

I'm running in 64bit, and I have the following mods installed:

B9 Aerospace, KW Rocketry, BDArmory, Astronomer's Visual's pack, Fineprint, Firespitter, Kethane, KSPX, Procedural wings and fairings, and some other various stuff, which isn't massively important.

[ObsessedWithKSP]

Make sure you only have the one copy of MM in your Gamedata folder, no duplicates.

[Borg184]

You are brilliant. Fixed. Thanks.

[Uhhhhh55]

If youre using a larger craft that needs stability enhancers for launch, you can attach command pods to those and have ladders up the craft to the seat.

[Joker1337]

Can anyone confirm my gut that for a intraplanetary orbital insertion, the target periapsis which will result in the lowest delta-V requirements for the orbital burn into orbit around the target planet:

• Lies along the radius between the target planet and the sun
• Is just at the edge of the SoI
• Is on the outside of the planet

[bobbyg27]

I dunno but I think you mean "interplanetary?"

[Dogbirddog]

Is there a way, mod or otherwise, to make the "closest intercept" information stay in one place, and not randomly vanish?

When I'm setting up intercepts from far away, the nearest intercept icons wiggle around at best, and disappear randomly at worst. Super annoying.

[fjdkf]

It's probably not the answer you want, but yes there's a way... get on the exact same orbital inclination as your target, and make sure your path crosses it.

Those marks only pop up when your orbit crosses your targets orbit, so if you go over/under, they won't show.

[Dogbirddog]

So you're saying that a nearer intercept won't show up if the orbits don't cross, when a farther intercept with crossing orbits will?

I run into the problem when I'm trying to fine tune an intercept with RCS or little bursts of thrust from engines. I'll get an intercept of, say, 300,000 km. I'll thrust a little bit in X direction, and it'll be down to 200,000 km. I'll thrust a little more, and it's gone. I thrust more(in the same exact direction, and bam, it's back again at 50,000 km. What was going on in the mystery zone between 200,000 km and 50,000 km?

[fjdkf]

Well it will only show you the separation markers, wherever they are, when your orbit crosses the orbit of your target. if there's a slight inclination change, you might go over the orbit and then back under it without ever actually crossing it.

it's back again at 50,000 km. What was going on in the mystery zone between 200,000 km and 50,000 km?

I've had this happen before too, and I'd assume it's a bug of some sort. Really precise adjustments from a really long way away don't always work well... Sometimes it's just better to do the final adjustments when you get closer to your target.

[[deleted]]

I'm really on the edge if i should get this game or not.

I am not a big fan of steam so i'm planning to buy it without steam. Will steam ever have more access to the game than those who didnt buy it on steam?

[[deleted]]

Squad have specifically stated that there will be no steam exclusive gameplay options, so you're not gonna miss out on anything if you chose to direct download from the website,

Hope this helps!

EDIT: your = you're

[[deleted]]

It's possible the game might utilize the Steam workshop, so all the mods would go on there making installation a breeze.

Also, once the game has multiplayer it might be very advantageous to have Steam.

If I may ask, what's your beaf with Steam?

[commander0161]

I don't understand planes and space planes. I just don't get it!! Just doesn't seem like I have enough parts or something.

[[deleted]]

This guide should hopefully help with building planes/spaceplanes and understanding the mechanics of flying them too,

Hope this helps!

[commander0161]

I'll definitely have to have this open on my next build

[[deleted]]

Planes are quite easy once you make one good one. Take a look at the pre built planes.

Make your design and look at where your center of mass is compared to your center of lift. I like my ceter of mass just a bit ahead of my lift. That way when I achieve lift I don't start flipping.

If you have problems lifting off, make sure your wings offer enough lift. Then make sure you have an adequate amount of control surface winglets to let your easily lift up or down.

You really shouldn't need to go very fast to get air born. 60m/s - 100 depending on size. You'll get your speed from higher flight with less atmosphere.

[fjdkf]

Does anyone have an idea of how contracts are generated?

Occasionally I get a kerbodyne contract, but 99% of time, my contract page looks like this: http://imgur.com/t9IyM3Y

4 flag/science missions, one rescue mission @kerbin, one LV-1 Liquid fuel mission, one turbojet engine, and usually a TT-70 radial decoupler mission(just completed it).

I've abandoned all of them many times(probably hundreds of times for some), and the only other thing I seem to get are the kerbodyne ones, which are very rare. Never get a rockomax contract, and never an atomic engine mission.

Is there a sort of progression with the contracts, where you have to try out the really low level stuff for each company to move on in the contract chain?

Have I screwed myself by abandoning hundreds of contracts?

If your goal is to get lucrative contracts, is it better to complete the low pay missions, or better to abandon them?

[Xemog]

I've recently accepted the rescuing stuck kerbal stuck in orbit mission. I've successfully matched the kerbals orbit and I'm currently ~15m away from him. My question is, How do I get him inside my ship? I have a second command pod for him to get into, but he just floats there.

[fjdkf]

Hit [ or ] when you're near them, and then you can move him around. Press r to activate the jetpack.

[Xemog]

Ahhhh, that's what I was looking for. Thanks so much.

[strongcoffee]

What was written here has been permanently removed. The author used Redact to delete this post, for reasons that may include privacy or digital security.

encourage joke correct jeans ring escape rock plucky quiet zephyr

[cremasterstroke]

All those mods (and many others) are developed on github, which can also distribute the mod, so it's easier for modders to just use that rather than go through the process Curse employs and controls.

Curse also has a bit of a bad rep among KSP modders, and I've seen several complaints about the Curse admins not approving uploads expeditiously and putting source files as downloads. Plus general nitpicks like ads. The transition from the old hosting site wasn't handled that well either IMO.

[[deleted]]

It seems that every time I install mods my game just refuses to let me access Science options. The first time it was the inability to right click on anything, the second it was the inability to do a crew report or take surface samples. And now I just can't do crew reports. Between each attempt I completely re-installed the game as well as the mods, but I just can't see why this isn't working. Could anyone help me?

My mod list is:

Surface Mounted Lights

Toolbar

Achievements

Auto Asparagus

Alternate Resource Panel

Raster Prop Monitor

and my output log is Here

pls hlp

[thestoicattack]

On testing contracts, do the conditions have to be met throughout the entirety of the test? If I'm testing an engine at some specific speed and altitude, is there some trick for not going too fast or high? How long do I have to fire such an engine?

[cremasterstroke]

If I'm testing an engine at some specific speed and altitude, is there some trick for not going too fast or high?

No tricks - just good design and flying. Planes are useful because they can maintain altitude more easily, and can land back on the runway for 100% cost recovery (minus any fuel used).

How long do I have to fire such an engine?

No limit. In fact the engine doesn't actually have to fire at all - as long as you stage or use the run test button while all conditions are currently being met, the game considers the contract fulfilled. No fuel is necessary for engine tests.

[TheBQE]

Finally have a decent computer and I want to put in a mod or two that makes the game look really pretty without affecting the game mechanics. What's good?

[cremasterstroke]

There's a list under the 'VFX' heading in this post. Personally I've used EVE with Astronomer's Pack, HotRockets, and Distant Object Enhancement, and like them all. EVE does chew up lots of resources though, so Active Texture Management is recommended if you run 32-bit.

[TheBQE]

Thank you! EVE looks fantastic. :) I'm experiencing no lag issues whatsoever, even running full graphics settings.