User guide
In this page you will learn how to install CKAN and use it to install your first mod. Please note that CKAN is still under active development, and the information on this page might be out of date.
The CKAN client is heavily inspired by the many package management utilities available on unix platforms: you might be already familiar with one of them.
NOTE: If you're upgrading from a previous CKAN version you only have to replace your ckan.exe with the new one.
Installing the client is very easy: just head to our releases and download the latest version of ckan.exe.
You don't have to worry about platforms: CKAN is built using Mono, so it will work the same on Windows, Mac or Linux. Even though it's a .exe file, it will still work, thanks to Mono!
Note: Mono, like .Net, runs on a VM platform similar to (and inspired by) JVM. Mono executables will run on any platform that has Mono installed, just as Java executables can be run on any platform that a JVM is present. To illustrate this, running ckan.exe may be performed with mono ckan.exe, but it is not required by most systems.
Just place the executable in any folder you like: the client can manage all your KSP installations from anywhere on your disk, so you don't have to worry about its location.
NOTE: If you're running Ubuntu 14.04 please check out our Installing CKAN on Ubuntu 14.04 guide.
NOTE: If you're running OSX please check out our Installing CKAN on OSX guide.
There are two ways to use the client:
- using the GUI;
- using the command line;
While the GUI is certainly the easiest option, advanced users might feel more comfortable using the command line.
To open the GUI, just run the executable you have downloaded with no arguments to bring up the window. From here you can:
- see all the available packages;
- click on a package to see its description: author, version, license, relationship with other packages, and more;
- manage and launch any KSP installation.
- install metapackages
When you first launch CKAN, it will ask if you want to use auto-updates which is recommended to always have the latest version. After that a dialog window will appear after CKAN has scanned your system to find your KSP installation directory: if for any reason it's unable to find it on its own, or if you want to manage another installation, you can just add another using the "Add new" button.
The first thing you will want to do is to click the "Refresh" button: this will update CKAN's registry from the online repository to refresh the list of available mods and updates.
To install (or remove) a mod, just tick (or untick) the corresponding checkbox. In the picture USI Freight Transport Technologies have been choosen. A new tab now appears called "Changeset". Take note that nothing have yet been installed.
When you click on the Changeset tab it will show the list of mods you have choosen as well as their dependencies. For USI Freight Transport Technologies this looks as follows.
By clicking "Apply" you will initiate the installation of the listed mods and a new tab will open up showing download progression, download speed and installation messages. After installation is complete everything will work out of the box!
Should anything go wrong during the installation, CKAN will make sure to revert the status of the GameData directory to its previous state, so don't worry about ruining your installation!
If one or more of the mods you are installing also recommends or suggests that you install other packages you will be shown a series of dialogs where you can select them: all of these are optional, so feel free to choose what you like and ignore the rest.
Advanced users might like the command line more. If you have already used package managers like pacman or apt-get, you will find ckan familiar.
To run any command, just type
ckan.exe <command>
on your terminal. Note that ckan, like many other package managers, does not run in an interactive session: each command is a self-contained operation.
Here are the commands you will need the most:
-
ckan.exe update: refreshes the master list from the CKAN-meta repository, allowing you to find new mods and updates for the packages you have installed. -
ckan.exe scan: scans your GameData folder to find mods that you have installed or removed manually. -
ckan.exe available: lists all the mods available for installation via CKAN. -
ckan.exe show <identifier>: shows information about a mod, such as author, version, and dependencies. -
ckan.exe install <identifier>: installs a package and all its dependencies.
To see the full list of available commands, just run
ckan.exe help
-
On attempting to start the program an error message is recived which contains 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Windows.Forms,'
This can be caused by mono being installed without the full set of libraries. A solution for Debian distros is to install the mono-complete package by use of the command
- sudo apt-get install mono-complete
-
After choosing one or more mods an empty list of recommendations or suggestions open up in the GUI.
This is caused by mods recommending or suggesting mods that are not available for your version of the game. CKAN will only show mods compatible with the currently active installation and as such generates an empty list.
If you have any trouble, remember that we are happy to help you on the IRC channel!