Kerbal Space Program is a kinda raw game, made with piece of code patched up with glue and ropes, fueled by a coal engine. Installing modifications is as much as an handcraft job which must be done with dedication and care.

Its own nature is making it not so stable but also easily modifiable as advantage. As a result, mods are now countless, and I can imagine beginners having hard times searching them and choose which one to pick between existing sharing platforms.
I do have trouble myself everytime I get to play again this awesome space simulation. There is always a search work to do before installing a mod, to understand if it is the latest version, if it is compatible with actual KSP version, or if there is any integration needed to apply.

The point of this guide is to share my search work with everyone, listing most deserving mods and providing the correct links to find them.

!ATTENTION!
If you did never install mod in KSP, I suggest you to document yourself before doing it.
This one, for example, is a good guide you may consider to have a look at: Mods for Beginners by Jorjimodels.
Feel free to suggest mods that you believe should be listed here or to just fix my bad english!

The most necessary mods are the ones providing and managing data about what's going on in game. These mods aid you to better understand the situation so you can effectively and precisely take decisions. Gratuitous disasters are fun, but sometimes you may want to avoid 'em, don't you?


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We can say that visual gratification has not been a priority for developers, but fear not: KSP's amazing community produced a lot of stuff that makes the Kerbol System a beautiful place. Cosmetic mods have to be handled with care, however. Installing to many mods of this type may result in a drastic drop of performance for dated pcs, so find your limit.


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TUFX[forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com]

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This kind of mods is not essential, and it is subject to personal taste. We're talking about changing game rules making it more complicated, often introducing more realism. There is a wide range of theme like life support, antenna range, scanning, aerodynamics, new machines, and much more. We can say for sure that you will need much more attention to put in mission planning, so it is not a thing for all. The choice is up to you.


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Community has been generous in designing and crafting new parts to assemble your vessel. Do you feel the need of more variety? Then these are the mods for you.


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I'll keep the links updated as much as possible alongside KSP and its mods developing. Here are some suggestion which I do recommend to newcomers to read:

• It is a good idea to backup a KSP fresh installation folder.
  Some mods may not be compatible to each other or may be installed wrong by mistake, in other words, using mods things may go badly in the wrong way and the game may not work anymore. If you have a backup you just have to delete the game folder and put back the fresh one in its place without having to download it again (do not forget to backup save game folder!).
  
• Don't install more than one mod at a time if you are not aware of its behaviour and compatibility.
  Going on step by step is always the best way, when you do not know a mod you should test it first to understand if it works properly. In this way you can keep track of what is working and what's not.
  
• CKAN[forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com] is an interesting mod manager developed by community.
  This little software lists (almost) all the mods, you just have to pick and it'll do anything else by itself including download, install and advice you of dependecies or conflicts; however, we can say for sure that installing mods on KSP is such a delicate task that deserve to be manually done. Some people use CKAN, others don't. I did use it for a long time and I've found it convenient, the choice is yours.
  
• Automatic updates and mods are not good friends. When a KSP update hits the release you have to be very careful because severe losses may happen. Why? Because when game version change, installed mods are no longer compatible until they gets updated too. In this scenery, loading a game without necessary mods affected vessels will be removed entirely; what is worst, KSP automatically save the game. Without a backup your vessels will be lost with no possible recover.
  It is an easy task to prevent such disgrace, just take one of the following actions:
  
  1. deactivate automatic updates for KSP, easy-peasy;
     
  2. before running the game recently updated, backup the save folder;
     
  3. start a new game and do not load older games until all necessary mods are updated and installed;
• Do not stop to these lists.
  Use this guide as a starting place and then search and test in the multitude of existing mods around this game. Take into consideration that most probably your favourite mod is not listed here and you are loosing some good fun time until you find it.

All mods, their distribution and respective user licenses are under the responsibility of their respective owner. Details can be found on each mod page.