Rocket Smoke

A rocket's smoke as a true volume: it rolls out of the launch pad's trench at lift-off, climbs after the rocket in a column, hangs and drifts in the wind, and is lit by the sun and by the flame.

For Kerbal Space Program 1.12.x. Needs two other mods, each a separate download, and does not load without both: Keystone (on SpaceDock) and Volumetric Explosions 0.5.0 or later (on SpaceDock), whose smoke this is.

What it does

• Smoke that comes out of the flame, is carried down the jet, spreads, rises and is taken by the wind.
• Down the trench: on a launch pad it comes out of the trench's two ends and rolls out over the ground.
• A trail that stays: the column stands behind the rocket, a kilometre and more of it, leaning with the wind.
• What burns shows: a solid booster's smoke is thick and white, kerosene's thin and grey-brown, and hydrogen leaves a little steam.

Install

Copy the RocketSmoke folder from the download into your KSP's GameData, beside Keystone and VolumetricExplosions.

Settings

In the Keystone window (the keystone button on the game's toolbar, or Alt-K; Option-K on a Mac): how much, how long it hangs, and whether the game's own smoke is hidden.

Good to know

• Rocket engines only, and only where there is air to hold smoke.
• Made to go with Engine Flames, whose flame lights it.
• It cost next to nothing where it was measured: a seven-engine rocket left the pad at 39 frames a second without it and at 38 with it.

Works on

Windows 11 (Direct3D 11 and OpenGL) and Mac: tried. Linux: never run.

More: the long description (everything in full, and what was tried on each system) and the rest of the wiki.

Licence

CC BY 4.0: use it, change it and pass it on as you like, as long as you credit Ishiaki and link back here.