In stock Kerbal Space Program, solar energy output is determined by sunlight, distance, and occlusions. With blackrack's True Volumetric Clouds, WDSP adds a new layer of realism: Weather.
Clouds, rain, snow, dust storms, and volcanic ash can cut solar output in real time. Prolonged exposure also causes irreversible wear, while dust and ash leave a visible film on panel surfaces. Toggle each effect and tune wear curves in Difficulty Settings for a tougher, more grounded power challenge.
Solar panels suffer irreversible wear. Once wear reaches 100%, the panel is permanently disabled and cannot be repaired (unless you break it).
- Time-based wear: Panels age while deployed. Default: half output ~30 Kerbin years, zero ~50.
- Weather-based wear: Rain, dust storms, and volcanic ash accelerate wear. Default: half ~2 years of exposure, zero ~5. Cloudy layers cut power but do not add wear.
- Combined: Final efficiency is time wear × weather wear when both are enabled.
Loaded solar panels use a transparent overlay on the same mesh:
- Dust accumulates only under dust-storm / volcano layers, with its own exposure timer (rain can wear panels without adding dust). Default: half covered ~1.0 Kerbin year, fully covered ~2.5.
- Covers all geometry meshes on the part (cells, booms, hinges); primary faces at full strength, structure dimmer (~55%). FX / utility meshes and hair-thin rods are skipped.
- Original part materials are left untouched. Dust visuals can be disabled in Difficulty Settings. With dust visuals on, PAW shows dust % (including on EVA).
- Level 3+ engineers can clean dust on EVA when wear is below 80%. Cleaning removes dust/ash wear but keeps precipitation wear.
When time-based and weather-based wear are enabled:
- Background processing: Only time-based wear is applied; weather wear is skipped for performance.
- Active / real-time processing: Weather power and weather wear are applied automatically. No separate Kerbalism DLL is required.
- True Volumetric Clouds —— Required for weather data.
- Module Manager —— Required for patch application.
Drop the WeatherDrivenSolarPanel folder from the GameData folder into your game's root GameData directory.
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- Fully Compatible: JNSQ, KSRSS, Kcalbeloh, SPVE, RO (replaces stock modules), Kerbalism.
- Requests: Submit an issue or PR on GitHub for new planet pack support.