A shader mod for Kerbal Space Program 1.12 - GTAO and Starfield currently available, more planned...
- GTAO (Ground-Truth Ambient Occlusion) – Horizon-based occlusion with normal-aware filtering
- Starfield Catalog - Catalog-based GPU-rendered stars. No PNG, no pixelation.
Note that GTAO may not provide the more dramatic, soft shadows MSVO can - you can enable both, and use both, if you want! MSVO exposed by TUFX for KSP.
Here you can see the difference between Cinematic Shaders GTAO and the AO provided through ReShade and the MXAO shader. The MXAO shader is an amazing piece of work, it can provide GTAO across a wide array of titles. The comparison here is to highlight the fact that it's easier to pull off the effect in-engine because you can get the right data from the engine directly. MXAO rebuilds that data after the fact, inferring it from the scene - a huge technical hurdle I didn't have to cross.
This mod completely overhauls the stock Galaxy Camera, replacing the static skybox with a fully rendered catalog-based starfield. No textures are used to define the stars—the stars are generated mathematically and rendered in real-time using your GPU.
Star Catalogs The starfield is driven by catalogs that define each star's position, brightness, and color. You can choose from several "real star" catalogs based on actual astronomical data from the Hipparcos satellite courtesy of the ESA, or generate your own custom starfield using the procedural generation controls.
Save and share your creations easily! All catalogs are stored as .bin files in the PluginData\StarCatalogs folder and can be shared with other players.
Important Note The stars will not be visible on the Main Menu. You must load into a game (Space Center, Flight, or Tracking Station) to see the starfield.
Here's a shot of the real star catalog
Or you can make your own starfield as wild and colourful as you want it using the sliders to customize the look and feel to your preference
The Holographic Universal Celestial Kartographer, or H.U.C.K., is a diegetic heads-up info display that projects onto the background of space itself. Complete with info about your current situation, navigation indicators, maneuver burn info display, and target live target tracking info, H.U.C.K. can help you keep sight of what's important. With full options to enable and disable each feature individually, and an industry-first four colour options for the phosphor display, we think you'll find H.U.C.K. can be an invaluable member of your crew.
But that's not all. H.U.C.K. comes pre-loaded with a vast star catalog containing data on over three-thousand stars, allowing you to point-and click to to discover their names, distances, and more. Not just a navigation aid, H.U.C.K. is your guide to the stars. Simply enable the Kartographer, choose the visual options you want, and H.U.C.K. does the rest.
Screenshots
The Kartographer requires the starfield to be enabled in order to function, and you would not be able to access the star catalog data otherwise regardless.
- KSP 1.12.x
- Deferred – Required for effects to function.
Unzip the archive into your Kerbal Space Program/ folder.
The folder structure should be: GameData/CinematicShaders/
- Open UI: Click the wireframe sphere icon on the toolbar
- Enable: Check "Enable Ground-Truth AO" in the GTAO tab (only functional if Deferred is installed)
- Adjust:
- Radius: Search distance for occluders (0.5m–10m)
- Intensity: Shadow strength multiplier (0.0–2.0)
- Shadow Spread: Maximum pixel radius for shadows
- Quality: Preset controlling sample count (Low/Ultra)
- Debug: Use the "Debug Visualization" dropdown for Raw AO or normal buffer inspection
- Open the Cinematic Shaders UI from the toolbar button
- Click on the Starfield tab
- Click Enable to turn on the starfield
- Either choose an existing catalog from the dropdown, or create a new one from scratch using the procedural generation sliders
- Open the Cinematic Shaders UI from the toolbar button
- Click Enable Kartographer from the Kartographer tab
- Choose the visualizer options you want and optionally customize their appearance
- Starfield MUST be enabled!
- GTAO - There's currently an issue with the AO processing that I'll detail in a separate KnownIssues.md file. It affects the overall rendering and may be more noticeable in some scenes than others.
- Starfield - Some stars may experience some "z-fighting" which causes minor flickering/twinkling.
- Starfield - per-save settings are currently not functioning correctly, so your settings will persist across saves - this is incorrect, as the intent is to allow each save to have its own sky based on your choices.
All code is licensed via MIT License – See included LICENSE.txt file.
HYG Database (hyg_v42.csv) and derived real-sky catalogs (.bin files generated from this data) are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0:
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) Copyright (c) Astronexus (HYG Database)
You are free to:
- Share: copy and redistribute the material
- Adapt: remix, transform, and build upon the material Under the terms: Attribution + ShareAlike
Important: Real-sky catalogs derived from the HYG CSV (the included .bin files
in GameData/CinematicShaders/PluginData/StarCatalogs/) are derivative works
and inherit CC BY-SA 4.0 obligations. Procedurally generated catalogs
(random seed, no HYG data) are original works and can be shared freely under
any terms you choose.
Assets All navball icon assets(the sdf pngs and the svg source files in the assets\ folder) are licensed under the above MIT license terms. You are free to use, modify, copy, distribute them as you wish without attribution.
Font The DEC Rainbow 100 Font, Ac437_Rainbow100_re_66.ttf, found in the FONTS folder is licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ from https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/ The Oldschool PC Font Resource.
Under CC-BY-SA-4.0 You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. Notices: You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
- GTAO implementation based on XeGTAO
- ESA and the Hipparcos satellite for star data
- Tiffany352 and the Godot Starlight project for inspiration, PSF implementation.
- The Oldschool PC Font Resource (https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/) for the awesome-looking DEC Rainbow-100 font.