I find it time consuming to have to save the bip file, then save the package aswell, taking up hard drive space, as some of my models are 500mb, and I can have several revisions of each. I would like the textures, labels and materials to be saved within the bip, even with a x-ref style folder along with it, with the textures in, so I can just click save one time. Oh, and an auto back up would be nice, I've lost countless hours of work due to glitches and crashes. Thanks
The ksp file mainly intended as a portable file, for moving projects around, and as a final archive file that includes everything needed to render the scene. There is really no need to use the ksp package function unless you need to move the project, or are done with it and want to archive it. And when you do open the ksp package, KS unpacks everything into the folder you point it to, then you can delete the ksp package file if you want to.
It would be nice if there was a "gather assets" function that would reach out and grab all the files needed, and not pack it up but just gather all the assets into an "Assets" folder for that project. That would solve the problem of my network drives here at the office constantly being remapped by the IT dept.
There is a "Save reminder" function in the preferences, while it doesn't save the file for you, its a step in the right direction. There is also a "Serialize" option as well, where is increment saves each time. I use that so if I royally screw something up I can back up a version :)