Devnote Tuesday: I ain't getting on no plane!

[SQUAD]

Hello everyone,

We’ve kicked into full QA-mode this week! You know what they say: if you have a problem… if no one else can help… and if you can find them… maybe you can hire… The QA-Team!

(…) we’ll find our way out on our own, thank you.

The push into QA has kept all the developers quite busy, Mike (Mu), Jim (Romfarer) and Rodrigo (Roy) are dedicating almost all of their time to hunt down the issue that the testers are reporting, fixing them once they’ve been tracked down. Nathanael (Nathankell) added a number of bug fixes including a race condition with flow graph building and fuel lines, making the vessel angular velocity the mass-weighted average across parts (like linear velocity) to reduce wobble in rockets, and a fix to a staging issue with RCS where disabled RCS ports would engage when staged, even if they were set to not be stageable.

Bob (Roverdude) and Brian (Arsonide) continued work on the antenna telemetry system. Aside from fixing bugs and tweaking code based on the feedback from the QA team Bob has been working on giving pilots more utility by introducing pilot-only control. This means that a scientist or engineer can only achieve full control of certain pods when in direct communication with Kerbin.

In parallel with the work on the antenna system Brian has been working on a feature the developers have dubbed “Kerbnet”. Kerbnet is essentially software that will reside on all probe cores. No special part is required, but it will only function if you have an active communications link with the space center, and will provide various features such as allowing you to see where biomes are in a limited range underneath the probe core, and allowing you to place customizable waypoints. Of course, these features will rely on signals strength between the KSC and your spacecraft. Here’s a picture of Kerbnet in action: http://i.imgur.com/ip24PQw.gif

Bill (taniwha) is still working on the targeting code, and thanks to a link posted to Reddit has found a way to make quartics (equations involving x4) approachable. Which has caused him to revisit and improve the mouse-orbit interaction code.

Nathan (Claw) spent some time adding a few more tweaks to the Stability Augmentation System that we talked about last week, bringing in some additional considerations for various craft designs. The QA team has been diligently testing and prodding the system, helping to tighten it up even further. Assuming a role as QA tester he then spent time tracking down a few new bugs, including one that made craft mysteriously disappear when flying out of range of the active ship and helping to provide some valuable feedback on balance and gameplay implications of Kerbnet.

Recently we’ve been looking for new developers to join up and develop Kerbal even further, and we’re glad to share that we’ve had some good results already, and some new faces will be joining the development team soon on several fronts. Nestor has been doing interviews and if you’re interested, we’re still looking for people to fill several positions.

As is tradition, Mathew (sal_vager) has written a poem for the devnotes. This week he’s been inspired by Nathan’s work on the SAS system:

I fight the drift

Forces from without

From wind, from whim

I end

I hold firm

I guide

On me, you can rely

To close off, we want to extend our thanks one final time to everyone who participated in our bug tracker cleanup: you’ve all done an amazing job filtering, sorting, rating and voting on bugs, and Dave (TriggerAu) is now going through the small list of bugs that still need sorting and/or attention in a different way.

That’s it for this week, don’t forget to sign up on our official forums, follow us on social media, and/or join the independent KSP subreddit to stay up-to-date on all development related news.

[Alshain]

So, we haven't heard if, now that Unity 5.4 has been released, if 1.2 is going to push for that or remain at 5.3?

 

I love your interpretation of Waypoint Manager @Arsonide  Can't wait to use that!  Question: It says it require connection with the telemetry system, what if you aren't using the telemetry system, will it function?

Edited August 9, 2016 by Alshain

[linuxgurugamer]

Cool.

So, for those prolific modders out there, will you be making a pre-release available for them to get a start on updating their mods?

[Caelib]

Looks great!

[Apollo13]

How about thise exploding lander legs?  Fixed???

[OddFunction]

3 minutes ago, Alshain said:

So, we haven't heard if, now that Unity 5.4 has been released, if 1.2 is going to push for that or remain at 5.3?

I second this question.

[Frozen_Heart]

That kerbnet looks awesome. Can't wait for these new antennae.

Any word from Porkjet? Can't remember the last time we heard from him.

[Superfluous J]

Looks like Q.A. Baracus is all up ins. I love it when a plan comes together.

[Firemetal]

A ruff estimate of what month 1.2 will release. I know no one knows about that right now but it would be nice to have just a ruff estimate of when it may come out. I am thinking late fall.

[Whirligig Girl]

How about using the KerbNet as an interface for science reports from probes?

[Alshain]

1 minute ago, Firemetal said:

A ruff estimate of what month 1.2 will release. I know no one knows about that right now but it would be nice to have just a ruff estimate of when it may come out. I am thinking late fall.

Typically less than a month once QA starts up, not counting 1.1.

[smjjames]

20 minutes ago, Apollo13 said:

How about thise exploding lander legs?  Fixed???

It's a known issue

Edited August 9, 2016 by smjjames

[beelzerob]

25 minutes ago, Alshain said:

So, we haven't heard if, now that Unity 5.4 has been released, if 1.2 is going to push for that or remain at 5.3?

 

I only ever recall them saying they were using 5.4, even before it was released.  Now that it's released, I'd say it was assured.

[Alshain]

Just now, beelzerob said:

I only ever recall them saying they were using 5.4, even before it was released.  Now that it's released, I'd say it was assured.

I never heard them saying it was going to use 5.4.  I heard them say they hoped to use 5.4 if Unity released it on time.

[HoloYolo]

Wow, wake up from a late day nap and see a devnote. gg SQUAD.

[Ultimate Steve]

49 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

allowing you to see where biomes are

I'm not even done reading it and I'm already YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Glaran K'erman]

52 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

and will provide various features such as allowing you to see where biomes are in a limited range underneath the probe core, and allowing you to place customizable waypoints. Of course, these features will rely on signals strength between the KSC and your spacecraft.

Omgyesfinally

[klgraham1013]

58 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

Kerbnet is essentially software that will reside on all probe cores. No special part is required, but it will only function if you have an active communications link with the space center, and will provide various features such as allowing you to see where biomes are in a limited range underneath the probe core, and allowing you to place customizable waypoints. Of course, these features will rely on signals strength between the KSC and your spacecraft. Here’s a picture of Kerbnet in action: http://i.imgur.com/ip24PQw.gif

Ok.  Ok.  I'm on board with the hype train already.  You can stop.

Edited August 10, 2016 by klgraham1013

[Arsonide]

1 hour ago, Alshain said:

I love your interpretation of Waypoint Manager @Arsonide  Can't wait to use that!  Question: It says it require connection with the telemetry system, what if you aren't using the telemetry system, will it function?

As of now, if you disable communications networks, KerbNet will be available in sandbox mode, but not career. Of course, that might change before release based on feedback.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Arsonide

[GeneCash]

1 hour ago, SQUAD said:

Bob has been working on giving pilots more utility by introducing pilot-only control. This means that a scientist or engineer can only achieve full control of certain pods when in direct communication with Kerbin.

That's actually an awesome game mechanic. Kudos for thinking of something I tried very hard to come up with, and didn't.

And thanks for naming Gene's Conviction after me! I didn't know I was so famous!

[RoverDude]

Thanks   One thing I like to do with these features is give a bit more meaning to the different traits, and encourage mixed crews.

[Raptor9]

I don't know where to begin, these devnotes are awesome! 

Regarding the "Pilot-only Control", will this change the dynamic of how the CH-J3 Avionics Hub functions? If a craft has one of these installed, will the engineer or scientist still be required to be in comms with Kerbin?

Also, is there any way to export the waypoints to another craft? Example: A survey probe is in orbit around Duna, and pinpoints a suitable landing site, and then sends the coordinates to a crewed lander.  Or will the lander need to have a probe core on board to target a waypoint directly?

[Arsonide]

2 minutes ago, Raptor9 said:

Also, is there any way to export the waypoints to another craft? Example: A survey probe is in orbit around Duna, and pinpoints a suitable landing site, and then sends the coordinates to a crewed lander.  Or will the lander need to have a probe core on board to target a waypoint directly?

The waypoints are not saved on the craft, they are uploaded to Kerbal Space Center, so they are available everywhere once placed. They persist in your save file until deleted. They also function in every game mode, including sandbox, and have all of the features of normal contract waypoints, like navigation mode.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Arsonide

[RoverDude]

1 minute ago, Raptor9 said:

I don't know where to begin, these devnotes are awesome! 

Regarding the "Pilot-only Control", will this change the dynamic of how the CH-J3 Avionics Hub functions? If a craft has one of these installed, will the engineer or scientist still be required to be in comms with Kerbin?

For pilot only control, essentially the probe is serving as your flight computer.  That means that if you have a connection, you either have instructions being fed via your comm connection, or someone talking you through the different maneuvers.  

[Raptor9]

12 minutes ago, Arsonide said:

The waypoints are not saved on the craft, they are uploaded to Kerbal Space Center, so they are available everywhere once placed. They also function in every game mode, including sandbox, and have all of the features of normal contract waypoints, like navigation mode.

Ohhhh...the possibilities...

11 minutes ago, RoverDude said:

or someone talking you through the different maneuvers.  

Ha ha. Gene: "No Bob, pushing forward on the stick makes the houses get bigger!  Pulling back makes them get smaller."

Edited August 10, 2016 by Raptor9