[PLUGIN, PART 0.14+] SUNBEAM Laser 2.1

[Tosh]

SUNBEAM is a deadly solid-state laser working in manual control mode as well as in auto-targeting mode. Controls (may be reconfigured in the PART.CFG file):

rotate the turret:	<Numpad 8, 4, 5, 6> (make sure <Numlock> is ON!)
toggle targeting beam:	<Numpad 9>
cycle targets:	<Numpad 7>
fire:	<Numpad 0> (Warning! Laser quickly overheats when firing!)

Targeting range is 50 Km, firing range is 2 Km (limited by KSP engine).

New in v2.1:

• New fancy laser beams with volumetric light effects (level of details is adjustable via PART.CFG).
• Fixed some smoke behavior weirdness.
• Fixed game crash after destroying the target.

Download 65 Kb (must be logged in)

To install just unzip to KSP/ folder. hstwLaser.dll plugin goes to KSP/Plugins/, hstwLaser part goes to KSP/Parts/. If you wish to develop something similar feel free to use KSP/Sources/hstwLaser/ source code as a reference. No permission is required; just mention an original author and distribute your derivative work under BY-SA license.



[spoiler=Known issues]

• Despite the beam is 5 Km long it can hit targets at no more than 2 Km. Targets at greater distances are most likely 'on-rails', i.e. their models are not even loaded into the game.
• Sometimes laser beam ends not reaching the target. This happens when target's collider (physical model) does not coincide with its visible model.
• Sometimes ray appears clipped in mid-air when rotating a camera. It looks like there's something weird with Unity transparent shaders and camera clipping planes. When I tested 'solid' (opaque) rays they never were clipped.
• Laser picks a target by its name when game loads. If there are several vessels in range with the same name then laser picks an arbitrary one.
• Group control is not implemented. If you have several lasers on your vessel then each of them rotates on its own in response to manual controls. Though in auto-targeting mode they will try to lock on the same target.

[/spoiler]
[spoiler=ChangeLog]

v2.1:	New laser beams with volumetric light -- and some bug fixes.
v2.0:	Laser finally goes fully functional with a brand new plugin. And, well, a brand new model.
v1.1:	Added 90�, 135� and 180� versions; models and textures slightly tweaked.
v1:	First release (0� and 45� versions only).

[/spoiler]

[Jesus KerBeard]

When I click on hstwLaser.zip to download it, firefox is trying to open a file called \'index.php\' instead. That\'s probably on the forums end, but someone else has already downloaded it so I am confus

[Tosh]

[quote author=Jesus KerBeard link=topic=6452.msg86649#msg86649 date=1327542874]
When I click on hstwLaser.zip to download it, firefox is trying to open a file called \'index.php\' instead. That\'s probably on the forums end, but someone else has already downloaded it so I am confus
[/quote]
That bug was discussed in \'Forum Forum\' section. You may either switch to Internet Explorer (Chrome, Opera, whatever) or update to Firefox 9.

[Spoot Knight]

It\'s on the browser\'s end actually.
So as mentioned, switch browsers or update.

That would be pretty awesome to fire at low altitude and watch the ground turn dark from heat scarring.
Of course such a thing would have to be possible in the first place.

[Jesus KerBeard]

Ah, ok. I\'ll try it later, I\'m on my gfs computer atm.

[Tosh]

[quote author=Spoot Knight link=topic=6452.msg86652#msg86652 date=1327543032]
That would be pretty awesome to fire at low altitude and watch the ground turn dark from heat scarring.
Of course such a thing would have to be possible in the first place.
[/quote]
Not it v0.13 . I could not even add some fx_smokeTrail at the point where the beam touched the ground (\'cause I dunno that point LOL).

[Misterspork]

To replicate the effect while still having the capability of blowing stuff up, couldn\'t you just have a rail gun style projectile in it that leaves the trail behind it? And make it so fast it looks almost instant. You could have it as a separate download. Also, approximately how long is the effect? Could be useful to know so no noobs use this as 'I OWN THE WORLD' on the roleplay forums.

[H2oskiKerbal]

I LOVE YOU THANK YOU Orbital Friendship cannon shall be made

[Tosh]

To replicate the effect while still having the capability of blowing stuff up, couldn\'t you just have a rail gun style projectile in it that leaves the trail behind it? And make it so fast it looks almost instant. You could have it as a separate download. Also, approximately how long is the effect? Could be useful to know so no noobs use this as 'I OWN THE WORLD' on the roleplay forums.

a) \'so fast it looks almost instant\' will not be noticeable at all. Smoke trails consist of particles; if one particle is at 1 000 m from another you\'ll hardly see it as a \'trial\'.
b) it would be easier to add FX from SUNBEAM to Railgun mod than to model another weapon. You may ask JellyCubes to do that, or simply copy \'FX definitions\' section of part.cfg yourself.
c) laser burns for 60 seconds as stated in the opening post. And it \'hits\' (I mean \'touches\' ) the targets within the range of 3 000 m only.

[Misterspork]

a) \'so fast it looks almost instant\' will not be noticeable at all. Smoke trails consist of particles; if one particle is at 1 000 m from another you\'ll hardly see it as a \'trial\'.
b) it would be easier to add FX from SUNBEAM to Railgun mod than to model another weapon. You may ask JellyCubes to do that, or simply copy \'FX definitions\' section of part.cfg yourself.
c) laser burns for 60 seconds as stated in the opening post. And it \'hits\' (I mean \'touches\' ) the targets within the range of 3 000 m only.

I suppose I could do it manually. And sorry, I didn\'t know the limitations of the effects system. I was actually looking for distance, sorry about the vagueness, but glad to see you answered both possibilities.