... Night time???

[Donagh13]

I just got into this game and have played though day one of career mode and can't get over how annoying it is not being able to see anything at night. It could be just a prob with my laptop display maybe because at night the screen is just black with the odd twinkle. I got a space plane lost about 100km north of the space center and it crashed because it ran out of fuel trying to find home. The reason I couldn't find my way back was because the map was black as well and there was no icon showing where the space center was. The Kerbal killed in the crash is lost for good too because I clicked on tracking station and lost my chance at reverting the flight, poor Valentina. Nighttime sucks in Kerbal Space Program. It was a good flight till I ran out of fuel, first time at 15km in a space plane.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=435639097

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=435638531

[mikegarrison]

So let me understand, you are upset because it's hard to see in the dark?

[somnambulist]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=435639097

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=435638531

Those look perfectly fine to me. I agree there should be some sort of icon that shows the location of the space center but you can kludge it by planting a flag outside the vab as a marker.

Try calibrating your screen. This is nowhere near enough for actual work but can make literally a night and day difference for basic use.

[LordFerret]

If you knew you were 100km north of the KSC, then all you needed to do was keep an eye on your bearing via the Navball and head south hugging the coastline while keeping an eye out for the mountains to the west of KSC. Once you got close enough, you'd have seen the KSC, because it does have lights - the launchpad is lit, as well as the runway.

[Reddeyfish]

Once you got close enough, you'd have seen the KSC, because it does have lights - the launchpad is lit, as well as the runway.

Isn't that only when they're upgraded? The runway and launchpad you start off with are made with dirt.

The spaceplane Hangar also has lights, but that is also only after it has been upgraded.

[MacroNova]

If you could see really well in the dark, there would be no purpose to the illuminator parts.

[Bill Phil]

I hear there used to be ambient light at night...

I wouldn't mind it. Nighttime just feels scary sometimes. Like when in orbit...

[katateochi]

I really like that night is really dark (except after playing DayZ), you get really familiar with piloting by your instruments. But I agree it can be hard to find KSC sometimes so what I do is put some markers (just very simple probes) in front of the runway. I usually put three; 500m, 1km and 1.5km away from the runway in a line, that helps you get lined up for approach way in advance and you can target one of them (double click on it) so it appears as a marker on your navball. You can also see it in map mode when KSC is in darkness.

(I also put flashing lights on them, just because.)

Or you could use the Ambient light adjustment mod. I think you can adjust light levels on the fly (pun not intended) with that.

[Alshain]

Sounds like your monitors contrast is off. I can see mostly at night when close to the ground. It depends on where I am and how varied the terrain is though. Dark side of the Mun can be quite a challenge... a welcome one. As for markers, you can use simple flag, I usually place one at the base of the big flag pole by the astronaut complex (I don't want it near the runway cause that would be really cheating in my mind). Or if you really want an elegant solution, the Waypoint Manager mod lets you set icons to appear.

NavUtilities will help you find the runway if you are already close to it.

Edited May 2, 2015 by Alshain

[LordFerret]

Isn't that only when they're upgraded? The runway and launchpad you start off with are made with dirt.

The spaceplane Hangar also has lights, but that is also only after it has been upgraded.

Bah, my bad. I forgot about that in Career mode, stuff needing upgrading ... I play a Science game and it's all lit up from the git-go.

[malkuth]

You can put a small automated pod in the center of ksc and it will show you on map where ksc is. You could even rename it kerbal space center.

If you have wheels you can just make a simple rover to do same thing.

[Violent Jeb]

Most games that i've played since 1990 have brightness settings for this very reason. Not everybody is calibrated the same. That being said, you can increase the brightness on your monitor.. or you can download the ambient light adjustment mod, which adds a historically necessary feature to the menu of this game!

with ambient light adjustment, sometimes you will go with full brightness - other times you can dim it down to get that cool nighttime look, but i almost NEVER have it turned down to min - which is the stock setting. I even still put lights on my crafts for night time.

anytime you see half decent night screenshots it's bc they're using ambient light adjustment mod. Don't feel bad, you NEED some mods.

[stevehead]

I personally don't mind the darkness... but I do wish there was moonlight. Obviously we would never be able to experience a bright full moon on Kerbin with stock config like we do on Earth since every full moon in KSP is a lunar eclipse.

And of course, replace every above reference of Moon to Mun and Lunar to Munar.

[arq]

Especially at night, using your map and instruments is important. I agree that the lighting is a tad dark on Kerbin, and a built-in marker for KSC is something that should be added to stock. For now do as other are suggesting, use a flag or two to mark the runway or get a mod to tweak the lighting. Also, even during the day, I use landing gear lights so that I can see how far away the ground is (assuming I'm at all close), since it can be rather difficult to tell without more ground clutter.

[rodion_herrera]

So let me understand, you are upset because it's hard to see in the dark?

Lots of parallels with this remark. I won't be surprised if someone replied...

"YES! Because it's much more FUN to be able to see in the dark!"

See where I'm getting at?

[Gargamel]

The OP makes me want to post one of those "I don't want to live on this planet anymore" meme's.....

Then I realized I could actually do that with KSP, so.......

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Those look perfectly fine to me. I agree there should be some sort of icon that shows the location of the space center but you can kludge it by planting a flag outside the vab as a marker.

Thats what I do all the time.

Well... I used Jeb for a long time as a marker at KSC because i did not want to have him killed

[klesh]

There is a warp-to-morning button for as reason. Its very hard to fly at night without lights on your craft to help orient yourself if you have yet to master flying by navball.

[Alshain]

I will say it is very hard to land on the runway at night prior to tier 3, but that's just incentive to upgrade.

[Slam_Jones]

With most monitors, if you make the room you are in darker (assuming that's an option for you), it makes it easier to see in the dark. If the room you are in is really bright, well, that'll affect how well you can see.