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[Released] Free IVA Alpha v0.2.1 [1.12.x] (2022-11-24)

pizzaoverhead

By pizzaoverhead
in KSP1 Mod Development

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Gaalidas

Gaalidas

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With CollisionFX, yes, the light is too bright right now, and it annoys me every time I see it in a screenshot. It'll have to be adjusted and made configurable in the next release, which will also be bringing customisable dust colours for all biomes on all bodies.

For custom colors and whatnot, feel free to take a look at what we did in Kerbal Foundries. I took CollisionFX and, over about 3/4 of a year, slowly morphed it into the "KFDustFX" module. In its current state, it's maybe about 2% CollisionFX and the other 98% is what we've (lo-fi and me) rewritten. Combined with some of the advanced wheel features of KFModuleWheel and the repuslors in KFRepulsor we have a dust emitting module that is very customizable. We use an external BiomeColors.cfg for static body/biome definitions, but also make use of a small, low-res (6x6 pixels, configurable) camera object, with a mask that blocks out the craft itself, situated above the craft which samples the current view from the ground textures and averages them out to give us a new dust color at a configurable, but defaulted to 10, frames between samples. We then have a little buffer in the dust emitter which allows the dust to slowly transition so that the entire dust plume doesn't change colors all at once.

So if you need some inspiration on how you can take your current CollisionFX and make it even more awesome, feel free to browse. [Link to github] I've already been asked to make a KFDustFX variation for non-KF wheels, but I figure that would be more in line with CollisionFX, which is all yours. The only things we don't have in our implementation is any sort of collision sound effects, or any sparks of any sort (though, our screw-drive could certainly use some sparkage occasionally while moving along the terrain since it relies on a lot of friction with the ground to propel the craft).

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pizzaoverhead

pizzaoverhead

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You're the best! This should be stock, it's so usefull!

But.. small question how do you enable/disable the developer GUI?

You can press F2 or right click on it. Don't worry, these early tech demo previews have zero polish and are just a chance to take a look at the progress yourself first-hand. Things will be much more friendly in future!

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MK3424

MK3424

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You can press F2 or right click on it. Don't worry, these early tech demo previews have zero polish and are just a chance to take a look at the progress yourself first-hand. Things will be much more friendly in future!

Thanks for the fast reply.

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pizzaoverhead

pizzaoverhead

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The other day I thought of the folowing scenario:

I have a space station in orbit with a docking node placed at a crewable module, This was by design of course, so I would be able to dock a what-should-we-say a vehicle for changing crew, to my station and have my kerbals be able to, you know, enter and leave it.

However, I was unable to put said docking port exactly on the hatches.

Regarding this scenario I have a few questions:

-will docking ports have IVA's (maybe not so important now, but if you add in colliders, how would I be able to move through the docking port.)

Yes, the docking ports will need IVAs, particularly the in-line ones. I'm planning on adding IVAs to these parts:

-How will the IVA of said crewable module look like, scince I could not place the docking node at the hatch. I might be cutting an ugly hole in my snacks container because of an docking port. Let's say my kerbals would not be amused.:P

KSP is all about dealing with engineering challenges, and IVA layout is no exception. If you've placed a hatch in front of a section of hull or on non-occupiable parts like fuel tanks, you'll end up with a situation like this:

door-brick-wall-24064152.jpg

- how will you be able to move through parts that cant hold crew (again, those colliders), yet are the ways of the crew to transport themselves from one part of the ship to another? (without connected living space, this would be just any part connecting two crewable modules, but with CLS, there is still parts like docking ports, separators and the rockomax Multi-hub.)

Any part that crew are going to pass through needs an IVA. In the long term, I'd like to take a look at a system that gives a tweakable option during construction to add an IVA tunnel to certain parts which are normally impassable, at the cost of increased mass, cost and possibly other factors like reduced crash tolerance. The Structural Fuselage is the primary candidate for this.

Hmm...so what would that method do if you have two parts clipped inside each other? Wouldn't you end up "in" both of them?

Yep, that's an issue, but if you're clipping IVA-able parts into each other things will already be a mess. KSP's TARDIS approach to volume doesn't look pretty in this case!

For custom colors and whatnot, feel free to take a look at what we did in Kerbal Foundries. I took CollisionFX and, over about 3/4 of a year, slowly morphed it into the "KFDustFX" module. In its current state, it's maybe about 2% CollisionFX and the other 98% is what we've (lo-fi and me) rewritten. Combined with some of the advanced wheel features of KFModuleWheel and the repuslors in KFRepulsor we have a dust emitting module that is very customizable. We use an external BiomeColors.cfg for static body/biome definitions, but also make use of a small, low-res (6x6 pixels, configurable) camera object, with a mask that blocks out the craft itself, situated above the craft which samples the current view from the ground textures and averages them out to give us a new dust color at a configurable, but defaulted to 10, frames between samples. We then have a little buffer in the dust emitter which allows the dust to slowly transition so that the entire dust plume doesn't change colors all at once.

So if you need some inspiration on how you can take your current CollisionFX and make it even more awesome, feel free to browse. [Link to github] I've already been asked to make a KFDustFX variation for non-KF wheels, but I figure that would be more in line with CollisionFX, which is all yours. The only things we don't have in our implementation is any sort of collision sound effects, or any sparks of any sort (though, our screw-drive could certainly use some sparkage occasionally while moving along the terrain since it relies on a lot of friction with the ground to propel the craft).

Glad to hear CollisionFX helped you get you off to a good start! The camera colour system is an interesting one, very flexible. Once I've got this project in a good place, I'll be putting more time into CollisionFX (and ASE and StEd). One of the future features that I'd like to add for it is the ability to have multiple potential sounds for a collision, and to pick randomly from them to add some variety.

Very interesting looking mod...wonder if i,should provide support for this is ssp

Definitely! I'd like to have a proper look around those craft. The inside of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft would make a great vomit comet! Modelling hatches and doors as separate props will allow you to open and close them easily using Free IVA. In future it may be possible to play animations on doors or other props.

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Sampa

Sampa

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Yes, the docking ports will need IVAs, particularly the in-line ones. I'm planning on adding IVAs to these parts:

KSP is all about dealing with engineering challenges, and IVA layout is no exception. If you've placed a hatch in front of a section of hull or on non-occupiable parts like fuel tanks, you'll end up with a situation like this:

Any part that crew are going to pass through needs an IVA. In the long term, I'd like to take a look at a system that gives a tweakable option during construction to add an IVA tunnel to certain parts which are normally impassable, at the cost of increased mass, cost and possibly other factors like reduced crash tolerance. The Structural Fuselage is the primary candidate for this.

Yep, that's an issue, but if you're clipping IVA-able parts into each other things will already be a mess. KSP's TARDIS approach to volume doesn't look pretty in this case!

Glad to hear CollisionFX helped you get you off to a good start! The camera colour system is an interesting one, very flexible. Once I've got this project in a good place, I'll be putting more time into CollisionFX (and ASE and StEd). One of the future features that I'd like to add for it is the ability to have multiple potential sounds for a collision, and to pick randomly from them to add some variety.

Definitely! I'd like to have a proper look around those craft. The inside of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft would make a great vomit comet! Modelling hatches and doors as separate props will allow you to open and close them easily using Free IVA. In future it may be possible to play animations on doors or other props.

Ok, i'll discuss the possibility of my team working with you to make this happen in a future SSP update.

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nikokespprfan

nikokespprfan

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Any part that crew are going to pass through needs an IVA. In the long term, I'd like to take a look at a system that gives a tweakable option during construction to add an IVA tunnel to certain parts which are normally impassable, at the cost of increased mass, cost and possibly other factors like reduced crash tolerance. The Structural Fuselage is the primary candidate for this.

That would make the structural fuselage so much more useful.

Are you going to add an option to remove the seats out of modules? This is so you could go into the cupola (for example) and not have your view blocked by a seat.

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RidingTheFlow

RidingTheFlow

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Mk3 fuselage tanks also have hatches in the sides, so I assume this means axial crew tunnel in stock.

Edited by RidingTheFlow
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GorillaZilla

GorillaZilla

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For custom colors and whatnot, feel free to take a look at what we did in Kerbal Foundries. I took CollisionFX and, over about 3/4 of a year, slowly morphed it into the "KFDustFX" module. In its current state, it's maybe about 2% CollisionFX and the other 98% is what we've (lo-fi and me) rewritten. Combined with some of the advanced wheel features of KFModuleWheel and the repuslors in KFRepulsor we have a dust emitting module that is very customizable. We use an external BiomeColors.cfg for static body/biome definitions, but also make use of a small, low-res (6x6 pixels, configurable) camera object, with a mask that blocks out the craft itself, situated above the craft which samples the current view from the ground textures and averages them out to give us a new dust color at a configurable, but defaulted to 10, frames between samples. We then have a little buffer in the dust emitter which allows the dust to slowly transition so that the entire dust plume doesn't change colors all at once.

So if you need some inspiration on how you can take your current CollisionFX and make it even more awesome, feel free to browse. [Link to github] I've already been asked to make a KFDustFX variation for non-KF wheels, but I figure that would be more in line with CollisionFX, which is all yours. The only things we don't have in our implementation is any sort of collision sound effects, or any sparks of any sort (though, our screw-drive could certainly use some sparkage occasionally while moving along the terrain since it relies on a lot of friction with the ground to propel the craft).

I absolutely love seeing modders helping out other modders, it all adds up and makes our game awsome, Kudos to the moding community! I see it going on almost everywhere I read on mod development threads like these ^_^

Edited by GorillaZilla
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Gaalidas

Gaalidas

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Glad to hear CollisionFX helped you get you off to a good start! The camera colour system is an interesting one, very flexible. Once I've got this project in a good place, I'll be putting more time into CollisionFX (and ASE and StEd). One of the future features that I'd like to add for it is the ability to have multiple potential sounds for a collision, and to pick randomly from them to add some variety.

That definitely sounds like something I'd like. I'm going to be taking over the maintenance of kerbal Foundries soon (I think lo-fi got burnt out on KSP development, he's actually throwing the proverbial towel out the window) which is where DustFX finally came to rest. Still, collision sound effects have been my greatest adversary (at least, when not struggling with the crud that's involved in making custom GUI windows. That was a nightmare.) We squashed some of the most persistent nullrefs when we stripped out the collision sound effects from my adaptation of CollisionFX.

Thinking about a random sound effect selector for a moment, I imagine the randomization part would be pretty simple to set up. We already have random number generators with definable ranges, so I would think setting up an enumerator for all the sound clips you have, and then have a random number drawn with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of the enumeration's length, you could then take that output and match it to the index in the enumeration and bingo, all ready to emit the sound effect. For configurable sound effects, you can simply set up a few config fields. One for the sound clip path, and a second for a comma-delimited list of clip file names (using two fields reduces the need to have the entire path for very clip) which is then parsed out at startup and enumerated with a prefix of the path for the clips. Alternatively you could simply require all sound clips to be in a specific folder and simply reference them by name. A third alternative is available, though I'm unsure how to make it happen, but I know there are mods that can reference images by name on the global level, without requiring a path to be declared. You might be able to adapt that for sound clips.

But there I go again, derailing the thread. Get back on topic you crazy people...

Edited by Gaalidas
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GorillaZilla

GorillaZilla

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This mod makes me wish Squad had gone with transparent windows from the start.

http://i.imgur.com/C2jGg8R.jpg

It would probably only make a difference if you're using the cupola, but I've always found the flat blue windows to be an annoyance.

Cool image, how did you get that? Is there a mod that makes the windows or the crew pods and cockpits transparent?

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JPLRepo

JPLRepo

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How in the hell did you pull this off? This is great!

RasterPRopMonitor mod already does transparent pods/parts and IVAs. And before RPM, a mod called sfr command pods did it, which was abandoned and Mihara rebuilt it in RPM. Beware it is heavy on performance which is probably why it's not stock. I just finished updating the RPM module so you will be able to turn transparent pods on and off per part in the editor or in flight. MOARdV should be putting out a new version of RPM this weekend with this feature.

Edited by JPLRepo
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brusura

brusura

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RasterPRopMonitor mod already does transparent pods/parts and IVAs. And before RPM, a mod called sfr command pods did it, which was abandoned and Mihara rebuilt it in RPM. Beware it is heavy on performance which is probably why it's not stock. I just finished updating the RPM module so you will be able to turn transparent pods on and off per part in the editor or in flight. MOARdV should be putting out a new version of RPM this weekend with this feature.

Very nice! But I dont understand, will this work out of the box with any stock pod with an iva ?

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JPLRepo

JPLRepo

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Very nice! But I dont understand, will this work out of the box with any stock pod with an iva ?

No and Yes. The model maker has to create two sets of window shaders, one transparent and one opaque and then configure to use RPM in the part config file.

You can of course just have ONE window shader (say the stock one) and then just change the config file, but then it looks like there is no window/glass at all, but it doesn't always work.

A more realistic and working window needs a window shader to be generated with low opacity.

Like I also said, having lots of internalmodels being rendered as well as external part models... does hit on performance. Which is probably why it is not stock.

As per RPM it was noticed also that the more internal props you have configured the more performance hit there is as well.

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Capt Snuggler

Capt Snuggler

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my apologies if this has been pointed out before but I think the Structural Fuselage would/should also be on that list.

also the large probe core and maybe a few of the mk3 fuel tanks? all though I cant tell if they are doors on there or door shaped panels...

also maybe the TVR parts?.

and another thing...

could it be possible to allow radial attachment of IVAable parts on to an external door hatch? then allow the crew to pass through where the hatch was?

Edited by Capt Snuggler
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skykooler

skykooler

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Like I also said, having lots of internalmodels being rendered as well as external part models... does hit on performance. Which is probably why it is not stock.

As per RPM it was noticed also that the more internal props you have configured the more performance hit there is as well.

I wonder whether it would be possible to have the IVA render the internal model, but not the IVA props? They're generally not at an angle that you could see them from outside the vessel anyway.

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