Orbit Paths Disappear When Zooming Out in Map View (Ubuntu)

[Onieronaut]

I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 to run KSP 1.0.4 on a brand new Intel NUC with i7 processor and Iris 6100 graphics chip. Everything is in working order, with the exception of one rather upsetting bug: my trajectory and orbit paths disappear from map view whenever I zoom out. This makes planning maneuvers extremely difficult even for nearby bodies, and completely impossible for distant ones. The paths reappear as soon as I zoom in, but I have to zoom in so close that I effectively can't plan any useful maneuvers. I can't do any interplanetary missions at all, even though the game runs flawlessly otherwise. Suffice to say, this is a bummer.

I did some searching around and didn't see anything which looked like a conclusive answer. I did try adding "LC_ALL=C" to Steam's KSP launch options because I found several people who recommended it as a kind of general fix for KSP issues on Linux, but in this case it didn't make any difference. I recorded a short video to demonstrate the bug, if anyone wants to see exactly what I'm dealing with. Please take a look and let me know if you have even the slightest idea of why this is happening or how to fix it:

Edited September 16, 2015 by Onieronaut

[sal_vager]

Hi Onieronaut, I'd really like to know what causes this as well, I am not able to reproduce this with the proprietary Linux Nvidia driver so I think this is a driver issue, or possibly driver settings.

I do know that the orbit lines also disappear on OSX, so this may be an issue with OpenGL with certain drivers and possibly only on AMD hardware.

So please provide more info on what graphics hardware you use, your driver and version, and your graphics settings both in KSP and in your driver settings, your kSP.log will show what KSP gfx card detects and your settings.cfg will show your current KSP settings, you can generate a hardware report on Linux with the hardinfo package.

If you are using the open source Radeon or Nouveau driver please consider testing the proprietary driver instead or vice versa, don't forget to reboot to enable the driver.

You can also try starting KSP with this from the terminal:

LD_PRELOAD="${LD_PRELOAD} libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1" __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=1 ./KSP.x86

Change directory (cd "/path/to/KSP") to your KSP folder first though or it will cause other issues, and add _64 to the end for KSP.x86_64

Edited September 16, 2015 by sal_vager

[Onieronaut]

Thanks for the reply Sal_Vager. I think we can be sure this isn't an AMD-only issue, seeing as I do not have any AMD components in this computer. But I suspect you're on to something about OpenGL not working right with my particular drivers. I gathered what information I could about my graphics hardware, which is an Intel model, but before getting to that I have another thought:

Intel's website has up-to-date graphics driver downloads for Ubuntu versions 14.10 and 15.04 ... but not for 14.04, which is the version I'm presently running. I installed 14.04 because that's what the Ubuntu website recommended, and I'm relatively new to Linux. I'm wondering if it would be worth switching to one of these newer Ubuntu versions in order to try out the updated Intel graphics drivers. I don't know the difference between these versions, but if Intel has stopped supporting Ubuntu 14.04 then I assume there's probably a reason.

Any thoughts? This is a new computer, so if I'm going to try wiping my OS and switching to another it seems now would be the time. I'd like to know if you, or anyone else, thinks there's any possibility that a different Ubuntu version and the latest Intel graphics drivers are likely to fix my KSP problem.

Here's the most relevant-looking information from my HardInfo system report (let me know if I missed anything important):

Processor: 4x Intel® Core i7-5557U CPU @ 3.10GHz

OpenGL Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel® Iris 6100 (Broadwell GT3)

OpenGL Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.5.9 (Direct Rendering: Yes)

OS Kernel: Linux 3.19.0-28-generic (x86_64)

The terminal command "lshw -c video" outputs "configuration: driver=i915" along with some of the same information given by HardInfo. From this I take it that I am presently running the Intel 915 graphics driver.

Here's the relevant info from my KSP.log file:

OS: Linux 3.19 Ubuntu 14.04 64bit

CPU: Intel® Core i7-5557U CPU @ 3.10GHz (4)

GPU: Mesa DRI Intel® Iris 6100 (Broadwell GT3) x86/MMX/SSE2 (256MB)

SM: 30 (OpenGL 3.0 [3.0 Mesa 10.5.9])

And here's a screenshot of my KSP graphics settings:

http://i.imgur.com/SibFWhP.png

KSP and HardInfo seem to agree on both the hardware and the OpenGL version that I'm using. From my limited knowledge it seems like outdated Intel graphics drivers are the most likely culprit, though I haven't seen any assurance that new drivers on a new version of Ubuntu would fix this particular bug. Unless someone can think of a different fix, a new OS might be my only recourse. Is there another potential fix I've overlooked? And if not, does anyone know which version of Ubuntu (14.10 or 15.04) is more likely to run KSP properly? Your advice is very much appreciated.

Oh, and Sal_Vager, I'm embarrassed to admit I did not try your suggestion of launching KSP with that terminal command because I don't quite understand what I'm looking at. When you say to "change the directory," how would I do that? Am I supposed to include "/path/to/KSP" in the same line as the launch command? And what does this command actually do, anyway?

Edited September 16, 2015 by Onieronaut

[sal_vager]

I honestly don't know if upgrading will fix this, but it's easy to upgrade from one version to another without reinstalling [Link to updating Ubuntu] (Canonical make things too easy...)

Your hardware should be fine and Intel drivers for Linux are supposed to be very good, so really this shouldn't be happening at all, but interestingly the rendering of orbit lines in KSP changes slightly at exactly the point where yours and others disappear.

Before that point they do not render behind planets, but after that point they render on top of other objects, so they are definitely being drawn differently and there's a slight hiccup in zooming when transitioning between the two draw modes.

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I can see the lines even if I zoom out really far, but for some reason for you and others that different mode is just ignored and you get no lines.

This is what makes me think the driver is the issue here, I already know that some drivers cannot handle the editor gizmo transparency, they are magenta when using the proprietary drivers, so it follows that some can't handle the orbit lines when in this "cover everything" draw mode.

Unfortunately Intel GPU's on Linux don't have many drivers to choose from, actually I don't think older drivers are even available without reverting to an older distro, but there's a few fixes here that may still work and are worth testing.

As for the line above, it's supposed to force different behaviour from the OpenGL driver, and some players say it improves performance but I haven't noticed it.

Probably the easiest way to use it would be to make a script, this is a text file that starts KSP for you, I and others covered this recently here.

Put basically, make a new text document, call it start_ksp.sh and add the lines from that link depending on which version (KSP.x86 or KSP.x86_64) you are starting, so it looks like this:

#!/bin/sh
cd "/home/user/games/Kerbal Space Program"
LD_PRELOAD="${LD_PRELOAD} libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1" __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=1 ./KSP.x86

Changing the path in quotes after cd (cd means change directory) with the path to your KSP folder.

After saving the file you'll also have to make it executable, just right click it and you can edit its properties, there will be a checkbox to allow it to be run as a program.

Edited September 17, 2015 by sal_vager

[Onieronaut]

Thanks for explaining that script file: I gave it a try and something isn't working. I think I may have specified the directory incorrectly? Here's what I'm looking at:

~$ Desktop/KSP.sh
Desktop/KSP.sh: 2: cd: can't cd to /home/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Kerbal Space Program
Desktop/KSP.sh: 3: Desktop/KSP.sh: ./KSP.x86_64: not found

As far as I know that should be the right directory. Here's a screenshot of my Kerbal Space Program folder for comparison:

http://i.imgur.com/LaqQajr.png

And here's the text of my KSP.sh executable:

#!/bin/sh
cd "/home/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Kerbal Space Program"
LD_PRELOAD="${LD_PRELOAD} libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1" __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=1 ./KSP.x86_64

Any idea what I did wrong?

As for the transition between the two orbit path drawing modes, I gotta say I think that is definitely what's causing my problem. I dunno how you noticed such a slight detail, but you nailed it. I wonder if there's a way to trick the game into staying in the close-up orbit path drawing mode even at large zoom distances? It seems like that would be a perfect fix, but figuring out how to implement that change is well beyond my ability. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could take a crack at it? What would be really ideal is if the developers simply omitted the faraway draw mode from future Linux versions of KSP altogether. IMO the difference between rendering orbit paths in front of bodies versus behind them is a trivial one in terms of gameplay, and eliminating that transition seems like it would prevent this problem from ever happening again on every possible combination of drivers and hardware.

[Onieronaut]

I've made a major discovery: my computer is running KSP in 32-bit rather than 64-bit mode. I suspect this may be the cause of all my problems. How can I make it start in 64-bit mode? Steam settings? Another script file?

[sal_vager]

Ahh since you are using Steam you can just make Steam start the KSP.x86_64 for you, right click KSP in Steam and open its properties, there is a box called "Set Launch Options".

To make it start KSP 64bit put this in the box:

%command%_64

For the GL optimisations as well, use:

LD_PRELOAD="${LD_PRELOAD} libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1" __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=1 %command%_64

The script might have failed if it's being run by the terminal emulator directly, right click the file and check what the "Open with" program is, I had to change mine from the xfce terminal to just sh (had to add it manually because the terminal was unable to cope with the spaces in the cd command, and I didn't want to put underscores in all my file paths).

As for changing how orbits are rendered, the whole UI including the orbit rendering is replaced in 1.1 so we'll have to see if that fixes it.

Edit:

just saw the missing username in the path, yes that would be it, thanks cantab!

Edited September 17, 2015 by sal_vager

[cantab]

Your script doesn't work because even though the file manager just says "Home", the real path should be "/home/(your username)/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Kerbal Space Program"

At a guess, try changing your anti-aliasing settings - if it's on turn it off, if it's off turn it on.

[Onieronaut]

Good catch Cantab, thanks!

As for the Steam launch options, they appear not to be working at all. To test this I disabled my 32-bit KSP executable by renaming it to disabled-KSP.x86 while leaving KSP.x86_64 as it should be, just to be certain that Steam couldn't trick me by launching KSP in 32-bit mode when I asked it to launch in 64-bit mode. I'm glad I thought of that, because sure enough it turns out that when I use the launch option input "%command%_64" and try to open the game through Steam, it gives me a missing executable error. Either that input is incorrect or Steam is just ignoring the input completely. I suspect the latter, in which case when I launch through Steam it most likely is not applying Sal_Vager's suggested GL optimization.

Fixing the directory path in my homemade KSP.sh executable did in fact make it work (thanks again), but I'm still having the same problem with disappearing orbit paths. I assume that unlike Steam, this method actually does apply the suggested GL optimization. This would imply that whatever is causing my orbit paths to disappear, this GL optimization does not fix it. (It didn't fix my fairing flicker, either. Oh and I've also tried playing both with and without anti-aliasing enabled, it doesn't have any effect on these bugs.)

In another PM, Eleven pointed out to me that I can run KSP in 64-bit mode simply by double-clicking Launcher.x86_64 in my Kerbal Space Program folder. That works, and it seems pretty foolproof, so I'm just going to launch the game that way for the time being (since the executable script isn't having any noticeable effect).

The whole UI including the orbit rendering is replaced in 1.1 so we'll have to see if that fixes it.

I sure hope the new UI system fixes this. KSP without the option of interplanetary travel is pretty disappointing.

As an aside, you guys are awesome. I couldn't ask for a more helpful support community.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Onieronaut

[mianosm]

I'm not sure if there's a better way about this. But I also have this issue.

 

Using Fedora 23x86_64 on i5-4670K, and a GeForce GTX 750 with kmod-nvidia-4.3.3 and xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-358.16-1.

To add to the oddities, using the above command line works on a DVI connected monitor, but not on a Display Link connected display.....fingers crossed on the 1.1 update to have the fix/correction.

Edited January 20, 2016 by mianosm
Added additional information.

[AmenRa]

I too have this problem. The orbit lines disappear in MAP mode.

KSP: 1.0.5 x64
OS: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS x64
CPU: i7-2600K
GPU: NVIDIA Quadro K4000
GPU Driver: Proprietary NVIDIA 352.63
Monitor 1: DVI
Monidor 2: Display Port

 

On 1/20/2016 at 7:14 PM, mianosm said:

To add to the oddities, using the above command line works on a DVI connected monitor, but not on a Display Link connected display.....fingers crossed on the 1.1 update to have the fix/correction.

 

mianosm pointed out something I didn't try  - DVI vs Display Port. When move the app to the DVI, the orbit lines appear at any zoom range however when I move the app to the Display Port the orbit lines disappear when I zoom out. So this may be an NVIDIA driver issue.

 

[Stone Blue]

I had this same exact issue, with Lubuntu 15.04.... I cant remember what I did to fix it tho...

Some suggestions, on what it might have been tho:

Try running in windowed, then fullscreen mode...

Make sure you hav the latest video drivers.. If you have Nvidia graphics, do NOT use the Nouveau driver... IIRC, when I had the issue, the latest Nvidia driver was 355, or 352?... I then tried either the 346 or 340 driver, and for some reason I remember going with one of the 34x.xx drivers, as there were issues with the 35x driver... So you may have to try an older vers. if the latest doesnt work...

Also, if you are using a display that is not natively supported by KSP, try changing your display settings manually in the KSP settings.cfg... Restart Ksp... it may take a couple tries...

(I have a 1600x900 laptop...So not natively supported by KSP... But changing it in the settings. cfg. it now fits the screen properly...)

IIRC, those were about the only things I tried when I had the disapperaing orbits/zoom issue...

Edited January 24, 2016 by Stone Blue