Devnotes Tuesday: KSP at the White House

[Rainbowtrout]

Nice to see KSP expanding even more!

[CaptainKipard]

Still nothing about the tree?

[r_rolo1]

The more I read words like 'the interface is now feature complete' the more I realise that some of the basic problems when using the interface will never be fixed.

I agree. While I think they are just trying to avoid a "Oh God, I don't know how to play this game anymore" moment for the players, TBH at this point I would prefer that than losing time trying to mimic the idiossincracies of a GUI built under the "moar menus" method involuntarily accumulated, like the lack of a centralized intel display ( for starters ).

That say, congrats for the White House visit. Too bad Felipe was not there, though ... I'm not saying that who was there did not deserved it, but Felipe, given his core role in the KSP development since the literal beginning, probably deserved it a little more than anyone else

Edited October 22, 2015 by r_rolo1

[John FX]

Would just like to say that since my last post I have been contacted by Endersmens about the bug reporting and had a very positive exchange which has giving me hope about at least bug reporting which I will have another crack at and see if my future experience is better than my past experience.

[Kiro]

Do the Devs foresee any savegame breaks for the 1.0.5 update? I'm wondering if I should try and finish up as much of my current game before the update, or if the update might improve my experience of my current save?

[Terwin]

Do the Devs foresee any savegame breaks for the 1.0.5 update? I'm wondering if I should try and finish up as much of my current game before the update, or if the update might improve my experience of my current save?

From what I understand, some craft may function more poorly(ISRU without heat sinks for example), but nothing is expected to break.

In 1.1 long range probes with small antennas may become unreachable if you have antenna range enabled, but other things should continue to work.

Remember: save files are just text files loaded by the game engine. While updates may make some craft unable to complete their planned missions, and mods will no doubt need to be updated(especially for 1.1), save games in general should continue to work just fine. (it is not a bad idea to bring home any vessel you can before the change-over, just to be safe, as parts changes could cause problems for existing ships in flight due to parts changing shape or effectiveness)

[Kiro]

I fully planned on starting a new game with 1.1

I'm just wondering if 1.0.5 will work. I use remote tech now and my satellite network is pretty extensive. I'm not too worried on that end, but yet, the update of all the mods will no doubt be important.

[AlexTheNotSoGreat]

Thanks for finding them, Obsessed. they look amazing so far! I find it hilarious with them all going at once!

[Raptor9]

Thanks for finding them, Obsessed. they look amazing so far! I find it hilarious with them all going at once!

I like the repair one, ha ha. It reminds me of the scene from "Armageddon" on the space station, the fuel pressure is going up, and the Russian cosmonaut yells: "PULL LEVER!" AJ: "This is the lever!"

Come to think of it, that movie had Kerbal scene after Kerbal scene in it, lol. Spacecraft constantly exploding intermixed with comic relief.

[vosechu]

Will there be a public version of Slack that we could join?

[Alshain]

Will there be a public version of Slack that we could join?

Its a teamwork tool, its not meant for the public. You can sign up for free but that isn't going toget you access to Squad.

https://slack.com/

Edited October 25, 2015 by Alshain

[Curveball Anders]

Do the Devs foresee any savegame breaks for the 1.0.5 update? I'm wondering if I should try and finish up as much of my current game before the update, or if the update might improve my experience of my current save?

You are aware that you don't have to update?

And that you can have several installs of various versions and with different mods added?

So if 1.0.5 doesn't work, then play 1.0.4 or whatever version you like.

[vosechu]

Its a teamwork tool, its not meant for the public. You can sign up for free but that isn't going toget you access to Squad.

https://slack.com/

I help run a large mailing list for my programming community and we noticed a significant uptick in engagement when we provided a slack instance for the public. I know many modders use irc, but having slack available might save the modders some setup time and allow them to get down to modding instead of community management.

[cantab]

The more I read words like 'the interface is now feature complete' the more I realise that some of the basic problems when using the interface will never be fixed.

I expect and hope Squad will take a look at the UI and consider where it could be changed. But I rank that way down the list of development priorities. Porting what Squad have to Unity 5 is more important. Fixing bugs is more important. Multiplayer is arguably more important.

I have a hope for the game where a total conversion mod will be possible that changes literally everything about the game, the icons, user interface, physics, aerodynamics, models and so forth which would mean that whatever does not work in an optimal way can be fixed.

At that point, what is KSP bringing, except the baggage of using a general-purpose game engine that's holding it back. That kind of work would be better put into a new game.

[PwnedDuck]

tsk tsk, swearing in the devnotes. This place has gone downhill

Where?

[Kobymaru]

Do the Devs foresee any savegame breaks for the 1.0.5 update? I'm wondering if I should try and finish up as much of my current game before the update, or if the update might improve my experience of my current save?

I think they mentioned somewhere that it will most likely not be a breaking change, and it will definitely improve the experience of your current save - at least because of all of the Heat bugfixes alone.

Just to be sure, you should keep backups of your saves though.

[Superfluous J]

tsk tsk, swearing in the devnotes. This place has gone downhill.

Where?

Here

hell

And I'm 100% sure that was a joke on Endersmens' part.

[Alshain]

You are aware that you don't have to update?

And that you can have several installs of various versions and with different mods added?

So if 1.0.5 doesn't work, then play 1.0.4 or whatever version you like.

You do have to update if you want to continue to use the benefits of Steam.

[KerbMav]

You do have to update if you want to continue to use the benefits of Steam.

Which are?

[Superfluous J]

You do have to update if you want to continue to use the benefits of Steam.

Which are?

Auto updates, of course!

And actually you don't have to auto update KSP even if you use Steam. Just figure out where Steam installs KSP, and then copy that entire directory and everything within to a different location. Then play the game from that location. Let Steam do whatever it wants and you'll be playing whatever version suits you.

[Alshain]

Which are?

Steam Overlay

Steam Chat

Steam Screenshots

to name a few.

Auto updates, of course!

And actually you don't have to auto update KSP even if you use Steam. Just figure out where Steam installs KSP, and then copy that entire directory and everything within to a different location. Then play the game from that location. Let Steam do whatever it wants and you'll be playing whatever version suits you.

Which will prohibit you from using the above features.

[TheMoonRover]

Steam Overlay

Steam Chat

Steam Screenshots

to name a few.

Which will prohibit you from using the above features.

There's no reason you couldn't copy KSP somewhere then select it on Steam to add it as a non-Steam game, giving you the steam chat/overlay/screenshots again.

[Alshain]

There's no reason you couldn't copy KSP somewhere then select it on Steam to add it as a non-Steam game, giving you the steam chat/overlay/screenshots again.

That would give you the overlay but not the screenshots. You can't upload Screenshots to Steam from a Non-Steam game. It also doesn't count toward playtime logging, earning the playing card things, etc.

My point was simply that some people like these features, so "not updating" is not always a choice without potentially removing other things you enjoy using.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Alshain

[cantab]

To be honest that is something you need to take up with Valve, who have seen fit to make Thou Shalt Update the first commandment of Steam. No game developer can do anything about it, beyond using the 'Beta' option to provide old versions.

[Superfluous J]

My point was simply that some people like these features, so "not updating" is not always a choice without potentially removing other things you enjoy using.

Sadly life is made up of choices. Steam chose to force updates. Squad chose to not use DRM. When it comes to auto updating, the fault does not lie anywhere NEAR Kerbal Space Program.