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Devnote Tuesday: Wednesday Edition II


SQUAD

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Thanks for the notes! 

1 hour ago, SQUAD said:

vessels in the tracking station can be sorted in order of when their next manoeuvre node is set to occur,

That is going to be useful! but....can it be sorted by other things? like alphabetically, by launch date, by which planet they're around/on? 
I would hope that if a sortable feature was added it would be a generic sort that could work on any attribute, and extending it would just be a matter of adding sortable attributes to a list.

1 hour ago, SQUAD said:

....was repeated in a lot of modules, and in ModuleResource, and in a new utility class. Now that code is in only one place

This kind of thing makes me happy.  Always good to see DRY code (DRY - Don't Repeat Yourself).  

Sounds like great progress Squad! 

 

18 minutes ago, doudou said:

I am always with you, but the 64-bit update is long overdue .

It is taking a while, but I think that is to be expected.  Software is like an object with a moment of inertia, the bigger the code base the higher the moment of inertia. So it takes much more effort to move it the same distance than it did when it was a small project.  And this update aims to move it pretty far [insert mental image of Dev Team trying to push a class E asteroid around]

 

7 minutes ago, Ser said:

Just can't get it, why RemoteTech isn't sufficient for you guys?

For me the new antenna system is alittle frightening with its simplified model and transparent bodies. And would the old RT be able to modify it to bring the old hardcore features back? Don't know... I've seen the buoyancy system that is not very good in 1.0.5 but it made Better Buoyancy mod obsolete. Sorry for my pessimism, it's the end of the workday now :)

I kind of agree, but problem is RT is too hardcore for a lot of new players who are still trying to grapple with the basics.  So a simplified version would be nice for them and I'm sure RT will be able to extend it, or disable it in favour of the current RT way.   Was the same for resource scanning, many of us were upset by the over simplicity of just having to put a scanner on a polar orbit and boom instant scan, but now SCANsat lets you turn that off and go back to needing to do full scans.  I think that's a win for everyone.

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Oh hey!  Got a question for the developers!  Will all the wheels now react to surfaces?  As you can see from my monorail video, I had to use the landing gear as they were the only wheels that would reliably run on the structural sections.  All the other wheels would go through them.   I wouldn't mind building this again in 1.1 :)

 

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12 minutes ago, katateochi said:

That is going to be useful! but....can it be sorted by other things? like alphabetically, by launch date, by which planet they're around/on? 
I would hope that if a sortable feature was added it would be a generic sort that could work on any attribute, and extending it would just be a matter of adding sortable attributes to a list.

A small clarification on this feature: the ETA of the next maneuver node is shown by slowly alternating it with the MET of the vessel as shown in the screenshot. Everything is still sorted by MET, so it's just a small quality of life feature to kind of grab the player's attention. It is not a sort, but that might be something worth looking at if and when we start displaying more information here, but for the moment it's just a small addition to see vessels that need your attention at a glance.

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1 hour ago, SQUAD said:

          Many announcements,

          Welcome Taniwha and Claw!

Buh-bye comms system.

Console Cert almost passed,
Paperwork nearly done,
Only cried twice today!

Hopefully that’s all,
Going back to work and all that…
NOT XCOM I SWEAR!

"Console Cert almost passed..."
Who had the idea to bring Gandalf? >____<"

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1 hour ago, SQUAD said:

Good news comes our way from Germany: Chris (Porkjet) fixed an issue with specular highlights that was affecting the shaders with the old lighting model in Unity 5. This means that an issue where parts shaders would look quite bad has been fixed for the coming update. On the flip side, the new (PBR) lighting model will also have to be pushed back to beyond 1.1 over performance concerns with the real time reflections. We’ll be looking into creating a more efficient, custom solution for this problem at a later date.

This is disappointing, but I understand. 

When can add-on authors expect documentation on how to prepare for 1.1, and the eventual shader update?
I've been trying to work exclusively in Unity 5, because there's little point in working with the legacy shaders anymore if they're just going to get replaced in 1.1, or 1.x now.

There are some core questions about how many materials a given mesh can use, how PartTools will work, and how the part export process works that need to eventually be answered.  

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7 minutes ago, Arsonide said:

A small clarification on this feature: the ETA of the next maneuver node is shown by slowly alternating it with the MET of the vessel as shown in the screenshot. Everything is still sorted by MET, so it's just a small quality of life feature to kind of grab the player's attention. It is not a sort, but that might be something worth looking at if and when we start displaying more information here, but for the moment it's just a small addition to see vessels that need your attention at a glance.

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification. Well, that will still be nice a feature.
At some point a sort by name, craft class, MET, crew capacity, current planet...etc would be really nice to have too

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Wheels are great and all, but can we get a status update on optimizations and the 64bit client please? That IS the sole reason why most of us are exited for 1.1. Not wheels... I'd be fine with the old wheels if it meant I can achieve 60fps on a 150 part craft.

Edited by Motokid600
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1 hour ago, SQUAD said:
vessels in the tracking station can be sorted in order of when their next manoeuvre node is set to occur, some small menu changes should reduce the amount of clicks needed to perform actions and the landing gear indicator should work more reliably.

Thank you for the excellent devnotes! This is hugely appreciated as always. I would like to say that this "small quality-of-life" change is VERY welcome indeed! I'd almost call it a "large quality-of-life feature" with its own poem.

 

34 minutes ago, parameciumkid said:

You guys still need to hire a proofreader (and I still volunteer). The KSPedia slides you just released have several spelling errors.

I strongly agree with this statement. You should not rush this. Spelling errors, however minor, look bad and draw all the attention away from the information on the slides. Instead, players will focus on your typo (look at any academic giving a presentation and look at the audience whenever there is a spelling error on a slide). Of course I would offer to help if this would be in any way beneficial to you.

 

Best of luck with the push to 1.1 and congratulations to Taniwha and Nathan!

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Just now, Motokid600 said:

Wheels are great and all, but can we get a status update on optimizations and the 64bit client? That IS the sole reason why most of us are exited for 1.1. Not wheels... I'd be fine with the old wheels if it meant I can achieve 60fps on a 150 part craft.

Last update regarding 64 bit was that it was working fine on all platforms, but we won't know any sort of numbers regarding improvements until at least Experimentals (when way more people will get their hands on it to test). I believe the wheels had to be updated because the old wheel module no longer exists, so it was either update the wheels or remove all wheels (including landing gear).

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17 minutes ago, magico13 said:

Last update regarding 64 bit was that it was working fine on all platforms, but we won't know any sort of numbers regarding improvements until at least Experimentals (when way more people will get their hands on it to test). I believe the wheels had to be updated because the old wheel module no longer exists, so it was either update the wheels or remove all wheels (including landing gear).

I agree with Moto on this one, assuming that he's feeling the same way I am that the past several Dev Notes have gone into great detail on the workings of wheels (which is great to hear about), but very few scraps have been handed out for the most anticipated feature/fix which is 64bit. 

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How is OpenGL support looking in Unity 5, especially with Linux?

2 hours ago, SQUAD said:
On the flip side, the new (PBR) lighting model will also have to be pushed back to beyond 1.1 over performance concerns with the real time reflections.

I certainly hope we'll be able to shut that off to help performance...

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2 hours ago, SQUAD said:
 KSPedia is one of the final features that will need QA testing, and it looks like we’ll be able to start that process very soon.

^^^ everyone complaining about typos in the KSPedia slides please keep in mind that you were just told they haven't had a QA pass yet.

and there will probably still be enough typos in the shipped 1.1.0 to keep you busy for a long time because documentation is remarkably harder than it seems -- they won't need being called out for being amateurs, they'll just appreciate the bug reports...

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2 hours ago, SQUAD said:
 The (modding) community is a fertile ground for people with talent and if you ask us it truly makes sense to bring some of them on the team officially given their familiarity with the game’s code. It’s a re-emerging trend in the games industry overall perhaps, and we’re very happy to see that people with talent are more often recognised and given the chance to pursue their career in the games industry.

This is the best thing ever.  Just reading this seriously made my day, not because I'm any kind of a modder or looking to get into the industry, but because this is absolutely the right attitude.  Makes me feel better and better to be involved with this game and supporting this company.  Kudos to you guys, and good job recognizing and rewarding talent, not just profiting from the free work of others.

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42 minutes ago, magico13 said:

 I believe the wheels had to be updated because the old wheel module no longer exists, so it was either update the wheels or remove all wheels (including landing gear).

If that is true, it's unfortunate. If not, it would be best renamed but still be available to modders. Even if unrealistic, it has certain properties and qualities that are useful for some applications. We don't know yet if the new module can do the same things as the old one.

Edited by Azimech
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Just now, Motokid600 said:

Wheels are great and all, but can we get a status update on optimizations and the 64bit client please? That IS the sole reason why most of us are exited for 1.1. Not wheels... I'd be fine with the old wheels if it meant I can achieve 60fps on a 150 part craft.

Ahem.. 64bit will not have any affect on Frames per second. Sorry.

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6 minutes ago, Jim DiGriz said:

^^^ everyone complaining about typos in the KSPedia slides please keep in mind that you were just told they haven't had a QA pass yet.

I understand that, and if you took my message as a full-on complaint than I made an error in my own way of writing. Don't get me wrong; I have nothing but love and appreciation for the devs and the fantastic game they are developing. It's just that I know from personal experience how helpful feedback on your written text can be, and how much better your text can be when you utilize said feedback. I simply want to encourage them to polish it before the KSPedia goes live.

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