Please improve Time warp

[Warzouz]

Issues

There is 2 issues with timewarp :

• You can't fast forward when you're near a body.
• This doesn't protect you when entering atmo

Example

I returned from Minmus and mess my timewarp. The display froze when arriving near Kerbin (probably loading textures), and I couldn't reduce the timewarp. I ended directly into atmosphere at 30km and blew up...

Proposition

Timewarp should only be limited if periapsis is under an certain altitude (mountains or atmo), not the current altitude. Then, warp reduction would depend on the current altitude. With that rule, altitude limitation could be raised much higher to prevent bugs. That way timewarp wouldn't be a hassle while waiting on parking orbit and reentry would have a safe timewarp slowdown.

 

Futher more

Time warp should auto slowdown when approaching a maneuver node

Edited March 12, 2016 by Warzouz

[AlamoVampire]

I like this idea. Sounds very useful

[Tex]

Firstly, I do agree that the one bug with timewarping that needs to be fixed is the fact that if you have a massively fast timewarp with a periapse that is either inside the atmosphere or sometimes even straight through the ground, the craft can survive and continue back along its orbit.

However, I don't think that the timewarping should be limited by the altitude of the periapse, because then aerobraking would be incredibly time-consuming. I'm not sure if the timewarp automatically slows down at a maneuver node, but I do know that you can press the 'warp to node' button and warp to a reasonable time to that maneuver node to make some adjustments to trajectory before beginning the maneuver burn. If you need more time, it's trivial to make another node before that and timewarp there instead.

Most of the problems can be solved by practicing slowing down and being patient with slightly lower timewarp speeds. At least it's a ton better than waiting six realtime days to come back from Minmus.

[Snark]

4 hours ago, Maximus97 said:

However, I don't think that the timewarping should be limited by the altitude of the periapse, because then aerobraking would be incredibly time-consuming.

Actually, I don't think that's what Warzouz is suggesting.  If I'm understanding him correctly, essentially what he's saying is this:

• In the "low periapsis" case, do what the game does now.
• In the high periapsis case, don't limit the warp.

In other words:  if your periapsis is low enough that it's in atmosphere or (for vacuum worlds) it's below the max elevation for that planet, then yes, limit timewarp based on current altitude the same way the current game does.  However, if your periapsis is higher than that, don't limit the timewarp speed.

This seems like a good idea to me, I like it!

4 hours ago, Maximus97 said:

I'm not sure if the timewarp automatically slows down at a maneuver node

It doesn't.

No, it's not a showstopper, but it sure would be nice to have this as a stock feature.

[Tex]

Ahhhhh. I was thinking the OP meant limit the timewarp completely if the periapse was below certain altitudes. However, would this only hold true for extremely elliptical orbits? Because in most other cases, the periapse and apoapse would both be high enough that timewarping wouldn't be affected anyway.

But for the second point, like I said, it does have its workarounds. I'm somewhat of a do-the-work-yourself sort of person when it comes to minute problems like that. There are workarounds, and while yes, I agree that it could be improved upon, in its current state I don't even have trouble with it, having learned to manage the timewarps by going slower and having fast reaction times (that may or may not slip every once in a while).

[Warzouz]

Yes but "doing yourself" thing is just a workaround for lack of proper in-game feature. The game shouldn't NEVER allow a ship to explode because of timewarp (physical or regular). It's a BUG. The ship wouldn't blow on normal speed.

I agree that may be difficult to implement but as a customer/player, I don't care about technical arguments.

As now, time warp limitation is a pain and it doesn't even protect you for blowing up when returning from Mun (which is quite a regular orbit). So I don't even understand the goal of this feature

My job is mostly to test software in my company (a bank). That situation would clearly be reported as a bug.

[Superfluous J]

Agreed on all points. We have the worst of both worlds right now, where you have to leave your ship to time warp in the space center (which for some reason is "safer" than continuing to play the game part of the game and time warping there) yet all the things that SHOULD slow you down but don't end up ruining your missions.

NASA never had to scrub mission because everybody forgot to check on the probe for the 10 hours surrounding the flyby.

[Snark]

23 hours ago, Maximus97 said:

I was thinking the OP meant limit the timewarp completely if the periapse was below certain altitudes. However, would this only hold true for extremely elliptical orbits? Because in most other cases, the periapse and apoapse would both be high enough that timewarping wouldn't be affected anyway.

No, it would apply to circular orbits, too.

If I'm in a stable, circular orbit around Kerbin at 80 km, there's absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to timewarp just as fast as I want to.  What's the point in limiting me?

If my Pe dips down into atmosphere, then apply a limit when I'm at low altitude.  But only then.

[tutike2000]

Let's not forget the other problem with time warp:
If your warp speed is too high, you can end up blasting through SOI changes without actually being affected by the body you're encountering. Same for entering atmo. If you're on 100000x and about to encounter the Mun, you'll just continue on your orbit as if the Mun didn't exist.

[Snark]

2 minutes ago, tutike2000 said:

Let's not forget the other problem with time warp:
If your warp speed is too high, you can end up blasting through SOI changes without actually being affected by the body you're encountering. Same for entering atmo. If you're on 100000x and about to encounter the Mun, you'll just continue on your orbit as if the Mun didn't exist.

That used to be a problem, but now they've got a feature that automatically cranks the timewarp level way down when you're about to hit an SoI boundary.  Since that feature arrived (a few patches ago, I forget exactly when), I haven't ever had any problems with missing an SoI transition.  Are you still encountering this?

[tutike2000]

6 minutes ago, Snark said:

That used to be a problem, but now they've got a feature that automatically cranks the timewarp level way down when you're about to hit an SoI boundary.  Since that feature arrived (a few patches ago, I forget exactly when), I haven't ever had any problems with missing an SoI transition.  Are you still encountering this?

Yup, as long as I don't have KAC installed, I just blast through SOI changes, and sometimes Kerbin's atmo as well.
With a Pe of 50km and an Ap just under the Mun, I can just sit at maximum timewarp forever.

Edited March 14, 2016 by tutike2000

[Warzouz]

5 minutes ago, Snark said:

That used to be a problem, but now they've got a feature that automatically cranks the timewarp level way down when you're about to hit an SoI boundary.  Since that feature arrived (a few patches ago, I forget exactly when), I haven't ever had any problems with missing an SoI transition.  Are you still encountering this?

True. The same feature could be applied to maneuver nodes (auto slowdown but up to 1x). But calculated burn time should be fixed before

[Andem]

Yup. This is great. Honestly, trying to dock in low orbits are a pain and they take FOREVER. Waiting for the nodes to line up is like Torture! You see, KAC helps in didging the issue, but it needs to be dealt with eventually. 

[Yourself]

On 3/14/2016 at 9:47 PM, Snark said:

If I'm in a stable, circular orbit around Kerbin at 80 km, there's absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to timewarp just as fast as I want to.  What's the point in limiting me?

I figured that had more to do with being able to keep up with the generation of planetary geometry.

[Guest]

Time warp should stop skipping past its own points(and the atmosphere!) and making me have to circle Kerbin again, extending the mission by several weeks.