Crew mass

[kBob]

It seems there is an entry in Physics.cfg:

kerbalCrewMass = 0 // The mass of a kerbal when in a part (pod, lander can, etc)

that would let me make Kerbals have mass when inside parts.  But I tried changing it to 0.09375, the default weight in metric tons of a Kerbal in an EVA suit and reloaded the game but when I put eight Kerbals onto a ship its mass in the engineering report didn't change.  So is there some other setting I need to activate to get this mass to be used?

[bewing]

Most likely it's an unused variable for future enhancements to the game.

[kBob]

Yes, you're probably right I've been poking around some more but can't find anything relevant.  Wish they wouldn't put unused things in these files to get our hopes up :).

[JPLRepo]

I think it is used. Change it to a value > 0.
Launch a vessel with crew in it , check the vessel mass using MJ or KER. EVA kerbal and switch back to the vessel. Check the mass again.

[kBob]

@jplRepo, yep neither mecjeb or the engineering report show the added crew weight in the VAB, I've been avoiding MJ etc. but just installed to test someone's craft.  Anyway once you put a crewed part on the launch pad MJ shows the increased mass.  EVA them and the mass decreases (even while still hanging onto the capsule).  So VAB reports are inaccurate if your crew have any mass.  Hmm, wonder how it's coded, maybe this a possible slight cheat, just give your Kerbals negative mass to reduce your ship's weight ;).

[JPLRepo]

3 minutes ago, kBob said:

@jplRepo, yep neither mecjeb or the engineering report show the added crew weight in the VAB, I've been avoiding MJ etc. but just installed to test someone's craft.  Anyway once you put a crewed part on the launch pad MJ shows the increased mass.  EVA them and the mass decreases (even while still hanging onto the capsule).  So VAB reports are inaccurate if your crew have any mass.  Hmm, wonder how it's coded, maybe this a possible slight cheat, just give your Kerbals negative mass to reduce your ship's weight ;).

I think it is only applied to vessels in flight so I don't think the VAB reports are wrong it's just not included in the editor.

[kBob]

Well they are wrong in the sense that the reported weight is incorrect, I didn't mean to imply they were bugged.

[Drew Kerman]

just came across this in the configs, thought it was a new addition for 1.2 but after searching and digging up this thread I guess it's a bit older than that. Did a simple test to confirm the behavior:

A crew member in each capsule, balanced after the decoupler is fired

One capsule with crew only, unbalanced after decoupler is fired.

I think it's extremely short-sighted that this weight difference is not reflected in the VAB/SPH. I can't believe they missed that. It must be a decision not to include it because they are worried that people might notice the weight difference and not know why it is there. But with a default value of 0 and an un-exposed cfg value anyone using it would know that they set the weight and so wouldn't ever be confused by the mass readout in the VAB/SPH.

I just think it's silly we still need a mod for this when building ships now that this value is in the .cfg

BTW a better value for kerbal mass is 0.03125

Edited October 12, 2016 by Drew Kerman

[Streetwind]

You can throw a bug/suggestion report up on the tracker, requesting an enhancement to make the Engineer's Report track that variable. Clearly it was an oversight, since the variable is functional and should have been factored in.