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KSP Weekly: Remembering Gagarin


SQUAD

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Welcome to KSP Weekly, everyone! Yesterday, March 9th was the 83rd anniversary of Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin’s birth. Here at the KSP HQ, Gagarin is a major inspiration, he was not only the very first human to journey into outer space, but he was a very passionate, good willed human being from humble origins that strived to become a pilot and through his determination achieved his dream and beyond. He was widely known for his smile and his kind nature, and although he died at a young age (34), his legacy lives on. Right before he embarked on Vostok I, he said the following:

Dear friends, acquaintances and strangers, my dear compatriots and all of humanity, in the next few brief minutes a spacecraft may take me into the outer space of the universe.
What can I say during these last few minutes before I start? All my life comes before me in this unique and beautiful moment.
Everything I did and lived has been for this.

But we’re here to talk about everything Kerbal, so without further ado, let’s begin.

This week has been a particularly busy one with the upcoming pre-release of the localization pack, there’s been a lot of testing, fixing, polishing and refactoring, but things are coming along nicely.  We are really getting down to the fine details now, and every twist and turn is a new and exciting adventure. That said, we are now feeling confident that we can release a build to the Experimentals team that is worthy of their time and effort on Monday. We need to “dot the tees, and cross the eyes” between now and then, and certainly things are looking more complete. Some new (but old) bugs have also come to the light during this phase of testing, and those are getting attention, too. It’s only when looking at other things in minute detail do these things become so very apparent. Everyone on the QA team from language specialist to core staff have been working every hour to make sure the developers know which are the areas of concern and interest. Special mention again goes to the language specialist volunteers for their dedication, persistence and efforts. They really are some special people. The Devs are special too, and have patiently dealt with everything that has been thrown back at them. So thanks to all the people playing Spreadsheet Simulator 2017, your work is appreciated, and useful!

On other testing news, the console builds have been thoroughly tested and for example, on PS4, there are advancements on the save game corruption issue, the team has been putting it to the test and it seems to be working alright. The team are still throwing everything at trying to break the game on your behalf armed with the great feedback that has been given by the community. Things are looking much better, but there’s still much more work to be done to make things perfect however. For example, the VAB tools and part rotation aren’t accessible yet, so if the QA team wants parts at an angle, they have to add a part with sloped sides then surface attach to it, which reminds us of the tricks we had to pull before 0.15.

On the bugtracker, the QA team has been chasing along behind Bewing and confirming bugs that nobody else would have gotten. Playing KSP with one finger over the screenshot key is beginning to remind Technicalfool of the old drop-the-ruler game.

As expected devs have at full throttle with localization, as well. And some of them are even dreaming with the string “#autoLOC_XXXXX_Assets” - which is “interesting”. But there’s been also some bug squashing, for example the terrain seam fixes continue and hopefully we’ll have all of the kinks worked out of the PQS system by the time that we ship!

Furthermore, we do have two “additions” for 1.3 pretty close to done from spare time fiddling, which might be inserted throughout the pre-release:

  • Ambient Light Adjustment: A common request from the media group is to adjust the settings for Ambient light values. For 1.3 we have added a Boost value to the ambient light setting (similar to the highlighter boost slider). This one brightens the render engine settings to bring light into the darkness
  • Asteroid Redirect Mod:Yes this is not a new thing, but this will finally be merged to the base game to add that extra facet to contract gameplay without needing an extra download - including the SENTINEL Infrared Telescope, the final art to make the main game.

We have something else to share with you about the console update, as we’ve said in previous editions, there’s been much progress and the guys at Blitworks have even improved several aspects of the UI to avoid using the cursor as much as in the current versions, one of these improvements is  the addition of radial menus, which actually make the console KSP experience much smoother.

image

The art department is also very busy helping us out with really cool content that we’ll be able to show you soon. One involves a very large nebula image, which according to Leticia is very relaxing to paint.

Finally, we are very happy to see how many of you are sending us articles to participate on the Kerbal Chronicles Contest, remember that the last day to submit your entries is on Monday, March 13th, so if you haven’t and want win some the best prizes we have given yet, you can submit an article here.  

That’s it for this week. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news!

Happy launchings!

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19 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

Ambient Light Adjustment: A common request from the media group is to adjust the settings for Ambient light values. For 1.3 we have added a Boost value to the ambient light setting (similar to the highlighter boost slider). This one brightens the render engine settings to bring light into the darkness

Oh, cool!!! As someone that posts a lot of screenshots, I really look forward to playing around with this!

Edited by Just Jim
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19 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

But there’s been also some bug squashing, for example the terrain seam fixes continue and hopefully we’ll have all of the kinks worked out of the PQS system by the time that we ship!

Assuming there's not some sort of mandated release date, feel free to ship it when it's done.

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So... the  Ambient Light Adjustment will "bring light into the darkness", but what i really want is an option to remove the "flare" from kerbol (that glowing halo), and make the night side of kerbol kerbin actually visible in map mode :(

Anyways, i am thankful that the team is still working on this game :D

Edited by c4ooo
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24 minutes ago, SQUAD said:
This week has been a particularly busy one with the upcoming pre-release of the localization pack, there’s been a lot of testing, fixing, polishing and refactoring, but things are coming along nicely.  We are really getting down to the fine details now, and every twist and turn is a new and exciting adventure. That said, we are now feeling confident that we can release a build to the Experimentals team that is worthy of their time and effort on Monday. We need to “dot the tees, and cross the eyes” between now and then, and certainly things are looking more complete. Some new (but old) bugs have also come to the light during this phase of testing, and those are getting attention, too. It’s only when looking at other things in minute detail do these things become so very apparent. Everyone on the QA team from language specialist to core staff have been working every hour to make sure the developers know which are the areas of concern and interest. Special mention again goes to the language specialist volunteers for their dedication, persistence and efforts. They really are some special people. The Devs are special too, and have patiently dealt with everything that has been thrown back at them. So thanks to all the people playing Spreadsheet Simulator 2017, your work is appreciated, and useful!

On the bugtracker, the QA team has been chasing along behind Bewing and confirming bugs that nobody else would have gotten. Playing KSP with one finger over the screenshot key is beginning to remind Technicalfool of the old drop-the-ruler game.

As expected devs have at full throttle with localization, as well. And some of them are even dreaming with the string “#autoLOC_XXXXX_Assets” - which is “interesting”. But there’s been also some bug squashing, for example the terrain seam fixes continue and hopefully we’ll have all of the kinks worked out of the PQS system by the time that we ship!

Furthermore, we do have two “additions” for 1.3 pretty close to done from spare time fiddling, which might be inserted throughout the pre-release:

  • Ambient Light Adjustment: A common request from the media group is to adjust the settings for Ambient light values. For 1.3 we have added a Boost value to the ambient light setting (similar to the highlighter boost slider). This one brightens the render engine settings to bring light into the darkness
  • Asteroid Redirect Mod:Yes this is not a new thing, but this will finally be merged to the base game to add that extra facet to contract gameplay without needing an extra download - including the SENTINEL Infrared Telescope, the final art to make the main game.

We have something else to share with you about the console update, as we’ve said in previous editions, there’s been much progress and the guys at Blitworks have even improved several aspects of the UI to avoid using the cursor as much as in the current versions, one of these improvements is  the addition of radial menus, which actually make the console KSP experience much smoother.

image

The art department is also very busy helping us out with really cool content that we’ll be able to show you soon. One involves a very large nebula image, which according to Leticia is very relaxing to paint.

Finally, we are very happy to see how many of you are sending us articles to participate on the Kerbal Chronicles Contest, remember that the last day to submit your entries is on Monday, March 13th, so if you haven’t and want win some the best prizes we have given yet, you can submit an article here.  

 

After comparing last week (and many previous recent updates) to a spam bot this is much better thanks guys!

Please that there is the final push on localisations, and terrain seam fixes. That is a real biggy..  Also good to hear about the light adjustment and the redirect mod now being included.  Are there plans for another 'official' mod?

Looking forward to the nebula.  Does this mean a new stock skybox?

 

Peace.

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Heyy! Screenshot!

20 minutes ago, c4ooo said:

and make the night side of kerbol actually visible in map mode :(

I wonder if the ambient slider affects that?

I've actually never installed the asteroid day mod, now I'll try it. This will be interesting.

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45 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

Ambient Light Adjustment:

Asteroid Redirect Mod:

radial menus

None of this affects me and no one cares, work on something we all want.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kidding, keep up the good work!

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47 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

two “additions” for 1.3

Well well. I think this is one of the first times the devnotes has actually used the term "1.3". I'm glad we won't be stuck in 1.2.x forever.

 

49 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

Yes this is not a new thing, but this will finally be merged to the base game to add that extra facet to contract gameplay without needing an extra download - including the SENTINEL Infrared Telescope, the final art to make the main game.

Ok, so could someone make this a little clearer for me? I've never used the mod, but I get that it adds a bunch of contracts and requires you to put a satellite in x orbit with a telescope in order to see asteroids. 

So, is the inclusion of the mod in the base game just limited to the extra contracts + telescope, or will we be required to put a telescope in orbit x to have the ability to see and track asteroids?

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Now this is how the weeklies should look like :D

Glad to hear that the terrain bug is being hunted down cause it's a real bug in the rear!
Having the asteroid redirect be added to the game is also nice, 1.4 have Pork's parts added aswel? :wink:

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I know Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin and Sergei Pavlovich Korolev achievements only as a history (as well as the BBC drama), but I have great respect for their challenge.

Now that the pre - release is coming soon, I guess the development team is very busy. I hope the QA team, development team, art team, volunteer team get a good result. and I am also looking forward to the additional features of 1.3.

I wish you and all over the universe prosperous!

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Good for the ambient light adjustment!!

 

But can we, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease, have stock dV readouts? Even if they aren't precise in weird contraptions with stages put upside down or other weird stuff?

Edited by juanml82
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3 hours ago, theJesuit said:

Looking forward to the nebula.  Does this mean a new stock skybox?

That.. wouldn't be too bad honestly... yes I would soften my grouchiness to that...

Though honestly I'm just expecting another piece of splash page art to announce a contest with, like the kerbal chronicles cover. If I'm proven right I would find it very frustrating how squad would employ artists to do everything but make the stock game look better.

Edited by passinglurker
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4 hours ago, CoreI said:

Well well. I think this is one of the first times the devnotes has actually used the term "1.3". I'm glad we won't be stuck in 1.2.x forever.

 

Ok, so could someone make this a little clearer for me? I've never used the mod, but I get that it adds a bunch of contracts and requires you to put a satellite in x orbit with a telescope in order to see asteroids. 

So, is the inclusion of the mod in the base game just limited to the extra contracts + telescope, or will we be required to put a telescope in orbit x to have the ability to see and track asteroids?

The Mod included the SENTINEL telescope that can fulfill contracts of discovery. This inclusion will add that type of contract and part, but you can still play the wau you want - it will be another type of offered contract that you can bypass if its not important t you

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4 hours ago, CoreI said:

Ok, so could someone make this a little clearer for me? I've never used the mod, but I get that it adds a bunch of contracts and requires you to put a satellite in x orbit with a telescope in order to see asteroids. 

So, is the inclusion of the mod in the base game just limited to the extra contracts + telescope, or will we be required to put a telescope in orbit x to have the ability to see and track asteroids?

This part will let you find asteroids near the orbits of other planetary bodies.  Without the mod, asteroids only populate near Kerbin and in orbit of Dres, with the mod you can have asteroids near any planetary orbit, just park one or more cameras between that orbit and the next one further in.

The contracts mostly involve parking a camera where it can find asteroids near a non-kerbin planet and then letting it sit in that orbit until it has found a certain number of asteroids.

Seems like it would be a great combination with relays, giving a relay a useful purpose in addition to relaying signals.

Asteroids around Kerbin should always be available once you have a level 3 tracking station, the camera just lets you get them near other bodies as well.

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And the "super secret project" ?

I mean come on, is there anything that most existing Kerbal players can look forward to in 1.3 or not?

I mean love, everyone here would pay for a DLC if it has some major additions to campaign mode, new gameplay mechanics, intricate missions and parts and all that jazz.

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