Jeb's Life: A Kerbal Novel

[AbacusWizard]

I also am unable to complete Chapter 2. I've finished all of the mission goals, landed my jet splendidly on the west end of the runway, taxied around to get my latitude and longitude EXACTLY the same as the requirements listed in the final mission goal, parked it... and still nothing. The mission has been going for 40 minutes, if that's relevant. Any idea how I can trigger endgame here?

 

Update: I've also now finished Chapter 3, and am running into the same problem: after landing (and going on EVA as instructed), the script isn't recognizing that I have done so. Other than that it seems to work fine.

Edited May 19, 2018 by AbacusWizard

[jclovis3]

On 5/18/2018 at 12:24 AM, AbacusWizard said:

I also am unable to complete Chapter 2. I've finished all of the mission goals, landed my jet splendidly on the west end of the runway, taxied around to get my latitude and longitude EXACTLY the same as the requirements listed in the final mission goal, parked it... and still nothing. The mission has been going for 40 minutes, if that's relevant. Any idea how I can trigger endgame here?

 

Update: I've also now finished Chapter 3, and am running into the same problem: after landing (and going on EVA as instructed), the script isn't recognizing that I have done so. Other than that it seems to work fine.

Abacus, and anyone else still playing the bugged versions:

Chapter 2 fix:

The mission doesn't always end. Taking a look at it in the editor, I noticed you have a condition that checks if the game time is less than 15 minutes. If that is false, the buck stops there. There is no path way to the Finish marker. If you add another connector from the last green Display Message node directly to the Finish location check, then the player can either get the quick time bonus, or finish when they land.

Chapter 3 fix:

The fix for the EVA node is to replace the reference to UFO with just plain ANY because by this point, if the specified Kerbal goes EVA, he will already be exiting the UFO craft. This node only triggers as you exit the craft, so if you jump out and use personal parachutes instead and let the craft crash, the game will never end.

[HansonKerman]

On 3/16/2018 at 10:34 AM, Just Jim said:

Yes!!!

I don't know how many missions I'll be able to make myself, but as a fan-fiction writer, this is one of the things that occurred to me when @SQUAD first announced Mission Builder in the KSP weekly reports. And now that I've had a chance to play around with it, I totally agree there is a lot of potential for story-based missions!

I would love to see you do this. And other writers, or future mission-builders, as well!!!

Ooooooooooo, I see some Emiko Missions in the future...

[Disparia Books]

I went ahead and made the changes as suggested by @jclovis3 Thanks so much for the help with that! The clean versions can be found in the original post (too much work to go back and change all links in every post  )

Working on 4 today and this week!

[PeskyPony]

The missions are great so far, but on the third mission, I landed at KSC but the EVA node is not firing.

https://imgur.com/a/13tkS5B

Edited May 21, 2018 by PeskyPony

[jclovis3]

On 5/21/2018 at 11:38 AM, PeskyPony said:

The missions are great so far, but on the third mission, I landed at KSC but the EVA node is not firing.

https://imgur.com/a/13tkS5B

Yeah, just change that node to reference "any" vessel rather than the named UFO.

[PeskyPony]

14 hours ago, jclovis3 said:

Yeah, jutst change that node to reference "any" vessel rather than the named UFO.

I'll try that. Thanks.

[Disparia Books]

5 hours ago, PeskyPony said:

I'll try that. Thanks.

I fixed it in the link on the first page (both missions) if you just want to re-download it.

[Disparia Books]

Hey all,

Just wanted to post a quick update about Chapter 4.

I had an issue on my PC and had to reinstall a bunch of stuff, which meant KSP too. Unfortunately, I lost all progress on the chapter, so I'm going to need to start all over.

That's okay, though, it will give me the chance to make a few changes and updates that would have been difficult before...because hindsight and all that. It will take a bit of time to catch up, but I will start again.

Sorry for anyone that was waiting, but thanks for the support already!

[Disparia Books]

The first three chapters of Jeb's Life are now on the Steam Workshop for anyone who wants to download them that way. If/when any updates are made you can be sure the Steam version will always be updated. When I finish with chapter 4 it will be on the workshop first (but links will be here, too). Cheers everyone, thanks for the support and patience. It's been a busy, busy, busy spring

 

[Disparia Books]

I'm nearing completion of the first draft of chapter 4. I'm playing around with some...cinematic elements, but I'm not sure how they are going to work for more than just me. Would anyone be willing to playtest the early version and let know your experience with...the bits I shall not mention? It will probably be playable by the weekend, monday at the latest (I've got a state championship this weekend and might not have time to focus on building it).

PM me if you're interested and I will let you know what the potential issues are. Thanks all!

[Disparia Books]

CHAPTER 4 BETA

Chapter 4 is (mostly) here. I decided to release it as a beta because I'm having some troubles with the end node, but otherwise it's pretty complete.

A few things to note:

1. If the missiles don't launch automatically, just activate the stage yourself. Even with double or triple redundancies, sometimes kerbal just doesn't want it to happen.

2. You will need to manually reset the camera to your craft after a few events. Sometimes it returns to your craft, sometimes it doesn't. As far as I'm aware it's entirely a KSP issue, but if anyone knows a fix let me know.

3. The truck...oh, the truck. Enjoy having the wheels bounce left and right randomly, because you know, Kerbal. I've held left or right and watched the wheels turn that direction, hesitate, bounce another way, then return to the proper orientation...over and over. I've replaced wheels and tried different settings but still no-go. Good luck with that

Let me know if there is anything else you come across.

And a HUGE thanks to @million_lights for helping me get the missiles and other bits to work.

Thanks!

[PredawnElk1]

I'm about halfway through Chapter 4, and I wanted to say great job! The story is mysterious and engaging, the final chapters are all polished and very professional-looking, and I had great fun playing through all of your missions!

About your Beta Notes:

1. The missiles worked pretty well, I didn't have to manually set them off, but they didn't really hit their targets, which is what I think you were going for. 

2. Yeah, I had to manually switch the cameras after a missile strike. Don't really know a way around that.

3. The truck's steering problems come from the fact that the cupola is turned sideways. Turning it right side up (so when the interior overlay is turned on the Kerbal is sitting in the cupola upright) should fix the steering problems, but I got around the steering by disabling steering on one of the front wheels. Turning was slow, but it worked.

I had a look at the mission builder, and that is a TON of nodes. I have to say, you did a great job getting these missions together, and I will be eagerly awaiting the next installments of this story! 

 

[Disparia Books]

2 hours ago, PredawnElk1 said:

I'm about halfway through Chapter 4, and I wanted to say great job! The story is mysterious and engaging, the final chapters are all polished and very professional-looking, and I had great fun playing through all of your missions!

About your Beta Notes:

1. The missiles worked pretty well, I didn't have to manually set them off, but they didn't really hit their targets, which is what I think you were going for. 

2. Yeah, I had to manually switch the cameras after a missile strike. Don't really know a way around that.

3. The truck's steering problems come from the fact that the cupola is turned sideways. Turning it right side up (so when the interior overlay is turned on the Kerbal is sitting in the cupola upright) should fix the steering problems, but I got around the steering by disabling steering on one of the front wheels. Turning was slow, but it worked.

I had a look at the mission builder, and that is a TON of nodes. I have to say, you did a great job getting these missions together, and I will be eagerly awaiting the next installments of this story! 

 

So very glad to hear that, thank you kindly! I hope you enjoy all of them...they took a lot of work

The missiles are almost impossible to control and aim at a specific spot. Given that you need to aim them by fin placement and probe angle, it's nearly impossible to get an exact location, hence the 'missile gets close and blows up' nodes. A bit of imagination is required.

I thought the location for control was an issue, but even when you 'control from here' to any other point, the wheels still glitch out for me. Honestly, whatever you can do to get it to work, works! Cheers and thank again!

[EmanonP]

Chapter 3 issue towards the end.

I'm missing something, or it's bugged.    I get within 20 meters of the UFO, can't dock (why they make you take a docking port as part of the ship...don't ask me) so go EVA.

The ship explodes, and all I get is my Kerbal stunned,  and the "B" for board prompt which does nothing.    Can't use EVA pack, can't wake up Kerbal, I just slowly deorbit his floating, lifeless corpse.

Not that it really matters, as there doesn't seem to be any more chapters written.   (I was actually enjoying the advancement of skills in these however).

Just hate not at least finishing the darn missions.

Thanks for any help.

 

Edited August 30, 2018 by EmanonP
Added info

[Speins]

On 8/28/2018 at 12:56 AM, EmanonP said:

Chapter 3 issue towards the end.

I'm missing something, or it's bugged.    I get within 20 meters of the UFO, can't dock (why they make you take a docking port as part of the ship...don't ask me) so go EVA.

The ship explodes, and all I get is my Kerbal stunned,  and the "B" for board prompt which does nothing.    Can't use EVA pack, can't wake up Kerbal, I just slowly deorbit his floating, lifeless corpse.

Not that it really matters, as there doesn't seem to be any more chapters written.   (I was actually enjoying the advancement of skills in these however).

Just hate not at least finishing the darn missions.

Thanks for any help.

 

Same deal for me. The Kerbal bugs out, maybe because he is still attached to the ladder when the ship is destroyed. It seems the part by part destruction changed and always starts with the command pod. This also bugs out chapter 4, when reaching the oil platform, the mission immediately fails, due to the Kerbal dying in the command pod.

 

Edit:

Looks like, the parts are always destroyed in the order they were built. So if you placed the command pod first, it is destroyed first. This seems off and should the exact opposite. So this might be a bug in the current KSP version.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Speins

[Stormpilot]

this should be a real book.

[Disparia Books]

On 3/20/2019 at 4:38 PM, Speins said:

Same deal for me. The Kerbal bugs out, maybe because he is still attached to the ladder when the ship is destroyed. It seems the part by part destruction changed and always starts with the command pod. This also bugs out chapter 4, when reaching the oil platform, the mission immediately fails, due to the Kerbal dying in the command pod.

 

Edit:

Looks like, the parts are always destroyed in the order they were built. So if you placed the command pod first, it is destroyed first. This seems off and should the exact opposite. So this might be a bug in the current KSP version.

Argh! It's hard to know what's my own fault and what keeps changing with new ksp versions. Maybe i will make a disclaimer on the front page until it's sorted out

 

46 minutes ago, STORMPILOTkerbalkind said:

this should be a real book.

I do have a book available on Amazon, though it's got nothing to do with Kerbal. Now that you mention it, writing a legit Kerbal novel would be wildly entertaining. Cheers!

Edited March 21, 2019 by Disparia Books

[Disparia Books]

HEY ALL! BIG IDEA TIME!

Okay, sorry for the caps. I first want to thank all of you who are interested in my missions; it's really cool to know you appreciate it.

I've been thinking a bit on what @STORMPILOTkerbalkind said and basing it off of all the other help I've had from people like @million_lights and TWG.

Would anyone be interested in reading an episodic novel/comic/story series set in the Kerbal world that I write based on the missions and future ideas? More to the point, would anyone be willing to support the effort through Patreon?

The obvious issues at play are legality, for one. But I'm going to have my publisher look into contacting the KSP people to see if we could work out a deal. My initial idea would be to do something quarterly and have it be novella-style (50-60 pages of a complete story) but with illustrations within the story (almost Diary of a Wimpy Kid style but with more text than drawings) with the help of my existing illustrator.

I already have an illustrator doing my comic series, I have the publisher who can distribute it, I have the ideas for the story...I just need supporters and the okay from the green people. Please let me know if any of you would be interested; if so I will pursue this with a bit more effort.

For anyone interested in my comics (or book) you can get an idea of what the illustrations would look like by CLICKING HERE.

Cheers all!

Edited March 21, 2019 by Disparia Books
Forgot the link

[Stormpilot]

Sounds cool.

i would totally read it.

[Stormpilot]

When would it come out?

[Disparia Books]

3 minutes ago, STORMPILOTkerbalkind said:

When would it come out?

Well, legality is priority one. Think of all the star wars and star trek novels out there, not to mention Halo, Mass Effect etc. The precedent is there. If I could get the okay and enough supporters on Patreon I could probably have one out by the end of summer. But the two big issues are Patreon and Legality. If people are willing to support this I can work fast 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Disparia Books
Typo

[Stormpilot]

Ok sounds good

[million_lights]

@Disparia Books

I really like the idea and hope you are aiming for some high quality visuals along with the book. I'm not a big comic/book fan myself but I know there are a lot of people out there that would be head over heals to get their hands on something like that.

Make sure to get in contact with @UomoCapra to introduce him to the idea and your vision. Now that KSP is partnered up with Private Division (Take2 Interactive) they may have resources available to support you.

I'm not very active within the KSP Community but I wish you the very best with your endeavor!

I'm sure its gonna be ace 

[Stormpilot]

Oh boy. If this really happens I’m gonna be happy (and entertained).