KSP Weekly: A Decade of Fermi

[SQUAD]

Welcome to KSP Weekly! On Monday the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reached its 10th anniversary, so we decided to make a small homage to NASA’s most advanced gamma-ray observatory. Named after Enrico Fermi, the Italian-American physicist and Nobel laureate who suggested in 1949 that cosmic rays (subatomic particles traveling close to the speed of light) may come from supernovas, or violent star explosions, a theory that was confirmed by the space telescope.

On June 11, 2008, Fermi was launched aboard a Delta II 7920-H rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on a mission to study gamma-rays, the highest-energy form of light in the universe. Gamma-rays are invisible to human eyes, but telescopes like Fermi allow astronomers to “see” this type of light, which contains clues about black holes, neutron stars and other mysterious sources of high-energy radiation. The mission is a joint venture between NASA, the United States Department of Energy, and government agencies in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Sweden.

Its main instrument is the Large Area Telescope (LAT), with which astronomers perform surveys to study  astrophysical and cosmological phenomena such as active galactic nuclei, pulsars, other high-energy sources, and dark matter. Another instrument aboard Fermi is the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM; formerly GLAST Burst Monitor), which is used to study gamma-ray bursts.

Fermi detected the most powerful gamma-ray blast astronomers have ever seen: a mysterious source glowing with more energy than 9,000 supernovas. Fermi also discovered the first gamma-ray pulsar and the aptly named Fermi Bubbles: two huge structures “burped out” by the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole and visible in X-ray and gamma-ray light. After the observatory’s initial five-year study, NASA opted to extend the Fermi telescope’s mission for an additional five years. The telescope’s extended mission is scheduled to end this fall. What more will we learn from this amazing spacecraft?

[Development news start here]

Patch 1.4.4 is coming soon and this means that the team has been performing a great deal of polishing and bug squashing for this upcoming release. Some of the tasks included a bunch of language corrections — particularly in Japanese — drawn directly from our community feedback. We also addressed an existing issue where the activation of the personal parachute on an EVA Kerbal in orbit broke its RCS permanently.

As mention in previous entries, this patch will be accompanied by several FX improvements: among these we improved the splashdown effects for small objects, which as some of you probably noticed missed the “foam” in the entry point and the spurt of water it produced was sometimes out of place.

We’ve also continued improving the controller support for the game via the Steam Controller framework. In addition to what we mentioned last week, the team has added a supplementary contextual controller set for EVA situations, as well as full support for Xbox 360 and Dualshock 3 controllers, in addition to the ones we confirmed last week.

We are also very happy to share with you that coupled with this patch’s release, we’ll be premiering the Official KSP Steam Workshop hub, as well as its in-game integration. We hope that the integration of this platform into the game will facilitate Mission and Craft sharing among KSP players. This feature will allow players to upload their creations to the hub directly from the game, as well as to subscribe to and vote for their favorite missions and craft files. We’ll be sharing even more details on this updated Steam support next week, so stay tuned!

BlitWorks, has also been very busy with the upcoming patch for KSP Enhanced Edition. We’ve been regularly receiving builds filled with improvements and bug fixes that will surely please console players. In the latest build, various bugs were fixed, including one that took players to a non-functional KSC screen when they selected “Recover Vessel” during flight Training missions. Similarly, a bug that caused the overlapping of menus when a flag was changed from the Space Center was mercilessly squashed.  On top of that, and as suggested by the community, now you’ll be able to disable/enable trimming from your controls.

Don’t forget that you can also share and download missions on Curse, KerbalX, and the KSP Forum.

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 and development updates!

Happy launchings!  

*Information Source:

• Weitering, H. (2018, June 13). NASA’s Fermi Space Telescope Celebrates 10 Years of Gamma-Ray Science. Retrieved from https://www.space.com/40871-fermi-gamma-ray-telescope-10th-anniversary.html
  
• Garner, R. (2015, February 23). About the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/content/fermi/overview
  
• (n.d.). Retrieved from https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  

[Spartwo]

Workshop integration feels like something that will alienate the older playerbase if approached poorly. But I'll withhold judgement until more info is around.

Edited June 15, 2018 by Spartwo

[StrandedonEarth]

Will the Steam Workshop be accessible from KSP store-bought games? I’ve learned that store-KSP can be added to the Steam launcher, which will then track hours played if the game is launched from there. That gives me hope that the Workshop might be available to players that did not buy from Steam, but I’m not holding my breath (I can’t hold it as long as Jeb can). 

It would be nice, since in-game mission sharing is vital to the success of the Mission Builder, IMHO

Edited June 15, 2018 by StrandedonEarth

[Tyko]

Is the shroud issue 18862 "engine shrouds are offset" going to be fixed in this release?

https://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/issues/18862

 

[theJesuit]

1 hour ago, SQUAD said:

Patch 1.4.4 is coming soon

SOON!^TM

[klesh]

As someone that uses Steam, its great to see KSP finally taking advantage of some of its built-in features.  Thoroughly applaud that.

 

@StrandedonEarth, no, adding a non-steam game to Steam is essntially just putting a link to the .exe in Steam.   You can use Steam’s overlay, people can see you playing “Non-Steam Game XYZ” on your profile, but you dont for instance get game updates or any other functionality that comes with Steam ownership of a given title, such as Workshop.  https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/1700542968202017334/

Edited June 15, 2018 by klesh

[MOARdV]

1 hour ago, SQUAD said:

We hope that the integration of this platform into the game will facilitate Mission and Craft sharing among KSP players.

So ... is this *only* mission and craft sharing, or will it also enable mod support via Steam?

[klesh]

Whomever manages the Steam discussions area will need to alter the ol' Sal Vager sticky about Workshop:

Quote

Steam Workshop and Mods

Steam Workshop support isn’t planned.

Kerbal Space Program (KSP) isn’t just available on Steam, and Steam Workshop would only work for people who bought the Steam version.

You can get KSP mods from Curse.[www.curse.com] Anyone can use these mods, including Steam customers, and they’re pretty easy to install[wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com].

KSP mods also use .dll files, and while Steam Workshop can use these files, their flexibility makes it too easy for malicious code to be hidden in a mod, as mentioned here. (thanks manwith noname)

Having discrete downloads with the plugin source available makes it much harder to hide malicious code.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/220200/discussions/0/494631967660451431/

 

Edited June 15, 2018 by klesh

[linuxgurugamer]

I wonder if the steam workshop integration will work with mods as well? It would be nice to have a single consistent location for mods

[Tyko]

9 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

I wonder if the steam workshop integration will work with mods as well? It would be nice to have a single consistent location for mods

From what @klesh says above it sounds like someone who purchased on Squad's site or GOG won't be able to access workshop. If that's the case it's going to mean we will just have one more spot where mods can live, not a consistent one.

Can someone confirm if any PC user, regardless of where they purchased the game, will be able to access Steam Workshop? Also, what if you have multiple game installs? Will Steam workshop let me add mods to several installs running different versions of KSP? What about people who intentionally remove their game from the Steam folder to prevent unexpected version updates?

Edited June 15, 2018 by Tyko

[klesh]

11 minutes ago, Tyko said:

From what @klesh says above it sounds like someone who purchased on Squad's site or GOG won't be able to access workshop. If that's the case it's going to mean we will just have one more spot where mods can live, not a consistent one. 

Can someone confirm if any PC user, regardless of where they purchased the game, will be able to access Steam Workshop? Also, what if you have multiple game installs? Will Steam workshop let me add mods to several installs running different versions of KSP? What about people who intentionally remove their game from the Steam folder to prevent unexpected version updates? 

Indeed, it will be just another place for mods/missions etc, for only Steam people.

 

Quote

Can someone confirm if any PC user, regardless of where they purchased the game, will be able to access Steam Workshop?

I would bet $20 that this is a "no".

 

Quote

Also, what if you have multiple game installs? Will Steam workshop let me add mods to several installs running different versions of KSP?

No, it will only fiddle with the installation that Steam knows about.  For instance, I cannot use Steam to update copies of the game that I have moved outside of my C/Steam/steamapps/common directory.

 

Quote

What about people who intentionally remove their game from the Steam folder to prevent unexpected version updates? 

You would have to move it back into the steamapps/common folder, get the mods (which of course won't be what you want if you wanted to keep that copy of the game in a state other than the latest) and then move the whole shebang back out to wherever you like to keep it.

 

 

The whole idea of Steam in general is to remove the manual fiddling requirements for games, something the "average" user appreciates, in theory.   Your game updates for you, in a correct way, screenshots are uploaded to their own display service, nice and tidy.  DLC's added with the touch of a button.   It's definitely NOT designed to manage multiple installs over multiple versions in locations outside of Steam's purview.  These mods, or missions, or whatever will work only on the version they're uploaded for, and will need to be maintained like anything else.   Especially since Stream auto-updates your Workshop content the same way it does with games, automagically.

[Superfluous J]

2 hours ago, SQUAD said:

We are also very happy to share with you that coupled with this patch’s release, we’ll be premiering the Official KSP Steam Workshop hub, as well as its in-game integration. We hope that the integration of this platform into the game will facilitate Mission and Craft sharing among KSP players. This feature will allow players to upload their creations to the hub directly from the game, as well as to subscribe to and vote for their favorite missions and craft files. We’ll be sharing even more details on this updated Steam support next week, so stay tuned!

This is great. Hopefully it will help kickstart the Mission creating community.

[Tyko]

9 minutes ago, klesh said:

The whole idea of Steam in general is to remove the manual fiddling requirements for games, something the "average" user appreciates, in theory.   Your game updates for you, in a correct way, screenshots are uploaded to their own display service, nice and tidy.  DLC's added with the touch of a button.   It's definitely NOT designed to manage multiple installs over multiple versions in locations outside of Steam's purview.  These mods, or missions, or whatever will work only on the version they're uploaded for, and will need to be maintained like anything else.   Especially since Stream auto-updates your Workshop content the same way it does with games, automagically.

Thanks for clarifying. Based on that I hope it's a definite "no" to add mods to Steam. I can't imagine Squad would intentionally throw a wrench into the modding community. Some mods like Kopernicus (and everything it makes possible) would break a Steam install because it's version locked - Steam updates your modded game and it no longer loads Kopernicus, et al. 

[Superfluous J]

43 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

I wonder if the steam workshop integration will work with mods as well? It would be nice to have a single consistent location for mods

No sadly it will just be "another standard."

Anybody not on Steam won't be able to use it.

[klesh]

2 minutes ago, Tyko said:

 Steam updates your modded game and it no longer loads Kopernicus, et al. 

 

Yup, steam has its own "update broke all my mods!" complaints for various games with Workshop.  Game updates, and mod authors take a minute to follow suit, chaos ensues.

 

You can also look on the bright side of:   "Logged in today, steam updated KSP and all the mods associated with it automatically."  No putting files in wrong folders or messing about.  This works with dependent mods as well, providing everything has been brought up to current by their various authors.

[Superfluous J]

I use Steam and will happily use Workshop for Missions, and even to share craft files and game saves. But I won't use it for mods because I have about 8 folders with different mod cocktails. Even if every mod I wanted was on Steam, I'd still want that Steam install to be vanilla so I could copy it without having to worry about cleaning out mods first.

[klgraham1013]

I own many games on GOG which keep me from using the various features available to Steam users.  This is a choice I made.  I do not resent the users of said games or the companies that make them.

A company taking advantage of a platforms inherent features is a good thing.

[technicalfool]

3 hours ago, klesh said:

Whomever manages the Steam discussions area will need to alter the ol' Sal Vager sticky about Workshop:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/220200/discussions/0/494631967660451431/

 

Probably.

[EBOSHI]

I will be pleased about KSP introducing a steam workshop!
I think that there are pros and cons, but this is certainly one of the big breakthroughs for KSP. Everything has a new start. This is the time.

to wish a success.

[severedsolo]

7 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said:

I wonder if the steam workshop integration will work with mods as well? It would be nice to have a single consistent location for mods

I don't see it working for mods. I think most of us have already moved our modded installs out of the steam directory anyway for update reasons.

One thing I can see working well though is Missions. I tend to do missions on a mostly stock install anyway, as gameplay altering mods can interfere with missions, so I'd probably use it for those.

[linuxgurugamer]

1 hour ago, severedsolo said:

I don't see it working for mods. I think most of us have already moved our modded installs out of the steam directory anyway for update reasons.

One thing I can see working well though is Missions. I tend to do missions on a mostly stock install anyway, as gameplay altering mods can interfere with missions, so I'd probably use it for those.

I suppose it will depend on the way it's written.  If it depends on being in the Steam directory, it will be useless for anyone who uses mods for that very reason

[RealKerbal3x]

Cool stuff! Regarding the new FX, will you be fixing the weird 'see-through reentry' as well?

Also how do you plan to tackle the Steam Workshop thing? Many users of KSP did not buy the game through Steam, so will the Workshop support be available to everyone, or just Steam users??

Otherwise, this is enough to get some hype going for 1.4.4 (even though it'll probably just be a minor bugfix release)

[StarStreak2109]

When will you preview the fixed reentry effects?!?

[klesh]

5 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said:

If it depends on being in the Steam directory, it will be useless for anyone who uses mods for that very reason

 

Thats how Steam Workshop works, 100%.

[Azimech]

It would be fantastic if these issues can be looked into.

This one affects all of my 100+ published vehicles: https://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/issues/19231

And this affects about 20% of them, making them impossible to use (eyesore) in KSP 1.4.x: https://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/issues/19232