KSP Weekly: Hera Reborn

[SQUAD]

Welcome to KSP Weekly! We’re just a day away from Asteroid Day, so it’s a good time to talk about a planetary defense mission. Back in 2016, the ESA pulled out from the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission. The groundbreaking AIDA mission would have seen an ESA-built spacecraft, the Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM), launch towards an asteroid called Didymos in October 2020. Then, in October 2022, a NASA-built spacecraft called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) would have slammed into a small moonlet of the asteroid, called Didymoon, and AIM would have observed changes in the moonlet’s orbit.

Back then, NASA stated that they were going to push ahead with its part of the AIDA mission, and now the ESA is proposing a new mission to contribute to this ambitious planetary defense experiment. Named after the Greek goddess of marriage, Hera, the reborn mission would launch towards the Didymos binary asteroid in 2023, arriving in 2026. Hera would focus on the smaller Didymoon, taking high-resolution pictures and mapping the asteroid with lasers and radio waves.

In October 2022, NASA’s DART mission will slam into Didymoon and attempt to change its orbit very slightly. Observatories on Earth will track the subsequent change in the asteroid’s orbit. Hera, when it arrives, will see how much the orbit has changed up close.

Despite arriving four years later than originally planned, the mission is very exciting, and it could let us test if an impactor is a viable method to push an asteroid out of our path.

[Development news start here]

The team has constantly worked on fixing and improving upon the KSP experience. This past patch included a wide array of improvements and fixes that we have talked plenty about, but there were some fixes we didn’t mention and are quite noteworthy. For example, the team squashed a bug that started appearing in version 1.4.0 that was not occluding Kerbals in cargo/materials bays/fairings, consequently producing huge amounts of drag and increasing the risk of exposure to re-entry heat. There were also some issues related to the RoveMax M1-F Rover Wheels that the team managed to fix: The unfolding animation was tweaked, jittering reduced and the squishy suspension was improved.

But even with a fresh patch release, we are already working on more improvements and fixes. There were a few things we wanted to include in the last patch, but we had to hold back to work on them more. For instance, some new and replacement parts were missing the Test Subject Modules, something that gives modders the ability to create contracts for those specific parts. But you can bet this will be merged into the next patch.

This week the team worked on a number of bugs, one of which was pretty hilarious to experience. It involved the EVA parachute animations and could be triggered by Quicksaving with a Kerbal falling. Check this tweet by Million_Lights to see what we are talking about.

The team also worked on adjusting the MapNode behavior that was changed in 1.4.4 based on your feedback. Many considered that the MapNodes were too transparent and the text too hard to read when these were behind a Celestial Body, so we improved the behavior for pinned nodes and when you mouse over. Furthermore, with the next patch’s release, it will be possible for the user to adjust the node transparency via the game settings file.

There are a few bugs related to the newly integrated Steam Workshop that we are already working on fixes for. These include a bug that prevented crafts to be selected in the VAB Steam tab, another one was causing blank titles in the menu when foreign characters were used in the name, and also an error that prevented uploads if custom mission banners were larger than 1MB. All of these have been solved, so you won’t need to worry about them soon.

In other news, our friends at BlitWorks and our QA team are also working on KSP Enhanced Edition. Builds come in every week, and every one of them is better than the last. Although we don’t have a release date yet, we are getting closer.

Finally, we want to invite you all to join us tomorrow, June 30 on our very first Steam Broadcast! We’ll be celebrating the integration of the Steam Workshop together with Scott Manley and RocketPCGaming, starting at 9:00am PDT. You’ll be able to watch us here, directly on our Steam store page, and on Twitch at KSPTV. Check the Stream Schedule here.

Remember 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!  

PS: Kerbal Space Program and the Making History Expansion are included in the Steam Summer Sale! With discounts of 60% and 30% respectively, this is one of the biggest discount ever for the base game, and the biggest ever for Making History. So now is a fantastic opportunity to get your copy and/or have your friends join you in space. We are also matching these discounts on the KSP Store.

*Information Source:

• E. (n.d.). Earth’s first mission to a binary asteroid, for planetary defence. Retrieved from http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Hera/Earth_s_first_mission_to_a_binary_asteroid_for_planetary_defence
  
• O`Callaghan, J. (2018, June 28). This Reborn ESA Spacecraft Will Find Out If We Can Save Earth From An Asteroid. Retrieved from http://www.iflscience.com/space/this-reborn-esa-spacecraft-will-find-out-if-we-can-save-earth-from-an-asteroid/
  
• If an asteroid is travelling on a path to collide with Earth, how could we change its course? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://dart.jhuapl.edu/

[Just Jim]

10 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

Finally, we want to invite you all to join us tomorrow, June 30 on our very first Steam Broadcast! We’ll be celebrating the integration of the Steam Workshop together with Scott Manley and RocketPCGaming, starting at 9:00am PDT. You’ll be able to watch us here, directly on our Steam store page, and on Twitch at KSPTV. Check the Stream Schedule here.

Oh, this sounds like fun! 

[theJesuit]

So... no quick fix for the game locking issue when pressing esc from the menu?  Seems like this would have been a slightly more pressing issue for a hot fix even.

I get the feeling that some modders are holding back for 1.4.5. Based on what just typed, I thought it might have been quick.  They may have too.  Hopefully now mods will update over the next week.

I don't normally whine, just seems a bit off if the 1.4.4 was about sharing stuff on steam but content creators are waiting for bugs to be squashed.

EDIT see next two posts.

Peace.

Edited June 29, 2018 by theJesuit
Update upon being called out :)

[linuxgurugamer]

5 minutes ago, theJesuit said:

the feeling that some modders are holding back for 1.4.5. Based on what just typed, I thought it might have been quick.  They may have too.  Hopefully now mods will update over the next week.

 Except for a few mods such as Kopernicus, all mods which work for 1.4.1-3 will work for 1.4.4. Other than that, what mods do you think are being held up ?

[theJesuit]

7 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

 Except for a few mods such as Kopernicus, all mods which work for 1.4.1-3 will work for 1.4.4. Other than that, what mods do you think are being held up ?

It was just a feeling... Kopernicus is one that I'm personally waiting for so that it may have been blown it out of proportion all in my head together with the crashing bug... that and I haven't had a million emails from spacedock to say that mods are 1.4.4 compatible!  I'm sure I spotted that something broke too possibly because of the steam workshop integration?

Given my heavy RL load at the moment I may have misread things.

Sorry for offense! I'll redact my above post.  I'm looking forward to next update really (and more time to play).

Peace.

[Gameslinx]

1 hour ago, SQUAD said:

But even with a fresh patch release, we are already working on more improvements and fixes. There were a few things we wanted to include in the last patch, but we had to hold back to work on them more.

No offence, but from both a community and modding viewpoint, this patch doesn't sound like a good idea at all.

If you have to hold back some fixes because you need more time, your patch is not ready. Constructively speaking, it sounds more logical to spend time fixing those bugs rather than wasting it over a poor release.

For example, releasing a patch with word of "already working on more improvements and fixes" indicates another patch is right around the corner. As a modder, I see no reason at all to spend any of my time updating my work for an already obsolete patch. Furthermore, some people will be unable to use people's mods for longer as they'd have to wait for not one, but two patches before modders catch up.

My feedback would be to just release the patch in one go. Don't spend time rushing a patch out which will quickly be replaced. We don't need a patch that badly. This would save your time not having to worry about a release, and it will spare ours as well.

[Vanamonde]

People get mad if patches don't come quickly enough. People get mad if patches come too frequently. I'm just happy they're still working on making the game better.

[linuxgurugamer]

36 minutes ago, theJesuit said:

It was just a feeling... Kopernicus is one that I'm personally waiting for so that it may have been blown it out of proportion all in my head together with the crashing bug... that and I haven't had a million emails from spacedock to say that mods are 1.4.4 compatible!  I'm sure I spotted that something broke too possibly because of the steam workshop integration?

Given my heavy RL load at the moment I may have misread things.

Sorry for offense! I'll redact my above post.  I'm looking forward to next update really (and more time to play).

Peace.

Most mod authors don't bother to update for a  minor release, especially when they know their mods work.  I am including myself in this.  

No offense taken, was curious why you felt that way

[klgraham1013]

1 hour ago, theJesuit said:

So... no quick fix for the game locking issue when pressing esc from the menu?  Seems like this would have been a slightly more pressing issue for a hot fix even.

We're talking about Squad here.  Not being able to land on landing legs wasn't pressing enough for a hot fix.

Edited June 29, 2018 by klgraham1013

[Just Jim]

42 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

People get mad if patches don't come quickly enough. People get mad if patches come too frequently. I'm just happy they're still working on making the game better.

Agreed!

Thank you @SQUAD!!!!  

[XLjedi]

Nice to see some progress has been made on some of the bugs...

I'm still struggling with these two:

• Unloading anything from a Mk3 loading bay causes deployable equipment to explode (solar and radiator arrays)
• Landing struts spontaneously exploding during any sort of dock/undock while in contact with the ground

And then there's this new one I just noticed:

• Craft completely disappearing when tabbing between them
  • seems to happen most frequently when there is a craft already deployed.  Like a plane on the island base.  
  • you roll up with a new craft carrier (maybe a ship?) disembark a craft (like an amphibious rover) then tab over to the island...
  • tab back and the rover is there, but no trace of original ship that was carrying it

Sadly it's these sorts of lingering gameplay bugs (and new bugs) that are taking me out of the game.  I can't really play missions anymore; so I just build craft to share and hope it eventually gets fixed.  The destructive Mk3 loading bay was intro'd to us in the first round of v1.4 and reported, but now just seems to linger around with no progress.  I'm beginning to think it won't get fixed because Squad has no idea why the Unity engine update in 1.4 broke the things. 

I dunno, maybe add a switch for now so we can make certain parts indestructible in the SPH so we can at least play the missions we want to play?  

https://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/issues/18017

Edited June 30, 2018 by XLjedi

[klgraham1013]

1 hour ago, XLjedi said:

Unloading anything from a Mk3 loading bay causes deployable equipment to explode (solar and radiator arrays)

This.

1 hour ago, XLjedi said:

Craft completely disappearing when tabbing between them

• seems to happen most frequently when there is a craft already deployed.  Like a plane on the island base.  
• you roll up with a new craft carrier (maybe a ship?) disembark a craft (like an amphibious rover) then tab over to the island...
• tab back and the rover is there, but no trace of original ship that was carrying it

 

Saw this happen to EJ_SA and assumed it was a one off.

1 hour ago, XLjedi said:

Sadly it's these sorts of lingering gameplay bugs (and new bugs) that are taking me out of the game. 

Right there with you.

[steve_v]

And again, no mention of fixing input support on GNU/Linux. This is repurposed bovine waste.

[Superfluous J]

10 minutes ago, steve_v said:

And again, no mention of fixing input support on GNU/Linux. This is repurposed bovine waste.

There are almost 400 bugs of the same severity level that are older than it (It's bug 17984). And there are 80 higher level bugs on the tracker, ALL older than it. I know it is your personal most important bug but you're not the only one playing the game with a personal bug that they'd very much prefer was fixed.

[Homedawgian]

Hmmm. Kerbal PC gets an update they don’t need all that badly when they’ve already gotten one less than two weeks ago. Meanwhile, console players have been waiting since February for a much needed round of bug squashing. KSP on console has had what? 3 updates tops since it’s release in 2016? I understand that we’ll always lag behind compared to the PC version but come on guys. You’re breaking my heart. We’re people too 

[Gameslinx]

8 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

People get mad if patches don't come quickly enough. People get mad if patches come too frequently. I'm just happy they're still working on making the game better.

I too am happy to see Squad working on the game. I'm not "mad" that an update is coming too fast (despite that being a completely legitimate reason to get mad at), I'm "mad" that they are releasing an unfinished update.

Anyway, there's no need for us to argue. I've already made my point.

Also this:

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

And again, no mention of fixing input support on GNU/Linux

 

Edited June 30, 2018 by Gameslinx

[JadeOfMaar]

8 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

People get mad if patches don't come quickly enough. People get mad if patches come too frequently.

It wouldn't be too bad in my opinion if Squad:

• Was more transparent about what they're bringing to the table, and how. (The highly anticipated Mission Builder failed everyone's expectations-- that it would expand Career mode; instead it is its own game mode which only appeals to Reddit users and the patrons of the Challenges board)
• Didn't stop open pre-release testing. Community QA is invaluable to a game that was built with modders in mind. I'm past the idea of bashing Take-Two but if Take-Two is the reason this stopped then they don't know what they purchased.
• Tended to fixes and new features relevant to the players and not just relevant to their unknown development roadmap.

As I see it, people would be more tolerant of slow patches if the patch content was relevant to us; and the people also get mad at fast patches because they're halfway done and lead to needless excess trouble for everyone.

[Vanamonde]

Until the game has zero bugs and all intended features are included, isn't any update going to be "unfinished"? What would you consider a finished update? 

Quote

it wouldn't be too bad in my opinion if Squad: Was more transparent about what they're bringing to the table, and how.

History indicates otherwise. 

Quote

The highly anticipated Mission Builder failed everyone's expectations-- 

"Everyone's"? And is Squad responsible if people assumed it was going to be something other than what it actually is? 

[Galileo]

17 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

"Everyone's"? And is Squad responsible if people assumed it was going to be something other than what it actually is? 

You say this as if the developers aren’t on the forums and reading the assumptions that were out there prior to release. They could have put a lot of rumors to sleep by being more precise about what the mission builder was going to be. They failed the community in that regard. There was a lot of speculation leading up to the release on the mission builder features and Squad never said anything. So yes, Squad should take some responsibility. 

That also ties into the transparency aspect. Anybody that visits these forums knew the mission builder was in development. that was no secret; Squad talked about it ALL THE TIME. they could have been more transparent on what it actually did. Why not dispel the bad information out there? I suspect they knew the mission builder’s true features would not be a hit with the majority of the community and wanted to keep the hype train rolling by letting speculation and anticipation build. 

I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but it sounds pretty spot on for Squads PR team, if they even have one.

Edited June 30, 2018 by Galileo

[StarStreak2109]

Well I have said it in the past and I say it here in this thread again:

• 1.3.1 IMHO (and totally without regards to any open bugs that may have existed or still exist to this date, as long as they did/do not interfere with gameplay) was a pretty solid version. It loaded way faster than 1.4.x with loads of mods installed.
• 1.4 was a step down in many aspects. Loading suddenly took ages longer, there were new bugs introduced (for me none were gamebreaking, but more of the visual/annoyance nature). Take the reentry and rocket effects for instance. Or that I sometimes have to click three or more times on a part before I can manipulate it. Along came several patches in rapid succession, and each of them made things only marginally better (if not worse). Add to that the fact that the new content added through the DLC was completely underwhelming if not obsolete by the plethora of mods out there.
• The rapid-fire patching drives away modders, as they are surely getting fed up by either the forum users bugging the hell out of them asking a) when the mod is being updated for the latest patch or b) whether or not a given mod is compatible with the latest patch as well as having to update mods all the time, because of version locking or new bugs being introduced that break mods.
• The rapid-fire patching also turns me as a user away from KSP, because each time I find that certain mods either are not working anymore (e.g. Kopernicus) or I have to contend with an enormous list of mods that claim not being compatible via AVC. Also I am not fond of hunting for new mod versions each time KSP updates.

So yeah, I am happy that Squad do continue development and that patches for bugs are being made. And I truely hope that they freaking succeed in creating a stable 1.4.x version (or make it 1.5 for all it's worth) that works at least as good as 1.3.1. But please stop this half-assed jury-rigged patching that seems to patch one hole while the waters rip up new holes. Eventually you'll run out of duct tape, if you get my analogue.

So at this stage, I implore you, sit down, consider the community feedback and take your time to make the mother of all patches. I'd rather contend with 1.4.4 and wait as long as it takes for a solid 1.4.5 or 1.5 rather than going on with 1.4.5, 1.4.6 and so on....

If 1.3.1 was so much better, why did I update, you might ask? Well, it was not by choice, but since some of the major modders moved to 1.4.x, there's not really any way out, is there? At least if you want to play with the newest toys.

[Pleb]

51 minutes ago, JadeOfMaar said:

Was more transparent about what they're bringing to the table, and how. (The highly anticipated Mission Builder failed everyone's expectations-- that it would expand Career mode; instead it is its own game mode which only appeals to Reddit users and the patrons of the Challenges board)

Agreed! Although I kind of suspected this was going to be exactly what it was I was also hoping that it may have improved the contract system in career mode. It would seem that like with a lot of things in this game we have to rely on the modding community to provide the better features of this game, which again I don't mind and am extremely grateful that there are such talented people out there developing these for us all. But it would be nice of we did get a bit more transparency and a bit more community involvement from the developers.

[StarStreak2109]

1 hour ago, Gameslinx said:

I too am happy to see Squad working on the game. I'm not "mad" that an update is coming too fast (despite that being a completely legitimate reason to get mad at), I'm "mad" that they are releasing an unfinished update.

Which begs the question: Why are they doing it? Releasing unfinished updates. Surely they are not forced to do so?! Isn't it much more contraproductive for the reputation of the game if every updates fixes some things, leaves bugs open and creates many new ones? From a business standpoint, wouldn't it be much more sensible to take your time, do your job right and then go on do something that actually makes money instead of burning money on creating and releasing patches that in the end are irrelevant?

[Gameslinx]

3 minutes ago, StarStreak2109 said:

Which begs the question: Why are they doing it? Releasing unfinished updates. Surely they are not forced to do so?! Isn't it much more contraproductive for the reputation of the game if every updates fixes some things, leaves bugs open and creates many new ones? From a business standpoint, wouldn't it be much more sensible to take your time, do your job right and then go on do something that actually makes money instead of burning money on creating and releasing patches that in the end are irrelevant?

I ask the same question myself.

It's probably so that they can use the "we just updated!" card to drag in some more players. That's the only answer that I have. Squad's current way of updating the game is like chasing their own tail - making progress isn't getting them any closer to their goal of having less bugs or a stable release. "Doing half a job" seems to be stuck in my mind when thinking about this.

I don't like calling out Squad on this, but I don't feel as if many people are noticing this downwards spiral. It needs to be addressed.

Edited June 30, 2018 by Gameslinx

[klgraham1013]

5 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

There are almost 400 bugs of the same severity level that are older than it (It's bug 17984). And there are 80 higher level bugs on the tracker, ALL older than it. I know it is your personal most important bug but you're not the only one playing the game with a personal bug that they'd very much prefer was fixed.

The difference is, it used to work.  An update broke a part of the game that a consumer was relying on.  In my opinion, fixing a piece of the game you broke with an update is pretty important.  Especially if you want consumers to trust in the quality of your product.  Having something like, say, exiting a menu suddenly hard crashing the game after an update.  These sort of things reflect poorly on the quality of the whole, even if the whole is relatively fine in and of it's self.  Perception is reality after all.

3 hours ago, StarStreak2109 said:

If 1.3.1 was so much better, why did I update, you might ask? Well, it was not by choice, but since some of the major modders moved to 1.4.x, there's not really any way out, is there? At least if you want to play with the newest toys.

I had a dream once that the community as a whole decided to stick with 1.3.1.  Alas, I awoke only to find that reality was the true nightmare and everyone was riding the 1.4 roller coaster.

Edited June 30, 2018 by klgraham1013

[Gameslinx]

11 minutes ago, klgraham1013 said:

I had a dream once that the community as a whole decided to stick with 1.3.1.  Alas, I awoke only to find that reality and was the true nightmare and everyone was riding the 1.4 roller coaster.

If a lot of modders agree to never support past 1.4 and set their licences correctly, it could become a reality. As I work in the field of planet modding, Squad is pretty much relying on us to make planets "for them" so they don't have to actually work on their god-awful planets themselves... Scheming intensifies...