KerbalEDU Mission Editor Tips & Help

[AloE]

A place to add useful insights you encounter while using the KerbalEDU Mission Editor....post them below & I will add key insights to this following list...

@MarkZero  Summary of useful insights from TG collected over the years:

KerbalEDU Mission Library & Editor:

• https://kerbaledu.com/missioneditor/

TG's Mission Editor Tutorial (links):

Spoiler

https://kerbaledu.com/kerbalmissionlibrary/node/82

https://kerbaledu.com/kerbalmissionlibrary/sites/default/files/worlds/82/material/kerbaledumissioneditortutorial_82.pdf

Useful Reminders:

Spoiler

Mission Editor Development Thread:

• https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/kerbal-teachers/cMdVSVh1s0E

 old google group - KERBAL TEACHERS.

 KerbalEdu in social media - @KERBALEDU IN TWITTER.

https://kerbaledu.com/teaching

 

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Tutorials

Real life missions

The high level of realism in Kerbal Space Program allows to recreate historical, current and future missions of human spaceflight. These missions start simple and become gradually more complex, so they are a great way to learn KSP. For a logical and progressive list of missions, goals, and milestones that may or may not have tutorials linked, check out the Campaigns article to get ideas in planning your own space program.

• Sputnik 1 - first satellite in orbit

• Vostok 1 - first human spaceflight

• Gemini 6A & 7 First orbital rendezvous

• Luna 9 - First soft landing of a probe on the moon

• Apollo 11 - First human moon landing

• Apollo 15 - First moon buggy.

• Salyut programme - First space stations of any kind

• Deep Impact - first look into a Comet.

• International Space Station - Series of missions for the current space station.

• Mars One - first colony on Mars consisting of four people at first by 2023.

 

I cannot launch mission library or Earth History Campaign missions from the web. What should I do?

New versions of KerbalEdu (1.3.1e859 and newer)

You should start the game so that it loads the main menu once before trying to launch missions from the web browser (EHC or Mission Library). The game registers itself as a url handler for the kerbaledu:// url scheme when it is run for the first time.

Older versions of KerbalEDU

In Windows the installer should have done this for you, but seems for some reason it didn’t. Open command line to the installation directory. Run the following command (remember the KSP.exe parameter, it is needed):

registerurlhandler.cmd KSP.exe

On Linux you always have to do this manually. On Linux run the following command in the installation directory:

./registerurlhandler.sh

On OS X the installer should also have done this. We don’t know how to fix it if it didn’t. If you figure it out, please tell us.

 

Questions from KerbalEDU 1.3.1

• Send TG Desk Mission Event

Spoiler

Can I see these events for each class or student via TG_Desk?  (e.g. I do not see detailed events like these in the TG_Desk 'Play Statistics')?

TG: On "Send TG Desk Mission Event"

• that is intended only for our internal use for now. We use it to send events to TeacherGaming Desk analytics so that it can track student progress in scenarios better.

• It is not really useful without developer access to TeacherGaming Desk.

• Might be usable by customers in the future if we ever get around to adding user-made lesson support to Desk.

• Click Corner to expand Mission Editor Text Boxes

Spoiler

one suggestion for the current EDU mission editor: 2 larger text boxes would be helpful for editing text

TG: You can make those larger by dragging from the lower-right corner of the textbox.

 

• EDU Function Tool--custom data plot in EDU Flight Recorder

Spoiler

What unit does "distance" have in the flight recorder...the values are "large" and I can not make sense of them.  I assume it is "distance traveled through Unity space" rather than say a straight line from some point of origin, but I still can not make sense of the numbers I am seeing...a flight path in Rami's scenario should be maybe between 2000 to 5000 meters including vertical ascent & descent...not the >11000 I am seeing (for a very short flight) so I am confused...

Here is a link to a flight recorder with distance data as an example:

• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kL2c40_G2C7_VE5ugsrre4oJESpegHEaCybsKTpEbAQ/edit?usp=sharing
• https://photos.app.goo.gl/wdpEX1TsJSL5yk5x7

--with the alt-F12 menu, looks like total drag is calculated...maybe friction also?

• https://photos.app.goo.gl/d4ShJpgMZ4AU5tGF6

--I was trying to see if I can use the function tool to separate out an approximation of 'friction forces' i.e. drag (i.e. 'friction while gliding') and ground friction while sliding or applying brakes...but maybe the physics engine already makes this available?

-- I speculate that aerodynamic forces sums both lift vectors & drag vectors?

--"ground force" is the force normal to the ground supporting the object?

--or, If the "Force arrow" tool already has access to components of summed to make the cyan arrow "Friction & Aero forces" is there a way I can access that also in the EDU function tool?

TG: The distance is supposed to be the total distance the vessel has traveled, in meters, but it seems to be broken! Now that I think of it I'm not even sure in what reference frame it should be (with respect to launch pad position on Kerbin surface or what). Need to fix it for the next update. Thank you for noticing this.

You can't separate friction forces in the function tool or the Force Arrows. Indeed the Force Arrows show combined lift & drag, since I couldn't find a way to get them from the game separately. It currently works by getting the total force vector and by subtracting from that thrust and gravity gets the combined aero forces. I will need to see for the next update if I could now get and show the forces in more detail.

"ground force" indeed is the force normal to the ground supporting the object..

• Set the Flight Recorder parameters

Spoiler

 

Can set the Flight Recorder parameters _globally_...it is under Mission options --> Scenario Modules.

However some of the parameters such as Thrust & Aerodynamics & Ground forces, etc., are not present in the menu.

TG: You can actually already set the visible graphs for the flight recorder though you can only do this globally for the entire mission and per event.

Go to the Mission Options and add the FlightRecorderSettings scenario module.

You can then configure which graphs are shown (initially) from the FlightRecorderSettings module settings.

I'll consider adding the same functionality as an event action for the next version, should not be too hard since the FlightRecorderSettings module already has it.

TG: I'll look into making the Flight Recorder graphs (parameters) visibility setting an event action in the next update. Going to also check that there is an option there for every available parameter.

 

Turn parameters on & off during the scenario:  For scenario teaching it still could be useful to be able to turn parameters on & off during the game to help focus student attention on specific graph lines

(e.g. not have so many graph lines at once, then they can turn the on & off at will once they see them)....also, the changing colors of any given graph lines depending on which options are selected may also complicate this.

TG: Should be easy enough. I'll see if I can add those for the next version.

 

• Has TG ever hosted a mission "competition"...

Spoiler

e.g. maybe school with top winning mission gets 1 year of subscription for X number of students, 2nd best Y number of students, etc... you could even have mission categories...best historical mission, best Physics class mission, best overall mission, best CKAN Modded mission...

My observation is that it is ~12 to 16 age kids that have the time to make missions & that making a really high quality mission could be a great academic project that more closely represents 'work' life beyond school.  And a competition such as above might provide a fun incentive…

For example, the mission "TGdesk: Planes on Other Planets" emerged out of a gaming camp activity with kids age ~13.

TG: I don't think we have. It is a nice idea, but I don't know if we will have time to do that any time soon. Something to consider though.

• Share all the TG Mission .craft files

Spoiler

--SSS works for me so long as I:

 

a) run a scenario then 

 

b) close the scenario & move the folder the 1st run generates to the normal 'Saves' folder, then

 

c) go to the Resume game menu & select the scenario there,

 

d) then go to the tracking station & select any craft to save as a splice

 

e)  Left-Shift+Click to open a dialogue of saved splices, select the desired splice craft to "Convert exported vessel to .craft file"

 

Ship Save Splicer v1.2.0 (2018-03-27) [KSP 1.4.1]

Description: Ever built a ship, base, or station in one save and wish you could transfer it into a new save? Perhaps you built a really awesome station around Kerbin in a save, then added the New Horizons mod and had to start a new save. With Ship Save Splicer you can export the station from one save and import it into another, even if they use wildly different mods (with the exception of required part mods).

Just enter the tracking station, select a craft from the left, and press the "SSS" button. The ship will be exported to the "Kerbal Space Program/Ships/export" folder, ready to be imported into a new save. To import a craft, enter the tracking station and don't select any vessels. Press the "SSS" button to bring up the importer in no-crew mode and select the vessel you want to import. It will then be imported without any crew members.

To import a craft with all of its crew, mod-click the "SSS" button (so Alt-Click or RightShift-Click) to bring up the importer in "crewed" mode. Importing vessels with crew has a much larger potential of breaking things, so make a quicksave beforehand! When importing with crew all the crew stats should transfer properly. If there's already a Kerbal with the same name in the Save (for instance, "Bob Kerman") then the imported Kerbal will be renamed with a roman numeral (ie, "Bob Kerman II").

As of 1.1.0 you can now convert exported vessels to craft files by Left-Shift clicking the button while in the Tracking Station. This is made possible by @Claw's InflightShipSave mod and the pertinent code remains under the original CC-BY-NC-SA license.

Shortcuts:
Click with vessel selected = Export vessel
Left-Ctrl+Click = Import vessel, no crew
Mod+Click with no vessel selected = Import vessel and crew
Left-Shift+Click = Convert exported vessel to .craft file

License: GPLv3. Also included in the zip file.

Installation: Merge the included GameData folder with the one in your KSP directory, overwriting any files.

Download (SpaceDock)

Download (GitHub)

 

 

• Mission Variations Notes

Spoiler

TG: We updated the KerbalEdu Mission Editor to be open to the users of the TeacherGaming Desk. We don't have anything against of you making versions out of our missions

• Create KerbalEDU youtube playlists

Spoiler

TG: Creating videos or a playlist of KerbalEdu sounds fantastic and if you do have time to create something like that I would love to pass the link to it to our head of communications. Just to see if there is some possibility for us to share it on social media or give it some exposure!

• New KerbalEDU 1.3.1 login 'SAVES" details

Spoiler

 

Which process is supposed to pull the saves from the www server?  I do not see anything being blocked by the AV software/firewall yet my installs so far appear to not retrieve anything from the servers.

TG: There is no separate process for pulling the saves from the server. If the login is successful the save files should be retrieved at the same time as the login response. If there are save files created while you play they are moved to the server and back again on the next game launch.

per Student saves are indeed uploaded to a cloud storage on TG Desk and retrieved from there on login. That's why the saves folder is empty if a student that has no saves yet logs in.  If you want you can disable this functionality by setting

tgCloudSavesDisabled = True

in edusettings.cfg.

When it is set the saves will work as before and won't be sent or retrieved from the cloud.

example edusettings.cfg:

tgCloudSavesDisabled = True
externalSavesDirectory = X:\Space\KerbalEduSaves
EDUTOOLBARSHOWN
{
    FLIGHT_RECORDER = True
    FORCE_INDICATOR = True
    DRAK_RACING = False
    STOPWATCH = True
    START_VELOCITY = True
    EDITORWINDOW = True
    ENERGY_SPHERES = True
}

see also this forum topic about corruption & irregularity of saves:

 

• KerbalEDU 1.3.1 ReadMe.txt

Spoiler

 

*Settings (edusettings.cfg)*

There are a couple of KerbalEdu specific settings you can tweak by editing the edusettings.cfg file in the installation directory.

--Cloud saves--

Since version 1.3.1e857 KerbalEdu redirects all game saves by default to TeacherGaming Desk on a per student basis. When logging in the local saves are replaced with the saves of the logged in student retreived from TeacherGaming Desk. If you want to disable this functionality you can add or change the line

tgCloudSavesDisabled = True

in edusettings.cfg. This is useful if you for example wish to edit save files or use edited saves.

 

--Saves redirection--

KerbalEdu also has functionality to redirect save games. You can do this by inserting the line

externalSavesDirectory = *path to user KerbalEdu saves directory*

for example:

externalSavesDirectory = H:\KerbalEduSaves

in the edusettings.cfg file in the installation directory. This is useful for example if you want

to redirect saves to the user’s home directory in a multi-user environment. Note that

tgCloudSavesDisabled = True

needs to be set too for the redirection functionality to work.

Please note that the redirection directory needs to be empty at first. Redirection works by copying the saves from the redirection directory to the saves folder in the installation directory when starting the game and copying them back to the redirection folder when quitting.

So if you for example would set externalSavesDirectory = H:\ it would try to copy the entire contents of H:\ to the saves directory in the installation when starting the game.

 

--Edu UI visibility--

edusettings.cfg also contains the saved visibility settings for the KerbalEdu specific UI elements.

You need to run KerbalEdu once for these to appear. If you make custom functions in the function

tool those will also appear here.

EDUTOOLBARSHOWN

{

FLIGHT_RECORDER = False

FORCE_INDICATOR = True

DRAK_RACING = False

STOPWATCH = True

START_VELOCITY = True

EDITORWINDOW = False

ENERGY_SPHERES = True

}

 

--VAB/SPH--

Design data tab can show lots of different kinds of information in a tree structure about the vessel being constructed.

You can select what information to show on the design data tab by using the toggle buttons on the left side in the data select tab.

At the bottom of the design data tab you can enable the resource flow analysis, which shows where resources (like LiquidFuel, Oxidizer and ElectricCharge) are produced, stored, and used on the ship.

 

-EDU Energy spheres-

Shows the current potential and kinetic energy of the ship and their relations as two spheres. Can be toggled between different frames of reference for calculating the energies.

 

-EDU Force Indicator-

When attached to a ship the EDU Force Indicator shows holographic force arrows outside to demonstrate the basic forces acting on a ship in flight.

Arrows are colored as follows:

Yellow - Gravity

Purple - Thrust

Cyan - Aerodynamic forces (lift & drag summed up)

Green - Combined aero and ground (support & friction) forces when on a

launchpad, or accelerating down a runway, or landed somewhere

 

-EDU Function Tool-

The function tool is a custom science part with a graphical user interface that students can use to input physics equations the results of which are then shown and recorded in the Flight Recorder.

Functions are constructed by dragging and dropping "function elements" such as numbers, variables and operators from a palette. This allows for example a square root to be represented with the correct symbol instead of just text (√ instead of sqrt()).

Equations can be edited while constructing a rocket and also in flight, although the flight recorder has to be paused first to prevent gathering bogus data from an incomplete or erroneous equation.

 

Questions from KerbalEDU 1.2.2

 

• I have not been able to get images to display in message windows via the Mission editor...what folder should I put the images in?

Spoiler

TG: You should put the images under the same folder as your mission .sfs goes in saves.

The path to the image should start from the KerbalEdu installation root, like so

 

 

 

saves/scenarios/EHC Mission 2/Opel Rak 2.jpg

(example from EHC Mission 2).

 

 

 

• Are there image size or dimension limits, file type (jpg only?), etc.?

Spoiler

TG: There are no hard-coded image limits, but don't go crazy with the size. Any image format that Unity3d can load should be supported (.png, .jpg at least, many others too).

• Can I make the Mission Library 'Launch in KerbalEDU' button launch the x64 version (it always launches the x86 on my machines which is not licensed since I activated the x64)

Spoiler

TG: Yes. Open command prompt and in the installation directory run: registerurlhandler.cmd KSP_x64.exe

• I assume KerbalEDU must load Mods during main program launch rather than loading a mission launch? Or?

Spoiler

 

TG:

Note that you can bundle the proper version of the required mod(s) with your mission when you release it in our mission library.

You can use the "Copy directory to installation" option in the mission editor mission options tab to tell the system to put the mod in the correct place, and then just zip the mod into the same package with your mission.

 

To check how we have done this with the Tantares mod, download the EHC VI mission from Mission Library:

http://kerbaledu.com/kerbalmissionlibrary/node/74

use the ehc_vi.zip download link instead of the launch button.

 

When a mission that includes a mod (or something) that is to be copied to the installation directory (the "Copy directory to installation" option in the mission editor mission options tab is not empty), the game:

• first checks if all the files in the indicated directory already exist in the installation directory.

• If they exist the mission is simply launched.

• If they do not exist, the user is asked for a permission to copy them there and if the user allows it they are copied. After they have been copied the user is told to quit the game and start the mission again so the mods can be loaded.

Note that the "Copy directory to installation" option only works when loading a mission from URL (kerbaledu://...) that points to a .zip file.

It does not work when loading from DownloadedMissions or scenarios or elsewhere.

• KerbalEDU appears to handle .sfs in /saves/scenarios|training differently than folders in /DownloadedMissions

Spoiler

 

 

KerbalEDU appears to handle .sfs in /saves/scenarios|training (mission launched in an enduring folder with same name as .sfs file which needs to be manually deleted to do a fresh start of a scenario ) differently than folders in /DownloadedMissions (mission launched in /temp/missions which gives a more effective handling of repeatable scenarios).  

Images work fine when putting my folder in \DownloadedMissions\ and changing the .sfs to 'persistent'.

C:\KerbalEdu\saves\scenarios\ is where I was working while not getting images to display, just the text in the message boxes...no matter where I placed the image files…

TG:

Yes, the missions you put in DownloadedMissions work differently than the ones in scenarios.

However you can make the ones in scenarios not save by setting Mode to Scenario non-resumable in Mission Options in the editor.

There seems to be a bug that prevents the images from being loaded when the mission is in saves/scenarios or saves/training. I shall fix it in the next version.

• Is there a difference between the message boxes in the KerbalEDU mission system v. the 'TutorialEditor' called by the 'Training' .sfs saves in stock KSP

Spoiler

 

TG: Yes. Stock KSP tutorials are hard-coded and use the built-in tutorial message windows.

KerbalEdu missions (Events) can be "scripted" using the conditions and actions in the editor, only available in KerbalEdu.

The event system is KerbalEdu only, so the missions that use it won't work properly in regular KSP.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by AloE

[AloE]

@KSPStar did Private Division happen to recover from Teacher Gaming the backend for the KerbalEDU mission editor?  If not, I'll put an update note in the post above that this functionality is no longer available.  Thanks.