Cannot find anomalies

[Dr. Monty]

Hi all,

I've started playing Kerbal recently (well, I suppose I already logged 242 hours according to Steam...), but I still haven't been able to find a single anomaly. I've looked around the forums and I can't figure out what's wrong. I've just moved a rover with a RoveMate (which should have a 100% anomaly detection rate) under the Mun arch, but it still doesn't show up on the Kerbnet scanner. I'd upload a screenshot, but I seem to be able to only insert an image from URL, so you'll have to take my word for it...

Does anyone have an idea what I'm doing wrong?

 

Thanks!

Dr. Monty

 

 

[bewing]

Did you open the KerbNet window by opening the RoveMate's menu? What you see in KerbNet depends on which probe core you used to create the image.

It would be helpful to see your image -- so the best way to do that is to go to an image host such as imgur.com, upload your image there, it will give you a URL to the image, then come back here and edit the URL into your post.

 

[OHara]

Welcome to the forum, Dr. Monty.   I happened to have screenshots from when I had a RoveMate directly under one of the Mun Arches.

The RoveMate does show the anomaly 100% of the time, but you really have to be directly on top of the point where KSP marks the anomaly.  The sensors have a field of view defined in terms of their viewing angle, which makes sense physically if you think of them as cameras.  The RoveMate has a wide-angle (160°) view, but if it is only 1 meter above the point that marks the Mun arch, that view only covers a 11-meter diameter.   Fortunately, KSPs markers for the anomalies are buried about 20 meters below ground (depending on terrain settings) so finding them on KerbNet from the RoveMate on a rover is at least feasible, if time-consuming.

The images at right are all from a RoveMate under the Mun Arch, as I move by about 20 meters across the surface.  The '?' is the point defined as the center of that anomaly. 

The elevation map covers 160° field of view projected down to the Mun's reference level, analogous to sea level, which is about 4000 meters below.  So the same 160° field of view covers a tens of meters for finding the anomaly and 20 km for showing the elevation map.  Some things in KSP are unpolished; some things are a lot of fun; opinions differ on which are which; this forum is a good way to find what other people find to be fun parts.

Edited May 19, 2020 by OHara
You can see further if you slide the field-of-view up to 179.5°, *and* are on ground that is above the altitude of the anomaly -- the KerbNet cameras look in a cone centered on straight down.

[AHHans]

8 hours ago, OHara said:

Fortunately, KSPs markers for the anomalies are buried about 20 meters below ground

Thanks, I didn't know that. That also explains why the marker is moving around so much when you are on the surface.

About the OP: the RoveMates work well when used from a satellite. They have only a tiny view cone, but when you are far enough away from the planet/moon you still have a good fraction (or even all of it) in your field of view. Then you can drop a waypoint marker on it from KerbNet and use that to navigate a lander / rover / whatever there. It is usually good enough spot to the anomaly visually from "the air".

[Dr. Monty]

10 hours ago, OHara said:

Welcome to the forum, Dr. Monty.   I happened to have screenshots from when I had a RoveMate directly under one of the Mun Arches.

The RoveMate does show the anomaly 100% of the time, but you really have to be directly on top of the point where KSP marks the anomaly.  The sensors have a field of view defined in terms of their viewing angle, which makes sense physically if you think of them as cameras.  The RoveMate has a wide-angle (160°) view, but if it is only 1 meter above the point that marks the Mun arch, that view only covers a 11-meter diameter.   Fortunately, KSPs markers for the anomalies are buried about 20 meters below ground (depending on terrain settings) so finding them on KerbNet from the RoveMate on a rover is at least feasible, if time-consuming.

The images at right are all from a RoveMate under the Mun Arch, as I move by about 20 meters across the surface.  The '?' is the point defined as the center of that anomaly. 

The elevation map covers 160° field of view projected down to the Mun's reference level, analogous to sea level, which is about 4000 meters below.  So the same 160° field of view covers a tens of meters for finding the anomaly and 20 km for showing the elevation map.  Some things in KSP are unpolished; some things are a lot of fun; opinions differ on which are which; this forum is a good way to find what other people find to be fun parts.

 

Thanks, I managed to find my first question mark! It turns out the field of view was indeed exceptionally small when standing on the ground. When I took off vertically from the surface, the question mark appeared. For some reason, the location seemed to get more accurate as I got higher though. And it also seems the field of view does not update correctly, as I got a larger change in the terrain scale when I closed and reopened the kerbnet map than when I just clicked 'refresh'. Also, the field of view doesn't seem to be 10 degrees at all, but more like half of that... In any case, I appreciate your reply. In conclusion: it seems land-based rovers are useless in detecting anomalies, so I'll just go send a couple of high-altitude rovemate satellites.

[AHHans]

10 minutes ago, Dr. Monty said:

For some reason, the location seemed to get more accurate as I got higher though.

That's because the KSP-internal markers are below the ground. If you look at them from the side they seem to be at another position on the actual ground than the position directly above them. But when you look from high(er) up, then you are looking more or less straight down and the markers appear where they should be.

[HvP]

I know this doesn't help you locate them, but as I understand it the ambiguity in anomalies is intentional. It's designed to get you close while still encouraging the player to build craft to physically explore the surface looking for them.