kOS Scriptable Autopilot System 0.9

[neogoo123]

Though I would love to see this put with the game intrinsically, not everyone wants to learn a new programming language, nor should they be forced upon it by put it in the base game... I would prefer it stay a mod, for everyone's benefit. Though I do hope programming in KSP becomes a wider thing, as I have only seen a few programming mods, and only one of which actually allowed you to program in-game... eh-hem... this one. So I would love to see this style of programming more, and in different languages so that all types of programmers, from newbies to pro's can enjoy the feeling of control from their own experience level. This is all personal feelings though, and take them with a grain of salt, as I am just a mere script kiddie in comparison to many others.

[razark]

Though I would love to see this put with the game intrinsically, not everyone wants to learn a new programming language, nor should they be forced upon it by put it in the base game... I would prefer it stay a mod, for everyone's benefit.

Nothing says you would be forced to use something like this if it were added to the game. They added plane parts to the game, and I've only mucked with planes two or three times. Never used the ion engines, either. Adding something like this to the base game provides options, not requirements.

[johnsonwax]

Adding something like this to the base game provides options, not requirements.

True, but IMO it would be to the detriment of Squad's success here. If they want a programmable flight computer to take off, they need to not be in the business of teaching their users a new language and providing all of the support that entails. I wouldn't care what language they chose, so long as it was a standard that I could go and get support from stackoverflow or any other suitable place. Python, lua, doesn't matter. But a new language is a non-starter as a standard feature to the game, no offense to the author who has every right to build the plugin of their choice with whatever language and features they choose - they're not running a business. Squad is.

[KevinLaity]

True, but IMO it would be to the detriment of Squad's success here. If they want a programmable flight computer to take off, they need to not be in the business of teaching their users a new language and providing all of the support that entails. I wouldn't care what language they chose, so long as it was a standard that I could go and get support from stackoverflow or any other suitable place. Python, lua, doesn't matter. But a new language is a non-starter as a standard feature to the game, no offense to the author who has every right to build the plugin of their choice with whatever language and features they choose - they're not running a business. Squad is.

I'd like to weigh in this one.

While I'd be flattered to have the devs include it in the game (and they have my full support if that's what they want!) I do not expect them to do that, and I don't know that it really makes sense as anything other than a mod.

I think if the devs were to include it, it would be a huge liability in a lot of ways. They would have to offer support for it, and while nobody's forcing you to use it, scripting would then become 20% of what it means to play KSP. It's probably a huge divergence from their current plans for the game.

If the devs (and other users) have fun playing with it on their off hours, my mission is complete. (And if Scott Manley reviews it.)

Edited August 26, 2013 by KevinLaity
Typo

[Payload]

I'd like to weigh in this one.

While I'd be flattered to have the devs include it in the game (and they have my full support if that's what they want!) I do not expect them to do that, and I don't know that it really makes sense as anything other than a mod.

I think if the devs were to include it, it would be a huge liability in a lot of ways. They would have to offer support for it, and while nobody's forcing you to use it, scripting would then become 20% of what it means to play KSP. It's probably a huge divergence from their current plans for the game.

If the devs (and other users) have fun playing with it on their off hours, my mission is complete. (And if Scott Manley reviews it.)

I really enjoy it. So far, it works quite well. I don't think it will be the thing for casual players. For me it's exactly the thing my rocket OCD needs to make every last thing perfect.

I hope to setup a mission using it. I wonder if it might be possible to do a fully autonomous mission with it and kerbal alarm clock somehow. Please keep going. However unconventional, it works. When we get support for the rest of the resources I think a lot more could be done. It is possible to orbit a space plane with it as it stands. Once you have done a manual flight you pretty much know the mission parameters and not having access to intake air wasn't really that hard to overcome.

Is there a possibility that there will be some way that we can store to plain text files in the future? I did a little editing in the arc file just to see what would happen. It mostly worked. Mostly.

something like makefile name. It would be so much easier to use with external edit capability.

My simple spaceplane orbiter.

clearscreen.
lock steering to up + R(0,0,-90).
lock throttle to 1.
print "Throttle Up".
print "Begin Countdown".
wait 1.
print "3". wait 1.
print "2". wait 1.
print "1". wait 1.
print "0". stage.
wait 10.
stage.

wait until altitude > 9999.
lock steering to up + R(0,-55,-90).
print "G-Turn Begin".

wait until altitude > 14999.
lock steering to up + R(0,-65,-90).

wait until altitude > 20000.
lock steering to up + R(0,-80,-90).

wait until altitude > 28000.
toggle ag1. toggle ag2.
lock steering to up + R(0,-75,-90).

wait until apoapsis > 99999.
lock throttle to 0.
Print "Waiting For Apoapsis".

wait until eta:apoapsis < 5.
lock steering to up + R(0,-90,-90).
wait 3.
sas on.
lock throttle to 1.
print "Orbit Injection Burn!".

wait until periapsis > 96000.
lock throttle to 0.
print "You Are Now In Orbit!".

The plane is launched like a conventional rocket. You will see in the script the time is allotted for engine spool up before staging the clamp. I wouldn't be too much harder to make it take off of the runway like a conventional aircraft.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Payload

[GavinZac]

Since I installed this mod, the engines have all been firing in the vehicle assembly building. Also, the ship sets the throttle to 10% at all times, even when the terminal is turned off. If I let go of CTRL, it nudges the throttle back to 10%, making things uncontrollable.

Edit: might not be at fault, doing more testing

Edited August 26, 2013 by GavinZac

[Phil0rd]

Amazing!

Maybe there is a mistake in the readme file.

for maneuver node

MAG:ETA does not work

but I tried ETA:NODE and it worked.

Currenty I have to set texture to full res otherwise words are blurred in terminal.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Phil0rd

[HoneyFox]

Amazing!

Maybe there is a mistake in the readme file.

for maneuver node

MAG:ETA does not work

but I tried ETA:NODE and it worked.

Currenty I have to set texture to full res otherwise words are not blurred in terminal.

That actually is a real big game-crasher for me. In order to get clear view i have to set to full res. But then my KSP can no longer start again because it will take over 3.6G memory during its loading phase.

I don't know why this plugin need to use textures for characters. Can't we just use a simple text area for that?

[Blaylock1988]

Most computers that deal with lots of rotations use quaternions, if I recall, because of the possibility of gimbal lock. Quaternions can contain a negative number perfectly well, and in most cases, they will have at least one.

This is true, I used quaternions extensively in Garry's Mod Expression 2 for dealing with flying ships and holograms etc.

[dlrk]

I was literally just wishing someone would make this!

[GavinZac]

something like makefile name. It would be so much easier to use with external edit capability.

That would be great! I think I can make a NotePad++ language for this.

[theSpeare]

Agreed. We need an external edit capability. Things like selecting bodies of lines and copying and pasting are invaluable, especially for the more complicated scripts.

[wased89]

We need to be able to write text in half res in the least, my game runs decent at half res, but can barely run at all at full res, and it actually takes 2 seconds to type in one letter....

[KevinLaity]

That actually is a real big game-crasher for me. In order to get clear view i have to set to full res. But then my KSP can no longer start again because it will take over 3.6G memory during its loading phase.

I don't know why this plugin need to use textures for characters. Can't we just use a simple text area for that?

Unfortunately, Unity's built-in text controls don't give me the configurability that I need, or the look that I want.

I will be looking into this issue soon. I believe I can improve the situation by cutting the textures into smaller pieces.

[m4ti140]

Yea, because look of the font is the most important... even if it spawns more issues than it's worth.

I'm with Honey Fox on this one.

[Xav92]

I love this mod! I've been waiting for something like this forever ^^ I'm in the same boat as wased89, but I deleted all my mod (B9 ) and play it stock just for K-Os ^^

I agree that external edit is a must once we begin the large script. Another thing that would be great is a wiki, I can't understand how the steering/direction work, what the (x,x,x) are standing for, what are their limits/interval,... that sort of things

Continue the good work and the frequents update it's really great =)

[anarkhon]

Great plugin!

Suggestion:

- Flight controls are confusing (on,off,lock,unlock,toggle) ,just use booleans instead

- Font texture are really small,use at least 512x512 size texture for sharper look.

Edited August 26, 2013 by anarkhon

[titanecd]

Made my Top 3 plugins!

Will you be able to save the programs to files in the future or persistence file? To use on different ships.

Tx

[Darndello]

This is very cool. Will try out soon.

[KevinLaity]

Yea, because look of the font is the most important... even if it spawns more issues than it's worth.

I'm with Honey Fox on this one.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you missed the first part of my sentence where I mentioned the configurability I need.

[KevinLaity]

Great plugin!

Suggestion:

- Flight controls are confusing (on,off,lock,unlock,toggle) ,just use booleans instead

- Font texture are really small,use at least 512x512 size texture for sharper look.

Actually you have the option of assigning 1 to SAS like this

SET SAS to 1.

In fact, I think you can say "SET SAS to True." but I can't remember right now if I actually tested that. SAS ON is just a shortcut.

The small font texture is intentional, I'm going for a pixellated look.

And people are already having trouble in lower resolutions with the size that the textures are, I actually need to cut them into quarters to fix their issues.

[M5000]

Oh my god, I need this. This is everything Mechjeb's Autom8 did, except it looks so much better put together and simpler to use. Gorgeous. Certainly going to try this out, as flying my ship by command line sounds super fun. Good luck with this addon!

Also, I understand that this is still in early stages of development. Meh. It still looks awesome.

Also also, Payload, you're getting awfully angry at someone for developing a free piece of content for the game. This is a flight/space game, so using zero-based counting is not what's best for flight dynamics. I totally understand the use of negative angles. It's just not something that needs to be done. As for your whole rant on how his scripting language isn't "standard" or "efficient", give the guy a break. Sure, Lua is probably better written, but you have to remember that Lua has had years to develop. This is a budding new thing and it needs time to reach potential. So if he leaves out a do until or do while, big deal, I'm sure he won't leave it out forever. Remember, a lot of addons for KSP are undergoing constant change and development, so to pass judgement on this addon as if it's complete, polished, and ready for enterprise-level deployment, really isn't fair. This is someone who is working alone and unpaid in his free time to make something for everyone. Passing harsh judgement as such really discourages some developers of addons, and that's not what we want to do here. We need our addon developers, as they make the game much more attractive to a large part of the user base, so it'd be really nice if we could remain respectful here, and look at things for what they are.

Edited August 26, 2013 by M5000

[TheCardinal]

This is magnificient! I've been hoping something like this mod would be developed someday.

Two questions:

- have you considered directing/echoing "print" commands to file? (as flightlog)

- will you support reading statusses from parts (some day)?

[Payload]

Oh my god, I need this. This is everything Mechjeb's Autom8 did, except it looks so much better put together and simpler to use. Gorgeous. Certainly going to try this out, as flying my ship by command line sounds super fun. Good luck with this addon!

Also, I understand that this is still in early stages of development. Meh. It still looks awesome.

Also also, Payload, you're getting awfully angry at someone for developing a free piece of content for the game. This is a flight/space game, so using zero-based counting is not what's best for flight dynamics. I totally understand the use of negative angles. It's just not something that needs to be done. As for your whole rant on how his scripting language isn't "standard" or "efficient", give the guy a break. Sure, Lua is probably better written, but you have to remember that Lua has had years to develop. This is a budding new thing and it needs time to reach potential. So if he leaves out a do until or do while, big deal, I'm sure he won't leave it out forever. Remember, a lot of addons for KSP are undergoing constant change and development, so to pass judgement on this addon as if it's complete, polished, and ready for enterprise-level deployment, really isn't fair. This is someone who is working alone and unpaid in his free time to make something for everyone. Passing harsh judgement as such really discourages some developers of addons, and that's not what we want to do here. We need our addon developers, as they make the game much more attractive to a large part of the user base, so it'd be really nice if we could remain respectful here, and look at things for what they are.

I think maybe you were reading more into it than was there. I clearly stated that it was unqualified scrutiny for the sake of ease of use. It in no way will affect the use or performance of the software itself on any kind of level. It's just a preference. That is the problem with text. Also I don't think you read my post where I said I love this thing. About the angle preference, that is just a peeve of mine personally. FYI. I once wrote a letter to the Discovery Network asking them to at least educate their Narrators on the difference between an Internal combustion Engine and "Motor". I don't mind if the Igmos on the shows call everything a motor, but the show narrator should know the difference. Certainly for a show on the Science Channel.

In the end the same thing is happening anyway. How about being able to initialize a preference such as vector absolute. or vector relative.?

Just for clarity. My criticism wasn't anger. It's just criticism. As I said already, I enjoy this mod a lot and hope it continues to develop and become more friendly to use.

[KevinLaity]

This is magnificient! I've been hoping something like this mod would be developed someday.

Two questions:

- have you considered directing/echoing "print" commands to file? (as flightlog)

- will you support reading statusses from parts (some day)?

Logging is a maybe, I can see the usefulness.

I'd love to interact directly with parts, including statuses, fuel levels, and even issuing commands.. (automated fuel transfer! individual engine throttles!)

Unfortunately, the road block I've hit with that is that while KSP does give a unique ID to every part, that ID gets thrown away when the ship unloads, and a new random one assigned later. Which means if you write a program for your ship that addresses an individual part, that program becomes useless later.

I have some ideas on overcoming this, but not sure when I'll get to it.