[0.22+] Kerbal Local Time (Beta 1.1)

[Dexter9313]

What is it ?

Created especially for roleplay, Kerbal Local Time will give you the exact local time anywhere in the Kerbol system, so that you know when to sleep and eat, and if it is normal that snores come out of the comms from KSC. It could also be useful for unmanned rover planning so that you could be aware of the incoming night.

You probably wonder why true Kerbin seconds are different from the seconds used in mission times, don't you ? Well, as far as we know, kerbals found their seconds to pass too fast and they decided to declare a new time unit espacially for space travel. They came up with a brilliant idea : why wouldn't we say that light travels 299,792,458 meters in one time unit ? 299,792,458 was indeed a perfect number, as each digit was randomly chosen by a blind Kerbal running on a grid and picking up food on ten numbered places. One year during their early discoveries, they found by accident a parallel universe they called "EARTH", "only Explained by an Awkward Random THeory". They managed to measure time on it so when someone asked "why would you put it on the Local Time Clock ?" he was answered "why not ?".

What does it look like ?

Here you go, from Tylo : (I know I sleep late)

How do I use it ?

Simply attach the "Local Time Clock" part to your vessel (under the Utility category). You can set "Toggle display" and "Options" to Action Groups as you wish.

What the mod basically do is :

-Compute what time zone you are in.

-Compute the exact time at longitude 0 (angle with Kerbol or with the planet for Relative Time).

-Sums both

There are two types of local times :

-Local Time : time computed with Kerbol

-Relative Time : time computed with the mother-planet (It is only available on moons ! It will display the same time as Local if you are on a planet.)

As you can see on the above image :

-LOCAL is the vessel local time. Kerbol is a bit above the horizon and it says it is 7 o'clock in the morning. Kerbol will most likely rise and set around 6 AM/PM, as no body in KSP has an inclined rotation axis. The only things that could make it change are the fact that time zones make it a bit unprecise (unless you are right on the center of the time zone) and mountains that could hide Kerbol.

-REL. is the vessel relative time. Everything is exactly like LOCAL instead that it computes time based on the mother-planet of a moon if you are on one. This time can have insteresting properties, such as non-constant passing or even (like for Ike) can go forward once and backward on the other side of the orbit ! (Exercise : understand why )

-KSC is, well..., KSC local time.

-EARTH is your very own local time ! Yes, yours, you lucky !

You probably saw that time zones are displayed weirdly, actually it is very logical : "KMT" stands for "Kerbwich Mean Time", Kerbwich being a city from which kerbals decided to set longitude 0. Any other xMT means that x is the first letter of the body the vessel is set on. On the picture you can see "TMT" that stands for "Tylo Mean Time". Longitudes for each other body than Kerbin were decided quite randomly so kerbals didn't pick a name for each first meridian.

Regarding options, they are pretty self explanatory. For those who prefer text over my "made-with-love" images to display time, they can switch this type of display on and off. Any specific time is togglable, and you can set the format. I just really didn't see a need for you to display EARTH time zone

If you are the kind of person who likes to do useless things, you can use several clocks on the same vessel, several windows will then appear.

Just one last thing : if a window loads up with a bad sizing (which should only happen rarely), just change an option and change it back, windows sizes are computed when options change.

What changed recently ?

Changelog :

Beta 1.1 :

Fixes :

-Fixed the letter "T" display

-Removed an old part.cfg entry

Features :

-New 3D model, thanks to CoriW !

Are there planned features ?

Not really. I think the mod is pretty much finished, it just needs deep testing. If you come up with ideas, just tell me ! I would maybe expect some type of calandar, but I don't really know how it would behave for now.

Are there known bugs ?

Only one, but it needs to be documented. I think that using HyperEdit may sometimes cause the planets rotation values to be false, so, as I rely on them, times begin to be false. I have no fix planned for now.

Another small I just saw is that there are three kinds of "T"s on the display, will you spot them ? Will be fixed with v1.1 .

You lied ! I found one more !

So come tell me on the GitHub bugtracker please !

GitHub Bugtracker

Where can i find it ?

For now, I can't register on the SpacePort, so I used Mediafire. Whenever I can register on SpacePort, I will upload the file on it.

DOWNLOAD LINK

Sources

How do I install it ?

Simply unzip the downloaded file and drop it in the GameData folder inside your KSP main folder.

Are the sources licensed in any way ?

As you should have seen on GitHub, the code is under GPLv3.

Speaking of sources, they are awful...

I hope they are not that bad but yes... I just learned C# (I mastered C++ though so there should only be a very few bad things as they are close languages). Feel free to improve and pull on git !

They will get comments very soon, don't worry ! I just thought I could release the mod before finishing commenting the code.

And speaking of speaking, I don't want to be that guy, but there are english mistakes in this post.

French is my mother language so please be kind and let me now, I'll edit.

Anything left ?

I hope you'll enjoy my small contribution to KSP modding and that you will have as much fun as I did making it, see you among the planets ! And right on time !

Edited November 23, 2013 by Dexter9313
1.1

[MedievalNerd]

Oh that's very cool idea!

Can't wait to try this out.

[nothke]

Great idea! =)

[therealcrow999]

The download link is set to download from owner only.

[CalculusWarrior]

I'd love if this was a pure plugin which didn't require a part to be placed. Maybe take a look at Kerbal Alarm Clock and see if you can figure out how to do that?

[wasmic]

This could be useful, especially for AAR's and other fics.

Oh, and about the sun always setting and rising at 6am/pm, most planets (every planet but Kerbin) actually do have seasons - while they are not inclined relative to Kerbol North, they are inclined relative to their orbital plane. Land on Moho's north pole and see for yourself

[CoriW]

Hey Dexter9313, based on your little FAQ..

Wait a second, isn't it an RCS thruster ?

Well... Yes. But I have no idea how to do a 3D model, so... For now I am just waiting for a kind person who could do one for me, please.

I've gone ahead and made a little clock part you can use for your mod, I'll PM you about it.

P.S ~ Your download link is set to private.

[Dexter9313]

The download link should be fixed ! I'm sorry, this was the first time I used MediaFire.

I'd love if this was a pure plugin which didn't require a part to be placed. Maybe take a look at Kerbal Alarm Clock and see if you can figure out how to do that?

I think I already know how to. I thought it would be better to actually add the clock to get time. KAC is more general and "inter-vessels". Anyway I will try to do this for people who like part-free plugins.

Oh, and about the sun always setting and rising at 6am/pm, most planets (every planet but Kerbin) actually do have seasons - while they are not inclined relative to Kerbol North, they are inclined relative to their orbital plane. Land on Moho's north pole and see for yourself

I thought every body had a null axis inclination towards its orbital plan, I'll check this !

I've gone ahead and made a little clock part you can use for your mod, I'll PM you about it.

Well I couldn't imagine somebody would tell me this not even 24 hours after the release.

[therealcrow999]

Yeah this is pretty useful. The main reason I use KAC is to have a way to check time, lol. I don't use alarm features never needed to.

[Dexter9313]

Well, at least I'm glad some persons find it useful I thought it would only be for fun !

[therealcrow999]

I think I am going to wait until its update with the new part someone sent you.

Or I will add code to some part I always have on my ship.

Edited November 22, 2013 by therealcrow999

[therealcrow999]

Is this code to add clock to a part?

MODULE

{

name = TestModule

}

I think I am going to wait until its update with the new part someone sent you.

Or I will add code to some part I always have on my ship.

[Dexter9313]

Is this code to add clock to a part?

MODULE

{

name = TestModule

}

Actually this portion of the cfg file shouldn't appear as TestModule was a module I wrote for training... I should delete this soon. There is no current way to add the clock functionality to an existing part as I didn't program a module but a part... Don't worry though, the new part graphics should be available in one or two days at most !

[therealcrow999]

Kool thanks!

Actually this portion of the cfg file shouldn't appear as TestModule was a module I wrote for training... I should delete this soon. There is no current way to add the clock functionality to an existing part as I didn't program a module but a part... Don't worry though, the new part graphics should be available in one or two days at most !

[123nick]

you should use the bargain rocketry clock as your part module

[MaxP]

deleted due to reading last page ))

I like it, but I think you need to make the display smaller.

Edited November 23, 2013 by MaxP

[Tw1]

Looks interesting.

I have a possible idea for you :

I like to think if the Kerbals as thinking of 24 hours as one day, and they get many sunsets and sunrises within that day.

Perhaps another option could have the clock showing 6am at the first sunrise, but only 9am by the first sunset, etc.

Though this would mess up the concept that a body's day is equal to it's sidereal period.

Perhaps an option could be to set a local clock that only has as many hours as that body's sidereal period has. 00:00 would be when that part of it is pointing away from Kerbol.

Also, is that a 24 hour option I see in the photo?

The rotation period clock wouldn't be as tidy on bodies that don't rotate in exact amounts of hours. They'd end at funny times, sunrise and sunset would also be at odd times. Perhaps displaying time as a percentage could be useful. Maybe it would be more useful to define 00:00 as sunrise or sunset.

Perhaps another practical tool could be having that run in reverse, giving you time until the next sunrise/sunset.

That's a huge heap of ideas there, please don't feel under any obligation to attempt any of them if you don't want to. It's your plugin, after all.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Tw1

[Dexter9313]

Here you go ladies and gents, version 1.1 released with a wonderful 3D model made by CoriW !

I am a bit short on time right now Tw1 but I will answer to your requests as soon as possible, meaning less than 24 hours, I promise.

[Dexter9313]

Actually Tw1, you already have the true mission time for what you ask... Go to the Tracking Station et check at the top left corner. Of course I could add this in my clock (which is already crowded but anyway, I could). And the 24 hours option you see in the photo is only for display (if you want hours to be displayed on a 12 hours basis (+AM/PM) or 24 hours).

[therealcrow999]

So this mod uses a different type of time as seen in picture form KAC and Procession Node time? What basis of time are they using? Is that based on more our time, earth time? And you mod is based on more realistic Kerbal time?

[Roxette]

My 2c worth... All these clock mods currently available are ass-backwards. What we need is an Android app that shows Kerbal/game time on a portable device with settable alarms so maneuver nodes are not missed while away from the machine.

[Dexter9313]

So this mod uses a different type of time as seen in picture form KAC and Procession Node time? What basis of time are they using? Is that based on more our time, earth time? And you mod is based on more realistic Kerbal time?

*pic*

Actually what KAC and Procession Node are showing is the time from UT0 in relation to Earth. (Meaning 1 second = 1 true second). The time I compute is different for each planet and is based on the angle of the planet towards Kerbol (the sun). If you are on the opposite of the planet from the sun, then it's midnight. So it's the "realistic Kerbin time" as you would say. It's the time Kerbals would use if they defined the second like we did first (dividing the day by 24 then by 60 then by 60).

And Roxette, actually Kerbal Alarm Clock already does this (beside Android... but it's not needed I think).

Edited November 24, 2013 by Dexter9313

[Roxette]

Kerbal Alarm Clock is great, but I can't hear it when I'm out in the yard

[therealcrow999]

I think it would be cool to have two other color options of green and blue to choose from. Like they say, variety is the spice of life.

[Dexter9313]

I should consider doing that, yes !