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[1.0.4] Smart Parts v1.6.6 | DDS Textures and Bug Fixes | July 5


Firov

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I suspected someone would ask this. One, because I never trust things to work properly (nor do I trust myself to set the parts correctly pre-launch). Two, because I want the deploy and retract altitudes to be different (ie, I want the logic to be fuzzy).

Neither of these are really adequate to justify my original request, but I figured I'd ask anyway.

Hey technogeeky. Dtobi and I had a discussion about this when I first created the new altimeter logic. I considered adding an option to do ascent only, and really, the only reason I didn't is because it's going to be a bugbear to get the GUI to work properly with the three way toggle. That, combined with the lack of good use case scenarios is the reason that feature was originally dropped.

I'll see if I can't upgrade the altimeter to support it though, since it's now been requested. I'm just going to need to figure out an elegant way of doing it, since I don't necessarily like the idea of a 3 way toggle, which isn't at all intuitive to the end user...

Hmm. Actually, I just had an idea on that. I'll need to do some tests but I think I can make it so we can have our cake and eat it too. I'll just split out the "Both" mode into a separate "bidirectional/unidirectional" toggle button that hides the direction buttons when it's in bidirectional mode. It's going to add another button, but it's the best way to do it, I think.

Anyway. Yeah. I'll work on this. (Along with the gear thing, which I haven't forgotten about. :D)

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Having an issue with the Fuel sensor and action group trigger I use it on my shuttle to eject the main tank cut the main engines and fire up the maneuvering engines this doesnt seem to work in 23.5 anymore is anyone else having this problem

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Having an issue with the Fuel sensor and action group trigger I use it on my shuttle to eject the main tank cut the main engines and fire up the maneuvering engines this doesnt seem to work in 23.5 anymore is anyone else having this problem

I think there has been some changes to the options in some parts (i mostly use the altitude sensor) so you might want to check your settings for your main engine cut off.

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Would it be possible to bind the action group triggers to certain actions of individual parts or symetrical sets of parts instead of action groups? I'm asking because I'm running out of action groups and the Action Groups Extended mod didn't work out so well for me when I tried it.

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Would it be possible to bind the action group triggers to certain actions of individual parts or symetrical sets of parts instead of action groups? I'm asking because I'm running out of action groups and the Action Groups Extended mod didn't work out so well for me when I tried it.

I'd like to second this request. I too have problems with running out of actiongroups.

I would be perfect if there were a way to integrate, or at least support, some of the mods that are adding additional action groups. Thereby you could give us the possibility to create a kind of a smart rocket instead of only a few smart parts and actions.

dumbel

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Hi, some very kind person told me how to make a custom action group trigger, and i love this mod, but i just cant figure out how to get these bits to trigger, any help for this fool would be greatly appreciated.

many thanks

sam

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Right click in the VAB or SPH, then use the tweakable slider to set what action group you want it to trigger. Other settings include time delays, altitude triggers, and if you want the altitude-driven part to reset and whether to trigger on descent only, or on ascent as well (the latter is good for jettisoning your fairings at the same height each time, the former is good for landing gear actuation just before landing and for cutting away your skycranes.)

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Hey Dtobi and Firov.

I recently switched to Real Solar System and I was wondering if it would be possible to extend the capacity of the altimeter? 100 Km is now just above the half of the atmosphere. 200 Km would be very nice. What do you guys think about that?

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Suggestions:

1. Use textbox instead of slider (Like Mechjeb, RealChute, Hyperedit, etc). Slider is TOO restrictive. It's impossible now to set altitude-driven automation for 200m, 500m, 140km, 2000km or timer for several kerbal days...

2. Touchdown sensor to deploy fragile antennas and solar panels after landing. (Look at RealChute Drag chutes code).

3. ElectricCharge sensor to automatically turn off consumers when going out of charge.

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Love these bits, is this mod still being actively developed or is it "done" and just in a maintenance phase?

I've been a bit busy for the last few months settling into a new job, fending off assassination attempts, plotting world domination... the usual stuff. However, I've got some free time now and so Smart Parts is back in active development.

The biggest change is going to be how the tweakables are handled. I'm implementing Swamp_IG's excellent KSPAPIExtension which will allow more granularity and control of the tweakables. This is the same API used in mods like Procedural Fairings and Procedural Parts. Good stuff. Still no text fields, I'm afraid, Dr. Jet, but that's not going to happen without writing my own GUI from the ground up, which I'd rather avoid for such a simple little utility mod.

Also, as a direct result of this change I've got the opportunity to implement a few requested items, including the ability to trigger the altimeter only on ascent.

For the most part, there aren't a lot of shiny new features, since it's really just an API addition, GUI tuning, and bug fixing but down the road I'm expecting that KSPAPI is going to open up several new opportunities. Also, I like the idea of a touchdown sensor, and it wouldn't be hard to implement since KSP has a vessel state for landed craft. I'll likely investigate ways to integrate that into the existing altimeter, though that may not make it into the next release.

Edited by Firov
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Excellent. Well in that case I do have a couple three requests. First off +1 on the touchdown sensor, would also like to see a trigger on the empty tank sensor to activate at xx% instead of only at empty. Triggers based on speed (like to deploy chutes when subsonic) and acceleration (shut down engines ala Saturn V & early Falcon 9) would round out the package I think.

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Can you triigger fuel capacity as in a percentage for a stage as with contracts coming if you can trigger a fuel shut off and decouple that will allow you to land a stage and get more cash

Quick update. This is going to be in the next update. I've already got it working, but I want to rewrite some of the logic of the automatic stager to streamline things and make it a bit more accurate. Maybe make it so you can select the monitored resource as well. We'll see.

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Still no text fields, I'm afraid, Dr. Jet, but that's not going to happen without writing my own GUI from the ground up, which I'd rather avoid for such a simple little utility mod.

You actually don't have to. That's what GitHub and GPL license are about - free sources. You may just snatch the pieces of code you need. :wink:

On the other hand... KAE support will do almost the same if you set limits wide enough.

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You actually don't have to. That's what GitHub and GPL license are about - free sources. You may just snatch the pieces of code you need. :wink:

On the other hand... KAE support will do almost the same if you set limits wide enough.

Theoretically true, but sadly, as always, licensing gets in the way. :(

I'm not a lawyer, and I'll jump in front of a train on the day I decide to become one, but as far as I can tell our license is incompatible with real chutes, hyper edit, and a number of other mods. So we would reach an impasse there if I directly ripped out code from those mods. Don't worry though, KSPAPIExtension has given me just the opportunity I needed to expand options for the timer and altimeter without sacrificing usability. The timer now supports one Kerbin day (6 hours), and I could easily increase it even further if there's demand, same for the altimeter, which now supports altitudes of up to 500km.

On a related note, I finally took the time to look up our own license and what it meant. I see it prevents derivatives. I assume this would prevent other modders from pulling code Smart Parts and integrating it into their own mod? If so then I'll see what I can do about switching it to something a bit more supportive of the community. I don't have unilateral control of the licensing, but I'm sure we can work something out.

Edited by Firov
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Few more ideas for sensors:

- very basic staging sensor - just a simple stageable part, which fires a preset AG when activated by staging (for example - to automatically activate RCS on last stage).

- velocity sensor - deploy parachute or drop heatshield when vessel speed drops below limit / deploy airbrakes when vessel speed goes over limit.

- part temperature sensor - cut drogue parachute or emergency turn off engine when it dangerously overheats (Deadly Reentry mod). Maybe in two variants: part_attached_to and hottest_part_of_the_vessel.

- acceleration sensor - activate LES or cut parachute when your crew is gonna be killed by tons of G (Deadly Reentry mod).

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