[1.0.4] ScienceAlert 1.8.9: Experiment availability feedback (July 13)

[Eddlm]

Yep, I brought every science experiment I could with me.

Is there any way to avoid this? I would like to fill the Science Archives with science, not ghostly experiments

I guess the experiments will be replaces with the real ones when I perform them, but I would prefer the science archives empty until then.

[Wisq]

Ugh. Either CKAN is installing the wrong version of ScienceAlert (it says 1.8.4), or the ExtraPlanetaryLaunchpads bug is back.

[LOG 21:39:23.920] <name of ship> loaded!
[LOG 21:39:23.921] []: Ready to Launch - waiting to start physics...
[EXC 21:39:23.922] NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
        ScienceAlert.ScienceAlertProfileManager.OnVesselCreate (.Vessel newVessel)
        EventData`1[Vessel].Fire (.Vessel data)
        Vessel.Initialize (Boolean fromShipAssembly)
        ExLP.ExBuildControl.getBuildCost (.ConfigNode craft)
        ExLP.ExBuildControl.LoadCraft (System.String filename, System.String flagname)
        ExLP.ExBuildWindow.craftSelectComplete (System.String filename, System.String flagname)
        CraftBrowser.drawList (Int32 id)
        UnityEngine.GUI.CallWindowDelegate (UnityEngine.WindowFunction func, Int32 id, UnityEngine.GUISkin _skin, Int32 forceRect, Single width, Single height, UnityEngine.GUIStyle style)

This is using the Orbital Shipyard provided by MKS, which uses the ExtraPlanetaryLaunchpads code to spawn ships.

I'm going to try again with ScienceAlert uninstalled (via CKAN), and then try manually downloading and installing 1.8.4 and see if it still happens.

Edit: Works fine with it uninstalled, which at least rules out the possibility that I had an old version installed in a non-CKAN-managed way.

Edited January 21, 2015 by Wisq

[xEvilReeperx]

Ugh. Either CKAN is installing the wrong version of ScienceAlert (it says 1.8.4), or the ExtraPlanetaryLaunchpads bug is back.

Gah! I'm going to rewrite it this weekend to be much sturdier. It's caused too many problems. Thanks for the report

[rynak]

Minor feature proposal:

I use ScienceAlert mostly as replacement for ScienceMonitor... so, i keep the window with the list of available experiments open, and don't use the alarm feature.

When no experiments are available, please make the printout in red or another color very different to green. This would help in noticing when an experiment pops up.

And a minor (but important for contracts) bug report:

Setting the threshold to 0 does not work properly - it still will filter experiments out that yield no science. Why would one set it to zero? Well, for example when doing contracts... its easier to launch an experiment from the ScienceAlert window, than zooming around the craft to highlight the part, right click it, then find the right button and.... you get the picture

EDIT: Another small improvement: An option to ignore EVA while in the atmosphere and not landed/splashed.

Edited January 22, 2015 by rynak

[UnanimousCoward]

Hi

First thing: I've always considered this an essential mod - wouldn't play without it.

I'm currently going slowly and steadily through a reinstall, trying to avoid the crash-happy mess I previously had. I noticed from the logs that Science Alert will throw an exception when you leave the flight scene if you're playing in sandbox mode:

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  at ScienceAlert.ScienceAlert.OnDestroy () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

This is with 32-bit KSP 0.90 and Science Alert 1.8.4. I'm guessing it's trying to destroy the AppLauncher button, which doesn't exist in sandbox. I also guess it's not a significant error and doesn't affect the game, but I thought I'd mention it.

Complete logs are here if needed:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a2t64elh0so2vjz/AAAH0jUHx-ERKWZpw40CfN_0a?dl=0

[ThirdOfSeven]

Is it known to be this way:

I got a USI PackRat rover with external seats, go on EVA from vessel, sit on rover, arrived to new place for EVA report. Science Alert shows "EVA Report" is available. I click on it. Immediately my kerbal appears to be leaving the vessel for EVA. At the same time another copy of same kerbal sits on rover. I even can come back and take another copy of this kerbal to another seat, like it is other kerbal and so on (tried up to three). This can't happen when I right-click kerbal for EVA report, obviously.

I think it will happen with any external seat which is not means for kerbal to be inside a vessel. It looks like mod assume kerbal is not on EVA and sends some message to go to EVA from vessel and it happens, even if kerbal is not in this vessel.

Edited February 10, 2015 by ThirdOfSeven

[ctbram]

Can someone please explain what "globally on" and "globally off" do global warp settings? Each experiment has a stop on warp option so it's confusing to me what this switch does? By default each experiments "stop warp on discovery" is unselected so what does the global warp setting do?

Sorry it's probably obvious but I am not understanding what this switch does and randomly picking the three options is not helping me to figure it out. Can someone please explain what the three option of this switch does.

[BaseDrifter]

Globally off means time warp won't stop for any science alert. Globally on means it will stop for all science alerts.

[Wisq]

Gah! I'm going to rewrite it this weekend to be much sturdier. It's caused too many problems. Thanks for the report

FYI, I just tested with 1.8.4 installed manually, and EPL seemed to work okay. It's been a while since that one where I reported it broken, so maybe something else has changed, or maybe the CKAN version is borked somehow, or maybe I ended up with bad state data somehow.

I'm going to nuke my manually-installed one, bring back the CKAN 1.8.4, and wait to see if the problem comes back.

Edit: Uhhh, and lol, I just used the "EVA report" button while in a rover, and it cloned my Kerbal. He appeared back at the ship airlock, not the rover, and when I got back to the rover, his double is still sitting there in the seat.

Edited February 13, 2015 by Wisq

[akuthia]

hey reeper, I'd like to point you to https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/2xahbe/ksp_has_become_really_unstable_for_me_help_me/ for some help. I am addicted to science alert (such a pain now, early game, trying to zip around kerbin collecting science!) but, i had to uninstall, as it seemed like the most likely canidate to be giving me the problems, and since uninstalling it, I've been crash free. Can you take a look at the logs, and see if they are infact involving SA? Thanks!

[xEvilReeperx]

but, i had to uninstall, as it seemed like the most likely canidate to be giving me the problems, and since uninstalling it, I've been crash free. Can you take a look at the logs, and see if they are infact involving SA?

Is there anything specific you do that causes the crash? The log you posted seems to have crashed before even hitting the main menu. ScienceAlert doesn't run any code in any scene besides flight.

According to your stack trace, this crash came from outside the KSP assembly:

[B](0x6DAB6561) (gameoverlayrenderer): (filename not available): OverlayHookD3D3 + 0x4bb1
(0x6579D70C) (GraphicsCaptureHook): (filename not available): (function-name not available) + 0x0[/B]
(0x012CE631) (KSP): (filename not available): AnimationEvent::Transfer<StreamedBinaryRead<1> > + 0xa98c1
(0x00F122AE) (KSP): (filename not available): NamedObject::Transfer<RemapPPtrTransfer> + 0x1ed1e
(0x010CDE94) (KSP): (filename not available): Behaviour::Transfer<StreamedBinaryWrite<0> > + 0x102a74
[snip...]

Based on some of the other information* contained in the dump, it looks like some kind of bug or issue with OBS + Steam overlay. Does the game stop crashing completely with ScienceAlert uninstalled, or is it just less often? Can you do anything to trigger it? Are you streaming when it happens?

*

C:\Program Files\OBS\plugins\GraphicsCapture\GraphicsCaptureHook.dll
Image Base: 0x65790000 Image Size: 0x00055000
File Size: 321024 File Time: 2015-01-31_173010
Version:
Company:
Product: Open Broadcaster Software Game Capture Hook
FileDesc: Open Broadcaster Software Game Capture Hook
FileVer: 0.6.3.0
ProdVer: 0.6.3.0

Module 13
D:\Steam\gameoverlayrenderer.dll
Image Base: 0x6da50000 Image Size: 0x0014f000
File Size: 1265856 File Time: 2015-02-18_185116
Version:
Company: Valve Corporation
Product: Steam Game Overlay Renderer
FileDesc: Steam Game Overlay Renderer
FileVer: 2.63.41.43
ProdVer: 1.0.0.1

Module 9

[akuthia]

Is there anything specific you do that causes the crash? The log you posted seems to have crashed before even hitting the main menu. ScienceAlert doesn't run any code in any scene besides flight.

According to your stack trace, this crash came from outside the KSP assembly:

[B](0x6DAB6561) (gameoverlayrenderer): (filename not available): OverlayHookD3D3 + 0x4bb1
(0x6579D70C) (GraphicsCaptureHook): (filename not available): (function-name not available) + 0x0[/B]
(0x012CE631) (KSP): (filename not available): AnimationEvent::Transfer<StreamedBinaryRead<1> > + 0xa98c1
(0x00F122AE) (KSP): (filename not available): NamedObject::Transfer<RemapPPtrTransfer> + 0x1ed1e
(0x010CDE94) (KSP): (filename not available): Behaviour::Transfer<StreamedBinaryWrite<0> > + 0x102a74
[snip...]

Based on some of the other information* contained in the dump, it looks like some kind of bug or issue with OBS + Steam overlay. Does the game stop crashing completely with ScienceAlert uninstalled, or is it just less often? Can you do anything to trigger it? Are you streaming when it happens?

*

C:\Program Files\OBS\plugins\GraphicsCapture\GraphicsCaptureHook.dll
Image Base: 0x65790000 Image Size: 0x00055000
File Size: 321024 File Time: 2015-01-31_173010
Version:
Company:
Product: Open Broadcaster Software Game Capture Hook
FileDesc: Open Broadcaster Software Game Capture Hook
FileVer: 0.6.3.0
ProdVer: 0.6.3.0

Module 13
D:\Steam\gameoverlayrenderer.dll
Image Base: 0x6da50000 Image Size: 0x0014f000
File Size: 1265856 File Time: 2015-02-18_185116
Version:
Company: Valve Corporation
Product: Steam Game Overlay Renderer
FileDesc: Steam Game Overlay Renderer
FileVer: 2.63.41.43
ProdVer: 1.0.0.1

Module 9

Since uninstalling science alert (earlier today), it has not crashed. HOWEVER, OBS is actually not running at the moment either. I'd say that while i may not have had OBS streaming at the time of crashes, it was likely open at the time. Crashes were occurring anywhere between immediately on launching the game (while loading resources), to getting into the menu, to some random point during game play, but early enough and frequently enough to make me stop playing.

ETA: It appears you might be on to something, as soon as I went to record in OBS, the game crashed! I can have science alert back!

Edited February 28, 2015 by akuthia

[allmhuran]

Warp is not being disabled when new experiments are available. This seems to be a new issue, I've used the mod previously and that function has worked. I have had a few minor issues with "stock bug fixes" as well, though, so it might be my installation.

[xEvilReeperx]

Is "global warp" set to off? Anything suspicious in the log?

[damerell]

I've got an interesting problem, which was entirely cured by removing ScienceAlert (and only that) from my set of installed mods, which is rather annoying given its considerable utility.

Sometimes when I load a scene with more than one vessel in, or sometimes when a vessel is split in two (undocking, decoupler, etc), or sometimes when a second vessel enters physics range, and (as far as I can tell) every time when a vessel is split in two and the other part of it is then destroyed inside physics range (eg, decoupling a part which then splashes down hard), the frame rate drops to about 5fps regardless of the frame rate beforehand (which is sometimes quite respectable), and the UI is very unresponsive. Switching to another vessel in physics range, or EVAing a kerbal, usually cures the problem immediately.

On the face of it this seems to have nothing to do with ScienceAlert, but that removing it cures the problem is suggestive.

I'll happily supply KSP.log, try in a stock+ScienceAlert game, give a list of installed mods, etc - whatever you need.

[xEvilReeperx]

output_log would be handy. Most likely there's a bug that prevents ScienceAlert from handling whatever the event is properly, causing an exception storm which kills performance. output_log.txt will contain a stacktrace that will more or less pinpoint the error for me so if you could reproduce the problem and post the log (or the section of it mentioning an exception with ScienceAlert in there somewhere) that'd be great

[damerell]

It'll have to be later than right now, but I'll do so. If I can reproduce the problem in stock+ScienceAlert, I'll produce logs from that. Thanks.

[damerell]

It'll have to be later than right now, but I'll do so. If I can reproduce the problem in stock+ScienceAlert, I'll produce logs from that. Thanks.

Not only can't I reproduce it in stock+ScienceAlert, I can't even reproduce it in my own game - under exactly the circumstances that reliably provoked it beforehand. Gah!

If it happens again I'll squirrel away a complete copy of the KSP directory so as to be sure of being able to supply any information that will help. Sorry.

[Superfluous J]

Setting the threshold to 0 does not work properly - it still will filter experiments out that yield no science. Why would one set it to zero? Well, for example when doing contracts... its easier to launch an experiment from the ScienceAlert window, than zooming around the craft to highlight the part, right click it, then find the right button and.... you get the picture

I'm not sure I'd call this a bug, but xEvilReeperx would you consider a more integrated support for contracts? I'm imagining simply the ability to click-run a science experiment if you're in the zone for a contract that uses that experiment. Ideally, only if you're in EXACTLY the correct place (aka flying under 3000 meters while in the zone if that's what the contract says) but simply being able to click-run the experiment instead of the old fashioned way of clicking the experiment itself, would be a huge boon and would take the tiny bit of drudgery from the survey contracts that are among my favorites.

[xEvilReeperx]

That sounds like a great idea to me. I'll look into it

[damerell]

I just hit it again, when a ship came within 2.2km of a station. (Not overall part count; switching vessels immediately improved matters).

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~damerell/temp/ksp/ has KSP.log and output_log.txt - anything else you would like?

[Vorg]

I'm giving this mod a try and with a plane in flight, it flashed. I clicked, got a popup about doing an EVA but not in a safe place since I was only a few k off the ground. Now while debating on deorbiting a boched craft or sending it on a training round, I get the flash again. It has a button saying EVA report (this was while I was in the map view). Was promptly switched to a kerbal now outside the ship. After some expermenting, I found it is EVAing an engineer instead of the scientist. Shouldn't the Scientist be the one to EVA to get bonus point?

Also, on a side note, I'm noticing some kerbals, other then Jeb, when EVA'd ether by the mod or manually (and I saw this before I put the mod in also), don't appear on the latter. Instead it's as if they where tossed out of the ship and they go flying, sometimes to the side and sometimes fast falling behind as if wind ripped them off (while in a 100km+ orbit).

[futrtrubl]

I'm giving this mod a try and with a plane in flight, it flashed. I clicked, got a popup about doing an EVA but not in a safe place since I was only a few k off the ground. Now while debating on deorbiting a boched craft or sending it on a training round, I get the flash again. It has a button saying EVA report (this was while I was in the map view). Was promptly switched to a kerbal now outside the ship. After some expermenting, I found it is EVAing an engineer instead of the scientist. Shouldn't the Scientist be the one to EVA to get bonus point?

Also, on a side note, I'm noticing some kerbals, other then Jeb, when EVA'd ether by the mod or manually (and I saw this before I put the mod in also), don't appear on the latter. Instead it's as if they where tossed out of the ship and they go flying, sometimes to the side and sometimes fast falling behind as if wind ripped them off (while in a 100km+ orbit).

As far as I can tell (from the wiki) the Scientist increases the science value of returned science. So I don't think it matters who takes the report as long as the scientist is on the ship when it is recovered. That sounds exploitable.

The Kerbal flying off ladders thing is a stock bug. Check the top stickied post in this forum, the stock fix one. It has a mod that should lessen the problem if not fix it.

[amorymeltzer]

Yep, I brought every science experiment I could with me.

Is there any way to avoid this? I would like to fill the Science Archives with science, not ghostly experiments

I guess the experiments will be replaces with the real ones when I perform them, but I would prefer the science archives empty until then.

Any news on this? I've had the same behavior since forever, but I also recently noticed some FlyingHigh, FlyingLow, and Splashed empty science expts for the Mun. I think there's a small chance it's interacting with another mod (SCANsat? Overlay?) but testing is a pain...

[Guest]

I think, I have an idea of feature for this great mod:

A small flag on mod's main window title.

Green: There is some science data left um-retrieved in some of the instruments.

Yellow: Same as above, and there is no more free instruments of it's kind on the ship.

Red: Same as above, and there is new science ready to be collected with respect to current mod settings.

Invisible: Nothing of above.

Flag have a tooltip, listing all instrument's affected, and their parent part, for easy recognition.

Flag may be even clickable: Appears same window as tooltip, but science parts with data can be highlighted. But may be this feature looks a bit too complicated.