KerbalX.com - Craft & Mission Sharing

[Captain Sierra]

Mediafire maybe. I still know some mods that use that as a backup. Google drive was once popular but I havent seen any usage of it lately.

Also, a minor issue:

The craft scanner does not detect StockDragFix, which isnt actually a bug since that mod doesnt change the part cfgs at all (even via MM). THe problem is that using my planes without it sometimes results in an inability to take off. Is there a way to force tell the database that craft X needs mod Y in order to function properly, but not to be loaded in editor?

[hakan]

Main thing is that you can now suggest download links for mods.

Do you think you could recognize whether a mod is already on CKAN and display an appropriate icon? Like kerbalstuff already does?

[katateochi]

Mediafire maybe. I still know some mods that use that as a backup. Google drive was once popular but I havent seen any usage of it lately.

Also, a minor issue:

The craft scanner does not detect StockDragFix, which isnt actually a bug since that mod doesnt change the part cfgs at all (even via MM). THe problem is that using my planes without it sometimes results in an inability to take off. Is there a way to force tell the database that craft X needs mod Y in order to function properly, but not to be loaded in editor?

Ah yes, mediafire. Nice 1, I've added it to the white list. Thanks!

Re StockDragFix and setting a forced mod onto a craft. In the initial design of KX this wasn't possible, but I redesigned how mods are associated with craft so now it is possible (to deal with other partless mods like tweakscale). The problem with this mod is that it won't be detected by the part mapper so it's not in the database. I really don't want to add a way to add mods manually via the site, because otherwise someone might just add a mod like that rather than running the part mapper and that doesn't help improve the knowledge base for everyone else.

I need to make the part mapper include plugin only mods too so they get added to the knowledge base and then add an interface so you can select them and add them to the craft. I shall do that but prob won't be until after the new year.

Do you think you could recognize whether a mod is already on CKAN and display an appropriate icon? Like kerbalstuff already does?

I'd not heard of CKAN before!! That's really cool. Yes I'm sure that its possible to add that in. I've had a quick look at the docs but I couldn't see any info about an API that would enable KerbalX to talk to CKAN, but I'm sure it must be there if KerbalStuff is doing it. (do you know of any API docs?)

The one problem I think I will run into is the same problem I've run into with interfacing with KerbalStuff. I'm working on a bit to allow KerbalX to search KerbalStuff to find mods and automatically get the download links. It works great for a lot of the mods but there are some where there is a naming problem. If the mod folder name is the same as the mod name, then everything works great. But some mods have different names to their folder name and then it's not always possible to find a match on KerbalStuff. That same problem might arise when trying to interface with CKAN.

KerbalX knows mods by the name of their install folder, some mods now have extra info with them but a lot don't. I've not added support for the .version files yet but that is coming so that will help with getting their alternate name.

So simple answer is Yes it's very doable, but may not be 100% reliable at finding a mod on CKAN.

Anyway thanks for this, food for thought here. CKAN might be another way for KerbalX to automatically find download links.

[hakan]

I'd not heard of CKAN before!! That's really cool. Yes I'm sure that its possible to add that in. I've had a quick look at the docs but I couldn't see any info about an API that would enable KerbalX to talk to CKAN, but I'm sure it must be there if KerbalStuff is doing it. (do you know of any API docs?)

http://api.ksp-ckan.org/ and then you can go through the JSON file you get from there. Every mod and version has its own subpage as well, like http://api.ksp-ckan.org/MechJeb2/2.4.1

The one problem I think I will run into is the same problem I've run into with interfacing with KerbalStuff. I'm working on a bit to allow KerbalX to search KerbalStuff to find mods and automatically get the download links. It works great for a lot of the mods but there are some where there is a naming problem. If the mod folder name is the same as the mod name, then everything works great. But some mods have different names to their folder name and then it's not always possible to find a match on KerbalStuff. That same problem might arise when trying to interface with CKAN.

Actually, I think a best effort guess might already be enough. you might want to create a lookup table with folder name and mod name columns in it, and put any exceptions in there if the first guess proves wrong.

[katateochi]

http://api.ksp-ckan.org/ and then you can go through the JSON file you get from there. Every mod and version has its own subpage as well, like http://api.ksp-ckan.org/MechJeb2/2.4.1

Actually, I think a best effort guess might already be enough. you might want to create a lookup table with folder name and mod name columns in it, and put any exceptions in there if the first guess proves wrong.

nice 1 hakan, thanks. Yeah with that it's very doable. I shall add that in. Do you know if CKAN has a logo? Or should I just use a marker like Kerbal Stuff uses.

Yeah best guess it will be. I'm going to add in an alternate name attribute for mods too which will help with that. I could manually set it but I want to see if that info can be automatically extracted from .version files. Next version of the PartMapper will include support for them and plugin only mods like the one Captain Sierra mentioned.

[hakan]

We have the badge at github issue #526 (which reminds me, I wanted to export that and add it as an icon to the main site), and the icons at https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN/tree/master/CKAN/assets

By the way, is the KerbalX site itself on github? I had a few ideas here and there and would love to send pull requests if I would ever get around to implement something...

[BudgetHedgehog]

Sorry I didn't update sooner, I didn't have anything worthwhile to say or upload Anyway, I just uploaded a new craft to the site, no problems at all, very smooth going. Liking it a lot. Only thing is I can't Dismiss the notifications again (still Chrome). IE works fine though.

[tetryds]

It's amazing to see the progress of the site.

Lots of crafts in there

Sorry for not helping as much as promissed, but I really can't right now.

Btw, you could add a custom thumbnail to the site, so it looks better on the bookmarks

[katateochi]

Sorry for the really long delay in replying guys, I was away for a while over new years and then it's been icky getting back into work!

We have the badge at github issue #526 (which reminds me, I wanted to export that and add it as an icon to the main site), and the icons at https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN/tree/master/CKAN/assets

By the way, is the KerbalX site itself on github? I had a few ideas here and there and would love to send pull requests if I would ever get around to implement something...

nice 1 hakan! I've had a few other things I've been working on in the last few days, I'll add this in soon.

The site code isn't on github (the PartMapper code is), but if you wanted to I could add you as a collaborator on Heroku. Lets talk, I'll pm you.

Sorry I didn't update sooner, I didn't have anything worthwhile to say or upload Anyway, I just uploaded a new craft to the site, no problems at all, very smooth going. Liking it a lot. Only thing is I can't Dismiss the notifications again (still Chrome). IE works fine though.

Hey man, not to worry, I've not been very active lately either. darn that notification bug! can you try something for me? can you try using chrome on another computer and logging into your account and seeing if you can dismiss them? I'm sorta clutching at straws here on ways to debug this as I can't replicate it.

It's amazing to see the progress of the site.

Lots of crafts in there

Sorry for not helping as much as promissed, but I really can't right now.

Btw, you could add a custom thumbnail to the site, so it looks better on the bookmarks

Thanks man. and not to worry.

yes I've been meaning to do that and set an apple bookmark icon. not had time to make/steal/edit the icon yet.

Just deployed several changes together.

There are now pretty urls for craft. So where a craft would have a url like http://kerbalx.com/crafts/42 it now is http://kerbalx.com/luizopiloto/Eve-X - /<username>/<craftname>(additional _n where user has multiple craft with same name).

The link to download the craft file just has .craft appended to it; i.e: http://kerbalx.com/Flakbadger/Avalon SSTO.craft

The old style links still work so you don't need to update any links to your craft that you've posted.

There's also /<username> which takes you to a users profile and /<username>/crafts whcih takes you to a search limited to just that users craft.

Saved Searches (or ModPacks as I originally thought of them).

The idea was that you could have predefined "packs" of mods that you could load into the search filters with one click. So you could setup a mod pack that listed all the mods you play with so you can quickly do a search for craft that are compatible with your install. Also, if you've uploaded a PartMap and/or a number of craft, then the site already knows what mods you use. So the idea was to have pre-set packs of mods based on your uploads and allow you to setup your own.

What this turned into is a feature that allows you to save searches and comes with a couple of set searches (based off your part-map and craft uploads), some example searches and allows you to save your own search. So rather than just saving mod info (as the original 'mod-pack' idea was going to) this saves all aspects of a search; mods, filters, any key-words entered and sort options. non-logged-in users get a set of example searches, logged-in users also get searches based on their uploads and can delete the example searches and define their own and save them. You can also share a search as a url, when you click save search it will also give you a url to copy.

When making that bit I realised the mod-filters part of the search was kinda confusing, because of the need to add/remove "stock parts" to really make them work properly (and that "stock" is split into Squad and NASAmission and using just 1 or both did make a difference). So I've taken that out which simplifies that quite a lot. Actually, it was really very confusing before, I think this simple change makes a big improvement.

It does mean you can no longer filter for craft by specifically Squad or NASAmission but that wasn't so useful anyway.

Also made some changes to the mods index, but that's being a bit slow right now so I need to look into that.

EDIT

oh forgot to mention, a couple of 0.90 specific things;

0.90 craft now have size info listed on their details tab as this info is now in the craft file. (I just wish they'd also store mass and thrust info there too!)

When uploading 0.90 craft it will no longer ask you to determine between craft and subassembly because they've changed what's in the craft file and I can now tell them apart.

Edited January 16, 2015 by katateochi

[BudgetHedgehog]

Hey man, not to worry, I've not been very active lately either. darn that notification bug! can you try something for me? can you try using chrome on another computer and logging into your account and seeing if you can dismiss them? I'm sorta clutching at straws here on ways to debug this as I can't replicate it.

I was just about to say don't worry as it's working now, but I realised that it does work for when I only have one notification. Or maybe dismissing it just exits the box? Dunno, but now I have 2 and I can't dismiss things I'll try on my parents laptop, hold please

Ooh, I can dismiss them when I click on a link in them - for instance, going to the dev blog or seeing all craft stats. Does that help? Anyway, I'll go check, will PM you results.

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

(I just wish they'd also store mass and thrust info there too!)

Does the craft not store that information for each part? The masses of all of the parts could be added together, and the thrust of all first-stage engines (or earliest-stage engines, for rockets which disengage launch clamps before activating engines -- looking at you, Kerbal X) could be summed as well.

[loler43214]

This was my favorite rover I created.

see Off-Roader MK3 on KerbalX.com

[katateochi]

I was just about to say don't worry as it's working now, but I realised that it does work for when I only have one notification. Or maybe dismissing it just exits the box? Dunno, but now I have 2 and I can't dismiss things I'll try on my parents laptop, hold please

Ooh, I can dismiss them when I click on a link in them - for instance, going to the dev blog or seeing all craft stats. Does that help? Anyway, I'll go check, will PM you results.

Going to the craft stats page will clear any "recent_activity" notifications and going to dev_blog will clear any "site_update" notifications. I can see you've cleared the site_update notification you had. Did you have any different results when using a diff computer?

Does the craft not store that information for each part? The masses of all of the parts could be added together, and the thrust of all first-stage engines (or earliest-stage engines, for rockets which disengage launch clamps before activating engines -- looking at you, Kerbal X) could be summed as well.

No sadly the parts listed in craft files don't contain any info about mass, thrust or anything that could be used to calculate interesting things like dV or TWR. parts in craft files just describe what they are connected to and how, what "modules" they have and values for those modules (which is the right design choice from Squads point of view, just frustrating for me!). With just the info in craft files the best I can do is tell you how much fuel you have, but that's not really that helpful! I really would like KX to be able to calc dV, TWR etc, but don't have a solution for that as yet. If you have any suggestions.....

http://i.imgur.com/9l8pWt3.png

This was my favorite rover I created.

see Off-Roader MK3 on KerbalX.com

I like the three-wheeled design. I've been working on an "indestructible-ish" rover recently too, just not finished it enough to post. But I really liked the robot you posted recently, it looks so friendly...aside from the bank of missiles on its head!.

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

No sadly the parts listed in craft files don't contain any info about mass, thrust or anything that could be used to calculate interesting things like dV or TWR. parts in craft files just describe what they are connected to and how, what "modules" they have and values for those modules (which is the right design choice from Squads point of view, just frustrating for me!). With just the info in craft files the best I can do is tell you how much fuel you have, but that's not really that helpful! I really would like KX to be able to calc dV, TWR etc, but don't have a solution for that as yet. If you have any suggestions.....

The KSP wiki has all of the stock part configs (e.g. the Rockomax Mainsail: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Parts/Engine/liquidEngineMainsail/liquidEngineMainsail.cfg), so that could be a source of data (assuming that they're accurate -- probably but not necessarily true). That would still leave mod parts high and dry, though.

[Guard13007]

Suggestion!

Make is possible to search by part name (to find the mod that has that part).

I know this is kind of a weird suggestion, but you have a database of mods and what parts they have, and I'm sure others have run into the issue that they downloaded a craft with a part in it they don't recognize (okay maybe it doesn't happen too often) and they want to find it.

I mean, I'm in that situation now. I have a craft I got from someone with a "KzThrustPlate" and neither of us knows what that is or how it got there.

(Also I'm sure you've seen the two issues I posted on the GitHub, but in case you haven't I mention them here because I haven't seen a reply and they've been there a while now. Apologies if they are duplicates of plans or stuff already WIP.)

[katateochi]

The KSP wiki has all of the stock part configs (e.g. the Rockomax Mainsail: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Parts/Engine/liquidEngineMainsail/liquidEngineMainsail.cfg), so that could be a source of data (assuming that they're accurate -- probably but not necessarily true). That would still leave mod parts high and dry, though.

Yes using the wiki would help at least for the stock parts. DrDam is working on a KSP API project that aims to provide a database of part configs via a json API. The advantage of that over the wiki is I won't have to interpret the cfg files, but so far that only lists 1 mod and the stock parts.

Suggestion!

Make is possible to search by part name (to find the mod that has that part).

I know this is kind of a weird suggestion, but you have a database of mods and what parts they have, and I'm sure others have run into the issue that they downloaded a craft with a part in it they don't recognize (okay maybe it doesn't happen too often) and they want to find it.

I mean, I'm in that situation now. I have a craft I got from someone with a "KzThrustPlate" and neither of us knows what that is or how it got there.

(Also I'm sure you've seen the two issues I posted on the GitHub, but in case you haven't I mention them here because I haven't seen a reply and they've been there a while now. Apologies if they are duplicates of plans or stuff already WIP.)

A Part search you say? Click on the user-menu and click on "Find Parts" (or go to http://kerbalx.com/parts). You can then search by part name and the results will list what mod they belong to and clicking on them will show you what craft use that part.

There's also a mod search (http://kerbalx.com/mods) and a users search (http://kerbalx.com/users).

erm, yes sorry I had seen those two issues in github, been meaning to reply and then I forgot! notifications of craft updates is very doable, just low priority atm. I will sort the ordered-lists issue out, nice 1 for spotting that.

[monev44]

I seem to be having an issue with one of my craft pages after the update. http://kerbalx.com/monev44/Wolverine%27s%20Ride%20mrk3 is throwing back a 404 error. Is it because there is an apostrophe in the address?

Edit: I've updated the craft with a different name that doesn't include an apostrophe, and it loads correctly now.

- - - Updated - - -

I mean, I'm in that situation now. I have a craft I got from someone with a "KzThrustPlate" and neither of us knows what that is or how it got there.

I figured it out. It's a part from procedural fairings. and basically I sent you the wrong file. That was a work-in-progress thing that used the craft I wanted to send as a core-fighter. sooo. if you want to fly it.. fly the thing inside the cargohold, and delete the rest.

Edited January 21, 2015 by monev44

[Guard13007]

Ah, thanks! (Where the heck do you find those links on the site? Perhaps make them more visible?)

(And hello monev! )

[katateochi]

I seem to be having an issue with one of my craft pages after the update. http://kerbalx.com/monev44/Wolverine%27s%20Ride%20mrk3 is throwing back a 404 error. Is it because there is an apostrophe in the address?

Edit: I've updated the craft with a different name that doesn't include an apostrophe, and it loads correctly now.

- - - Updated - - -

snip*

Ah sorry monev. It's now fixed so that you can have apostrophes (and other chars) in the craft's name, but they won't be included in the url. But I see you've completely renamed it now anyway (nice looking craft btw).

When you rename the craft on the site it doesn't actually change the name in the craft file. But that is something I could do quite easily. Would you guys want that option?

Ah, thanks! (Where the heck do you find those links on the site? Perhaps make them more visible?)

(And hello monev! )

They are in the user menu in the header (the part of the header that always remains visible). When your logged in it says your name, when logged out it says Navigation Main Menu (just changed the label). I've also added a little down arrow icon to it to make it more apparent that it is a menu.

[katateochi]

So I just broke the site for the last 30 mins by (stupidly) asking the server to kindly rescan every single part in every single craft. Poor thing ran out of RAM and fell over! erm, so anyway, its back up and with new features!!

I didn't actually intend to add this feature, but I suddenly realised that it was possible and got totally side tracked. Anyway, KX can now detect if a part is a science part, without needing to have any prior knowledge about what parts are science parts. So it picks up on both stock and mod science parts (at least it gets the DMagic Orbital Science ones), it looks for parts that have DeployExperiment EVENTS but which are not command pods (as they also have DeployExperiment events for crew reports).

So all craft now have a list of what science parts they have if you click on details on a craft page. I need some icons for the stock science parts, would any of you guys be able to help with making those?

There are now new search filters and the search interface can now have sets of filters toggled on and off. There is a more filters menu which now enables you to switch on a new "science filter" and "part count range" filter and also turn off the existing versions filter (I could give you the option to turn the main filters off too, but I thought that was overkill).

The science filter gives you toggle buttons for each of the stock science parts that will limit the results to craft that have the selected parts, or you can select "any" to find craft with any science part (including mod science parts). You can also search for a craft with specific mod science part by using the text interface and typing +sci: followed by a part-name ie: +sci:dmSolarCollector

The part count range filter gives you a slider that enables you to set upper and lower limits for part count.

The example / saved searches have been updated to include a couple examples using the new filters. Worth checking them out as they show what the search is capable of.

We're almost at 600 craft now! You guys have uploaded some really awesome looking craft! The results from almost any random search just look awesome!

Thanks for all the support guys

[inigma]

Updated craft versions should be moved to the front of the line for New crafts. Do a check for new parts or part placement values to discourage bumping.

[BudgetHedgehog]

I need some icons for the stock science parts, would any of you guys be able to help with making those?

Apart from the goo and Sci Jr, there's science icons used for the contracts in Gamedata\Squad\Contracts\Icons - would it make sense to use them (if you're allowed)? I'm sure someone could make good and Sci Jr icons if needed as well.

[katateochi]

Updated craft versions should be moved to the front of the line for New crafts. Do a check for new parts or part placement values to discourage bumping.

yeah that's a good idea. Blocking bumping might be a little tricky; I can easily do a checksum of the current craft file to compare with a checksum of the new file, but even if you don't change a craft in KSP but hit save then it changes the unique ids used to associate parts, so the checksum would be different. Comparison via checksum would be the fastest way to check, but not fool proof. Checking specific details of parts and part placement would be more solid, but would have much more of a processor overhead (and the craft upload is already a very intensive process). I shall try and think of an efficient way to check.

Apart from the goo and Sci Jr, there's science icons used for the contracts in Gamedata\Squad\Contracts\Icons - would it make sense to use them (if you're allowed)? I'm sure someone could make good and Sci Jr icons if needed as well.

Ah did not know those icons where there, thanks. I wonder if using them would be a copyright issue? My other thought was just to load the sci parts up, scr-shot them using the KVV and then PS them to be black and white and less detailed.

Sorry no updates to note this week. Couple minor fixes but nothing exciting. I'm working on Hangars (which are proving to be a little more complicated that initially planned).

One exciting thing to note though is that I'm talking with the CKAN guys about having a way for KerbalX to provide a kind of config file along with a craft download that could be used to tell the CKAN tool which mods to install for that craft, and perhaps more specifically which parts it needs to install so if you get a craft that uses some parts from a bunch of the really large mod packs it won't just install the whole pack and cause you to run out of memory. Anyway, this is just in the talking phase right now, but I think it could be a really useful features.

Anyone played with the new search filters (by science parts and part-count range)?

EDIT - oh, there is actually one minor new feature, you can filter for craft that have a specific part. There isn't an click-able interface for this filter as I don't think it's one that will be that useful in the main search, it is used internally to select the craft to show on a specific parts page, but you can also use it in the main search by entering a keyword into the search field. Say you want to find all craft that have a mk1pod then type "+part:mk1pod" into the search. You can select by multiple parts ie; "+part:mk1pod +part:fuelline" which will find craft that have both those parts.

Edited February 8, 2015 by katateochi

[DMSP]

Hi guys, I made A unifficial login for people to post crafts even if they don't have an account. Is that ok?

Do you want to upload craft? For some, Mediafire and Dropbox crafts fail to work. KerbalX is made to work with all KSP users.

Now, you can post craft on KerbalX!

Just use this username: KSP Community (open)

And this password:

kspforums

Have fun, and I hope this becomes official!

Anyone can post a craft!

[hakan]

Is it possible to modify the image of a craft after upload? I have a few vessels on kerbalx with the default image and would love to upload the "real" image as I got around to make screenshots by now