[1.12.x] Alcubierre Warp Drive (Stand-alone)

[Clonos]

16 hours ago, helaeon said:

@GenesisPlayzChaining multiple parts together is not supported and expected to cause problems. The way warp happens more parts won't do anything but muck up calculations.

It didn't do that in my case. It worked as a normal AWD, i can't tell if it went faster or not. I do think it wont work, Alcubierre Warp Drives don't work through acceleration.

14 hours ago, DStaal said:

Honestly, what I'd expect to happen if you have two drives on the same ship - and activate them both - is for the drives to interfere with each other and for the ship to explode...  (If you left one of the drives inactive of course you could carry it along.)

(And this didnt happen either)

Edited November 3, 2017 by GenesisPlayz

[FreeThinker]

@RoverDude

I might be mistaken but comparing the code with the comment there appears to be a error

if (((OriginalFrameTrueRadius / FlightGlobals.ActiveVessel.orbit.radius) <= 0.55) || ((OriginalFrameTrueRadius / FlightGlobals.ActiveVessel.orbit.radius) <= 1.75)) // re-set variables when ratio between current ratio and original gets too far from 1
{
		OriginalSpeed = Vector3d.Magnitude (FlightGlobals.ActiveVessel.orbit.GetRelativeVel ());
		OriginalFrameTrueRadius = FlightGlobals.ActiveVessel.orbit.radius;
}

notice the <= sign, which should be >= because you want to "re-set variables when the ratio between current ratio and original get s too far from 1"

Edited November 3, 2017 by FreeThinker

[helaeon]

@FreeThinker you are right! I'll fix it in my dev version. Thank you. That part only applies to angular momentum mode which is currently quite jacked up in the release version.

[Clonos]

@helaeon and @JadeOfMaar I just tested if more drives means more speed less time to reach your destination, and it worked.

Conclusion in this case: More drives = more, um, translation? its not speed...

but try to pay all that EC for 4 drives... yea =/

[helaeon]

@GenesisPlayzDid you use my dev version from a few days ago or the current release? I changed the way translation is calculated and applied in the dev version. It's much smoother and changing your delta physics time in settings no longer alters your speed.

My guess is if it is actually increasing your translation then it is additive. Game is applying frame shift for the first part, then applying it again for the second.
Right now I have the speedometer (in the dev version) using the distance it's applying to calculate the speed. I wonder if I should have it do some trig to compare using the distance from the central body in the current physics tick and the previous one.
But... I also kind of don't want this kind of addition to happen. Tuning the warp drive's parameters and limitations has been fiddly and I think with the new braking calculations things could get odder. I think I'd rather disable the shifting ability of all but one warp drive part on the ship and at most allow a bubble extension. I think I need to look into how to do this rather than consider it optional. I will do a pull request of what I have this weekend though.
Right now there is no turbo mode and of course no bubble extension and disabling of shift stacking - as discussed above (unless @RoverDude wants it to stay as 1 bubble only, then I'll figure out how to only allow one part to work period).

AM mode works again and the new braking function which is super awesome... and allows a new circularization technique when in AM mode (it always worked but your throttle was so sensitive you couldn't do it)

[Urses]

As far i understand the concept would more drives enlarge the bubble and not give more speed? Out of curiosity here.

As described by @GenesisPlayzabove aditional drives do translate a ship in a bubble in a buble....in the space? Oo

This way the translation will become exponentional!

[RoverDude]

@helaeon - it should really be single drive, single bubble (these are balance levers after all).

 

I might get punchy and allow for multiple bubbles (via multiple drives) but not bubble extension, but I would consider that a very low priority

[helaeon]

@RoverDude I think what I'll do because it should be reasonably easy (I think) is if the game detects more than one part active with the USI_WarpDrive module, it'll just straight blow up every part with that module.
So you could have multiple warp drives installed on a ship, but you better not turn more than one on.

[RoverDude]

Works for me

[Clonos]

11 hours ago, helaeon said:

@GenesisPlayzDid you use my dev version from a few days ago or the current release? I changed the way translation is calculated and applied in the dev version. It's much smoother and changing your delta physics time in settings no longer alters your speed.

My guess is if it is actually increasing your translation then it is additive. Game is applying frame shift for the first part, then applying it again for the second.
Right now I have the speedometer (in the dev version) using the distance it's applying to calculate the speed. I wonder if I should have it do some trig to compare using the distance from the central body in the current physics tick and the previous one.
But... I also kind of don't want this kind of addition to happen. Tuning the warp drive's parameters and limitations has been fiddly and I think with the new braking calculations things could get odder. I think I'd rather disable the shifting ability of all but one warp drive part on the ship and at most allow a bubble extension. I think I need to look into how to do this rather than consider it optional. I will do a pull request of what I have this weekend though.
Right now there is no turbo mode and of course no bubble extension and disabling of shift stacking - as discussed above (unless @RoverDude wants it to stay as 1 bubble only, then I'll figure out how to only allow one part to work period).

AM mode works again and the new braking function which is super awesome... and allows a new circularization technique when in AM mode (it always worked but your throttle was so sensitive you couldn't do it)

Nope, i used RoverDudes one

[Pablowako]

In the (beautiful, btw) big poster it says 1.6x C. In the description it says 16x C. Just as a heads up

[RoverDude]

@helaeon - ping me when you feel things are wrapped up and I can time the rest of the USI releases accordingly

[helaeon]

@RoverDude Can do. I have Turbo Mode left to add and need to go over the part configs.
Doing part configs pass today with stock in mind (both resources and system size) while I noodle over how best to do turbo. I'm thinking it'll be a couple of days at least. What I set out to do works nicely, but everything is in need of tuning and re-balance.

A little thinking out loud here : On turbo... I'm still not really sure the best way to support 1:1 systems and multiple star systems. Anything faster than ~6c is way too fast for stock (even OPM), but that's about 20 minutes to Neptune in RSS. Physics warp works now though so it's only 4 min. Everything works exactly as I'd like for just stock. Maybe a turbo button (maybe "hyperdrive") on the drive menu that multiplies the top warp factor? Any requests on that multiplier 10, 100, 1000? 1:1 systems are still an issue though because fuel flow should probably be dropped by a factor of 10 when using one of those systems - though that could be handled with a MM patch that is re-named from .txt to .cfg if using a 1:1 system

[RoverDude]

Maybe an MM patch in an Extras folder with the appropriate multipliers (both in terms of drive speed and in terms of fuel consumption).  The GPP rescale does this.

[helaeon]

@RoverDude & others: I have a version I'm pretty happy with right now here if anyone wants to try. https://github.com/helaeon/WarpDrive
I haven't made a MM patch for 1:1 scale systems or multiple systems. I do have it set up as I'd like for OPM/Stock. I did quite a few runs out to Neidon to test.

Power requirements are not final but I think are generally okay for stock (3.75m drive requires 8 fuel cells to run everything scales down from that). Last thing to do before release pull request is make a standard MM patch to set that power consumption value as it really should be if you have Near Future Electrical, Far Future, DSEV, and/or USI installed. I'm thinking 20-30x more wherever electric charge is used

[RoverDude]

Works for me   Only reason the original had such a low power requirement was because stock lacks reactors, and I wanted it to be truly stand alone.  Totally fine with cranking up the power requirement if a reactor pack is installed (at least for USI/NFE levels).

[Urses]

On 5.11.2017 at 12:00 AM, helaeon said:

Maybe a turbo button (maybe "hyperdrive") on the drive.

"SPACEBALLS" 

"Ridiculous Speed"-Button?

[helaeon]

14 hours ago, Urses said:

"SPACEBALLS" 

"Ridiculous Speed"-Button?

Actually... I did something different. There are two sliders now one is your percentage of maximum warp where turbo kicks in, and then the "turbo factor" there's also a turbo multiplier in the cfg that is accessible if even more is necessary (for 1:1) systems. 
I wanted to still communicate the feeling of how freaking big the solar system is. How very far away Pluto or Neptune are even at 1:10 scales, so I didn't want 100c in stock - though that is very possible.

What happens is if you have turbo point set to 90, at about warp 5.5 (and this is displayed) your turbo kicks in and suddenly you're going about 20c and increasing as you get further away from the star. Feels kinda like Marty getting to 88 mph waiting for that turbo to kick in. If you want to shut it off you set turbo point to 100 and it will no longer function. You can also adjust the speed of the turbo with the other slider. You can go quite fast if you want  - this doesn't affect your fuel use though. So you can warp very very fast and not have as much control, and you can slow things down so you do.

[RoverDude]

@helaeon - excellent work

[TiktaalikDreaming]

1 hour ago, helaeon said:

Actually... I did something different.

 

I've only been half following this, but it looks like about time to take a gander.

warp factor slide to the end Mr Sulu!

[helaeon]

@TiktaalikDreaming I would absolutely appreciate your feedback if you want to grab the test version off my github (linked a few posts back). I would very much increase my confidence level to push it along to the official channel in the next couple days.

[TiktaalikDreaming]

2 minutes ago, helaeon said:

@TiktaalikDreaming I would absolutely appreciate your feedback if you want to grab the test version off my github (linked a few posts back). I would very much increase my confidence level to push it along to the official channel in the next couple days.

I'll certainly take a look. I'm not really sure when. Stupid life.

[TiktaalikDreaming]

@helaeon, is the stuff you've done compiled against KSP 1.3.1?  I'm getting crashes.  And before I go off diagnosing which other mod might be interfering, I thought I should check. 

 

[helaeon]

@TiktaalikDreaming it is compiled against 1.3.1.
I had some problems with Throttle Controlled Avionics at the very beginning and removed it because I never really used it. 
Trajectories can cause major slow-downs if you leave it on while using the warp drive. I use trajectories myself so it just being installed isn't an issue.

[TiktaalikDreaming]

3 hours ago, helaeon said:

@TiktaalikDreaming it is compiled against 1.3.1.
I had some problems with Throttle Controlled Avionics at the very beginning and removed it because I never really used it. 
Trajectories can cause major slow-downs if you leave it on while using the warp drive. I use trajectories myself so it just being installed isn't an issue.

OK, poking about at different mods it is then.  This mod-building install has no TCA or trajectories.  I should have TCA for working on some tweaks for a different mod, but it's not there.  But there's other stuff, and some test code for other things.  It may be easier to just make a fresh KSP. 

 

OK, I'm going with "this stuff hates my PC".

Fresh KSP, nothing but module manager, Squad and the UmbaSpaceIndustries folders in GameData.

Gonna remove MM as well.  And try a steamy file fixup.  The basic version still works fine.  I also tried adding that first, and putting this over the top, in case there were missing files.

Edited November 8, 2017 by TiktaalikDreaming