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[DEV THREAD] REPOSoftTech - AmpYear Power Manager, Reserve Power , Ion RCS v0.18 23rd June 2015


JPLRepo

Should I continue with 'Cabin Craziness' Feature?  

50 members have voted

  1. 1. Should I continue with 'Cabin Craziness' Feature?

    • Split it off into another mod
      17
    • Keep going
      14
    • Scrap it
      4


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I found this old plugin lying around with dust on it and well, I thought it was really interesting :). It was way out of date, and the original version was intended to add electrical functions for ship parts that back in the 0.20 days did not require electricity (but of course in 0.90 they do), such as SAS, reaction wheels, etc.

I've tried contacting the original author for several months, SodiumEyes, but he has not replied and hasn't logged on to the forum since 7 May 2014. So I don't know what the rules are for that. Also see this post. But it was GPL licensed. Original post page for AmpYear is here.

This is NOW the DEV THREAD. For the RELEASE Thread GO HERE.

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The AmpYear Power Manager makes electricity more manageable and useful. Electricity can be used in some new ways.

Power Manager

The manager function is attached to all probes and command pods through the power of Module Manager - thanks Sarbian (previously through a part, but now partless).

The Power Manager must be ON for all subsystems to activate/work, this includes RCS & SAS.

The AmpYear menu can be switched on/off via integration with Stock Toolbar or Toolbar by blizzy.

Emergency Shutdown procedure - when All power is critical will activate solar panels (if attached and not in atmosphere) and shutdown non-essential parts using electricity.

Saves all settings and window positions per vehicle to persistent save file.

Gives %age indicators of Current Battery capacities, Electric Charge usage and generation. You can transfer charge from reserve to main batteries. Parts that produce electric charge will fill Main batteries first and then reserve batteries.

In the Editor you can get indications of total power production and consumption of your vessel. You can also get a full list of all power production and consumption parts.

Functions using stock toolbar or Blizzy's Toolbar (can be changed via Settings menu from the Space center).

Includes correct power calculations if you have the following Mods installed (but not required for mod to function): Regolith, Near Future Electrical/Solar, KAS, RemoteTech, ScanSat, Telemachus, TAC LS, AntennaRange.

Ion RCS

Thrusters that use Xenon-gas and electricity for incredibly efficient RCS. Some limitations:

  • Has half the Isp of normal Ion engines.
  • One quarter of the thrust of normal monopropellant RCS thrusters.
  • Available in one-way linear thruster and 5-way ION RCS block.
  • Integrated to TechTree at ionPropulsion.

Pulsed Plasma Thrusters RCS

Each thruster contains a fixed amount of Teflon and uses this along with Electric Charge for incredibly efficient propulsion for small craft or maneuvering. Some limitations:

  • Has roughly quarter the ISP of normal RCS thrusters.
  • One eighth of the thrust of normal monopropellant RCS thrusters.
  • Only linear thrusters are available.
  • Integrated to TechTree at advFlightControl.

See (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsed_plasma_thruster).

TurnBooster

Allows you to use electrical power to harness SAS/Reaction Wheel modules for additional turning power. Boosting them by 25%.

Reserve Power

Attach special batteries to your ship to save power for emergencies. Ideal for keeping your probes from dying. Power can be transferred to and from main and reserve power resources. Electrical power generators (solar panels, etc) will re-charge main power followed by reserve power when a threshold is reached.

Auto-Hibernate (re-implemented in 0.13)

All AmpYear functions will now continue to run during timewarp up to timestep 7x. Then AmpYear will hibernate. This is due to a bug in electriccharge generation in KSP at high timewarp.

A Warning Pop-up will appear and stop warp if the ElectricCharge falls below a set percentage (configurable via the spacecenter window).

Show Crew

Show Crew feature - with 0.90 - I added this to show the crew and their roles rather than having to switch to the map view all the time.

KabinKraziness

Has been split into a separate add-on. Go here for the details.


V0.18 Support for KSP 1.0.3
V0.17 Added NEW 4-way ION RCS Block.
Fixed NullRef errors when active vessel is destroyed.
Updated to latest version of all supported mods.
V0.16a Fix ZIP File binary. Had V0.15 Binary in the zip.
V0.16 bug fix in editor causing log spam. added KSP-AVC support. converted all textures to DDS format. Updated to support RemoteTech v1.6.4. Updated to support ScanSAT v12
V0.15 Support KSP 1.0.2. Fixed log spam if incorrect version of TACLS is installed. Support for: TACLS v0.11.1.20, AntennaRange V1.8, Near Future Solar V0.5.0
V0.14 Support for KSP V1.0.0. Removed support for SCANSat and Regolith (now covered by stock). Basic support for new resources parts. Deprecated z500 reserve power battery. Balanced parts to new Tech Tree.
V0.13a Fixed Blizzy Toolbar and Stock AppLauncher, recompiled for correct integration with KabinKraziness. Merged install directories for AmpYear and KabinKraziness to /gamedata/REPOSoftTech/ folder.
V0.13 Removed KabinKraziness. Fixed high warp rates, re-implemented auto-hibernate at high warp.
V0.12e Changed default setting for the Power Manager to be ON
V0.12d Fixed Vessel switching bug (save settings correctly). Kraziness balancing. Removed Auto-Hibernate and added timewarp/low power warning pop-up. Updated to latest versions of other mods.
V0.12c Fixed duplicated battery parts in distribution zip file.
v0.12b Merged Heater and Cooler into one Climate Control Function. More tweaks to craziness calculations.
v0.12a fixed loading error. GUI improvements. Added distance from Kerbin to Craziness calc.

See the Readme file for more details.

License: GPL

This mod includes version checking using MiniAVC.

If you opt-in, it will use the internet to check whether there is a new version available.

Data is only read from the internet and no personal information is sent.

For a more comprehensive version checking experience, please download the KSP-AVC Plugin

Install Instructions

Dependency: You must have Module Manager installed.

Toolbar - OPTIONAL.

Source Code here

Completely delete AmpYear folder from gamedata before updating. CRITICAL When installing over version 0.13a or earlier your MUST delete the following folders manually first. [kspdir]/gamedata/AmpYear/*.*

[kspdir]/gamedata/KabinKraziness/*.*. Also Please ensure you have not installed previously in the wrong folder. IE: That you do not have a [kspdir]/gamedata/gamedata/AmpYear/*.* and [kspdir]/gamedata/gamedata/KabinKraziness/*.* This would occur if you unzip into the wrong folder when you install.

Install BOTH the AmpYear and KabinKraziness folders from the ZIP file into your Gamedata folder for KSP. From Version 0.13a onwards this Mod will install into [kspdir]/gamedata/REPOSoftTech/AmpYear/*.* and and [kspdir]/gamedata/REPOSoftTech/KabinKraziness/*.*

The included KabinKraziness KKInterfaces.DLL is a small interface to allow KabinKraziness and AmpYear to communicate. - It does nothing without the rest of KabinKraziness installed.

WIP on KerbalStuff , CurseForge

or

GitHub Here

If you also want KabinKraziness go here.

Edited by JPLRepo
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Keepfit is a WIP mod that keep track of the kerbal fitness, and the space available for exercises for crew parts to maintain fitness. I don't know how exactly the mod works, but I think maybe it could be possible that, if we keep the massage chair on, it increase the Keepfit activity level to "Exercising" and allow the kerbal to be more fit.

As for sanity, I saw a few concept threads around, but I don't think I have seen a working version yet. There is Kerbal Social, and CrewQ(ueue)(Phase2) that somewhat touch on the sanity matter, but they are quite complex. Perhaps you can look at extending it in your own way.

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Yes, if this mod could stave off craziness on long missions it would be great.

If you wanted to keep it simple, maybe a basic part config like how CO2 is created and removed.

As craziness builds up in the cabin, using Luxury items removes it.

I was also thinking about pulsed plasma Teflon thrusters as an electrical item.

It runs on a solid block of Teflon built into the thruster and an electrical arch.

You don't need to add any tanks of propellents, but the Teflon does run out eventually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsed_plasma_thruster

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Keepfit is a WIP mod that keep track of the kerbal fitness, and the space available for exercises for crew parts to maintain fitness. I don't know how exactly the mod works, but I think maybe it could be possible that, if we keep the massage chair on, it increase the Keepfit activity level to "Exercising" and allow the kerbal to be more fit.

As for sanity, I saw a few concept threads around, but I don't think I have seen a working version yet. There is Kerbal Social, and CrewQ(ueue)(Phase2) that somewhat touch on the sanity matter, but they are quite complex. Perhaps you can look at extending it in your own way.

Thanks - I checked them out.They are all a bit heavy. Maybe if Keepfit implements an API I could integrate to that.

KerbalSocial looks very interesting.. but still just a concept. I'm looking into adding my own rudimentary system as tommygun suggested.

Yes, if this mod could stave off craziness on long missions it would be great.

If you wanted to keep it simple, maybe a basic part config like how CO2 is created and removed.

As craziness builds up in the cabin, using Luxury items removes it.

I was also thinking about pulsed plasma Teflon thrusters as an electrical item.

It runs on a solid block of Teflon built into the thruster and an electrical arch.

You don't need to add any tanks of propellents, but the Teflon does run out eventually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsed_plasma_thruster

Thanks. Great idea. I'm looking into my own rudimentary system, as the other mods are too complicated... or not available (kerbalsocial).

As for the Pulsed plasma thruster... Very very interesting - let me see what I can come up with.

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Just wanting to chip in, as I was directed towards this from the Kerbal Social page. I would love to develop Kerbal Social further, but just do not really have the time :( In particular Kerbal Social came out of a desire to find and alternative use for ConnectedLivingSpace other than moving crew around, so from that point of view it may not be an immediate fit for the ideas here.

A word of caution with regard to sanity mods - you need to be careful to avoid introducing a game dynamic that was a problem with life support mods - ie "add the part to win". It is possible to end up creating a new problem that can simply be solved by adding a new part to the craft. That does not end up being much fun to play. To avoid this you need some other game dynamic.

Good luck with all this, I will be interested to see how it develops.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks codepoet. Good thoughts. I have introduced a rudimentary cabin fever attribute to all crew able parts.. That crudely goes up over time just based on cabin size and how many kerbals are on-board. You can then reduce it with the luxury items. It doesn't do anything yet except issue warnings at certain levels of cabin fever. But yes, this isn't really what I am after... Or integrate with one of the other like mods, or attach something like cabin fever to the crew themselves instead of the parts. So I am trying to decide to release it with this or without it. I will do some more investigations into what else is out there before I decide. Thanks everyone for the input so far. Maybe I should just release it as a WIP and see how popular it is or what people want? Any thoughts from anyone?

Edited by JPLRepo
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If it is in a "working" state then by all means a wip release would be a great way to get a wide area of feedback and bug detection as well as gauging the overall interest.

Decided to do a WIP release. See first post - A lot of WIP features have been added, still tweaking and de-bugging them and a lot of build-out to do on the Cabin Fever/Luxury Items and Emergency Procedures pieces. But the RCS and Manager functions all work.

Edited by JPLRepo
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Is there a chance you would consider breaking the plasma and ion RCS into a separate mod? I ask because I very much want to add them to my three month old save, without the other WIP stuff...

Not easily possible I'm afraid. There is only one DLL for the mod. I could maybe but no.. Because the manager manages the electricity consumption. All I can suggest is make a backup copy of you persistent save file if you want to give it a go... Or a separate install copy. It's as easy as copying your save folder as a backup that you can always go back to. I've had no issues myself with crashes or bugs with the wip stuff. What I will do is look into making the different components configurable to on/off via the config file for the next update but that will take some time. In the meantime I'd go with the copy of your save for now.

Edited by JPLRepo
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I found this old plugin lying around with dust on it and well, I thought it was really interesting :). It was way out of date, and the original version was intended to add electrical functions for ship parts that back in the 0.20 days did not require electricity (but of course in 0.90 they do), such as SAS, reaction wheels, etc.

I've tried contacting the original author for several months, SodiumEyes, but he has not replied and hasn't logged on to the forum since 7 May 2014. So I don't know what the rules are for that. But it was GPL licensed. Original post page for AmpYear is here.

You have nothing to worry about permissions wise. Roughly a year ago I contacted SodiumEyes via twitter and they gave permission to update the mod but I never got round to it. Nice work, love those ion rcs.

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You have nothing to worry about permissions wise. Roughly a year ago I contacted SodiumEyes via twitter and they gave permission to update the mod but I never got round to it. Nice work, love those ion rcs.

Thanks that's good to know... has he left the KSP scene? or did he indicate whether he has given it up and not likely to come back to it?

I'm just going to continue on and polish it up and release it with same license.

Still working on list of TO-DOs before a general release. I've finished balancing the ION and PPT RCS thrusters. I might have a WIP update later this week as I have spent some time working on the Functions around the Luxury Items - Craziness concept.. but I'm struggling internally about whether it is really adding a game mechanic that people are going to want or not....

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I can tell you that the electric RCS alone is reason enough to keep this project alive. Seriously.

EDIT: I do have one question though. What does the powerturn feature ad in terms of game play? SAS/reaction wheels already turn our vessels for us. Does it increase turning power by some method? Does having the feature turned on consume power, even when there is no control input from anything? If this is the case, I propose it be re-named turnBooster, for non-ambiguity.

Edited by Errol
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I can tell you that the electric RCS alone is reason enough to keep this project alive. Seriously.

EDIT: I do have one question though. What does the powerturn feature ad in terms of game play? SAS/reaction wheels already turn our vessels for us. Does it increase turning power by some method? Does having the feature turned on consume power, even when there is no control input from anything? If this is the case, I propose it be re-named turnBooster, for non-ambiguity.

Thanks. I have no intention of stopping, just playing with the mechanics of the luxury functions and the cabin craziness idea as far as gameplay dynamics go.

As for the power turn. Yes it's a reaction wheels booster using electric charge it boosts them by 25%. Given how in stock they have nurfed them quite a lot. Can't remember the exact formula for power usage now. I'll check it out and rename it to turnbooster because that is in fact what it is. Thanks.

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Don't think it was noticed but this mod has a conflict with Tweakable Everything make the tweak options for reaction wheels on command modules go nuts.

Thanks I've installed tweakable everything and couldn't find anything wrong? you sure it is this mod?

Works fine for me. Can tweak the torque values on command pods in the editor... no issues and AmpYear working fine with it. Perhaps it's some other mod you have installed causing the problem. You probably need to post some logs as I can't replicate or find an issue.

Edited by JPLRepo
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It's the only one I know of that adds tweaking of the reaction wheels. When I installed this it gave huge figures (like 3.642E8, now that is some heavy torque ;) ) but normal figures without. I'll reinstall this so I can get you a log. :)

Reinstalled with the same strange results for tweaking a manned command pod reaction settings. Got a lot and screen shots.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbtiqzwa9x6i9qp/output_log.txt?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/093utbsukfcvl5c/screenshot0.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qy2rdlbazwrj68j/screenshot1.png?dl=0

Removing AmpYear make it all go back to normal, so something in definitely conflicting. Any testing you need to figure out what is going on let me know. This is a great idea so sorting out any compatibility issues would probably help a lot of users in the end. :)

Edited by JeffreyCor
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It's the only one I know of that adds tweaking of the reaction wheels. When I installed this it gave huge figures (like 3.642E8, now that is some heavy torque ;) ) but normal figures without. I'll reinstall this so I can get you a log. :)

Reinstalled with the same strange results for tweaking a manned command pod reaction settings. Got a lot and screen shots.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbtiqzwa9x6i9qp/output_log.txt?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/093utbsukfcvl5c/screenshot0.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qy2rdlbazwrj68j/screenshot1.png?dl=0

Removing AmpYear make it all go back to normal, so something in definitely conflicting. Any testing you need to figure out what is going on let me know. This is a great idea so sorting out any compatibility issues would probably help a lot of users in the end. :)

Thanks I will take a look into it. I noticed the same, but only if you rescale the size of the pod first. Will require some investigation into how this other mod works because there is nothing obvious in the log. Except another bug which I fixed but it didn't fix this problem. I also saw lots if null refs in a bunch of your other installed mods you might want to check out. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

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