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micha

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Everything posted by micha

  1. micha
    Haven't tried in 1.7.1 yet (sorry, RL is really busy right now) but didn't see this issue before. What's your atmospheric entry approach speed and angle?
  2. micha
    A small interjection on the "they're slow, so what" premise. Taking a step back from the biological aspects, physics, at least, is the same everywhere. So even assuming something slow has a long enough and stable enough environment to evolve into a sentient species, how will they ever interface with the physical world? If it takes them a (n earth) year to say "hello" or lift an appendage, how would they ever be able to point a telescope at a spot in the sky let alone pilot a spacecraft? To their slow senses they wouldn't even be able to see stars, the entire sky would just be a uniform grey smear, for example. So yeah, slow is no problem for life in general, but for life to develop some semblance of sentience and start building (or growing, or whatever) technology to interface with and adapt the physical world to their desires? Slightly more difficult to imagine.
  3. micha
    True, but official release announcements with changelog often go into more detail than the readme.
  4. micha
    Woot, congrats on the release.. already downloaded but at work so can't try it just yet. KSP itself has also been updated to 1.7.1.. Release Notes please?
  5. micha
    All of them.
  6. micha
    I'd argue "similar requirements" and we're arguing about aliens which have developed spaceships. And again, while the detailed biological/chemical conditions will be unique, they'll be roughly similar. It'll be a planet, unless you're positing space-based lifeforms. We've come up with several potential alternatives to carbon-based chemistry which could support life, but the carbon/water based chemistry is actually, from an energy perspective, the best. And for higher lifeforms you need even more energy so you've got aerobic lifeforms. This all means a roughly earthlike planet. But even if you use an exotic chemistry as the basis of your alien life, it'll still have the same basic requirements in order for us to classify it as life. Energy intake and procreation for starters. Next if you're talking a technological lifeform you need locomotion and environmental manipulation. There's a strong argument that anything above stone-age level technology can only be developed on land as you need metals and for that you need a sufficiently localisable source of heat for smelting and working it. For locomotion on land you probably need something like legs (although a "foot" like a slug/snail also works). For (fine) manipulation you need something generally capable of grasping. At the end of the day, life is not just constrained by chemistry but also physics. So we can make some educated guesses as to the parameters of potential aliens.
  7. micha
    One of the first assumptions of Science is that local principles hold generally, otherwise we can't make any predictions outside our immediately measurable sphere. For example, we assume the universe is expanding due to the redshift of distant galaxies. And that is based on our understanding of light under local conditions. What if there are properties of light which redshift it over time/distance instead? Or even more simply just the amount of gas and dust inbetween us and distant sources. But we can't measure that as we don't have the capability to set up long distance experiments (ie, millions of lightyears). (I'm sure far cleverer people than me have actually considered this and there are perfectly good answers, I'm just using this as an example of how we generalise local principles in science) So yes, biology will be extremely varied. And behaviours of that biology as well. We see a ridiculous amount of variation on Earth. But anything which we will classify as life will be recognisable, even if very exotic, by definition. There is also a strong argument for convergent evolution, although admittedly we only have one example of an ecosystem.. But I do agree that it's unlikely going to be bipedal humanoids.. It will be very interesting if we ever find aliens.
  8. micha
    Which is exactly what I said - aliens can see us as an existential thread (either directly, or indirectly via resource sharing) and preemptively wipe us out. And as you alluded, there is a strong notion that any aliens which achieve a highly technological society are most likely the dominant lifeform on their planet. To achieve that they are likely to also be the alpha predator and hence highly competitive, at least historically, outside their own social grouping or species. That's not to say that those historical tendencies can't be tempered through long stable societies though and that mutually-beneficial coexistence outside their historical groupings doesn't outweigh the original competitive nature. You can compete against others and try to get a larger piece of a pie (which may even get destroyed in the process), or work together and make a bigger pie.
  9. micha
    Great stuff; just caught up on the thread and sounds like you're from Oz, @Yeet_TheDinosaur. No wonder - Aussies are all about outdoorsy stuff. Had a hell of a time as a kid Down Under myself, especially with parents who were definitely not into Tech. It all worked out for me in the end - I'm now a programmer for a very very recognised global brand in the gaming industry. And I still game in my spare time too That said, do try to keep a bit of balance. In retrospect I should have gotten out into the sunshine a bit more back then as well. Anway, hope you enjoy KSP as much as we all seem to, and that it gets you into the space industry which you mentioned you're keen on. There's at least a couple of people here on the forum that used KSP as a stepping stone into that industry, so it's not an unrealistic dream! Fly safe!
  10. micha
    If I'm truly alien, the life on Earth, while probably interesting from a scientific perspective, would likely be completely incompatible with my own physiological requirements. As such the most efficient way to conquer Earth would be bioforming it to suit my requirements (I'm assuming that the Earth's physical properties are more or less in line with my requirements). So, engineer bioagents/nanobots to wipe out native life, then seed my own. Can even send those autonomous agents ahead on un"manned" probes so that by the time I arrive, Earth is ready for colonisation. The thing about aliens taking over the Earth is somewhat laughable though, unless some new physical principle emerges which makes interstellar travel not only possible, but also so cheap/easy that taking over already populated planets becomes easier/cheaper than terraforming suitable "nearby" planets or just building space habitats. The only possible reason I can fathom for aliens to take over Earth is if Earth (or, more to the point, Humans) posed an existential threat to them. Which, based on our history, is quite likely if we're ever about to discover the secret of interstellar travel without having also substantially matured our society. I certainly wouldn't want to risk a warmongering bunch of primitives let loose on the galaxy.
  11. micha
    What I mean is, there's nothing in the Config which modifies anything like that, nor in the associated PartModule code. The only thing which might get modified is the weight of the capsule, but I think the Kemini lab is weightless anyway. In either case KIS modifies the weight as well and the capsules work fine with that.
  12. micha
    Thanks, I've just confirmed it myself as well. No idea what's happening there.. EDIT: Nothing in log files, nothing in config files. Really no idea. Will just have to disable the Soviet-style pods from Kemini unless someone comes up with more information.
  13. micha
    Why would the plugins have to be rewritten from scratch? The point of C# and intermediate languages running in a VM is platform-independance. There's only one or two plugin mods that use native code, all the rest are fine. The major hurdle is that consoles have very stringent guidelines on how to deploy binaries (and for the purposes of this, yes, plugins are considered binaries) on their platforms. They would have to go through the same Q&A as the full game does. So unless there's a major shift from the platform owners, there's no way mods could be deployed in the same way as on PC. They -could- be deployed "officially" by Squad/whoever is doing the console port, but that's a headache I'm sure they don't want to take on as they'd then be responsible for any bug reports etc. So TL;DR, it's not a technical issue, it's a policy issue of why it's very very unlikely we'll ever see KSP mods on console.
  14. micha
    If you haven't come across him yet, I can highly recommend watching Scott Manley's YouTube videos about KSP. Quite a few years ago he did an entire video series for beginners, most of which should still be applicable. Rendezvous: Docking: Also, the "Docking Port Alignment Indicator" mod is -very- useful when docking..
  15. micha
    Not trying to white-knight the game, but it sounds like you're pushing the boundaries a little.. firstly part-counts, secondly non-core aspects of the game ("boats"?; the core is -space-). Regardless, the devs will probably be very happy if you can provide them with easily reproducible crash scenarios, ideally non-modded, which they can use to debug. Just complaining about stuff won't fix it though.
  16. micha
    How about it, any of you guys with problems tried to delete this file (it's in the root directory of your KSP install) and restarted the game and tried again? Last night I tried again with some more extreme launches. Rocket consisted of a Corvus Nosecone/Capsule/heatshield/decoupler stack placed on an overpowered rocket (couple of LT800 tanks and a S3 KS-25 or RK-7, no fins or anything else). Full throttle and launch! I was easily able to break the speed of sound as well as enter a 700kmx-100km sub-orbital flight, no flipping, starting to turn almost immediately after launch. Flying does depend on never tilting the rocket outside the yellow circle on the navball while in the atmosphere though!
  17. micha
    True for games which either require subscriptions, or have microtransactions, or embedded advertising or other linked services, or in a few very very unique cases, where the developers made a significant profit off the original sale and continued to improve the game post-release "for free". But money has to come from somewhere. EDIT: Ps, I'm assuming you weren't just talking about bug-fixes here but actual full-on new features. Bug fix updates yes, are pretty much standard these days, and deplorable; they shouldn't be needed in the first place, but everybody has become so accustomed to getting buggy software and having to wait a few release cycles until it's stable that that is the norm now. Squad has already said that some of the changes will be in the base game as well. There just might not be much to do with them without the DLC or mods (assuming modders will be able to use the new functionality without the DLC). We'll just have to wait and see exactly what's what once it's released, no point quibbling about details while we don't have any.
  18. micha
    Just a quick point on the ludicrous assertions that the Devs haven't been improving the game. I'm really sorry, but **where** have people been since 1.0? The base-game has been **significantly** changed/improved **for free* (to the players) since then. The people that bought the first DLC have **probably** (I don't have access to Squad's accounts so no way to prove/disprove this claim) helped fund some of that development. Again, on the claim that the devs have only increased "technical debt", what a load of bllcks. Many many bugs have gotten squashed. Sadly others have been introduced, but that's par-for-course for a complex piece of software. Regardless, it's definitely provable that the game, overall, is far more playable and stable than it used to be, as well as more feature-rich. Most of the old versions are still available for download; just run one against the current version and see for yourself. Now, whether any of those changes have been things **you personally** have wanted or not is immaterial. The fact is that many changes and improvements have been made that at least some people have wanted. Can't please everybody all the time and all that.
  19. micha
    While on the surface this might just look like a compilation of existing mods to you, there is more to it than that. For example, SEP has always had major issues placing experiments on the ground. This DLC must include a game-engine fix for this problem so overall surface interactions should become more stable. Another item interesting for me (since I maintain a mod which does something similar) is support for stock long-running experiments instead of insta-click science. It'll be fantastic to see what new functionality this opens up for modders. So no, it's not at all just "monetizing existing mods"... underlying game engine changes to support some ideas turn a hack into a feature, and that's only something Squad can do. Finally, the community has cried out for a long time for more things to do on planets, mods notwithstanding, and Squad is now delivering something to address that request.
  20. micha
    Given that's your take on this, why make such a big case about it? People will either buy it or they won't, and depending on how many people do either will give Squad an indication as to whether it was a waste of their time or not. Personally I'll definitely buy it if only to ensure the game keeps getting updates, including the free ones which benefit everybody. And for people who can't or won't buy it, it seems that at least part of the update is available in the form of mods.
  21. micha
    Fixed. Gaming really is pretty damn cheap entertainment these days. Even if you factor in the cost of your computer (let's say 1000USD for a basic gaming rig) you're still only at $0.30 per hour (in your case). And in general you really don't have to sink all that many hours into a game in order to start comparing favourably with other forms of entertainment. @Gameslinx: I'm afraid I also have to disagree with your point. Firstly we don't know precisely what bits of this DLC will be part of the base game and what will be in the DLC only (for example, Kerbal Inventories will be part of the base game...) and secondly, as already mentioned numerous times, KSP is a commercial product, not a charity. It's nobodies fault that your chosen career results in minimal income, but that won't turn the rest of the world into your charity; they need to eat too. As for "complete", the game is (was?) primarily about building and launching rockets. Having destinations, landing, and exploration came later. One can argue about the current depth of those experiences and how they could be improved and prettified but that was not the original focus. Everybody will have their own definition of what features are "required" in order to "complete" the game, but legally, the game was "complete" with v1.0. The fact it's still being developed with features added (many free) instead of in maintenance mode with only critical bug fixes coming out speaks volumes about the deverlopers' integrity.
  22. micha
    I'm really sorry, but I haven't been able to repro this issue. Either I build and fly rockets totally differently to you or there's magic happening on my PC. Perhaps if someone can send me their savefile which demos the issue as well as detailed instructions on how to repro using their specific rocket? Alternatively I'm happy to remove the drag cube config from the nose cone (or generally from all non-hollow parts in the mod) since they don't appear to be required anyway so not sure why OrionKermin put them in. Have just been reluctant to make any unnecessary changes to avoid changing the aim of the original mod too much. EDIT: actually, how are people who have removed the drag-cube config from the nosecone doing at parachute reentries; does that still work? I think the drag-cube is necessary on the nose-cone to make the parachutes work..
  23. micha
    @linuxgurugamer I've already added it to CKAN with @taniwha's permission A lot of "parts" in NEOS are never seen either in the Editor nor in Flight, they are only there to show up in the Tech Tree. So they never had a bulkheadProfile, causing problems in recent versions of KSP. I've given them "internal" as a bhp (will take suggestions for a more appropriate one name), and just referenced the "Miniaturisation" icon from the Tech Tree for CustomBulkheadProfiles (if any skilled icon designer wants to provide a more suitable one, I'll be more than happy). Slowly working my way towards the next release, hopefully before the end of the month, which will include these changes. And yes, I was thinking "recommends" rather than "requires". I'll have a play with FilterExtensions as well to make sure it plays nicely; thanks for the heads-up.
  24. micha
    If anybody is interested/keen to test out some changes I made to KEES that would be much appreciated. It's had a complete rewrite internally, should improve performance as it's mostly event driven now. Also fixes/improves some longstanding issues: Alarms are properly saved and restored, as well as started and stopped for all experiment states. Can no longer stop the flow of the resources using the tweakables menu. (applies to all experiments, not just KEES) Disable "Reset" and "Transmit" buttons on the Science Dialog. No official release package, just download the "GameData" folder from GitHub for this tag.
  25. micha
    Hey @TeddyBearBonfire, you'll be pleased to hear that the Kerbalism devs will add have added code to resolve this in their next release. Details on their bugtracker in this issue.
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