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Everything posted by Snark
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Nope, that's pretty much it. Of course, you can leverage your knowledge. Unlike me, you know what all the mods you've installed actually do-- at the very least, I expect you'll have somewhat of a clue which of them may be tinkering with resources in stock fuel tanks. So that may help you narrow it down more quickly. If you're a dab hand with scripting tools like perl or whatever, you could always grep your GameData tree for MM-enabled .cfg files that contain the string "RESOURCE", or something like that, I suppose, which might help give some idea. But yeah, short of something clever, Ye Olde Binary Search process-of-elimination is basically it.
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Thanks, but your full mod list isn't actually helpful to me, since of course I haven't the faintest clue what most of your mods do, technically, because I didn't write them and don't use them myself. That gigantic list does make it overwhelmingly likely, though, that it is indeed a mod interaction with something in there. So, what you need to do is to establish which mod you've installed is incompatible with SimpleFuelSwitch. Once you've done that, then it'll be clearer what a solution might be. Let us know what you find out!
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How to plan a tylo gravity assist?
Snark replied to Space Nerd's topic in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials
Glad to hear you sorted out your problem! For anyone else who may be reading this thread and wondering the answer to Space Nerd's question above: yes, Laythe can definitely do that. Laythe reverse assists can also be very helpful, just like Tylo's. The instructions for a Laythe assist are pretty much the same as for Tylo, as described above. I've never tried to quantify exactly how much dV one can squeeze out each one, but it's "hundreds of m/s" in both cases, and both of them are good enough to capture to Jool from an interplanetary trajectory. The main difference is that Laythe has an atmosphere, which means that aerobraking's another potential tool on the table, depending on ship design-- which obviously isn't a thing on vacuum-clad Tylo. Which one's "better", in general, depends on circumstances and intended mission profile. Laythe has aerobraking, which is great if you're equipped to take advantage of it. But Tylo has a higher orbit and is easier at capturing to a less-eccentric Jool orbit, which can save you some dV if your destination is one of the upper Jool moons. -
I am woefully unprepared to use gravity assists
Snark replied to Reinhart Mk.1's topic in KSP1 Discussion
Are you doing it for the challenge (i.e. precisely because they're hard)? Or are you trying to use them to make life easier, i.e. "Oh, I'll use a gravity assist to save myself some dV so that building my rocket will be easier!" If it's the former, then great-- nothing wrong with that, a big part of KSP is all about finding interesting challenges for yourself. If it's the latter... honestly, I gotta say that in most cases, my experience has been that they're far more trouble than they're worth. It's pretty straightforward to build a ship in KSP to get anywhere you need to go without needing a gravity assist... and gravity assists are hard. They're difficult and finicky to set up, they're really hard to make accurate enough to get what you want, and in most cases they honestly don't give you all that much advantage (i.e. the dV savings is minimal). In other words: lots of time and effort for minimal benefit. The one place I've found where they make sense to me (i.e. provide a large benefit for minimal effort)-- in the stock solar system, anyway-- is using Tylo or Laythe to do a reverse gravity assist for capturing to Jool. Done right, this can save several hundred m/s of dV, and they're pretty straightforward to set up. Detailed instructions for setting up a Tylo reverse assist here: -
Well, yes and no. Yes, in the sense that those are indeed errors relating to the config files from this mod. No, in the sense that SimpleFuelSwitch works just fine for most folks, so it's just broken for you-- which means there's something about your local installation that's giving SimpleFuelSwitch a tummy-ache. My guess would be that it's some mod interaction, but that's just a guess. In any case there's not much I can do about it from this end, since it works just fine for me and there's no way for anyone other than you to know what's going on with your local install. First off the bat: what version of ModuleManager are you running? (I suspect you're fine, here, just a sanity check to make sure you're not running some old version.) Assuming that your MM is up to date (version 4.0.2, which is what's installed with SFS), then I'd guess it's some interaction with some other mod on your system that tinkers with fuel tanks in some way. What other mods are you running that touch fuel tanks?
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i dont have steam ksp... how do i update???
Snark replied to KSPISCLEARLYAMILSIM's topic in Kerbal Network
Hello, and welcome to the forums! Moving to Kerbal Network, since it's about purchasing the game rather than the gameplay itself. That will entirely depend on where you bought it from. Where did you buy it? -
Most efficient way to level up pilots?
Snark replied to jpinard's topic in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials
Go to other planets and moons in the solar system. It's the only way. Visiting Mun and Minmus will get you to level 2. If you want to get to level 3, you need to visit Mun/Minmus and at least peek outside Kerbin's SoI. But to get to anything higher than 3, you're going to need to visit the other bodies in the solar system. Level 5's going to require visiting multiple bodies. On a somewhat related note, something to be aware of: one handy ability of the big crewed science lab, other than its science functionality, is as a training center. I mention this just because a lot of players aren't aware of it-- it's one of KSP's lesser-known features. If you have a science lab with you, then when you visit Duna-or-wherever, you can put your kerbals (any profession, doesn't have to be a scientist) into the science lab and train them up. That allows them to raise their level immediately and locally, without having to schlep all the way back to kerbin for the level increase. [EDIT] ha, ninja'd! -
Poor Performance 1.7 and 1.5
Snark replied to Sebamon2040's topic in KSP1 Technical Support (PC, modded installs)
Hello, and welcome to the forums! Moving to Technical Support. What are your system specs? And if you look at Task Manager (I'm guessing you're on Windows?), what does it say about KSP's memory usage? -
How to plan a tylo gravity assist?
Snark replied to Space Nerd's topic in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials
Could you post a screenshot of the map view of Jool system, showing your incoming trajectory and where / how you're intercepting Tylo? Would make it easier to give specific "you need to do X, Y, and Z" type instructions. The technique is going to end up being essentially what I described at length here, but I realize that's awfully long and written in completely general terms. Having your specific example will make it easier to give concrete, specific advice. Aerobraking. Laythe has an atmosphere-- use it, if you can! What sort of vessel are you flying? Does it have a heat shield, i.e. can it survive going through an atmosphere at well over 3000 m/s? Or does it have to worry about overheating and blowing up easily? Anyway, here's what you want to do (I'm assuming that your Jool Ap is something way up high, i.e. much higher than Laythe's orbit, to start with), if you're trying to minimize your dV expenditure and are fine with it taking a lot of time on the KSP clock: Step 1: Set up the geometry of your Laythe encounter. TL;DR: Coast up to Ap, then adjust your Pe to match the radius of Laythe's orbit, and make sure you're zero inclination relative to Laythe. Details in spoiler. Step 2: Set up the timing of your Laythe encounter. TL;DR: Coast down to Pe, then do a small burn to adjust the timing of your orbit so that you'll encounter Laythe at next Pe. Details in spoiler. Step 3: Encounter Laythe TL;DR: Either aerobrake to Laythe orbit, or else do a big burn at your Laythe Pe to capture. Details in spoiler. -
A few beginner game play questions
Snark replied to GungaDin's topic in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials
To briefly summarize what folks have said in more detail: Kerbals: Pilots have SAS ability. Non-pilots don't. The higher the pilot level, the fancier SAS operations they can do. Probe cores: The Stayputnik has no SAS (it's like a non-pilot Kerbal). All other probe cores (OKTO and higher) have SAS ability. The higher level the probe core, the fancier SAS operations they can do. So if you want SAS, you either need to have a pilot on board, or you need an OKTO-or-better probe core. Yeah, pretty much. Most crew pods make this fairly easy because the hatch is on the "up" side... but some of them have multiple hatches, and of course probe cores are fairly symmetric. So if your ship lacks visual "cues" to show which way is up, then you can add one. For example, in my own ships: I always attach little radial things (like science instruments, or small radial antennas) on the up side of the ship. So I can see at a glance which way is up. Yes. Use the "V" key. There are several different camera "modes", and that key cycles among them. The default view is "Auto", but it has a few other modes, one of which is "Locked", which does exactly what you describe. So, all you have to do is keep hitting "V" until the message "Camera: LOCKED" shows at the top of your screen, and then it'll do exactly what you want. To switch it back to the default mode, hit "V" until the message "Camera: AUTO" appears. (The other modes are "FREE", "ORBITAL", and "CHASE", which I won't go into here but you can play with them to see what they do, in case they're useful to you.) -
Looking for a mod with airplane engines
Snark replied to Star-Eagle's topic in KSP1 Mods Discussions
Moving to Add-on Discussions. -
"Wheneverest" Pretty sure the suit's a hard requirement at that altitude.
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Unfortunately, for those particular images I can't, because I didn't save the originals-- sorry, didn't occur to me that anyone might want them for anything, I figured they were just quickie throwaways for a forum post that I figured folks might find mildly interesting or amusing. Here are a few others, though, at 1920x1080. By the way, if anyone else wants to play around with BASE jumping off Mount Kerbin (or whatever name Galileo sees fit to bestow upon it), some tips in spoiler that may save some time.
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Moving to Gameplay Questions.
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Fuel Consumption Calculation
Snark replied to Aelipse's topic in KSP1 General Mod Development Help and Support
Moving to General Mod Development Help & Support. -
No. It's fine. That's my point. That's why fine control mode is such a valuable tool, and why you should always have it turned on when you're maneuvering with RCS. As long as your CoM is somewhere in between the ring of thrusters at the top and the ring of thrusters at the bottom, then it will work. It's fine if it's "lopsided" in the sense that the CoM is much closer to one set of thrusters than the other. If your CoM is, way closer to one end than the other, then the game will just apply a lot more thrust to the near ones than the far ones in order to cancel out the torque. It just works. I'm literally telling you that the craft you pictured above is already just fine. You literally only have to hit the CAPS LOCK key when you turn on RCS. That's it. One key press, and then it'll just work for you. Yes. If you want to put 4-way thrusters on all of them, fine, that's your lookout-- all I was saying is that you don't need it. As long as one of your two rings of thrusters has fore/aft capability, that's enough. So, for example, on my own craft, I only use four of the 4-way thrusters, and at the other end I use four of the linear ones instead of another four 4-ways. I do this because the linear ones are lighter than the 4-ways, so I might as well use 'em if I don't need the heavier ones. Or I may not need any at all, if there's RCS functionality built into something else. For example, if I've got a craft that has a Mk 1-2 command pod at one end... it's already got lateral thrusters, just not fore/aft. So for a craft like that, all I need to do is to put a ring of 4-way thrusters at the opposite end of the vessel and I'm done.
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A few pics from Val's visit to that 14-km high mountain near Woomerang. That's a fun place. Definitely would love to see a micro-biome or some other reason for players to go there. (maybe put a black monolith on it, too?) Gallery in spoiler.
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Per the KSP wiki, Woomerang's at 45° 17′ 24″ N, 136° 6′ 36″ E. Looks like it's at the same spot in JNSQ. The mountain I'm talking about here is a little ways to the southeast of that-- very visible from Woomerang, it's a striking feature with flat top and near-vertical sides, like Devil's Tower in Wyoming grown to monster proportions. Will get more specific coords in a little bit, when I can plop a ship there. [EDIT] Okay, mountain's at 43° 49′ 5″ N, 114° 26′ 19″ E. Looks like it's a bit over 14 km high at the summit.
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...So, I happened to find a monolith on Kerbin (not the one by KSC). It doesn't seem to be "active", though (e.g. no tech granted, etc.) I'm guessing it's just there for window dressing? A suggestion: Since it looks as though this is a non-random monolith that's deliberately placed in a specific location (and I'm guessing there may be others?) ... perhaps add a new biome to the Kerbin map, "Kerbin Monoliths"? It would be a very tiny biome, just a very small radius around each of the fixed monoliths (excluding the one at KSC). I think this would be nifty for a few reasons: Should be pretty simple to implement Provides the player with a little "reward" for finding the monolith ("hey, found a new biome, cool!"). Bragging rights, a few extra gatherable science points. You could probably have some fun with the science result descriptions. Doesn't unbalance the game-- since it's on Kerbin, the science values are pretty small, so it's only just a few extra science points. Seems like a lot of player appeal for a fairly modest investment of time. In a similar vein: I happened to notice that there's a humongous mountain not far from Woomerang-- it doesn't look like all that much until you get close, then you realize it's well over 10 km high. However, it appears to just be "Kerbin Mountains", in terms of biome. It's a particularly hard place to land: high enough altitude to make landing a plane tricky, plus it's a fairly small target. Since finding the mountain is a minor geography achievement, and landing atop it takes some effort and skill... how about another micro-biome, as described above? "Kerbin Peaks", or something like that. Would be tiny, would only apply to the very top of the highest mountains. Same rationale as the monolith one above. (I notice that the "micro-biomes" around stock KSC, like "Runway" and so forth, only apply when one is landed-- being in the air over them still counts as "Shores" or whatever. If that's something that's simple to do with config, might be a good touch for the suggested micro-biomes above. i.e. simply flying (or orbiting, for that matter) over a super-high peak or a monolith wouldn't count, one has to land there.) Thoughts?
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Gravity Assists for Dummies
Snark replied to Reinhart Mk.1's topic in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials
Actually, I should qualify that. There's one place that I've found gravity assists to be actually helpful and worthwhile, and that's capturing to Jool. A reverse gravity assist (i.e. to lower your speed, rather than increase it) is pretty easy to set up, using Tylo or Laythe (they both work pretty well-- which one's "better" depends on your intended mission profile, but Tylo's probably more common for most cases). A well-executed Tylo reverse gravity assist can get you several hundred meters per second of dV; it's enough that when you set it up right, you can directly capture to Jool on an interplanetary trip from Kerbin without needing to burn at all-- just the assist is enough. (You'll almost certainly want to do a burn afterwards to adjust your orbit and set a course for whichever moon you're heading to, but it's still quite a lot of dV savings.) Detailed step-by-step instructions for setting up a Tylo reverse assist here, for the curious: -
Throttling hinge control??
Snark replied to conqueringspace's topic in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials
Derp. Yes, of course, I and K. Long day, I was tired. -
Well yes, that's what I meant. Sorry, I assumed that was obvious; the "location" of the node itself is pretty much irrelevant, there's no reason why anyone would ever want to point at that. is simply "what direction do I burn," which is obviously very useful. Executing a node consists of centering the navball's crosshairs on and then burning until the burn meter reaches zero.
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What bewing said. Short version is that maneuver lock points you in the direction of your maneuver node (if there is one), and target lock points you straight at your target's location.
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Moving to Add-on Discussions.
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Gravity Assists for Dummies
Snark replied to Reinhart Mk.1's topic in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials
Nope, you've pretty much nailed it. Well done. First of all, make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. If you're doing it for the challenge of doing so, or to learn about orbital mechanics, great! But if you're trying to use it for practical benefit... honestly I think it's more trouble than it's worth. Hard and finicky to set up, limited in how much oomph it can give, and hard enough to aim that there's a good chance that you lose more dV to lack of precision than you gain from the gravity boost. But if you're just in it for the challenge, of course that's a great reason. Some practical advice: Make your flyby as close as you possibly can. You want your Pe to be the absolute lowest you can manage without hitting surface or atmosphere. Make sure you've got the angles right. You get the maximum benefit when your Pe is directly behind the body. Don't go whizzing past too fast. If you go streaking past the body like a bullet, so that your path doesn't bend much, then you don't get much benefit.