Xeiki

I was actually contemplating going back through the older stuff they showed off, because I seem to remember that things looked better when the game was first announced, and that they were showing off features which are nowhere to be found right now. Almost feels like they started over from scratch after the delay, because 2-3 years in, I'd expect a new game to be in the state it is in right now (with a lot of the basics not yet being fully done). But that's, admittedly, just my uneducated guess. Some games take longer, of course.

This right here is the main thing. Seeing bugs and issues KSP1 had in the early stages cropping up again is just a huge red flag. That plus the performance issues. Like, yes, performance optimization comes last in development, we all know that - but if basically nobody is able to run your game with more or less all features missing after such a long development time ... ooof, just oof. It all speaks to very poor planning. Like assets not being done (missing cockpits, etc.). And fine, you can say "They spent that time on more important things like coding", but then, there's almost no features in the game. Not even reentry heating. So clearly, that stuff's not done either. So then one could say "Ah, but they spent all that time building a better base to build upon", but, uh ... see point one ... And one does ask themselves what all this development time was actually spent on, and what it'll be spent on in the future, and if the fundamental issues can be overcome.

En contraire, mon fraire, I didn't pay anything, because I didn't want what was being offered. So I guess I can complain as much as I want now.

>50€ is not full price Oooooof ... Yeah, I think we might be living on different planets.

You know, as long as people keep making up excuses for developers delivering unfinished alpha versions of their games at full price, that practice will continue. And because people refuse to vote with their wallets, developers keep pushing out unlabeled alphas and are rewarded for it, on the promise that, eventually, they will release the product you actually paid for. Which in pretty much every other industry would be considered a scam. And no, I don't care about the reasons. It's the developer's job to deliver a product in a somewhat finished state; I don't care how. My only duty is to pay for it if I want to play it. Or don't. I do hope that KSP2 will end up better than Bannerlord, because Bannerlord, even after finally leaving alpha ... checks post above ... seven years late, is still missing lots of expected and promised features. Like vanilla diplomacy which is more than just window dressing. Beyond the graphics, its not a fundamentally better game than Mount & Blade 1, and while the first one's jankyness can be excused because small studio + little money, the second one's can not. Same goes for KSP. So far, all I see is pretty graphics, almost no features, and probably the worst performance out of a new release in ages. And some stuff is outright laughable. Like, we're back to wobbly rockets without an autostrut feature. I'm sorry, but there's just no excuse for stuff like that after a game has been pushed back three years from its original release date, and we went through that whole learning process once already. We're not talking about developing an actual rocket here - it's just a video game. Tackling problems which have been tackled and adressed before. The Manhatten Project took less time than KSP2's development. So I don't see why there's even a discussion here, including about the minutia of what didn't get finished when; it didn't get finished. That's what matters. The state of the game (and broad swathes of video game development in general) is ridiculous. And that doesn't change regardless of whether or not the game will be in a playable and feature complete state ten years from now. Which is also a ridiculous - but sadly not surprising - timeline.

Hey Nertea, just a quick question: You got the NCR-N Nose Cargo Bay, which I like very much. Would it be possible for you to include a flat variant? That would be really useful for designing cargo pods that are not meant for athmospheric reentry. Or is there already a mod that adds that kind of door, so that you can close of a cargo bay and open it from the front?

Hi! I started with Daggerfall because Arena was basically the Beta for Daggerfall. They used the same engine, and so forth, and came out in the space of 2 years, basically the same timespan as KSP Early Access/Release. About the same improvement has been made between the two games in both cases. I originally wanted to compare only TES III, IV and V because they are all 3D, but decided to include Daggerfall because it was the most ambitious, and decided to lump IV and V together, because, imho, they show the same trend while not being improvements over Morrowind. In the end, all comparisons are bad in one way or another anyways @Regex: Granted, most game mechanics got changed in some way, but the improvement part is debatable, that depends on personal preference and standpoint. They basically moved away from sandbox-gameplay to themepark gameplay. And of course you could make ridiculous characters in Daggerfall and Morrowind - in Skyrim you get ridiculous by default, or to put it differently, since almost everything is leveled, stay at the same level of "one step ahead" the whole game. Or as Todd Howard, the lead designer, would put it: "The player feels awesome all the time". Except he doesn't, but thats getting quite off-topic right now. And the "Running around in circles & casting the same spell over and over" - thats basically training, isn't it? Thats what athletes do, after all. And since you are bringing up Minecraft - it sold 122 million copies. Of course nobody changes that. KSP sold 2 million. That is quite the difference if you take into account the developement requirements of both games. I think I will stop now, I don't want to clutter the thread with my long responses, guess what I want to get at is this: KSP is reasonably successfull, and as I understand it, it recovered its developement cost and turned out a small profit. I don't know what plans TakeTwo has for the games future, but since they said they want to expand the franchise, in my mind that means expanding the mass market appeal. And that, in turn, means, easier accessability, which in turn means watered down core concepts, or at least shortcuts to circumnavigate those hurdles for the player. I think that thats the most likely path to take with future KSP products. Maybe I am completely wrong about all that, and I sure do hope so, but that depends on market research done by TakeTwo. The only way that I can see that KSP stays as it is, is if TakeTwo is content with small profits and a relatively small player-base. If they decide to keep the franchise as a niche product, then everything is fine. I guess I was just more comfortable when KSP was in the hands of a small studio.

If that was true, Elder Scrolls would have gained skills per game, not lost them since Daggerfall, after all, that would be the opposite of watering down. As I said, this descision is not made with you or me in mind. It is guided towards the greatest potential crowd - and that is still, incidentally, kids (or, casual gamers, if you like). Look at Star Wars for example - it is marketed almost exclusively at children and teens. Why do you think we got the Ewoks, for crying out loud. And what is the most downloaded KSP mod ever? Mechjeb - which (if it works) flies your spaceship far better than most of us could ever fly it. Granted, I use it too - mostly for transfer windows and when I'm roleplaying some kind of unmanned program - but the feature in itself, if implemented in stock, kills a huge element of replayability and delayed gratification. Because if a feature is there - people WILL use it. It gives instant gratification. No tedious learning of orbital mechanics, just punch in your desired target, voila, you are already there, minus the wait time. And if you fail, it wasn't even your fault - mechjeb sucks! I think that appeals to more people than "Ok, here is your formula to calculate transfer windows, everything else you have to find out for yourself". @Vanamonde: No, no hysteria, at least from me. I haven't played KSP for a long time, after 1000 hours I have done everything I have the will to put energy into. I reallo don't care that much. I just like to talk.

Hehe, rant time "...walk the line of making more money per user [while not] negatively impact[ing] the user experience" = get away with as much an increase in prices/microtransactions as they can, while still making a net gain in profits, even if they lose some customers (meaing you, the current audience). This also means more "mainstreaming" of the game. Mass-Market compability. And that means removing features that may inconvenience users or turn away potential customers.* I am not sure what would get cut - but I can never imagine beforehand. Let me explain with a seemingly unrelated example: The Elder Scrolls. Lets start with TES II: Daggerfall. Came out in 1996. Visionary game, to date the largest landmass of any open world game. Mostly randomly generated content though, kinda like No Mans Sky, really, but apparently not so excrementsty. Built around the D&D Role Playing System. Minimal Graphics (of course), and intended for a specific audience, namely Pen&Paper players who want to play something on the PC as well. A niche product, but still reasonably successfull. Introduced most of the background story to the games, and garnered some Mass-Market appeal. Next came the much more well known TES III: Morrowind. Came out in 2002, and change a whole lot of things. Everything is handcrafted now, graphics are at the forefront of their time, the background story is hugely expanded, the game world itself is strange and unfamiliar, even compared to the previous games. Many things are streamlined: Less skills, not able to buy houses anymore, far fewer factions, map significantly smaller (like ... 1% the size of Daggerfall), easier controls, etc. But many things stay the same: Combat is still based on dice-rolls, as are most skill checks. Character creation stays pretty complex, learning curve is still high. You are still required to read and understand what is said to you (no voiced dialogue). Garners huge mass market appeal and praise from ciritcs and players alike. Now fast forward to 2011 and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Game-world-size is still the same, or even slightely less (depends on your metric). Graphics got a huge upgrade. Dialogue options got reduced massively, thanks to fully voiced characters. Character Creation is simplified (to the extreme, some might say). A third of the skills is axed, as are classes, attributes, meaningful background information (200 years have passed since the last game, yet there are almost no new books, for example), and first and foremost: Everything is streamlined. You are not required to read - just follow the pointer. You don't need to explore anymore, everything gets marked on your map beforehand. Equipment slots on your character are down from 15 to 9, the first thing you are introduced to is the fast travel menu, weapons don't degrade anymore, potionmaking can not fail, etc. etc. There are comprehensive lists out there. Oh, and it was developed with consoles in mind, so the UI is utter garbage as well. So, what has all this meaningless banter to do with KSP? Well, thats really simple. When Bethesda Softworks, who develop Elder Scrolls to this day, started out, they had a vision, a goal: To create the Pen&Paper experience for the PC. But over the years, something changed, and that was that they were acquired by ZeniMax Media due to financial troubles. Now they got cash, allright, and they still could develop their game, but they also had to deliver. To create a game that wouldn't sell would be a serious concern. Create two in a row that don't sell, and you are out. Forever. Mind you, they at least still own the IP-Rights to the franchise. So they did the only thing they could: They changed their target audience. And naturally, they targeted the biggest audience they could. And that was not the Pen&Paper crowd. It was the casual, instant-gratification-but-zero-attention-span crowd. Granted, that process took some time, but it happened. Just look at Fallout 4, their latest and greatest. And the same thing will, without fail, happen to KSP. You all who proclaim "We are the community", are the target audience for the game that was originally envisioned. So while the practically guaranteed KSP-2 may still please you (larger budget, much more polished, more comfortable to use, but basically the same game, with some features missing), KSP-3 will not be your game anymore. Because you are not the target audience, and TakeTwo wants to make money. Of course, they are a buisiness. They are not evil, they just do what is best for buisiness. And while you, or we, the current core community, is very vocal, because we care about the game - we are still very few. Lets say, a few tenthousands. KSP sold what, 2 million kopies? Drop of water on a hot stone. We just don't have the financial power to make the developers and publishers do what we want, not anymore at least, with a big publisher behind it all. And please, don't buy into that "KSP development remains independent from TakeTwo" talk. It can't be, since T2 owns the property now, and they decide what to fund. Oh, and another point. Yes, ElderScrolls is extremely modable, and mod friendly. Some even go so far as to say that the base game is purposefully bad, because "Mods will fix it". But mods can't fix everything. Let's say, for example, the Aeromodel is not modable in a future KSP release. Out the window go all the better athmosphere or realism mods. Or that you can't add planets anymore - because those are a paid feature of an expansion pack. The possibilities for limitations are endless. And you have to realize, that it does not matter to TakeTwo what kind of game KSP is, just how well it sells. If it were a tree growing simulator, where you just watch trees grow in real time, but half the planets population buys this - T2 does not care - even if the vocal minority is begging for features like "Let us choose which trees to grow!!" and the old guard is whining all day about missing features. So no, in the long term, I don't like this at all, because I can see where it is going already. Maybe I am wrong, I sure do hope so. Maybe there is enough of a niche-market, like there is for the Paradox Grand Strategy Titles, which still make a profit, mainly due to very pricey add-ons. Europa Universalis with all addons costs about 150$ right now. Maybe TakeTwo is going that route. Or they focus on the "fun" and "child friendly" aspects of the game: Plushy Kerbals with big eyes, they are so cute, after all. Then it becomes the next Spore. Well, I am done, lets just hope for the best. *There is one well known and financially successful exception to this rule, which is the Dark Souls franchise, which is entirely built around high difficulty and a steep lerning curve. I am excluding multiplayer games that are built solely for competitive play here.

Hi, just a quick question: Would it be possible for you to create a bearing for custom centrifuges? Basically your centrifuge without the arms, just a section that is static at both ends with a middle part that you can attach parts to? I am currently using Infernal Robotics for that but it is wobbly and part intensive.

So, that means that there is no fix? Guess if have to pass this mod by then. Thanks anyways! Edit: Now I have that issue even when I uninstalled this mod. Is there a way to fix this? I thought once i revert back to the unmodded version the stock issue would disappear as well.

I don't know if this is intended or not, but when I am at the surface of Laythe, some of the terrain is dark blue. Where can I disable that change? And I don't mean the cloud shadows, they are fine, but the terrain is colored differently.

First: Really nice ship you got there! Second, regarding IR and docking ports: I don't know if this applies to you, but I tested a tanker rover meant to refuel my Laythe SSTO, it has two docking ports of different sizes at the end of an IR arm. When I docked with my SSTO, and undocked, control switched to the SSTO. I changed to the tanker and everything was messed up (IR parts oriented the wrong way, controls not working right). Then I found a procedure that works: I docked the to craft, quicksaved. Then I rightclicked on the Rover Control Pod, and selected "Control from here", and undocked. Control stayed with the rover (I did not need to switch vessels). I quicksaved again, IR parts were looking fine so far. I tried the IR controls, and everything went bonkers (parts disconnected after jumping to a different position). So i reloaded my quicksave from after I undocked, but before I tried to move the IR parts (beware that both ships immediatly redocked upon loading, so I had to redo the control switch part, and drove the rover away witchout touching the IR controls. That seems to be important). When the docking ports were distanced enough so they would not redock, I quicksaved again. IR parts looked fine. I loaded my quicksave, and the controls worked fine, the IR parts were oriented the right way, and everything seemed to work. I don't know if that was pure luck, but the important bits seem to be: Remaining in control of the Vessel with IR parts upon undock, quicksaving and reloading, and only then trying to move the IR parts. I hope that helps, maybe someone else can try to verify this.

Here's an idea: Everyone who created content for KSP/this forum who is not happy with the change, remove that content until the old forum is back. You will have to write new OPs anyways, since all your old ones are unreadable. They say "never change a running system", and since KSP has about 2 years of active life left, you should have put up with outdated forum software.

Ok, thank you very much, going to try it out.

Ok, thanks and which version do I download? The one from a page back for 1.0.5? And then which version of EVE? 7.4 or the new one?

I'm sorry if I am just too stupid to find it, but, are there any definite installation instructions now? If you please, could you point me to the required downloads to make this beautiful mod work again? Edit: I am running KSP 32bit and Windows 64bit. I don't really want do meddle with 64bit hacks, so, if there is no way to launch this on 32bit, I'll just wait until everything works out of the box again.

I intended magnetic shielding indeed just for protection against solar radiation. The crew compartment is at the front, with fuel tanks before the engine. I also imagined that, since a nuclear lightbulb is possible, material science has advanced enough to allow relatively lightweight shadow shields, protecting a cone around the ship. For EVA, the engine has to be shut down. But i think i am derailing the thread too much, maybe a should open up my own. Thanks again for the awesome mod, it blends in really well with the stock game!

I say no. I enjoyed KSP most when it was more cartoonish. It was still hard, sure, but it grew on me. It was less annoying, somehow. Of course, airplanes flew nothing like real airplanes. Rockets wobbled and broke apart. No heating, no crew transfer, no fairings, totally unrealistic aeromodel. But it was FUN! It always seemed like there was some solution if one tried hard enough. Now, some things just don't work. A simulator is even more restricted. Thats ok for some things, like competitive gaming, flight simulators, etc. KSP should be a "gamey game", where you beat the game, and it's quirks, not the poor rendition of real life physics that are arbitrarily applied to some aspects of the game. GTA is fun because it is not realistic. KSP is the same kind of sandbox, in my mind.

Yep, my question was about the realism side of things. I was imagening a low power mode, about 50 to 200kw, with active cooling for power generation in deep space, but i don't know if the engine even works at such low outputs. In a more meta gamey sense, it's just about part counts. I am building a long range reusable vessel, and read something about magnetic field shielding for radiation protection, which requires about 200kw of power, and i couldn't find a place to put one of the Near Future nuclear reactors. The config editing is rather straight forward, i just copied a line from the RTG config and increased the output to mimic constant generation, with the generated heat added accordingly. But i am now at 401 parts anyways, unfortunatly.

I agree, more RCS options are definitely needed. A complete set of 1, 2, 4 and 5-way parts for Monoprop als well as LF/Ox. It would also be nice if the RCS ports on the capsules and cockpits would be made functional instead of just cosmetic.

I can't tell you why, I can only say that in my experience, the farther away you are from Kerbin, the less accurate the Orbits and Nodes become. That may be just an illusion - but your satellites should be fine under time Warp, as orbits appear to be fixed then. But it can happen that you enter timewarp at a large fluctuation wich changes the orbit permanently.

Just a quick question, as i don't fully understand the internal workings of a lightbulb engine: Would it be possible to run it as a kind of reactor to power a heat engine to create electricity? If the engine is running, it is of course generating heat, but if you are not producing any thrust, would it be possible to run it at low power to generate electricity?

I just never touch the athmosphere. Since in my book looks are as am important as functionality, heatshields are out of the question. Ships with one heatshield have no field of view forwards, and ships that need more than one to cover all parts are just plain ugly. Also, those strange athmospheres are no fun. Kerbin is kinda ok, Laythe is of no use and Jool is just plain stupid. Dipped 1m into the athmosphere, half of my ship exploded. Half a second later the rest followed suit.

This mod is great, i was really disappointed that there are no new planets in 1.0, this fixed it! Only problem is that i can't run it with the NearFuture packs and Astronomers Pack, too much Ram usage. Is there a really lightweight cloud mod? Tekto seems so naked without clouds.