tsaven

Honestly, I've been noticing massive performance hits with USI bases too, but I'm pretty heavily modded so I wasn't sure if it was something else. I've got a Minmus base with four disconnected components of 40-80 parts each, and it chugs at slideshow-like 7fps. What makes me suspect that it's USI is that it's only happening when I'm within 150m. Flying a new resupply craft in I get the temporary physics stall at 2.2km, but after that it's a solid 25fps until I get to within 150m of the base and then it drops into the slideshow range. As soon as I get more than 150m away from any of the base components, framerate shoots back up.

RD, I'm hesitant to question structural decisions made for a mod that you've stated many times you make for your own enjoyment, but do you think this makes pilots or explorers slightly over-powered? It seems to deviate a bit from the overall theme of USI-LS, or at least my personal take on it. Perhaps rather than all pilots being immune, it should be something only for 4 star or 5 star pilots? This would make sense to me, as they're much more experience and comfortable in space, not needing as many ammenities as those young squishy inexperienced newbie kerbals. Or perhaps instead of being completely immune, they could have a built-in hab multiplier (tied to stars?) that applies only to them? Another option I suppose would be limiting it only to Kerbals with a high Courage rating, but I think that's less in line with the feel of your mods.

Damn, I REALLY hope that changes with RDs implementation. I feel orbital construction to be an almost mandatory feature, taking it away by dropping EL would be a really awful downgrade.

I've only ever used EL for building stuff in space, at a station in LKO using MKs and SPs shipped up from Kerbin to be able to build spindly and ungainly crafts that could never survive a conventional launch. How will GC change this?

For now, it's disabled. The mechanic actually still exists in the game, it just currently doesn't have any effect. It used a hidden resource (SpareParts?) to emulate "Wear" on a part, which would reduce its effect as it got more worn. Wear could be repaired by application of MaterialKits and an engineer. RD disabled it a few versions ago, and hasn't yet decided if he'll bring it back or not.

Hey, what do I need to change to get the ScanSAT parts to scan for Silicates when using USI MKS? I added the following lines to the SCANsat_Resource_Scanner.cfg file: { name = SCANresourceDisplay sensorType = 268435456 ResourceName = Silicates } Into what I assumed were the appropriate parts (anything that had FOR[SCANsat]:NEEDS[KolonyTools] in it). And while now Silicates show up as a resource on the Narrow-Band scanner, it simply reads "No data" still. Is there something else I need to change?

I mean, you could probably kludge together something, but why?

You CAN but it's tragically slow when you consider the amount of MKs and SPs that most rocket constructions need with EL. To have any functional base that can launch more than tiny satellites once a year, you have to scale production WAY up, to an almost ridiculous level (21+ refineries, feeding 4+ assembly plants). And you also need SpecParts, which have their own production chain requirements. And then Machinery to keep it all humming. RD has stated that the upcoming patch will re-balance Refineries, to crank their output levels up, partially due to people using EL (I think). Also, this is probably the wrong thread to have this discussion.

No, an orbital station can never be 100% self sustaining. This is intentional and by design. With USI-LS you will always need to ship in Fertilizer. If you add MKS, you'll also need to ship in either Machinery or MaterialKits (although these can be manufactured on other planets, but requires quite complex bases) As an aside, MKS-Lite isn't really a thing right now. I know RD has plans to bring it back in some form, but currently MKS Full is the only option. MKS is a very complex, but also amazing mod that is very focused on manufacturing and permanent colonies, but it takes a LOT of work to make that happen. It's not a mod where you can just plop down a couple modules and call it a base. One more thing. If you're using EpL (I think the mod author calls it EL, and he hates it when people call it EPL) and install MKS, MKS changes the resource requirements for building stuff. Instead of needing RocketParts, you need MaterialKits and SpecializedParts, both of which can be manufactured on-side with the other MKS modules (Again though, it takes a TON of work!)

I THINK you can use the small ISRU to make Fertilizer from Ore? Someone else will need to confirm that, as I use both USI-LS and MKS and I can't remember which mod that is a function of. For an orbital station, you'll still need to ship fertilizer in, this is intentional and by design. A landed system somewhere with a good ore concentration can be self-sustaining. If you choose to install MKS (Which I HIGHLY recommend, it's an amazing mod although it's very complex), it introduces a few other resources that fertilizer can be made from, and specific parts to do it.

Realistically you'll need both. You can TRY to use just the Agroponics, but you'll need multiples of them and will go through a LOT of Fertilizer if you don't have a recycling module to help reduce demand.

I hadn't posted a log, but I certainly can. Which one do you need?

Looks like RealPlume updated for 1.2, so now this finally shows up in CKAN. And it's AWESOME, my god I can't express how much I missed this mod! It adds so much to the game, finally SRBs feel like they've got the real punch and they ignite with a crack that it always feels like they should.

KAS works as long as you bring a bunch of Kerbals along, as most of the parts will require 3-4 of them to move/attach. You can also assemble on-site using the included docking ports and wheels, by driving them around to each other. I personally try to land the bases all as a single part, using the lander engines so helpfully provided in the mod.

I don't believe there's any change to the solar power curve, although there is a change in the relay antenna strength curve. Much beyond Duna, it's all about RTGs. If you're heavily modded already, I assume you've looked at NFC's Electrical package?

Thanks for the new version. If it still doesn't work for me, are there any specific log files that you or I could look at to see why? Maybe it's a conflict with another mod?

Yes, but KPBS doesn't actually do anything to the mechanics of TAC. It's just a parts pack with some MM configs, requirements for how the mechanics of it operate are (probably) all parts of TAC. I am wrong, apparently.

I would direct that question into the TAC thread, as that's something specific to the mechanics of TAC and rather that something about KPBS.

EL doesn't require any changes for compatibility, KPBS and EL both do pretty different things so they're not really related. There's some custom patches that I use that do give survey station capabilities to a couple of KPBS parts, but it's not necessary. USI-LS and USK-MKS support is a slightly more complicated beast. MKS is focused on refining and manufacturing, so while there aren't any parts for KPBS that are used for it there is nothing to prevent them from working together. USI-LS does have functional support, but the balances are pretty out of wack when used with MKS's recent update. Some parts are way over-powered, some drastically under-powered. I'm planning on doing a re-write of USI-LS/KPBS once RD releases balance guidelines for USI-LS, but we're not sure when that'll be.

Well that's just weird then. Fastest way to get it fixed will be to create a completely new game with ONLY Stock + USI mods, replicate the issue, save it and attach it to a new github issue for RD to look at. Giving him a save to work with makes it vastly easier for him to look at.

For most of the parts that have Habitation effects, you need to specifically turn them on while on the launchpad with a right-click > Start Habitation.

I would strongly be against making MFT a requirement. While it is a very useful function and makes the mod vastly more workable, other mods besides MFT do the same thing (MKS, namely). Suggesting a strong requirement for a tank-switching mod I can understand, but if you make it a hard and fast requirement (IE will not install without it) it just leads to more and more unneeded dependencies. I would think it's better to let people use the other mods they want, rather than forcing another one on them.

Make sure you've got a not-stupid Pilot on board. I had this exact problem and it took me a bit to realize that you need a pilot to build stuff, not just Engineers. My opinion may not be as useful to you as I play with MKS which replaces the EL resource chain, but from a gameplay perspective I think it sounds like a good change. Slightly similar to MKS actually in that it adds another conversion step, but to me that makes sense.

Eh, work has slowed down a bit and I'm mostly impatient for my own reasons. I love building bases with your parts, but I'm holding off on a couple of large colony builds because I'm waiting to see exactly how the balance works out with MKS so I can figure out what hardware I'll need.

Thank you yet again for this amazing mod! Really expands the scope of KSP and gives real reason for building bases!