Poppa Wheelie

2024-12-10T22:43:37Z

I just finished using this guide. It "mostly" worked, but I did have a few issues. And one step is now incorrect (the ImageMagick tool has changed since the OP here was written). So I've written a December 2024 updated version of the process:

2024-12-10T21:23:31Z

I just set up Unity in order to do my own IVA editing. More specifically, this setup is for creating new “internals” from existing internals for existing cockpit and command pod parts by adding, removing, and relocating existing props within those internal spaces.

I used the step by step guide written by @johnnydope in early 2022. That guide “mostly” worked, but I did have a few issues. And one step is now incorrect (the referenced tool has changed since that post was written). So the procedure written below is a December 2024 update with the latest. The johnnydope post is linked here, for reference. Thanks, Johnny!

Spoiler

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/181100-guide-using-unity-to-edit-props-in-iva/#comment-3515677

This process worked for me on a Windows 11 machine, KSP v 1.12.4, December 2024.

Unity Setup Guide for IVA Editing

Step 1: Download Required Tools

Download the following. You need the exact versions listed.

Unity Hub
1. Current version, from the website: https://unity.com/download
2. Run the downloaded installer, then register and login
Unity 2019.4.18f1
1. From the website, while logged in with Unity Hub
2. Leave the downloaded installer in your Downloads file for now
PartTools_AssetBundles 2019.4.18f1
1. From: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/160487-official-parttools/
2. Run a zip file extraction tool on the downloaded file. This will extract one file.
3. Leave the downloaded zip file, and the extracted file, in your Downloads file for now
TextMesh Pro Release 1.0.56 – Unity 2017.3
1. From: https://archive.org/details/text-mesh-pro-release-1.0.56.2017.3.0b-2-dll-only
2. Leave the downloaded installer in your Downloads file for now
ImageMagick
1. Latest version, from the website: https://imagemagick.org/script/download.php
2. Leave the downloaded installer in your Downloads file for now

Step 2. Install ImageMagick and Unity

Install ImageMagick
1. Run the ImageMagick installer from your Downloads folder
2. If the installer offers you an option to do something like, “Add application to your system path”, select that option
3. If the installer does not offer you that option, or if you’ve already done the install and didn’t select the option (yeah, that was me), then add the imagemagick application to your system path manually (you’ll have to look up how to do this for your system)
4. Close ImageMagick if it is running
Install Unity
1. Run the Unity installer from your Downloads folder
2. Note the installed location of Unity

Step 3. Unity Hub Setup

Open Unity Hub
Select Installs from left menu
Select Locate, then specify the installed location of Unity
Notice that the list should show “2019.4.18f1”
Select New Project, then 3D Core
Name your project under Project Name, then select Create Project - Unity will now launch

Step 4. Unity Config Part 1

From within Unity, select Window from the menu bar, then Package Manager
Remove the existing version of TextMeshPro (a version that you do NOT want), by scrolling down the list and finding TextMeshPro, highlighting it, then selecting Remove
Allow the un-installation to finish, then close the Package Manager window
From the menu bar, select Assets > Import Package > Custom Package
Select your downloaded version of TextMesh Pro Release 1.0.56 – Unity 2017.3
1. When extracted this will be a Unity Package File
Select Open, which will open an Import Unity Package window
Make sure everything is check marked, then select Import
For a second time, select Assets > Import Package > Custom Package
After the Import Unity Package window opens, select your PartTools download (the extracted file)
Make sure everything is check marked, then select Import
Notice a new entry on the menu bar called KSPAssets
On the bottom navigation window, go to Assets > Plugins > KSPAssets
Highlight KSPAssetCompiler.dll, then look at the right menu Inspector panel, and make sure that the Validate References checkbox is Unchecked
Do the same for the KSPAssets.dll (make sure that the checkbox is Unchecked)
Close Unity

Step 5. KSP Content Setup

It took me awhile to figure out what was going on with this step, so let me quickly explain. Hopefully you can avoid my misteps and get this setup right the very first time. You’re going to set up a KSP game instance for the sole purpose of populating the GameData folder of that instance with all of the mods that contain all of the internals and all of the props that you’ll need for your editing. Then you are going to make a copy of that GameData folder, and in that copy you’re going to remove every folder that doesn’t contain internals or props. Unity can’t read all of the stuff you’re going to delete anyway (it threw over 200 errors when I skipped the deleting step). This stripped down copy of GameData will be the source of all internals and props you will use in Unity.

So here’s the process:

Install a fresh copy of KSP in a folder of your choice, and note the installation directory
1. For this procedure, let’s call this copy of KSP your TEST copy
2. So the GameData folder in this copy is your TEST GameData
Add any mods required
1. This includes mods containing the internals or props that you need for your editing
2. This may also include any mods you want to include for testing your edited IVAs
Now create a copy of the TEST GameData created in step 5.1
1. Place this copy of GameData anywhere that makes sense to you and your development process – but do NOT include it in the KSP game instance from step 5.1.
2. You can also name this copy anything you like, or you can leave it named GameData
3. For this procedure, let’s call this copy of GameData your DATA copy (you’ll see why a little later)
4. For the rest of this Unity Setup procedure, you will only be working within this DATA copy of GameData, and all further mentions of GameData refer to this DATA copy
In the DATA copy of GameData, delete every folder that does not contain internals or props that you intend to use in your editing
Open File Explorer, and navigate to your DATA copy of GameData
In the File Explorer address bar, type CMD to get a command prompt window
Note that the path showing in the command prompt window should be the location of the DATA copy of your GameData
Make sure that you have added ImageMagick to your system path, as mentioned in step 2.1. If you haven’t done this yet, do it now. Then return to this point. (Yes, this is the point at which I figured out that I needed to do this step)
Make converted file format copies of your KSP textures for use by Unity by doing this: Copy and paste the following into the command prompt window, then execute it (by hitting Enter). Note that this is slightly different than the text used in the @johnnydope post, or in posts previous to that.

FOR /R %f IN (*.dds) DO magick mogrify -verbose -flip -format png "%f"

Step 6: Unity Config Part 2

Open Unity Hub, and see your project listed by name
Select your project to open it in Unity
From the Unity menu bar, select Tools > KSP Part Tools
Drag and drop the Part Tools window to the right, beside Inspector (this is a common location for it)
Select Set Data Dir, then select the location of your DATA copy of GameData
1. This is why I have referred to this copy of GameData as your DATA copy, because this is where you are pointing Part Tools to as you set this data directory
Note that the Spaces and Props menu columns of the KSP Part Tools window are populated
1. If this doesn’t happen, and you get errors in the Console output screen on the lower left, then Unity has found something in your DATA copy of GameData that it cannot read. You’ll need to delete more stuff from the DATA copy of GameData, and try again.

OK, one more thought. The reason I suggested referring to the KSP game instance that you set up in step 5.1. as your TEST copy is because you can use that game instance to test the edits you make.

That’s it! Good luck!

Sunday at 05:37 PM

I’m stuck, and could use some more help, please.

I’ve been following the steps as outlined in @johnnydope’s post linked above. I had a little trouble with the ImageMagick part of Step 4, but figured that out.

Now I’m stuck on the Set Data Dir in Part Tools step.

The instructions read as follows:

Quote

Drag and drop the "Part Tools" window over to the right beside "Inspector". (common usual location for it)
Now click "Set Data Dir" and select your "Modded" KSP GAMEDATA folder.
You should now see two menu columns labelled "Spaces" and "Props" populate.

However, when I click Set Data Dir, and select my GameData folder, I get these errors.

Spoiler

Friday at 07:57 PM

16 hours ago, Svm420 said:

The guide for unity setup you linked looks correct to me.

Thanks @Svm420. I'll follow this guide, as written.

16 hours ago, Svm420 said:

I don't think there was any props were made after they were added to the game

I would be willing to make my own props for changing the Action Set, but I would need a method for sending a keyboard F6 or F7 to the game (which I don't know how to do), or to use some action function such as, "incrementActionSetNumber" or "decrementActionSetNumber". I would also need a way to look at some system variable, such as "currentActionSetNumber".

11 hours ago, kurgut said:

I'm not sure, as actionset doesn't return anything in the wiki, I guess you mean action groups by that ?

And thank you, too, @kurgut, for your advice and pointers to documentation. And, yes, I meant "Action Set", not "Action Group". The game has 5 Action Sets. Each Action Set is a set of Action Groups. So I can really have 50 Action Groups in play at once, not just 10. Use F6 and F7 to move between Action Sets.

Thank you both! I'm off to install Unity.

Thursday at 10:25 PM

@johnnydope: Is your 2022 guide still current? Any updates? Why should I prefer Unity or Blender?

@kurgut: I see you've been doing a lot of custom IVA work in the past year or so. Any advice? Unity or Blender? Any thoughts on the other questions?

December 3

I want to do the following, and have some questions:

Edit some existing IVAs
Create a feature that I have not yet seen within an IVA, and include this new feature in my IVAs

Questions:

1. Do I need Unity, or Blender? What are the use cases for preferring one over the other?

2. If I want Unity, is this still the best process for setup? (from March 2022). If this is not the latest, can someone please provide an updated version of the process?

Spoiler

3. If I want Blender, can someone please provide a process for setting this up?

4. Some props perform an action by setting "actionName", others by setting "onClick". Sometimes the actionName is set to "plugin", and then an actionMethod is set inside a PLUGINACTION. Are all of the possible actions, plugin actions, and onClick function calls documented somewhere?

5. Sometimes a prop sets a labelText, like this: labelText = <=0=>$&$AGMEMO4

Is the format of these strings documented somewhere? How do I read and interpret these strings? How do I create my own?
How do I figure out where the string parts of this text have been set previously? In this example, how do I determine where AGMEMO4 was set?

6. I want to be able to change the Action Set, which is currently possible with F6 and F7. I also want to be able to read what the current Action Set number has been set to. Is this possible? If so, how?

November 12

This looks very nice!

Would you be willing to release for CKAN?

November 2

5 hours ago, JonnyOThan said:

These are part of ASET props

Found it, edited it, worked great. Thanks!

November 2

I see that inside my station hubs, each hatch has a switchable label. I can switch it to display labels such as "Airlock", "Pod", "Bridge", etc. There are 23 built-in label options.

How do I edit these label options?

October 30

4 hours ago, Mister Spock said:

Did you have any refueling rendez-vous in LKO?

No, I only had the one single launch. Everything needed for the mission, including all fuel, was in that launch.

You're right, though. A more "logical" way to do this would have been to launch the Eve Transfer ship to LKO, empty of fuel, then launch some fueling missions. The boosters for the Eve Transfer ship could have been much smaller if I had done this.

But, this was my last mission, and I wanted to Go Big!

October 29

I recently finished my For Science! playthrough with the Under Pressure Eve mission, and the Crater Conundrum Gilly mission.

Featuring:

One single launch rocket SSTO to LKO
11 kerbals to Eve and back versus the 10 required
All kerbals traveled in command pods or crew modules - no rumble seats

This Mission Report contains 4 short videos, and a bunch of screenshots.

Enjoy!

October 29

I recently finished my KSP2 For Science! playthrough by completing the last 2 missions: the game's final Big Boss mission, Under Pressure (10 kerbals to Eve and back); and The Crater Conundrum (Gilly).

Here are a few of the unique things I did for this mission:

One single launch rocket SSTO to LKO
11 kerbals to Eve and back versus the 10 required
All kerbals traveled in command pods or crew modules - no rumble seats

Launch to LKO

This is the heaviest launch I've ever done, at 6426t. It's also, therefore, the heaviest SSTO I've ever done. This is also the heaviest single-launch payload I've done, at 787t.

Some more stats:

Boosters: 4730t of methalox and 20 x Mammoth II engines
Launch Profile:
- 90 degree elevation until 1km
- 45 degrees by 16km
- 5 degrees by 66km
- Ap altitude of 120km
dV:
- 4547 m/s according to the game staging stack, and according to the Micro Engineer mod
- 4052 m/s according to the rocket formula in my spreadsheet (which I think, in this case, is more accurate)

Here is a 4m9s video of the entire launch to LKO. It's running at 5x speed. My actual fps during the entire launch was between 6 and 9.
Special thanks to @cfloutier for K2-D2, and to @schlosrat for Maneuver Node Controller! Without these 2 mods I would have had a bear of a time doing this launch manually at 6 to 9 fps.

Launch to LKO video:

Spoiler

If you don't want to watch the video, here are a few screenshots of the launch:

Spoiler

The dV calculating tool within the VAB was confused, perhaps by having multiple engines under each booster stack. So I calculated dV on a spreadsheet using the rocket formula, and I realized that I could do this launch as a Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO).

After achieving orbit, I got rid of the fairing, nosecones, and the boosters.

Spoiler

The ship is named "Go Big". Here's the whole thing in orbit after ditching the fairing and nosecones.

For each of the 5 boosters, I decoupled the booster stack from "underneath" a SWERV engine...

... and then deorbited the booster.

Transit to Eve

In LKO, ready to go to Eve!

The transit:

Spoiler

I had to transfer fuel into the central 8t hydrogen tank during the burn.

I don't know why the system thought I needed over 10 minutes for this burn. I don't remember how I fixed that.

Land 11 kerbals on Eve

Here's a 6 minute video of the atmospheric entry and landing:

Spoiler

Here are a few screenshots:

Spoiler

Touchdown! We touched down at approx 8.4 m/s. My plan was to ditch the heat shields at the bottom, and land on the engine bells. That worked fine in the simulations, and I'm sure it would have worked here. But, I forgot to ditch the heat shields, so I landed on them. No problems. Landing legs are highly overrated.

Since I landed at night, I waited until the next morning, then all 11 kerbals got out for a team photo and the flag planting.

Spoiler

Return to Eve Low Orbit

3 minute video:

Spoiler

Some screenshots:

Spoiler

The mission was to land 10 kerbals on Eve, and return them to Kerbin. I did 11 kerbals. I also used crew compartments, with no rumble seats.

Final orbit. Not very circular, and not much fuel remaining, but I have a plan.

Return "Go Big" to "Eve Station"

Some screenshots:

Spoiler

Lower Ap and raise Pe for a more circular orbit

Back at Eve Station, deorbit the fairing base

Then launch a refueling drone. I knew that Go Big might be pretty much out of fuel after achieving Eve Low Orbit, so I brought this refueler along. The refueler flew to Go Big, rendezvoused, docked, delivered fuel, and then was deorbited.

Go Big now had enough fuel to return to Eve Station

Go Big waited until the following morning to approach Eve Station and dock

To Gilly!

Screenshots:

Spoiler

Val led the Eve landing and return mission, so Jeb got to do Gilly. I transferred Jeb, then, by decoupling here...

... the command pod, 8t hydrogen tank, and SWERV engine that were in the very center, detached, like this. Jeb is now ready to take "Sidekick" to Gilly.

After achieving orbit, I realized that I was fairly close to the target. I didn't want to wait around at low timewarp speeds for an entire orbit, so I reversed the orbit and landed.

Landed in the dark. But I went ahead and did the science required for mission credit.

The next morning I moved the Sidekick to a better location, and Jeb planted a flag.

Return to Eve Station from Gilly

Screenshots:

Spoiler

This time I arrived just as the sun was coming up

Go Home!

Screenshots:

Spoiler

Decoupled Go Big, with a heat shield "feather" package and a parachute package all attached at the nose. Then I renamed the Go Big to "Go Home".

The Alex Moon planning tool told me that I had to wait a year for the return window. But I had plenty of dV, and worked this plan out to return now.

I'll have to make a correction at the Dn get the "2" markers to come together and produce a Kerbin encounter.

Eve escape

At the Dn I fiddled with the inclination change node until I got this.

Approaching Kerbin. The Mun is also visible.

Kerbin Atmospheric Reentry and Splashdown

3 minute video:

Spoiler

Some screenshots:

Spoiler

I actually did this reentry and landing 3 times. With the original 40km Pe, we didn't even capture, but continued the flyby to leave the Kerbin SOI. With a 35km Pe, we did capture, but would require at least 2 atmospheric passes before landing, or splashing. With a 30km Pe, we captured and splashed down on the first pass.

Mission complete! For Science! playthrough complete!

September 29

Today I launched a 6426t rocket-style SSTO called "Go Big" for the final, boss-level Eve and Gilly mission of my For Science! playthrough.

This is the heaviest launch I've ever done, at 6426t. It's also, therefore, the heaviest SSTO I've ever done.
This is the heaviest single-launch payload I've done, at 787t

Some more stats:

Boosters: 4730t of methalox and 20 x Mammoth II engines
Launch Profile:
- 90 degree elevation until 1km
- 45 degrees by 16km
- 5 degrees by 66km
- Ap altitude of 120km
dV:
- 4547 m/s according to the game staging stack, and according to the Micro Engineer mod
- 4052 m/s according to the rocket formula in my spreadsheet (which I think, in this case, is more accurate)

Video:

4m 9s
Entire video is playing at 5x speed
My actual fps during the entire launch: between 6 and 9
- Special thanks to @cfloutier for K2-D2, and to @schlosrat for Maneuver Node Controller! Without these 2 mods I would have had a bear of a time doing this launch manually at 6 to 9 fps

Enjoy!

September 10

21 hours ago, Meecrob said:

Also I love your name. Is it inspired by

Thanks! No, it wasn't inspired by any television show or other popular culture. When i first started playing KSP1, I realized that I liked to explore with wheeled, kerbaled, vehicles; and that the easiest way to get these horizontally-oriented vehicles back into space was to "pop a wheelie" before lighting the rocket engine.

September 8

I completed a combined Eeloo and Dres mission, got tons of science points, and bought out the remaining tech from my tech tree. I have Mission Control credit for all missions now except for the Eve and Gilly missions. That will be next, and will finish this For Science! game, but it may be a few months before I get it completed.

This was the 19th launch of my For Science! playthrough, and the 6th mission which involved landing kerbals on one or more celestial bodies. So the mission name is Global Hop VI. Full imgur album (a couple hundred screenshots) here: https://imgur.com/a/l19-giant-hop-vi-eeloo-dres-ybpt9nz

August 31

7 hours ago, Gargamel said:

Why don’t you add a link to stuck thread so we don’t lose it?

OK, done.

August 31

Here is a tutorial on how to edit signatures.

August 30

On 8/25/2024 at 1:26 PM, Gargamel said:

If you would really want to, go ahead and create the tutorial yourself if you’d like. We can post it here in the network section. And don’t worry, the best way to get the correct answer on the internet is to post the wrong one, so feel free to post away. If there’s a better way, or you did it plain wrong, somebody will be along to correct you, and then you can just edit the OP to make it look like you had it right all along!

OK, done. Link is in my signature.

August 30

49 minutes ago, Superfluous J said:

You can't edit the HTML in your signature, but you CAN get some things in your signature that aren't possible in the editor.

Thanks. I'll update the OP with something on this.

August 29

I recently asked the forum moderators if there was a tutorial on how to edit a forum signature. In the most polite way possible (truly) they asked me to figure it out and write the tutorial myself.

So let’s do this: below is my take on how to do various things associated with editing a forum signature. Please comment below if you have a better way of doing something, or if you want this tutorial to address something not currently addressed. I will update this original post as needed to keep it current with the latest and greatest.

Note: The examples used here appear correctly at 150% zoom. If your browser is zoomed in more than this, you may get unexpected results.

Some Questions and Answers

Q: How Do I Even Get To My Signature To Edit It?

Short Answer: Drop Down in Upper Right > Account Settings > Signature

Longer Answer (with screenshots):

Spoiler

Q: Are the Capabilities of the Signature Editor the Same As Those of the Editor For Forum Posts?

Short Answer: Yes

Longer Answer:

Spoiler

Yes, what works in the forum post editor works the same way in the signature editor.

Here are some of those features that are the same in both editors, and that I find very useful for signature editing:

Right and Left Arrows can be used to move the cursor between items on a single row
Enter results in double space, Shift-Enter results in single space
Embedding an image is the same process (copy the URL from your image host, such as Imgur, and paste that URL where you want the image to appear)
Creating and editing one row of images works the same
Creating and editing a one-row table works the same
Embedding a link in an image or in text works the same (more on that process later)

Q: Does the editor size my images appropriately for the signature line?

Short Answer: No! You must size all of your images before you use them.

Q: Can Zooming the Browser Affect My Signature?

Answer: Yes! After you've built your signature, zoom your browser and make sure it behaves as you want. Edit more, if needed.

In My Signature, I Want To …

Have Only Text

Like This:

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"My favorite quote of all time!" -- That famous guy

"My second favorite quote of all time!" -- Some other guy

Aliquid facetum latine

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Here's How:

Spoiler

Nothing tricky, just write your text in.

Just as in a regular post, you have several text formatting options that you can see at the top of the edit window, including:

Font, font size and color, etc.
Bold, Italicize, Underline, etc.
Bullets and numbered bullets
Centering and other alignment and justification options

I'll talk about tables, and putting text into tables, later.

Have Only a Few Images

Like This:

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Here's How:

Spoiler

In this situation, the easiest solution is to paste the image URLs into your signature, left to right, in the order you want them to appear. In fact, this is the easiest method even if you have a whole row of images

Keep in mind that you are not pasting actual images. You are pasting image URLs. You need to host the images somewhere else. Imgur works very well for me.

Here's the procedure for each of the images:

Wherever your images are hosted, copy the image address. Using Imgur, for example, you right-click the image and select "Copy image address".
In the signature editor, put your cursor where you want the image to appear
- If I click on the previous image, then press the right arrow once, I know that I'm exactly where the next image should be
Paste. Control-V, or use the Paste button at the top of the editor

Make a One-Row Table With Invisible Borders

Wait, what? I know, you're probably thinking, "Hey! We don't need no stinkin' one-row tables!" But trust me, you will need this to provide some of the capabilities listed below. So, later on, when I say something like, "you'll need a one-row table to do this", you'll know to come back here.

Here's How:

Spoiler

Here's the procedure for building a one-row table with invisible borders:

Determine how many Columns you are going to need in this table.
- How many images, left to right? Include columns that will have both images and text.
- How many columns that will have only text, no images
- Total these.
Add up the total width (in pixels) of all of the images you will be placing left to right in your signature, plus an estimate for the width of any table columns that will contain text.
- Call this total your Table Width
Place the cursor where the table will begin. For a signature, that's usually at the beginning of the first row of the signature.
Press the Table icon at the top of the editor
Fill in the following Table Properties:
- Rows: 1
- Columns: This is the number of columns you determined in step 1
- Border Size: 0 (this zero value is what makes the borders invisible)
- Width: This is the Table Width you determined in step 2

Have a Mix of Images and Text

Like This:

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My SSTOs | My KerbalX | My Current Jool 5 Mission

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Or Like This:

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Tutorials
Calculating Fuel
Reading the dV Map

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Here's How:

Spoiler

In the first example, with a row of images above, and a row of text below (or the other way around), you should be OK to use the simple method and insert things in order, like this:

Insert image URLs, left to right, in the order you want the images to appear
Press Enter (if you want a double space), or Shift-Enter if you want a single space
Type in the row of text
Format the row of text (center)
Insert links into the text (which we'll discuss later)

For the second example, you'll need a one-row table to do this. See the instructions above for creating this table. Do that, then come back here to fill in your table like this:

First item

If the first item will be an image, go to your image host and copy the image URL
Get the cursor into the first column of the table. Here's the easiest way for me:
- Put the cursor at the end of the line above the table
- Press the right arrow once. The cursor will now look relatively big
- Press the right arrow once more. the cursor will look relatively smaller. You are in the first column of the table.
If your first item is an image. Paste the image at the cursor location. If the first item is text, type in the first row only of the text (you'll come back later to finish the text).

Successive items

Copy the URL if the item is an image
Get the cursor in the right position. Here's how I do it:
- If the previous item was an image
  - Click the image
  - Right arrow once, and you'll see a large cursor to the right of the image
  - Right arrow again. The cursor will have disappeared. That's OK, you're at the right place
- If the previous item was text
  - Click within the text
  - Right arrow until you have just passed the last character of text
  - Right arrow one more time. The cursor will have disappeared. That's OK, you're at the right place
Paste the image URL, or type the first row of text
- You'll notice that the image you paste, or the text you type, will appear too far to the right, with too much empty space between the new item and the previous one. This is OK. As you fill in more items, the "extra" space will be less and less until, after the last item, there will be little or no extra space between items. If there is still some extra space, we'll take care of that with the "Insert extra spaces at the end" step below.

Go back and finish text columns. If you had a column that requires several rows of text (such as in the "Tutorials" example above), then do this for each of those columns:

Place the cursor inside the text
Right arrow until the cursor is immediately to the right of the last character of the text on this row
Shift-Control to insert a single space
Insert the text of the next row
Repeat these steps for each row of text within this column

Insert extra spaces at the end. If you still have too much space between columns do this:

Go to the last column
If it's an image, select the image, then right arrow once. If it was text, select the text on the bottom row of this column, then right arrow until you are immediately to the right of the last character
Now select the Space bar to insert spaces at the right end of the last column. You may need to do this several times, but you'll notice the columns getting closer together on the left side of the table.

Have Text That Is Associated With Only One of Several Images

Like this:

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Got It: Gilly, Duna, Ike, Minmus, Mun, Kerebin
Need It: Everything else

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Here's How:

Spoiler

You can do this with or without using a table.

Without a table:

Put all of the images in, using the procedure from "Have Only a Few Images" above
After the last image, press Shift-Enter to get a single space under the images instead of a double space
Eyeball where to put the text so that it appears under the image you want
Do the same if you have two or more lines of text

With a table:

Create the table, using the procedure from "Make a One-Row Table With Invisible Borders" above
Place all of the images in, using the procedure from "Have a Mix of Images and Text" above
Once all of the images are in, place the text:
- Select the image under which the text will go
- Select right arrow once
- Press Shift-Enter to move the cursor a single space beneath the image
- Type in the text
- Repeat the previous two steps for each additional line of text

Imbed a Link In Some of the Text, or In an Image

Why? So that the reader can follow the link and see some details on whatever you are displaying in your signature.

Here's How:

Spoiler

How to embed a link in an image or in text:

Find the target for your link, and copy the URL of the target
Select an image (by left-clicking on the image). Or, select any text.
Select the icon in the top row of the editor that looks like two links of chain (see, get it? "links"). The mouseover for this icon says "Link"
Paste in the URL of the target
Select "Insert into post"

Imbed a Link That Leads To a List of More Than One Other Links

Why?

Perhaps you have earned a particular badge more than once, and you want the reader to click the badge and arrive at a page where you provide links to each of the times you earned the badge
Perhaps you have a lot more that you want to put in your signature line than will easily fit. Perhaps you want to send the reader to a whole page of information and links

Here's How: @adsii1970explains the process in this post, much better than I could. Thanks, @adsii1970!

Edit the HTML of my Signature

Short Answer: It looks like you have some editing capability, but it's complicated and difficult

Longer Answer:

Spoiler

See the very recent post below from @Superfluous J. Here it is if you can't find it. Thanks, @Superfluous J! He says:

"You can't edit the HTML in your signature, but you CAN get some things in your signature that aren't possible in the editor.

For example, you can't (at least I never figured out how to) get a fully realized html table with row widths and invisible borders. However you CAN create an html file (just on your local computer) and create the table there, load that html file into your web browser to make sure the table looks like you want it, and then copy/paste the table into your signature.

It's a huge pain and You can't edit your signature after that or you'll risk mucking it up (i.e. you'll need to do all your editing in that html file and copy/paste each time) but it *does* work. I used to do it for my signature in which I had a table embedded inside a cell of another table, both of which had transparent borders so you didn't know - just looking at it - that I used tables at all."

Also see the Editor items 19 and 20 from this post, by @Mad Rocket Scientist This was written in 2015. Don't know how much still applies:

"19. By going RMB>inspect element then RMB>Edit as HTML on <p> you can edit raw HTML for your post, allowing some options not available on the WYSIWYG editor, such as text color and easier tables, but iframes, javascript, and other advanced stuff cannot be embedded in posts.
20. Tables: Click on the icon that looks like a bunch of boxes, most of the options should be self-explanatory. You can change the size of the table when it's in the editor by dragging the squares, but you cannot add more rows or columns. A more powerful option is to make the HTML for your table off of the forums, then inspect element on the editor, and paste the HTML table into it."

Some Other Questions, Still Unanswered

Is It Possible To Create More Than One Single Status Update?
What Are the Limits On How Tall and How Wide the Signature Can Be?

What Else?

Please post below if you have any feedback on the following, and I'll update this post:

Is there a better way of doing some of the things listed here?
Do you have a solution for anything listed in the “Other Questions, Still Unanswered” section?
Is there something you want to do with your signature, but you don’t see it listed here?
Do you have any suggestions for improving the readability of this post?
- I'm using dark mode. Does anything need to be adjusted to work better for light mode?
- Is anything else needed to help readers find what they are looking for?

August 28

@adsii1970, in the following post, you talked about creating a single status update page. I followed your steps yesterday, and somehow I created ONE status update page. Is it possible to create a second and a third one? I can't figure out how to create any more status update pages than the one that I now have.

August 27

Better late than never! I finished this challenge at the Val level.

August 26

Do Jool 5 missions done in KSP2 count? If so, I think I have a Jeb's Level mission here.

Maybe a different leader board for KSP2, if you want?

August 26

I finished my Jool 5 mission, mentioned above on 17 August, and posted the Mission Report today.

August 25

Following is a Mission Report for my 18th launch in my KSP2 For Science! playthrough. I already had For Science! missions for Tylo, Laythe, and Bop. The game also thought I had already achieved the "Plant a flag on Pol" mission, but I didn't want to claim credit until I had actually done it. So I needed 4 of the 5 moons anyway, might as well make a Jool 5 out of it! I had not done a Jool 5 before, so this was a first for me.

Some highlights:

70,476 science points
Splashed and used a water probe on both Laythe and Vall - so both a splashdown and a landing on each of those moons
My first Jool 5, my first landing on any of the Jool moons, and my first return from Jool -- I had sent a one-way probe to Jool earlier in the playthrough
I used the same lander for Tylo, Vall, Pol, and Bop - although it had several "drop" components for its first use, on Tylo
I started the design, build, and test for this mission on 20 Apr 24, made the actual mission launch on 8 Jul 24, and completed the mission on 23 Aug 24

Vehicle Names. I attempted to rename the vehicles within the game after each docking and undocking. I might have missed a few. Here are the vehicles, by name, that I'm referring to in the narrative, and that you should see in the screenshots:

J5: This is the entire vehicle during launch, and all the way until establishing initial orbit at Tylo. After this, J5 is that part which carries the various landers on the various sorties. With the exception of 1 kerbal in a lander, the other 4 kerbals are always aboard the J5.
Tylo Station: This is the "remains" of the Kerbin to Jool transfer section. Before completion of the Tylo Sortie, Tylo Station is put into a Very High Tylo Orbit (approx 10Mm). Each sortie returns to Tylo Station to refuel and reconfigure for the following sortie.
Moonwalker: This is the wheeled lander used on Tylo, Vall, Pol, and Bop. Moonwalker contains several "drop" components initially, that are used only for Tylo and then are discarded.
Albatross: This is the SSTO aircraft used for landing on Laythe and return to orbit.

Part 1: Launch to LKO

Spoiler

Liftoff!

Drop 1st stage boosters

Jettison fairings

Complete the orbit

For each of the three 2nd stage boosters, I decoupled them, faced them Retrograde, and deorbited them, like this:

Part 2: LKO to Jool System, Tylo Orbit

Spoiler

Setting up the Jool transfer

Jool transfer burn

Working the Tylo encounter

Approaching Tylo and capture burn

Part 3: Tylo Sortie

Spoiler

Docking J5 with Moonwalker

Establishing very low Tylo orbit

Separated Moonwalker from J5

Discarded the docking port on the front of the Moonwalker nose drop tank. I think this docking port is the only debris that I left in space, without deorbiting.

Tylo Landing. This involved dropping fuel tanks twice. I monitored on-board fuel levels during the entire burn, which was non-stop during the horizontal portion, and then intermittent during the vertical portion of the landing. At the right fuel level points I transferred fuel from drop tanks, and dropped those tanks. This took several landing trials during design and build, and then several landing trials during the mission.

Once landed, I transferred all fuel out of the nose tank, and discarded it

I then did science at the landing location while the empty nose drop tank rolled down the hill. Notice the fuel levels are almost full. Plenty enough for the return to orbit later.

I then drove to the Tylo Monument, making one stop for science and a flag, and a second stop for science, along the way.

I arrived at the Tylo Monument, did science, and got mission credit

Return to orbit. I had two aircraft landing gear underneath the Moonwalker. These created the Center of Mass pivot point that allowed me to raise the nose for liftoff. I discarded these shortly after liftoff. I also had two dart engines that were used for the landing, and for the initial ascent on this return to orbit. I discarded these once the desired Ap was achieved.

Rendezvous and docking. After an inclination change and a few other small orbital adjustments, I had a good rendezvous set up with J5. This is where the game bit me for using such a low Tylo orbit. By the time Moonwalker caught J5, we were already on the dark side of Tylo, and I couldn't see well enough to dock. It took me several F5/F9 combinations, and several game saves and loads, before I finally got the docking done with some light left.

Establish Tylo Very High Orbit for Tylo Station. First I decoupled an empty fuel tank from Tylo Station and deorbited it.

Next, I raised the Ap of both J5 and Tylo Station to approximately the same value at approximately the same time. They were relatively close to each other at Ap when I also raised each Pe.

After a few small orbital tweaks, I had a good rendezvous.

I parked J5 approx 138m from Tylo Station, with zero relative velocity.

The next mission is to Laythe, so we'll need to dock Moonwalker since we'll be picking up Albatross. So I undocked Moonwalker from J5 and docked it with Tylo Station, then undocked Albatross, then docked J5, to end the Tylo Sortie.

Part 4: Laythe Sortie

Spoiler

Decouple the fuel tank to which J5 is docked. This detaches J5 from Tylo Station, and begins the Laythe sortie.

I also undocked the Laythe Probe, and moved Tylo Station out of the way so that J5 could approach the probe. I then docked J5 with the Laythe Probe, and with Albatross

Transit to a polar orbit of Laythe

I transferred fuel from the counterweight fuel tank into the Laythe Probe, then deorbited that empty tank

I undocked the Laythe Probe, faced it Retrograde, and deorbited it to splash down near the mission target.

Next I undocked Albatross, and deorbited the extra docking port

Then deorbited and landed Albatross

I did science and planted a flag at the landing site

I had what I call the "Laythe time of day" bug. Albatross's landing gear was stuck in the mud, and Newrim could only walk a few meters towards the water before he wanted to float in mid air as if he was floating in the water. It too some effort until I could get Newrim into the water. Newrim swam to the target to do science, swam to the probe to do the same, then swam and walked back to Albatross.

The next morning, the landing gear were fine. I activated the jet engine and got science credit for that mission.

Takeoff and return to orbit, and rendezvous with J5

Newrim transferred from Albatross to J5 via jetpack

Then I deorbited Albatross

Back to Tylo and Tylo Station

Docking with Tylo Station ended the Laythe Sortie

Part 5: Vall Sortie

Spoiler

The Vall sortie begins when we decouple the fuel tank with which J5 is docked to Tylo Station

I then undocked Moonwalker, undocked the Vall Probe, moved Tylo Station out of the way, and docked J5 with the Vall Probe and then Moonwalker

Next I transferred from Tylo Very High Orbit to Vall with only 0.39m/s of dV, using RCS, and I adjusted the result into a good Vall polar orbit with 19ms dV more.

Like Laythe, we'll have both a landing and a splashdown on Vall. First up is to land Moonwalker.

Next, fuel the Vall Probe with the fuel from the counterweight fuel tank, and then deorbit that tank.

Now splash the Vall Probe into what some people call The Scar, and what the game calls The Well.

Splashed down in The Well 44.3km from Moonwalker

I returned to the Moonwalker, and did science and planted a flag at the landing site

Then I drove Moonwalker to The Well, to get as close as possible to the Vall Probe.

I then had Erzon walk from Moonwalker towards The Well, in the direction of the Vall Probe

Half way down the cliff face, Erzon was able to do Landed Well science. He jumped the rest of the way down.

At the bottom, Erzon did Splashed Well science, then swam to the Vall Probe

Erzon did Splashed Well science with the probe. Then he used the rocket to drive the probe up onto the "beach" and do Landed Well science there. Notice how little the Splashed well science is worth, and how much the Landed Well science is worth. Also notice that we can get Water Samples science even while Landed (not in the water).

Next, I rolled the Vall Probe down the "beach", and back into the water. I oriented the probe towards Moonwalker, then flew the probe and landed 135m from Moonwalker.

Erzon got out of the Vall Probe and walked to Moonwalker

Liftoff, return to orbit, rendezvous, and dock with J5

Return to Tylo Very High Orbit, rendezvous, and dock with Tylo Station

I docked in this way so that Moonwalker did not need to undock from J5. This docking concludes the Vall Sortie.

Part 6: Pol and Bop Sortie

Spoiler

The undocking in the image above begins the Pol and Bop Sortie. We'll do both moons before returning to Tylo Station.

I transited to a Bop polar orbit, undocked Moonwalker, and landed

I did Mountains science at the landing site, and I "planted a flag on Pol". Hey, wait a second, that sounds familiar, right? Yes, the game told me that I had planted a flag on Pol much earlier in the playthrough (on Minmus, I think). I never took the science points credit for it, though, and wanted to make sure I actually planted a flag on Pol before doing so.

I then slid down the hill and did Highlands science, then slid down a little further and did Lowlands science. I was just very fortunate that I got all three regions (biomes) so easily, and so close to each other.

When I finally turned in the "Plant a flag on Pol" mission, I got the science points for that mission, and immediately received another mission to do a Radiation Observation in the Pol Lowlands. Since I had just finished that science, I immediately got credit for this mission, too.

Pop a wheelie in preparation for liftoff

Liftoff, return to orbit, rendezvous, and dock with J5

The transit from Pol to Bop required going first to the AN/DN with Bop, then matching planes, then doing a Hohmann Transfer, and finally adjusting for a polar flyby.

After capturing in that polar orbit, I undocked the Moonwalker and landed.

I did science and planted a flag at the landing site

Then I drove to the middle of the target area

Doing science here satisfied the mission requirements

Pop a wheelie in preparation for liftoff

Liftoff and head directly for rendezvous and docking, without establishing orbit first.

Return to Tylo Station from Bop required change of inclination around Bop from polar to equatorial, then transit to AN/DN with Tylo, then Hohmann Transfer, then several adjustments after Tylo capture, and several adjustments to get a good rendezvous, before the final docking. The lighting is particularly bad for the last two images, because we were in a Tylo eclipse of Kerbol. The docking here with Tylo Station ends the Pol and Bop Sortie.

Part 7: Return to Kerbin

Spoiler

In the image above, you can see that we returned to Kerbin without the adapter and lab that were forward of the command pods.

I had a little trouble setting up a good encounter with Kerbin. I used Alex Moon's tool to determine the right window, and it turned out that I was in the window already! The best I could get was this close approach, which I was able to fix, into a very good flyby, after leaving the Jool SOI.

I was worried about coming in too fast, so I set up a burn that used almost all remaining dV, captured in Kerbin Low Orbit, and had a Pe at about 30km, on the sunny side of Kerbin.

I jettisoned the fuel tank and engine aft of the heatshield, returned to Retrograde, and rode it on in. Atmospheric entry, chute deployment, and splashdown were quite nominal.

At launch for this mission, I had 938 science points. Therefore, this mission provided 25,000 science points from For Science! missions, 22,271 from Samples, and 23,205 from Data - for a total of 70,476 science points from this mission.

What's next? I'm definitely planning to finish my For Science! playthrough. I have missions to Eeloo and Dres, perhaps I'll do both in the same mission. Then I have the grand finale of Eve and Gilly.

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