[1.0.2] [MM] Stock Science Tweaks v0.4

[Lord Aurelius]

Note: This mod was formerly known as Barometer Science Tweaks, but now it covers a bit more than that so now I'm calling it Stock Science Tweaks.

This mod consists of several independent experiments and tweaks, each in its own self-contained config file or folder. If you don't want to play with all of them, simply delete the components you don't want.

Ever since playing Better than Starting Manned, I've been annoyed that barometers ceased to function entirely outside atmospheres, making them entirely useless for getting science from airless bodies. The thing is, reading 0 pressure is still a perfectly valid science point. How else would you know that a body is airless? Also, it seemed kind of silly that there is no equivalent to crew reports for probes, so I (likely along with many other players) ended up slapping a thermometer on a satellite just to be able to do the science from space contracts. Realistically, a lot of information can be gained simply from a spacecraft's telemetry, and I've seen a few other mods implement a telemetry style experiment, but they either had other dependencies or added other things I didn't really want so I figured I would create a very simple one that only requires module manager. The latest update also includes a modified Communotron 16 to represent a drill that can take surface samples so you don't have to always send kerbals, I always thought it was silly that kerbals couldn't build probes that could see what the surface of a planet is made of when we have several rovers on Mars that are perfectly capable of doing that. Again, this type of experiment is represented in other mods but not in a simple, stock-friendly way (at least that I've seen). I've also integrated Capt Robau's microgravity experiment as suggested by Free Thinker to make the hitchhiker more useful.

As of 1.0, the barometer file is obsolete but it still works if you happen to like my implementation better than stock.

Credits: FlowerChild for the initial concept for the barometer as seen in BTSM, CrowdSourcedScience for a MM template file that I completely rewrote, Squad for some of the science messages. Starwaster for his probe science configs that I've based mine on. Edit: Also Capt. Robau and zekew11 for the Science Revisited Revisited mod, which I've borrowed several tweaks and an experiment from.

License: Creative Commons for the situation reports (at least the ones I wrote, there's a few from Squad I've repurposed, they're noted in the barometer experiment file). The other parts are either MM configs or Squad-style experiment definitions which you can shamelessly copy for your own experiments (i.e. I don't care what you do with them, I copied them myself from other examples).

To use this mod, download the zip and copy the file into your Gamedata folder. If you don't want all the experiments, delete the files for the ones you don't want from the StockScienceTweaks folder.

Current Version: 0.4

Changelog:

0.4 Enabled biomes for barometer when flying low, added some new situation reports for the telemetry experiment, added Crew and EVA report switch, added Capt Robau's microgravity experiment for the hitchhiker.

0.3 Rescaled drill and added a custom texture to differentiate it from the antenna.

0.2 Added a new drill part (copied from communotron 16) that can do the stock surface sample experiment so you don't have to always use kerbals.

0.1 Initial release with barometer tweaks and probe report experiment

DOWNLOAD

Edited June 1, 2015 by Lord Aurelius

[zilfondel]

Just curious, how many science points do they give? Some or none?

[FreeThinker]

Thanks, I will make it part of my personel Science tweaks.

Regarding that I would also highly recommend everyone to use the following science tweaks, which will make science gathering a little more logical as it no longer forces you to make space walk over biodomes. The same science observations can be made from the safety of your crew cabin.

@EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION
[*]:HAS[#id[crewReport]]
{
        @biomeMask = 23
}

@EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION
[*]:HAS[#id[evaReport]]
{
        @biomeMask = 7
}

Edited April 1, 2015 by FreeThinker

[Lord Aurelius]

@zilfondel

The new situations give normal science payouts, i.e. the barometer has a base science value (12) and every situation has its own science multiplier so it scales exactly the same way the other experiments do.

@FreeThinker

Thanks for the tip, I'll mention it in the OP.

[Lord Aurelius]

Added a new telemetry report for probes. It doesn't give much science, but it does allow you to complete "transmit science from X" contracts with just a probe core. Code is in OP.

[FreeThinker]

Oh, if you also want to add experiments to existing experiements, I also would like to suggest to replace the crew report in the Crew Cabin by a the Micro Gravity Experiment, giving you a reason to send these large cumbersone parts into orbit and the mun. As a bonus it would allow your Kerbels some place to rest chill out, when you are not looking

@PART[crewCabin]
{
    @category = Science
    @description = The HSC was an invention of necessity - how do we store 4 Kerbals on-orbit and perform experiments on them, without any real provisions for return? Who needed this remains a mystery, as do his motivations. 

    MODULE
    {
        name = ModuleCommand
        minimumCrew = 1
    }

    @MODULE[ModuleScienceExperiment]
    {
        @experimentID = microgExperiment    
        @hideUIwhenUnavailable = True    
        @experimentActionName = Micro-Gravity Experiment
        @resetActionName = Discard Experiment
        @reviewActionName = Review Experiment
    }
}

EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION
{
    id = microgExperiment
    title = Micro-Gravity Experiment
    baseValue = 10
    scienceCap = 10
    dataScale = 10

    requireAtmosphere = False
    situationMask = 48
    biomeMask = 0

    RESULTS
    {
        default = The crew is loving the feeling of weightlessness.

        KerbinInSpace = Playing darts in space does not work.

        MunInSpace = Kerbals still hate brushing their teeth, even in micro-gravity.

        MinmusInSpace = Consuming food is considerably more difficult in space.

        GillyInSpace = Snacks are more appreciated in the weightlessness of space.

        MohoInSpace = The experiment seems to react violently to the micro-gravity environment.

        EveInSpace = Plants grow far quicker in space.

        DunaInSpace = In the reduced gravity, the sapling has started to grow an eye and tentacles.

        IkeInSpace = Exercise is important for the health of spacebound Kerbals.

        DresInSpace = The test subject blinks more quickly in this environment.

        JoolInSpace = The subject is mysteriously pulled to the side of the container.

        LaytheInSpace = The crew seems to do its tasks better. What causes this is unknown.

        VallInSpace = The moon's resonance with Jool is throwing off the results.

        TyloInSpace = Performing science experiments is more pleasurable in this gravitational field.

        BopInSpace = The plants in the cabin are pointing to the moon's pole.

        PolInSpace = The subject's hairs are standing up straight for some reason.

        EelooInSpace = The crew is too homesick to do any experiments, which is interesting in itself.
    }
}

Oh, btw, you don't have to put the Experiment definition and part modification into a seperate file

Edit: original source is [0.90] Science Revisited Revisited 1.2.0

Edited April 9, 2015 by FreeThinker

[Lord Aurelius]

@FreeThinker

Thanks for that code, that looks like a great addition to the stock science experiments and it fits in perfectly, I'll update the OP. I'll also make note that everything can be put in the same file.

[Lord Aurelius]

Updated this mod to something closer to a proper release. Repackaged the configs, now it's a proper zip that can be downloaded and copied to the gamedata folder. Also added several new reports for the new barometer situations. Download link in OP.

[Drew Kerman]

... Starwaster for his probe science configs that I've based mine on...

But why'd you completely step over his probe experiments, which had multiple results, with your single result? (they are both named ProbeReport). It was better as a separate experiment - Starwaster sought to replicate some of the crew report (I have cameras on my probe so I use that as a basis for this report) and the original telemetry report was pure probe data. So two separate probe experiments. For now I've reverted back to the original telemetry data experiment. Also why the change in biomemask from 7 to 3? That's not a criticism I'm just wondering what affect that has.

[Lord Aurelius]

@Gaiiden

I hadn't considered that, I can change it back so if you want to RP your probe having cameras you can still do that without conflicts. I didn't look too closely at what StarWaster did for the reports, I was more interested in the MM code to make it work. Eventually I want to repurpose a stock part as a camera for a higher value experiment and give it a science value and transmission cost along the lines of the atmosphere analysis. Having it as a separate part means that you can easily add it to manned vessels as well, in my mind the crew report is a simple audio transmission where the crew reports in.

For the biome mash switch, in stock, the crew report in low orbit would give a generic low orbit response for all biomes, but EVA had a unique message (and science) for each biome. The switch flips these so you don't have to keep sending your Kerbals on EVA for every biome (which is kind of silly) and can get the science from crew reports instead. I plan on moving the biome specific EVA reports as appropriate to the crew report so you'll still get the unique messages.

Edited April 13, 2015 by Lord Aurelius

[Drew Kerman]

up to you ultimately if you feel reverting back is good for the mod. I have the code and can always use it myself. Just wanted to make you aware

[Lord Aurelius]

New version is up, reverted probe experiment to telemetry and added a few more tweaks and another experiment, more details in the OP.

[Rath]

I have a question: How can I make it so that a grab scan be done in the atmosphere because I got a contract too and really need the money

[Lord Aurelius]

@Rath

Sorry for the late response, got distracted with the new release and haven't been keeping up on my own threads.

There's a post here that describes how the experiment locations are defined. All the experiment definitions are located in Gamedata/Squad/Resources/ScienceDefs.cfg, you can manually edit the situation mask there and change it back when you're done.

Or you can add this MM code to a cfg file in your gamedata folder:

@EXPERIMENT_DEFINITION[*]:HAS[#id[gravityScan]]
{
@situationMask = 63
}

That will make it so the gravity scan will work anywhere.

[BlackHat]

Can we get this added to CKAN?

[callmewoof]

This is a serious post, but please understand this first part is just for silliness; post real, not actually offended, please don't hurt me.

Ok I finally figured it all out. Three guilty parties stand accused! Lord Aurelius, DuoDex, and Nightingale, you are accused of mod-mayhem!

Lord Aurelius - Crime: Duplicitous Duplication!

DuoDex - Crime: Partially Defined Experiments!

Nightingale - Crime: Broad-spectrum Experiment Gathering!

Issue: Field Research Contract Pack asks for "Probe Report" experiments.

Problem: No such report exists.

Reason:

• Lord Aurelius' Mod Stock Science Tweaks used to refer to them as Probe Reports but changed them to Telemetry Reports.
  

1. Installing Stock Science Tweaks does not solve the problem because you only get a Telemetry Report button which does not satisfy the contract.

2. If you have the SETI Community Tech Tree mod, it already incorporates Aurelius' SST mod, which gives you a duplicate Telemetry button; this one won't work either because SETI CTT's config file uses the updated Telemetry naming instead of Probe.

• The Probe Report is for Lord Aurelius's Stock Science Tweaks. The fact that they are showing up for you is actually
  due to a bug in Crowd Sourced Science, which DuoDex has already fixed (but not released).

1. The Crowd Sourced Science mod has an incorrect config file

GameData\CrowdSourcedScience\planets\000_default\StockScienceProbeTweaks.cfg

This file only partially defines an experiment called Probe Report, but because it is not a fully defined experiment, there is no way to perform this action in the game.

• Nightingale's config files for the Field Research use:

  experiments = AllExperiments().ExcludeAll([ evaReport, crewReport ]

  This method was grabbing the broken Probe Report, mistaking it for a valid experiment for contracts.
  

Solutions:

• End Users Like Me: Remove the above mentioned StockScienceProbeTweaks.cfg file from Crowd Sourced Science so it won't show up in contracts. If you already have a contract asking for a Probe Report, you need to cancel it since it can't be completed. Further contracts will then ask for Telemetry Reports instead.
  
• Lord Aurelius: Please get in touch with SETI CTT and see if you can find a way to avoid the button duplication if both mods are installed. Thanks!
  
• DuoDex: You are already aware of the issue, but perhaps you could add a note in your main post until it is fixed? Or maybe even a super-tiny patch hotfix that simply removes the offending file? Or release the next update
  
• Nightingale: Uh, nothing really. The way you grab all experiments is the right way to do things. You get a gold star!
  

​Thank you all for your hard work and awesome mods. I meant no disrespect in this post and I hope no one is offended. Your time and effort is greatly appreciated in making mods to make KSP more fun!

[Lord Aurelius]

Thanks for the detailed writeup.

The experiment name change was due to another user at the end of the previous page pointing out that I was using the same name as an experiment as another mod. It was actually called telemetry report initially, and then I changed the name to probe report to try to have a common experiment definition that crowd sourced science could use and another user had similar duplication issues to what you're seeing now with SETIctt (look on the first page of this thread).

I'll talk to Yemo and see if there's a simple way to disable one of these experiments if both are installed so there won't be duplicate buttons.

[callmewoof]

Thanks for taking the time to look into this. Love your mod!

[abowl]

This mod is simple yet elegant. A must have for me personally. I use CKAN to manage my mods folder, and i was wondering wether it would be possible to get it listed on the service? Thank you

[Lord Aurelius]

Sorry for the long hiatus, I've been busy with RL and experiencing a little KSP burnout in wake of the hotfixes/patches for 1.0.

@abowl

Glad to hear you're enjoying the mod, and simple and elegant is exactly what I was going for when I first wrote it. I'm not experienced with CKAN, and I'm still a little burned out on KSP so I likely won't be looking into that in the near future, but if you're motivated I wouldn't have a problem if you wanted to take a look into what it would take to get it on CKAN.

[Yemo]

About CKAN, you could just distribute StockScienceTweaks via Kerbalstuff.

There is a small checkbox when you first upload the mod, which automatically adds it to CKAN (at least the bot does a pull request for the netkan repository).

But beware, you can not change the mods name on kerbalstuff and can not set this checkbox once the mod is there.

Also, for easy CKAN integration, make sure your license format on kerbalstuff matches exactly one of the names defined here (bottom of the page):

https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN/blob/master/CKAN.schema

[Drew Kerman]

for some reason I can't discern, the Micro Grav experiment .cfg screws up other experiments in the game. For example, it prevents any of the Sounding Rockets payload package from showing an available experiment at all. tested on 1.0.4 with stock, Sounding Rockets and Science Tweaks

Spoke too soon, threw all my mods back in and science experiments were still screwed. Took out just probe science from starwaster and it worked again (kept probe science out and re-introduced the micro grav experiment and that still messed things up). Now, when I left probe science in with all my mods and took this one out, things were still messed up, so while the micro grav experiment from this mod causes problems, it doesn't team up with probe science to cause more, probe science does that on its own it seems as well.

Edited August 22, 2015 by Gaiiden

[Ruedii]

As a note, now that we have ultra-high-precision barometers on the latest probes and high resolution multi-spectral cameras, we have found that almost every planetoid in our solar system actually have trace atmospheres, even though most of them are incredibly thin, wispy and very uneven.

Also, the entire solar system has a very trace atmosphere of low-density solar plasma that is spewed from the sun. This too is in measurable density, and not just in waves of solar winds like we thought.

Hence, the word "vacuum" best describes space, not "void" because there are is trace atmospheric pressure, it is just too low to be measured by all but the most precision instruments.

[BlackHat]

Hmm, any chance this can be up dated to 1.0.5?

I have been using it in my 1.0.2 game and was planning on switching to 1.0.5 soon.