[1.2.1] Fog Of Tech v0.4 (12 Oct 2016)

[Ser]

This little plugin hides the nodes of the KSP Technology Tree that you are not able to research yet.

 

NOTE ON FURTHER UPDATES:

Since there's an actively maintained mod

Hide Empty Tech Tree Nodes

that enables the same feature among the others, this mod's update and maintenance has been paused.

 

 

Without rendering the fog itself of course.

Supported KSP version: 1.1.x

License: MIT (included)

Sources: included

Description:

For some reason KSP developers decided to expose the entire technology tree at Research And Development facility since KSP 1.0. That spoils all the technologies that you will ever be able to research. This mod is for those who liked the 0.90 way of the tech tree rendering: you could only see techs that you are able to research or have already researched. That kept the intrigue of development through out the game.

There is also a tiny config file to affect the way how the technologies are hidden in the tree.

 

Download from SpaceDock

Usage:

Just extract the contents of the zip into your GameData directory.

By default the mod hides techs that are unresearchable yet and leaves the researchable ones visible (just like it was in KSP 0.90).

Configuration:

One more thing you may complain about a stock tech tree design is that the technologies are becoming available to research when any of their parent technologies are researched. For example, to research Stability you need either Basic Rocketry OR Engineering 101. As if for invention of automobile it was sufficient to invent only a wheel or only an engine. You can change that in several ways:

1. (Supported by the stock game and is not related to Fog Of Tech): For stock tree edit the KSP_Folder\GameData\Squad\Resources\TechTree.cfg and change every value of AnyParentToUnlock property from True to False. That means you'll need to research all of the parent technologies in order to research the particular one.

2. You can just set parentTechsToShow=ALL in Fog Of Tech's configuration file. That will make the plugin just hide all the techs that haven't all of their parents researched without the need to edit stock tech tree.

The other possible value is ANY: with the default tech tree effect is the same to the default plugin action. But if there is a tech that requires all of its parents to be researched then it will be shown immediately after you research any tech that leads to it despite it is still unresearchable (see the title screenshot: Flight Control has been modified to be such node there).

Compatibility:

Since the mod affects only the way of tech tree rendering it should be compatible with the most of custom tech tree mods.

Edited March 7, 2018 by Ser
Officially updated for 1.2

[Beetlecat]

Nice! Was just thinking about this sort of thing.

[Ser]

Thanks. That was quite a good idea: when we don't like anything about the game, we just modify it.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Ser

[diomedea]

Yes, hiding what comes next with the tech advances gives a closer feel to what research should be.

If ever you wanted to develop the concept further, what exactly is required to unlock each node (and parts with it) should not be known (my opinion, of course). Any player who did career a few times has a clear idea of where the tech nodes are, and what comes with them, but this knowledge takes away the uncertainty that is integral with research programs. In reality, not always a path of research gives fruit (though sometimes brings discoveries that were not even considered), and certainly the effort required to give results is not fixed and completely known beforehand. A way to allocate science points towards one goal (without that meaning that goal will have to be reached with exactly that many points, so the exact amount required for each tech node remains unknown but yet credible) could go a long way towards making the research part of the game more interesting.

[Ser]

If ever you wanted to develop the concept further, what exactly is required to unlock each node (and parts with it) should not be known

So doesn't showing only the nodes that are available to research at the moment do the thing? You cannot tell which way you need to go to reach certain technology (if you don't know the tree by the rote, of course). Or are you suggesting to eliminate all dependencies between technologies at all and after research of a tech pop a choice of a random set to be next?

P.S.

I like the way you are thinking. Physically and logically there's much less certainity in real life than it is implemented in video games.

[diomedea]

So doesn't showing only the nodes that are available to research at the moment do the thing? You cannot tell which way you need to go to reach certain technology (if you don't know the tree by the rote, of course). Or are you suggesting to eliminate all dependencies between technologies at all and after research of a tech pop a choice of a random set to be next?

P.S.

I like the way you are thinking. Physically and logically there's much less certainity in real life than it is implemented in video games.

Sure hiding the nodes further up does help. But still, it doesn't take much for players to memorize where they are, what parts are in them, and even easier, what exactly the cost in science points is to get there.

I know, the revised techtree in KSP 1.0 makes knowledge with the older techtree less useful, but it won't take long before players (used to career games) can tell everything in it with closed eyes.

Dependencies are required, sure. It is only logical that one path of research brings to Basic Rocketry before Advanced Rocketry. Not telling dependencies should go, but what exactly is required to make that "next step" shouldn't be known before that research is actually successful. I'd say, e.g., let a player push scientific points with the rocketry path - he will eventually unlock those nodes, one after the other in the logical succession they need to be. And however, to achieve success with one specific node (where a double dependency exist), the player must have not only unlocked the previous nodes, but also keep pushing more points with the specific research lines. E.g., we have Fuel Systems after both Advanced Rocketry and General Construction: I'd say to unlock that, a player has to keep pushing both those lines (rocketry and costruction) further, but should have no knowledge of exactly how much each line has to be pushed for Fuel Systems to unlock. And while he may not find Fuel Sytems not having pushed the construction line hard enough, he may instead be advancing towards the unlock of Heavy Rocketry, or Propulsion Systems, to the point he may be given the option to have one of those unlocked before Fuel System.

The exact mechanic of this all may require some effort to make right. It would be a significant change in the way the game is played, and certainly would take time to balance correctly.

Also, KSP currently implements specific constraints about the nodes (e.g. each part availability is tied specifically to one node) and that sure limits the uncertainty. A revised, much longer techtree would help a lot to give a better granularity to this concept, but then every part (not only the ones in stock, also those in add-ons) should be associated to nodes with that techtree. Of course, different techtrees have been proposed already, and some are certainly better to go along the idea shown above.

[Ser]

diomedea, yes, that would be a completely different approach to the way science is modelled in the game. I have many complains on that way too: why have we to "buy" technologies for science points? Why there's no difference of what kind of field data are used to develop a certain tech? Why the techs are developed momentarily? Looks like the present science model is so "gamy" and has a level of abstraction that is hardly understandable in real life terms. I think it requires not even modification but a serious overhaul. Definitely it's out of scope of this particular mod but it would be great if someone could do that.

[Ser]

Have tested the mod with KSP 1.0.4, still seems to work fine. No surprise.

[GorillaZilla]

Thankyou for making this mod matey, Is just the ticket for the KSP build I'm putting together for my nephew. All the tech being visable at the start totaly ruins the sense of discovery you would get from playing through the Career mode tech tree for the first time.

So thankyou again :-)

Edited September 8, 2015 by GorillaZilla

[Ser]

@GorillaZilla

I appreciate your appreciation

[Munchkin9]

I still have nodes showing up after the default ones. I can take a picture if it would help but it seems to include every modded object. KAS, Interstellar, Karbonite, etc. Any idea what is going on? Do I need to refresh the Fog of Tech mod somehow?

[Ser]

Post a screenshot, please, and what mods are you using.

[Munchkin9]

As you can see the nodes on the left are the ones I've unlocked and can see, so they are working correctly. Then that middle section is where the rest of the hidden nodes are. And then on the right we have this whole tree of nodes that are visible but not accessible yet. I do wonder if it is due to that glitched out one in the center that is green. I forgot to mention it before. I selected it so you can see which node it is. It doesn't have an image, is green like it has been researched, but hasn't yet as you can see on the right. It isn't connected to anything else either. Really weird.

The mods I have installed are:

Action Groups Extended (AGExt 1.33a)

Active Texture Management - X86 - Aggressive (ActiveTextureManagement-x86-Aggressive 5-0)

B9 Aerospace Procedural Parts (B9AerospaceProceduralParts 0.40)

CapCom - Mission Control On The Go (CapCom 1.2)

Chatterer (Chatterer 0.9.6)

Community Resource Pack (CommunityResourcePack 0.4.4)

Contract Configurator (ContractConfigurator 1.7.6)

Contract Pack: RemoteTech (ContractConfigurator-RemoteTech 2.0.1)

Contract Pack: SCANSat (ContractConfigurator-ContractPack-SCANsat v0.5.2.1)

Contract Pack: Useful Space Stations (ContractConfigurator-UsefulSpaceStations 1.1.1)

Contract Window + (ContractsWindowPlus 5.3)

Crossfeed Enabler (CrossFeedEnabler v3.3)

EVAManager (EVAManager 6)

Extraplanetary Launchpads (ExtraPlanetaryLaunchpads 5.2.2)

Ferram Aerospace Research (FerramAerospaceResearch 3:0.15.5.1)

Field Experience (FieldExperience 1.0.2)

Filter Extensions - Plugin (FilterExtensions 2.4.1)

Final Frontier (FinalFrontier 0.8.6-1370)

Firespitter Core (FirespitterCore v7.1.4)

Fog Of Tech (FogOfTech 0.1)

Hullcam VDS (HullcamVDS 0.50)

Infernal Robotics Model Rework - Core Pack (IR-Model-Rework-Core v01b)

Infernal Robotics Model Rework - Expansion Pack (IR-Model-Rework-Expansion v01b)

Interstellar Fuel Switch (InterstellarFuelSwitch 1.17)

Interstellar Fuel Switch Core (InterstellarFuelSwitch-Core 1.17)

Karbonite (Karbonite 0.6.4)

KarbonitePlus (KarbonitePlus 0.5.0)

KAS Portable Science Container (PortableScienceContainer 1.3.0)

Kerbal Alarm Clock (KerbalAlarmClock v3.4.0.0)

Kerbal Attachment System (KAS 0.5.4)

Kerbal Construction Time (KerbalConstructionTime 1.2.2)

Kerbal Engineer Redux (KerbalEngineerRedux 1.0.18.0)

Kerbal Inventory System (KIS 1.2.2)

Kerbal Joint Reinforcement (KerbalJointReinforcement v3.1.4)

Kerbal Mechanics: Part Failures and Repairs (KerbalMechanics v0.6.4)

Kerbal Stats (KerbalStats 2.0.0)

Kerbalized Flags and Space Agencies (KerbalizedFlagsandSpaceAgencies 1.5)

KSP Achievements (Achievements 1.8.1)

KSP Interstellar Extended (KSPInterstellarExtended 1.5.11)

Landing Height Display (LandingHeight 1.4)

LightsOut (LightsOut 0.1.4)

Magic Smoke Industries Infernal Robotics (InfernalRobotics v0.21.3)

Mission Controller 2 (MissionController2 1.23)

ModularFlightIntegrator (ModularFlightIntegrator 1.1.1)

Module Manager (ModuleManager 2.6.8)

Procedural Fairings (ProceduralFairings v3.15)

Procedural Wings (ProceduralDynamics 0.10.0)

RemoteTech (RemoteTech v1.6.8)

SCANsat (SCANsat v14.2)

Select Root (SelectRoot 2015-05-17)

Sequencer for Infernal Robotics (InfernalRobotics-Sequencer 0.4)

Ship Manifest (ShipManifest 4.4.1.1)

StageRecovery (StageRecovery 1.5.7)

Surface Lights (surfacelights 1.0)

Take Command (TakeCommand 1.2)

Targetron (Targetron v1.4.2.1)

TextureReplacer (TextureReplacer 2.4.10)

ToadicusTools (ToadicusTools 16)

Toolbar (Toolbar 1.7.9)

Tweakable Everything - Engine Staging Toggle (TweakableEverything-EngineStagingToggle 1.13)

Tweakable Everything - Fairing Staging Toggle (TweakableEverything-FairingStagingToggle 1.13)

TweakableEverything (TweakableEverything 1.13)

TweakScale - Rescale Everything! (TweakScale v2.2.1)

USI Kolonization Systems (MKS/OKS) (UKS 0.31.10)

USI Life Support (USI-LS 0.1.5)

USI Tools (USITools 0.5.1)

Hope this helps. Love the idea of the mod btw. Always believes that spell lists or research technologies and things like that should be hidden to allow for the thrill of discovery. Which is why I'm fighting so hard to get this mod to work properly Thank you for the help!

[Ser]

I see. That's definitely a bug maybe caused by something that is unusual for the modded nodes. I'll try to find that out.

[Munchkin9]

It occurs to me that since everything broken is probably caused by that glitched node I should see if I can fix that first. So I'm going to start testing mods in order to find the one (or two conflicting) that cause the issue. Will post more info when I find out.

[Ser]

It occurs to me that since everything broken is probably caused by that glitched node I should see if I can fix that first. So I'm going to start testing mods in order to find the one (or two conflicting) that cause the issue. Will post more info when I find out.

You don't need to. My first suspect was the Interstellar mod and I was right. That node seems to have an improper definition in Interstellar's Module Manager patch. Couldn't fix that patch quickly but I have notified the KSPI author. Anyway soon I'll release a new version of Fog Of Tech that shouldn't be sensitive to similar problems.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Ser

[Ser]

Version 0.2 released

Changes:

Improved processing of custom tech trees containing some errors

Download

[Munchkin9]

Thanks awesome work!

[Ser]

Seems to work with 1.0.5 and still needed.

[Ser]

KSP 1.1 pre-release compatible build can be downloaded here .

Edited April 5, 2016 by Ser

[Ser]

The mod is officially updated and still needed for KSP 1.1.

No changes besides that. Download is available on SpaceDock now.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Ser

[KronosHelix]

@Ser Fog of Tech still seems to work, nicely done on the coding, the only one who is having problems with it is CKAN. Thank you for this wonderful mod.

[Ser]

12 minutes ago, KronosHelix said:

@Ser Fog of Tech still seems to work, nicely done on the coding, the only one who is having problems with it is CKAN. Thank you for this wonderful mod.

What kind of problem CKAN has with it? I don't use CKAN so I'm unaware of the trouble.

[KronosHelix]

Version mismatch, I just have keep downloading from Spacedock, I figured you would start using CKAN.

[Ser]

On 07.05.2016 at 1:24 PM, KronosHelix said:

Version mismatch, I just have keep downloading from Spacedock, I figured you would start using CKAN.

Soon I'll test it for 1.1.2 compatibility and officially update it on SpaceDock. Hope that'll update CKAN too.