[1.1.3] Contract Pack: Historic Missions [V2.3.0] 23/07/2016 - Display Updates and Mars exploration!

[Warezcrawler]

Hey... I found it... Apparently I rejected one contract, and that stopped all of them. I came to that conclusion, since I found a contract in the persistent file which was rejected. I changed it to complete, and now I get historic contracts again. I'm so happy 

So small advise. Don't reject contracts to try and force other contracts to appear if using Historic Contracts. It must be because they are dependent on each other....

I wonder if it's possible to have contract come later if rejected now........

[AndrewHere]

Should this work with 1.1.2? Because for some reason i don't get the missions but i get the flags on.

Edit: I get all the flags: http://imgur.com/7CTzhvn

       But i get normal missions: http://imgur.com/8HPae6x

Edited May 8, 2016 by AndrewHere
Proof

[speedwaystar]

after watching Bob Fitch's History of Spaceflight in RSS, which dovetails with your pack rather nicely (for obvious reasons), I feel the lack of a vanilla Redstone sounding rocket mission in your pack, to sit between the Blossom and the Juno I (which was an uprated Redstone). just a thought!

 

[swjr-swis]

@Whitecat106

Some mod snuck a WWII German symbol flag (forum censors the more identifying word for it, but you should understand) into my game that I did not appreciate seeing. It took me a good bit to track it down to this mod, Historic Missions.

Is it possible to do without using that flag? Am I going to run into an error if the V2 test comes up as a contract, and just that one flag is deleted from my disk?

[Whitecat106]

20 minutes ago, swjr-swis said:

@Whitecat106

Some mod snuck a WWII German symbol flag (forum censors the more identifying word for it, but you should understand) into my game that I did not appreciate seeing. It took me a good bit to track it down to this mod, Historic Missions.

Is it possible to do without using that flag? Am I going to run into an error if the V2 test comes up as a contract, and just that one flag is deleted from my disk?

You can delete said flag from the HistoricMissions/Logo folder, the contract will appear but the logo will be blank as a white image and a small exception will appear in the debug/Alt-F12 log.

Since this issue has formerly been raised these will be my only suggestion from now on; this is a Historic Pack and as such I do not believe in censorship with similar matters; hence why Apollo-1, the Soyuz Accidents and the Shuttle Disasters have been included how they were originally supposed to be.

 

On 07/05/2016 at 8:50 PM, Warezcrawler said:

Hey... I found it... Apparently I rejected one contract, and that stopped all of them. I came to that conclusion, since I found a contract in the persistent file which was rejected. I changed it to complete, and now I get historic contracts again. I'm so happy 

So small advise. Don't reject contracts to try and force other contracts to appear if using Historic Contracts. It must be because they are dependent on each other....

I wonder if it's possible to have contract come later if rejected now........

Thanks for this! I will be looking through the pack for the next update to see if I can adjust this to something a little more user friendly!

 

On 08/05/2016 at 6:49 PM, AndrewHere said:

Should this work with 1.1.2? Because for some reason i don't get the missions but i get the flags on.

Edit: I get all the flags: http://imgur.com/7CTzhvn

       But i get normal missions: http://imgur.com/8HPae6x

Hmm, the contracts should appear, and the flags should be force linked to only Historic Missions contracts, are you sure you have installed the pack correctly by copying the ContractPacks folder from within an 'era' subpack into your game data folder?

[AndrewHere]

23 minutes ago, Whitecat106 said:

Hmm, the contracts should appear, and the flags should be force linked to only Historic Missions contracts, are you sure you have installed the pack correctly by copying the ContractPacks folder from within an 'era' subpack into your game data folder?

Here it is: http://imgur.com/mZ9vHHG

I got it from RegularVersion > FullPack 1940- present

Also this didnt work for me with version first version of unity 5 game, i think 1.0.0 it was

[speedwaystar]

On 5/10/2016 at 8:43 AM, speedwaystar said:

after watching Bob Fitch's History of Spaceflight in RSS, which dovetails with your pack rather nicely (for obvious reasons), I feel the lack of a vanilla Redstone sounding rocket mission in your pack, to sit between the Blossom and the Juno I (which was an uprated Redstone). just a thought!

well that was quick! 

( ^_^)b

EDIT: oh, MERCURY-redstone... bah.

Edited May 11, 2016 by speedwaystar

[swjr-swis]

14 hours ago, Whitecat106 said:

You can delete said flag from the HistoricMissions/Logo folder, the contract will appear but the logo will be blank as a white image and a small exception will appear in the debug/Alt-F12 log.

Since this issue has formerly been raised these will be my only suggestion from now on; this is a Historic Pack and as such I do not believe in censorship with similar matters; hence why Apollo-1, the Soyuz Accidents and the Shuttle Disasters have been included how they were originally supposed to be.

I just needed to know if it would cause errors for the game or the contract pack, which you have answered. I do question it being 'similar matters', but let's leave the formerly raised for what it is, I can cater to my own sensibilities easily enough by removing it.

 

Btw, perhaps relevant considering the host used for the mod (unrelated to my question here and triggered by a different exchange between other people):

19 hours ago, VITAS said:

What you shouldnt upload:

Porn, 3rd reich symbols, IS flag, stuff owned by someone else

 

[Whitecat106]

As I recall this was included in version 1.6.0, however KerbalStuff evidently had differing rules to SpaceDock; thank you for drawing my attention to this, for 2.2.0 the flag will be replaced with another icon, that said '3rd reich icons' pretty much removes anything vaguely to do with rocketry.. So a politically safe non offensive image of an historical duck will have to suffice. 

[pap1723]

Maybe you could use something like this for the logo for the early missions...You can then change the Agent from pedant Germany to Peenemunde Complex or something like that.

[AndrewHere]

Got it to work and i'm very happy with it  Apparently i needed Contract Configurator too but i never saw that part. 

PS: Try making the download buttons and required mods more visible, trust me it will make people like me lives easy xD

[Mister Spock]

Personally, I like seeing the historically-accurate flag for the V-1 and V-2 rockets.  It was jarring to encounter it in KSP, but I liked being jarred.

Incidentally, this mod doesn't seem to have a link in the "Plugin Library" thread that's stickied in this forum.  Is that an oversight?  This mod needs more visibility!

[OverNyanThousand]

Like it or not, if it wasn't for those certain people flying that historically accurate flag, we probably would have never had a space program. War, as horrible as it is, breeds innovation. The whole point of the early space program was to make sure our kabooms go farther than their kabooms, and we know where they keep their kabooms, and vice versa. Unfortunately, following your logic, your R&D department must be pretty low-tech, as the lovable Wernher von Kerman is modeled after "The Father of Rocket Science", who happened to be one of those certain people. He even comes with a tiny mustache, something that the real von Braun was not known for...

Edited May 14, 2016 by OverNyanThousand

[Mister Spock]

I'm really enjoying this, especially with Raidernick's "historic probes" mod.  I've got the actual Sputnik orbiting my Kerbin, and I just launched an actual Vanguard.  Three comments and questions:

1.  So far, after about 20 missions, I've found nice variety in the missions -- e.g., different altitudes, requiring solar panels, etc.  Will that variety continue?  I'm wondering whether I'll be doing 300 identical put-satellite-in-orbit contracts.  So far so good -- I'm getting enough variety to keep me interested -- but I'm curious what lies ahead.

2. On the flag: I understand if you have to swap it out (although I personally prefer keeping it in), but perhaps consider using the Wehrmacht iron cross symbol?  Wargames often go this route to avoid censorship laws in some countries.

3. Finally, how can we get this awesome mod linked in the stickied "Mods and Plugin Library" thread?  I rely on that thread to check for updates etc.

 

[Manabender]

So, I've been playing the RSS version of this contract pack, along with a full Realism Overhaul + Realistic Progression Zero install. I'm about 100ish missions in and enjoying it for the most part, but I've got two major complaints.

1. Deadlines are completely unreasonable if you have Kerbal Construction Time installed. About half the missions so far have had a base deadline of 70 (Earth) days. However, many of the ships I build for such missions take longer than that to build. I had to use Contract Reward Modifier to multiply contract deadlines tenfold.

2. Rewards are misaligned. At the start of the game, most RP0 contracts are offering a few thousand funds at most, while yours are offering about 20k (both combine the advance and completion rewards into one sum). Later, however, yours are only barely worth doing, because A) The cost of the ship approaches or is greater than the reward and B) RP0 contracts to do the same thing offer much, much more. As an example, RP0 offers 2,750,000 to land a man on the moon, while you offer 400,000 for Apollo-11 and 85k for Apollo-17.

Again, for the most part, I like what you've put together. I just think it could be even better.

[NathanKell]

RP-0 does not support contract packs. That would explain your issue. :]

[Manabender]

26 minutes ago, NathanKell said:

RP-0 does not support contract packs. That would explain your issue. :]

Be that as it may, I can't see any logical use for the RSS version of Historic Missions that doesn't involve RSS (for obvious reasons), RO (which comes highly recommended by RSS), and RP0 (which comes highly recommended by RO and RSS for anyone wanting to play career mode; career mode being required for contract packs to do anything).

That doesn't mean RP-0 should support contract packs. I've seen the extent of the work you do just to make RSS+RO+RP-0 bare-bones playable (fantastic work, might I add), asking any more just seems selfish and cruel.

Support can work two ways, however. Instead of RP-0 supporting a mod, a mod can support RP-0. That seems like the most logical path for RSS Historic Missions. Hence why I'm posting here.

 

On a related note, both of you are doing awesome work. Keep being awesome.

[Whitecat106]

Hello everyone,

Long time no speak! I have been very busy IRL and with Orbital Decay lately so I apologize for the lack of replies and content.

I myself have been playing through my own pack using both RSS, RO, RP-0 and KCT, the issues and solutions I have found are below:

• RP-0 prevents most of the Historic Missions from loading; this is due to the defined names of planets with RP-0/RO being different to those assigned by RSS, (as far as I can tell), RO uses a different version of the planet name from the GameEngine, using the planet type name rather than the planet defined name, for example RSS uses body.getName() and RP-0/RO uses body.name(), thus some parts of contract configurator parse correctly and others do not. My solution was to find and replace all instances of targetBody = Earth to targetBody = @Homeworld within each contract in the RSS version before starting a new game, this isnt ideal really but it works for now. I will make the necessary corrections for the next release. I may create a small plugin to automatically rename targetBody tags based on the plugins installed, this would be compatible with any contract pack and would enable RP-0 compatibility, but this will be afew weeks away!
• The early missions are dull... Yep you're right, even I skipped Explorer - 10 because of the repetitive nature, (oh and the 210 Soyuz missions are coming up.. ), I will try and spice up the early missions a tad!
• The deadlines, now these are a mixed opinion I can see, personally I like the idea of having to rush the build by 10% using KCT, reminds me of the haste of the space race itself, this combined with the high reward funds kind of makes the pack balanced in the early years, (Currently at 1965 relatively at the moment).
• Some contracts are too nit picky, by this I mean for instance Luna-1, as someone who has not actually played a full Realism career before getting to the Moon from an inclined launch site with little delta-v was tough, even tougher was being within 500Km of the surface to complete the contract... maybe some more realistic altitude requirements are necessary here!
• There is a void of Russian missions between 1961 and 1964; this is due to the pack currently only having missions up to Luna-4 and not all the way to Luna-16, I will add some more for the next update.
• The declining rewards for example Apollo - 11 400000 and Apollo-17 85000 was intentional to mirror the decline in interest from the world and thus decline in funding.

All in all I have found some bugs I couldn't find by just staring at the contract files over the last year and hopefully I can improve the next version with what I have learned!

Anymore suggestions for the next update are welcome, and thank you all for the interesting debates over the last few pages! Again I apologize for my lack of activity, hopefully once 1.5.0 of Orbital Decay is released I can get to work on this pack again.

Furthermore I will be adding the pack to a GitHub repositiory this week, hopefully this will encourage some community involvement in the making of the pack from now on!

P.S since the Witcher 3 dlc is out tomorrow, I may be away from the keyboard for a few days!

Whitecat106

 

Edited May 30, 2016 by Whitecat106

[Maxsimal]

I'm also having trouble getting historical missions working with RSS/RP-0/RO in a new game.   In contract configurator, I don't see them available to have running at all.  I at one point deleted the module manager cache and sha files to have the non-RO parts removed, and those seem to have stayed deleted, perhaps thats my issue?

Screenshot of what I see in contract configurator:

http://imgur.com/y7msUtA

I'll try to reproduce in a fresh install, might fix it, would still be nice to know why it's not showing up in this one though

[gamerscircle]

Hi there -

If I could chime in, I had problems with
Skylab
Soyuz 16 and above

The contract isn't recognizes that I am I rendezvousing , docking or spending the allotted time. 

I thought perhaps it was that I was using mods, but I have lately been using all Stock and still no acknowledgment:

IE Soyuz-21
Launch into LKO - Check mark
Docked: Salyut 5 and Salyut-5 [TBD]
Perform experiments..

Crew 2 - Check mark

[Whitecat106]

17 hours ago, gamerscircle said:

Hi there -

If I could chime in, I had problems with
Skylab
Soyuz 16 and above

The contract isn't recognizes that I am I rendezvousing , docking or spending the allotted time. 

I thought perhaps it was that I was using mods, but I have lately been using all Stock and still no acknowledgment:

IE Soyuz-21
Launch into LKO - Check mark
Docked: Salyut 5 and Salyut-5 [TBD]
Perform experiments..

Crew 2 - Check mark

Thanks for this, I have noticed issues with Docking time and duration requirements, I will definitely need to go through this for the next update. 

As for RP-0 and RO this has been fixed and is ready for the 2.2 release, just working on adding some more details to early missions and fixing the duration requirements which seem to effect lots of contracts, for example even as early as vostok 3, the remain in orbit timer will stop as soon as the vessel is switched, this may be causing the issue and as such is the reason for some failures. If this turns out to be a separate issue then I belive that a rewrite of the vessel definitions will be necessary and this might take some time. But rest assured I hope that 2.2 will fully fix the pack for all versions of KSP, RO/RP-0 especially!

The github repository will be up tomorrow for anyone willing to contribute to the pack and so you all can see my progress towards the 2.2.0 update (I apologise for the neglect of this pack up until now!) 

Whitecat106  

[gamerscircle]

@Whitecat106 - I did want you to know, that I have been enjoying the mod mission pack, the research and time.

[Whitecat106]

22 hours ago, gamerscircle said:

@Whitecat106 - I did want you to know, that I have been enjoying the mod mission pack, the research and time.

Thanks, will be working on fixes this afternoon to the aforementioned issues! I have added a link to the github on the first page of this thread if anyone wishes to contribute! That being said, I would appreciate if any contribution is thoroughly tested before submitting a pull request, since I simply do not have time to bug fix contracts that I have not made myself! Already looking at possibly 1000+ changes!

Right now the 2.2.0 pre release on Github contains RP-0 fixes and some new missions.

Whitecat106

[gonzo98x]

As a RSS/RO/RP-0 player I just want to say thank you for the updates.

 

I am using 2.1.0 and the historical contracts did in fact show up. Using KCT I am still able to stay on point or ahead of schedule with the accurate timeline of the missions. Just takes some planning. I like the pressure!

I am going to try 2.2.0 and see what's different.

My only question is this. I am not terribly interested in running any missions other than the American ones. If I ignore the USSR missions will that prevent future American missions from appearing? Simply, if I don't do the Luna missions will I be able to move on from Mercury to Gemini or will the mod hold me back until those Luna missions are completed before advancing?

[gonzo98x]

I ran a couple quick tests.

Test 1 - New career mode. I can not get the Freedom 7 mission to show up unless I do the early USSR missions. This answers my question about needing to do them to unlock future american missions. I was able to get much later american missions to appear before the freedom 7 mission simply by ignoring the early vostok missions. Once I completed the Russian missions then the Freedom 7 mission appeared.

 

Test 2- I looked into a RSS/RO setup without RP-0 and while everything worked game play is vastly changed. The tech nodes becomes rearranged and much less 'historical' / realistic. The early nodes are much less expensive to unlock and give you much later technology. Essentially, if someone is looking to unlock tech in a realistic progression with historical play through than RP-0 is a must.

 

 

I hope this information helps in the further development of this mod. I consider this mod ESSENTIAL to an RSS setup.

 

 

P.S. Aurora 7 Mission on the RSS build has a min altitude of 72000m req. I assume this was copied over from stock and should be about double that?

Edited June 8, 2016 by gonzo98x