[1.10.1+] Contract Pack: Field Research [v1.2.2] [2020-09-20]

[BlackHat]

I have not had one quite that bad, but your right, a little better grouping would be nice.. By the time I got the multi biome/situation contracts, I had already unlocked the Mission Control so had no limits on contracts, and just kept it and accepted that it would take multiple launches to complete the contract.

[nightingale]

I did a quick search, but did not find anything. Would it be possible to tweak this pack a bit so that it attempts to keep objectives grouped by biome? Things get a little difficult to be cost effective when it asks for such wild parameters. For example. I haven't put a kerbal in orbit, and it's offering me a "trivial" contract:

• Kerbin, high in space, probe report.
  
• Kerbin's grasslands, High in space, crew report.
  
• Kerbin's Deserts, flying low, EVA report.
  
• Kerbin's Ice Caps, landed, mystery goo.
  

How in the world is this mission trivial? How am I supposed to make any money off of completing this contract, that will require multiple launches, when the game considers it trivial? I've been trying to layer contracts to get an objective for multiple contracts done at once, but I only have 7 contract slots at the moment.

Yeah, I could just reject contracts like this, but it gets rather frustrating when most of these wind up as unrealistic as this.

Wait, what's the title of that contract? None should be that bad - the experiment one could potentially be (and I'll clean it up a bit under [#4]), but the one you're showing just seems random.

[maculator]

Hi, i have a quick question.

Im about to start a new game and wanted to add some science mods into it. So I was thinking about DMagicOrbitalScience and MkerbIncScienceParts, are those compatible to your contract pack, didn't find a statement for or against them. If not do you know a mod wich is?

[nightingale]

Hi, i have a quick question.

Im about to start a new game and wanted to add some science mods into it. So I was thinking about DMagicOrbitalScience and MkerbIncScienceParts, are those compatible to your contract pack, didn't find a statement for or against them. If not do you know a mod wich is?

DMagic Orbital Science is supported. MkerbIncScienceParts I have never even heard of, and a search only results in your post (typo? needs actual spaces?). If you provide a link to the mod, I can look into support for you.

[BudgetHedgehog]

DMagic Orbital Science is supported. MkerbIncScienceParts I have never even heard of, and a search only results in your post (typo? needs actual spaces?). If you provide a link to the mod, I can look into support for you.

Mkerb Inc. Science Instruments.

[nightingale]

Mkerb Inc. Science Instruments.

Awesome, thanks!

Since it's a pure parts mod using the stock science stuff, it'll work just fine. The only ones that cause trouble are the ones that use their own custom part module (which makes it hard for me to know when it's the part has been unlocked) or ones that have coded experiment availability restrictions.

[maculator]

I see you're dealing with a lot of issues lately so i thougt i might make you happy with a little joke:

http://i.imgur.com/txrlQHb.png

Edit: after declining it, it showed up again and now it wants two of those sampels ...

Is it a contract wich comes again after completing it?

Will the "storyline" of FieldResarch continiu if i just cheat it completed?

Because i somhow need those early contracts since im almoste broke;.;

Edited June 18, 2015 by maculator

[nightingale]

I see you're dealing with a lot of issues lately so i thougt i might make you happy with a little joke:

http://i.imgur.com/txrlQHb.png

Edit: after declining it, it showed up again and now it wants two of those sampels ...

Is it a contract wich comes again after completing it?

Will the "storyline" of FieldResarch continiu if i just cheat it completed?

Because i somhow need those early contracts since im almoste broke;.;

Oops... somehow must've lost the logic that makes asteroid stuff not show up.

If you cheat to complete it, it'll keep coming back (what comes up is based on what science is done, not what contracts are complete). But you can always take it, do what you can and then cancel it.

[severedsolo]

While not technically a problem, should I be seeing this contract twice? Essentially I'm getting paid twice for doing the same science (and they are exactly the same).

[nightingale]

While not technically a problem, should I be seeing this contract twice? Essentially I'm getting paid twice for doing the same science (and they are exactly the same).

http://i.imgur.com/MtnNAN3.png

You may not have a problem with that, but I do!

It's surely related to the new performance changes that were introduced back in 1.3.x... raised [#245].

[nightingale]

Small update: go do real science in the real solar system! Download now!

ContractPack-FieldResearch 1.0.5

• Minor fixes for RSS.
  

[maculator]

Hi i got some issue with the balancing im playing with 0.7 as the fundsgainfactor but this http://i.imgur.com/wppPr6Y.png those kind of contracts always want me to go to high and low space to do stuff. And even with 100% funds i dont see a way of getting profit out of it.

A second thing i found was that it wants me to do splashed down situations in the highlands and other non water bioms, i know that it is possible to achieve this, but as a low rep contract its ab bit heavy. (But if you could provide waypoints to those places where its possible, that would make some cool and pretty usefull contracts)

And a last thing i noticed:

The contract wich lets me help a scientist always wants me to put him close to a waypoint on the other side of kerbin. This is also kind of hard to manage in early game. Maybe he could lower his ambition and select an island in the sea infront of the ksc first?

The only contract ive done sofar is science gathering arround the ksc, a first orbit, and the sputnik contract from the historic missions pack and im really at the beginning of the techtree.

[nightingale]

Hi i got some issue with the balancing im playing with 0.7 as the fundsgainfactor but this http://i.imgur.com/wppPr6Y.png those kind of contracts always want me to go to high and low space to do stuff. And even with 100% funds i dont see a way of getting profit out of it.

Well, it's not really meant to pay for a launch by itself - it's more of a "hey, I'll try to land in this area so that I can complete this contract as part of my mission". But they are a little on the low side, so I've bumped them up for the next release.

A second thing i found was that it wants me to do splashed down situations in the highlands and other non water bioms, i know that it is possible to achieve this, but as a low rep contract its ab bit heavy. (But if you could provide waypoints to those places where its possible, that would make some cool and pretty usefull contracts)

Tsk. That means you didn't read the contract description or go to the tracking station. Then you would've seen the waypoints that I provide to those places where it is possible...

And a last thing i noticed:

The contract wich lets me help a scientist always wants me to put him close to a waypoint on the other side of kerbin. This is also kind of hard to manage in early game. Maybe he could lower his ambition and select an island in the sea infront of the ksc first?

The only contract ive done sofar is science gathering arround the ksc, a first orbit, and the sputnik contract from the historic missions pack and im really at the beginning of the techtree.

Hmmm.... I've changed that one to require a Mun or Minmus orbit to move it a little bit later. The random waypoints are the same logic that are in the FinePrint contracts - so it's whatever those do.

[maculator]

Okay well i actually really didn't read it:blush:.

So i'll have to reactivate some stock contracts again to get me out of the reds, but this pack stil is verry usefull and fun to play!

[eddiew]

Looks like an interesting pack, and I do love a good excuse for field science - shall be added for my next career game. Thanks for working on it

[HarlyKin]

Had a couple of my contracts removed. Found this in the logs.

[INFO] ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Generated contract: CONTRACT_TYPE [FS_HardScience]

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Removed contract 'Field Research: Mystery gooâ„¢ observation experiments on Kerbin', as it no longer meets the requirements.

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Removed contract 'Field Research: Mystery gooâ„¢ observation experiments on Kerbin', as it no longer meets the requirements.

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Removed contract 'Field Research: Perform experiments around KSC', as it no longer meets the requirements.

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Removed contract 'Field Research: Biome study of Kerbin's Shores', as it no longer meets the requirements.

Not sure what hard science is. After it removed it then put this in the logs.

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


[INFO] ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Generated contract: CONTRACT_TYPE [AS_Kerbin_IslandAirfield]

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


[INFO] ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Generated contract: CONTRACT_TYPE [FS_Experiment]

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


[INFO] ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Generated contract: CONTRACT_TYPE [AS_Kerbin_Pyramids]

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


[INFO] ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Generated contract: CONTRACT_TYPE [FS_HardScience]

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


[INFO] ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Generated contract: CONTRACT_TYPE [FS_HardScience]

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


[INFO] ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Generated contract: CONTRACT_TYPE [FS_HardScience]

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)


[INFO] ContractConfigurator.ConfiguredContract: Generated contract: CONTRACT_TYPE [Tourism_SubOrbital]

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)

Also still getting bad lag when I have more than 1 or 2 contracts up. I'll try and get the logs loaded for you in just a min. Having internet issues so hopefully I can get them up soon.

[nightingale]

That one is fixed in the upcoming release, which should be tomorrow. I just need to finish off one other thing, then verify 1.0.3 didn't break anything.

The lag... I'll be doing my best to chip away at it, but nothing in the next release.

[PhoenixBvo]

The lag... I'll be doing my best to chip away at it, but nothing in the next release.

Concerning lag, I have a report that might help:

After I activated the "Field Research: Temperature scan experiments on the Mun" contract, I got stutters with any spacecraft I flew. By removing contracts from the sfs-file I narrowed the cause down to the mentioned contract.

I then checked the KSP.log and found

[WRN 17:21:33.342] ContractConfigurator.ContractPreLoader: Contract attribute took too long (0.1782837 seconds) to generate: FS_HardScience[scienceSubjectsTemp1]

and similar messages written at the time of stutters occuring.

I have 7 other contracts active among which one other Field Research contract: "Field Research: Help a scientist perform experiments at the Mun's Midlands." But removing that one did not remove the stutters.

Hope this helps and let me know if you'd like more info.

Cheers

[nightingale]

Concerning lag, I have a report that might help:

After I activated the "Field Research: Temperature scan experiments on the Mun" contract, I got stutters with any spacecraft I flew. By removing contracts from the sfs-file I narrowed the cause down to the mentioned contract.

I then checked the KSP.log and found

[WRN 17:21:33.342] ContractConfigurator.ContractPreLoader: Contract attribute took too long (0.1782837 seconds) to generate: FS_HardScience[scienceSubjectsTemp1]

and similar messages written at the time of stutters occuring.

I have 7 other contracts active among which one other Field Research contract: "Field Research: Help a scientist perform experiments at the Mun's Midlands." But removing that one did not remove the stutters.

Hope this helps and let me know if you'd like more info.

Cheers

Yeah, those warnings are leftover from my last round of debugging... they are still useful, but I'm hitting the limit of how much I can fix those. That being said there should've been some improvements in Contract Configurator 1.5.0. Can you confirm that's the version you were running? If not, can you update and let me know if that improves the issues you saw with the Temperature Scan experiments?

[PhoenixBvo]

Hmm, I'm running 1.4.2.

OK, i'll update and let you know tomorrow.

[nightingale]

Hmm, I'm running 1.4.2.

OK, i'll update and let you know tomorrow.

Yeah, just to give a little bit more background, I got a report from Yemo (of SETI) that helped narrow down what I thought were the original issues with the contract generation to issues with the CollectScience parameter (the one that says to actually run the experiments). I put in some fixes that should definitely improve that for 1.5.0.

So if anyone is still having lag issues with 1.5.0, I'd like to hear about it. Also, can you let me know if it's better, worse or about the same as 1.4.2.

[PhoenixBvo]

OK, so I tried with 1.5.0 and although the issue is still there ( new log entry: )

[WRN 19:21:33.172] ContractConfigurator.ContractPreLoader: Contract attribute took too long (0.1516724 seconds) to generate: FS_HardScience[scienceSubjectsTemp1]

the stutters have become less pronounced. With 1.4.2 I got a short freeze every second or so and now it is every 3 to 4 seconds.

OK, so an improvement is there , but for now I'll just remove that contract and if another one should produce stutters, I'll let you know.

Thanks for your work btw, I really like those contract packs.

[nightingale]

OK, so I tried with 1.5.0 and although the issue is still there ( new log entry: )

[WRN 19:21:33.172] ContractConfigurator.ContractPreLoader: Contract attribute took too long (0.1516724 seconds) to generate: FS_HardScience[scienceSubjectsTemp1]

the stutters have become less pronounced. With 1.4.2 I got a short freeze every second or so and now it is every 3 to 4 seconds.

OK, so an improvement is there , but for now I'll just remove that contract and if another one should produce stutters, I'll let you know.

Thanks for your work btw, I really like those contract packs.

Just to make sure I'm clear, are they just less frequent (3-4 seconds instead of every second) or also less pronounced (harder to measure, but is the "stall" for a shorter period of time or about the same).

Additionally for you or anyone who is able to volunteer the time - how much is it affected by craft part count? I know this one can be hard to tell too since KSP in general can slow down lots with high part counts.

[PhoenixBvo]

Just to make sure I'm clear, are they just less frequent (3-4 seconds instead of every second) or also less pronounced (harder to measure, but is the "stall" for a shorter period of time or about the same).

I meant the overall effect is less pronounced, mainly due to the frequency of stutters. But it is indeed hard to tell whether the stalls are also shorter. I'll have to look at it again.

I forgot to mention, but I observed the same behavior on two different machines: a Core i7 860 and a Xeon X5647 both on Win64. I'm running KSP from an external USB3 HDD. The stutters with 1.4.2 were similar on both machines.

Additionally for you or anyone who is able to volunteer the time - how much is it affected by craft part count? I know this one can be hard to tell too since KSP in general can slow down lots with high part counts.

I might be able to do some testing over the weekend. Perhaps I'll record some short videos with Fraps for you to look at.

[BlackHat]

One thing I wish, that you could tell what is the source of a contract. (Stock, Field Research, MC2, ScanStat, etc...)

I have 2 contracts right now for "Do a Biome scan of XXXX" (using the M700? the contract does not specify a part)

One is for the Mun and one for Kerbin. I Think they are part of CP:Field Research?

Here is the problem: The Kerbin contract is working correctly. Its at 50% and going up, but the Mun Contract is stuck at 1% and I dont know why. its orbit is correct (30x95km) and it has batts and solar panels so it has plenty of power. and it already did the Biome experiment.

And Ideas how I can figure out why its not working?

[EDIT:] I tried playing around with the CC Debug screen, It looks like is shows the sources of the contracts (Which pack generates them) it looks like Biome Scan is part of ScanSatLite. Unfortunately I don't understand much of what on the screen so still don't know why the Mun's contract is not progressing.

Edited June 29, 2015 by BlackHat