Leaving the scanner overlay on permanently.

[PTNLemay]

Sorry if there's already a thread discussing it, but I did look and all I found were mods that "enhanced" the scanning feature by making it a lot more complicated than it already is. All I want is to be able to still see the ore deposits even when I've switched over to my mining ship. From what I understand you need to keep a satellite in orbit of the planet in order to keep the ore deposites visible, while a second ship goes down to the surface to do the actual ore mining. But when I switch away from the scanner the ore map disappears. I have to try and memorize it and continuously switch between the two crafts to make sure I'm landing on a ore-rich area. It's very very tedious and I'm wondering if there's a way to just leave the overlay on.

Edited July 22, 2015 by PTNLemay

[Foxster]

You can sorta do this, you just need to focus on the body you are orbiting by double-clicking it in the map view. You will then get the extra button to show scan results on the right of the screen. This works for any vessel, not just the scanner...

[Geschosskopf]

All I want is to be able to still see the ore deposits even when I've switched over to my mining ship. From what I understand you need to keep a satellite in orbit of the planet in order to keep the ore deposites visible, while a second ship goes down to the surface to do the actual ore mining. But when I switch away from the scanner the ore map disappears.

Once you have the scan done, you can see it from any ship. Go to the map view, focus on the planet instead of your ship, and you'll see 3 buttons appear on the right edge of the screen. Click the bottom button to bring up the scan, then switch focus back to your ship. The scan will still be displayed.

But do not for a moment think the orbital scan shows you actual ore deposits, nor how good they are. IOW, don't send a mining ship directly to a place you spot from the ore overlay. Ore is distributed by biome, not really by specific location, so what the orbital scan shows you is large regions of the planet where most of the surface area is composed of biomes that have relatively high levels (but not necessarily the highest for that planet) of ore. You're supposed to send ships there with surface scanners and/or NBS to determine which biomes have the better ore levels (which will be FAR less than the cut-off value of the overlay). Once you know which biomes have what ore, then you can pick an actual mining location within one of the better biomes.

[X-SR71]

Also, you'll probably get frustrated after many attempts of trying to switch focus back to your own vessel from focus of the body. This is expected.

[Starhawk]

Also, you'll probably get frustrated after many attempts of trying to switch focus back to your own vessel from focus of the body. This is expected.

The Backspace key returns the focus to the currently active vessel.

Happy landings!

[PTNLemay]

Click the bottom button to bring up the scan, then switch focus back to your ship. The scan will still be displayed.

Okay, well... mine doesn't do that. I have the buttom in the radar station map thingy, but the moment I go to fly my ship the overlay goes away. Do I need a third-tier radar station, or is it that my install is bugged? I'm running 1.0.4 on Steam with no mods.

[Sir Pnakotic]

The Backspace key returns the focus to the currently active vessel.

Happy landings!

I have been playing this game since they first added the Mun (before landing gear) and I had no idea this was a thing. I...I think I have to go home now...

[X-SR71]

The Backspace key returns the focus to the currently active vessel.

Happy landings!

Oh my.. Thank you good sir!

[annallia]

I have been playing this game since they first added the Mun (before landing gear) and I had no idea this was a thing. I...I think I have to go home now...

That is one of the things I love about this game... Can play for years and still on occasion learn something new about it that seems like it would almost be essential.

[Starhawk]

Okay, well... mine doesn't do that. I have the buttom in the radar station map thingy, but the moment I go to fly my ship the overlay goes away. Do I need a third-tier radar station, or is it that my install is bugged? I'm running 1.0.4 on Steam with no mods.

While in flight, switch to map mode. Then, double-click the body in question to set the focus to it. A small button will appear to the right along with the other two familiar buttons. If you click this to open up the resources display window. Clicking on the 'Ore' line will make the ore concentrations visible in that view.

I have been playing this game since they first added the Mun (before landing gear) and I had no idea this was a thing. I...I think I have to go home now...

Oh my.. Thank you good sir!

My pleasure. I spent my first few weeks of KSP with this page open on my second screen.

Happy landings!

[PTNLemay]

@ Starhawk

... thank you. I don't know why I was being so confused by that combination of UI elements. This will help my mining endeavors tremendously.

[Nich]

Does surface scanning improve satellite scanning like is says in the description? I have scanned most of the minimus biomes and it seems to be the same. Also satellite scanning says there areas with 90+% but when I get down there 9% is the highest I have seen on the surface scanner.

[brianorca]

The Backspace key returns the focus to the currently active vessel.

Happy landings!

Wow. I would not have thought to try backspace in the map screen, since it is "abort" in the staging view. I was always hitting tab a bunch of times, and that didn't even work all the time.