Devnote Tuesday: Kerbal Space Program 1.0.5

[HMIC]

Thanks Kasper, will continue to follow up on the notes every Tuesday

Google Translate won't help much to understand the phrase. You need to witness it live. Specially on September 15th just before the strike of midnight midnight with some tequila in a mexican joint. Scream with you mexican collegues the phrase all the way up to "CAB...." Ok, too much out of topic. Thanks for sending the message and lets keep adding more boosters.

[Glaran K'erman]

Ahhhhaa! So it does indeed make complete sense lol, I got it now.

[Errol]

When/where can we can some details on the new comms mechanics? I know that roverdude is not a fan of signal delay, but I do remember mention at some point of "other possibilities for difficulty" besides the already know fuzzy occlusion code he's written. Been dyeing to know more then this!

[John FX]

Hey KasperVld, I don't post much on the forums. So I'm taking the time from work to write this.

Have been following the devnotes for the last 12 months and I'm looking forward to this 1.1 update with Unity5. Have been playing KSP since 0.23. Just wanted to congratulate the entire KSP team, specially the developers and founders of this project. KSP made me understand a great deal of how astrophysics works in real life. Anyways, had a question about the 1.1 update that I may have missed on previous DevNotes:

- Are the developers noticing a highly noticable performace boost while unit testing KSP with Unity5? I ask this beacuse one of the reasons I stopped playiing since 1.0.3 was beacause my stations were getting to big and had multiple docked ships. This caused a huge performance slowdown while playing in the Windows and Linux versions. I know the slowdown could still happen when 1.1 is out, but at least it won't be like the 0.24 or 1.0.3 versions and can get back to visiting the entire system

Thanks,

P.S: I hear one of the devs or memebers of Squad is/are from Mexico, if I'm right make sure they/he/she/it gets the following message: "A seguir jalando con huevos, VIVA MEXICO CAB... y saludos de Monterrey, NL, MX"

From my investigation of the real world benefits that U5 will bring I would expect at least a 20% boost but not more than 30% although this will benefit larger craft (meaning more parts) more than smaller craft.

Also what to do with eggs?

EDIT :

When/where can we can some details on the new comms mechanics? I know that roverdude is not a fan of signal delay, but I do remember mention at some point of "other possibilities for difficulty" besides the already know fuzzy occlusion code he's written. Been dyeing to know more then this!

I would really like to know how the situation of an unmanned craft needing to burn for capture on the far side of a planet will be handled as this is a very common situation. Will we be expected to have another craft for signal relay to allow this, will we be able to control craft out of signal range, or will there be some form of autopilot?

SOME info about this would be welcome...

EDIT 2 : I assume the Mexican phrase is to encourage the devs to continue making KSP with `manly fortitude` shall we say...

Edited October 9, 2015 by John FX

[juanml82]

I would really like to know how the situation of an unmanned craft needing to burn for capture on the far side of a planet will be handled as this is a very common situation. Will we be expected to have another craft for signal relay to allow this, will we be able to control craft out of signal range, or will there be some form of autopilot?

SOME info about this would be welcome...

Well, if you put a pair of probes in a polar solar orbit, either one of those should be in line of sight with the probe about to do the capture burn at nearly every time..

Of course, that puts all interplanetary unmanned exploration missions on hold until you have those two probes in their planned orbits, which may take months

[RoverDude]

I would really like to know how the situation of an unmanned craft needing to burn for capture on the far side of a planet will be handled as this is a very common situation. Will we be expected to have another craft for signal relay to allow this, will we be able to control craft out of signal range, or will there be some form of autopilot?

SOME info about this would be welcome...

EDIT 2 : I assume the Mexican phrase is to encourage the devs to continue making KSP with `manly fortitude` shall we say...

The case of having some degree of control over occluded ships has been addressed, and while I'm pretty happy with the result, I can't go into any details yet as it's still something that has to make it through the QA team (where lots of stuff may or may not change) and through experimentals. Rest assured though that there will be a way to handle those burns while occluded.

[-ctn-]

The case of having some degree of control over occluded ships has been addressed, and while I'm pretty happy with the result, I can't go into any details yet as it's still something that has to make it through the QA team (where lots of stuff may or may not change) and through experimentals. Rest assured though that there will be a way to handle those burns while occluded.

I think this aspect of the new update is what I'm looking forward to the most. I tried to add AntennaRange to my install but got overwhelmed with adding config files to every modded antenna part I have.

Very much looking forward to a simpler, kerbalized version of communications arrays with high-gain dishes that look nice.

Can't wait for the 1.0.5 update!

[KasperVld]

The probe control is still planned for 1.1, not 1.0.5

[tjsnh]

Enthusiastic about this patch.

Porkjet's new parts look great, and the idea of the contextual contracts is also pretty slick.

Some food for thought, especially with the revamp of some of the aero parts, currently in the 'stock' experience aircraft don't get much love in career mode. There are very few reasons to use things like jet engines etc (at least, for many of us).

I've been working on a contract pack (still early WIP) using the contract configurator mod based around achieving various goals without passing 30k meters of altitude - kindof trying to force the use of aircraft. Might be interesting to have a chain of contracts or something eventually find their way into stock that focused on atmospheric objectives to give the excellent jet/aero parts a bit more utility value in career mode.

[linuxgurugamer]

I think this aspect of the new update is what I'm looking forward to the most. I tried to add AntennaRange to my install but got overwhelmed with adding config files to every modded antenna part I have.

Very much looking forward to a simpler, kerbalized version of communications arrays with high-gain dishes that look nice.

Can't wait for the 1.0.5 update!

Just an FYI, I'm working to Toadicus to get a mod available which will contain patch files for a large number of mods which have antennas in them, including RemoteTech.

Hope to have it available via CKAN on Sunday

LGG

[StevenRS11]

So I was reading around on the unity website and its discussion forums. I heard quite a bit of talk about upcoming optimizations for jointed rigid bodies- specifically, that each branch of the 'tree' will have its own physics thread. That seems like it could provide some pretty significant performance benefits, especially if we design our crafts with that in mind. Anyone else heard about that/have input?

[Zuexs]

The probe control is still planned for 1.1, not 1.0.5

Darn. So we won't get any of the antennas or probe control data links? I was hoping we would at least a light implimentation so I cant start my deep space network

[John FX]

The case of having some degree of control over occluded ships has been addressed, and while I'm pretty happy with the result, I can't go into any details yet as it's still something that has to make it through the QA team (where lots of stuff may or may not change) and through experimentals. Rest assured though that there will be a way to handle those burns while occluded.

Cryptic but reassuring. I`ll be interested to see the solution.

[-ctn-]

The probe control is still planned for 1.1, not 1.0.5

You're killin' me, smalls!

The antenna dishes look awesome. Guess I'll have to wait longer to use them.

[KerbMav]

The antenna dishes look awesome. Guess I'll have to wait longer to use them.

Hm, the antennas could still be put in as normal antennas/new parts?

[Darnok]

Hm, the antennas could still be put in as normal antennas/new parts?

Good idea We can have that feature later, now we can play with new parts.

[Aanker]

I think they are trying to move away from parts that look Military in favor of parts that look civilian. I believe the new cockpit is inspired by a Learjet or Cessna Citation.

Despite Militaristic origins, most space programs are not military and very rarely use even refurbished military aircraft. I think Military parts are better served by mods as they just don't fit with the stock game. If you did get a rounded nose cockpit, it would likely be more like a Boeing 757 or higher.

Eh don't know about that. The NASA spaceplanes were all launched from B-52s, their pilots and the early astronauts all had a military background, and the trainer jets used by astronauts are military grade material. Rockets don't look particularly militaristic because there's little room for that kind of aesthetic from a practical standpoint. But ignoring the intimate relationship between air forces and space exploration is a bit revisionist.

If anything we need more military stuff in the base game. Not necessarily weapons but the kind of second-hand B-52 style gear you would expect an upstart space program to receive from its peers.

That said there's still the Mk1 inline cockpit and other parts which could be associated with military origins.

[Yukon0009]

I forgot to ask, will the antenna relay system be added in the next update or have I misread something?

[Red Iron Crown]

I forgot to ask, will the antenna relay system be added in the next update or have I misread something?

The 1.0.5 Announcement Article seems to say it will not.

[Alshain]

I don't want anything military, I want retro.

Like high visibility, nice, round and smooth aircraft cabin for prop/piston driven observation craft, suitable for early polar expeditions and rescues.

With no RPM or alike, but with those round, phosphorus-marked analog gauges, a lot of them.

I see, well then what you probably want is closer to the Martin 404, it was a non-military prop plane in the 50's run by most airlines.

[ArmchairGravy]

Quick question: Will 1.1 support dx11? I recently upgraded, and Space Engineers looks superb with dx11.

[Red Iron Crown]

Quick question: Will 1.1 support dx11? I recently upgraded, and Space Engineers looks superb with dx11.

You can run the current KSP in DX11 mode, so I'd imagine that Unity 5 will not change that.

[CaptainKipard]

*Ctrl+F*

*types in "tree"*

Nope. Nothing.

[Yukon0009]

The 1.0.5 Announcement Article seems to say it will not.

Awww.

[ArmchairGravy]

You can run the current KSP in DX11 mode, so I'd imagine that Unity 5 will not change that.

I did not know that. I'll look for that setting. Thanks, RIC!