Any Ideas What V 1.0.5 Might Break?

[Srpadget]

A question of vital interest to those of us who build lots of reusable/permanent infrastructure, with each new update:

Will we be able to keep the old save (and associated existing infrastructure) going, or will something change in the new update that will force us to abandon it and start over again?

I'm aware of lots of new parts, mostly plane-centric. New parts, per se, don't break the existing stuff, though. At least as long as they don't mess with the properties of existing parts, or delete any "obsolete" parts.

My reusable tugs have neither antennas nor command pods, so that may be a problem given the new "RT Lite" communications feature (certainly it would be a bad idea to update while any of them are in mid-mission...).

I've heard vague statements about tweaking/rebalancing thermal, but I have no specifics on it; that's the thing I am most concerned about, from the perspective of breaking my existing infrastructure. Anybody know if my standard mission profile of aerobraking with no heat shields when returning to Kerbin from anywhere in (or near) Kerbin SOI will still be viable? What about ISRU with no radiators? Are they bringing back plume heating similar to that in 1.0.(early)?

I've also heard rumors of a redesign of Jool's and Eve's upper atmosphere, but I cannot imagine that to be anything but a GOOD thing, for anyone. Ditto the reworking of the liquid-surface physics: bouyancy, impacts, etc.

So, does anybody know specifics about things that are likely to behave differently enough in 1.0.5 that existing craft may need to be scrapped and redesigned?

[Alshain]

The comm system isn't in 1.0.5 and it will be optional in 1.1

If you don't have a heat shield, you may want to bring it home or be prepared for a rescue mission.

Jool is supposed to be fixed, it should be less heat when trying to aerobrake. Haven't heard anything about Eve.

If you have nuclear parts (including the RTG), drilling rigs, and other such heat generating items, you may wish to create a mission to add radiators if they are not present already.

Overall, the only thing likely to really break are the air breathing engines and Mk1 parts due to potential size changes. When a new model is added with a different shape and size, it always has the potential to look out of place. I would bring those home.

Specifics can be found here:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/content/356-Announcing-Kerbal-Space-Program-1-0-5

Edited November 2, 2015 by Alshain

[FancyMouse]

Personally I think it makes sense that the heat mechanism itself doesn't change a lot, but the atmosphere curve of the planets (e.g. Jool) changes. But still nothing can be said for sure until the update rolls out and we test it out.

[LostOblivion]

If you play stock, then Squad probably won't break anything as they said that they will do their best to keep things backward compatible.

If you play with mods, then it might take a while before things become playable again.

[RidingTheFlow]

Just use HyperEdit if something breaks and needs to be fixed in way game won't allow. E.g. remove+refund failing ship, rebuild and put fixed ship at same orbit. No reason to maker you career take a hit + waste time because they've changed game under you.

Edited November 2, 2015 by RidingTheFlow

[cantab]

Squad have generally been good at avoiding save breakage. I expect your ships will load and unless they were already very marginal they should perform as required, since nobody's expecting major part performance changes. I think that ISRU will still work, it will just be very slow without adequate heat dissipation as the converter throttles itself back to prevent overheating.

[Mitchz95]

I'm more concerned about my mods. I have ... quite a lot of them at the moment, almost all of which are tightly integrated into my game.

[gonzo98x]

Evvvvverything!!!!

I know I know, that's not what he says in the clip but it's what popped into my mind and now you have to deal with it.

[magnemoe]

The comm system isn't in 1.0.5 and it will be optional in 1.1

If you don't have a heat shield, you may want to bring it home or be prepared for a rescue mission.

Jool is supposed to be fixed, it should be less heat when trying to aerobrake. Haven't heard anything about Eve.

If you have nuclear parts (including the RTG), drilling rigs, and other such heat generating items, you may wish to create a mission to add radiators if they are not present already.

Overall, the only thing likely to really break are the air breathing engines and Mk1 parts due to potential size changes. When a new model is added with a different shape and size, it always has the potential to look out of place. I would bring those home.

Specifics can be found here:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/content/356-Announcing-Kerbal-Space-Program-1-0-5

As I understand reentry heat will be reduced for Eve and Jool. It might be buffed for Kerbin and Duna but i guess it will not happen

[NecroBones]

Since this update is mostly fixing bugs and adding new parts, and adjusting the heat system, my guess is that most mods will still work. Some plugins might need some tweaks, or need to be recompiled, but maybe not. It just depends on what has been changed.

[samstarman5]

I would say 1.05 is unlikely to affect much. As @Alshain said, there is going to be changes with heat mechanics, so if you neglected to put radiators on stuff that is going to start generating heat, that is going to be the big deal. I am going to say 1.1 is going to bring the big changes, and I would prepare for just doing a new game or just seeing what does go boom in that for fun and giggles. 1.1 is likely still a long way off, considering that time was set aside to do 1.05, so you should be good.

Regardless of what Squad does to try to prevent breaks and such, it is a good rule of thumb to expect them regardless. Even though we are playing an "official release," there is no reason to let down our Early Access guard. And that can be a good thing. There is going to be a ton of new features with 1.05 and 1.1 that it might just be best to start fresh so you get a better feel for the mechanics. Sort of "unlearning what you have learned," so to speak.

If you do play with mods, it is good to just go ahead and uninstall them and play the new update just stock for one session, then install the mods gradually and see if any get kraken'd. You might just find something to help the modmaker make a patch all the sooner. Remember, we aren't just helping Squad make KSP an awesome game, but those of us who enjoy the mods should take the time to help the modders make their mods all the more awesome.

[Findthepin1]

1.0.5 will break 1.0.4 mods

[Alshain]

1.0.5 will break 1.0.4 mods

Not likely.

[magnemoe]

Personally I think it makes sense that the heat mechanism itself doesn't change a lot, but the atmosphere curve of the planets (e.g. Jool) changes. But still nothing can be said for sure until the update rolls out and we test it out.

The ISRU unit will start to generate heat again, now the stupid thing is that it don't allow mounting radiators on it.

It would be smart to have some radiators on miners just to be safe they are pretty lightweight and look good.

Now one possible effect here might be that the ISRU converter run nice then it run with 5% load from the drills, now let it mine and do something else, you have lots of ore and it work at 100% and overheat. Best solution here is probably just to set it to convert and leave it, after some days all the tanks are full.

Now you use fuel, so just start the converter and leave it again.

[Fluburtur]

I think it would be nice to have a "overheat" indicator in the ressource panel, as well as predicted overheat when building so we can see how much heat are dissipating the radiators and when we would need them.

[NathanKell]

The number of bugfixes involved--and given how far afield they roam--means that many plugins probably will need a recompile (perhaps with some minor changes). I would not expect all plugins to work day zero.

[Srpadget]

My mining/refining outposts don't have radiators. Easy enough to fix that at need.

I'm more concerned at the possibility that aerocapture from Duna (or, roughly equivalently, aerobraking to LKO from Minmus) might not be possible without heat shields.

Once I've gotten a career game up to orange tanks and nukes, pretty much everything I launch turns into long-term reusable infrastructure...with a key element being reusable nuclear tugs that aerobrake with rocket nozzles and docking ports where a heat shield ought to be. It'd be a royal pain to provision them with replaceable heat shields, make sure the outrigger nukes are protected, etc etc etc.... I'd hate to think that now Squad has made permanent infrastructure easier (and given it a purpose) via ISRU, the next thing they do is make it more difficult to maintain by making reusable spacecraft more difficult.

[magnemoe]

My mining/refining outposts don't have radiators. Easy enough to fix that at need.

I'm more concerned at the possibility that aerocapture from Duna (or, roughly equivalently, aerobraking to LKO from Minmus) might not be possible without heat shields.

Once I've gotten a career game up to orange tanks and nukes, pretty much everything I launch turns into long-term reusable infrastructure...with a key element being reusable nuclear tugs that aerobrake with rocket nozzles and docking ports where a heat shield ought to be. It'd be a royal pain to provision them with replaceable heat shields, make sure the outrigger nukes are protected, etc etc etc.... I'd hate to think that now Squad has made permanent infrastructure easier (and given it a purpose) via ISRU, the next thing they do is make it more difficult to maintain by making reusable spacecraft more difficult.

Why should they make aerobraking from Minmus or at Duna harder?

This would also hit spaceplanes hard.

The plan is to make Jool and Eve areobrake easier. Now the easiest way to fix it would be to make the atmosphere higher so it can have an thinner upper part,