Real World Clock

[almagnus1]

KSP is an excellent game, probably one of the best I've played in my many years of gaming.

Therein lies the problem, KSP is a bit **TOO** good, leading to lots of hours just vanishing to KSP.

Something that would help alleviate this issue is having a real world clock (using the computer's local time) in the KSP interface, preferably next to the game clock when this feature is enabled.

[pandaman]

I have an actual clock right next to my computer for exactly that purpose. 

I just forget to look at it 

[regex]

You don't have a phone or any other sort of timepiece around your computer?  Why not play in windowed mode where you can see the clock?

E: I mean, nothing against the suggestion, but that clock real estate on the main flight screen could easily go to something far more useful like Ap/Pe and times to display, or something.

Edited January 18, 2016 by regex

[Frybert]

Steam overlay FTW.

[Evanitis]

Did you think there is no mod for substituting an actual chronometer on the wall?

TAC Atomic Clock

It's made for 1.0.2. I'm lazy to test to make sure it works with the current version, but I see no reason why it shouldn't.

 

EDIT: Ooooow, it actually has an actual 'analog clock' part you can slap on your craft, so you don't have to look at a silly digital readout on a separate window. Yay! *downloads*

EDIT EDIT: Naw, it doesn't work that way. Would have been cool.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Evanitis

[Hannu2]

Kerbal Alarm Clock mod can give you alarms based on real time.

[almagnus1]

 

On 1/18/2016 at 10:09 AM, pandaman said:

I have an actual clock right next to my computer for exactly that purpose. 

I just forget to look at it 

Same here, which is why I'd rather have one on the UI, as it helps with time tracking.

 

On 1/18/2016 at 10:13 AM, regex said:

You don't have a phone or any other sort of timepiece around your computer?  Why not play in windowed mode where you can see the clock?

E: I mean, nothing against the suggestion, but that clock real estate on the main flight screen could easily go to something far more useful like Ap/Pe and times to display, or something.

Windowed mode looks ugly, because I can't get the Window to an odd resolution (so the task bar is visible) because there's no maximize functionality on Windowed mode (at least, not on the DirectX 11 forced mode).

That's why I want the time stuck up near the mission clock, so it's not eating into the rest of the display.

 

On 1/18/2016 at 10:15 AM, Frybert said:

Steam overlay FTW.

And for those of us that don't have a Steam copy?

 

1 hour ago, Hannu2 said:

Kerbal Alarm Clock mod can give you alarms based on real time.

That's an impartial solution, because having the clock visible all the time allows you to plan to get off at a certain time, versus getting the alarm in the middle of what you're doing, swatting it away, and then staying on longer than you should.

[Hannu2]

23 minutes ago, almagnus1 said:

Windowed mode looks ugly, because I can't get the Window to an odd resolution (so the task bar is visible) because there's no maximize functionality on Windowed mode (at least, not on the DirectX 11 forced mode).

You can use odd resolutions in windowed mode by editing settings file (at least if you use stock DirectX or OpenGL modes). I use it always so that there is small area around window.

 

[Tex_NL]

On 18-1-2016 at 7:09 PM, pandaman said:

I have an actual clock right next to my computer for exactly that purpose. 

I just forget to look at it 

What's wrong with an alarm clock? Just set it to the time you want to quit playing and ignore it till 'wakes you up'.
Any department store, mall or electronics store should have a wide selection for a reasonable price. Or simply use your smartphone.

Why do people always search for the difficult option when the easy and obvious answer is right under their nose?

[pandaman]

5 minutes ago, Tex_NL said:

What's wrong with an alarm clock? Just set it to the time you want to quit playing and ignore it till 'wakes you up'.
Any department store, mall or electronics store should have a wide selection for a reasonable price. Or simply use your smartphone.

Why do people always search for the difficult option when the easy and obvious answer is right under their nose?

I do that too.  I do actually have an alarm on my phone called 'Stop Playing' for just that purpose, which I switch on when it matters in RL.

[almagnus1]

2 hours ago, Hannu2 said:

You can use odd resolutions in windowed mode by editing settings file (at least if you use stock DirectX or OpenGL modes). I use it always so that there is small area around window.

Why should I need to hack the settings file when other games allow you to click the "maximize" button on the window chrome when the game is in windowed mode, and they adjust the viewable area for you automatically?

 

2 hours ago, Tex_NL said:

What's wrong with an alarm clock? Just set it to the time you want to quit playing and ignore it till 'wakes you up'.
Any department store, mall or electronics store should have a wide selection for a reasonable price. Or simply use your smartphone.

Why do people always search for the difficult option when the easy and obvious answer is right under their nose?

Because this functionality is in other games that I play (like FFXIV, Diablo 3, and Hearthstone).  If it was completely without precedence, I wouldn't be asking for it.

If Blizzard and Square can do this, why can't Squad?

[Tex_NL]

2 minutes ago, almagnus1 said:

...
If Blizzard and Square can do this, why can't Squad?

Of course they CAN do it. The real question is; WHY would they?

[almagnus1]

27 minutes ago, Tex_NL said:

Of course they CAN do it. The real question is; WHY would they?

Shouldn't that be: Why DID they?

All three games already have a real world clock in them.

[Hannu2]

8 hours ago, almagnus1 said:

Why should I need to hack the settings file when other games allow you to click the "maximize" button on the window chrome when the game is in windowed mode, and they adjust the viewable area for you automatically?

Because you can achieve your objectives by hacking couple of minutes. After that your window is what you want and you have an alarm clock mod. Other option is to whine years on forums and hope that at some day SQUAD will listen. And if you are only whiner it probably never happens. They have much more important things to do.

[Evanitis]

13 hours ago, almagnus1 said:

If Blizzard and Square can do this, why can't Squad?

I guess Blizzard have more janitors than Squad has devs. Yet they fail to produce anything nearly as innovative as KSP.

Wait, you want a -stock- solution for that serious problem? The little mod I previously linked works fine in 1.0.5, and does exactly what you want. You can turn off every extra features of it, so you end up with an ingame window with your computer time. Profit!

[pincushionman]

I personally just window 1600x900 on my 1080p monitor. I actually don't mind that it isn't maximized.

[almagnus1]

9 hours ago, Evanitis said:

I guess Blizzard have more janitors than Squad has devs. Yet they fail to produce anything nearly as innovative as KSP.

Wait, you want a -stock- solution for that serious problem? The little mod I previously linked works fine in 1.0.5, and does exactly what you want. You can turn off every extra features of it, so you end up with an ingame window with your computer time. Profit!

From the description, it sounded like you were describing adding clocks to all of the ships and calling it a day (that's not helpful).  Actually looking at the mod, there's a UI element that's separate from everything else, which is actually a viable alternative.

 

6 hours ago, pincushionman said:

I personally just window 1600x900 on my 1080p monitor. I actually don't mind that it isn't maximized.

Eh, it's a less than perfect solution =/

Anytime a work around involves "hack the config files", that's an imperfect work around.  The solution to a UI deficiency should never be "hack the config files", because while the technical users know how to do this just fine (like most of us in the thread), the non-technical users will invariably screw this up, and corrupt the config file.  The correct solution is to make sure the maximize button on the window bar chrome (at least the one in Windows) is enabled and works like it should.  That the maximize button is not enabled, but present, is actually a bug with KSP.