Devnotes Tuesday: Wednesday Edition III!

[KerbonautInTraining]

1 minute ago, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

That would be more awesome than a little message in the corner of the screen.

I think it should just blow the engine up. The outcome is going to be (roughly) the same but much more spectacular.

[KerrMü]

And now I know what locked up one docking port on my new Duna base and what drove me NUTS yesterday. Thanks

Great Devnotes. Can´t wait. 

[tater]

Since you guys are killing typos, etc, you should seriously consider properly naming the Tracking Station and Mission Control. "Mission Control" in the real world is where you control missions that are in flight. 

The Tracking Station should change to Mission Control, and what KSP labels "Mission Control" should become "Mission Planning" or "Contract Office."

[mcirish3]

1 hour ago, swjr-swis said:

Lots and lots of QA and bugfixing. I'd say that's a good thing and a very acceptable reason for delay, yes?

Yes...except... the move to Unity 5 should have happened after .25 or.90 which is what Squad was told at the time and it would have saved the months of delay that we have experienced, since the amount of code that has been added since .90 is significantly greater.  I still love the game, it just that this insanely long wait could have been avoided.  That still irks me, but as I said I was mostly venting.

46 minutes ago, Arsonide said:

The Asteroid Day content is not new. It has been released for nearly a year now, and thus has already undergone the rigors of testing. Given how well received it was, and the fact that it has been put through the ringer already, integration was a no brainer.

Actually I was thinking of the new upgrade system, to prevent updates from breaking saves, which this devote is the first talk of I have seen in any official way.  Yes it is necessary and should have been a feature of 1.0, but to add to the delay of 1.1... meh.  I start a new save with each update anyway. Then again as far as I am concerned 1.1 is what 1.0 should have been,  so maybe it should be in there.  In any case sorry for the acid attitude I guess I feel like griping today.

Edited February 18, 2016 by mcirish3

[imranosman]

1.1 Hype!!

 

Just out of curiosity, is there gonna be a stock life-support in the future? It would be nice though.

[Iamsodarncool]

16 minutes ago, mcirish3 said:

Yes...except... the move to Unity 5 should have happened after .25 or.90 which is what Squad was told at the time and it would have saved the months of delay that we have experienced, since the amount of code that has been added since .90 is significantly greater.  I still love the game, it just that this insanely long wait could have been avoided.  That still irks me, but as I said I was mostly venting.

Unity 5 didn't exist until March 3rd, 2015. 0.90 released December 15th, 2014, and 1.0 released April 27th, 2015.

[mcirish3]

13 minutes ago, Iamsodarncool said:

Unity 5 didn't exist until March 3rd, 2015. 0.90 released December 15th, 2014, and 1.0 released April 27th, 2015.

Then explain how this game ported over to Unity 5  Dec 12, 2014. 

[NoMrBond]

3 minutes ago, mcirish3 said:

Then explain how this game ported over to Unity 5  Dec 12, 2014. 

Several studios were given access to Unity 5 in preview so as to have launch titles at the same time as Unity 5 came out for more widespread consumption

This gave Unity Technologies feedback during development about implementation in various real world applications outside of their controlled testing environment

Edited February 18, 2016 by NoMrBond

[federicoaa]

Is there any plan to allow setting action groups after the ship leaves VAB?

[TriggerAu]

3 hours ago, Dodgey said:

Wait Sal's an Aussie? Blimey! I knew there was something about him that I liked haha. In all seriousness it's good to see so much work being done. Can't wait for the update. 

 

3 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

No, he's a Brittie. He's removing Aussie-isms. 

Indeed he is - pretty sure I didn't leave any "Cobbers" or "Shrimps on the barbie" . He's done a cracking job on the first pass we or proof reading we finished on the weekend

[mcirish3]

1 hour ago, NoMrBond said:

Several studios were given access to Unity 5 in preview so as to have launch titles at the same time as Unity 5 came out for more widespread consumption

This gave Unity Technologies feedback during development about implementation in various real world applications outside of their controlled testing environment

That particular game was underdevelopment by a development team of 1 Guy.  He could get it but squad could not??? I guess possible but seems unlikely.

[NoMrBond]

3 minutes ago, mcirish3 said:

That particular game was underdevelopment by a development team of 1 Guy.  He could get it but squad could not??? I guess possible but seems unlikely.

Anyone with Unity 4 Pro subscription could get into the Unity 5 beta

From memory Unity 5 wasn't considered suitable for trying the KSP migration until something like 5.1.2?

[mcirish3]

This implication of this statement:

1 hour ago, NoMrBond said:

Several studios were given access to Unity 5 in preview so as to have launch titles at the same time as Unity 5.

would seem to be in contradiction to:

4 minutes ago, NoMrBond said:

Anyone with Unity 4 Pro subscription could get into the Unity 5 beta

That Aside, I could be wrong, however I distinctly remember that there was strong recommendations to wait for Unit 5 before going to 1.0, and I still think that would have been the better course at least in retrospect.

[Francois424]

3 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

Anyone else absolutely love the inflatable heat shield?

I think that ones for various sizes would help out quite a bit. 1.25 when it's not expanded, and 3.5.

I love it less since learning it cannot be retracted once extended.  I'm still going to use it a LOT, I'll either just have to package a couple or modify the .cfg file to make it re-foldable.

It's still a most welcomed addition, it will be perfect for most of my crafts and now I wont need a 2,5m heatshield umbrella anymore.

[RoverDude]

3 hours ago, smjjames said:

I can understand it being single use only (though technically theres nothing stopping anybody from re-using it in the deployed state if it still has ablator), but what's the reasoning behind it not being re-foldable once it's out? I'm sure the NASA one (which this is based off of) isn't re-foldable, but I'm just wondering what your reasoning is.

It doesn't use ablator - it's basically lots of layers of thermal blankets over a bunch of inflated rings.  And folding one of these things back up would be like trying to re-use a car's airbag.  I am sure one could build enough stuff to make that happen, but it's probably a bad idea

3 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

Anyone else absolutely love the inflatable heat shield?

I think that ones for various sizes would help out quite a bit. 1.25 when it's not expanded, and 3.5.

Thanks   Just bear in mind we already have a 3.75m heat shield in stock

[NoMrBond]

9 minutes ago, mcirish3 said:

This implication of this statement:

would seem to be in contradiction to:

That Aside, I could be wrong, however I distinctly remember that there was strong recommendations to wait for Unit 5 before going to 1.0, and I still think that would have been the better course at least in retrospect.

Fair enough, I wasn't very clear.

Some studios were cooperating heavily with Unity Technologies during Unity 5 development, but any U4Pro client could get the Beta code (and make bug reports etc), there was a lot of interaction through the beta forums.

Unity 5 wasn't in good enough shape anything like early enough in the piece for 1.0 to have been made using it, I mean we're still waiting for the U5 based update now, and Squad needed to get KSP out of the 'early access' classification

[Bill Phil]

4 minutes ago, RoverDude said:

Thanks   Just bear in mind we already have a 3.75m heat shield in stock

Well I was thinking more along the lines of it being folded at 3.75... Expanding to 15 meters or larger. For the huge things we want to aerobrake. It's just a thought, and I don't think it's really necessary, but it'd be pretty cool.

I do have to ask though: does it require to build within a large cylinder(the actual shield that folds out)?

[smjjames]

14 minutes ago, RoverDude said:

Thanks   Just bear in mind we already have a 3.75m heat shield in stock

I think what Bill was trying to say is that having different inline sizes would be good for when you are minimizing weight or it's a small probe. 1.25 inline would be more like 5m expanded, a 0.62 inline that expands to maybe 3.5m would be good for those little probes.

EDIT: Or perhaps tweakscale support could be added through the mod itself, so, that's an alternative.

5 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

Well I was thinking more along the lines of it being folded at 3.75... Expanding to 15 meters or larger. For the huge things we want to aerobrake. It's just a thought, and I don't think it's really necessary, but it'd be pretty cool.

I do have to ask though: does it require to build within a large cylinder(the actual shield that folds out)?

Yes, like you would with the regular heatshields unless you don't care that part which extends out burns up on reentry.

Edited February 18, 2016 by smjjames

[GeneCash]

Christ. 1.1 is going to be a completely new game. Squad's been busting some serious butt. I can't wait to play it.

Kudos to everyone from HarvesteR on down for an amazing pile of work and care.

[steve_v]

Old bugs and long-standing issues?
Excellent.
Much thanks, carry on, no rush.

The file compatibility checker/patcher would have saved some unnecessary hotfixes had it been in 1.0, but better late than never I guess.

[richfiles]

With all these new parts and radiators and stuff... I'd love to see three more buttons, beside the Lights, Gear, and Brake buttons for Solar Panels, Radiators, and Antennas.

I would also love to see the Numberpad 0-9 keys be assignable to an additional 10 custom action groups, for a total of 20 custom Action Groups, if you have a full size keyboard attached to your computer. Keyboards can tell the difference whether you press, say the "1" above the "Q" key, vs the "1" on the number pad. Making 20 action groups available, and an additional 3 primary deployment buttons would be, quite frankly, AWESOME! 

Between the existing and new stuff, you could theoretically have up to 27 different configurable actions groups. 20 custom, and 7 defined.

Edited February 18, 2016 by richfiles

[steve_v]

9 minutes ago, richfiles said:

I would also love to see the Numberpad 0-9 keys be assignable to an additional 10 custom action groups

Well, as the keybinds already allow the numpad, all that's really needed is more action groups.

10 more action groups + in-flight editing would be the go.

Edited February 18, 2016 by steve_v

[mattinoz]

7 hours ago, SQUAD said:

This is something we felt was necessary now that we’re out of early access, and save-breaking can’t be considered an ok thing to do anymore.

YES!!! Thanks Guys this rocks.

[mcirish3]

1 hour ago, NoMrBond said:

Squad needed to get KSP out of the 'early access' classification

Needed why?  Perhaps from a financial pressure point of view yes, but from a development point of view that move made no sense at all to me.

[kujuman]

5 hours ago, NoMrBond said:

What is the fuel flow (I assume all resources) overhaul intending to address, that actually seems like something significant hidden in plain sight?

It really really is, in any likelihood. Minor hopes: significant performance improvement in resource flow (right now it's...pretty heavy). Big hopes? Stackable SRM style resource flow mode (which is actually pretty simple). Best hope? Make fuel flow no longer enum so that mod developers can more easily create custom fuel flow options.