[1.2.1]Arkas: Development Edition

[The White Guardian]

In addition to my previous message, I've (finally) given Arkas a proper SpaceDock page as well as a page on the Kopernicus Planets wiki.

[The White Guardian]

Alright, I've got a plan regarding the ScaledSpace shininess. Mind you, it's only a theory, so I'm not entirely certain of how well it'll work, even if it'll work.

My plan is to edit the textures of Arkas to combat the shininess, then update the PQSMaterials to combat this change on the 'actual' surface. This will take a while to get working properly, assuming that it does work as intended, so I wanted to let all of you know what'll happen next and that it may take a while.

[Sigma88]

27 minutes ago, The White Guardian said:

Alright, I've got a plan regarding the ScaledSpace shininess. Mind you, it's only a theory, so I'm not entirely certain of how well it'll work, even if it'll work.

My plan is to edit the textures of Arkas to combat the shininess, then update the PQSMaterials to combat this change on the 'actual' surface. This will take a while to get working properly, assuming that it does work as intended, so I wanted to let all of you know what'll happen next and that it may take a while.

What kind of shininess problems?

[The White Guardian]

37 minutes ago, Sigma88 said:

What kind of shininess problems?

ScaledSpace is too bright compared to the 'actual' surface. I've tried decreasing the shininess value, the specular value, nothing seems to work.

[Sigma88]

1 hour ago, The White Guardian said:

ScaledSpace is too bright compared to the 'actual' surface. I've tried decreasing the shininess value, the specular value, nothing seems to work.

shininess and specular have nothing to do with brightness itself,

shininess is a measure of how much the surface reflects sunlight (on kerbin you can see that oceans reflect the sun while land doesn't)

specular is the color of the "sun-reflection"

 

for arkas I suppose you want an opaque surface, like the desert/land on kerbin, so use shininess = 0

to make the scaledspace texture darker try setting the color to a lower value in ScaledVersion/Material

something like this:

Body
{
	name = Arkas
	ScaledVersion
	{
		Material
		{
			color = 0.5,0.5,0.5,1
		}
	}
}

(of course you have to add all the rest of your arkas config)

this will set the color to be half as bright in scaledspace (R, G, and B will be multiplied by 0.5,0.5, and 0.5)

[The White Guardian]

24 minutes ago, Sigma88 said:

shininess and specular have nothing to do with brightness itself,

shininess is a measure of how much the surface reflects sunlight (on kerbin you can see that oceans reflect the sun while land doesn't)

specular is the color of the "sun-reflection"

 

for arkas I suppose you want an opaque surface, like the desert/land on kerbin, so use shininess = 0

to make the scaledspace texture darker try setting the color to a lower value in ScaledVersion/Material

something like this:

Body
{
	name = Arkas
	ScaledVersion
	{
		Material
		{
			color = 0.5,0.5,0.5,1
		}
	}
}

(of course you have to add all the rest of your arkas config)

this will set the color to be half as bright in scaledspace (R, G, and B will be multiplied by 0.5,0.5, and 0.5)

I didn't know that! I'll give it a try right away. Thanks, Sigma!

[The White Guardian]

Alright, I have an announcement to make.

The next update of Arkas, set to release before the end of this week, will contain the following tweaks:

- Shininess in scaledspace has been repaired at last!

- Reworked Vin & Kras again to make them even better.

- EVE support re-added

- Biomes for the moons (ScienceDefs are a big maybe considering the amount of work they require)

- And I'm even working on support for Scatterer, although it's unlikely that it will be included in the next update.

[Kevin Vandy]

Really enjoy this planet. Does it work in 1.2 if we have the right version of Kopernicus? 

[The White Guardian]

On 13-11-2016 at 3:29 PM, Kevin Vandy said:

Really enjoy this planet. Does it work in 1.2 if we have the right version of Kopernicus? 

It should work, I'm not saying that it will work. I'll be pushing out an update to this very soon.

[King Something]

On 11/14/2016 at 9:58 AM, The White Guardian said:

It should work, I'm not saying that it will work. I'll be pushing out an update to this very soon.

Any chance you'll include Final Frontier ribbons a la OPM?

[The White Guardian]

On 18-11-2016 at 7:41 AM, King Something said:

Any chance you'll include Final Frontier ribbons a la OPM?

Uuh... not in the next update, but I'll take a look at it.

Speaking of the next update, I've finally let my PC download the recentmost KSP. Currently installing Kopernicus, MFI, EVE and Arkas of course to test if everything works properly.

This update will include:

1.2 changes
{
	Temperature variations created by eccentricity
	Seasonal temperature variations
	Temperature changes based off latitude
	Temperature changes based off time of day
	Internal mod indexing (just compatibility stuff)
	1.2 compatibility of course ;)
}

Much thanks goes to @OhioBob for teaching me how all of those atmosphere curves work.

[The White Guardian]

Update: I've gotten Arkas itself to work on 1.2. No moons yet. I have to fix some minor issues and it'll be good to go. Expect an update next week!

[The White Guardian]

Big news: EVE support and FF ribbons inbound!

Because of the sheer amount of different combinations however, you'll have to assemble the ribbons yourself. For that, you'll need GIMP for now, maybe I'll extract all of the textures so they can be added with other image-editing software later, but for now, GIMP's the way to go. Besides, it's free! (I could also add a version of Photoshop, problem is I don't have it so no way to save it in Photoshop's format...)

[The White Guardian]

Alright, I think it's about time for screenshots!

http://imgur.com/a/4T3WH

Note: the shininess in scaledspace is normal map problem, will be solved with new normals, perhaps even 8K.

[The White Guardian]

Arkas 1.2.1 is uploading as I am writing this. Patch notes:

Arkas DevEdition V4.0
{
	Temperature variations created by eccentricity

	Seasonal temperature variations

	Temperature changes based off latitude

	Temperature changes based off time of day

	Internal mod indexing (just compatibility stuff)

	1.2 compatibility of course ;)

	Fixes for Kras and Vin

	Biomes for Kras and Vin (each of them having a biome named after who suggested the name for the moon)

	Scatterer support!

	EVE support!

	NEW 'Modular mod' system: add extra features using the Arkas/Expansions directory! Add moons if you want, and add clouds with three
	different resolutions!

	New original Arkas cloudmap in the style of SVE and AVP! Available in 2K, 4K or even 8K!

	Reworked normal map for Arkas, the planet never looked this good! Available in 2K for low-end computers, 4K for average systems and
	for complete powerhouses there is even an 8K resolution for the maximum quality possible!
}

If you'd reach the patch notes, you'll see why I'm calling this the 'Limitpusher' update, as this is pretty much the best quality provideable - Scatterer, 8K EVE and 8K normals for Arkas!

Curious as to what this looks like?

Blammo! The new update comes with a readme file, trust me, it is VERY important that you read it because the installation procedure has changed.

Full science support for the moons will come in a future update.

Have fun exploring, Kerbals!

[The White Guardian]

It's here! FI-NA-LLY, the update is here!

[septemberWaves]

So how exactly does assembling the Final Frontier ribbons actually work? I might do it but it depends on whether I can get it done before crewed exploration of Arkas begins in my long-term career.

I'm mainly wondering how much work it is likely to be, so I can get some idea of how quickly I might be able to do it.

Edited December 6, 2016 by eloquentJane

[The White Guardian]

1 minute ago, eloquentJane said:

So how exactly does assembling the Final Frontier ribbons actually work? I might do it but it depends on whether I can get it done before crewed exploration of Arkas begins in my long-term career.

The Final Frontier ribbons are not included in the download but will be hosted separately. It's an easy job of simply setting the transparency of the desired layers and exporting it as a PNG.

[septemberWaves]

What about actually adding them in as a functional part of the game? Is there some functionality included in the Arkas download, or is it a more complex process? If the latter, I'll look through the FF thread for an in-depth explanation about it.

[The White Guardian]

4 minutes ago, eloquentJane said:

What about actually adding them in as a functional part of the game? Is there some functionality included in the Arkas download, or is it a more complex process? If the latter, I'll look through the FF thread for an in-depth explanation about it.

Arkas has no active FF support in the current version, I'll look into it though.

@eloquentJane I just downloaded FinalFrontier, I'll look at the codes tomorrow to see if I can add active functionality for Arkas. If so they'll most likely be released along with the moon science defs.

Edited December 6, 2016 by The White Guardian

[septemberWaves]

Thanks for the help. I might hold off on doing anything with Arkas until the moons have custom science definitions actually; I was thinking about sending an early interplanetary probe there soon but I'd rather have that feature when I do (it wasn't likely to be for a couple of weeks anyway though and I suppose the science defs might be done by then, but either way I think I'll prioritize Eve and Duna for now).

[The White Guardian]

15 hours ago, eloquentJane said:

Thanks for the help. I might hold off on doing anything with Arkas until the moons have custom science definitions actually; I was thinking about sending an early interplanetary probe there soon but I'd rather have that feature when I do (it wasn't likely to be for a couple of weeks anyway though and I suppose the science defs might be done by then, but either way I think I'll prioritize Eve and Duna for now).

*Cough cough the update is likely coming today cough cough*

Also, I made these fancy new signature ribbons if you'd like to show your support for this mod!

Spoiler

Here is the link to the file.

 

[The White Guardian]

On second thought, I'm going to wait for @Thomas P. to finish Kopernicus' 1.2.2-compatible version and check for any problems with Arkas. That also buys me some time to add ribbons for the moons, maybe even make some concept art for future modular moon additions.

[MitchS]

Looking forward to the KIS add-on that includes equippable hooks, a parts pack for 'thopter parts, and a new Kerbal stillsuit for our intrepid exporer, Kuad'Dib. Dare we ask for a new resource to mine for...?

[Stone Blue]

22 minutes ago, MitchS said:

Dare we ask for a new resource to mine for...?

Kpice?...no, no... Kice?... no...
Hmmm... Kepper?...no... Kalt?... no... Khyme?... no... Kumin?...
Hmmm...