Where can I find an interface guide?

[RocketBlam]

I gotta admit, I've played over 2,000 hours of KSP, and there are still parts of the game interface that I don't understand.

I've looked high and low, here and on Google, to find something that would explain what these elements do, but to no avail.

For example: 

- In the altimeter, at the top, there's a little red light. What does that light mean? You mouse over it and it shows nothing.

- In the staging section in the bottom left, there's a light that says "Stage" above it. Sometimes it's green, sometimes its purple. I have no idea what this thing is supposed to mean. I've searched for "stage light", and I can find no info on this. I've heard if it's purple, you can't stage... which doesn't make any sense to me. I've never been unable to stage.

Maybe some kind of manual would help... I know there's a wiki, but I can't find this info there either. Maybe it's there, I can't find it.

[sneezedr424]

For the altimeter light: ignore it; I believe it just lets you know if you're falling too fast or something like that. Completely unimportant.

For the "-Stage Light", as you call it (actually a pretty good name haha): This light indicates whether or not your craft is currently controllable. If it's green, that means you are good to do whatever you want with your craft. If it's red, your craft is currently uncontrollable. You'll see this when you time warp, or if you run out of power.

Hope I helped!

 

Sneeze

[Streetwind]

It's not whether or not the craft is controllable, but rather, whether or not the craft can currently be staged. It just so happens that you can't stage when you can't control the craft But there are other reasons.

The primary example being on-rails timewarp. You can't stage while on rails. So as soon as you enter warp, the light turns purple. As soon as you stop, it turns green again. Meanwhile in physics warp, where you can stage, your warp factor does not affect the staging light.

Another case is Stage Lock. This is an obscure feature the player can use to prevent accidentally hitting the space bar at the wrong moment and ruining their mission. You press a key combination (Alt+something, I forget) to toggle it on and off again. While you are in Stage Lock, the light remains purple even when not in timewarp, to remind you: nope, you can't stage right now!

 

Edited March 30, 2016 by Streetwind

[FullMetalMachinist]

10 hours ago, Streetwind said:

You press a key combination (Alt+something, I forget)

I believe it's Alt-L

[SpaceFoon]

How do you bind that key? Its not it the settings and it does nothing.

[bewing]

On 3/30/2016 at 9:42 PM, RocketBlam said:

- In the altimeter, at the top, there's a little red light. What does that light mean? You mouse over it and it shows nothing.

If you mean the circular light, it indicates if you are descending at more than 15 m/s vertically.

[Pecan]

4 hours ago, SpaceFoon said:

How do you bind that key? Its not it the settings and it does nothing.

Confirmed and denied.  No, it's not in the settings but, yes, it does indeed lock and unlock staging.

Note that it is <Mod> + L, where the <Mod>, modifier, key depends on your OS:- in Windows it's alt, Mac option and Linux right-shift.

[SpaceFoon]

 

3 hours ago, Pecan said:

Confirmed and denied.  No, it's not in the settings but, yes, it does indeed lock and unlock staging.

Note that it is <Mod> + L, where the <Mod>, modifier, key depends on your OS:- in Windows it's alt, Mac option and Linux right-shift.

Ok my game is bugged then. I can't turn off stage lock, select parts, change throttle , turn on SAS, or use RCS. This is on the launch pad.

[FullMetalMachinist]

3 hours ago, SpaceFoon said:

 

Ok my game is bugged then. I can't turn off stage lock, select parts, change throttle , turn on SAS, or use RCS. This is on the launch pad.

Pics of your rocket on the pad? 

[SpaceFoon]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WyXQrohsLpQk5xQS1PS09xZ3M/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WyXQrohsLpMnpTVzFpMkg1YjQ/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WyXQrohsLpZUhhTXFkMzlNNkE/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WyXQrohsLpVVFmRm93WGkwMmM/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WyXQrohsLpMGJUbk9nOUMwbWc/view?usp=sharing

I took out Antenna Rage mod and it worked. This mod was working fine before.