Attachable doors + Docking Port Door

[XrayLima]

OK this may already exist as a mod and if it does please point me in the right direction but wouldn't it be awesome to have two new parts:

1.  A 1.25m door part that can be attached in line or via a radial attachment point to any crew capable part and allows EVA.  This would avoid the numerous times you just can't quite get a design to work because you can't get at a hatch, or the ladder is somewhat crazy.

2.  A Docking port with a door on it's backside, effectively allowing access back into your ship / base from EVA's via a docking port.  This could be used to create airlocks for bases and allow access to, for example, a hab module on it's side with an adapter and docking port.  I have a design of horizontal hab at the moment and I need to climb a ladder to the top of the hab, walk along it's roof then get in.  Granted this may require fitting with KIS/KAS to be truly useful.

Both of these could even be achieved through adding the capability to the existing docking port.

Thoughts?

[Alshain]

This would take some significant reworking of how the game handles crew hatches.  It's more than just a visual door.  I've just been discussing this with some other members in this thread but the idea in general is...

 

1. Make a change so Kerbals entering any door on a craft are assigned a seat by priority among the entire craft. Available Seat in this Module (the one with the hatch) -> First Command Module/Cockpit Seat available -> First Science bay seat available (if Kerbal is a scientist) -> First Crew Cabin Seat available -> First available Science bay seat (if Kerbal is NOT a scientist).

2. Implement Portrait Stats mod (at least partially, though I would like the whole thing) so we can quickly find where they went by hovering over the portrait.

3. Allow crew hatches to be placed on any part, even parts that do not have seats.

This would allow parts to act as air locks and/or modular doors.  If they wanted to take this further they could designate certain seats in each CM as 'pilot' seats and add that into the priority list, filling them with only pilots unless it is all that is available.

Edited April 7, 2016 by Alshain

[Rath]

^^^^^

that, except it should only work when attached to crew parts, because I'm sure fuel tanks have crew tubes.  

But the other crewhatched parts should work too

[Alshain]

4 hours ago, Rath said:

^^^^^

that, except it should only work when attached to crew parts, because I'm sure fuel tanks have crew tubes.  

But the other crewhatched parts should work too

Baby steps.  I don't think Squad wants to implement continuity in crew modules.  If they did, they would have done back when they implemented the crew transfer option, but instead they made a funny little joke about kerbals squeezing through tiny little tubes in the girders.  I would say if Squad were to implement the idea, then a mod could limit it more so only connected crew components would work.  Of course theycould always change their minds, its happened before...

Edited April 8, 2016 by Alshain

[Noob21]

The attachable hatches would be quite the tricky task to implement. On the other hand an airlock with a hatch and docking port would just be a normal part and I honestly don't know why there isn't one.

[XrayLima]

I'd agree that to do them properly might be tricky, but I wonder if it's possible to create a simple version of the hatch that's a stand alone part, which when you attempt board it it simply opens the "Transfer Crew" mechanism and allows you to select where your want them to be placed?.  The same could be created for docking port hatches and would allow two versions to exist, one with an airlock section large enough to hold one or two kerbals and a smaller one which is a pure hatch. Sure it breaks realism a little but no more than the current system and I tend to get round some of the worst examples of that with my own personal playing style rules.

I'd love to try this but I'm held back by a couple of things:

1. Total lack of 3D model design capability.
2. Cataclysmic coding inability.

Apart from those two things this would have been a doddle.......

Edited April 8, 2016 by XrayLima

[Stoney3K]

Well, there is an easy way out:

If we have a model of an airlock/hatch, we can just make it a 1-Kerbal crew cabin with a hatch much like the Mk1 lander can but flatter. We'd need no additional code changes to make that work, you can just transfer the Kerbal you want into the airlock and EVA, since you can transfer crew to and from anywhere.

Having a 1-Kerbal capacity on such an airlock is valid enough: The little green guy (or girl) needs a place to suit up and decompress for EVA, right? It's not like they're floating around a science lab wearing their space suit and helmet.

The part does not have to be physically large enough to fit a Kerbal, but at least have the proper MODULE {} directives in the part file to seat at least one, and have a hatch collider. Look at the Mk1 lander can or Mk2 crew cabin for examples.

[passinglurker]

2 hours ago, Stoney3K said:

Well, there is an easy way out:

If we have a model of an airlock/hatch, we can just make it a 1-Kerbal crew cabin with a hatch much like the Mk1 lander can but flatter. We'd need no additional code changes to make that work, you can just transfer the Kerbal you want into the airlock and EVA, since you can transfer crew to and from anywhere.

Having a 1-Kerbal capacity on such an airlock is valid enough: The little green guy (or girl) needs a place to suit up and decompress for EVA, right? It's not like they're floating around a science lab wearing their space suit and helmet.

The part does not have to be physically large enough to fit a Kerbal, but at least have the proper MODULE {} directives in the part file to seat at least one, and have a hatch collider. Look at the Mk1 lander can or Mk2 crew cabin for examples.

Problem is this basically becomes a cheap light crew cabin that you can easily pair with a probe core for a super light exploit. This is why the stock mk1 cabin doesn't have a side hatch to hamper this particular part combination.

The only solution to this problem is going to come from New code not new parts.

[Stoney3K]

On 8-4-2016 at 11:58 PM, passinglurker said:

Problem is this basically becomes a cheap light crew cabin that you can easily pair with a probe core for a super light exploit. This is why the stock mk1 cabin doesn't have a side hatch to hamper this particular part combination.

The only solution to this problem is going to come from New code not new parts.

How is such a thing an "exploit" in a single player game? The fact that it may offset career balance in favor of someone grinding rescue or tourist missions does not change the balance against your playing style.

There are a lot of parts that I consider to be useless while other people consider them to be really useful or even exploitable. In my playing style, I would not pair a probe core with a 1-Kerbal crew pod to do rescue missions or run tourists, because I find those missions to be boring very fast and sending an unmanned taxi somewhere is not realistic. But that is my playing style, and I am not going to claim that some parts are out of balance because they don't suit my style of gameplay.

Also, there is no difference between such a part and the Mk1 Lander Can that serves the same function in the game right now. Just strip the reaction wheels, Monoprop storage and batteries off the lander can, and adjust its weight accordingly, and we would at least have a part that fits in the visual style of all other 1,25m / Mk1 circular parts. For example, if we make this part the same weight as the Mk1 crew cabin but have only a capacity of 1 Kerbal, it would not become worsely balanced than it is now.

For the record: The Mk1 Crew Cabin *does* have hatches, in fact, it has one at each bulkhead end (at the attachment node). So if you want a super light exploit, slap a probe core on the side of the Mk1 crew cabin using cube struts or radial fuel tanks, leaving one end free after decoupling, and you can do exactly the same as the proposed part.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Stoney3K

[Enceos]

@XrayLima What you're looking for are the structural hatches from the Stockalike Station Parts Expansion mod.

It has two airlocks both surface and node attachable:

There are also some small service airlocks in the UKS Kolonization mod.

All of them have space for one crew member. You just enter the hatch and then manually transfer the kerbal to the desired destination.

The 2.5m version has a retractable docking port.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Enceos

[XrayLima]

^^ This!  Awesome, thanks!!  Just need to wait for 1.1 versions.

 

Ta!

[Enceos]

Just now, XrayLima said:

^^ This!  Awesome, thanks!!  Just need to wait for 1.1 versions.

 

Ta!

Why? They work in all versions.

[XrayLima]

Sorry, mean to say I'm keeping my install clean so that I can assist in the pre-release testing.  I'll only add mods once it is over, offiicially released at 1.1 and the mod authors have up-rev'd their versions too.

I may cheat and copy my install folder and give it a try aside from the normal install.

[Enceos]

1 minute ago, XrayLima said:

Sorry, mean to say I'm keeping my install clean so that I can assist in the pre-release testing.  I'll only add mods once it is over, offiicially released at 1.1 and the mod authors have up-rev'd their versions too.

I may cheat and copy my install folder and give it a try aside from the normal install.

As far as I know parts don't affect the game in any way. Only plugins can give unexpected results.

[XrayLima]

I'd agree, but Squad and the many many other alligned code nuts have something like a 1000 bugs to hunt down and squash.  Last thing they need is me adding something extra to the list just because I didn't follow the guidelines.  Even if logically you are right, it shouldn't cause problems, still might.  There seem to be a whole lot of wierd bugs going on in 1.1!