[1.1.2] Kerbal Optical Alignment System v1.0.3 (5-22-2016)

[tg626]

Kerbal-Optical-Alignment-System

Adds an optical sight and target to stock docking ports in Kerbal Space Program(tm).

Motivation

I wanted to 'kick it old school'. Back before KSP I experienced this sort of seat of the pants docking in an Apollo simulation created for Orbiter (a great open source space simulator) and I wanted to be able to do that in KSP. I also felt like something was lacking in the stock game when it came to docking. Magnetic ports do forgive some amount of inaccuracy, but I felt we should be able to be more precise.

I made every effort to make this mod a incognito as possible, try to add it in to the game so it seemd like Squad did it themselves.

Installation

Be sure to have the latest version of ModuleManger installed!

Upzip it into your GameData folder, as with most other mods.

API Reference

If you wish to add this mod to your own parts (or your favorite parts) follow these ModuleManager config examples:

Adding the Camera

@PART[dockingPort1]
{
  MODULE
  {
    name = DPCamera
    cameraName = DPCam
    cameraForward = 0, 1, 0
    cameraUp = 0, 0, -1
    cameraPosition = 0, 0.12, 0.0
    cameraFoVMax = 80
    cameraFoVMin = 80
    cameraMode = 1
    }
}

Adding the Target

@PART[dockingPort1]
{
    MODEL
    {
        model = Squad/Parts/Utility/dockingPortShielded/model
    }
    MODEL
    {
        model = FP_KOAS/Parts/DockingTarget/COAS_Target
        position = 0,0.11,0
        scale = 1,1,1
        rotation = 0,0,0
    }
    !mesh=DELETE
}

Note that in both cases the values in "Position" will likely need to be adjusted to get the eyepoint and target models in the right place.

How-To-Use

Simply right-click the port of the craft you are flying, choose "Control from Here" so the manuvering keys work correctly, and then "View from Here" to be taken into "Docking View".

To exit, just do as the message on screen said and hit the "Camera Key" (default 'c') as a bonus, the next / previous vessel keys (default '[',']') will also "pop" you back into the external view.

Contributors

Guru's who answered my questions:

• JPLRepo
• sarbian
• Warezcrawler
• Padishar

Authors whose plugins were studied for clues and code:

• Albert VDS
• bernierm

License

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE V3 dated 6/29/2007

Download / Source

• Download
• Source

Edited May 22, 2016 by tg626

[Hysterrics]

Aww yess

[tg626]

There's also a modest re-skin of the Clamp-O-Tron JR because it looked so bloody awful close up in the cam...

[Hysterrics]

Didn't even notice it comes with a camera. Take my download already, dammit!

[gunt3rgam3r]

Just installed and used this to help with my station construction today... This is a great mod! 

Really adds an extra level of immersion... I must admit I still had to keep docking port alignment in the corner to start with my orientation

[tg626]

Once you get used to it, you'll notice there is an "up" to the ports.  (IE in docking cam mode, the "handle" on the docking port hatch is DOWN, and the stubby arrow on my target is "up".  My reskin of the jr port, I put a green arrow at the "top" of the port.

[Murdox]

@tg626 Hey tg626 i encountered some problems with KOAS earlier today in KSP 1.1 and first of all need to admit i have several mods already installed and can test this with fresh intstall later today when i get back to home from work but anyways here we go:

I was in LKO with 2 different vessels equipped with stock Sr. Docking Ports and couldn't dock those even i tryed with & without "view from here". also after that i went back to space center and again back to vessels "view from here" button was dissapeared from part action window. After those problems i restarted the game without KOAS installed and i was able to dock those 2 vessels again.

By any chance if you know already what im doing wrong or if KOAS is conflicting with some another mods pls lmk  as said i can test this again with fresh install later today and most important thing i still have to say that i've been using old docking target mod since 1.0.4 and this new KOAS and camera view is awesome! Thank you for your all work with old docking target mod and this new updated one!

Edited April 23, 2016 by Murdox

[tg626]

Please do try to repeat it with only KOAS installed and see if you still have trouble.  Let me know the results, and a full list of the other mods.

[Murdox]

Hey again and back to my issues with KOAS Docking & dissapearing "view from here" action. I was able to reproduce that behaviour only with TweakableEverything 1.15 + other plugins which came with it... TweakableEverything 1.15 should be officially updated to 1.1 and just to make sure my current GameData folder looks like this:

FP_KOAS, Squad, ToadicusTools, TweakableEverything, EVAManager.dll & ModuleManager.dll

Let me know if you want me to post this also to TweakableEverything thread. thanks tg626!

Edit: Did even some more research and just as i expected it was only TweakableDockingNode.dll and TweakableDockingNode.cfg which was causing these issues i had. Really good work from @toadicus and lucky that TweakableEverything is splitted up in separate pieces with plugins/configs so it was easy to just delete Docking Port parts from it and retry... to be continued...

2nd Edit: KSP 1.1 x64, Win10 even though dont think this does matter at all

Edited April 24, 2016 by Murdox

[tg626]

I'll load up those mods tomorrow and check if I can recreate it on my end.

[tg626]

I ran this combo (in KSP 64bit) with a vessel that had Sr docking ports and I had no trouble UNLESS I did a "warp to here" from the map view.  When I did that, ALL the blue buttons vanished during warp (as they should), but never reappeared...

I ran just KOAS in 64 bit KSP - same result

I ran just KOAS in 32 bit KSP - same result

I ran VANILLA 64bit KSP - same result

So somethings clearly up with the stock game in this regard...  

As to the "view from here" button not appearing after going to the "Space Center" and then returning to the vessel, did you press esc and click "Space Center" from the docking cam view?  When I do that, the button swaps to "Close this window" and won't reset because I didn't think of that possible action (oops)...

At any rate it seems that:

• I can't get it to "not dock"
• I can get a malfunction of the "View from Here" button (I'll get that fixed)
• KSP has a bug in it that when you "warp to here" in map view, you don't get the right click menu back on docking ports

 

[tg626]

Ok Kerbs - New version 1.0.1 is up.  Fixes not being able to use the DPCam View again if you exit from the camview to the Space Center via the pause menu.  AND (more importantly I think) stops the Kraken from eating the universe if you are in DPCam view and crash the port into something destroying it...  Really shoulda that of that one.

[TheSpaceMonkey]

This mod looks great. I'm going to give it a try here in a minute.

I'm not criticizing, but I'm wondering if there's a reason why this mod isn't integrated into CKAN, while your Federal Productions Flag mod -is-.

Is it difficult to do? Am I using CKAN incorrectly?

[tg626]

My only involvement with if my mods get listed or not in CKAN is a little checkbox when I make my entry at Space Portal.  

I used to have flags in another mod - they were NEVER their own release, yet somehow they are in CKAN...  Meanwhile...  All of my MODS are flagged to be on CKAN.  If you look at SpaceDock.info you'll see "CKAN" next to the title of the mod.

[theonegalen]

Any possibility of getting with @MOARdV to see if this can be integrated into the docking camera pages of RasterPropMonitor?

[Shantaboy]

Does it feature a zoom mechanic, it looks like it would be great for aiming a cannon.

[jordanjay29]

I was having a hard time finding this mod after catching a glimpse of it a week ago. Might want to add 'dock' or 'docking' somewhere in your title so it's easier to find, esp. on CKAN. I love the idea, and I hope you or other mod authors will add in support for more docking ports.

[tg626]

On 5/2/2016 at 9:26 AM, theonegalen said:

Any possibility of getting with @MOARdV to see if this can be integrated into the docking camera pages of RasterPropMonitor?

Have you tried it?  My cam won't show, but RPMS cam should line up with my target.

On 5/7/2016 at 7:08 PM, Shantaboy said:

Does it feature a zoom mechanic, it looks like it would be great for aiming a cannon.

Not planning on it.

On 5/7/2016 at 4:07 PM, jordanjay29 said:

I was having a hard time finding this mod after catching a glimpse of it a week ago. Might want to add 'dock' or 'docking' somewhere in your title so it's easier to find, esp. on CKAN. I love the idea, and I hope you or other mod authors will add in support for more docking ports.

I'll have a look.  I'm not interested in a name change, but maybe there's some sort of tagging I could leverage...

[jordanjay29]

1 hour ago, tg626 said:

I'll have a look.  I'm not interested in a name change, but maybe there's some sort of tagging I could leverage...

Or maybe a subtitle?

[Probus]

Seems to be a problem with this wonderful mod and Ven't revamp.  Can't dock with it installed.

[Rob2222]

Hello.

Yes, this nice mod (thx for it) does not work with Stock Part Revamp at the moment. Revamp mods the docking ports with expandable bumpers. As soon as KOAS is installed, this bumper gets an stucking ghost bumper and does not retract. So we can not dock. However, as quick fix I have deleted MM_DockingTargets.cfg  from KOAS and can play now.

I assume this is a clipping problem with the DockingTarget and the Revamp-Bumper. Maybe the docking target can be made a little smaller / better aligned?

 

See also:

 

BR
Rob

Edited May 20, 2016 by Rob2222

[tg626]

On 5/20/2016 at 3:43 PM, Rob2222 said:

Hello.

Yes, this nice mod (thx for it) does not work with Stock Part Revamp at the moment. Revamp mods the docking ports with expandable bumpers. As soon as KOAS is installed, this bumper gets an stucking ghost bumper and does not retract. So we can not dock. However, as quick fix I have deleted MM_DockingTargets.cfg  from KOAS and can play now.

Grab the latest version, it should work now.

In some cases, the target MAY be "floating" out in front of the docking port, but that's beyond the scope of what I'll address since many of the Revamp models have different dimensions from the stock ones.  I just wanted to stop my mod from BREAKING his...

[Rob2222]

Thank you very much.

[MrMeeb]

I keep missing all these new, cool little mods. This looks really neat!

[tg626]

New feature coming soon^tm

Edited June 13, 2016 by tg626