[Minimum KSP version 1.11] Surface Mounted Lights v1.19

[dprostock]

  On 5/15/2020 at 3:14 AM, IgorZ said:

Alignment is a good point. Many times I suffered of inability to precisely land. However, a single laser dot may not be enough. May be a set of dots? E.g. like it's depicted in "Wall-E" cartoon: a serie of dots that form a circle, and the radius decreases as you approach the target (surface).

Could you please elaborate, in terms of the mod that deals with lights?

 

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Kerbals are rare... Before sending automatic ships into space, create manual flight capsules...

Why not a visible laser? Kerbals are rare....

In the docking ports there could be a light indicator to facilitate alignment at long distances ( 150 mts. ? )

I remember reading an old Russian project for a laser system for couplings..... (1980?????)

[DStaal]

  On 5/15/2020 at 3:14 AM, IgorZ said:

Alignment is a good point. Many times I suffered of inability to precisely land. However, a single laser dot may not be enough. May be a set of dots? E.g. like it's depicted in "Wall-E" cartoon: a serie of dots that form a circle, and the radius decreases as you approach the target (surface).

Could you please elaborate, in terms of the mod that deals with lights?

Yeah, was thinking about it too. I think it can be made from the stock light parts. Need to do some experiments though. If the idea works, many different lights will be possible. Like a light that automatically sets focu on a vessel in the proximity (e.g. a kerbal in EVA).

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Before you get to far into those ideas:  The first is something that KER or Trajectories or a couple of others have put in - with predictions.  I'll admit that having something based more on lighting that's not an auto-updating VR overlay would be a difference.

The latter is almost exactly a definition of the Tracking Lights mod.

[B-STRK]

  On 5/15/2020 at 3:14 AM, IgorZ said:

Alignment is a good point. Many times I suffered of inability to precisely land. However, a single laser dot may not be enough. May be a set of dots? E.g. like it's depicted in "Wall-E" cartoon: a serie of dots that form a circle, and the radius decreases as you approach the target (surface).

Could you please elaborate, in terms of the mod that deals with lights?

Yeah, was thinking about it too. I think it can be made from the stock light parts. Need to do some experiments though. If the idea works, many different lights will be possible. Like a light that automatically sets focu on a vessel in the proximity (e.g. a kerbal in EVA).

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Just to add to what Dstaal's mentioned, just like TL, the BDynamics mod (now presently maintained by linuxgg) has a spotlight that tracks the mouse in the flight scene, and will lock on to any targeted vessel. 

[Corax]

And another bit of input: I've been using stock spotlights for precision landings since about forever. Three or four radially attached, slightly angled inwards, spot on.
For that use case I wouldn't be averse to a more tightly focused beam, but my guess is they could probably be tweaked by a simple config edit, without needing a special plugin.

[Sebra]

  On 5/14/2020 at 4:59 AM, IgorZ said:

For what use-case? Laser beam in vacuum is not visible, so the best thing you get is just a dot at the target.

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  On 5/15/2020 at 3:14 AM, IgorZ said:

  On 5/14/2020 at 11:45 AM, dprostock said:

Mirrors? Distance measurement? A simple raving...

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Could you please elaborate, in terms of the mod that deals with lights?

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Isn`t laser just a narrow strong light source? In terms of the light.

If you make several differently coloured beams crossed on different distance from the ship you can estimate surface distance. So you can make a part, emitting multicoloured fan (веер) of beams. This part would be able to draw nice rings if placed with symmetry.

As far as I know mirrors are too hard. It would be nice to use for navigational lights, but probably not worth the efforts.

[dprostock]

Guys, it's Kerbals, a species that develops manual flight rather than a gyroscope and remote flight control.
The same as before sending Laika, Ham and the fruit flies, they catch fire in pursuit of space advancement...
Why not a visible laser?
A variation of the Maser with Cherenkov effect...

Radioactive and fun...

[IgorZ]

  On 5/15/2020 at 10:02 PM, dprostock said:

Why not a visible laser?

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Being a kerbal myself, I still try to respect Science. Indeed, in order to launch a vessel into space we've cut some edges, but in general we never violated the physics laws!

[Tonka Crash]

I have a couple ideas, but would require a dependency between this and KAS & KIS or add them to KAS with a dependency to this mod:

1) Glow Sticks - Power free light source that times out after a reasonable time (minimum 30 minutes).  A Kerbal pulls it out of inventory, activates it through PAW menu. The Kerbal can drop it and it will keep glowing until it times out.  Defaults to a greenish-yellow glow.  Optionally, allow a slider to adjust intensity.  Duration and intensity are inversely proportional.  The brighter the glow, the faster it times out. Extra points for cleaning up behind itself.  When the timer runs out, the part deletes itself from the game instead of creating debris.

2) "Christmas Lights"  - Variant of the PCB-1 cable brace that includes lights spaced along the cable's length.  Default mode would be a single color. I could see stringing this between buildings to designate walk ways, string several around a landing pad or as running lights on ships/stations.  Have a "Christmas Mode" where each light blinks in different colors. This would probably be a framerate killer adding a bunch of light sources.

[IgorZ]

  On 5/16/2020 at 1:06 PM, Tonka Crash said:

I have a couple ideas, but would require a dependency between this and KAS & KIS or add them to KAS with a dependency to this mod:

1) Glow Sticks - Power free light source that times out after a reasonable time (minimum 30 minutes).  A Kerbal pulls it out of inventory, activates it through PAW menu. The Kerbal can drop it and it will keep glowing until it times out.  Defaults to a greenish-yellow glow.  Optionally, allow a slider to adjust intensity.  Duration and intensity are inversely proportional.  The brighter the glow, the faster it times out. Extra points for cleaning up behind itself.  When the timer runs out, the part deletes itself from the game instead of creating debris.

2) "Christmas Lights"  - Variant of the PCB-1 cable brace that includes lights spaced along the cable's length.  Default mode would be a single color. I could see stringing this between buildings to designate walk ways, string several around a landing pad or as running lights on ships/stations.  Have a "Christmas Mode" where each light blinks in different colors. This would probably be a framerate killer adding a bunch of light sources.

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I like it. As for the the "Christmas Lights", with range 0m the performance impact should be negligible. Yes, it won't give ambient light, but it will show the path. Created feature requests.

[IgorZ]

Santa Kerman has just placed a small gift under your Kerbal tree.

1.17 (December 26th, 2020):

• [Fix #33] Duplicated "Light On/Off" events in PAW.
• [Change] Deprecate the legacy RGB controls in favor of the new stock color changer.
• [Change] Deprecate the stock lights lens customization since it's now supported by the game.
• [Enhancement] Make the light parts compatible with the stock inventory system.
• [Enhancement] Allow "Blink On/Off" toggle on the uncommand vessels.
• [Enhancement] Add light customization controls in FLIGHT to the new stock light parts.
• [Enhancement] Group the new stock lights into the "Lights" category.

[flart]

  On 12/27/2020 at 3:37 AM, IgorZ said:

Minimum KSP version 1.11

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update ksp_min for the CKAN, please.

for that change just https://github.com/ihsoft/SurfaceLights/blob/master/SurfaceLights.version, all work will be made by CKAN bot

Edited December 27, 2020 by flart

[IgorZ]

  On 12/27/2020 at 1:45 PM, flart said:

update ksp_min for the CKAN, please.

for that change just https://github.com/ihsoft/SurfaceLights/blob/master/SurfaceLights.version, all work will be made by CKAN bot

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Good catch! Fixed.

[Crazy Diamond]

I've been using your lights as navigation lights and to light payload bay interiors.  Thank you so much.  However, I noticed that since the latest update with the stock color changer and KSP v 1.11.0.3045, my color settings made in the VAB are NOT saved using the following procedure:

1. Turn on light

2.  Select color

3. Turn off light

4. Save vehicle

When I reload the vehicle, I find that the color has reverted to the default white color.  I would prefer following the above steps because I can confirm the color and appearance as I change the light settings and still have the lights off by default when I load and launch the vehicle later.  The settings are only saved by following one of these alternate procedures:

1.  With light turned off, select color

2. Save vehicle

OR

1. Turn on light

2. Select color

3. Save vehicle

But even then, I sometimes find the colors revert to the default white upon launching the vehicle.  I believe the same problem may be evident with the new stock lights.

Edited January 2, 2021 by Crazy Diamond
Additional data gathered

[Dafni]

One of the latest updates of this mod broke some functions in my 1.8.1 installs. (stock lights would not turn on, nor change color)

Reverting back to a previous version fixed it.

[KawaiiLucy]

  On 1/19/2021 at 8:25 AM, Dafni said:

One of the latest updates of this mod broke some functions in my 1.8.1 installs. (stock lights would not turn on, nor change color)

Reverting back to a previous version fixed it.

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Read the thread title, the latest version ins't compatible with anything below 1.11

[Dafni]

  On 1/19/2021 at 10:18 AM, KawaiiLucy said:

Read the thread title, the latest version ins't compatible with anything below 1.11

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I see, cheers. CKAN gave/suggested it to my 1.8.1 installs. No big deal, just thought I drop a note here.

[frikon]

There seems to be an issue with the lights being constantly turned on, no matter what you do (v1.17 on KSP 1.11). I didn't have any problems with the previous version on KSP 1.10.

[IgorZ]

  On 1/27/2021 at 11:38 PM, frikon said:

There seems to be an issue with the lights being constantly turned on, no matter what you do (v1.17 on KSP 1.11). I didn't have any problems with the previous version on KSP 1.10.

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Could you please share a screenshot and the logs?

[dok_377]

@IgorZ It seems like 1.11.1  introduced some code changes to the newly revamped illuminator lights. With Surface Lights installed they are showing up as lit when you launch the craft, even though the lights themselves are off. You can toggle lights on and off to get rid of this effect, but they will light up again after timewarp. 

 

From 1.11.1 changelog: 

* For parts using ModuleLight, the light turning on/off is controlled by code now, instead of using an animation.

Edited January 29, 2021 by dok_377

[frikon]

  On 1/28/2021 at 12:11 AM, IgorZ said:

Could you please share a screenshot and the logs?

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Here is a screenshot and the KSP.log file. I wanted to post this on Reddit as my Duna colony ship, but I guess this will be a bit of a spoiler alert

From the screenshot you can see that the ship looks a "bit" radiated

[Nertea]

Hey IgorZ, I've had a report that the new light models we included in Restock for 1.11+ don't show lens emissives when using SurfaceMountedLights:

I briefly looked at the source for the modules involved and I'm not sure what would directly be causing this. Besides using the new Squad light modules the only change I made on our side was to use a different shader for the lenses - doesn't seem like it should matter from the way you've configured properties but thought I'd raise it.

Let me know if there's anything we need to do on our side to maintain compatibility. 

[IgorZ]

@dok_377 @frikon @Nertea 

Thanks for the ping. I'll definitely look into it.

[KSPrynk]

@IgorZ, this may tie into the bug/ReStock conflict reported above: lens brightness acts very inconsistently when adjusting the lens brightness slider in the VAB.  It adjusts brightness when the light is turned off, but reverts to one specific level when the light is turned on, and ignores any slider adjustment.  Turning the light on and off seems to reset it, at least in the VAB.

Also, were the Stock Mk1 and Mk2 supposed to also benefit from SML's adjustable brightness and beam angle?  Those seem to be the only lights that don't have the new sliders when SML is installed.

[IgorZ]

The problem with ReStock lights is confirmed: https://github.com/ihsoft/SurfaceLights/issues/36.

However, at this point it's not clear why is it happening. If you don't want to drop the SurfaceLights mod, but need to workaround the issue, you can remove "MM-ReStockPlus.cfg" and "MM-StockLights.cfg" files from the "Patches" folder. It will disable all the extra features on the stock and restock parts, but will leave the native SurfaceLights parts working.

[IgorZ]

An update. I've figured out why is it happening. It may take couple of days more to do better testing, but you may expect a fixed version on weekends.

Btw, I'm happy to see that some key features of SurfaceLights become a stock game features. No more need in using SurfaceLights on stock parts to have the lens color adjusted since it's supported naturally by the parts design. And for this reason the "lens brightness" setting will go away for the stock parts and the third party mods. There are different ways on how this can be implemented, and I don't want to break  others part design. So, this feature will now only be supported by the native SurfaceLights parts. The "BeamAngle" and "LightRange", on the other hand, will be supported for all the stock lights. Until it becomes a stock game feature  

Edited February 5, 2021 by IgorZ