Orbit Pack Distance - why so small and can I enlarge it without invoking the kraken?

[Dunbaratu]

I noticed the following is the default setting for distances while in orbit.  I was trying to debug why kOS docking scripts were having such trouble controlling the non-active vessel and realized it happened when the vessel got a short distance away but was still visible and loaded and decided to print out these values:

PhysicsGlobals.Instance.VesselRangesDefault.orbit.load   : 2250m
PhysicsGlobals.Instance.VesselRangesDefault.orbit.unload : 2500m
PhysicsGlobals.Instance.VesselRangesDefault.orbit.pack   : 350m
PhysicsGlobals.Instance.VesselRangesDefault.orbit.unpack : 200m

Does anyone know why the pack/unpack distances are so drastically small for orbit compared to the load/unload distances?  I think I might understand the need for it with vessels landed on the ground, because as the active vessel moves away from a landed vessel, the ground terrain mesh might become more coarse, invoking Kraken-riffic intersections between vessel and the re-positioned ground polygons.

But the pack/unpack distances are *also* very small for ships drifting in orbit, where presumably it's not so bad, and I assume even with single-precision floats you still don't get the Kraken at a mere 350 meters away.

Is there a really good reason for the value to be that small, and am I inviting disaster if I set it higher?  I'm not talking about setting it super high - just making it closer to the load/unload distances so people can presume "if I can see the vessel on screen and it's not just a single dot, that means the vessel is fully functional."

 

[nathan1]

This is a bit of a late reply, but I'm pretty sure BDArmory increases those values. I've made my own mini-mod that increases them to about 3km and I haven't noticed any problems with it.