IVA

[W. Kerman]

No, I am not someone going on a rant about walking in the pods. I would just like it if the radar altimeter was closer to the speed readout in the IVA mode. Or that you could toggle your height at the top of the screen to be height above land, not sea level. 

 

Sincerely someone who winged a landing by guessing how fast they were going based solely on the radar altimeter.  

[ZooNamedGames]

Well you need to use several instruments together to achieve success, relying on one is a recipe for disaster and even the most experienced of us still need to peek at the other UI for more information.

As to the altimeter in the normal craft view being based off of sea level vs the IVA's radar is intentional. As with map mode you can't see your resources, in normal mode you can't tell your true ground height. This is to simply make sure you use all of the resources rather than just crutch on one  . 

Hope this helps.

[Jonfliesgoats]

We have a radalt?  Is this in stock?

[Martian Emigrant]

18 hours ago, Jonfliesgoats said:

We have a radalt?  Is this in stock?

Yes my friend.

We do. And it is stock.

The only place to see it is to go IVA.

 

From the main screen type "C" or use one of the IVA buttons on the Kerbal monitors (Bottom right of the screen).

Once there you can use the zoom and the arrow buttons to move the camera around. It's on the panel in front of every Kerbal.

It is a bit of an annoyance to go inside to check where the ground is when you need all your attention outside the cockpit.

Edited September 14, 2016 by Martian Emigrant

[Stoney3K]

Well, to be fair, you CAN toggle the resource view and the navball in map mode. So I can see the argument for having an AGL altimeter in outside flight view.

I find the IVA cockpit layout too cluttered and instruments scattered in random places to be able to use it for flight. Also, there are a lot of controls lacking in IVA, and outside view is largely obscured, so using it for landings is difficult.

Remember that the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo command modules were mostly flown on remote or computer guidance, so astronauts had less reason to peek at their instruments and look outside unless something was wrong and they had to intervene manually.

[Jonfliesgoats]

That's handy!  So far I have been relying on visuals and shadows.  I am playing primarily on the console right now.  Also, I hardly ever play from inside the cockpit, so I will have to check this out.

Agreed regarding IVA cockpit layout, but, to be fair, many real cockpits are far from the ergonomic ideal.  This is especially true for cockpits of 1950s through 1970s vintage.  It took decades to standardize instrument panels and just as that happened, we shifted to screens with different symbology.

My point is that the cluttered and haphazard IVA cockpit may provide a more authentic experience.  

[Pthigrivi]

Has it been suggested that selecting "surface" on the nav ball would show your real altitude? Is there a reason that won't work?

[Red Iron Crown]

11 minutes ago, Pthigrivi said:

Has it been suggested that selecting "surface" on the nav ball would show your real altitude? Is there a reason that won't work?

Yes, it has been suggested and is the best solution, IMO. Restricting it to IVA makes no sense to me.

[Psycho_zs]

There is a mod for that, and it's usually on my 'must have' list.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/69127-11apr2016-landing-height-show-distance-from-bottom-of-your-vessel-to-ground/#comment-1076365