[1.12.x] Konstruction! Weldable ports, servos, cranes, and magnets!

[intiractive]

i have had ksp for maybe 2 years now and i can never get mods to work. "for this mod to work you need this mod and this mod together" etc etc etc blah blah blah. seemed this one was going to work until i launched game and said there was an update avail and i clicked update and tried moving new files into game data and excrements didnt transfer right but whatever. it seems i have initial 1.0 with not all the updated parts. (just another pain in my ass why cant excrements just download and work). my main complaint is what are the key bindings for all the servo controls? the crane, the forklift, the grapple arms etc. tried every configuration of words i could in google but i came back with nothing.

[Brigadier]

2 hours ago, intiractive said:

i have had ksp for maybe 2 years now and i can never get mods to work. "for this mod to work you need this mod and this mod together" etc etc etc blah blah blah. seemed this one was going to work until i launched game and said there was an update avail and i clicked update and tried moving new files into game data and excrements didnt transfer right but whatever. it seems i have initial 1.0 with not all the updated parts. (just another pain in my ass why cant excrements just download and work). my main complaint is what are the key bindings for all the servo controls? the crane, the forklift, the grapple arms etc. tried every configuration of words i could in google but i came back with nothing.

While it doesn't work flawlessly all of the time, CKAN can really help some people manage their mods.  Use it with caution and note that not all mod authors support their mods installed via CKAN.  Often your first posts if a CKAN install is not going well is in the CKAN topic not the mod topic.  Read/search a mod topic for CKAN-related posts, and, if you can't find any guidance, ask the mod author nicely if they support it themselves.  Don't demand that they do or should fix your CKAN problem.  Occasionally, someone other than the mod author makes a mod available through CKAN.

Just a suggestion.

 

[RoverDude]

7 hours ago, intiractive said:

i have had ksp for maybe 2 years now and i can never get mods to work. "for this mod to work you need this mod and this mod together" etc etc etc blah blah blah. seemed this one was going to work until i launched game and said there was an update avail and i clicked update and tried moving new files into game data and excrements didnt transfer right but whatever. it seems i have initial 1.0 with not all the updated parts. (just another pain in my ass why cant excrements just download and work). my main complaint is what are the key bindings for all the servo controls? the crane, the forklift, the grapple arms etc. tried every configuration of words i could in google but i came back with nothing.

1.  If you go to the GitHub release link on the OP, the latest version is right there.  Just drop the stuff in GameData in your GameData folder.  It literally does 'just download and work.

2.  There are no keybindings, though some of the servo bits can be tied to action groups.

3.  If you are not yet comfortable with mod installation, don't use CKAN - it will cause you more grief than it is worth.

[WuphonsReach]

10 hours ago, Temeriki said:

Hey @RoverDude, ever think about adding the range and weight limit increases for KIS assembly into the part descriptions?  If its a matter if you not wanting them its your mod its your mod, if its a matter of time any way someone could help?

It could be done with MM by appending to the description using the regex operator, but I can't at the moment find the MM syntax to do so.

The current KIS range/mass changes are done in the KIS.cfg file.

You could develop the MM patch separately, then once you have the "^=" (regex/append) line working properly submit a PR to add that line to the KIS.cfg file.

[RoverDude]

12 hours ago, Temeriki said:

Hey @RoverDude, ever think about adding the range and weight limit increases for KIS assembly into the part descriptions?  If its a matter if you not wanting them its your mod its your mod, if its a matter of time any way someone could help?

A pull request will be the best way to see that change   

 

12 hours ago, Tybot said:

Do we know if construction ports are working as intended? I consider myself to be a fairly smart person and yet I for all I try can't get these things to snap to any non-0 angle, if at all. It makes me frightened and confused and my poor masterpiece (read: marginally above average) science station is suffering. If this winds up being a mod conflict of unknown origin I may cry. As I start yet another save and neuter my modlist. I'd actually be most happy if it was due to my own mere incompetence.

As far as I know they are working as intended.  Tho I have not used them in my current career save yet, and I maintain over 400 parts

[Freshmeat]

I made a Minmus base last week using Konstruction ports (Sr.), and they worked with no problems. However the cradles where to say at least temperamental, and I had to Hyperedit the base back to the surface after it went 2 km into the air. I think I found as workaround by retracting all cradle legs. How do you guys keep your bases on the ground?

[PolecatEZ]

Set the tether before you do anything crazy, it tends to help a bit keeping things from flying away.  For the cradles, the legs do move in fits and jerks, just move them 2-3 points at a time and it avoids most issues.  My problem with the cradles is they tend to pop off completely at random during even gentle landings...like 1 in 6 cradles will get knocked off mysteriously.

[TDplay]

RoverDude, like always, awesome mod. Wow, I love the new rovers.

Question: Is docking on the surface easier with rovers?

Because it's always a pain!

[Temeriki]

11 hours ago, Freshmeat said:

I made a Minmus base last week using Konstruction ports (Sr.), and they worked with no problems. However the cradles where to say at least temperamental, and I had to Hyperedit the base back to the surface after it went 2 km into the air. I think I found as workaround by retracting all cradle legs. How do you guys keep your bases on the ground?

Ground tether ftw!

[Freshmeat]

On 22/2/2017 at 5:14 PM, PolecatEZ said:

Set the tether before you do anything crazy, it tends to help a bit keeping things from flying away.  For the cradles, the legs do move in fits and jerks, just move them 2-3 points at a time and it avoids most issues.  My problem with the cradles is they tend to pop off completely at random during even gentle landings...like 1 in 6 cradles will get knocked off mysteriously.

What do you use for ground tether?

[PolecatEZ]

Most parts in the MKS pack have it.  Maybe it doesn't exist if you're using just pure Konstruction with nothing else.  The thermal exchange pack is the smallest thing to have it that I can remember.

[Freshmeat]

35 minutes ago, PolecatEZ said:

Most parts in the MKS pack have it.  Maybe it doesn't exist if you're using just pure Konstruction with nothing else.  The thermal exchange pack is the smallest thing to have it that I can remember.

Thank you, that explains it. I use Wild Blue Industries as contractor for bases and TAC for life support, and have avoided the USI chain to ease the load on my system.

[RoverDude]

15 minutes ago, Freshmeat said:

Thank you, that explains it. I use Wild Blue Industries as contractor for bases and TAC for life support, and have avoided the USI chain to ease the load on my system.

USI chain is a lot lighter weight than folks give me credit for, and all of the bits work together perfectly

[Freshmeat]

@RoverDude I did not mean any disrespect to USI, and I am very impressed by the work you have put into the entire catalogue. But I liked the logistics of TAC life support better when I decided on what to use, and the aesthetics of the MOLE and Buffalo packages. So when I speak of load on the system, it is more of the hassle of going through the parts in VAB than the performance issues. But it was a very difficult decision, all of you are extremely talented.

[drhay53]

Has anyone legit figured out this port-welding root part issue? I just built a station where I was extremely careful about how I set the root part in the editor for each launch, spread over 5 launches, and still one of the ports came out un-weldable. 

It would be nice if we knew exactly what is happening and how to avoid it, and better yet, had a way to fix it. Now that the full station is launched my plan is to hyperedit the full craft into orbit and get rid of this one with the random Construction port jr dock stuck in the middle of the station.

[Kobymaru]

Hi. quick question: How does the Magno-Pad targeting work?

I was under the impression that I only have to stick such a pad on the target vessel, click "Enable Targeting" on my magnet and that's that.

However, when enabling targeting and the magnet, the target wouldn't budge: no reaction to the magnet. Only when I turned targeting off did the target instantly snap back to the magnet.

Did I do something wrong, or might that be a bug?

[gamerscircle]

HI all, I am looking to move around some Tundra and Duna structures [didn't know what I was doing when I starting using MKS] and I see here:
https://github.com/BobPalmer/MKS/wiki/Konstruction-Vehicle-Examples

That the PAL MAGNET which might be the answer I am looking for, but there isn't a link.  I tried looking through here and a search, but missed it?

 

[dboi88]

15 minutes ago, gamerscircle said:

HI all, I am looking to move around some Tundra and Duna structures [didn't know what I was doing when I starting using MKS] and I see here:
https://github.com/BobPalmer/MKS/wiki/Konstruction-Vehicle-Examples

That the PAL MAGNET which might be the answer I am looking for, but there isn't a link.  I tried looking through here and a search, but missed it?

 

A link to what? If it's a craft file you're after there isn't one because these weren't tested designs just some crafts thrown together to highlight the available usage of each of the main parts. 

[Kobymaru]

Plz halp with Konstruction ports 

So I am very very confused about the whole angle/rotation/snap business of construction ports. Here is how I want to align them:

As you see, both have the bar on top. So they are aligned to each other at 0°, right?

I turn on Angle snap, increase the torque/roll a bit, set the angle on both to 0° and push them together. The result:

They force-rotated the left part on its head!!! How and why, if both are at the same angle and the angle is set to 0°??

Alright, so the next logical would be to set one of the ports to 180°. In this case, however they don't acquire:

 

No acquire, no docking, no snapping. Even if I use my crane to align them perfectly ("making them kiss"), they won't dock. If I set the other port to 180 as well, or if I set both back to 0°, they start acquiring again but turn the left piece upside down.

I really really don't understand how Konstruction ports work, even with the great explanation in the KSPedia. How am I supposed to create this connection right here? 

 

edit.: Problem "solved" in the sense that I used KIS to turn one port upside down. Problem very much not solved in the sense of actually understanding the axes, reference points, rotation directions, conditions for acquire and conditions for docking.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Kobymaru

[gamerscircle]

31 minutes ago, dboi88 said:

A link to what? If it's a craft file you're after there isn't one because these weren't tested designs just some crafts thrown together to highlight the available usage of each of the main parts. 

Alright, it was the only one on the page that didn't have a link to a craft file, I just thought perhaps it was over looked.  I will attempt to recreate it based on the image... 

[dboi88]

5 minutes ago, Kobymaru said:

Plz halp with Konstruction ports 

So I am very very confused about the whole angle/rotation/snap business of construction ports. Here is how I want to align them:

As you see, both have the bar on top. So they are aligned to each other at 0°, right?

I turn on Angle snap, increase the torque/roll a bit, set the angle on both to 0° and push them together. The result:

They force-rotated the left part on its head!!! How and why, if both are at the same angle and the angle is set to 0°??

Alright, so the next logical would be to set one of the ports to 180°. In this case, however they don't acquire:

 

No acquire, no docking, no snapping. Even if I use my crane to align them perfectly ("making them kiss"), they won't dock. If I set the other port to 180 as well, or if I set both back to 0°, they start acquiring again but turn the left piece upside down.

 

I really really don't understand how Konstruction ports work, even with the great explanation in the KSPedia. How am I supposed to create this connection right here? 

This just doesn't sound at all like expected behaviour, i'll have a go recreating tonight and get back to you.

3 minutes ago, gamerscircle said:

Alright, it was the only one on the page that didn't have a link to a craft file, I just thought perhaps it was over looked.  I will attempt to recreate it based on the image... 

Ahh sorry, the links were supposed to go to the relevant part on the Konstruction Parts page but seem to have been broken, there was never any craft files for any of them  

[Kobymaru]

1 minute ago, dboi88 said:

This just doesn't sound at all like expected behaviour, i'll have a go recreating tonight and get back to you.

Thanks. If you run into trouble, I have a quicksave with the situation in the pictures (it has a lot of KIS/KAS parts, but I can remove them if it's necessary).

[dboi88]

1 minute ago, Kobymaru said:

Thanks. If you run into trouble, I have a quicksave with the situation in the pictures (it has a lot of KIS/KAS parts, but I can remove them if it's necessary).

Yes please send. No need to remove kis/kas parts.

[Kobymaru]

3 minutes ago, dboi88 said:

Yes please send. No need to remove kis/kas parts.

Here you go: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1414175/ksp/quicksave-konstruction-headstand.sfs

It's my main career save (hence the size), and I also have NFE parts strewn in there. However, those are not on the relevant for the issue at hand, so you can just click away the loading errors.

[dboi88]

@Kobymaru I'm getting the similar behavior. With a test craft in orbit there just isn't any magnetic force with snap turned on, as soon as i turn it off the magnet turns on. I'd recommend putting a purely stock test craft save onto github as an issue for RD to look at.