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

[goldenpsp]

1 hour ago, cy-one said:

This might have been asked before, but how does Konstruction handle "multiple docking ports"?

like, for example, one wants to build a huge ring-station and uses two half-ring-modules (so the two docking ports an either ends are aligned on the same axis)?

Read back. someone tried.  Multiport docking isn't handled great in KSP to begin with.

[RoverDude]

2 hours ago, cy-one said:

This might have been asked before, but how does Konstruction handle "multiple docking ports"?

like, for example, one wants to build a huge ring-station and uses two half-ring-modules (so the two docking ports an either ends are aligned on the same axis)?

At the moment... poorly.  Though I do have a module I have lying around that may make this be a LOT easier.

 

 

[cy-one]

Please do try working on that, if you can.

Cause I love building huge things in orbit... And circular stations ROCK. I understand it wouldn't work with "quarter-modules" (as they wouldn't line up after the docking ports vanish.... that would only work if ALL docking ports (at each "quarter") vanish at the same time... maybe that's also an idea to follow?), but half-modules would have their ports along the same axis, so.... Would also work for "old style interplanetary ships" with multiple docking ports for stability.

 

Anyway, thanks for the answer. I'll probably try to lift the whole ring as one-undocked-segment for now.

[RoverDude]

So something like this...

 

[cy-one]

While it's a bit blurry and I can't see what the button says... It seems to just mergedelete all construction-ports at once, right?

That's awesome.

The only thing I'd love in addition, if at all possible, would be something like this...

[ and ] = half segments

[ ] <- half segments with docking ports on the top and the bottom
*click*
[] <- full circle, all around connected

but that's probably not possible due to how root/node-stuff works?

[RoverDude]

I can't break the rules of how the part tree works, no.

[cy-one]

Sorry if it seemed I asked for that I don't exactly know how the part tree works, and thought it could be possible (as it is possible with docking rings).

But the animation you should looks awesome, that would do just fine :3

[RoverDude]

But it's not.

You just have some extra rigid joints.  If you can get your docking ports to be in a giant circle, and compress them, you will get the same thing.  So your two 'C' sections coming together, if docked, would still respect the part tree but have the residual extra joints.

 

[cy-one]

Thanks for clearing that up  Love the Konstruction-mod, btw. I just needed to figure out the Akima-parts arent in MKS.

[shoe7ess]

Ah, it would be pretty cool, though I don't know how possible, if when perma-welding a piece on a docking port gave the option to weld the rest of the pieces up the tree (i.e. the rest of the pieces that just got attached), maybe doing a check to make sure it wouldn't break something (basically ubio-welding, but could be done in-situ). I could see some awesome, low part stations coming from that. Regardless I'm looking forward to coming back to KSP after I figure out which of their post-release patches will sustain the longest and adding this baby in.

[travin]

For whatever reason, the construction ports are acting like normal ports with no options to compress. I've looked at any other mods that might be attempting to override the added modules, but cannot find one. Also removed and installed all of USI and the supporting mods with no effect.

Are there any mods known to not allow Konstructon to work or some other reason I'm not aware of?

Thanks

[goldenpsp]

19 minutes ago, travin said:

For whatever reason, the construction ports are acting like normal ports with no options to compress. I've looked at any other mods that might be attempting to override the added modules, but cannot find one. Also removed and installed all of USI and the supporting mods with no effect.

Are there any mods known to not allow Konstructon to work or some other reason I'm not aware of?

Thanks

I would also make sure you have the mod installed correctly.

[travin]

Quote

I would also make sure you have the mod installed correctly

I used CKAN and it installed the dependencies. Is there something else needed to properly install this mod?

[Merkov]

17 minutes ago, travin said:

I used CKAN and it installed the dependencies. Is there something else needed to properly install this mod?

Install it manually on a clean install of KSP (that is, one with no other mods) and see if your problem continues.

[Ringkeeper]

didn't read it anywhere in the thread:

Is there a reason, why Konstructions is not named "USI Konstructions" ? I always miss it, as i search for USI in Ckan and on forums

Also a +1 for the idea to replace the 2 docking ports with a part of same size after welding. Makes station planing easier.

[JAFO]

2 hours ago, Ringkeeper said:

Also a +1 for the idea to replace the 2 docking ports with a part of same size after welding. Makes station planing easier.

Make it optional, please. Maybe a right-click option. I like the original concept, of being able to build an entire craft in the VAB/SPH, then chop it up and add welding ports to the segments. Having the ports replaced by a part of the same size would have the potential to totally mess things up.

Edited October 21, 2016 by JAFO

[RoverDude]

15 hours ago, shoe7ess said:

Ah, it would be pretty cool, though I don't know how possible, if when perma-welding a piece on a docking port gave the option to weld the rest of the pieces up the tree (i.e. the rest of the pieces that just got attached), maybe doing a check to make sure it wouldn't break something (basically ubio-welding, but could be done in-situ). I could see some awesome, low part stations coming from that. Regardless I'm looking forward to coming back to KSP after I figure out which of their post-release patches will sustain the longest and adding this baby in.

Apples and tractors.  Ubizor essentially creates new parts via model welding - which messes up your PAW, etc. - not really a direction I would be interested in going.

10 hours ago, travin said:

For whatever reason, the construction ports are acting like normal ports with no options to compress. I've looked at any other mods that might be attempting to override the added modules, but cannot find one. Also removed and installed all of USI and the supporting mods with no effect.

Are there any mods known to not allow Konstructon to work or some other reason I'm not aware of?

Thanks

What version of KSP?  And you are grabbing them from the Konstruction custom category yes?  Because it sounds like you're missing a DLL or using the wrong part.

3 hours ago, Ringkeeper said:

didn't read it anywhere in the thread:

Is there a reason, why Konstructions is not named "USI Konstructions" ? I always miss it, as i search for USI in Ckan and on forums

Also a +1 for the idea to replace the 2 docking ports with a part of same size after welding. Makes station planing easier.

tbh replacing the ports with a different part makes station planning harder, and it also limits the visual style you can achieve.

[Kobymaru]

1 hour ago, RoverDude said:

tbh replacing the ports with a different part makes station planning harder, and it also limits the visual style you can achieve.

Best case scenario would be a tweakable or a seperate part so you people choose. I have to admit that disappearing parts and shifting ships are somewhat counterintuitive compared to a rest part. But I do agree that "clean" welding should be an option too.

[RoverDude]

@Kobymaru - I happily take pull requests.

[cy-one]

What does PAW mean?

[Thiagobs]

2 hours ago, cy-one said:

What does PAW mean?

Part Action Window, the little popup window with part commands that appear when you rightclick on a part during flight

[FirroSeranel]

@RoverDude, I don't think this has been asked before, though maybe you explained it in your livestreams, but...

What exactly does "Enable Targeting" mean for magnets? It obviously makes them not attract just anything, but what is considered a target?

I'm hoping it'll make magnetically-grabbed objects swing and oscillate a little less, because I'm having trouble with violating Newton's Second Law, with the lifted object (a Duna module in this case) keeps trying to move up toward the magnet even though it's already touching, until it eventually flips the whole crane over, and flings itself like a catapult stone! XD Which while fun to watch, isn't very useful.

[travin]

@RoverDude I was able to finally get the ports working. It seams that in CKAN, some of the DLLs included in your other mods are different than what is available on the Konstruction Github. I just installed from source first and then installed everything else.

One thing I did notice is that the angle setting only works if both ports are set to the same? This means they are not useful as I cannot adjust the angle independently to ensure parts of offset correctly.

Is there something I'm missing? The options for these ports are not really documented anywhere.

Thanks for all the hard work.

Edited October 22, 2016 by travin

[FirroSeranel]

Ooh, @RoverDude, I had an idea for the magnet on the crane in a dream! Okay, that sounds a bit strange, but anyway...

What if you put a grappler on the magnet, but invisible and with its arm/release setting simply tied invisibly to the "enable/disable" button on the magnet? That way the magnet will pull the object toward it like it should, but then it'll clamp firmly in place (also like a real magnet would since magnetic field strength falls off with 1/r²).

[RoverDude]

20 hours ago, FirroSeranel said:

@RoverDude, I don't think this has been asked before, though maybe you explained it in your livestreams, but...

What exactly does "Enable Targeting" mean for magnets? It obviously makes them not attract just anything, but what is considered a target?

I'm hoping it'll make magnetically-grabbed objects swing and oscillate a little less, because I'm having trouble with violating Newton's Second Law, with the lifted object (a Duna module in this case) keeps trying to move up toward the magnet even though it's already touching, until it eventually flips the whole crane over, and flings itself like a catapult stone! XD Which while fun to watch, isn't very useful.

It means the magnets will only target the little magno-pads, and not anything they latch onto.

1 hour ago, travin said:

@RoverDude I was able to finally get the ports working. It seams that in CKAN, some of the DLLs included in your other mods are different than what is available on the Konstruction Github. I just installed from source first and then installed everything else.

One thing I did notice is that the angle setting only works if both ports are set to the same? This means they are not useful as I cannot adjust the angle independently to ensure parts of offset correctly.

Is there something I'm missing? The options for these ports are not really documented anywhere.

Thanks for all the hard work.

Not sure what your ask is - the snap angle can be adjusted on the fly to what you need?  And it would always be the same for both parts since it is based on their relative angle...

1 minute ago, FirroSeranel said:

Ooh, @RoverDude, I had an idea for the magnet on the crane in a dream! Okay, that sounds a bit strange, but anyway...

What if you put a grappler on the magnet, but invisible and with its arm/release setting simply tied invisibly to the "enable/disable" button on the magnet? That way the magnet will pull the object toward it like it should, but then it'll clamp firmly in place (also like a real magnet would since magnetic field strength falls off with 1/r²).

Because that would be a major code change that involved dynamically moving the nodes around, which is a bit non trivial (i.e. we're right back to rewriting a combination of IR and KAS).