[1.8.1] Kerbal Konstructs - 1.8.1.15 - 15.Dec.2019

[Electrocutor]

3 hours ago, Ger_space said:

I forgot to mention, that there are now three new Statics for modders to place. These are from the KSC and are under the "Tanks" category 

(Small version bumb to rel 31, because the round tank had a wrong orientation)

@Shadowmage Textures Unlimited can really help bring out the stock buildings too.

[Nightside]

Tank you very much@Ger_space!

@Electrocutor does it work for both Kerbal Konstructs statics and stock buildings? 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Nightside

[Electrocutor]

10 minutes ago, Nightside said:

Tank you very much@Ger_space!

@Electrocutor does it work for both Kerbal Konstructs statics and stock buildings? 

Since KK uses the stock assets, it should. I just change the shader from KSP's scenery to TU.

As a matter of note... there are quite a lot of Scenery shaders that say Bump in their name, but do not support any kind of bump map; same too with Specular shaders not showing any specular light. A good example is the launchpad grate. All I did was switch it to TU shader and turn metal on, and the bump map that has always been there magically starts working because the TU shader isn't broken.

[Ger_space]

36 minutes ago, Electrocutor said:

Since KK uses the stock assets, it should. I just change the shader from KSP's scenery to TU.

As a matter of note... there are quite a lot of Scenery shaders that say Bump in their name, but do not support any kind of bump map; same too with Specular shaders not showing any specular light. A good example is the launchpad grate. All I did was switch it to TU shader and turn metal on, and the bump map that has always been there magically starts working because the TU shader isn't broken.

This is going to be interesting. I didn't know that the scenery shader are broken. 

They should fix some shadow issues in the SpaceCenter scene, but not break three features.

The Non stock assets can easily be switched with a ModuleManager patch as they use the advanced texture module to apply textures and shaders

The kk can replace the shader to anything that is available.

I only don't know if most buildings will have any effect from using a TU shader, because they don't have additional maps in place.

But I really like the improvement of the launchpad 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Ger_space

[Electrocutor]

I'm running some of the stock textures through crazy bump to see if I can just mass-produce the missing assets and have them look decent; we'll see, but since there are a fair number of normals already there that just aren't showing up: that helps too.

[Shadowmage]

12 hours ago, Electrocutor said:

@Shadowmage Textures Unlimited can really help bring out the stock buildings too. 

What an interesting coincidence, as I already was going to need to swap the building/scenery shaders to fix issues with HDR camera use (KSP's shaders do some weird stuff with alpha based on light intensity>1).

Really does make a huge difference -- both the metallics, and the use of the bump maps.

[Agustin]

that looks nice!

[Ger_space]

13 hours ago, Electrocutor said:

I'm running some of the stock textures through crazy bump to see if I can just mass-produce the missing assets and have them look decent; we'll see, but since there are a fair number of normals already there that just aren't showing up: that helps too.

Since all new statics use KSP materials anyway, this could be very interesting. Soddenly everything will look pretty neat. 

[Electrocutor]

1 minute ago, Ger_space said:

Since all new statics use KSP materials anyway, this could be very interesting. Soddenly everything will look pretty neat. 

There are some caveats that need attention though: namely, the decals all have the background textures burned into them instead of being alpha; so we'd have to fix those or they look funny against the differences in normals.

I'm trying to figure out which scenery shaders actually work and do what they say and which ones don't. I've also found a number of issues where the material has textures, colors, or settings in place, but the shader selected doesn't support them (i.e. they selected the wrong shader).

[Ger_space]

4 minutes ago, Electrocutor said:

There are some caveats that need attention though: namely, the decals all have the background textures burned into them instead of being alpha; so we'd have to fix those or they look funny against the differences in normals.

I'm trying to figure out which scenery shaders actually work and do what they say and which ones don't. I've also found a number of issues where the material has textures, colors, or settings in place, but the shader selected doesn't support them (i.e. they selected the wrong shader).

You should not try to replace the grass material shader. This thing is really strange. 

If you are able to find a improved replacement for that one... many people would be very happy. but I don't think its going to be easy. 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Ger_space

[Electrocutor]

Just now, Ger_space said:

You should not try to replace the grass material shader. This thing is really strange. 

I'm working my way there, will mess with the details later. So far as I can tell, so long as you preserve the _Color property that is set by PQS, it works fine to switch shaders. The TU shader has a built-in normalization feature too, so you can turn any texture into a neutral-luminance recolor.

[Ger_space]

2 minutes ago, Electrocutor said:

I'm working my way there, will mess with the details later. So far as I can tell, so long as you preserve the _Color property that is set by PQS, it works fine to switch shaders. The TU shader has a built-in normalization feature too, so you can turn any texture into a neutral-luminance recolor.

The shader can be switched on the fly, but the gras shader does strange things with the texture and the color alpha channel... This is really wired (a negative alpha will make things glow in the dark)

[Electrocutor]

so... crazy bump helps, but I think it'd be much better if an actual artist were to make a bump map; otherwise just use all new textures that includes bump, metal, and gloss maps.

[Ger_space]

15 hours ago, Electrocutor said:

so... crazy bump helps, but I think it'd be much better if an actual artist were to make a bump map; otherwise just use all new textures that includes bump, metal, and gloss maps.

 

replacing all the stock materials textures with completly new texture sets might be quite a lot of work. 

I have make a list some time ago about the things used at the KSC...

https://github.com/GER-Space/Kerbal-Konstructs/wiki/KSC-materials-and-internal-textures

Du retexture the KSC you will have to alter every material in that list. Maybe I should have a deeper look into automatic NormalMap creation, I read somethin about "Sobel filter" and that it is not too complicated to implement.

[Electrocutor]

To make a quick normal:

• Open the diffuse in GIMP
• Right-click, select Colors->Desaturate, select Luminosity
• Right-click, select Filters->Map->Normalmap
• Mess with various settings and test to see how they look

There are better auto-bump tools, but this one is very easy to use. For example, Crazy Bump gives better results, but it's no longer free.

To add PBR integration:

• Create a mask texture
  • Cover the parts that are metal with 255 red (leave the rest black)
  • Set the alpha to the glossiness (glass and polished things are around 98%, aluminum is 75%, rough steel around 60%, paint/plastic around 30-40%, rubber is basically 0%)
• You may need to alter the colors of the diffuse; for example, many surfaces that attempt to look like steel are made to be almost black, which the PBR shader will take care of itself, so they should be changed to be the actual color of steel (around 127 gray, aluminum is 192 gray).

[Someone2018]

An runway I constructed myself near the KSP completely disappeared as static object, but still shows up in the launch list.

How do I get rid of it without access to static object. Where are these things stored on disk?

And what could cause the disappearance of a static after a game restart?

Because I seem to loose them upon reload:

[ERR 21:47:07.940] [SurfaceObject]: Cannot return to original parent, it no longer exists.

[LOG 21:47:07.942] [Kopernicus] Fixed SpaceCenterCamera
[LOG 21:47:07.942] KK: GetCurrentLaunchSite: retuning CurrentSite: Runway_ksiderunway110011_0
[LOG 21:47:07.942] KK: GetLaunchSiteByName: Returning LS: Runway_ksiderunway110011_0
[LOG 21:47:07.942] KK: OnLevelWasLoad: SC Body is: Earth
[ERR 21:47:07.943] Exception handling event onNewGameLevelLoadRequestWasSanctionedAndActioned in class KerbalKonstructs:System.NullReferenceException: 
  at (wrapper managed-to-native) UnityEngine.GameObject:get_transform ()
  at KerbalKonstructs.Core.CameraController.SetSpaceCenterCam (KerbalKonstructs.Core.KKLaunchSite currentSite) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at KerbalKonstructs.KerbalKonstructs.OnLevelWasLoad (GameScenes data) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at EventData`1[GameScenes].Fire (GameScenes data) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

[EXC 21:47:07.944] NullReferenceException
    KerbalKonstructs.Core.CameraController.SetSpaceCenterCam (KerbalKonstructs.Core.KKLaunchSite currentSite)
    KerbalKonstructs.KerbalKonstructs.OnLevelWasLoad (GameScenes data)
    EventData`1[GameScenes].Fire (GameScenes data)
    UnityEngine.Debug:LogException(Exception)
    EventData`1:Fire(GameScenes)
    <FireLoadedEvent>c__Iterator1:MoveNext()
    UnityEngine.SetupCoroutine:InvokeMoveNext(IEnumerator, IntPtr)

[Ger_space]

4 minutes ago, Someone2018 said:

An runway I constructed myself near the KSP completely disappeared as static object, but still shows up in the launch list.

How do I get rid of it without access to static object. Where are these things stored on disk?

And what could cause the disappearance of a static after a game restart?

Because I seem to loose them upon reload:

[ERR 21:47:07.940] [SurfaceObject]: Cannot return to original parent, it no longer exists.

[LOG 21:47:07.942] [Kopernicus] Fixed SpaceCenterCamera
[LOG 21:47:07.942] KK: GetCurrentLaunchSite: retuning CurrentSite: Runway_ksiderunway110011_0
[LOG 21:47:07.942] KK: GetLaunchSiteByName: Returning LS: Runway_ksiderunway110011_0
[LOG 21:47:07.942] KK: OnLevelWasLoad: SC Body is: Earth
[ERR 21:47:07.943] Exception handling event onNewGameLevelLoadRequestWasSanctionedAndActioned in class KerbalKonstructs:System.NullReferenceException: 
  at (wrapper managed-to-native) UnityEngine.GameObject:get_transform ()
  at KerbalKonstructs.Core.CameraController.SetSpaceCenterCam (KerbalKonstructs.Core.KKLaunchSite currentSite) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at KerbalKonstructs.KerbalKonstructs.OnLevelWasLoad (GameScenes data) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at EventData`1[GameScenes].Fire (GameScenes data) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

[EXC 21:47:07.944] NullReferenceException
    KerbalKonstructs.Core.CameraController.SetSpaceCenterCam (KerbalKonstructs.Core.KKLaunchSite currentSite)
    KerbalKonstructs.KerbalKonstructs.OnLevelWasLoad (GameScenes data)
    EventData`1[GameScenes].Fire (GameScenes data)
    UnityEngine.Debug:LogException(Exception)
    EventData`1:Fire(GameScenes)
    <FireLoadedEvent>c__Iterator1:MoveNext()
    UnityEngine.SetupCoroutine:InvokeMoveNext(IEnumerator, IntPtr)

Kerbal Konstructs dies, because you use RO + Kerbin-Side, which will not function in any way. Not nice that it dies, but You installed a configuration, that is not supported in a way. delete kerbin-side and kerbal-konstructs and reinstall only kerbal-konstructs

Edited November 17, 2018 by Ger_space

[Someone2018]

37 minutes ago, Ger_space said:

Kerbal Konstructs dies, because you use RO + Kerbin-Side, which will not function in any way. Not nice that it dies, but You installed a configuration, that is not supported in a way. delete kerbin-side and kerbal-konstructs and reinstall only kerbal-konstructs

Thanks, that kind of makes sense. I only wanted the kerbin side assets, so i kept half of the mod. Which seems to work.

FYI, i have RSS, but not RO, lol

I'm glad to have my long runway, thanks for that ;-)

Edited November 17, 2018 by Someone2018

[Ger_space]

15 minutes ago, Someone2018 said:

Thanks, that kind of makes sense. I only wanted the kerbin side assets, so i kept half of the mod. Which seems to work.

FYI, i have RSS, but not RO, lol

I'm glad to have my long runway, thanks for that ;-)

for that install kerbin-side core

[New Horizons]

Does anyone know how to switch to another Launch Site. I clicked on them in Tracking Station, but on the main screen I always come back to my prior one.

[Someone2018]

40 minutes ago, New Horizons said:

Does anyone know how to switch to another Launch Site. I clicked on them in Tracking Station, but on the main screen I always come back to my prior one.

The Kerbal Construct button inside the SPH or VAB.

[AtleSt]

what mod are you guys using to get that metalic sheen on everything, i installed textures unlimited but that did nothing

[Electrocutor]

2 hours ago, AtleSt said:

what mod are you guys using to get that metalic sheen on everything, i installed textures unlimited but that did nothing

Textures Unlimited doesn't do anything on its own. It is a mod resource that includes a bunch of PBR shaders. I intend to eventually release a StockPBR mod with all that, but it is a lot of work trying to make normals and metal maps for all the stock textures, especially when I am no artist and the graphics tools are clunky in my hands.

----

@Ger_space I have a couple of things I've thought about while tinkering with all this: I'd like to know your thoughts in response to them...

• Combine Kerbinside, Extraplanetary Launchpads, Ground Construction, Kerbal Konstructs, and Modular Launchpads into a single mod where the authors each work on the parts they are best at, while the mod uses a single interface across all of these construction/building based mods.
• The VAB and SPH editor scenes have full-blown interiors for those two buildings: why not open up the front doors and add the interiors while in flight mode, while making the windows all transparent like real buildings? Since it's just a bunch of models without collisions or physics, it shouldn't affect fps much (if at all). You can use the TU shader to mask the windows and make them transparent while the rest of the mesh stays opaque.

[Drew Kerman]

5 hours ago, Electrocutor said:

The VAB and SPH editor scenes have full-blown interiors for those two buildings: why not open up the front doors and add the interiors while in flight mode, while making the windows all transparent like real buildings? Since it's just a bunch of models without collisions or physics, it shouldn't affect fps much (if at all). You can use the TU shader to mask the windows and make them transparent while the rest of the mesh stays opaque. 

I'd luuuuv this but I'm willing to bet it won't work, like how the IVA models don't actually fit the external models. I've done things like this:

where I took an external pic, and internal pic, and layered them together but the perspectives were always wrong. This could be due to different camera settings between the game and the editor or it could just be the internals really don't match up with the external models.

Would love to be proven wrong tho

[Ger_space]

17 hours ago, Electrocutor said:

 

@Ger_space I have a couple of things I've thought about while tinkering with all this: I'd like to know your thoughts in response to them...

• Combine Kerbinside, Extraplanetary Launchpads, Ground Construction, Kerbal Konstructs, and Modular Launchpads into a single mod where the authors each work on the parts they are best at, while the mod uses a single interface across all of these construction/building based mods.
• The VAB and SPH editor scenes have full-blown interiors for those two buildings: why not open up the front doors and add the interiors while in flight mode, while making the windows all transparent like real buildings? Since it's just a bunch of models without collisions or physics, it shouldn't affect fps much (if at all). You can use the TU shader to mask the windows and make them transparent while the rest of the mesh stays opaque.

A tighter Integration with other mods I still a dream of me, but I think it is still two releases away, before I can truely try this. My current focus is currently in adding some other features and fixing bugs and then I can start thinking about that.

The tinkering with the KSP Statics is something i can try, but maybe I should make another mod for it. (For example I already make the tracking disches on the lv1&2 tracking stations animate). Thats something nice, but really directly tied to Kerbal-Konstructs.