[1.3.1] Aviation Lights v3.14 [use MOARdV's version instead!]

[vosi]

Author, please update this addon to use ineditor tweakables

[enki]

Does anyone have a config to add these lights properly to KAS? I found some information on page 37 but it seems outdated. Prefer something that ModuleManager can use if you have it.

[Camacha]

Does anyone have a config to add these lights properly to KAS? I found some information on page 37 but it seems outdated. Prefer something that ModuleManager can use if you have it.

I am not sure how you would want to add lights to KAS.

[Deadweasel]

Does anyone have a config to add these lights properly to KAS? I found some information on page 37 but it seems outdated. Prefer something that ModuleManager can use if you have it.

Yeah probably not going to happen with MM, especially considering that it hasn't been updated since .20, and the release thread has been closed by request of the authors. Even if it still works in .23, it's not usually a good idea to try specifically supporting another mod that looks to be pretty much abandoned.

[IssMneur]

Yeah probably not going to happen with MM, especially considering that it hasn't been updated since .20, and the release thread has been closed by request of the authors. Even if it still works in .23, it's not usually a good idea to try specifically supporting another mod that looks to be pretty much abandoned.

Sarbian is updating MM to support more recent versions of .20. I have been using 1.5 with .23, but it seems that 1.5.6 was released with explicit support for .23.

[Deadweasel]

Sarbian is updating MM to support more recent versions of .20. I have been using 1.5 with .23, but it seems that 1.5.6 was released with explicit support for .23.

Hey awesome call-out! I didn't find that thread when I did my search, so I wasn't looking at the latest version apparently. :/

[jinks]

Here's a ModuleManager .cfg for MM 1.5 and up:

@PART[light*]:HAS[@MODULE[ModuleNavLight]]
{
    MODULE
    {
        name = KASModuleGrab
        evaPartPos = (0.0, 0.0, -0.15)
        evaPartDir = (0.0, 0.0, -1.0)
        storable = true
        storedSize = 5
        attachOnPart = True
        attachOnEva = False
        attachOnStatic = False
        attachSendMsgOnly = False
    }
}

ProTip: If you're using TAC Life Support, the light actually work on the EVA'd Kerbal (since it adds 100 EC to the suit).

[AlmightyR]

@BigNose - Is there a way to add the ModuleNavLight to other mods' lights?

None of the configs for the lights in this mod actually state a "lightName" and/or a "animationName", which I think are necessary for the lights since they are 3D-model-based. Does this NavLights work with a standard? And if yes, does it have hidden "lightName" and/or "animationName"-like parameters I can add to the configs of light-parts from other mods? So that the mod's script can be used to strobe non-native lights?

[Edit]

Oh, and one more thing...

Does NavLights already support, or are there plans to support models with multiple lights? For example: A single 2-on-1 model for wingtips, that has a colored (green/red) strobe to the front and a white strobe to the back.

Edited January 15, 2014 by AlmightyR

[Bizz Keryear]

Quick question: Has development ended?

[Deadweasel]

Quick question: Has development ended?

Kind of an odd question, that. The lights work perfectly fine in 0.23; what is there to develop, outside of the random specific use cases that some folks call out here and there?

[LameLefty]

Kind of an odd question, that. The lights work perfectly fine in 0.23; what is there to develop, outside of the random specific use cases that some folks call out here and there?

Well, actually I think it's kind of a good question. One thing I've noticed since the parts were last updated is that they don't seem to surface-mount quite like they used to. The models are often semi-submerged into the skin of whatever part they're attached onto. I have to do a lot more tweaking with them in the VAB to avoid that, and I don't remember do it at all in earlier versions.

Also, physics is weird with them and water; I crash-landed a vessel a week or two ago and broke up many of the bits and bobs of the ship. I sat and watched one amber docking beacon light (I use them for docking beacons) splashed up and down in the water for about 2 or 3 minutes, over and over again in the same spot. If I'd had a way to record it, I would have. It was quite amusing.

[BigNose]

Quick question: Has development ended?

Kind of an odd question, that. The lights work perfectly fine in 0.23; what is there to develop, outside of the random specific use cases that some folks call out here and there?

Well, actually I think it's kind of a good question. One thing I've noticed since the parts were last updated is that they don't seem to surface-mount quite like they used to. The models are often semi-submerged into the skin of whatever part they're attached onto. I have to do a lot more tweaking with them in the VAB to avoid that, and I don't remember do it at all in earlier versions.

Also, physics is weird with them and water; I crash-landed a vessel a week or two ago and broke up many of the bits and bobs of the ship. I sat and watched one amber docking beacon light (I use them for docking beacons) splashed up and down in the water for about 2 or 3 minutes, over and over again in the same spot. If I'd had a way to record it, I would have. It was quite amusing.

To get some things straight: For me, development is kind of in 'maintenance' mode at the moment. KSP is not my only interest in regard to gaming, I'm also quite active in the german ArmA III community as well as playing all kinds of flight sims. I'm sorry if it looks like I died or something (), but my main focus of interest shifted to other games/sims and studying for my mechanical engineering degree for some time now. Currently I'm not very inclined to invest much effort into KSP, but those times will come back eventually, no worries.

Deadweasel also has a point, I will and can NOT include every idea people post in this thread, even though some maybe implemented in the future. Keep them coming though, I very much appreciate all of them!

LameLefty: From .22 to .23 very little if anything at all changed for the Aviation Lights mod. It still works like before, and weird physics behavior was always a part of the game.

(A look at the default air intakes:

)

Thank you for your attention,

BigNose

Edited January 20, 2014 by BigNose

[kiwiak]

Idea for mod is great, but models of light are bit corny.

Will we get new ones some day?

[Deadweasel]

Idea for mod is great, but models of light are bit corny.

Will we get new ones some day?

"Corny"? I think they're pretty darned good, considering their simplified geometry that helps keep the performance hits to a minimum, and given that I'm prone to sprinkling them all over a craft like candies on a doughnut.

[brusura]

I would like to use them, but they are way too much bright, they shouldnt be strong enough to change color on craft surface, I'd like them to be like the small green led on the stock battery

Edited February 4, 2014 by brusura

[Deadweasel]

I would like to use them, but they are way too much bright, they shouldnt be strong enough to change color on craft surface, I'd like them to be like the small green led on the stock battery

You aren't really trying to have a realism discussion about this game, are you? Because, well... Kerbals. >_<

But, just on the off-chance you are trying to make a case for the lights being unrealistically bright, may I present Exhibit A (notice the ground under and near the wingtips):

and Exhibit B

The purpose of navlights on aircraft is to make the craft visible to as many other aircraft as possible, as far away as possible (within reasonable limits, can't be blinding pilots immediately nearby!)

The reason you don't usually see them lighting up the wing surfaces so much is because in real life, nav lights are directed, like a flashlight beam, to guide as much light in an outward arc as possible. Lighting up the wings themselves would be a waste of available light, as it's assumed the pilot already knows where his plane is.

That said, KSP deals with lights as spheres or cones. To have these lights using cones would make the light project outward like the spotlights, but would otherwise have little effect in helping you to see your own craft better from a distance, because KSP can't display the glare of the light itself.

Those glaring lights you see off the water tower at the launch platform, on the runway and on top of the air traffic control tower? Fakes. They're images "painted" onto transparent 2D shapes. The light emitters they contain use either the standard spotlight shine (on the launch tower), or the spherical emitter (on the runway guide lights).

Allll that having been said, it is possible to dim the Aviation Lights, but you'll need to either modify these lines in the source code (I think; BigNose can set me straight if not):

private const float INTENSITY_GLOW = 0.33f;
private const float INTENSITY_OFFSET = 0.67f;

or, we can ask BigNose to mod the mod (heh) to allow for more legible values to be used in each light's .cfg file. So instead of the "0.33f" values, we could use values from 0.0 to 1.0 to set up our own light intensities.

[jpinard]

Do I need the Surface Stockalike Light mod if I'm using this mod?

BTW - I LOVE this mod!!

[Deadweasel]

Do I need the Surface Stockalike Light mod if I'm using this mod?

BTW - I LOVE this mod!!

Not sure why you'd need that mod specifically for this one... Though, thanks a bunch for linking that! Because I didn't have to go looking for it, I just clicked, read the description and realized why all the lights on my ships always seemed to be canceling each other out!

Can't wait to up the pixel count limit when I get home now.

[jpinard]

Not sure why you'd need that mod specifically for this one... Though, thanks a bunch for linking that! Because I didn't have to go looking for it, I just clicked, read the description and realized why all the lights on my ships always seemed to be canceling each other out!

Can't wait to up the pixel count limit when I get home now.

I meant: Do the surface lights in the Aviation Lights mod cover everything Surface Stockalike does? I can't tell if the uncolored Aviation Lights are as bright as the mod I linked.

[Deadweasel]

I meant: Do the surface lights in the Aviation Lights mod cover everything Surface Stockalike does? I can't tell if the uncolored Aviation Lights are as bright as the mod I linked.

Ohhh....

Well in that case, not really. It looks like the other mod essentially gives some of the stock lights more "glow" by adding emitters to them, or changing the base shape of the emitter object. Aviation Lights will definitely put out a pretty nice glow, depending on how many you place, and where you place them. They have a pretty heavy additive effect, so enough lights in proximity to one another will bloom like nobody's business...

But individually they will glare on surfaces *behind* them more.

[Roxette]

... it is possible to dim the Aviation Lights, but you'll need to either modify these lines in the source code (I think

Umm, actually it's set in the part configuration file:

	// color changes the colour and intensity (0.1-3 recommended)
	// Intervals can be changed by modifying below
	name = ModuleNavLight

	Color = 0.07, 0.14, 0.50

so you could just change that, or make renamed copies with different color/brightness setup

[Deadweasel]

Umm, actually it's set in the part configuration file:

    // color changes the colour and intensity (0.1-3 recommended)
    // Intervals can be changed by modifying below
    name = ModuleNavLight

    Color = 0.07, 0.14, 0.50

so you could just change that, or make renamed copies with different color/brightness setup

*headdesk* TOTALLY forgot color settings are related to brightness (intensity) too!

So, yeah. What (she?) said. Exactly that. Channels ®ed, (G)reen, (B)lue. 1 is full-on for a channel, 0 is full-off. Adjust each channel downward until you get the color and intensity you're after, and you're good.

[brusura]

You aren't really trying to have a realism discussion about this game, are you? Because, well... Kerbals. >_<

nope, just what I wrote

Umm, actually it's set in the part configuration file:

	// color changes the colour and intensity (0.1-3 recommended)
	// Intervals can be changed by modifying below
	name = ModuleNavLight

	Color = 0.07, 0.14, 0.50

so you could just change that, or make renamed copies with different color/brightness setup

Thanks I'll give it a try

Edited February 5, 2014 by brusura

[jpinard]

Ohhh....

Well in that case, not really. It looks like the other mod essentially gives some of the stock lights more "glow" by adding emitters to them, or changing the base shape of the emitter object. Aviation Lights will definitely put out a pretty nice glow, depending on how many you place, and where you place them. They have a pretty heavy additive effect, so enough lights in proximity to one another will bloom like nobody's business...

http://i.imgur.com/RxUF5rB.png

But individually they will glare on surfaces *behind* them more.

http://i.imgur.com/9dqVfDg.png

Holy cow that rover looks awesome with green lights. What a cool screenshot

[Deadweasel]

Holy cow that rover looks awesome with green lights. What a cool screenshot

Hehehe that's the Kerb Burner Spyder.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/24599-Post-your-Rover-MEGATHREAD?p=493623&viewfull=1#post493623

"Act now, and Weezl Motors will include at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE a licensed HoonGear ground effects lighting upgrade kit! GUARANTEED to be annoying as hell or we'll take it back, NO QUESTIONS ASKED!"