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

[BigNose]

I just updated the compatible version number to 0.23, just to clarify that the mod still works as intended. Kinda late, I know...

[vger]

Running this in career mode right now and the lights all appear greyed out. Any idea why? I guessed that if they simply weren't available in the tech tree, they wouldn't be visible in my parts list at all.

Edited February 26, 2014 by vger

[BigNose]

Running this in career mode right now and the lights all appear greyed out. Any idea why? I guessed that if they simply weren't available in the tech tree, they wouldn't be visible in my parts list at all.

Tech tree integration was implemented in the last version (v3.5). Make sure you are using that one. I will start a new career and test it again, but it already worked in .23 for me, so I'm inclined to believe you are using the wrong version.

EDIT: Just tested it, unlocking them still works fine. They're also not visible up until that point (tested with v3.5, earlier versions will NOT work).

Edited February 26, 2014 by BigNose

[vger]

Got it working now. It was the right version. Trouble was I was using a pre-existing career game. Found out through a different mod thread that new mod items need to be researched 'manually.'

[pizzaoverhead]

With regards to methods of seeing lights from far away, check out Distant Object Enhancement's implementation. It uses something similar to flares for distant planets.

Edited March 12, 2014 by pizzaoverhead

[Deadweasel]

With regards to methods of seeing lights from far away, check out Distant Object Enhancement's implementation.

This is actually a pretty sweet-looking mod! Going to have to check this out for sure, but I do have one nit-pick about it:

"In real life, stars are usually too dim to see in relation to anything reflecting light from the sun" [with a camera].

If we're presuming to be playing the game through some kind of omnipresent camera (and I'm not referring to the actual game code mechanics here), then okay, fair enough and carry on as you were. Otherwise, playing from the perspective of the kerbals themselves, it would be a different story.

Stars are invisible during the day or at night in urban areas because of light scattering through the atmosphere. On airless bodies, the stars would be readily visible to the naked eye, not so much to cameras that are nowhere near as flexible and adaptable as the human eye. Given the size of the kerbals' eyes, I'd have to assume they'd even be capable of seeing even more than us multiple light levels in any case.

Anyway, like I said: minor nit-pick, more of a semantics argument, now that I think on it, and what a cool feature to be able to see your ships from a larger distance without dealing with the physics penalty!!

No matter how you consider your point of view while playing, it definitely looks like it'll enhance the look of it by leaps and bounds!

[VaporTrail]

Actually the Dimming Stars is adjustable, so you can find what you think is the best for you... I've raised mine quite a bit, and see the stars unless I happen to be staring directly at the sun.

This is from a 1GM orbit of Kerbol. That bright elongated dot to the left of Kerbol is the Kerbin-Mun-Minmus system.

[Jacke]

Finally got around to using the lights from this mod (in a BTSM career) and really liking the lights.

I do find that sometimes the lights sink under sloped surfaces of some parts, like near the top and bottom lower edges of the Mk1-2 Command Pod. Pictures below to show where this is. On other spots on the Mk1-2, the lights go straight up-and-down in the VAB, partly sunk into the Pod.

I've tried adjusting the parts' node_attach and attachRules values with a MM .cfg and I couldn't solve it (and at one time killed off all parts and needed to restore a backup savegame), so I imagine the fix isn't going to be easy.

In the pictures, I'm holding a Blue Navlight with the mouse pointer, having not yet clicked to mount it. When I do click, it ends up mounting exactly as it looks just before. From its starting spot in the first picture, I try to slide it to the right to centre it on the Pod and it just disappears.

Edited March 24, 2014 by Jacke

[rpayne88]

Just throwing this out here. If any of you want to play with realism but forget which light goes where, I came up with the three "R's:"

Red, Right, Rong (Yes, I know how to spell "wrong," but you don't pronounce the "w.")

[MaverickSawyer]

Now I have to add these to my SSTO spaceplanes to make them more realistic... And since I used to work around airliners, little avgeek/planespotter tip: Boeing wingtip strobes blink once. Airbus wingtip strobes blink twice.

[pizzaoverhead]

I do find that sometimes the lights sink under sloped surfaces of some parts, like near the top and bottom lower edges of the Mk1-2 Command Pod. Pictures below to show where this is. On other spots on the Mk1-2, the lights go straight up-and-down in the VAB, partly sunk into the Pod.

This is because many of the stock model's colliders don't match the model itself. It's particularly bad on some parts which appear flat sided, but have a cylindrical collider. Workarounds: replacing the stock models, stacking the lights on top of something taller, replacing the lights' model with something taller or not using the parts of the collider that dip below the surface of the model.

[BigNose]

Finally got around to using the lights from this mod (in a BTSM career) and really liking the lights.

I do find that sometimes the lights sink under sloped surfaces of some parts, like near the top and bottom lower edges of the Mk1-2 Command Pod. Pictures below to show where this is. On other spots on the Mk1-2, the lights go straight up-and-down in the VAB, partly sunk into the Pod.

I've tried adjusting the parts' node_attach and attachRules values with a MM .cfg and I couldn't solve it (and at one time killed off all parts and needed to restore a backup savegame), so I imagine the fix isn't going to be easy.

In the pictures, I'm holding a Blue Navlight with the mouse pointer, having not yet clicked to mount it. When I do click, it ends up mounting exactly as it looks just before. From its starting spot in the first picture, I try to slide it to the right to centre it on the Pod and it just disappears.

http://www.cuug.ab.ca/jacke/KSP/BTSM/Jacke-BTSM_002-20140312b-AviationLights/screenshot0a.png

http://www.cuug.ab.ca/jacke/KSP/BTSM/Jacke-BTSM_002-20140312b-AviationLights/screenshot1a.png

http://www.cuug.ab.ca/jacke/KSP/BTSM/Jacke-BTSM_002-20140312b-AviationLights/screenshot2a.png

http://www.cuug.ab.ca/jacke/KSP/BTSM/Jacke-BTSM_002-20140312b-AviationLights/screenshot3a.png

This is because many of the stock model's colliders don't match the model itself. It's particularly bad on some parts which appear flat sided, but have a cylindrical collider. Workarounds: replacing the stock models, stacking the lights on top of something taller, replacing the lights' model with something taller or not using the parts of the collider that dip below the surface of the model.

Pretty much exactly like pizzaoverhead said. The actual collision mesh of the Mk1-2 Pod is smaller and of a different shape than the optical form, which is a shame sometimes. I wouldn't change the node positions, because then the lights will float over any surface which doesn't has this problem. Tipp: Try laying a Cubic Octagonal Strut on its side and mount it to the location where you want your light, then place the light on the strut. It'll lift it out of the mesh without looking too bad.

Now I have to add these to my SSTO spaceplanes to make them more realistic... And since I used to work around airliners, little avgeek/planespotter tip: Boeing wingtip strobes blink once. Airbus wingtip strobes blink twice.

One of the reasons why I implemented both blink modes, nice someone actually noticed! Now the one question remains: 'Do I build an Kairbus or a Koeing?'

Just throwing this out here. If any of you want to play with realism but forget which light goes where, I came up with the three "R's:"

Red, Right, Rong (Yes, I know how to spell "wrong," but you don't pronounce the "w.")

This cracked me up.

[Deadweasel]

Just throwing this out here. If any of you want to play with realism but forget which light goes where, I came up with the three "R's:"

Red, Right, Rong (Yes, I know how to spell "wrong," but you don't pronounce the "w.")

Easiest way is to remember red/left/port. Or, to make it stick better:

"Big red has left the port"

[IkilledtheKraken]

I like to play with a very heavy moded ksp. I was looking at the log and trying to - fix- some errors to get the game to run better. I saw that your lights were geting flaged with " PartLoader Warning: Variable minimum_Drag not found in Part - PartLoader Warning: Variable maximum_Drag not found in Part". So I thought, ea that should be an easy fix..and then I found the problem. The config file looks like one long line of text with few spaces between important words. Looked simple, just put a few spaces in and move on,boy was i wrong. Nothing I did would fix the errors until after many,many different tries(ended up with 2 ton lights that i couldnt change!). Then i found it. There are "hidden" spaces in the code like where it says -defaultminimum_Drag = 0.01maximum_Drag = 0.01angularDrag = 0.01- I had to delete the ghost spaces, hit enter after every value and then put it all in between { }'s to get rid of the error logs and to be able to change the values.

[Deadweasel]

I like to play with a very heavy moded ksp. I was looking at the log and trying to - fix- some errors to get the game to run better. I saw that your lights were geting flaged with " PartLoader Warning: Variable minimum_Drag not found in Part - PartLoader Warning: Variable maximum_Drag not found in Part". So I thought, ea that should be an easy fix..and then I found the problem. The config file looks like one long line of text with few spaces between important words. Looked simple, just put a few spaces in and move on,boy was i wrong. Nothing I did would fix the errors until after many,many different tries(ended up with 2 ton lights that i couldnt change!). Then i found it. There are "hidden" spaces in the code like where it says -defaultminimum_Drag = 0.01maximum_Drag = 0.01angularDrag = 0.01- I had to delete the ghost spaces, hit enter after every value and then put it all in between { }'s to get rid of the error logs and to be able to change the values.

Ummm... Something's wrong, either with the files themselves, or with the editor you're using. If you're in Windows, DO NOT USE WORDPAD/WORD! They will screw up the line endings and cause issues like you describe. Those "ghost spaces" you referred to are most likely corrupted line termination characters (which can happen if you open the files in a screwy non-standardized editor like Wordpad). Otherwise, the files should look like this:

PART
{
// --- general parameters ---
name = lightbeacon_amber
module = Part
author = RPGprayer, BigNose, Why485, GROOV3ST3R, JDP, Deadweasel


// --- asset parameters ---
MODEL
{
    model = AviationLights/Parts/lights/model
    texture = model000, AviationLights/Parts/lights/model000beacon_amber
}
scale = 1
rescaleFactor = 1


// --- node definitions ---
// definition format is Position X, Position Y, Position Z, Up X, Up Y, Up Z, size
node_attach = -0.025, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0


// --- editor parameters ---
TechRequired = electrics
cost = 100
category = Utility
subcategory = 1
title = Amber Beaconlight
manufacturer = Kerbus Lighting Department
description = Amber warning beacon. Use Action Groups to switch modes.


// attachment rules: stack, srfAttach, allowStack, allowSrfAttach, allowCollision
attachRules = 0,1,0,1,0


// --- standard part parameters ---
mass = 0.001
dragModelType = default
minimum_Drag = 0.01
maximum_Drag = 0.01
angularDrag = 0.01
crashTolerance = 20
maxTemp = 3200


MODULE
{
    //Energy consumption rate
    EnergyReq = 0.005


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


    Color = 1.00, 0.70, 0.07


    IntervalFlashMode = 0        //Used only for reference - leave at 0
    FlashOn = 0.15                //Used to define the length of time the light is ON during Flash Mode
    FlashOff = 1.35                //Used to define the length of time the light is OFF during Flash mode

    Interval = 0.8                //Used by standard Interval mode
}
}

[Talisar]

Easiest way is to remember red/left/port. Or, to make it stick better:

"Big red has left the port"

I always remembered it by noting that both "red" and "left" have less letters than "green" and "starboard", so they pair nicely

[MaverickSawyer]

Just found another use for the white strobes... recovery beacon for your probes that return to Kerbin and land away from the Space Center.

[madmat]

I always remember PORT is RED and best LEFT alone.

[Jacke]

This is because many of the stock model's colliders don't match the model itself. It's particularly bad on some parts which appear flat sided, but have a cylindrical collider. Workarounds: replacing the stock models, stacking the lights on top of something taller, replacing the lights' model with something taller or not using the parts of the collider that dip below the surface of the model.

Pretty much exactly like pizzaoverhead said. The actual collision mesh of the Mk1-2 Pod is smaller and of a different shape than the optical form, which is a shame sometimes. I wouldn't change the node positions, because then the lights will float over any surface which doesn't has this problem. Tipp: Try laying a Cubic Octagonal Strut on its side and mount it to the location where you want your light, then place the light on the strut. It'll lift it out of the mesh without looking too bad.

Thought it was something odd like that. One thing that confused me was radial parachutes didn't suffer from it but I take it that's because they're larger than the lights and thus collide more regularly?

And since this is in Better Than Starting Manned career, I don't necessarily have access to Cubic Octagonal Struts. But I can find spots that work.

[mrsinister]

just wanted to say ,after downloading and installing and building a test craft.... absolutely awesome job!

[BigNose]

just wanted to say ,after downloading and installing and building a test craft.... absolutely awesome job!

Thank you kind sir, enjoy.

[CaptainKipard]

Lights in 0.23.5 will have RGB sliders. Any plans to redo this mod with this functionality?

[BigNose]

Hmm, that has come to my attention too. Consider it considered...

[mrsinister]

Hmm, that has come to my attention too. Consider it considered...

nice, but then you would only have to make 1 light as you could just color it differently, which leads me into this....how about different size strips? like a tron style craft?

[Deadweasel]

nice, but then you would only have to make 1 light as you could just color it differently, which leads me into this....how about different size strips? like a tron style craft?

Well, remember that even though there might be RGB adjustments coming, they won't likely affect the actual skin of the parts. I like my red lights to actually look red when not lit. That makes it easy to keep track of what's what while building, more than anything else.