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

[BigNose]

Now that I know this, it becomes clear why I couldn't reproduce the bug:

To test if multiple deployed ships are the reason, I started a new save and spammed out >50 standard crafts with lights in about an hour game time. UniversalTime of course wasn't getting big enough to be a problem!

[Konraden]

Confirmed, but it's just a minor one, as you can easily avoid it. I'll fix it eventually.

No biggy, just a bug report.

[Deadweasel]

Now that I know this, it becomes clear why I couldn't reproduce the bug:

To test if multiple deployed ships are the reason, I started a new save and spammed out >50 standard crafts with lights in about an hour game time. UniversalTime of course wasn't getting big enough to be a problem!

Awesome Sauce!

Yeah, it was bothering me that it always seemed good ONLY with a new save file started, so I started thinking about what I did during the average game that would still be present in the persistent file even if I "retired" every ship in action, and it hit me: "How does the game know how long each ship has been active for anyway?"

*click*

Just re-downloaded, installed and had a go with the regular save file. All is well with the world once again, and Nelnie Kerman is dancing in the cockpit on the runway right now in gratitude for saving him from his predecessor's horrible fate. Ardy had to be removed from the program when he suffered epileptic seizures after turning on the strobes for the previous testing series.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Deadweasel

[Deadweasel]

Okay, with the big annoyance figured out, time to look at the last one I'm aware of:

Why do the lights not hold their state when shifting views away from the loaded area (say through Tracking Station), or when triggering and cancelling the Escape menu?

Hmmm.. Maybe there needs to be some kind of key saved in the persistent file to indicate what state the lights are in?

/me digs with caffeine-driven claws

[BigNose]

Okay, with the big annoyance figured out, time to look at the last one I'm aware of:

Why do the lights not hold their state when shifting views away from the loaded area (say through Tracking Station), or when triggering and cancelling the Escape menu?

Hmmm.. Maybe there needs to be some kind of key saved in the persistent file to indicate what state the lights are in?

/me digs with caffeine-driven claws

Their state is in fact persistent, they ONLY turn off if you open the 'esc' menu and close it again with either pressing 'esc' again or clicking on 'resume flight'. In all other cases (switching craft, getting out of loading distance, switching to Space Center/Tracking station and back, docking) they stay the way they're supposed to.

It's really only the 'esc' menu closing again which causes problems.

[BigNose]

[...] Ardy had to be removed from the program when he suffered epileptic seizures after turning on the strobes for the previous testing series.

I'm laughing more than I should about this!

[Deadweasel]

Their state is in fact persistent, they ONLY turn off if you open the 'esc' menu and close it again with either pressing 'esc' again or clicking on 'resume flight'. In all other cases (switching craft, getting out of loading distance, switching to Space Center/Tracking station and back, docking) they stay the way they're supposed to.

It's really only the 'esc' menu closing again which causes problems.

Yeah, I'd had that figured out before I ended up shutting down for the night, but I still wonder why that happens.

[Guest]

I am experiencing some pretty serious lag when my ship is landed on the mun and the lights are on. If I shut the lights off, the lag goes away. I have a gateway laptop that's not so great but does have descent specs for a laptop, so that is probably some of it. I also have mechjeb, haystack, and kerbal alarm installed. It's not a serious issue, just shut the lights off while I am on the mun. Great mod by the way, I am loving it. Thanks for the hard work in getting this going for .20.2.

[BigNose]

I am experiencing some pretty serious lag when my ship is landed on the mun and the lights are on. If I shut the lights off, the lag goes away. I have a gateway laptop that's not so great but does have descent specs for a laptop, so that is probably some of it. I also have mechjeb, haystack, and kerbal alarm installed. It's not a serious issue, just shut the lights off while I am on the mun. Great mod by the way, I am loving it. Thanks for the hard work in getting this going for .20.2.

Can you check your output_log.txt and tell me if the lights spam anything which causes the lag? Because on my system the lights have practically no impact on framerate on at least 5 different Bodies (just tested it for Kerbin, Mun, Minmus, Duna, Eve).

I need some more information to find the problem.

[Guest]

Do you mean KSP.log? I don't see a output_log.txt. I've never tried to do this before. Here is the link for my log :

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6YckDD54-HWWmNuV2x1TmRBQU0/edit?usp=sharing

Hope that works. I went through the log and there is some spamming around 16:55. [LOG 16:55:08.475] Skipped rendering frame because GfxDevice is in invalid state (device lost). I have no clue what that means. I'll be happy to provide more if you need it.

[Deadweasel]

Do you mean KSP.log? I don't see a output_log.txt. I've never tried to do this before. Here is the link for my log :

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6YckDD54-HWWmNuV2x1TmRBQU0/edit?usp=sharing

Hope that works. I went through the log and there is some spamming around 16:55. [LOG 16:55:08.475] Skipped rendering frame because GfxDevice is in invalid state (device lost). I have no clue what that means. I'll be happy to provide more if you need it.

I'm no expert, but that looks very much like a "device too busy to be arsed with this right now" error.

EDIT:

In fact, that's what I would expect to see if the hardware was simply too overburdened to deal with rendering something. I could probably force that error if I played a 1080p movie while rendering out another one WHILE playing the game.

What are your system specs? Or at the very least, give us a make and model number and I can look the specs up to see if there might be a pinch point.

Edited June 2, 2013 by Deadweasel

[Deadweasel]

I have a small niggling thing to call out:

Any way to rotate the models in the VAB/SPH parts list about 180? Static, all the lights look alike, and I have to hover over each to look at the description or get the model to rotate to see which one is which. I love that the beacon/strobes use a darker housing, but I still can't tell the colors until I hover over them.

So you're not troubled with thoughts of having to do yet another minor release for such a little thing, is there a way to modify the config settings to rotate them?

[Guest]

Link for dxdiag on my system is here. . I think you are right about a bottleneck on my system. It's possible I had something else going in the background. I'll do some more tests later to make sure. Thanks for the help so far.

[Deadweasel]

Link for dxdiag on my system is here. . I think you are right about a bottleneck on my system. It's possible I had something else going in the background. I'll do some more tests later to make sure. Thanks for the help so far.

Well, although it seems to have access to enough memory through memory sharing, the video card only has 64MB of RAM to call its own. I would say it's a fair bet that your video card isn't up to the task of running this game while anything else is running. One of my boxes is a Core2Duo desktop system with 64MB video card that refuses to have anything to do with this game in the first place, so it's kind of impressive to me that your laptop is even willing to give it a go. LOL

[Gristle]

@BigNose - Can you add a amber/yellow/orange light such as typically seen on maintenance equipment?

[Deadweasel]

@BigNose - Can you add a amber/yellow/orange light such as typically seen on maintenance equipment?

Actually, I modified one to create just that very thing on my own installation.

I'd be happy to share it if that's okay with BigNose and crew.

[Deadweasel]

And to that end:

Heh

[BigNose]

@BigNose - Can you add a amber/yellow/orange light such as typically seen on maintenance equipment?

Actually, you can add any color you want just by copying one light and altering the RGB Color components in the .cfg. I think more lights are not necessary for that reason, as it would spam the editor at some point.

And to that end:

Heh

- video snip -

Feel free to post the .cfg of that light, I think posting whole other versions with different colors is a bit redundant.

I have a small niggling thing to call out:

Any way to rotate the models in the VAB/SPH parts list about 180? Static, all the lights look alike, and I have to hover over each to look at the description or get the model to rotate to see which one is which. I love that the beacon/strobes use a darker housing, but I still can't tell the colors until I hover over them.

So you're not troubled with thoughts of having to do yet another minor release for such a little thing, is there a way to modify the config settings to rotate them?

Should be doable somehow, I will change that together with removing the redundancy of the models (all lights using just one) at some point.

Edited June 2, 2013 by BigNose

[Deadweasel]

Actually, you can add any color you want just by copying one light and altering the RGB Color components in the .cfg. I think more lights are not necessary for that reason, as it would spam the editor at some point.

Feel free to post the .cfg of that light, I think posting whole other versions with different colors is a bit redundant.

Should be doable somehow, I will change that together with removing the redundancy of the models (all lights using just one) at some point.

Awesome, thanks.

Gristle: for the part, I just zipped it up, because I also modified its texture to an amber shade as well.

Download this, and extract it to %KSP_ROOT%\GameData\AviationLights\Parts:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2004695/lightbeacon_amber.zip

Enjoy!

Oh, and as BigNose pointed out, you can easily make any additional colors you want in the future.

• Copy one of the lights, and rename it.
  
• Open the .cfg file, and change the following values as appropriate:
  

// --- general parameters ---
name = lightbeacon_amber

// --- editor parameters ---
title = Amber Beaconlight

//MODULE
//color scheme is Red, Green, Blue
//value range is minimum 0.1 to maximum 3 for each color value

Color = 1.00, 0.70, 0.07

That's it! If you want to get a bit more fancy, you'll need to edit the texture in the part's folder as well so the "lens" color matches the intended color, which can be done in Photoshop, GIMP or Paint.NET.

Edited June 2, 2013 by Deadweasel

[betaking]

could you perhaps have simple lights for like illuminating a spacecraft evenly regardless of sunlight?

[Deadweasel]

could you perhaps have simple lights for like illuminating a spacecraft evenly regardless of sunlight?

Well that's going to be entirely up to your layout.

The nav lights do a darned fine job of it.

[B15hop]

I'm trying to edit the light intensity. I'm a more is less kinda guy and they get pretty intense up close to a vehicle.

I tried editing the config:

Red beacon light:

Color = 1.00, 0.14, 0.07

How would I adjust this, to make it a very dim, red light?

I tried changing them all to like 0.1 and saw no difference in anything. XD

Great job btw.

Thank you.

PS: Our Kerbal Smileys, seriously need to learn how to smile..lol..

Edited June 3, 2013 by B15hop

[Deadweasel]

I'm trying to edit the light intensity. I'm a more is less kinda guy and they get pretty intense up close to a vehicle.

I tried editing the config:

Red beacon light:

Color = 1.00, 0.14, 0.07

Which one of these is for the intensity plz?

What would I change and what are the boundaries of max and min intensity?

Great job btw.

Thank you.

PS: Our Kerbal Smileys, seriously need to learn how to smile..lol..

It's a cumulative thing. In order to decrease intensity, you need to decrease the values for all three channels at the same level.

The three numbers are Red, Green, and Blue, in-order. To decrease the intensity, you have to bump all three channels down (toward black).

EDIT BECAUSE I'VE HAD TOO MANY BEERS APPARENTLY:

The minimum value for each channel is 0.1, max is 3.0

Edited June 3, 2013 by Deadweasel

[B15hop]

It's a cumulative thing. In order to decrease intensity, you need to decrease the values for all three channels at the same level.

The three numbers are Red, Green, and Blue, in-order. To decrease the intensity, you have to bump all three channels down (toward black).

Color = 1.00, 0.14, 0.07

Hmm.. I changed all of those to 0.1 and nothing happened though. XD.

If I take the 1.00 down to a 0.5, I clearly can't take the 0.14 and 0.07 down .5.

There isn't .5 in them to take away.

So I am a bit confused sry.

Could you please give me an example of what the lowest intensity of this light would be while retaining the red color, so I can have an idea?

Thank you.

I think maybe I set them all to 0.01 and it was like "wtf do you think you're doing Daaavvee"..lol..

Edited June 3, 2013 by B15hop

[Deadweasel]

Color = 1.00, 0.14, 0.07

Hmm.. I changed all of those to 0.1 and nothing happened though. XD.

If I take the 1.00 down to a 0.5, I clearly can't take the 0.14 and 0.07 down .5.

There isn't .5 in them to take away.

So I am a bit confused sry.

Could you please give me an example of what the lowest intensity of this light would be while retaining the red color, so I can have an idea?

Thank you.

My apologies in advance if this is a dumb question, but you did reload the game or at least the parts database, right? Changes won't take place until you at least go to the debug menu ([ALT]+[F12]) and reload the parts from the Space Center scene.