Question concerning IVA

[Vostok]

I know the plan is to be able to leave your seat, and look around, but my question is, will adjoining modules interconnect?

If, for example (assuming passenger modules are added) you attach a passenger module to the bottom of the command pod, and you leave your seat, will you be able to see through the connecting tunnel from one module into the other, or will it just show a door with an option to 'go to pod/crew module'?

Furthermore, when docking is eventually added, is the plan to be able to look through the aperture docking ports that are connected to crew modules?

What I'm asking is, in the IVA scene, will a replica of the whole ship's interior be drawn, with holes interconnecting, or just the currently occupied module, before overlaying in onto the game scene?

If it's the second one (one module at a time) I would urge squad to seriously consider a whole-craft draw system, as being able to walk about in a ship you've designed would be far more immersive than going from one module to the other with a big 'do you want to go to the next module' prompt in between.

This would likely require interior models with open corridor parts, as opposed to the closed ones that are used in the crew thumbnails at the moment. Although, a 'cap' model could be used to close off the unused corridor ports, I suppose.

Or, if the whole-ship draw plan is the current goal, I look forward to seeing how it is implemented, and I wish Squad the best of luck coding and designing for the future.

Any official response to this is more than welcome.

[lalala41]

I believe that they would like it to appear as one continuous area, but it could be like docking where it ended up being much harder than expected.

[sal_vager]

There was an interview with HarvesteR where he talked about this, I'll have to find the link

This is old and is mainly about docking, but he mentions how stuff might be moved about, remember it's old though and all this might have been changed by now.

Edited August 19, 2012 by sal_vager

[Vostok]

I do forsee problems with radial docking nodes intersecting the IVA modules in strange places, so I'd say that for this to work crew IVA would have to only be able to be done with inline docking modules, and docking 'hubs' that already have the right-angle bend modelled into them

[sumghai]

Funny enough, I was thinking about posting these exact questions. Probably a good thing I first did a proper search of the forums for an existing thread, and read Harv's interview.

Ideally, I too would prefer the whole-craft draw system, with the ability to maneuver the Kerbonauts around freely inside the interior of the entire docked / assembled spacecraft, possibly even have the ability to open/close hatches between modules (but not dock/undock from IVA - that's asking waay too much of Squad at this stage)

I also share Vostok's concerns regarding haphazard placements of docking ports on parts, resulting in awkward clipping of module interior assets with docking hatches. The easiest to solution to implement would be to have part authors design their modules to limit where standard-sized Clamp-o-trons could be placed, and design their IVAs accordingly (i.e. keep interior assets away from potential docking port locations).

Edited May 17, 2013 by sumghai