"Mission control" type multiplayer

[wowKerbal]

Alright, here is a though one!

Been wanting to play "mission control" type multiplayer with a friend; that is one person is locked in IVA (or outside camera without the HUD) and another one reading and planning the mission from the ground.

I've been doing my homework and currently using those on KSP 1.4:

• Telemachus
• Houston
• kOS
• kRpc

Those work perfectly, don't take me wrong, you can do basically everything that you'd ever need to, but they have one shortcoming: they are not "visual enough". It is really hard to "see" and edit maneuver nodes, and you don't get many of the goodies that you can get from the stock map view (and some other mods like Trajectories!).

So I've been stratching my head to find a solution... There was an old mod which doesn't work anymore, called "Standalone map view". Another hacky solution that I thought about was to use a multiplayer mod like Luna or Dark multiplayer to have the two clients controlling the same vessel, this way it'd be possible to have access to the map view and nodes editing, however it seems it can only be done in spectator mod.

Has anybody who already tried this found a solution?

[Gargamel]

Many moons ago, like in the 0.20's, there was a few guys who did this between their dorm rooms.  They had one guy, the astronaut, in one room, and the other guys in another.  I believe they cloned the screen of the players PC into the "mission control" room, and gave instructions from there.  I don't know details, but they were able to pull it off where the MC guys had access to MC type data, and the pilot was restricted to IVA.    So, yes it is doable, but I have no idea how. 

[RealKerbal3x]

You know what, I think mission control would be the best way to do multiplayer. Like what @Gargamel said, there are spacecraft pilots (possibly restricted to how many seats there are aboard a ship) and mission controllers. Pilots are restricted to IVA mode and control the spacecraft, while mission controllers have KER-style telemetry and camera views from the craft. This would mean that the pilots and mission controllers would have to work together.

If that never becomes reality, then I'd love to make that a mod! Just as soon as I figure out how to make mods

[Tyko]

This is probable the best MP idea I've seen on here because time warp can still be used. Since all participants are working on the same mission it's really easy for the participants to agree to a time warp. Far different from having multiple players working different missions simultaneously

[nasa legolas]

kneed multiplayer to do that sorta stuff.

[theJesuit]

This would also work for a single player working off multiple devices.  Ultimately you want iva only, map view and maybe a KER only screen amd a spectator screen (streamer) that be setup with all views.  Multiple monitors or streamed to a tv, with laptop and phone/tablet or combinations of all.

The iva person on eva though only might work for all kerbals but given the jittery experience of using texture replacer when walking I think this would be best if it was a limited 3rd person POV from behind the kerbal (on EVA).  Maybe with an option to be full iva though  - switching between the two.  This would give greater flexibility and userbility as well as camera stability.

@SQUAD Will this be the next DLC? Seems like mods have tried to do it in the past but with very limited success.  So the devs manipulating the code would add to both single player and multiplayer as well so a wider audience.  I'd pay something for that! 

Peace.

[c4ooo]

Considering that sooner or later I want to make a simpit (

 ) my dream setup would be something like this:

1) main monitor: IVA view, but "out of the window" (so no HUD) 

2) small monitor that is built into the simpit:  switchable between displaying a navball, "guidance computer" terminal or video feed from a camera mod (KURS or HullCam) 

3) projector: projects the "mission control", ei the maneuver planner and such. 

 

 I really have no solid plan how to implement this, but my most plausible idea goes something like this: 

1)somehow write a mod that places the IVA camera outside the cockpit (maybe something like this already exists?) 

2)write simple program in java or c++ to screancapture the video from the in-game KURS camera window, and basically copy it a new OS window, which will be placed in the small simpit monitor (i don't know if Windows 10 allows two full screen applications, if not both the KSP and my program window will have to run in maximized borderless mode). This will allow the simpit video to have a camera feed from the KURS mod. 

And well here my idea gets stuck because well i don't know how to get the map view separate from the IVA view Another problem is that technicaly to screen capture the KURS in game window, it has to be rendered onscreen, and thus will obstruct what is supposed to be the view out of the window. 

 

Another thing is that even though I know how to program, i have very little knowledge of how the mod API or unity works

 

Edited July 12, 2018 by c4ooo