Action Groups Previews in Editors

[ZooNamedGames]

Just a mad idea, but what if you could press the keys for action groups and they would activate a preview of whatever the stage does while in the VAB/SPH. For example solar panels would extend, antennas deploy, landing gear open, etc etc. Thoughts?

Edited March 8, 2019 by ZooNamedGames

[herbal space program]

44 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Just a mad idea, but what if you could press the keys for action groups and they would activate a preview of whatever the stage does. For example solar panels would extend, antennas deploy, landing gear open, etc etc. Thoughts?

How about if you could just open up a tab during flight that shows you what your action groups are, and (gasp!), maybe even lets you edit them during flight? Madness, I know!

Edited March 8, 2019 by herbal space program

[ZooNamedGames]

1 minute ago, herbal space program said:

How about if you could just open up a tab during flight that shows you what your action groups are, and (gasp!), maybe even lets you edit them during flight? Madness, I know!

This is for the editors, not for in flight.

[herbal space program]

3 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

This is for the editors, not for in flight.

In that case, meh. The really annoying, totally needless thing about action groups in the current game is that you can't look at them any more once you're in flight, much less edit them.

[ZooNamedGames]

1 hour ago, herbal space program said:

In that case, meh. The really annoying, totally needless thing about action groups in the current game is that you can't look at them any more once you're in flight, much less edit them.

And I won't disagree as I've certainly gotten myself into a situation where I'm like "crap, which key activates the solar panels? I can't just press all the keys as one of them will decouple something" but this particular thread refers to being able to toggle and preview things in the VAB/SPH. I think this would be especially useful so you can just press whatever key corresponds to say the deployment of a cargo bay instead of right clicking and selecting "open cargo bay doors" I'm afraid Squad can't do that Zoo. A QoL suggestion. Though yours still holds a legitimate point. I'd suggest you give it it's own thread. I'll definitely like and comment my support for the idea if you do.

[Gargamel]

I think they are both valid ideas.   While editing and viewing AG's in flight is a needed feature (currently handled by a mod), the suggestion of this thread is also a pretty good idea too.    There's been a few times where I have made an action group, then moved some parts around, and not all of them ended up in the action group again.   Get to orbit, open the solar panels..... why is only 1 opening?    Grrr.... click click click....     Having the ability to test all my action groups before launch to make sure I got everything lined up right would be a great idea.  

[orcaman]

What mod? I can't find one on CurseForge. What's it called and where is it?

[FleshJeb]

10 hours ago, orcaman said:

What mod? I can't find one on CurseForge. What's it called and where is it?

One of these two:

 

The following two mod sites/utilities are better than Curseforge. Personally, I use CKAN.

https://spacedock.info/kerbal-space-program

 

[Gargamel]

14 hours ago, orcaman said:

What mod? I can't find one on CurseForge. What's it called and where is it?

The best place to search for mods is not Curse.  A very low percentage of the total mods are hosted on Curse (compared to other hosting sites).  The easiest way to search mods is the list in Ckan I've found, then SpaceDock has a decent search system, and then I'll use google to search the mod release sub forum if I have to. 

[ZooNamedGames]

2 hours ago, Gargamel said:

The best place to search for mods is not Curse.  A very low percentage of the total mods are hosted on Curse (compared to other hosting sites).  The easiest way to search mods is the list in Ckan I've found, then SpaceDock has a decent search system, and then I'll use google to search the mod release sub forum if I have to. 

It's pretty bad when officially selected forum moderators are advising against using the official mod host. I think whoever you select to be the next Community Manager (finger's crossed in my case) should resolve that.

As to the topic at hand- I also think this should factor into stuff like staging hotkey, gear, lights, etc. Not like those keys are used currently in the editors.

[Gargamel]

1 minute ago, ZooNamedGames said:

It's pretty bad when officially selected forum moderators are advising against using the official mod host. I think whoever you select to be the next Community Manager (finger's crossed in my case) should resolve that.

There was no advisement.   Those are my personal observations. 

[Snark]

25 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

It's pretty bad when officially selected forum moderators are advising against using the official mod host.

No, not really.  Just good sense.  It's our job to be helpful, and that's being helpful.

Explanation in spoiler, since this is getting kinda off-topic. 

Spoiler

We're forum users, we make observations same as any other forum users.  It's also worth noting that it's a simple piece of practical advice:  if someone is looking for mods, then the question is "where are most mods actually to be found".  It happens not to be Curse-- many, many more mods are to be found elsewhere.  That's a simple objective observation, and a quite useful one to know, if someone isn't familiar with the game.

It's also quite an assumption to think that there's anything even "wrong" with such a statement, either-- you're just assuming, without any basis, that Squad would even necessarily think such a recommendation remiss.  There are plenty of reasons why Squad would pick a particular platform to link to "officially", that have nothing to do with advocacy per se.

For example:  Probably the biggest, most popular, most successful repository for KSP mods these days is SpaceDock.  Ask any player "where should I look for mods", and that's a much more useful, practical answer to give them than Curse-- that's not "advocacy", it's simple math.  It's a handy site for players, and it's also a handy site for modders-- I use it for hosting all of my own mods, for example, because I like its features.

But does that mean Squad should use SpaceDock as its official mod-hosting site?  Absolutely not.

That's not because I have anything against SpaceDock-- I don't.  As I say, I love it and use it to host all my mods, and I have nothing but gratitude to VITAS for single-handedly maintaining it.  But it's not ensured durable.  It's a labor of love, run by one guy, who's running it in his spare time on a shoestring.  He could decide to go elsewhere tomorrow.  He could run out of money.  His life circumstances could change in a way that make it infeasible to continue running the site.  So it's great for players, great for modders, but would be madness for a major company to stake its official position on.  Curse, at least, is an established company with real operations and the facilities for setting up legal contracts with guaranteed SLAs and so forth.

In short, the requirements of a company (like Squad) for picking an "official" mod repository are very different from the requirements of a player or a modder, and there's nothing surprising or sordid about that.  It's just how the world works.  A company needs to do business with professionals, i.e. established companies.  Amateurs, no matter how wonderful, simply aren't really an option.

Which means it's perfectly reasonable for anyone talking to a player to point out "where are most of the mods to be found"-- it's just a statement of information, that's all, and nothing untoward about it in the slightest.  It doesn't mean that the person giving the advice is giving bad advice, and it also doesn't mean that the officially chosen website in the game is badly chosen, either.

 

[Xurkitree]

Where are most mods found? The forums. Look in Add-on Releases, and follow their download links. Works everytime.

[adsii1970]

And there's always this resource:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SxrQS319Vup1NcE9ehrk5hHAtosynH9_O0Qqq4q3nfM/edit#gid=0

When I am looking for a mod, I always check here first. It has all the most up-to-to-date listing of mods from all over the forum in one neat spreadsheet.