Kerbal Joint Reinforcement - Next

[Rudolf Meier]

Kerbal Joint Reinforcement - Next

Finally a new version of Kerbal Joint Reinforcement is available. It is not just an update to the classic Kerbal Joint Reinforcement or a continuation. It uses new ideas and the code has been rewritten in most parts.

The Main Goals Were

• Make the joints realistically stable. Not too strong, not too weak. So that the main character of the game is unchanged. (it tries only to fix what is not correct and not to over-correct something)
• Offer extra modes for stronger and extra strong joints. (those are as strong as in other KJR versions, but not so realistic anymore)
• Provide an options menu inside the default game difficulty settings to select the desired joint strength and if and how many additional joints should be used to reinforce a vessel. (no need to modify config files anymore, you can control everything from the normal settings of the game)
• To improve the performance over older versions.
• Eliminate phantom forces. The mod builds the extra joints in a completely new way. Instead of just building a joint and try to keep every part in the place where it is right now, it builds the joints according to the original construction plans of the ship and tries to keep the parts "where the should be". (this stops parts from drifting away)
• Additionally there is a version with a gui which can make all joints visible. This helps in finding problems with either the ship construction or a variety of bugs (like the undocking bug, some procedural fairing anomalies and autostrut problems).

 

What Does It Do?

The main idea of this mod is to make wobbly and unstable rockes more stable. Not unrealisticly stable, but in a way you would expect it. It can replace all autostruts and is fully automatic.

 

How To Use It

In contrary to other or older KJR versions, KJR Next is no longer just reinforcing everything as much as possible. Many players have complained, that this is simply cheating and makes even most unrealistic constructions fly. That's why there are now different levels of reinforcement.

You can now select the desired reinforcement level from the menu in the "Game Difficulty" settings.

For realistic joints, it is recommended to select "Reinforce weak attach nodes" and "Strengthen not correctly working joints". Sometimes this is not enough and vessels still start to oscillate anyway. In such cases, select the "Stiffen vessels further" and leave the "Extra Joint Level" at the lowest setting.

If you want stronger joints (at the same level as older KJR versions, but still with improved behavior), you can select stronger "Extra Joint Level" settings. This way you can have the same behavior of KJR Next as before.

Spoiler

 

Questions

What do you have to make it working?

Just install it. It will do everything automatically.

 

Is it compatible with the new DLC and its robotic parts?

Yes! It does not lock the servos and does its best to keep everything stable.

 

Is this version stable?

Yes it is! No experiments going on here...

 

Supported KSP Version

Works with 1.4 and later. The latest version is compiled against 1.12.3.

 

How To Get It

this mod is 

Download: https://github.com/meirumeiru/Kerbal-Joint-Reinforcement/releases

Source: https://github.com/meirumeiru/Kerbal-Joint-Reinforcement

License: GPL-3.0

 

Info For Developers

[WIP] Kerbal Joint Reinforcement - Next

 

Demonstration

 

Edited January 7 by Rudolf Meier

[mrclucks]

now that we have autostrut, I thought that KJR wasn't needed anymore.  why do we need KJR next?

[Rudolf Meier]

43 minutes ago, mrclucks said:

now that we have autostrut, I thought that KJR wasn't needed anymore.  why do we need KJR next?

Because autostruts need to be activated by hand and autostruts are not very intelligent in their behavior. The overall experience can be better when using a mod instead of autostruts. And KJR Next tries to be that mod.

[MechBFP]

What is different between this and KJR - Continued?

Edited May 4, 2019 by MechBFP

[Rudolf Meier]

6 minutes ago, MechBFP said:

What is different between this and KJR - Continued?

KJR Next is a new development and will become an even newer one (in the next week) with the same goal of KJR (and contains some of the original code of course). It has been developed because of the Infernal Robotics Next development and has developed into a standalone project.

KJR Continued is the same as the original KJR, but with ... let's say "mantenance updates" like adaptation to new KSP versions and maybe minor bugfixes... something like that I guess. But I cannot speak for the "continued" part.

[MechBFP]

2 hours ago, Rudolf Meier said:

KJR Next is a new development and will become an even newer one (in the next week) with the same goal of KJR (and contains some of the original code of course). It has been developed because of the Infernal Robotics Next development and has developed into a standalone project.

KJR Continued is the same as the original KJR, but with ... let's say "mantenance updates" like adaptation to new KSP versions and maybe minor bugfixes... something like that I guess. But I cannot speak for the "continued" part.

That didn’t actually answer my question at all. Why would I choose to use this instead of KJR Continued?

[I_Killed_Jeb]

6 hours ago, mrclucks said:

now that we have autostrut, I thought that KJR wasn't needed anymore.  why do we need KJR next?

autostruts are laggy as heck

 

4 minutes ago, MechBFP said:

That didn’t actually answer my question at all. Why would I choose to use this instead of KJR Continued?

you can choose whichever you would like

[MechBFP]

31 minutes ago, I_Killed_Jeb said:

you can choose whichever you would like

Thanks, no idea I had free will. Still doesn’t answer my question. 

[A Wandering Mage]

MechBFP, 


To your question, I emboldened, Italicized, and then underlined your answer below for you just in case if you were still missing the very visible answer to your question. If you feel this did not adequately satisfy your question, perhaps you could elaborate more as to what specifically about the fact he really cant speak for the "continued" version to really elaborate the difference for you that you didnt understand. 

4 hours ago, Rudolf Meier said:

KJR Next is a new development and will become an even newer one (in the next week) with the same goal of KJR (and contains some of the original code of course). It has been developed because of the Infernal Robotics Next development and has developed into a standalone project.

KJR Continued is the same as the original KJR, but with ... let's say "mantenance updates" like adaptation to new KSP versions and maybe minor bugfixes... something like that I guess. But I cannot speak for the "continued" part.

or perhaps maybe reading another persons take on the matter could shed more light on the matter?

1 hour ago, I_Killed_Jeb said:

autostruts are laggy as heck

 

you can choose whichever you would like

I took the liberty of emboldening, Italicizing, and underlining Again as it would seem they are very similar mods that both do similar things. perhaps maybe it is the knowledge that this was being made parallel to infernal robotics - next that would steer you this direction maybe in the hopes of better compatibility and similar coding, or maybe once more details are out about the respective mods you could perhaps make the decision then as it sounds like this author is going to be make some significant changes in the near future.

Either way there is no need to be snarky to someone who was trying to politely answer your questions.

Edited May 5, 2019 by A Wandering Mage

[Lisias]

51 minutes ago, MechBFP said:

Thanks, no idea I had free will. Still doesn’t answer my question. 

Because KJR/Next works faster, taxing way less the CPU for the most part of the flying (some hiccups happens when the craft explodes). It also solves some bugs by eliminating the situation where such bugs would happen instead of mangling the parts that would suffer it.

It will also work seamlessly with some other Add'Ons (as Infernal Robotics) instead of demanding user editing on config files.

I think that by now you should had the picture. And now you can use your recently discovered free will to test both on your machine and decide what of them will work better for you.

Caveat Emptor.

[Rudolf Meier]

9 hours ago, MechBFP said:

That didn’t actually answer my question at all. Why would I choose to use this instead of KJR Continued?

oh, your question was meant technically ... so then the answer would be, that like other said already, its main goal was to support Infernal Robotics (the old one did more or less stop doing anything as soon as it detected an IR part and that's not really what you want). But since then the project developed into its own mod project.

This version tries not simply to build struts everywhere but do it in a useful maner. The old solution was good... the first part. But then in the second part it starts to build up random struts (I guess because of frustration that it didn work with the first idea?) and this generates a huge load for the game engine. This mod tries to fix that... and my debug version will bring you the potential to see which joints break and why. And this can then be used to either improve your ship or improve KJRn in a future version.

And the last reason why to choose it... does "Next" not give you the feeling that the product is somewhat "advanced" over the one with the name "Continued"? ... and does "Next" not sound more kerbal than "Continue"?

Edited May 5, 2019 by Rudolf Meier

[MechBFP]

5 hours ago, Rudolf Meier said:

oh, your question was meant technically ... so then the answer would be, that like other said already, its main goal was to support Infernal Robotics (the old one did more or less stop doing anything as soon as it detected an IR part and that's not really what you want). But since then the project developed into its own mod project.

This version tries not simply to build struts everywhere but do it in a useful maner. The old solution was good... the first part. But then in the second part it starts to build up random struts (I guess because of frustration that it didn work with the first idea?) and this generates a huge load for the game engine. This mod tries to fix that... and my debug version will bring you the potential to see which joints break and why. And this can then be used to either improve your ship or improve KJRn in a future version.

And the last reason why to choose it... does "Next" not give you the feeling that the product is somewhat "advanced" over the one with the name "Continued"? ... and does "Next" not sound more kerbal than "Continue"?

That makes perfect sense now. Thanks for the details!

[HebaruSan]

8 hours ago, Rudolf Meier said:

This version tries not simply to build struts everywhere but do it in a useful maner. The old solution was good... the first part. But then in the second part it starts to build up random struts (I guess because of frustration that it didn work with the first idea?) and this generates a huge load for the game engine. This mod tries to fix that... and my debug version will bring you the potential to see which joints break and why.

I hope you'll take this in the constructive spirit in which it's offered, but adding some text along these lines to the OP would make many folks' lives easier. Now that both Next and Continued are listed on CKAN, anyone installing a KJR-depending mod will be asking him- or herself what the difference is, and the forum threads are one of the first places they'll check.

Edited May 5, 2019 by HebaruSan

[Rudolf Meier]

16 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

I hope you'll take this in the constructive spirit in which it's offered, but adding some text along these lines to the OP would make many folks' lives easier. Now that both Next and Continued are listed on CKAN, anyone installing a KJR-depending mod will be asking him- or herself what the difference is, and the forum threads are one of the first places they'll check.

I will... this is not finished yet because everything went a bit (too) fast...

[TK421d]

1 hour ago, Rudolf Meier said:

I will... this is not finished yet because everything went a bit (too) fast...

as HebaruSan said, is exactly how/why I ended up here on the forum in this thread...

 

that said, I guess i'm going to tighten down the straps on my 5-point harness and get ready for a bumpy ride!

[mrclucks]

On 5/5/2019 at 5:17 AM, Lisias said:

Because KJR/Next works faster, taxing way less the CPU for the most part of the flying (some hiccups happens when the craft explodes). It also solves some bugs by eliminating the situation where such bugs would happen instead of mangling the parts that would suffer it.

It will also work seamlessly with some other Add'Ons (as Infernal Robotics) instead of demanding user editing on config files.

I think that by now you should had the picture. And now you can use your recently discovered free will to test both on your machine and decide what of them will work better for you.

Caveat Emptor.

makes sense.  I'll assume that KJR-N will be the 'best' for now since it works well with IR(which moves) so it should work just as well with parts that are mostly stationary.  

I'll be testing out some crafts which slowly sacrifice itself to the Kraken and see how it fairs then.  

On 5/4/2019 at 10:04 PM, Rudolf Meier said:

Because autostruts need to be activated by hand and autostruts are not very intelligent in their behavior. The overall experience can be better when using a mod instead of autostruts. And KJR Next tries to be that mod.

did not think that autostruts were that bad, but hopefully, this mod thrives and maybe eventually KSP will change their autostrut code to be more like KJR-N

[Lisias]

4 hours ago, mrclucks said:

Did not think that autostruts were that bad, but hopefully, this mod thrives and maybe eventually KSP will change their autostrut code to be more like KJR-N

It's not that's bad, it happens that KJR is better.

Think as a good thing being shadowed by a better one .

That said, I don't use KJR in everything. Sometimes I want to make the thing works by brute force using autostruts. It's nice to see wings bending on high Gs!

[Columbo]

With KJR-continued i had terrible stuttering (1-2sec. freezes every 3-5seconds).

KJR-Next runs super smooth with no stuttering or hickups. Thanks mate. 

[Puggonaut]

This is great   , now I can get back to building very silly idea's again Thanks for updating this .

[Tyko]

Just installed last night...looks great so far. Thanks

[JaredTheDragon]

What version of KSP is this optimized for? It would be nice if you had that in the title, much like every other add-on here on the site.

[Rudolf Meier]

1 hour ago, JaredTheDragon said:

What version of KSP is this optimized for? It would be nice if you had that in the title, much like every other add-on here on the site.

I updated the info... it works in 1.4 and later.

I don't like those titles, because mods do normally work on more than one KSP version. And when you have 1.6 or 1.5.12 in the title, many have the wrong impression, that it doesn't work in 1.7 and start asking for updates.

[Lisias]

14 hours ago, Rudolf Meier said:

I updated the info... it works in 1.4 and later.

My forked worked on 1.3.x and 1.2.2

but I carefully avoided calling any functionality that wasn't present on 1.3 (1 2.2 was plain luck).

Once you add decent UI you will lose 1.2 and 1.3 compatibility, however.

you can't have the cake and eat it too.

[kcs123]

Finally being able to test one of my intentionaly made woobling craft. One of those clumsy builds necessary to create when you don't have proper parts unlocked in career game. Without KJR it wooble a lot when you steer it in atmosphere, even with stock autostruts enabled on most parts as well as enabling riggid joints. Still possible to put it in orbit if you steer rocket very gently, but in slight mistake, especialy if you use keyboard, craft would fall apart quickly.

With KJRn, it works like a charm. Even with unoptimised kOS scripts it would reach orbit without any issue. It works much better than I have expected to behave.

[Rudolf Meier]

10 minutes ago, kcs123 said:

With KJRn, it works like a charm. Even with unoptimised kOS scripts it would reach orbit without any issue. It works much better than I have expected to behave.

Thanks for your test and report... I'm glad it works so well. And this despite that fact, that I still see potential for improvements