[WIP] [v1.0.0] The Call of Kerthulhu - A Mystery Contract Pack [ETA TBA]

[Caerfinon]

I thought I'd try something a little different. I've been working on this on and off for some time but I think I've got all the pieces together so I'm going to attempt a story contract along the lines of Contract Pack: The K-Files by  @severedsolo

 

Github: https://github.com/caerfinon/TheCallofKerthulhu 

Project Status: https://github.com/users/caerfinon/projects/5/views/1

Things I have so far

• Some KK statics scattered around Kerbin 
• The outline of a story to search for them 
• the reveal of the final location 
• a lot of travel using planes, ground cars, boats, subs, spaceships, whatever. 
• a nifty comic book cover. 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Caerfinon

[Caerfinon]

The work so far 

• Sites 1 through 6 deployed and adjusted
• Groups and Agency files updated
• Lots of little Asset icons and flags made

[610yesnolovely]

Excellent! Will there be a side story where somebody says "Release the Kraken"?

Edited September 16, 2022 by 610yesnolovely

[Caerfinon]

1 minute ago, 610yesnolovely said:

Will there be a side story where somebody says "Release the Kraken"?

There will be now  

[Probird_23]

This contract pack seems really cool!

Imagine how it would look like integrated with Parallax 2.0 (eg. Underwater structures under the ice, an alien mushroom structure between the Laythe mushrooms, an rv beside one of the ike crystals), the possibilities would be endless!

Edited September 16, 2022 by Probird_23

[Caerfinon]

18 minutes ago, Probird_23 said:

like integrated with Parallax 2.0

Unfortunately in my testing with Parallax 2.0 the scatter doesn't play nice with deployed Kerbal Konstructs site. KK has the ability to cull back stock scatter but it doesn't seem to have any effect on Parallax 2.0. 

It's really very pretty looking, but having ones airport runways over run by evergreen trees is a little weird. Hopefully the two mods can work it out in future releases. Until then I'll add "local colour" to the sites with KK statics.

[Caerfinon]

The work so far

• Added most of the assets for contract mechanics - waypoint icons, character images, etc 
• Have a working skeleton contract for Chapter 2 conducting playtesting. Dialog still to be written. 

[Caerfinon]

The work so far

• Play tested chapter 2
  • all dialog triggers successful.
  • parameter completions successful 
• Play tested  Anomaly detection. Sites that can be scanned are found, hidden site not detected as intended
  • Tested Scansat and Kerbnet methods.  

 

[Caerfinon]

The work so far

• Skeleton for chapter 1 mission created 

[blackrack]

On 9/16/2022 at 10:23 PM, Caerfinon said:

Unfortunately in my testing with Parallax 2.0 the scatter doesn't play nice with deployed Kerbal Konstructs site. KK has the ability to cull back stock scatter but it doesn't seem to have any effect on Parallax 2.0. 

It's really very pretty looking, but having ones airport runways over run by evergreen trees is a little weird. Hopefully the two mods can work it out in future releases. Until then I'll add "local colour" to the sites with KK statics.

Linx provided ways around this in the parallax thread, the easier option is a map you can paint in parallax to tell it where not to spawn scatters, the other one was to modify KK to add a mapdecal.

[Caerfinon]

1 hour ago, blackrack said:

Linx provided ways around this in the parallax thread, the easier option is a map you can paint in parallax to tell it where not to spawn scatters, the other one was to modify KK to add a mapdecal.

Yes I've reviewed both methods. The KK mapdecal method does not seem to work.  The scatter is momentarily removed when saving the KK mapdecal  but it then returns  almost immediately. 

The custom  blockmap method will work. The default provided already removes scatter (except for grass) from the Island and Desert Airfields. I would need to create an overlay reference map for it detailing the locations of all the additional KK sites and then approximate their location in the blockmap and test for accuracy, as the blocked area will only be the size of 2 to 3 pixels in a  4096x2048 graphic. Easy to miss the mark and several iterations per site may be required. 

I suspect this will take some time to do  as there are; 

• 20 sites in Kerbin Side Remastered. Includes KSC extended, does not include anomalies
• 20 sites in Kerbin Side Remastered Gap Extras
• 2 sites providing ports at KSC
• 20 sites in Kerbin Side Remastered The Life Aquatic
• 7 location in this mod
• and the entire extend of the Panocean Canal site (very large, but perhaps the easiest to do)

I have raised this as an issue in my GitHub for all of my KK projects, however it's current state is "Parked" until I have the time cycles to commit the amount of work involved.  (See -> My Projects )

Edited September 20, 2022 by Caerfinon

[blackrack]

1 hour ago, Caerfinon said:

Yes I've reviewed both methods. The KK mapdecal method does not seem to work.  The scatter is momentarily removed when saving the KK mapdecal  but it then returns  almost immediately. 

The custom  blockmap method will work. The default provided already removes scatter (except for grass) from the Island and Desert Airfields. I would need to create an overlay reference map for it detailing the locations of all the additional KK sites and then approximate their location in the blockmap and test for accuracy, as the blocked area will only be the size of 2 to 3 pixels in a  4096x2048 graphic. Easy to miss the mark and several iterations per site may be required. 

I suspect this will take some time to do  as there are; 

• 20 sites in Kerbin Side Remastered. Includes KSC extended, does not include anomalies
• 20 sites in Kerbin Side Remastered Gap Extras
• 2 sites providing ports at KSC
• 20 sites in Kerbin Side Remastered The Life Aquatic
• 7 location in this mod
• and the entire extend of the Panocean Canal site (very large, but perhaps the easiest to do)

I have raised this as an issue in my GitHub for all of my KK projects, however it's current state is "Parked" until I have the time cycles to commit the amount of work involved.  (See -> My Projects )

Ah I see. That is indeed a lot of work, perhaps investigating why the mapdecal isn't working would be more time-efficient.

[Caerfinon]

27 minutes ago, blackrack said:

perhaps investigating why the mapdecal isn't working would be more time-efficient.

That's a KK issue. Not sure how much code they would have to change to make it work. That's out of my hands.  but it would solve a lot of issues.

1 hour ago, blackrack said:

That is indeed a lot of work

For a lark I made a block for Jeb' Junkyard site from KSR. The blockmap does what it is advertised to do, but the results are not very satisfying. The trees are all removed, but the other ground scatter remains and makes the base look like an abandoned airfield.   Before the blockmap the  southern section of the runway was covered with trees. 

It can be fixed however, each KK site would need to be elevated by about 3 meters to avoid the grass from Parallax.

But that only increases the work. Each KK asset in every mod that provides statics would need to be altered to work with Parallax.  For my part I would have to change all of the various flightplans to every runway and the navigation tool patches that I've created for stock Kerbin. This would include the same for all the KK mods that my mod makes use of that are written by others as well. 

Even if KK fixes the remove scatter issues, I suspect the redesign issue will remain because that  would still leave the grass on statics that are not far enough above the terrain level.  

 

 

[Caerfinon]

The work so far

• Skeleton for chapter 3 mission outlined
• needs real co-ordinate data still
• Next step is to script story and populate dialog boxes in all chapter missions. 

[Manul]

On 9/20/2022 at 5:06 PM, Caerfinon said:

The trees are all removed, but the other ground scatter remains and makes the base look like an abandoned airfield.

This looks great.

[Caerfinon]

4 hours ago, Manul said:

This looks great.

It's a lot of edits to fix up all the sites though. But... it is pretty. 

[Stone Blue]

On 9/20/2022 at 10:06 AM, Caerfinon said:

That's a KK issue. Not sure how much code they would have to change to make it work. That's out of my hands.  but it would solve a lot of issues.

Yeah.. hopefully Taniwha will find the time to get back to KK. I know he *plans* to
 

On 9/20/2022 at 10:06 AM, Caerfinon said:

It can be fixed however, each KK site would need to be elevated by about 3 meters to avoid the grass from Parallax.ut that only increases the work. Each KK asset in every mod that provides statics would need to be altered to work with Parallax.

It cant be done with MM patches?

[Caerfinon]

7 minutes ago, Stone Blue said:

It cant be done with MM patches?

Probably can, But you'd still have to visually inspect each site for clipping issues, and all the navigation tools need to be recalculated for the change in runway elevations and that's just... Ugh 

[Caerfinon]

The work so far

• Created Dialog box graphics for Chapter 1 mission 

[Caerfinon]

The work so far

• Added KK statics for college signs at the Kambridge site
• Tidied up errors in chapter 3 mission 

[ColdJ]

On 9/21/2022 at 12:06 AM, Caerfinon said:

It can be fixed however, each KK site would need to be elevated by about 3 meters to avoid the grass from Parallax.

I am getting a Fallout 3 vibe from that

 

[Caerfinon]

3 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

I am getting a Fallout 3 vibe from that

Apparently the next release of Parallax will have a fix. Fingers crossed. 

[Singhnaut]

On 9/16/2022 at 9:45 AM, Caerfinon said:

I thought I'd try something a little different. I've been working on this on and off for some time but I think I've got all the pieces together so I'm going to attempt a story contract along the lines of Contract Pack: The K-Files by  @severedsolo

 

Github: https://github.com/caerfinon/TheCallofKerthulhu 

Project Status: https://github.com/users/caerfinon/projects/5/views/1

Things I have so far

• Some KK statics scattered around Kerbin 
• The outline of a story to search for them 
• the reveal of the final location 
• a lot of travel using planes, ground cars, boats, subs, spaceships, whatever. 
• a nifty comic book cover. 

Nice!

[DeadJohn]

@Caerfinon I assume this will only work for stock Kerbin. Correct?

[Caerfinon]

1 hour ago, DeadJohn said:

this will only work for stock Kerbin. Correct?

As written it will only be for stock Kerbin as it depends on the placement of KK statics and specific waypoints. It could be adapted to other homeworld environments by altering the location information, but I am not planning to undertake this.