Procedural Wings

[XLjedi]

ON/OFF Control Surface Bug

If you have more than one (symmetrical grouping) of procedural wings on a craft and you set the control surface toggle to OFF and then select the procedural wing edit tool for a different part, it sets all control surfaces of every procedural wing on your craft back to ON.  Therefore, if you have 3 or more (symmetrical groups) of wings on your craft, it is impossible to set 2 or more of them to the toggled OFF condition.  They are constantly being flipped back to ON every time you open the procedural wing settings window.

Missing Procedural Panel

There are procedural shape options for:  Wing, Stabilizer, and Control Surface.   Each of the procedural shapes has either a teardrop cross section or half-teardrop in the case of a wing.  We are missing a Procedural Panel, which would be like the old panels in KSP1 which would have a rectangular cross-section.  Currently, the thought seems to be that wings replaced panels, but panels were used in a LOT of situations that a wing shape would not be appropriate.  For instance, the hull of a boat to go in that dock area the devs added for us.   Or flat decks, parts for space stations, etc.  The structural panels are also ill-suited for many tasks because the thickness is just too thin, they are flimsy, and typically explode on any attempt at re-entry.   We need to have a Procedural Panel as a fourth procedural part option.

Connecting Procedural Wings End-to-End

...is currently just a nightmare.  There should be a connector node at the end of each wingtip that will allow you to attach the next wing segment.  Currently, it seems that complex wing shapes that involve flaps and ailerons on different procedural wing segments was never contemplated. 

Independent Flaps and Ailerons are Missing

We no longer have access to separate independent parts for control surfaces that can be embedded in a wing and used as a "Split-Flap" or "Fowler".  Split flaps were particularly useful in my KSP1 designs for increased lift during takeoff, and bleeding off speed for landing.

Symmetry Cannot Be Disabled on a Part-by-Part Basis

There is no option to disable symmetry.   This can cause problems if we use the mirror symmetry option and want flaps on each wing to behave like a flap (both deploying in the same direction).  Granted, the part manager has an invert option that might suffice in many cases, but not all.

No Adjustment for Leading or Trailing Edge Thickness

This results in the trailing edges of wide wings looking as thin as a razor.

Thank you for your consideration.

Edited March 1, 2023 by XLjedi

[Bej Kerman]

5 minutes ago, XLjedi said:

We are missing a Procedural Panel, which would be like the old panels in KSP1 which would have a rectangular cross-section

We aren't. You can disable control surfaces in the editor, and that effectively turns your wing into a static panel.

6 minutes ago, XLjedi said:

This causes problems if we use the mirror symmetry option and want flaps on each wing to behave like a flap (both deploying in the same direction). 

That is indeed a problem. Control surfaces that are either way mirrored or rocket-x2 symmetrical like to deploy in opposite directions, causing a wing strike instead of increasing lift. A bit irritating to necessitate placing each flap without symmetry, setting the control groups individually and setting the deploy limiters in "opposite" directions in order to get them to work.

[XLjedi]

11 minutes ago, Bej Kerman said:

We aren't. You can disable control surfaces in the editor, and that effectively turns your wing into a static panel.

No, the panel is missing.  It goes beyond just turning on/off the control surface.  It's the overall teardrop shape of the wing.  If you disable the control surface you still do not have a flat panel.

The wing or stabilizer still has a cross sectional shape of a wing or stabilizer (either teardrop or half teardrop) you cannot create a flat panel which has a rectangular cross section.

Also, refer to my first comment about the bug that is constantly flipping the control surfaces back to ON.

Edited March 1, 2023 by XLjedi

[Poppa Wheelie]

On 2/28/2023 at 6:59 PM, XLjedi said:

set the control surface toggle to OFF

I don't see a control surface toggle.  Where is that?

On 2/28/2023 at 7:06 PM, Bej Kerman said:

You can disable control surfaces in the editor

How do I disable control surfaces in the editor?

[Bej Kerman]

Just now, Poppa Wheelie said:

How do I disable control surfaces in the editor?

In the same dialog box you use to change its properties

[Poppa Wheelie]

Ah!  In the "Wing Shape" dialog.  I was looking for something in the "Parts Manager" dialog.

Thanks!

[XLjedi]

12 hours ago, Bej Kerman said:

In the same dialog box you use to change its properties

 

11 hours ago, Poppa Wheelie said:

Ah!  In the "Wing Shape" dialog.  I was looking for something in the "Parts Manager" dialog.

Thanks!

 

...and it won't do either of you any good; since it's hopelessly bugged right now. 

If you have more than one pair of wings on your craft every single control surface flips back to ON anytime you open that wing shape dialog.

[Jason_25]

For the control surface on/off bug try setting just one surface to off, saving the craft, load it in and come back the VAB and set another one to off and so on.  In other words set just one control surface to off at once.  That has helped me.

[XLjedi]

2 hours ago, Jason_25 said:

For the control surface on/off bug try setting just one surface to off, saving the craft, load it in and come back the VAB and set another one to off and so on.  In other words set just one control surface to off at once.  That has helped me.

If this were the only thing wrong with the game right now, I might consider it.    ...but given that the whiplash jet in my signature simply disintegrates at speed in KSP2, there's no real incentive to play.  There is just a ton of work needed (and missing parts) for functional spaceplanes.  Right now, the devs can't even get the camera to function properly for plane building.