GLOBAL_RESOURCE exospheric definitions

[KspNoobUsernameTaken]

So I was looking at the resource definitions in karbonite, and found these examples for exospheric resources:

// GLOBAL EXO
GLOBAL_RESOURCE
{
	ResourceName = LqdHydrogen
	ResourceType = 3

	Distribution
	{
		PresenceChance = 50
		MinAbundance = 1 // .00000001 - Relative atmospheric scaling applied
		MaxAbundance = 100 // .00000005 - Relative atmospheric scaling applied
		MinAltitude = 500
		MaxAltitude = 200000000000
		MinRange = .01
		MaxRange = .5
		Variance = 20
	}
}

// SUN EXO
PLANETARY_RESOURCE
{
	ResourceName = LqdHydrogen
	ResourceType = 3
	PlanetName = Sun

	Distribution
	{
		PresenceChance = 100
		MinAbundance = 10 // .00000001 - Relative atmospheric scaling applied
		MaxAbundance = 20 // .00000005 - Relative atmospheric scaling applied
		MinAltitude = 0.1
		MaxAltitude = 500
		MinRange = 500
		MaxRange = 500
		Variance = 0
	}
}

Could someone explain how min altitude and max altitude work?  Also, what does he mean by //(stuff here) - Relative atmospheric scaling applied? Lastly, what does minRange/maxRange and the Variance do?

[JadeOfMaar]

Howdy @KspNoobUsernameTaken. Here's what the keys do:

• MinAltitude and MaxAltitude are calculated as (Half of body radius * <value>) + body radius, in meters and the value is not altitude from sea level but distance from body center. The center of your resource band is a randomly chosen value between the min and max. Imagine how wide is a hollow spherical banana (there is only the skin, no innards).
• MinRange and MaxRange are calculated simply as <value> * body radius, in meters and is, iirc, the full span inward and outerward from the center of the resource band. Imagine how thick is the skin of that banana.
• Variance is the resolution of the noise map that affects the resource abundance at a given point. This is in % (so don't go past 100). Imagine a fruit skin that has only a few bumps or it has many bumps. Note that this only applies to crustal (ResourceType = 0).
• Dispersal is the sharpness/contrast of said noise map. It affects the size of the gap between least abundant and most abundant. Imagine making the bumps being taller and rougher. This is also in % and also only applies to crustal (ResourceType = 0).

Ignore the comments. I could not make sense of them. But also note these things that probably aren't mentioned in any documentation:

• For exo resources your harvester will register 1/1000 of the observed abundance value.
• Be very sparing with altitude and range values for stars. Due to the size of a star and limitations not foreseen when stock ISRU was written you can end up in a situation where the resource abundance curve flips over and you get 0% at the center of your resource band and you get infinity % away from there.

[KspNoobUsernameTaken]

@JadeOfMaar

Thanks, that explains a lot. I was actually working off one of your comments somewhere else, but this is a lot more complete.

 

Is there a way to visualize exospheric resources?

[JadeOfMaar]

28 minutes ago, KspNoobUsernameTaken said:

Is there a way to visualize exospheric resources?

Sadly no. Space Dust has a big advantage by having that visualization but I chose not to stay involved with it for long because of how much more detail the configs require and that I'm not quick to explore and play-test very large mods.

[KspNoobUsernameTaken]

Alright then, I have some ideas for using space dust as a visualizer, but thats a different question.

 

So to confirm, the only way to "see" exospheric resources in game is with a exospheric resource gatherer inside a resource area? 

[JadeOfMaar]

@KspNoobUsernameTaken The best/only option to see these resources in-game is to have an exo resource scanner (the same kind as the stock Surface Scanner with its CRP resource readouts) on your ship and have this ship on an elliptical orbit that passes through the band, and timewarp until you reach the altitudes where the baundance becomes 0 and becomes the highest, and take note of them.

[KspNoobUsernameTaken]

@JadeOfMaar

Are there any stock exospheric scanners?

[JadeOfMaar]

@KspNoobUsernameTaken My mod, Rational Resources provides one. It's in the form of a retextured HECS probe core and also detects various resources in atmospheres. If you're interested in using it be sure to install just Rational Resources, not any of the other things: "Rational Resources <insert suffix here>." If you want to install the other things be sure to look out for the README files or see the short descriptions in CKAN.

Spoiler

Karbonite and Karborundum are not supported because I see them as a sort of McGuffin because they have serious contradictions that stop me from finding parallels to real resources.