Some VAB annoying issues that could be fixed.

[RawChicken]

Well, as my account got deleted this is officially my first post, but ive been playing KSP since 0.16 and ween how it is evolving to an awesome game.

Playing KSP is fun, yes. KSP is under development, I know, but since reading that the devs will consider the game "finished" when career mode is completed, I just wanted to throw out there some of my little improvements/details Ive thought could make KSP more enjoyable.

VAB:

--On a parts "page", being able to browse pages with the scroll wheel, or by clicking the upper "tab" again.

--Being able to import saved planes on VAB and rockets on SPH.

--Being able to load saved ships/planes while building another ship, this could allow building saving a rover beforehand and building a mothership where you dock a couple of those rovers.

--Not having the "radial symmetry" option changed when you hover your mouse while dragging a part over a "different radial symmetry" part.

--Being able to select wheels, landing gear, (or any other moving prop) while on the VAB and adjust its position. Example, adding plane landing wheels and have them "raised" in order to have space and continue building. OR, adding landing legs and have them allready "open" when take off.

--Being able to manage kerbals if you add more than one command pod to a ship, instead of having it empty (all but the first one placed)

--Better highlight when selecting a prop in a ship. Sometimes I hover the mouse over a part I want to remove from my ship and it highlights, but when i click it it selects some other part behind it. This happens most with the new rover wheels, struts, and fuel lines.

Parts:

I am not going to list parts I would like to have, but I just wanted to say that there are no moving parts for structural purposes. I know there are mods for this hinges and extensible props, but I think this game still needs some default parts as mods can be a bit unstable.

I please ask for constructive comments and some dev who reads this could possibly say something?

Also, if you agree or not, or if you have also encountered these issues.

Thanks

Edited April 19, 2013 by RawChicken

[Yuming]

Download subassembly saver/loader on the spaceport. It will solve a lot of your vab problems.

[RawChicken]

I know there are mods that fix some of these issues. The game should have these mods already implemented, not making you mod hunt to fix these little problems

[Johnman]

I find it really annoying that sometimes parts don't want to attach to stuff because of clipping issues, but if you drop them in the background and try again, they do attach. >: ((

[erkha343]

I agree, while the devs are focusing on resources and more advanced stuff, they're forgetting the basic things.

-moving parts

-navball antinormal and such markers

-moving parts

-better smoke and flame effects

-better atmospheric flight

-heatshields

-fairings and proper engine mounts

-saving assemblies

-better flight planning

-the rest of the interiors, and adding more instrumentation (like ap and pe markers inside the cabin)

-more symmetry options in both VAB and SPH

-and much more that I can't remember right now

I value that, way above having some resources to mine, which is awesome on it's own, but why go into that, when we haven't got the basics done yet?

I'm not saying these aren't planned, or that the devs are not working hard, all I'm saying is that I think that they could prioritize the basic stuff, then move on to the more complex expansion like stuff.

Edited April 19, 2013 by erkha343

[TinfoilChef]

I agree, while the devs are focusing on resources and more advanced stuff, they're forgetting the basic things.

Somehow I doubt they're "forgetting" these things, I'm pretty sure they've got quite a lot planned.

-moving parts

Yeah, things like assorted sizes of cargo bays with doors that open & such, that'd be great. I'll bet they're planned.

-navball antinormal and such markers

In addition I'd like to see some kind of informational display that we could toggle on/off to show lots of flight/orbit info on the hud in ship view the way flight engineer or mechjeb does.

-better smoke and flame effects

This would be nice but not that important to me.

-better atmospheric flight

From what i've seen on dev streams, they're working on that.

-heatshields

I'd say pretty much guaranteed to come with the update that adds damage from re-entry heating.

-fairings and proper engine mounts

Fairings absolutely... especially if atmospheric drag physics get beefed up, they'll be mandatory.

-saving assemblies

Deadbeef's mod should become stock

-better flight planning

Like the maneuver node improvement plugin? yeah, that and being able to say "burn at exactly periapsis/apoapis etc.." instead of guessing roughly where it is from the map view.

-the rest of the interiors, and adding more instrumentation (like ap and pe markers inside the cabin)

-more symmetry options in both VAB and SPH

-and much more that I can't remember right now

I value that, way above having some resources to mine, which is awesome on it's own, but why go into that, when we haven't got the basics done yet?

I'm not saying these aren't planned, or that the devs are not working hard, all I'm saying is that I think that they could prioritize the basic stuff, then move on to the more complex expansion like stuff.

I for one am very much looking forward to the resources system... It will open up many more storyline possibilities for my LP

[Stealth2668]

--Being able to load saved ships/planes while building another ship, this could allow building saving a rover beforehand and building a mothership where you dock a couple of those rovers.

--Not having the "radial symmetry" option changed when you hover your mouse while dragging a part over a "different radial symmetry" part.

These especially!

[erkha343]

well, I'm just worried that they'll forget about the most basic stuff.

I don't understand why resources was prioritized, perhaps to give people something to do?

[dr_jt]

Kerbals are not well understood

Edited June 6, 2013 by dr_jt

[RawChicken]

Yes, parts can sometime not stick where they are suposed to and that can be annoying...

Some mods resolve these problems, which makes them possible to overcome for a modder, so I guess the DEV team can make them even better.

Id really like to know the opinion of a dev on these, as these are not in the list of upcoming of planned features.

[thetommygunyeah]

I know there are mods that fix some of these issues. The game should have these mods already implemented, not making you mod hunt to fix these little problems

Then the issue is the community gets mad at Squad because they aren't working on resources or career mode. They work in a schedule they get tasks to do over a period of time so they can't just put something in so easily.

Also, Squad might not want to take the mods away from the Authors.

[RawChicken]

Im not asking for it now, im just saying it would be wrong to call the game "complete" with this issues. call them bugs if you want, althou they are not bugs just suggestions.

[tommygunyeah]

Im not asking for it now, im just saying it would be wrong to call the game "complete" with this issues. call them bugs if you want, althou they are not bugs just suggestions.

The game is far from complete my friend, trust me there is a lot more work going into this game. Eventually new features will slow in release but with that comes more Bug Fixes.

I imagine before going into beta there will be a spree of hot fixes.

[Scottiths]

How do you enable part clipping? There have been many times where I am trying to place something, and I know it fits because I removed the part by mistake. However the game will just fight me over placement until I remove the whole part, put it somewhere else, place the attachment, then replace the part.

[Saku]

How do you enable part clipping? There have been many times where I am trying to place something, and I know it fits because I removed the part by mistake. However the game will just fight me over placement until I remove the whole part, put it somewhere else, place the attachment, then replace the part.

Press Alt+F12 to open Debug console, and then turn on "Enable part clipping in editor"

An annoyance in VAB is when I make a part of a rocket with +30 parts in 1x symmetry, then take it and put on 3x or 4x symmetry, save and go to launchpad, the rocket is all messed up. When I go back to VAB and try to remove the parts, some of them can be removed, others just stay there and I can't touch them. Kinda hard to explain. After that I can't save nor launch and I have to start the rocket from scratch if I haven't created a backup .craft of it.

[Fel]

Press Alt+F12 to open Debug console, and then turn on "Enable part clipping in editor"

An annoyance in VAB is when I make a part of a rocket with +30 parts in 1x symmetry, then take it and put on 3x or 4x symmetry, save and go to launchpad, the rocket is all messed up. When I go back to VAB and try to remove the parts, some of them can be removed, others just stay there and I can't touch them. Kinda hard to explain. After that I can't save nor launch and I have to start the rocket from scratch if I haven't created a backup .craft of it.

I've had that happen a few times when I FORCE the game to put a vehicle together.

Taking the tricouplers and building a small pyramid requires some partcliping, but it also causes the base to have overlapping attachment points (which make symmetrically placing engines on them impossible [due to two engines wanting to be in the same place]) While the ship can be taken apart into 1x sym; engines placed symmetrically, and re put together... the game obviously would never allow the placement to begin with. (Hence the crash when it tries to remove symmetric parts that aren't there to begin with)

[nats]

--Being able to import saved planes on VAB and rockets on SPH.

--Being able to load saved ships/planes while building another ship, this could allow building saving a rover beforehand and building a mothership where you dock a couple of those rovers.

--Not having the "radial symmetry" option changed when you hover your mouse while dragging a part over a "different radial symmetry" part.

Definitely these are needed . But considering they have just added all important re-entry effects I dont think the small things are being forgotten. There will still be small changes as well as the big resource and career things being worked on I am sure.

I would love to see re-entry damage and G force effects being implemented along with the radial manifold attachment problem being addressed as well. Not to mention the need for all the strutting to be reduced, the lack of proper drag and aerodynamics to be worked on, open seats for rovers to be added, ability to create flight plans to establish accurate fuel use for long trips to reduce guesstimation, possibly tethers for astronauts,

and MOST DESIRABLE for me a flight path marker in the 3d view for accurate landings. Or alternatively, as I cant see how this would work in anything other than cockpit view, perhaps a future position indicator that shows where your craft will be after 30 seconds travel so you can judge where you will land and alter it accordingly on the fly.

- all quite important stuff that I am sure is on the list!

Edited April 20, 2013 by nats

[Warscribe]

The clipping thing is funny, though, as some Stock Planes are put together ignoring clipping.

[corvus2606]

do you people not understand the concept of alpha versus beta releases, alpha phase is where a dev adds features, beta(the phase that ksp isnt in yet) is where they fix playability bugs. the devs have talked abut overhauling the VAB, and they know there is an issue with placing parts, but there is a functional workaround and it isnt game breaking, so its not the highest priority. sorry to be donnie downer here, but the devs are dealing with so many feature requests and trying to filter through which ones will fit inline with the plan for the game, if you want this stuff to get fixed sooner, stop telling them about the same things all the time, and let them get on with developing the game the way they originally planned to do it.

[Punk]

well, I'm just worried that they'll forget about the most basic stuff.

I don't understand why resources was prioritized, perhaps to give people something to do?

Dont worry, they won't just 'forget' stuff. Just because you see it as the most pressing issue right at this exact moment and they aren't fixing it RIGHT NOW doesn't mean that they wont fix stuff. They have stated earlier that if they went around making every single feature 100% optimised and bug free and then added more to the game that they would get bogged down by always fiddling with stuff rather than finishing adding stuff and then killing the bugs. This is a game in development, there will be bugs until the final polish and optimisation stage and even then you see games that cost $80 and have a nice glossy box and still have bugs. Relax and enjoy the ride.

[cardgame]

and MOST DESIRABLE for me a flight path marker in the 3d view for accurate landings. Or alternatively, as I cant see how this would work in anything other than cockpit view, perhaps a future position indicator that shows where your craft will be after 30 seconds travel so you can judge where you will land and alter it accordingly on the fly.

Can you elaborate on this? The TVV (True Velocity Vector) and the vertical speed gauge seem adequate to me. Your feature seems quite advanced and belonging more in a flight simulator.