my first plugin - orbital surface scanner

[Chris_C]

so I found this mapping plugin which i thought was a great idea - alas it doesnt seem to work too well with the current version of KSP and I couldnt find any source to fix it so I thought it would make a good exercise for learning KSP plugin writing...

After my first couple of hacking session I have an image like this (hundreds of orbits at 500x warp...)

I aim to make the "footprint" of each scan much larger so that it won't need 100's or even 1000's of orbits to make a complete map...

I need to figure out how to get anomaly position info

resolve issues with startup status and find more upto date plugin method documentation... make like OnFlightStarted mentioned in the wiki don't seem to exist - oh for upto date docs!

Determine if there is a way while not in flight mode to force reload a plugin to save restarting KSP all the time...

determine when plugin being closed so maps can be made persistent

I'd welcome any ideas people might have...

[macintux]

You can take screenshots by pressing F1, no need to take actual pictures of your screen.

[SocialCatastrophe]

If it takes you 1000's or even hundreds of orbits to map with ISA, you need to change your orbits. Also, make sure you only have one mapsat part on your craft, as that causes issues. Otherwise it still works great for me in v0.19.1.

That being said, it IS always great to have more choices and ISA hasn't been updated in a while. And you are learning a valuable skill at the same time. Good on ya!

As for suggestions, make the map zoomable if possible, maybe with a bookmark system of some kind for easy reference to good landing sites for convenience. Also, maybe talk to the kethane guys and see about integrating kethane scanning, too, I guess.

I look forward to giving it a try when you release it, whatever features you decide to implement.

[Chris_C]

@macintux alas f2 doesn't take video which that is a frame from, also print screen button works well for screenshots...

@SocialKitty because I'm currently recording the height only for a 1 degree square at a time to get all the poles as well I need a 90 inclination, hence the 100's of orbits! If I can find some docs for the terrain system or use intelliguess on the terrain system a larger foot print will allow for better inclinations

I have no idea how to zoom a texture on the GUI...

Are you saying the ISA plugin doesnt cause error messages in the log and at least a 30 second freeze during the initial take off stage initialisation ? (It does for me)

I really must look at the kethane mod - assuming its open source.... Good idea!

Thx

[macintux]

Then take a screenshot of the video instead, it looks way more professional.

[Devo]

@macintux alas f2 doesn't take video which that is a frame from, also print screen button works well for screenshots...

Thx

Then press PRTSCR on your keyboard and CTRL-V it into paint? geez I don't know... what are they teaching you kids in school these days If I can capture 6 monitors with it,

i'm sure it will do fine for your video snippet mate.

[eurybaric]

Are you saying the ISA plugin doesnt cause error messages in the log and at least a 30 second freeze during the initial take off stage initialisation ? (It does for me)

Yeah! wait I just noticed the thread here is still the old one from october or so. it gives out kerbal.net and dropbox links to very old versions of the plugin! just go to kerbalspaceprogram.com and search/download it from there. It IS updated to the last KSP version

Nice work though messing with plugins yourself

Cheers!

[COL.Neville]

okay so you now you have A beam.

now create a matrix of those beams at different angles from the source so to create a cone.

now with that it should take care of itself. the higher the altitude the more beams strike the surface. lower the inclination same thing up to a point.

write those values to a csv file and another plugin to read from those values to render the map. that way you can have multiple satellites writing to the same file. or make it to where it will still write to the file while simulating in the background.

[urablahblah]

Your map looks like a Lite-Brite.

But in all seriousness, if you could reproduce and/or improve on ISA's work and enable multiple satellite mapping, I would gladly switch to your mod!

[Tw1]

Multiple satellite mapping? That'd make mapping Moho so much simpler!

[Fyrem]

Chris, here are some things you may wish to know:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4E8QS4tazeQJ:forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/entry.php/501-ISA-Mapsat-Ideal-and-Non-Ideal-Altitudes%3Fbt%3D4638 this is the google cache version of a wonderful blog post that describes how to do the math, AND give charts for celestial body's ideal orbits.

Here is a google doc version of the same information : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aicph3-KYrXadElSbUVDUU50MlZBR1B4R0o5OUUyNXc&usp=sharing

ISA map, when downloaded from the space port, works just fine in 19.1

If you get lag when launching, BEFORE launch, click the ISA icon, and turn OFF mapping. turn it back on when you are in orbit of the body you want to map.