Kerbal moonwalk automatic control

[Guest Aaack]

Hey guys, so I made a rover for my Kerbal on the Mun...

But in spite of my best attempts I landed the thing 16 km away from where the lander was.

So what to do? Burn fuel and get closer? NO!

Move the rover? sadly it's manual it can't drive by itself (bad design)

I've decided to move my kerbal... to realize very soon 16 KM is an enormous distance for a tiny kerbal!

The jetpack shortened that about 30% before ran out of fuel.

So I was searching an automatic movement plugin for my kerbal and didn't find any!

After some minutes of "code" I came up with one and wanted to share it with you, so without further ado, here's my automatic moonwalk "plugin"

PS: Feel free to use it it's GPL

[Kegereneku]

That's... a very Kerbal technical solution.

[7499275]

After reading this I realize for those long distances it would be nice to have a mod that allows walking or driving a rover without having to constatnly press the W key. Although you solution is very Kerbal I must say lol

[Guest Aaack]

Yes, in an ideal world the autopilot could have a 2d version of the route planner the rockets have.

But meanwhile, I'm celebrating the spirit of Kerbin! lol

[Skorpychan]

It IS a very kerbally solution.

However, mine is to mount probe cores on the rovers, and have them drive to the kerbals. So far, it's lead to a LOT of broken rovers. Mostly because I didn't know about brakes.

[buzz66boy]

mechjeb can drive a rover autopilot, but I havent seen a walking one

[Mr Shifty]

Thank you. I needed that laugh today.

[Guest]

Bravo, Aaack! You win the internet!

[Motokid600]

Lol I do the same with with a small metal ball.

[Vanamonde]

If you hold down the W key while alt-tabbing to another application, the Kerbal will just continue walking as if you were holding the key, even if you switch back to KSP. He will go on for as long as you want to let him go, but the only way to get him to stop again is to hold S to get him to stand still while switching to another ship or returning to KSC.

[Guest Aaack]

Wow that beats the analog plugin!

I'm on linux and works too!

BTW, I've just realize the kerbal walks in perfect rhythm with "I want to break free" of Queen. Don't believe me? Try it!

About the kerbalicity of the plugin... The whole rover mission was kerbal to the core, since it's my first rover I found that i had no clue how to attach it to my rocket...

So i attached it vertically, and added two linear RCSs on the lander module.

I landed regularly, activated the RCSs veeery carefully droped it on it's side (the correct one) and decouple. Voila! Rover on the mun!

So the plugin is just more of the same, kerbal to the core bebbeh!

Sometimes, however... The Kerbal way is just... right.

Edited July 17, 2013 by Aaack
Add epic picture

[Frederf]

You can use trim for rovers as a form of cruise control.

[Guest Aaack]

I'm sorry, what's trim? <--awful noob here

[Frederf]

Hold Alt+WASD to permanently deflect the control indicators. Alt-X resets to zero.

[Guest Aaack]

oh, OH! THAT trim?!!! WOW never knew we had it!! Awesome tip, thanks!

[Denco]

Does anyone still have this plugin?

[Osprey]

I suspect, Denco, that the 'plug-in' was similar to my solution, given the comments (i.e. make some kind of weight that holds the 'W' key down). I used an 'I' shaped push-pin and a small cardboard box from my computer speakers.

[Denco]

I suspect, Denco, that the 'plug-in' was similar to my solution, given the comments (i.e. make some kind of weight that holds the 'W' key down). I used an 'I' shaped push-pin and a small cardboard box from my computer speakers.

I've found another ghetto solution to this by using a coin

( Not my picture )

http://i.imgur.com/raguVpT.jpg

[cantab]

Since I have a dual monitor setup, I do something similar to Vanamonde's solution. Hold down the direction key then click on another window. When I want to stop, click back on the KSP window and make WASD input, no ship switching required. (Disclaimer: this is on Linux. Behaviour on other OSes may differ.)

[Claw]

If you want autopilot kerbal walking, try this. (Assuming your shift key is still setup to make your kerbals run.)

1) Hold "W" to make him walk forward.

2) Hold "SHIFT" to make him run.

3) Release "W" and he should still keep going.

4) Release "SHIFT" and he should keep going.

Now the trick is to stop him.

1) Hold "W"

2) Hold "SHIFT"

3) Release "SHIFT"

4) Release "W" and he'll stop.

Hopefully you can see the pattern there. You can still use the keyboard for most anything else, and the mouse will pan the screen to change the direction of travel.

(I think on Mun/Minmus, the gravity is low enough that you won't see a difference between walk and run, but the kerbals will still walk.)

Edited May 18, 2014 by Claw

[Denco]

If you want autopilot kerbal walking, try this. (Assuming your shift key is still setup to make your kerbals run.)

1) Hold "W" to make him walk forward.

2) Hold "SHIFT" to make him run.

3) Release "W" and he should still keep going.

4) Release "SHIFT" and he should keep going.

Now the trick is to stop him.

1) Hold "W"

2) Hold "SHIFT"

3) Release "SHIFT"

4) Release "W" and he'll stop.

Hopefully you can see the pattern there. You can still use the keyboard for most anything else, and the mouse will pan the screen to change the direction of travel.

(I think on Mun/Minmus, the gravity is low enough that you won't see a difference between walk and run, but the kerbals will still walk.)

I'll try this thx.

[Shadow86]

Don't forget about physical time compression, guys. I suppose it can be dangerous in some environments, but it allows you to run at 4x speed.

I ran two kerbals a total of 30 km across Duna with it, and it took me about an hour. It's preferable to have a TV nearby.

[IME2017]

i can't see the image

[fourfa]

Welcome to the forums @IME2017.  Have a closer look at the date this was originally posted - about four and half years ago.  Lots of people's image hosting sites vanish over that period.