(KSP 1.10 + 1.12 ) Mission Controller 3.2.0 (Final Version) (Updated 6/25/2021)

[theSpeare]

I think the issue with some people not latching onto Mission Controller is due to the idea that (for example) I've been itching to go to Duna, but if I install MC, I'd have to do all the missions the plugin offers me and SORT of grind? You can circumvent this of course by just writing your own contracts and such, but it'd be nice to just be rewarded upon executing your own missions; the amount of money rewarded can be based on the merits of the mission itself.

[Dunbaratu]

I think the issue with some people not latching onto Mission Controller is due to the idea that (for example) I've been itching to go to Duna, but if I install MC, I'd have to do all the missions the plugin offers me and SORT of grind? You can circumvent this of course by just writing your own contracts and such, but it'd be nice to just be rewarded upon executing your own missions; the amount of money rewarded can be based on the merits of the mission itself.

But how on earth can you satisfy both of the following two things at once?

1 - A desire to fly to Duna right off the bat in a new campaign.

2 - A desire to make the money aspect of the game mean something so you have to pay for your designs.

If you can afford the cost of a Duna-capable ship right away you can only really do that by designing the mod such that money is no object, which defeats the point of the mod. If money matters, then it has to be balanced in such a way that a Duna mission is too expensive to do right away until you make some money. If it's not then money doesn't matter because it means you've made interplanetary missions cheap enough to do right out of the box, or you've started players off with so much money that it has, through inflation, made everything dirt cheap.

[Dunbaratu]

Ok guys I fixed the wrong refrence names in the random missions pack. Updated the dev download with new file. Should be able to work them now.

I'll give this a try this evening with a fresh campaign and see how it goes.

[theSpeare]

But how on earth can you satisfy both of the following two things at once?

1 - A desire to fly to Duna right off the bat in a new campaign.

2 - A desire to make the money aspect of the game mean something so you have to pay for your designs.

If you can afford the cost of a Duna-capable ship right away you can only really do that by designing the mod such that money is no object, which defeats the point of the mod. If money matters, then it has to be balanced in such a way that a Duna mission is too expensive to do right away until you make some money. If it's not then money doesn't matter because it means you've made interplanetary missions cheap enough to do right out of the box, or you've started players off with so much money that it has, through inflation, made everything dirt cheap.

It was more of an example - I'm basing this off more on the Kerbal Dev's direction of contracts. You sort of tick the conditions that you wish to do (sort of like gambling - "In this mission, I can do this, that, this and I'll do that!"). I didn't mean someone should go straight to Duna on the first mission; but some of the missions on the plugin's list can be restrictive. They say, go to the Mun with THESE parts at THESE orbital specifications and come back and whatnot. What if I'd prefer to just go to the Mun, land, pick up some science, get back and recover? I'm looking for more flexibility and almost automation in the missions; in a sense almost procedural. This way you can have people do what they still want to do and lower the chance of grinding (and by grinding I simply mean doing even just a single mission you don't really want to do because you want to fund another mission that won't even be rewarded).

1 - was just an example. I didn't mean to go STRAIGHT to Duna. Let's also keep in mind that MC does have loan capabilities. With this sort of concept you CAN go straight to Duna if you wanted.

But say you wanted to (somewhat early-midgame) go to Duna, but the only mission available is just to simply get to Duna? What if I wanted to land, a considerably more challenging aspect, pick up some science, go up, dock, return to Kerbin, recover? What if I want to stop by Minmus, or the Mun? This, as I said, can be fixed by writing your own mission, but then it's a whole lot of going back and forth.

So why not add an in-game contracts program like they would do in the future? It would be a "goals" window and you would press "add" to add a goal. You select the body, you select what kind of goal, orbit, flyby, whatever. You can specify the parameters. Then you can add as many as you want.

We can then spend some time fixing up the algorithm to figure out the rewards (and maybe even penalties). It'll be procedural, flexible and very neat. The groundwork is already there.

Edited January 20, 2014 by theSpeare

[malkuth]

Actually someone that really wanted to try could fly to Duna pretty quick. Even in mce. You could in theory game some of the missions in mce that don't require landing. And build a vessel and do missions and set up for Duna.

But I do hear what your saying witch is one reasons the new contracts system will eventually have custom contracts. Wanna fly to Duna? Make a custom contract and see if you get funded. If you do can you do it with money supplied?

[Dunbaratu]

Minor UI suggestion: Add a column to the missions list window that lets the player see a count of how many times each mission has been accomplished in this campaign.

Why? Because I rather liked seeing the mission icons turn green in the stock mission pack as I accomplished the missions, just to see a quick overview of accomplishments, but that doesn't really work as a means of viewing what's been achieved in the random missions pack because most of the missions are repeatable, and therefore never turn green. A mission looks the same in the list if you've done it once or if you haven't done it at all.

As a secondary gameplay suggestion, not just UI suggestion, that information about the count of how many times a repeatable mission has been done before might be something you could use to adjust the reward payments for it - making it so that something pays out a lot of profit when it's fresh and new, but not as much when it's been done a lot of times before.

[Dunbaratu]

Ok guys I fixed the wrong refrence names in the random missions pack. Updated the dev download with new file. Should be able to work them now.

It still has one instance of the problem:

Missions 35 through 40 all require a mission called this:

"20 - Mid Years Large Manned Mission Mun"

But mission 20 is actually the Minmus mission, not the Mun mission. So that still causes a title mismatch and keeps those missions locked out.

In my copy of it I made the following edit and it seems to have fixed the last of these issues:

In missions 35 through 40, every time it says this:

requiresMission = 20 - Mid Years Large Manned Mission Mun

I changed it to this instead (changing the 20 into a 19):

requiresMission = 19 - Mid Years Large Manned Mission Mun

Would it be possible, when loading an mpkg file, to have a sanity check in the code that throws an error if a 'requiresMission' field contains a string that fails to match some mission title elsewhere in the package? That would ensure that in the future you'd discover any mismatch like this the instant you try to load the mpkg file. Mismatched requiresMission's would have the same effect as putting a syntax error in the file would have - you'd know immediately that it was a mistake the first time you try using it.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Steven Mading

[landeTLS]

I like the stock mission pack. Moar stock/progressive missions! i also love the new contracts system. If this could be made kindof progressive that would be perfect. It would be nice not to have to switch mission packs all the time. Kind of takes away from the immersion feeling

[theSpeare]

Actually someone that really wanted to try could fly to Duna pretty quick. Even in mce. You could in theory game some of the missions in mce that don't require landing. And build a vessel and do missions and set up for Duna.

But I do hear what your saying witch is one reasons the new contracts system will eventually have custom contracts. Wanna fly to Duna? Make a custom contract and see if you get funded. If you do can you do it with money supplied?

Custom contracts is a very very exciting aspect. I can't wait for this feature - I'm pretty sure it'll be the hallmark for MCE.

[Motokid600]

What exactly is wrong with the Boostrap mission pack? So far it seems to work depite the red text. Ive been completing the missions until I had to dock. When I dock both ships together it still says Docked: True:False in red. So.. I take it this is part of whats wrong with this mission pack? If not is there a fix?

[Dunbaratu]

Idea for a cool mission variables for use with exploration missions:

AGLaltitude and DistanceFromTouchdown.

The intent would be for this to be used to create missions in which you are meant to explore by driving a rover across a planet or moon. Since I know the game treats a rover as just another kind of vessel, and the rover bounces as it moves so it's not always "Landed", it would be impossible to implement this by saying the rover must maintain 'landed" status the whole time. But I figure it could work like this: You create a mission goal block with the condition that AGL altitude (not sea-level altitude) may not rise above a very low height, like 100 meters, during the duration of the block. Then you also add the condition "DistanceFromTouchdown" to the block, saying that you must get more than that many meters away from the point at which the first touchdown on the body happened. So a block that says, DistanceFromTouchdown is 10,000 and max AGLaltitude is 100 means you have to drive 10km from the point of the landing without rising about 100m.

[malkuth]

What exactly is wrong with the Boostrap mission pack? So far it seems to work depite the red text. Ive been completing the missions until I had to dock. When I dock both ships together it still says Docked: True:False in red. So.. I take it this is part of whats wrong with this mission pack? If not is there a fix?

If its the one that has docking and undocking. You can delete the undocking part.

[Motokid600]

If its the one that has docking and undocking. You can delete the undocking part.

Im having all kinds of trouble now. I did that. I removed DockingGoal along with the UndockingGoal... AND before then all PartGoals. I then couldn't even open up the KerbinSOI package when trying to select it... So I redownloaded it.. then just deleted the PartGoals. That worked.. I was able to open up and select missions. But now I cant complete objectives.

This is still with DockingGoal and UndockingGoal untouched... If I complete an objective im supposed to get "Hide the completed objective" I don't get that.. and as soon as I move onto the next objective in the mission the previous parameters go red again. End all be all the pod lands on Kerbin and I get no reward.

So this is beyond the DockingGoal not working now. The entire mission package isn't recognizing completed objectives. I don't know what I did to mess it up.. Yes I removed all PartGoals, but that was fine until I tried removing Docking,UndockingGoal ( that broke it completely ) and had to re-download. Before then everything was working fine.

Tl:dr just to clarify.. with just all PartGoals deleted.. i cant complete objectives. ( removing Undocking, DockingGoal breaks the package completely )

Oh and I am not running the dev build by the way. I'm using the previous MCE version. Could that maybe be it?

Edited January 21, 2014 by Motokid600

[malkuth]

Im having all kinds of trouble now. I did that. I removed DockingGoal along with the UndockingGoal... AND before then all PartGoals. I then couldn't even open up the KerbinSOI package when trying to select it... So I redownloaded it.. then just deleted the PartGoals. That worked.. I was able to open up and select missions. But now I cant complete objectives.

This is still with DockingGoal and UndockingGoal untouched... If I complete an objective im supposed to get "Hide the completed objective" I don't get that.. and as soon as I move onto the next objective in the mission the previous parameters go red again. End all be all the pod lands on Kerbin and I get no reward.

So this is beyond the DockingGoal not working now. The entire mission package isn't recognizing completed objectives. I don't know what I did to mess it up.. Yes I removed all PartGoals, but that was fine until I tried removing Docking,UndockingGoal ( that broke it completely ) and had to re-download. Before then everything was working fine.

Tl:dr just to clarify.. with just all PartGoals deleted.. i cant complete objectives. ( removing Undocking, DockingGoal breaks the package completely )

Oh and I am not running the dev build by the way. I'm using the previous MCE version. Could that maybe be it?

They go red because they simply are showing if they match OR NOT. If the goal is completed then its saved into your save file. HideCompleted goal only use is to just get it out of the way.(I don't understand why people think this is anymore then a simple if statement check? Thats all it is)

The reason the docking goals don't work is because they are together and not suppose to be. DockingGoal and UndockingGoal need to be separate goals. If the person making the Pack has combined the goals then they will not work correct because the program is checking the Vessel ID. And when you dock Vessel ID is changed. Thats why I suggest not to combine the goals, in a submissiongoal.

Now bootstraps is not my missions, so I really can't support them. I only have so much time, and adding others work to my already overworked workload is not going to be very fun.

As for the pack not loading anymore, thats because you deleted something you should not have. When you delete a Goal all you want to delete is

UnDockingGoal
{
}

If you delete the squiggly for any other goal you will break the pack. You need to keep {} these intact for the other goals. You should be using a program like NotePad++ that way it will keep the code nice and organized. You can use regular notepad..The problem is that it will bunch the code up and make it difficult to tell what is what.

Now I sent an Message to the BootStrap Author asking permission to add them to the download for MCE. The day this happens I will go through all the missions and fix them. (it will take some time). But until that day happens, Im afraid the bootstraps missions are going to stay the way they are.

Edited January 21, 2014 by malkuth

[malkuth]

Developer Build 3 Available For Download and Testing.

1. Contracts Expanded. (more missions added)

2. 2 More Companies added to list (these two are more rare but payout pretty well)

3. You can get more then one contract at a time, but can only select one of them.

4. Fixed some more mistakes in Random Mission Pack (normal missions)

Older Versions Update Dev Build 2

1. New Contract System. The contract system gives you random missions. At this moment there is only 4 Base Missions, 3 Sat Deliveries and a repair mission. The base missions are just that. What makes the contracts different is that

each contract is funded by a company. And every company has a different view on what it pays you. In the case of this release we are only worried about 2. Payments and Science. At this moment there is only 5 Companies. But each one is different and pays different.

2. Repair Goal is completely rewritten. It now requires a resource called repair parts. You still need the RepairStation to actually be able to complete the missions. The basic jist of it.

a. You launch satellites into orbit with repairStations and your choice of docking ports. (contract missions). Every once in awhile you get a contract to repair a vessel. You construct a repair vessel. Make sure it has docking ability. Get into space and capture the target vessel (dock, or whatever you use to grab and dock). You then need to transfer the repair parts from you Repair Canisters to the RepairStation Located on the Satellite. After transfer is complete (takes 1 repair part) you go EVA and get near the RepairStation and select Repair in the right click context menu. Mission Complete.

b. Yes mission controller at this time can and will find vessels with the repairStation on them. The sad news is that Im having issues getting this random part of the system working correct. So it only selects the First Vessel in the list (usually the last one you launched) I will fix this at a later date. But for now you don't really have to worry about what vessel you repair.. Its not tracked. (you still see the vessel listed in contract though).

3. Contracts are generated every in game 24 hours (this will be increased later to 1 week) so basically 4 kerbal days.. (or is it 2?)

4. For career players the contracts are meant for mid game use. When the system is complete it will infact be another research item for MCE research tree. But for now it is open. But you do need Unmanned ability to actually take advantage of contracts.

5. Contracts payout a pretty good amount money. Eventually this will have a draw back. Because contracts come with Binding terms. If fail pay full price contract + company %. (not yet implemented)

6. Lots of new regular missions added. Tweaked some of the Early missions for career mode. Think you will like the first one now. Hope.

Download DevBuild 3

Developer Builds are not official releases for Public. Just test version of things I have been working on, or adding. Once I am happy the Dev Builds are safe and work as advertised I will release them as official. As always please backup your save games before using these. Can't guarantee I didn't miss something that might get broken.

Edited January 23, 2014 by malkuth

[diomedea]

Using MCE version 0.43. All well with toolbar version 1.4.2, however with the newer version 1.4.3 I found an issue, positive from extended checks this is tied to "MissionLibrary.dll" with this mod: the toolbar does not show if it was set to "autohide" and can't be recovered unless manually editing the toolbar_settings.dat file. No other mod shows this, so it appears like a mutual interference only among toolbar 1.4.3 and MCE.

(I already asked blizzy78 about the toolbar, hope he may suggest what is the root of this issue).

[blizzy78]

the toolbar does not show if it was set to "autohide" and can't be recovered

Just to note, I can't reproduce the issue at this time. I've asked diomedea to provide more detailed steps.

[malkuth]

Im really not sure why missionLibrary.dll would have anything to do with Toolbar.. missionLibrary is basically an API for other mods can access certain parts of MCE code. Can you give some more info on why you think this to be true?

Instead of editing the dat file I suggest deleting it and starting over fresh and see what happens.

Update: So I checked this out. And indeed if you select the autoHide option from toolbar (before its even set to corner) the whole toolbar will vanish. And only way to fix it is to delete or edit toolbar-settings.dat.

All I did was install the new tool bar. Load up game with MissionController, and right click on toolbar options, select autohide, and gone. I will try to see whats causing this issue myself also when I have some more time.

Edited January 26, 2014 by malkuth

[diomedea]

Im really not sure why missionLibrary.dll would have anything to do with Toolbar.. missionLibrary is basically an API for other mods can access certain parts of MCE code. Can you give some more info on why you think this to be true?

Instead of editing the dat file I suggest deleting it and starting over fresh and see what happens.

I have no idea why MissionLibrary has anything to do with the issue I described. I found testing everything from my install (over 70 mods, actually) on a clean install, and MCE's MissionLibrary.dll is tied to this issue when in the VAB, but only when together with another mod (RCS Build Aid, specifically) and the newest version 1.4.3 of the toolbar. I did whatever I could to single out if anything else was causing that, but ended with just the above combination (for the VAB; I found the same happens with different mods in Flight).

I did a fresh start with the new toolbar version, after deleting its settings, before writing of this issue. No change, the result is still the same.

I hope somebody of you mod developers are able to find the cause of this. I appreciate that you spend most of your time caring for your own creations, so you have less time available to try other mods and discover any weirdness like this one above. To find these issues is ultimately in the interest of users who can spend more time playing with a lot different mods.

Then, I can only make guesses as to what could be the cause. I reckon that some troubles are caused, e.g., when different mods use the same ID for one object (like a window or a button), but beyond avoiding the ID range used by Squad, you developers can't ensure that your choice is unique. No idea if this issue is in any way tied to a similar mechanism, however.

EDIT: Thanks for trying about this yourself.

Edited January 26, 2014 by diomedea

[malkuth]

Alright this is the issue I have found is causing this so far with little testing I have done. If you select AutoHide while the toolbar is not up against the side of the screen.. The toolbar will disappear and can't find it. BUT... If you pre position the toolbar to the side of screen before you select autoHide, the toolbar will in fact go off screen, and you can still make it come back. Pretty sure in older version if the toolbar was not against the Corner you could still select the Toolbar Menu and drag it until it locked into place and disappeared. Now it just disappears, unless you pre place it before selecting AutoHide Button.

[diomedea]

Behaviour on my system is a bit different, but that may be cause I use KSP in windowed mode. I have always used the toolbar against one side of the window, for the scenes where a lot of mods have buttons and therefore I need to make the toolbar hide (VAB/SPH, Flight/Map); I prefer to have the toolbar on the lower side but don't think the side of the window makes any difference with this issue. So, until I use toolbar version 1.4.2, have autohide on and all is well; with toolbar 1.4.3 (and MCE and RCS Build Aid, just them) the toolbar is gone. From just what info I can read from toolbar-settings.dat, the toolbar rect does not move, so I should still be able to find it and have it come back from the edge where I placed it.

But what you found could be very interesting, if the toolbar disappears when it is not against the screen edge as opposed to being against the game window edge.

[blizzy78]

Alright this is the issue I have found is causing this so far with little testing I have done. If you select AutoHide while the toolbar is not up against the side of the screen.. The toolbar will disappear and can't find it.

Thanks, this actually helped me in tracking down the issue. It is not related to Mission Controller or any other plugin, but also happens with the Toolbar Plugin alone.

Edit: See this post for details.

From just what info I can read from toolbar-settings.dat, the toolbar rect does not move, so I should still be able to find it and have it come back from the edge where I placed it.

Exactly. The plugin is just getting confused about its current state. You will find that when you enter the scene again (say going from flight -> space center -> flight again) it should appear again.

Edited January 27, 2014 by blizzy78

[AbeS]

There is something I don't understand:

Why is the 3-man capsule cheaper? It is really hard playing with Real Solar System. I could manage Sputnik I and II, then thought I should try the random missions. Seems like I don't have enough money though

[malkuth]

That command section is way off. Not sure what it is in Real Solar Systems that would do to that.. Are there values changed in some way for vessels can make it into space? If so that might explain it. In that case MCE is not really set up for Real Solar Systems, unless you edit you save file and give yourself some more money to get off the ground.

Even though nathan works on Real Solar Systems I don't work on RSS. And my head would explode if I had to set up MCE for RSS too. The way MCE works with prices things should work fine. Only you might have to give yourself a little more money to get off the ground.

That command section is a little strange though.

You must have that command section really beefed up to beat out the 3 man pod though.. Sorry to say MCE will charge you more if you start messing with values.. And increase them. I suggest checking what has been changed to make it so expensive and what other mods might be effecting it.

Edited January 29, 2014 by malkuth

[Motokid600]

Is there a way to mark a mission as complete? I cannot for the life of me complete the single manned land and return to the Mun. I land, objective complete.. I take off.. game crashes, I turn it off to finish the next day or.. anything. At this point I cannot re-select the mission. If I do I have to start over. So after 4 tries im done. I want to move on. Is there way I can mark it finished so I can move onto the 3man mission? ( the same problem will persist im sure, but ill cross that bridge when I come to it ).

Its kinda rough with land and returns. If you land then ascend back to orbit you then HAVE to complete the mission in one sitting at this point.. if not and you have to reselect the package/mission it all resets.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Motokid600