Anybody know the status of MapSat?

[tstehler1]

Hey everyone,

I was just on this thread (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/entry.php/414-0-20-Dev-build-of-Mapsat-4-available-and-blog-update), in which MapSat 4 was discussed. There's also a link to what appears to be a rather "prealpha" version of MS4, although I haven't tried it out yet.

Has anyone tried this yet? If so, does it work and is it worth getting? I'm on the latest version of KSP (which is another issue... The published MS4 dev build is made for 0.20).

Anything you guys can tell me is helpful. Hell, even if you don't know, just put up a picture of a rocket exploding or a derpy kerbal face and it'll probably make my day anyway.

Thanks in advance! Cheers!

Edited August 25, 2013 by tstehler1

[Kimberly]

The latest Mapsat development build is compatible with 0.21. You do need to allow it to update to the new terrain by checking "Auto-update hilo.dat" in the Mapsat settings (Mapsat window --> Kerbalpedia --> Settings), and deleting the old hilo.dat in your Mapsat folder.

However, this build does take up a lot of RAM, so if you use many other mods it may cause a crash. No harm in trying, though.

[tstehler1]

I'm all stock, so other mods won't be a problem. However, my current computer is only running on 3.65 GB of RAM (it's a Dell Dimension 8300 from around 10 years ago... don't worry, I'm waiting on a brand new one at this moment), so if it's a memory hog, I might just leave it alone for a while.

Thanks for the help!

[Kimberly]

Kerbal Space Program is, at the moment, a 32-bit application. That means it can't really use much more than the amount of RAM you have available anyway; we've all got that limitation. So it might still be worth a try.

[MainSailor]

so if it's a memory hog, I might just leave it alone for a while.

You'll be able to easily tell how much memory the mod is using by looking at the size of the artifacts.dat file in the ISA MapSat PluginData folder. IIRC scanning Kerbin itself can sometimes fill this file with multiple copies of each data point, which the 4.0 plugin doesn't clean up by default. The dev thread talks about a process for filtering the file to remove duplicates.

The other thing is the hilo.dat....I overwrote mine using values from the thread. I will try to find that link and post it here.

[Tiron]

You'll be able to easily tell how much memory the mod is using by looking at the size of the artifacts.dat file in the ISA MapSat PluginData folder. IIRC scanning Kerbin itself can sometimes fill this file with multiple copies of each data point, which the 4.0 plugin doesn't clean up by default. The dev thread talks about a process for filtering the file to remove duplicates.

The other thing is the hilo.dat....I overwrote mine using values from the thread. I will try to find that link and post it here.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/9396-0-20-ISA-MapSat-4-0-Dev-Build?p=420617&viewfull=1#post420617 is the thread with the directions on how to set up a .bat file to clear out the duplicate entries in artifacts.dat, which basically eliminates lag and reduces the memory usage.

There's another way to update your hilo.dat: make sure that the 'update hilo.dat' option is turned on, close the game, and flat out delete the hilo.dat file. Next time you load a ship with an ISA dish/GPS it'll rebuild the hilo database with the new values automagically(it makes the game hang during loading for a short time while it's rebuilding it, be patient.)

Either way, it won't affect any existing maps, because they're images. You can rescan without deleting the old maps, as the new scans will overwrite the old parts of the image.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Tiron