SirJoab Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 This is probably really good mod material, but I'd love to see it in the stock game: external power cables and fuel hoses that can be connected to other ships (providing they have the connector port) by a Kerbal on EVA. I have a little Mun base I'm working on that has a couple of different ships and a rover so far, and I'd love to be able to take a Kerbal on EVA and drag a power cord over to my rover to recharge it. Eventually I'd have one unit in the base to provide power, and power cables running to my other units to provide them with power. Hoses could be used to transfer fuel, oxidizer, monopropellant, breathing oxygen (if they implement it), drinking water (ditto), and anything else. They could also be used to 'soft-dock' for refueling a ship as an easier/safer alternative to standard docking with a space station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spacemarine658 Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 yea maybe if done right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadMagnet Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 This would be a great addition. The KAS mod allows for the functionality that you're talking about, but the "cable/hose" is a simple dark line, dead straight, point to point. WHile the function is cool, the look is not.I think I saw something along these lines in another post. The guy was talking about a "Kerbal Tool Box" which would contain (along with fuel and power cables) tools to perform tasks during EVA. Again, very cool.Anyone seen the new movie trailer for "Gravity". Lets just say "problems with tethers" is an understatement!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awaras Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 The largest problem KSP's Unity engine has is that it chokes on the amount of physics simulation it has to perform. Do you have any idea how CPU-intensive it is to simulate flexible cables and hoses so they don't look ridiculously unrealistic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 The largest problem KSP's Unity engine has is that it chokes on the amount of physics simulation it has to perform. Do you have any idea how CPU-intensive it is to simulate flexible cables and hoses so they don't look ridiculously unrealistic?I have no idea of how difficult it is. I was wondering about this very thing yesterday, mainly because KAS bugs out sometimes, making landed crafts do weird things. I was suspicious of how the cables work, because they look similar to struts to me. Then I was wondering exactly what would be necessary to make the cables lay on objects instead of going through them. Couldn't one add colliders to the cable so that it would know when it bumps into another object? Why is this so difficult? And what would be necessary to accomplish it? Just curious. Forgive my ignorance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awaras Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 (edited) I have no idea of how difficult it is. I was wondering about this very thing yesterday, mainly because KAS bugs out sometimes, making landed crafts do weird things. I was suspicious of how the cables work, because they look similar to struts to me. Then I was wondering exactly what would be necessary to make the cables lay on objects instead of going through them. Couldn't one add colliders to the cable so that it would know when it bumps into another object? Why is this so difficult? And what would be necessary to accomplish it? Just curious. Forgive my ignorance.The KAS cables ARE drawn exactly the same as struts or the strings on the stock parachutes - they are just raycasts (straight lines without any collision detection).In order to have a true cable or rope that realistically interacts with the enviroment (drags along the ground) and other parts (can be pushed, pulled, or climbed on), the physics engine would have to make it like a chain made of a lot of small parts all strung together and with physics interaction simulated between every single part.You can make a similar arrangement yourself in the VAB - just string together a whole lot of the smallest cubic struts into one long line. Or something like this: (especially the parts at around 0:25 and 0:55)This would drastically increase the 'part count' for the purpose of physical simulation and also the hardware requirements of the game... Edited September 6, 2013 by Awaras Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ravener Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 how about making it a chain? just have segments that can dangle about.this can be hidden by having "joints" everywere so it looks like it is supposed to be like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awaras Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 (edited) how about making it a chain? just have segments that can dangle about.this can be hidden by having "joints" everywere so it looks like it is supposed to be like that.Still, too few links in the 'chain' and it looks silly, even worse than what KAS has. Too many links and you get performance issues. :/I hope there is a middle ground, but even with a relatively modest amount of links, having two or more cables on screen at once would decrease performance a lot...*edit*This looks promising, but I still don't know how it would affect KSP performance...http://www.ultimategametools.com/webplayers/ropeeditor/WebPlayer.html Edited September 6, 2013 by Awaras Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horn Brain Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Never give up. Hose Crusade! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Cool! Thanks. It's nice to see some older KSP video. It's easy to forget just how far the game has progressed. After watching the rope editor video and playing a little with the crane, I am excited about the possibilities. I hope someone picks up on this soon and tries to incorporate it into the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirJoab Posted September 7, 2013 Author Share Posted September 7, 2013 My line of thinking was that the hoses could be simulated as a chain... and could be made of rigid sections to 'explain' the limited flexibility. Then, when used used in the context of interconnecting stationary objects, the physics engine could just ignore them once they've 'settled' on the planet's surface. It would be processor intensive... but if your computer can't handle it, you simply wouldn't use them... and you'd be no worse off than we are now with the game not having them. (I have a weak computer... so this might be me... but the developers are a smart bunch... they might figure something really efficient. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedyB Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 This would be great for docking fuel tanks onto larger spacecraft. You could dock the tanks on then connect them to the main tanks so that they drain properly. Instead of having to stop everything and transfer fuel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juanfro Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 The hose could be dinamic when it is deployed ,and then it could be a static object. One kerbal takes the hose from the tool box and attach it between two tanks so the hose goes arround bumps and ship parts. Once it has been connected it becomes a rigid object and if one of the tanks moves, the hose breaks.Also a valve (or a plug for electricity) could be necessary to connect it because you usually can't punch a hole on a fuel tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 I agree that umbilical lines would be a great addition to the game although they would be tricky to add in a realistic way.When life support comes it would allow modules to connect to the power/processing plants when the terrain makes docking port connections unreliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MircoMars Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 hehehe in-flight refuelinghehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karriz Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 I remember seeing some sort of flexible tubes mod in a fan-made KSP trailer a long time ago. Just like the tubes in Moonbase Alpha. Has anyone else seen that mod, or am I just making things up in my own head? It has been confusing me for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kegereneku Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 My proposition is to just CHEAT visually, don't make a Moonbase Alpha sort of cable, make it physic-less and straight. It's not like strut and fuel-line didn't already disappeared Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i8nemo Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 I would so love to have this. I'm not real good at docking, and this would make refueling landers/rovers so much easier when making sprawling munbases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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