Increasing the 2.5km physic sphere

[Sarge82nd]

Will the 2.5km physic sphere be increased in the future or will it stay at 2.5 km.

[Van Disaster]

The various Lazor mods can increase it ( up to 99km I think ) if you want to see what horrors that can bring. Having your FPS killed at KSC by a station going overhead is no fun

[boomerdog2000]

If they do increase it it would most likely be much later after some physics optimization.

[leax256]

If they do increase it it would most likely be much later after some physics optimization.

agreed (10 min)

[LeadMagnet]

Well if they do, I hope they make it configurable!! I for one would love to make it smaller! Some of my mega-builds need not render, nor engage physics, if I'm translating by to another craft! Watching sudden explosions on the horizon is a bit dis-heartening!

[Tasmanian]

Maybe put a slider in options menu to let player adjust?

[Kasuha]

The 2.5 km is not "physics sphere", it is a distance threshold. And theoretically nothing stands in the way for the game to keep selected ships in physics while leaving other ships on rails regardless of distance.

Now, I wrote "theoretically" and I mean it. Because the important question is what "shortcuts" are there that might have unwanted effects on ships in physics which are very distant and in significantly different conditions. Space Kraken related bugs are the simplest thing coming on mind.

Assuming there is no such problem, the simplest thing the game could do is to prevent switching a ship to on-rails mode due to distance if it is in atmosphere, not landed or splashed, and you're not trying to apply on-rails time warp.

This would mean anything you decouple during ascent or descent would get full physics simulation all the way to surface unless you apply time warp in which case it would switch to on-rails behavior as usual.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Kasuha

[colmo]

Assuming there is no such problem, the simplest thing the game could do is to prevent switching a ship to on-rails mode due to distance if it is in atmosphere, not landed or splashed, and you're not trying to apply on-rails time warp.

This would mean anything you decouple during ascent or descent would get full physics simulation all the way to surface unless you apply time warp in which case it would switch to on-rails behavior as usual.

That's pretty much exactly why I'd want to change it. It would mean thinks like recycling spent stages using chutes for Mission Controller, dropping payloads out of planes, and even rendezvous with airships becomes more viable.

It would also mean impactor asteroids don't simply vanish or pass through Kerbin. The idea of watching an asteroid blaze through the sky from the ground is appealing!

Edited April 24, 2014 by colmo

[DoToH]

Maybe put a slider in options menu to let player adjust?

Sounds good

[coolitic]

Just wondering, why would you even need this?

[Nemrav]

slider sure, but really for lag ridden stations it would actually be a bad thing to increase the range...

[Tasmanian]

anything you decouple during ascent or descent would get full physics simulation all the way to surface

This could be great!

[Ruedii]

Personally I would like to see an extended area with "shortcut" physics that only simulate the center of mass and direction the item is facing.

The other thing is if each craft is treated as it's own "physics layer" it would be far easier to simulate multiple craft for a longer distance, but disregard debris outside that range if physics start to slow down.

[dryer_lint]

How about debris dropped from a rocket is still simulated even when it leaves the loading range? That way we could recover boosters and things.

EDIT:

Kasuha already posted this. Oops.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Nikola7007

[AlamoVampire]

im perfectly fine with it staying at 2500 meters.

[vexx32]

I think we do need a solution to allow us to recover dropped boosters and ascent stages, but I do not think this is it.