Rough Terrain at KSC?

[madbadger2742]

I have an odd occurrence whenever I drive a rover around KSC:

There's a spot between the Tracking Station and Mission Control where my rover will either bounce around like it's on gravel, change course or stop as though it's hit something, or even flip over and/or crash.

Am I hitting something that's not being rendered because my graphics settings are turned way down, or is there some weird invisible collision mesh glitch?

NBD, just thought it was odd...

Update edit: It seems that it's just an issue with rendering the terrain on very low settings.

Edited October 8, 2013 by madbadger2742

[Geschosskopf]

If you could take a pic of the spot with enough of a background to pinpoint it, I'll try driving there and see what happens.

[Panichio]

So this is with multiple rovers, then?

[Guest]

I've hit these speed bumps often. I also play with texture settings on 1/4 res. That's probably got something to do with it. I also have found many other strange things like Kerbals exploding for no reason or falling through the planet, ultimately splashing down in the ocean in the middle of the planet.

[RocketPilot573]

I'd bet a million bucks that the OP was using those "Rugged" Wheels... Those things are so bugged....

[Guest]

That's alot of bucks. This guy would definitely freak out.

While I think that's a doe and not a buck, it's still funny.

[madbadger2742]

If you could take a pic of the spot with enough of a background to pinpoint it, I'll try driving there and see what happens.

Here 'tis! imgur album

So this is with multiple rovers, then?

Yep. The album shows both my standard, unstable design, and the rover from the stock "Rover + Skycrane" craft.

I've hit these speed bumps often. I also play with texture settings on 1/4 res. That's probably got something to do with it. I also have found many other strange things like Kerbals exploding for no reason or falling through the planet, ultimately splashing down in the ocean in the middle of the planet.

Yeah, just last night I was trying reproduce a bug and I encountered 6 Hell Krakens, two spontaneously exploding kerbals, and an unresponsive one within 10 flights, all on Kape KSC.

I'd bet a million bucks that the OP was using those "Rugged" Wheels... Those things are so bugged....

Ruggedized, M1, S2, ... Doesn't matter. I haven't tried the XLs, but I imagine they'd have the same sort of issue, just with a bigger result.

[Geschosskopf]

I spent a considerable time doing donuts in the areas you said were problems. I even put Kerbals standing at the landmarks so I'd have the distances correct. And I got absolutely nothing, not even a slight jiggle in the navball. So, I'm thinking this has to be on your end.

Where I hit bumps is on the white paint stripes and crosswalks immediately surrounding the various buildings, up on their foundation platform meshes. But not out on the regular ground like you're having.

Could you perhaps have some piece of debris like a box truss partially buried there that you keep tripping over?

My graphics are as follows:

Main Menu:

Scenery:

• Terrain Detail: default
  
  
• SM3 Terrain Shaders: enabled
  
  
• Terrain Scatters (WP): enabled
  
  
• Scatter Density: 100%
  
  

Rendering:

• Render Quality Level: Fantastic
  
  
• Texture Quality: Full Res
  
  
• Fallback part shaders: false
  
  
• Aerodynamic FX Quality: Normal
  
  

  
  

  Video:
  
  
  • Screen Resolution: 1920x1080
    
    
  • Full Screen: enabled
    
    
  • Anti-aliasing: 2x
    
    
  • V Sync: Every VBlank
    
    
  • Frame Limit: 120 FPS
    
    
  • Pixel Light Count: 8
    
    
  • Shadow Cascades: 4
    
    

[madbadger2742]

No, that was a fresh save in those caps. I'll turn up my terrain settings at some point and see if that fixes it.

[Guest]

I spent a considerable time doing donuts in the areas you said were problems. I even put Kerbals standing at the landmarks so I'd have the distances correct. And I got absolutely nothing, not even a slight jiggle in the navball. So, I'm thinking this has to be on your end.

Where I hit bumps is on the white paint stripes and crosswalks immediately surrounding the various buildings, up on their foundation platform meshes. But not out on the regular ground like you're having.

Could you perhaps have some piece of debris like a box truss partially buried there that you keep tripping over?

My graphics are as follows:

Main Menu:

Scenery:

• Terrain Detail: default
  
  
• SM3 Terrain Shaders: enabled
  
  
• Terrain Scatters (WP): enabled
  
  
• Scatter Density: 100%
  
  

Rendering:

• Render Quality Level: Fantastic
  
  
• Texture Quality: Full Res
  
  
• Fallback part shaders: false
  
  
• Aerodynamic FX Quality: Normal
  
  

  
  

  Video:
  
  
  • Screen Resolution: 1920x1080
    
    
  • Full Screen: enabled
    
    
  • Anti-aliasing: 2x
    
    
  • V Sync: Every VBlank
    
    
  • Frame Limit: 120 FPS
    
    
  • Pixel Light Count: 8
    
    
  • Shadow Cascades: 4
    
    

If you turn down the render quality to fastest and the texture quality to 1/4 res, I believe that you will in fact find "speed bumps" not only around KSC, but all over the planet, and just about anywhere else in the system. I'm not sure what is going on exactly, but it seems to be a problem with how the planet is "stitched" together. I'm not sure of the proper term. With the higher graphics settings, I don't notice the "stitches" like I do with the lower settings.

Here is a photo from Duna taken from an earlier version. You can see the "stitch" I'm referring to in the upper right corner.

[Leberschnitzel]

sorry for ot: What's the addin / Mod für those connectors?

[Guest]

Those connectors are from KAS. Here is forum thread : http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/25563-0-21-1-KAS-v0-4-1-Struts-pipes-part-storage-containers-merged-winches-more

[aimeilian]

Funny, I was just running into this last night -- all the way down to Calsey Kerman meeting a dark, damp fate in Kerbal's subterranean ocean.

Has anyone filed an actual bug report, or does Squad keep good tabs on threads like this?

[Geschosskopf]

If you turn down the render quality to fastest and the texture quality to 1/4 res, I believe that you will in fact find "speed bumps" not only around KSC, but all over the planet, and just about anywhere else in the system. I'm not sure what is going on exactly, but it seems to be a problem with how the planet is "stitched" together. I'm not sure of the proper term. With the higher graphics settings, I don't notice the "stitches" like I do with the lower settings.

Here is a photo from Duna taken from an earlier version. You can see the "stitch" I'm referring to in the upper right corner.

I see such "white line" stiching even with my settings, on all planets. But they only cause me trouble if a Kerbal happens to step on one as he lets go of a ladder. Then he usually falls to the center of the planet. But rovers can drive and Kerbals can walk over them no problems.

But the mismatch between the terrain pieces is sometimes more pronounced and those are definitely speed bumps. In this type of problem, the terrain mismatch is vertical instead of horizontal. If you're on the higher piece of terrain, you don't see anything wrong but as you cross the seam you go down a step, usually about knee-high on a Kerbal. From the lower piece of terrain, however, you can see up under the higher piece and this displays as a broad line the color of the sky above the other side of the planet at the time, which extends to the horizon in both directions. And of course you have to climb a step knee-high to a Kerbal, which is enough to flip a fast rover.

Still, I don't think this is the problem here. Such glitches are highly visible from 1 side, so if such a thing was happening here, just parking nearby and rotating the camera would show it up. I sure haven't seen such a thing and apparently nobody else has, either.

[madbadger2742]

So I turned the graphics back up (I had forgotten how awesome they were on full res,) and the problem disappeared. So it appears that it's just an issue with rendering the terrain on very low settings. Just another reason I want a new computer. :/

Thanks for the discussion, guys.