[1.1.3] AntennaRange 1.11.4 - Enforce and Encourage Antenna Diversity

[toadicus]

I've found the issue behind the circular relays and am working on fine-tuning a resolution. The cause goes something like this:

• You have 3 relays, A, B, and C
  
• Relay B is out of range of Kerbin, A and C are both in range
  
• In frame 1, relay A is connected straight to Kerbin. Relay B is connected to relay A, and relay C is connected to relay A.
  
• In frame 2, relay A is blocked from Kerbin. It looks for a relay in range that could transmit last frame and is not targetting itself, and finds relay C.
  
• Now we have a circular network: A->C->B->A...

I'm putting in a check to avoid it; just need to make sure the lines get drawn predictably when it happens.

[Mecripp]

HEHE that dog was chasing his tail sounds like.

[toadicus]

He was indeed, but not anymore! Here's the latest dev build with no more circular networks and even more frequent resolution.

[zip] [tar.gz] [tar.xz]

[Mecripp]

Won't let me Rep you got to wait or spread some around but thanks for all the work and really this should be stock

EDIT- @toadicus you have 2 ModuleManager.*.*.*.dll in the folder just FYI

Edited May 23, 2015 by Mecripp2

[toadicus]

Thanks MeCripp, I've de-cluttered the dev packaging folder.

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

toadicus, did you perhaps leave a debug compile option enabled by accident? The log is getting filled with entries about searching for targets and network checking and such, and the lag is pretty incredible -- I'm getting knocked to 25 fps when I was running at 45 with the last version.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Kerbas_ad_astra
Checked after reverting, more like 45.

[toadicus]

I must've been over-zealous and hit the packing script before the compile finished. Give this a shot.

[zip] [tar.gz] [tar.xz]

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

I must've been over-zealous and hit the packing script before the compile finished. Give this a shot.

[zip] [tar.gz] [tar.xz]

Works like a charm!

It has been _0_ days since last update.

[Mecripp]

HEHE goto have to get the duster cleaner after them files again

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

One more thing that I've just noticed: EVA transmission doesn't seem to be working when line of sight is not required. Even when I'm right next to a capsule with an antenna, I receive an error saying "no visible receivers in range". Right-clicking on my Kerbal shows that they're connected to their ship as a relay, but their status is listed as "out of range", transmission distance is blank, and maximum distance, packet size, and packet cost all read "N/A". Requiring line-of-sight lets it work. I usually require line-of-sight, which is probably why I've never noticed this before, but I guess my settings got cleared when I was updating AntennaRange lately.

[toadicus]

Does anything else do wrong, or just EVAs?

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

Just EVAs -- ships and probes transmit data just fine.

[toadicus]

Sorted!

[zip] [tar.gz] [tar.xz]

[toadicus]

Alright folks. The time has come, the time is now. We can do it, we know how!

AntennaRange has been updated to version 1.9! The update brings the much-requested Pretty Lines feature, along with a massive swath of optimizations, corrections, and rearchitecting in the network resolution systems to avoid some shortcuts, shortcomings, and plain-old incorrect functionality that we got away with when we couldn't visualize the whole network connectivity.

Huge thanks to everyone who tested and reported on the dev version! You guys are awesome, thanks for helping make this happen.

Despite all the work, the changelog is pretty small. So, here's a diff stat of the code changes to give the interested among you an idea of how much has changed:

ARFlightController.cs | 185 +++++++-------
ARMapRenderer.cs | 328 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
AntennaRange.csproj | 2 +
AntennaRelay.cs | 592 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
GameData/AntennaRange/AntennaRange.cfg | 2 +-
IAntennaRelay.cs | 52 +++-
ModuleLimitedDataTransmitter.cs | 651 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------
Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs | 4 +-
ProtoAntennaRelay.cs | 108 +++++---
RelayDatabase.cs | 232 ++++++++++++------
RelayExtensions.cs | 101 +++++++-
12 files changed, 1706 insertions(+), 591 deletions(-)

 ARConfiguration.cs                     |  40 +++

CHANGELOG:

v.19 [2015-05-24]
* New feature: Pretty Lines in map mode!
* More information available now about why connections are not available.
* Major optimizations and corrections to the network resolution architecture.
* General optimizations and cleanup throughout.

[Mecripp]

Thanks toadicus for all the work

[iDisOrder]

I saw this on Kerbal Stuff and added it to my "follow" list immediately

Thanks for updating this!

now, noob questions so brace yourselves...

this is essentially a relay system correct?

how do you know the range of each antenna?

I see the ranges listed in the descriptions, but do the Pretty lines in map mode reveal ranges as well?

Do these replace the original antenna?

Edit: CKAN update soon...puh leese?

[Hyomoto]

Sounds great, adding it in right now!

[toadicus]

I saw this on Kerbal Stuff and added it to my "follow" list immediately

Thanks for updating this!

now, noob questions so brace yourselves...

this is essentially a relay system correct?

how do you know the range of each antenna?

I see the ranges listed in the descriptions, but do the Pretty lines in map mode reveal ranges as well?

Do these replace the original antenna?

Edit: CKAN update soon...puh leese?

Welcome aboard!

AntennaRange does in fact support relay systems if you build them. If you don't have a connection directly or through a network, you can't transmit science (and optionally, can't control unmanned probes).

You can see ranges in the part info when you're picking antennas in the VAB. You can also see them in the right-click menus in flight mode. In map mode, the pretty lines will change color based on your connection status: green means you're close enough to get a bonus to your data transmission; yellow means you're still in range, but are taking a penalty; red means you're out of range.

No stock parts are replaced here, I just supplant the module they use to do transmissions.

It looks updated on CKAN to me... if it's still not showing up let me know and I'll see what I can see.

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

I saw this on Kerbal Stuff and added it to my "follow" list immediately

Thanks for updating this!

now, noob questions so brace yourselves...

this is essentially a relay system correct?

how do you know the range of each antenna?

I see the ranges listed in the descriptions, but do the Pretty lines in map mode reveal ranges as well?

Do these replace the original antenna?

Edit: CKAN update soon...puh leese?

In the VAB, antennas show their nominal and maximum ranges. (You'll have to decide for yourself which one is right for your job, but in general the whip is good for LKO, the DTS-M1 will reach the whole Kerbin SOI, and the 88-88 dish is good throughout the solar system.) This mod doesn't replace stock antennas (or any antennas); it replaces the stock DataTransmitter module with a new "ModuleLimitedDataTransmitter". The pretty lines do sort of indicate range; green means you're within the nominal range, yellow means you're further than nominal but still within the maximum. Antennas do perform relay functions, yes -- if a satellite can't see or is out of range of Kerbin, it will try to contact the closest satellite which can (or closest satellite in contact with a satellite which can, etc.).

[vardicd]

Loving the lines that show connection, however, it seems to not like it if you have lots of probes running connections and switching them at high time warp. I have about 20 probes running around near Kerbin, Mun and Minmus. Anytime I get hit high time warp, all the probe connections switching around locks up KSP and dumps me to desktop. It doesn't generate an error log, and as far as I can tell, I'm not hitting the memory wall and crashing. I'm not really reporting this as a bug, Toadicus, unless you think it might be, in which case I'll toss you a logfile. Mainly I was just posting to let people who run high density sat constellations know there might be some issues.

Edit: This issue persists even with the lines turned off. Had to revert to version 1.8 to prevent crashing.

Edited May 25, 2015 by vardicd

[toadicus]

If reverting to 1.8 helped solve things, it's worth me taking a look at the log. If it's not particularly revealing, I can give you a version with verbose logging turned on, which will be slow if you're in Windows, but might help shed more light on the issue.

[vardicd]

If reverting to 1.8 helped solve things, it's worth me taking a look at the log. If it's not particularly revealing, I can give you a version with verbose logging turned on, which will be slow if you're in Windows, but might help shed more light on the issue.

Do you need one from right after the crash was happening? I can upload my log file from right now, but it's from several missions after I reverted back to the old version: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8gil5ubkmhyn17n/AADHX-RYrUak-U4G221XWUXAa?dl=0

I just pulled that out for a KCT error, but if you need a log file from right after the crash, let me know, and I'll re-update to the latest version and try to reproduce the error.

[toadicus]

Found it; looks like the active vessel reference gets changed when you go to superwarp and there are lots of vessels. I have a workaround in place right now to bail out of the circular relay check (which is currently resulting in an infinite loop; hence your crash; trying to see if I can solve it more gracefully. Either way, a crash fix will happen today.

[vardicd]

Found it; looks like the active vessel reference gets changed when you go to superwarp and there are lots of vessels. I have a workaround in place right now to bail out of the circular relay check (which is currently resulting in an infinite loop; hence your crash; trying to see if I can solve it more gracefully. Either way, a crash fix will happen today.

ah that's good, I really liked the lines, it really helps me visualize my network and see where the breakdowns are.

[toadicus]

Anyone having CTD/hang issues with version 1.9, or who just wants to help test, please use this dev build and let me know if it helps. I'm pretty sure it will.

[zip] [tar.gz] [tar.xz]