InfiniteDice -=Skillful=- Combat Damage & Weapons Mod

[InfiniteDice]

A new updated Skillful is up on Curse. It fixes some balance issues, mainly the way over-powered heat many people were experiencing... like dropping a bomb and having the aircraft explode while flying.

IFF is now settable from inside the hangar and is called IFF Tag ... with the description telling people to set it blue or red.

Enjoy! Hopefully a bit better for everyone.

[Special Agent Sigvan]

A new updated Skillful is up on Curse. It fixes some balance issues, mainly the way over-powered heat many people were experiencing... like dropping a bomb and having the aircraft explode while flying.

IFF is now settable from inside the hangar and is called IFF Tag ... with the description telling people to set it blue or red.

Enjoy! Hopefully a bit better for everyone.

Will you put the controls for the specific weapons in the description for them? You did do it for your Boat Parts mod (In the carrier description and even for the sub you added instructions for how to place missiles).

Or do I have to set in the config files myself?

[blitz2190]

smaller glider, nimble and fun also had a bad encounter with a ciws but i won

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[sumghai]

A new updated Skillful is up on Curse. It fixes some balance issues, mainly the way over-powered heat many people were experiencing... like dropping a bomb and having the aircraft explode while flying.

Might be time to give this another go - I'll let you know how it turns out, Dice.

---

EDIT - Nope. After unzipping the SkillfulManager.bat file and applying all the patches once, I encounter some *significant* inconveniences for both existing and new saves:

- Duplicate parts in VAB/SPH list

- Engine effects running constantly while in VAB/SPH

- When switched to flight scene, vessel is not shown and cannot be controlled - instead, I find my FOV rapidly flying away from Kerbin or the Sun

I may have to setup a separate clean KSP installation just to test Skillful.

---

EDIT 2 - Hmm, it seems that one either runs the SkillfulManager.bat file and delete the patches afterwards, or keep the patches and not run the .bat. I've got a separate KSP install ready to test this, and I'll get back to you.

---

EDIT 3 - Stripped-down KSP install seems to load OK with Skillful patches applied to Stock & NASAmission parts. Added Deadly Reentry Continued and MechJeb to expedite testing under the following circumstances

- A rocket consisting of a single SRB and a probe core, full throttle: rocket expended all its fuel without premature overheating damage

- A rocket consisting of a single S3 KS-25x4 Engine Cluster, a 3.75m fuel tank and a probe core, full throttle: engine damaged and shutdown due to premature heating damage

- A rocket consisting of a single S3 KS-25x4 Engine Cluster, a 3.75m fuel tank and a probe core, 50% throttle: rocket expended all its fuel without premature overheating damage

It seems that for the most part, the premature overheating issue has been properly resolved. I'm the in process of evaluating all my other add-ons for incompatibility, to determine what caused the strange behaviour I described in my first EDIT.

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EDIT 4 - Reinstalled all add-ons, no incompatibilities observed. I'm suspecting the aforementioned strange behavior was specific to existing savegames. Investigation continues.

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EDIT 5 (Final) - No issue with existing savegaves.

I conclude that the strange behaviour originally observed was due to improper installation, by accidentally leaving the patches after running the batch file.

I've noticed a number of my craft designs are now more prone to overheating than usual (parts failing before reaching the 50% overheat mark), and I've had to mitigate this by setting MechJeb to impose a 70% throttle limit. Obviously, I'm a bit disappointed that I've had to significantly alter my playing style just to avoid this, but I suppose I'll have to live with this inconvenience - at least, until NathanKell figures out a way to modify DREC to regulate heat production when Skillful is also present in an install.

Edited May 22, 2014 by sumghai

[Random Tank]

-snip-

Yes, you do have to delete those patch files if you run the .bat, I think that's a better idea to do it anyway so I don't know why they're there...

To EDIT 5: that'd strange, the only engines I've had problems with are the KS-25x4 (but they overheat half the time in vanilla) and the NERVA (which is the same); they'll only bake damage when they hit about 90% of the overheat bar, though to be honest I still haven't used the LFB or KR-2L yet. I'll do some testing of all the stock and KW engines with and without DRE later to see if overheat problems are still prevalent, but without DRE they are pretty much gone...

Also: ID, you know that change to the missile hard point cfg we needed to apply to stop planes being slow, is that implemented in the new patch or do we still need to do it manually? Thanks for applying those IFF tag changes, now I don't have to moan at people to look at the manual.... as much

[blitz2190]

Instead of dealing with all the cfg files you could just get rid of the patches and use the module manager patch I posted

[InfiniteDice]

Also: ID, you know that change to the missile hard point cfg we needed to apply to stop planes being slow, is that implemented in the new patch or do we still need to do it manually? Thanks for applying those IFF tag changes, now I don't have to moan at people to look at the manual.... as much

It's implemented.

[InfiniteDice]

Instead of dealing with all the cfg files you could just get rid of the patches and use the module manager patch I posted

I'm looking into this - if it does work it will need to be much more complicated, engines need to be different material than landing gears and everything else.

[blitz2190]

ID I've been bashing the hell out of all the parts I have installed (something like 1500) with this cfg override, all retain damage and turn yellow when damaged and so far no issue, what other type of materials are there besides aluminum or is it just the sames in the armor with hardness. I'd like to make a more comprehensive patch, like making structural panels decent armor and as you said engines

[KolourBlynD]

Hey ID, love the mod!

I am noticing some odd behaviors, however, that I assume is related to using Skillful along with DeadlyReentry; Some of my aircraft, along with majority of my helicopters, will catch fire/explode during flight, sometimes due to rockets firing and sometimes due to "Reaching G-limit." I don't mean to pick apart the mod, but it seems to my own experiences that the problems usually stem from Skillful using a "Temperature" system for damage, which IMO is a bit OP even with the more recent tweaks; After a part on my craft catches fire, it seems to explode within a few seconds, and since the recent issues that people seem to be talking about is the over-heats, I would opt for a Skillful without Temperature-based damage. Of course I just recently got the mod, so I shouldn't be asking for anything, but maybe if you had the chance to work along with NathanKell, perhaps the both of you can integrate the same "system" so they won't conflict as often. I'll be posting over at D-Reentry to see what fixes might be in the works.

Apart from that, however, the weapons and effects are incredibly fun to mess with! I guess there is one other "issue" that might be Skillful or might be something else; During my launches from KSC, after I reach about 5Km out, any and all Flags located near KSC will be "launched" into the air, in an orientation relatively similar to how they were when I was sitting at the runway. I'm not entirely sure why this might be happening, but I suspect it has something to do with potential "save-states" that are going on while using Skillful, causing the scene to "revert" the objects nearby to how they were at launch. Since there is not anything "breaking" during this, it's not really a big deal, however I imagine this might be messing up someone's "war."

[blitz2190]

I'm looking into this - if it does work it will need to be much more complicated, engines need to be different material than landing gears and everything else.

I made a first attempt at a more complicated MM cfg

It should correctly add the right Targetpart modules to engines, fuel tanks and structural piece that hold fuel, as well as landing gear and wheels, it will add a default aluminum2 to any other part if it works I'll go even more advanced and start adding armor values to structural pieces

anyone want to test?

skillfulPatch.cfg

link to the updated Module Manager 2.1.4

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55219-Module-Manager-2-1-0-%28May-04%29-please-read-the-orange-text-in-first-post

Edited May 22, 2014 by blitz2190

[InfiniteDice]

Hey ID, love the mod! I would opt for a Skillful without Temperature-based damage. Of course I just recently got the mod, so I shouldn't be asking for anything, but maybe if you had the chance to work along with NathanKell, perhaps the both of you can integrate the same "system" so they won't conflict as often. I'll be posting over at D-Reentry to see what fixes might be in the works. ...after I reach about 5Km out, any and all Flags located near KSC will be "launched" into the air, in an orientation relatively similar to how they were when I was sitting at the runway. I'm not entirely sure why this might be happening, but I suspect it has something to do with potential "save-states" that are going on while using Skillful, causing the scene to "revert" the objects nearby to how they were at launch. Since there is not anything "breaking" during this, it's not really a big deal, however I imagine this might be messing up someone's "war."

Thanks!

I talked with him about the temperature issue... I don't know what the solution to that would be. Skillful needs heat as it's 1/3 of the damage system. What is happening is the part is heating up from deadly reentry - once it hits a certain temperature, my code sees it as an internal fire then that's when my code starts adding to the heat. I need to assume a part is burning at some point since when you reach max heat KSP by default will just explode the part, and then it's game over. Once you have fire burning inside a closed area with fuel or something, bad things are likely to happen. I might suggest if you want to fly really fast perhaps parts that have higher temperature resistance.

[camlost]

ID, I think you should make "temperature damage threshold" configurable. Probably you can make it a partmodule, then use wildcards to add it to all parts containing ModuleEngines or ModuleEnginesFX, then other mods can adjust the threshold accordingly using MM too. Probably something like this:

MODULE

{

name = targetPart

targetMaterial = aluminum2

burningPoint=0.95 // when part.temperature=0.95*part.maxTemp it will burn.

}

In the dll side you can set its default value=0.95 so the MM patches are backward-compatible

[camlost]

ID, I think you should make "temperature damage threshold" configurable. Probably you can make it a partmodule, then use wildcards to add it to all parts containing ModuleEngines or ModuleEnginesFX, then other mods can adjust the threshold accordingly using MM too. Probably something like this:

MODULE

{

name = targetPart

targetMaterial = aluminum2

burningPoint=0.95 // when part.temperature=0.95*part.maxTemp it will burn.

}

In the dll side you can set its default value=0.95 so the MM patches are backward-compatible

Currently, the threshold is somewhere near 0.8 I think, as soon after the overheating bar appears there's black smoke pumping out of an engine. That seems too hard when I play AJE.

[Obnoxious_Gamer]

I made a first attempt at a more complicated MM cfg

It should correctly add the right Targetpart modules to engines, fuel tanks and structural piece that hold fuel, as well as landing gear and wheels, it will add a default aluminum2 to any other part if it works I'll go even more advanced and start adding armor values to structural pieces

anyone want to test?

skillfulPatch.cfg

link to the updated Module Manager 2.1.4

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55219-Module-Manager-2-1-0-%28May-04%29-please-read-the-orange-text-in-first-post

How the heck do I put this in the KSP folder, and where?

[blitz2190]

ID, I think you should make "temperature damage threshold" configurable. Probably you can make it a partmodule, then use wildcards to add it to all parts containing ModuleEngines or ModuleEnginesFX, then other mods can adjust the threshold accordingly using MM too. Probably something like this:

MODULE

{

name = targetPart

targetMaterial = aluminum2

burningPoint=0.95 // when part.temperature=0.95*part.maxTemp it will burn.

}

In the dll side you can set its default value=0.95 so the MM patches are backward-compatible

Currently, the threshold is somewhere near 0.8 I think, as soon after the overheating bar appears there's black smoke pumping out of an engine. That seems too hard when I play AJE.

if ID approves this, I'll add it to the file

[blitz2190]

How the heck do I put this in the KSP folder, and where?

put the MM in your gamedata folder as usual, and you can put the cfg anywhere but I prefer to put it in the Skillful folder

you also dont need to run the bat file if you use this

On a side not ID if you need someone to occasionally help with the mod, I am pretty good software engineer and love working on stuff like this.

as far as the heat goes, I haven't really looked but say there a heatshield in front of a part, that panel heats up on re-entry now the part behind it does it heat up just as much in this mod? if so you could choose to ignore the heat on that part if say there was a shield in front of it until that shield burnt away on a bad entry

Edited May 22, 2014 by blitz2190

[camlost]

if ID approves this, I'll add it to the file

You don't need to put anything, the work is on ID's part

for example

...

[KSPField]

public float burningPoint=0.95f;

...

[blitz2190]

You don't need to put anything, the work is on ID's part

for example

...

[KSPField]

public float burningPoint=0.95f;

...

I meant as a value in the MM config I'm working on

[Miraak]

Ok, im still not able to fire guns of any kind

They all have full ammo, tons of electricity, controlled set to true, pressing the home key, and have even tried binding them to other keys but they will not fire. the tank turret rotates, so it probably isn't keybind and this has been happening since before I installed other mods. If theres a fix for this, please let me know as I do want to use this mod

[LuciferNZ]

I'm looking into this - if it does work it will need to be much more complicated, engines need to be different material than landing gears and everything else.

The app I am creating is almost finished.

Im sure with a little work, I could make it spit out modulemanager.cfgs instead of modifying the original .cfgs.

So, in short ID, dont waste your time writting out a heap of module manager code - Ill sort that out for you

ETA is about 2-3 days.

Which route would you prefer ID? original cfgs editor, or module manager? (This is first, I can probably make output for both)

[blitz2190]

The app I am creating is almost finished.

Im sure with a little work, I could make it spit out modulemanager.cfgs instead of modifying the original .cfgs.

So, in short ID, dont waste your time writting out a heap of module manager code - Ill sort that out for you

ETA is about 2-3 days.

Which route would you prefer ID? original cfgs editor, or module manager? (This is first, I can probably make output for both)

I already did it see my post, its adds all right modules that were done manually as well as all other mods, I'm using it with all the major parts packs plus like 10 more and it works and its a single cfg for the new module manager, the new MM alows wild card and conditional overrides

my previous post

I made a first attempt at a more complicated MM cfg

It should correctly add the right Targetpart modules to engines, fuel tanks and structural piece that hold fuel, as well as landing gear and wheels, it will add a default aluminum2 to any other part if it works I'll go even more advanced and start adding armor values to structural pieces

anyone want to test?

skillfulPatch.cfg

link to the updated Module Manager 2.1.4

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55219-Module-Manager-2-1-0-%28May-04%29-please-read-the-orange-text-in-first-post

Edited May 23, 2014 by blitz2190

[InfiniteDice]

I'll go even more advanced and start adding armor values to structural pieces

Just need to be careful the armour values are strictly for armour. People may find they can no longer fly if parts are defined as armour on a light aircraft.

I'm still on the fence with MM I haven't been able to test it fully yet. I also don't like resigning to solutions that will ultimately require my stuff to be dependent on anything for obvious reasons. I'll make a decision shortly.

[blitz2190]

sounds good, I meant more so the panels, so people could build custom armored structures, also if you keep it the way it is now it works fine, all you would have to do is tell everyone to use the MM if they want or not. It won't affect the cfg you already made as it checks if they already have a targetpart module, and if you decide down the road to add the overheat value all I would have to do is add it, like you would with the cfgs manually.

Also i had to post my newest Battleship here

Still working on fuel tanks and rcs placement, but its almost stock, uses this mod, procedural Wings(great for structural oddities), and Infernal robotics for the bays, also i welded the hull in 4 pieces as its was monstrous and my computer couldn't handle it

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Edited May 23, 2014 by blitz2190

[InfiniteDice]

sounds good, I meant more so the panels, so people could build custom armored structures, also if you keep it the way it is now it works fine, all you would have to do is tell everyone to use the MM if they want or not. It won't affect the cfg you already made as it checks if they already have a targetpart module, and if you decide down the road to add the overheat value all I would have to do is add it, like you would with the cfgs manually.

Sounds good. Yes things are changing so applying a material like armour to something light will make it heavier.

The overheat issue... I think I have a solution in place for that, I'll make the update dll available to those who want to test it shortly.