[1.0.4] Smart Parts v1.6.6 | DDS Textures and Bug Fixes | July 5

[boywithumbrella]

at this point it's too early to make any guarantees, since it's really a bug with stock KSP.

For now, I'd just assign your landing gear to an action group and use that.

Well that's a bummer... another thing to wait for Squad to fix :/ Thanks for the heads-up. It'd be great if you find a fix, but that is a pretty low-priority item I have to admit

And yeah, I figured I'd have to sacrifice an action group for that. It doesn't make much of a difference apart from one use-case: gamepad (DS3 in my case). I have a button bound to Gear, but the action groups are only on the keyboard - there are however cases where I still have to activate it manually (e.g. it doesn't trigger when I'm hovering over the VAB helipad)

EDIT: also I'm experiencing weird behaviour with landing gear bound to both "Gear" and an action group. I have my B9 landing wheels + some landing lights in the Action Groups "Gear" and "Custom02", where Custom02 is triggered by ALT-Pro at the height of 105m. It usually deploys fine, but throughout 5 test launches the gear failed to retract automatically (while the lights toggled by the same AG did turn off). Can you suggest some troubleshooting steps (apart from keeping each item in only one AG)?

Edited February 10, 2014 by boywithumbrella
more info

[Benoit Hage]

Greetings dtobi,

I'm experiencing a strange bug with the Altimeter. I'm using the Procedural Fairing mod by e-dog. When I set the altimeter to jettison the fairing at a certain height (32km), it seems that no ejection force is applied to the fairing when the custom group is activated by the altimeter

Yet, when I activate the custom group manually, (with the altimeter still on the rocket) the ejection force is working properly.

Could this be a bug?

Regards,

Ben.

[Firov]

Greetings dtobi,

I'm experiencing a strange bug with the Altimeter. I'm using the Procedural Fairing mod by e-dog. When I set the altimeter to jettison the fairing at a certain height (32km), it seems that no ejection force is applied to the fairing when the custom group is activated by the altimeter

Yet, when I activate the custom group manually, (with the altimeter still on the rocket) the ejection force is working properly.

Could this be a bug?

Regards,

Ben.

First, sorry for the delayed responses, everyone. I've been so busy settling into a new job that I just haven't had much time to deal with KSP lately.

Anyway, back on subject, that's very unusual Benoit. I've had no problems using the altimeter with procedural fairings and, indeed, that's one of my primary uses for it. Can you put together a test craft that uses just stock parts, the procedural fairings, and the smart parts mod that displays this behavior? I'd like to look at it. From a game perspective there really shouldn't be any difference between a smart part firing an action group and it being done manually. Still, perhaps you've found some really obscure bug that I need to fix.

Thanks for the report.

[Benoit Hage]

Dear Firov,

I've made several launch tests in different conditions ( sandbox, carreer, stock parts only rockets... ) and that no-ejection forces bug is still occuring with the altimeter. And the selected custom group is still firing normally manually and even with a script from kOS.

Can I provide you some sort of report from my game? ( If so, could you point to me how to? )

I must add that my game is heavily modded (about 25 mods) but I dont see any that could affect my game is that way. Yet if you need the complete list of them all, I'll gladly give it to you.

With due respect.

Ben.

[Firov]

Dear Firov,

I've made several launch tests in different conditions ( sandbox, carreer, stock parts only rockets... ) and that no-ejection forces bug is still occuring with the altimeter. And the selected custom group is still firing normally manually and even with a script from kOS.

Can I provide you some sort of report from my game? ( If so, could you point to me how to? )

I must add that my game is heavily modded (about 25 mods) but I dont see any that could affect my game is that way. Yet if you need the complete list of them all, I'll gladly give it to you.

With due respect.

Ben.

I'm curious. Does this happen with any of the other smart parts? For example, try firing that action group via timer. See if it still happens.

Also, what would really help is if you could make a craft that experiences this bug out of stock parts, procedural fairings, and the smart parts. Then upload that craft file somewhere publicly accessible, like Google drive. That way I can test it on my end and hopefully recreate it. Right now fixing it is going to be tough, since this isn't something I've experienced and so I don't really know what might be causing it.

EDIT - Actually, nevermind that. I think I found the problem thanks to a bug report on GitHub. Apparently staging events have to trigger from OnUpdate rather than OnFixedUpdate. This is super simple to fix though, and I'm testing it now.

EDIT2 - Okay. Yeah. One bug down. If only they were all that easy to fix. Anyway, I'm going to be looking into some other bugs such as the staging event leaving empty stages, so once I get that fixed I'll go ahead and put up a hot fix download. Hopefully tonight. I don't have access to the OP though, so it's going to be in this post probably.

Edited March 2, 2014 by Firov

[Benoit Hage]

EDIT2 - Okay. Yeah. One bug down. If only they were all that easy to fix. Anyway, I'm going to be looking into some other bugs such as the staging event leaving empty stages, so once I get that fixed I'll go ahead and put up a hot fix download. Hopefully tonight. I don't have access to the OP though, so it's going to be in this post probably.

That is excellent news! I'll tell you if the hot fix is working. Thanks Firov!

[Firov]

Okay. Well, I'm still trying to figure out a solution to the staging creating an empty stage bug. Unfortunately, it's proving to be much more difficult to fix than I would have thought due to the nearly non-existent API documentation and poor staging logic in KSP.

In the meantime however, here's a hotfix for the non-physics eject bug. Just replace the DLL in the SmartParts plugin folder with this one. Let me know if this fixes your issues, Benoit.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9K8KY8RgD-qNTFTTVNhbHVwVTQ/edit?usp=sharing

[Benoit Hage]

Let me know if this fixes your issues

I confirm the non-physics eject bug is fixed. Many thanks to you Firov!

[epicfacecanada]

I have found a way to use the radio's to fly multiple planes at once

and even land them all

[Climberfx]

Great idea, and Good job!

I love the textures too.

[Benoit Hage]

Hey Firov,

Would it be possible to add to the altimeter a condition that triggers an action group only when the body currently orbited is Kerbin? That way, we could automatize our spaceships in every evironnement. (and not jettison the heat shield above the Mun... )

Also, would it be possible to add several commands per part? Like several action group per altitude with the same part?

Thanks in advance for your time.

[Cakeofruit]

a great part i'm looking for is to open or close the tank of fuel via the staging !( or actions groups)

[Firov]

First, good news all around everyone! I finally solved the empty stage creation bug, so with that perpetual thorn in my side finally removed I was able to devote a bit of time to adding new features. Which in this case means... you get (minimal) thrust from the fuel valve and it supports tweakable staging!!! Just the thing for nudging that heavy external tank away from your shuttle without having to use unrealistic solid rocket motors!

I'm coordinating the next release with DTobi. I'm not entirely sure when it's going to happen, since he's got some thing's he's finalizing for his SSE mod. Should be soon though.

Hey Firov,

Would it be possible to add to the altimeter a condition that triggers an action group only when the body currently orbited is Kerbin? That way, we could automatize our spaceships in every evironnement. (and not jettison the heat shield above the Mun... )

Also, would it be possible to add several commands per part? Like several action group per altitude with the same part?

Thanks in advance for your time.

Honestly, I like this idea. I really do. It's something I've thought about, in fact, but I just don't see any way to make it happen without turning the tweakables GUI for the altimeter into a horrible mess. I'd likely have to use some sort of slider to select the target celestial body like what is currently done with the action group. It would be messy. If you can think of some way to make the GUI work though, I'd be happy to consider it, and I can definitely see a use case scenario for it.

a great part i'm looking for is to open or close the tank of fuel via the staging !( or actions groups)

This is an interesting idea, if you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting. A smart part that can activate or deactivate fuel tanks on staging or an action group?

The main use I can think of for this would be RCS tanks, which feed throughout the entire vessel. So this would allow you to prevent the service module from stealing monopropellant from your lander, for example. However, the main problem there is that the small RCS tanks don't support surface attachment, which would be required for something like this to work. Frankly, I don't even know if it's possible on parts that do support surface attachment, but I suspect that it is. Cakeofruit, how do you envision this part being used?

[KvickFlygarn87]

Gratz on making Modding Mondays!

[The Destroyer]

Yeah, Gratz!

...I'm usually the one to do this

[z26]

Nice mod! Like kos this thing gives many possibilities and it is super simple to use. It also doesn't requires any scripting knowledge While I've managed to make a rocket that activate its stages and deploy its parachute by itself, even with lazor systems there seems to be a 5km limit before something in atmosphere disappears so I didn't manage to watch it from the launchpad (also there is an annoying "can't switch vessel in atmosphere" limitation)

At least I've managed to make this with the timers

It would be cool if your times could be set up the same way as your altitude sensor (meters/km toggle) Maybe something like 0-15 seconds in 0.1 sec increments vs 0-120 seconds in 5 sec increments. I guess a collision sensor may have some possible uses (like detecting a landing)

Anyway thanks for the mod!

[GarrettKajmowicz]

Given how many people are looking to automate some degree of complex logic, it may be worthwhile trying to implement a complete system for ladder logic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladder_logic

It's vaguely like state-machine programming and is very well suited to dealing with binary conditions like a lot of comments here are bringing up. Granted, its a *lot* of work, but it would solve all of the issues in the abstract and provide those who want to automate all of the power to do so.

[Firov]

It would be cool if your times could be set up the same way as your altitude sensor (meters/km toggle) Maybe something like 0-15 seconds in 0.1 sec increments vs 0-120 seconds in 5 sec increments. I guess a collision sensor may have some possible uses (like detecting a landing)

Anyway thanks for the mod!

Heh. Nice use of the timer z26. Actually, I like the idea of more granularity in the timer. I don't know that it's going to be necessary to have multiple different scales as I did with the altimeter. I'll have to think how I want to implement that. Either way, it's a simple change, so I'll try to have this in the next release (not really sure when DTobi has planned).

Given how many people are looking to automate some degree of complex logic, it may be worthwhile trying to implement a complete system for ladder logic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladder_logic

It's vaguely like state-machine programming and is very well suited to dealing with binary conditions like a lot of comments here are bringing up. Granted, its a *lot* of work, but it would solve all of the issues in the abstract and provide those who want to automate all of the power to do so.

Honestly, I'm not even sure how I'd go about implementing complex logic while still keeping the mod simple, or even with the current tweakables GUI. I'd have to create a whole new GUI to allow that kind of sophisticated logic, and I think at that point you're going to be looking at a more complex, but more capable, system like kOS anyway.

The one thing I've considered implementing is a system that allows smart parts to directly trigger another smart part, or group of them, without having to use the limited action groups by using a tweakable "reference number". Sort of like the way channels currently work with the radio smart part. However, I'd have to do some pretty extensive tests on that one to make sure it still fits in with the original vision of Smart Parts.

So even that is pretty far off in the future. I'm thinking my next project is going to be to create the AP/PE detection smart part which was requested, since I can see some nice uses for that.

[Cakeofruit]

The main use I can think of for this would be RCS tanks, which feed throughout the entire vessel. So this would allow you to prevent the service module from stealing monopropellant from your lander, for example. However, the main problem there is that the small RCS tanks don't support surface attachment, which would be required for something like this to work. Frankly, I don't even know if it's possible on parts that do support surface attachment, but I suspect that it is. Cakeofruit, how do you envision this part being used?

I think of a part that help me to control my fuel flow.

You could bind the toggle to open or close a fuel tank or set priority fuel tank.

with a part u can set a priority:

-if it's the lower it transfert fuel to the other fuel tank without the part.

-if same it's transfert the fuel egaly.

The use i will do with this part is put it on my external fuel tank to keep my rsc on my orbiter.

This will avoid the need to close all my tank and open it after.

those part can have this a small part

I other idea i got when i saw the post of Z27 is that you could also use small part to trigger a other one.

[z26]

Heh. Nice use of the timer z26. Actually, I like the idea of more granularity in the timer. I don't know that it's going to be necessary to have multiple different scales as I did with the altimeter. I'll have to think how I want to implement that. Either way, it's a simple change, so I'll try to have this in the next release (not really sure when DTobi has planned).

Eithier way would work. Personally I'd think at least 0.1 sec increments (or better yet, 0,05 or 0,025) would be best, but it is up to you of course. The issue with too much granularity is that accurately setting a higher number gets annoying. With this + infernal robotics someone may make a walker that's actually somewhat fast and fun to use! The gif I posted was timewarped up, because otherwise the effect isn't too impressive.

[stubbles]

dtobi, what's the orientation of the gimbal game object in Unity? I'm trying to get my RD-0120 engines to work with your plugin, but the gimbals behave oddly.

If possible, could you show a hierarchy of your scene graph for one of the gimbal engines, as well as 3dviewport grab of said object, with the gimbal selected so we can see the rotational axis?

Loving the plugin & mods btw, great stuff.

[Firov]

Eithier way would work. Personally I'd think at least 0.1 sec increments (or better yet, 0,05 or 0,025) would be best, but it is up to you of course. The issue with too much granularity is that accurately setting a higher number gets annoying. With this + infernal robotics someone may make a walker that's actually somewhat fast and fun to use! The gif I posted was timewarped up, because otherwise the effect isn't too impressive.

Well, good news. This is added. I did end up reusing the dual scale system from my altimeter improvements. I went through the trouble of developing it, after all, why not use it everywhere I can?

So it now supports 2 different time scales. 0-30 seconds in 200 millisecond increments, and 0.5 to 60 minutes, in 30 second increments. It's not quite as granular as I was hoping for, but any smaller increments resulted in some values being unselectable on the slider.

[Cakeofruit]

In fact i Was looking to the wrong thread. I find what i wanted with goodspeed pump mod

The idea i got is that you can us a small part to trigger a other one

[z26]

Well, good news. This is added. I did end up reusing the dual scale system from my altimeter improvements. I went through the trouble of developing it, after all, why not use it everywhere I can?

So it now supports 2 different time scales. 0-30 seconds in 200 millisecond increments, and 0.5 to 60 minutes, in 30 second increments. It's not quite as granular as I was hoping for, but any smaller increments resulted in some values being unselectable on the slider.

That's not as much as I hoped for but its a great improvement! Especially if it handles physical timewarp well. And the longer timers are interesting too, I wonder what someone could make with them.

Anyway, thanks for doing that for me

[CaptainKipard]

Does this mod spec altitude from the current centre of mass or from the part location?