[Plugin][WIP][0.23.5] Custom Asteroids 0.2.1

[Nemrav]

sorry not going to be getting the mod right away but I think what would make me get it is this :

instead of pre-laid asteroids, you make multiple asteroid spawners around the areas you want to have belts, adjust them so we don't have asteroids going to Kerbin.... And add a script where when a ship approaches an asteroid, it automatically gets tracked...

Looking great

[Amaroq]

Starstrider, I found that legible.

I suspect it'll work well for your power-user, who really wants to take full advantage of the feature-set, but its verging on intimidating for the novice user who just wants to, say, add a cometary belt to the default settings.

It seems like sizeType would go inside of the "size" block, under the new schema.

Edit:

The following is incorrect: Also, you may want to consider moving this .cfg file inside a "Plugins" sub-folder, so that ModuleManager knows to ignore it. E.g., CustomAsteroids\Plugins\asteroids.cfg

As Starstrider discovered when he investigated, the actual mechanism MM uses is an "ignore this directory" tag: Reference

My apologies for the error.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Amaroq
Corrected based on PM convo with Starstrider42

[NathanKell]

Works fine for me. Suggestion, use something more specific than POPULATION, like ASTEROIDGROUP -- who knows what other mod might want a POPULATION toplevel node.

[Starstrider42]

instead of pre-laid asteroids, you make multiple asteroid spawners around the areas you want to have belts, adjust them so we don't have asteroids going to Kerbin.... And add a script where when a ship approaches an asteroid, it automatically gets tracked...

Not sure I understand. Do you mean you want to avoid creating any asteroids (tracked or untracked) until the ship enters a specific region?

[Starstrider42]

I suspect it'll work well for your power-user, who really wants to take full advantage of the feature-set, but its verging on intimidating for the novice user who just wants to, say, add a cometary belt to the default settings.

And it will probably get more intimidating once I add the other orbital elements.

To be honest, I was working on the assumption that the "power users" would be the main ones trying to write new configs. I'll see if I can think of a way to make it more user-friendly, maybe by relying more on defaults in the published configs...

Also, you may want to consider moving this .cfg file inside a "Plugins" sub-folder, so that ModuleManager knows to ignore it. E.g., CustomAsteroids\Plugins\asteroids.cfg

Thanks, didn't know about that.

Works fine for me. Suggestion, use something more specific than POPULATION, like ASTEROIDGROUP -- who knows what other mod might want a POPULATION toplevel node.

It's not a top-level node (see the example in the original post), but I should probably do it just in case. Hadn't occurred to me to worry about namespace conflicts at the config level.

[BigD145]

32 bit Unity is weeping already. I love it.

[Mekan1k]

Anyone have preferred asteroid CFG's they want to share?

[Starstrider42]

Anyone have preferred asteroid CFG's they want to share?

I'm flattered, but it's a bit too early for that. Wait until more of the features are in place, this mod's only a week old.

EDIT: With version 0.2 up, I can now say "knock yourself out".

Edited April 22, 2014 by Starstrider42

[darkside]

Anyone have preferred asteroid CFG's they want to share?

Mine is on page 2, it is to be used with Real Solar System.

[LethalDose]

This is awesome. Someone just needs to add an Ice resource the asteroids.

[Hotblack Desiato]

ice as a resource for KSPI and ore for EL, and I can colonize the whole kerbin-system (I know, I don't fully need those sources but... if I get them, why not).

[Starstrider42]

Custom Asteroids 0.2.0 has now been released. This is a complete rework of the configuration system to make it both more powerful and more flexible. Please let me know how the new format works for you, so that I know whether to keep it for version 1.0.

Changes:

• Stock configs now have many more minor planet groups
  
• Custom Asteroids will now scan the KSP install for asteroid configuration files. This should make it easier to personalize asteroid sets without conflicting with the mod install.
  
• Completely new configuration file format. The new format makes much smarter use of default settings, and the distributions assumed for each orbital element are no longer hardcoded.
  
• Custom Asteroids can now control all six orbital elements.
  
• Orbit size can be set by constraining semimajor axis, periapsis, or apoapsis. Orbit phase can be set by constraining mean anomaly or mean longitude. These two options give configuration-writers more control over where asteroids will and won't appear.
  
• Added units to config file documentation
  
• Reorganized code to support asteroid modifications other than orbits in future releases.
  

Edited April 22, 2014 by Starstrider42

[regex]

Question: Can you add support for populations that generate based on the orbit of another body? For instance, maybe I want a belt that appears between Duna and Jool with SMAs ranging from 1.2x Duna's SMA and 0.8x Jool's SMA (or something). This would allow configurations to be used by any scale of solar system.

[Starstrider42]

Question: Can you add support for populations that generate based on the orbit of another body? For instance, maybe I want a belt that appears between Duna and Jool with SMAs ranging from 1.2x Duna's SMA and 0.8x Jool's SMA (or something). This would allow configurations to be used by any scale of solar system.

I've been thinking about that, but the parsing would be a nightmare. I'll see what I can do, but no promises.

EDIT: Hmm... actually, now that I think about it, Trigger Au's guide had a trick that I could use here. Still no promises, but I'm starting to think I'll be able to pull it off.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Starstrider42

[regex]

I've been thinking about that, but the parsing would be a nightmare. I'll see what I can do, but no promises.

EDIT: Hmm... actually, now that I think about it, Trigger Au's guide had a trick that I could use here. Still no promises, but I'm starting to think I'll be able to pull it off.

I have a feeling it'll be easier than you think, but I have been known to be wrong.

One other thing: Is there a way to define an asteroid group that retains the stock orbit spawn? SQUAD's code actually ensures some of the asteroids have intercepts and the orbits are based on Kerbin's current orbit within the game, which means stock works well with RSS. I'd like to keep the stock behavior for NKO populations and define others around that.

[Shepard]

Looks very nice !

But one question, are some of these asteroids bigger than a class E one ( this means more than 18m radius ) ? If not, is it planed ? I would love big-a** rocks ( about a 100m in radius ) as minor moons of Jool or huge bodies in the asteroid belt.

[Mekan1k]

Why can't I see the asteroids in-game? (I can only see the default NKO asteroids)

EDIT: Yes, I have everything installed in the right locations....

[Starstrider42]

Looks very nice !

But one question, are some of these asteroids bigger than a class E one ( this means more than 18m radius ) ? If not, is it planed ? I would love big-a** rocks ( about a 100m in radius ) as minor moons of Jool or huge bodies in the asteroid belt.

Not yet, but I'd like to add large asteroids at some point.

Why can't I see the asteroids in-game? (I can only see the default NKO asteroids)

EDIT: Yes, I have everything installed in the right locations....

Can you pm me a copy of KSP_Data/output_log.txt, or post it on GitHub? It sounds like the plugin had a catastrophic failure early on, but I can't fix it without more info.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Starstrider42

[CatastrophicFailure]

Hi, any chance you could format the cfg with line breaks? I'd like to make some tweaks but it's very confusing with it all jumbled together like that (I'm just using Notepad).

[Nemrav]

Hi, any chance you could format the cfg with line breaks? I'd like to make some tweaks but it's very confusing with it all jumbled together like that (I'm just using Notepad).

I think I have it, but I haven't tested if it works anymore....

[CaptainKipard]

What does this mod add in terms of gameplay?

[Starstrider42]

Hi, any chance you could format the cfg with line breaks? I'd like to make some tweaks but it's very confusing with it all jumbled together like that (I'm just using Notepad).

Will do. I was trying to make it more readable by going for a compact look, so that a single asteroid group fits in one editor window. I guess it had the exact opposite effect.

Since I'm probably not the best judge of this, where would line breaks make sense (I'm asking everybody, not just CatastrophicFailure)?

What does this mod add in terms of gameplay?

At the moment, it gives you more destinations to fly to -- so instead of (or in addition to) running an ARM, you can have main belt missions, comet rendezvous missions, etc. A comet rendezvous, especially, will have very different delta-V requirements from stock ARM. I doubt you could use the same ship to do both.

A big goal for me, which I've been discussing with other modders, is making the asteroids themselves more interesting to visit. I'd start with just giving different object types different models/textures (i.e., no gameplay effects aside from RP/photo opportunities), but I'm considering adding different science results (i.e., Main Belt sample ≠ Trojan sample ≠ comet sample), or integration with Kethane-based mods to give, for example, asteroids different resource values from comets.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Starstrider42

[CaptainKipard]

Do you know about different asteroid compositions? It's a bit sciency but it might be something to look into.

[Starstrider42]

Do you know about different asteroid compositions? It's a bit sciency but it might be something to look into.

I know a bit, but I'm planning to keep it simple: stony, metallic, carbonaceous, and icy. Anything more detailed would seem unnecessarily complicated for a game.

[CatastrophicFailure]

Will do. I was trying to make it more readable by going for a compact look, so that a single asteroid group fits in one editor window. I guess it had the exact opposite effect.

Since I'm probably not the best judge of this, where would line breaks make sense (I'm asking everybody, not just CatastrophicFailure)?

For one not familiar with it, it just looks like a big block of complicated text, it's hard to figure out what refers to what. I'd suggest just breaking it down so it follows the explanation on the github page, one line per entry.