[1.12.x] Custom Asteroids 1.9.0 - January 24

[Starstrider42]

Hi all! I'm alive, and this mod is... well, undead.

I apologize for my sudden and unannounced absence. Real Life came up, and every time I thought I'd be able to get back to KSP soon, Real Life came up again. I'll admit I probably should have said something after the first month or so of "soon"ing. My bad.

I will be bringing Custom Asteroids back, as soon as I figure out what needs fixing. I'm not sure how long that will take, but I'll try to have a KSP 1.0.x compatible version by New Year's. Please be patient.

[Fisk02]

[Starstrider42]

47 minutes ago, Thomas P. said:

Welcome back!

Well, I don't want to demoralize you, but some days ago, I implemented the ability to spawn customized asteroids into Kopernicus, and the tests showed, that is is much more reliable than the method used by Custom Asteroids. You can find the code here, if you are interested: https://github.com/Kopernicus/Kopernicus/blob/development/Kopernicus/RuntimeUtility/DiscoverableObjects.cs

I thought that I should let you know that, maybe you want to contribute to the Kopernicus System instead of fixing Custom Asteroids (since that would be reinventing the wheel, basically), but of course, I cant stop you. It's your mod, and I always enjoyed it very much.

That is a little demoralising, I suppose, but a year *is* a long time in the KSP world. I don't think Kopernicus existed at all back in the 0.25 days.

However, it also looks like a  very large mod, with a scope similar to RSS. So I wonder if Custom Asteroids still has a niche as a "light" mod that changes asteroids and nothing else. Certainly, I had unfinished plans (e.g., multiple asteroid types, and integration with science/resources) that might not belong in Kopernicus -- as I understand it, the point of Kopernicus is to avoid changing the rules of the game in any way.

Still, if people would rather use Kopernicus with asteroid-only configs than a (fixed) Custom Asteroids, then I'll certainly consider it.

But yes, if I do keep Custom Asteroids as a separate mod, I'll certainly want to use a more reliable spawning method than the stock-intercept hack. So thanks for the link!

Edited December 6, 2015 by Starstrider42

[wasml]

Welcome back! Just wanted to let you know that I had been using this as a "always installed" through 1.0.4 without problems for the most part (haven't played much 1.0.5). Would also like to encourage you to keep this alive as I don't usually have Kopernicus installed. And a belated "Thanks" for making this.

[Tangle]

I think that although that spawning system is probably very nice, the other ideas of Custom Asteroids are very appealing to me. 

[Drew Kerman]

Welcome back Starstrider! I've been keeping an 0.90 install alive just to run this mod lol. Was looking forward to ThomasP's new addition to Kopernicus in your absence but now you're back!  what timing. I hope that if you continue to keep this a separate mod you and Thomas can work to make it and Kopernicus play nice together. Sounds like you guys are both heading in the same general direction but you we'll def be able to focus more on the asteroid features and could outpace Kopernicus. 

[Guest]

Welcome back!

[Starstrider42]

Post deleted

Edited December 7, 2015 by Starstrider42
Out of date question

[Starstrider42]

Hi all,

I've got a build that generates asteroids in 1.0.5, and it shouldn't produce asteroids excessively, but I'm not sure because I can only reproduce the "asteroid lice" bug if I use a mod to go above 100,000×. If you're feeling brave, you can find the new build here: https://github.com/Starstrider42/Custom-Asteroids/releases/tag/v1.2.0-beta. If you had bugs before, or if you're using Linux 64-bit (which seems to be the combination that has the most problems), please download it and let me know if it works.

Just don't try it on your career save yet. Seriously, I've only done fairly superficial testing at this point.

[wasml]

Gave 1.2.0b a brief spin - Windows 7, Fresh KSP install w/only CustomAsteroids installed. Went directly to the Planetarium and hit max timewarp. Didn't see any asteroids at all in a Kerbin year.

A snip from the log file that looks like it might be pertinent:

Spoiler

[WRN 19:26:16.343] [HighLogic]: =========================== Scene Change : From MAINMENU to SPACECENTER (Async) =====================
[LOG 19:26:17.605] AddonLoader: Instantiating addon 'AddScenarioModules' from assembly 'KSP'
[LOG 19:26:17.606] AddonLoader: Instantiating addon 'ContractDefs' from assembly 'KSP'
[LOG 19:26:17.627] AddonLoader: Instantiating addon 'SCSpaceCenter' from assembly 'CustomAsteroids'
[LOG 19:26:19.319] [ScenarioDestructibles]: Loading... 0 objects registered
[LOG 19:26:19.323] [CustomAsteroids]: loading settings...
[LOG 19:26:19.324] [CustomAsteroids]: settings loaded
[LOG 19:26:19.327] [CustomAsteroids]: 0 new discoveries per Earth day
[LOG 19:26:19.329] CustomAsteroids: full node = SCENARIO
{
    name = CustomAsteroidSpawner
    scene = 5, 8, 7
    SpawnState
    {
    }
}

[LOG 19:26:19.332] Loading Depletion Nodes
[LOG 19:26:19.332] DepNodeCount:  0
[LOG 19:26:19.333] Loading Biome Nodes
[LOG 19:26:19.334] BiomeNodeCount:  0
[LOG 19:26:19.335] Loading Planet Nodes
[LOG 19:26:19.335] PlanetNodeCount:  0
[LOG 19:26:19.345] [AsteroidSpawner]: No new objects this time. (Odds are 1:2)
[LOG 19:26:22.048] CustomAsteroids: editing stock spawner...
[LOG 19:26:22.049] CustomAsteroids: stock spawner disabled
[LOG 19:26:22.050] CustomAsteroids: ScenarioDiscoverableObjects.spawnGroupMinLimit = 0
[LOG 19:26:22.050] CustomAsteroids: ScenarioDiscoverableObjects.spawnGroupMaxLimit = 0
[LOG 19:26:22.051] CustomAsteroids: ScenarioDiscoverableObjects.sizeCurve = FloatCurve
[LOG 19:26:22.052] CustomAsteroids: ScenarioDiscoverableObjects.spawnOddsAgainst = 10000
[LOG 19:26:22.052] CustomAsteroids: ScenarioDiscoverableObjects.spawnInterval = 15
[LOG 19:26:22.053] CustomAsteroids: ScenarioDiscoverableObjects.maxUntrackedLifetime = 20
[LOG 19:26:22.054] CustomAsteroids: ScenarioDiscoverableObjects.minUntrackedLifetime = 1
[LOG 19:26:22.054] CustomAsteroids: ScenarioDiscoverableObjects.spawnGroupMaxLimit = 0
[LOG 19:26:22.055] CustomAsteroids: ScenarioDiscoverableObjects.spawnGroupMinLimit = 0

 

Saw the "editing stock spawner..." to the end in the trackstation scene too.

Edited December 8, 2015 by wasml

[Starstrider42]

Obligatory stupid tech support question: do you have any asteroid configs installed (e.g., from the 1.1.0 release)?

If you do, then please PM me the full log file. The "0 new discoveries per Earth day" is the only bit that looks suspicious.

[wasml]

A step by step of what I did: I made a fresh install of KSP (new copy in a new directory), copied your 1.2.0b dll into the GameData folder, moved up one directory and double clicked the KSP.exe. I then went directly to the tracking station, zoomed out to see the entire system and clicked the max warp arrow at the top of the screen. After approximately one Kerbin year had passed I exited KSP. Hope this helps.

Edit : added short answer.

The short answer is there were no extra or left over config files.

Edited December 9, 2015 by wasml

[Starstrider42]

The DLL was supposed to be a patch on an existing Custom Asteroids install...

I've uploaded a new version, https://github.com/Starstrider42/Custom-Asteroids/releases/tag/v1.2.0-beta.2, which fixes a really annoying (and, yes, game-breaking) bug that was in the previous build. It's self-contained this time, so you shouldn't see a repeat of the above problem.

[tmccreight651]

welcome back starstrider!, this was one of my favourite mods and im glad its coming back

[wasml]

Sorry - missed the overwrite part. Repeated the test with the new version - 10 to 20 asteroids appearing and disappearing like I would expect and at max warp.

[Starstrider42]

And Custom Asteroids is back! Download from SpaceDock, Curse, or Github. Among many other fixes, the asteroid lice bug should be dead and gone.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Starstrider42
Just in case somebody tries to use the KerbalStuff link...

[RA3236]

23 hours ago, Starstrider42 said:

And Custom Asteroids is back! Download from KerbalStuff, Curse, or Github. Among many other fixes, the asteroid lice bug should be dead and gone.

THANK YOU!!! I stopped using Custom Asteroids in 0.90.0 when I think I must of installed too many asteroid configs and spammed my save with asteroids, making it extremely laggy, EVEN when I was in space and looking away form the ground. I want to see if this still happens, but for now I will install and see how it goes.

[Sandworm]

I've been trying to setup a belt around duna.  What am I doing wrong?

edit: my bad.  I think I've worked it out.

But I've noticed one fine point.  When setting the orbit for asteroids around bodies, parameters such as "periapsis" seem to be measured from the center of the body, not the surface.  A nothing issue when dealing with Sun-orbiting objects, but my first attempts at a belt in low orbit around duna saw all the new rocks spawn within the planet.  This is a point of departure for KSP as an apsis in KSP is essentially an altitude, wheras in realworld an apsis is measured from the gravity center.

 

Would anyone be interested in some 'alternative' asteroid schemes based on planets?  I play in 64k and so sun-orbiting asteroids are very difficult to access.  A few rocks conveniently around other bodies seems more fun.  I'm calling them captured.

Edited December 24, 2015 by Sandworm

[Starstrider42]

3 hours ago, Sandworm said:

But I've noticed one fine point.  When setting the orbit for asteroids around bodies, parameters such as "periapsis" seem to be measured from the center of the body, not the surface.  A nothing issue when dealing with Sun-orbiting objects, but my first attempts at a belt in low orbit around duna saw all the new rocks spawn within the planet.  This is a point of departure for KSP as an apsis in KSP is essentially an altitude, wheras in realworld an apsis is measured from the gravity center.

AFAIK, KSP does both. The from-center convention was to make it consistent with semimajor axis (which was originally the only mode for orbitSize, and I assumed would remain the main one). While I can't change the behavior now without breaking configs, I'll add a warning to the documentation.

[Sandworm]

After some playing around, I thought I'd share what I came up with.  This cfg adds three belts.  One of minimus-like captured objects around kerbin, one of gilly-like objects around eve, and a proper 'asteroid belt' between duna and jool (dres-like objects).  I know these are not the most statistically realistic orbits for asteroids, but given KSPs limitations I think they are fun.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gnlls9nf4wkabdf/64k_Captures.cfg

 

[Stone Blue]

Welcome back, Starstrider!...

Thanx for updating this!

I also just wanted to give my 0.02¢... Yes! Pleeze keep going on this mod if its not too difficult... I'm sure those of us who have middlin computers, and cant even THINK of running planet packs, and just struggle with one or two large parts packs, appreciate Custom Asteroids light footprint, over having to install, say Kopernicus just to get asteroids...

[Starstrider42]

On 12/25/2015 at 6:05 AM, Sandworm said:

After some playing around, I thought I'd share what I came up with.  This cfg adds three belts.  One of minimus-like captured objects around kerbin, one of gilly-like objects around eve, and a proper 'asteroid belt' between duna and jool (dres-like objects).  I know these are not the most statistically realistic orbits for asteroids, but given KSPs limitations I think they are fun.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gnlls9nf4wkabdf/64k_Captures.cfg

 

Interesting. BTW, the "max" values for "eccentricity" and "inclination" will have no effect (as noted in the advanced section of the documentation, both orbital elements default to a Rayleigh distribution, which only uses "avg"). In fact, there's no distribution in 1.2 that uses both "max" and "avg".

[Sandworm]

2 hours ago, Starstrider42 said:

Interesting. BTW, the "max" values for "eccentricity" and "inclination" will have no effect (as noted in the advanced section of the documentation, both orbital elements default to a Rayleigh distribution, which only uses "avg"). In fact, there's no distribution in 1.2 that uses both "max" and "avg".

Ya, I noticed that.  The issue I was trying to address was an error messages re some new asteroids.  I has set an apoapsis but the eccentricity, while averaged, was still random.  A rock with an eccentricity >1 doesn't have an apoapsis.   Hence the error.  The problem occurred so rarely that, to me, the max limitation seemed to work.

[CaptRobau]

One suggestion Starstrider: make all non-stock asteroid groups a separate download. CustomAsteroids is perfect as a framework for which people can make configs, which this thread could link to. Sort of like TextureReplacer or Kopernicus. By making the non-stocks an optional download, you allow the player to choose if he gets dozens of types of asteroid groups or only a handful.

[Starstrider42]

On 1/4/2016 at 11:25 PM, CaptRobau said:

One suggestion Starstrider: make all non-stock asteroid groups a separate download. CustomAsteroids is perfect as a framework for which people can make configs, which this thread could link to. Sort of like TextureReplacer or Kopernicus. By making the non-stocks an optional download, you allow the player to choose if he gets dozens of types of asteroid groups or only a handful.

That actually was how things worked until version 1.1. I switched to bundling all the config files when I realized people didn't notice the separate downloads (which were listed both in the OP and on the GitHub release pages; this was before I used either KerbalStuff or CurseForge), and I think the "no assembly required" approach has worked better so far.

That said, one of the many changes planned for 1.3 does involve splitting stock asteroids into their own file, so this is a good time to revisit the issue. Do you (or anybody else on this thread) have any suggestions for how to make optional downloads more visible / user-friendly?