Populated KSC

[iStickyDuck]

Simple Version:

Kerbals and vehicles around KSC, outside VAB and SPH

Detailed Version:

I often find that KSC feels like a ghost town. I think it would be awesome if they added Kerbals and vehicles that wander around KSC outside the VAB/SPH. The kerbals could walk from building to building, wave to other nearby kerbals and walk around other kerbals. With vehicles, they could be similar to kerbals but stop when there is a kerbal in front of them.

Additionally, if a kerbal or vehicle gets hit by a part of a vessel, they should be destroyed or killed to add to make KSC more treacherous.

Finally, the Kerbals and trucks in the VAB/SPH don't collide with each other and float above the ground... this looks silly...

I hope people think these ideas a good

[cwhiz]

This does sound cool but I am concerned with how this would impact performance on the launchpad or in the vicinity of the KSC. Will said kerbals and vehicles be on rails and not have their positions/paths altered? Or will said kerbals and vehicles be subject to the same physics that us as players are subject to during flight? based on the fact that you would like for the vehicles/kerbals to be affected by the actions of the player during flight I am going to assume the later. However in that case I am not sure Unity would be able to calculate all of the physics without lagging severely. Correct me if I am wrong or have misunderstood.

[Tex]

I am of the opinion that the Kerbals all hide away in bunkers or the Mission Control center when you are wandering around in case of an explosion or failing rocket.

[Deathsoul097]

This does sound cool but I am concerned with how this would impact performance on the launchpad or in the vicinity of the KSC. Will said kerbals and vehicles be on rails and not have their positions/paths altered? Or will said kerbals and vehicles be subject to the same physics that us as players are subject to during flight? based on the fact that you would like for the vehicles/kerbals to be affected by the actions of the player during flight I am going to assume the later. However in that case I am not sure Unity would be able to calculate all of the physics without lagging severely. Correct me if I am wrong or have misunderstood.

I would guess that they would be toggleable. Could you not set them up on rails, but have them detect collisions and activate physics in response? (Non coder here, so I have no idea how feasible this is.)

[Redhotita1]

I think something like this should be enabled only in Space Center view, I doubt that someone will take a walk, when a Kerbal rocket gets launched.

About the collision and kerbal stopping infront of you, crashes, etc, that's kinda complicated and useless.

You're supposed to be in SPACE!

[Michaelo90]

Collision detection would be too complicated and could make the game slower, but a continuous loop of "ghosts" like in the VAB/SPH could be a nice touch. Imagine driving around KSC and see kerbals randomly running around doing stupid things, like the ones in the VAB hitting themselves in the head

Edited May 31, 2014 by Michaelo90

[Javster]

Kerbals in crowds looking at your launches!

[cwhiz]

I would guess that they would be toggleable. Could you not set them up on rails, but have them detect collisions and activate physics in response? (Non coder here, so I have no idea how feasible this is.)

Yea if they were toggleable then I could see it being possible and relatively simple to implement. I have no idea how they would implement dynamic physics like that but if possible then that's another option. As far as I know, Unity calculates physics continuously and can't be turned off and on like that. I could be wrong though.

[problemecium]

Unity does technically always have PhysX active and checking to see what it has to do, but if you remove all need for physics calculations on an object, or on the whole scene, PhysX won't have to do any work and the game will run faster. This is evident in the way the game runs more smoothly during non-physical timewarp, when PhysX is "turned off" by all the ships having their physical components (rigidbodies, etc.) deactivated.

So it could be possible to help performance a bit for NPC Kerbals by having them turn off their colliders until they find themselves within a certain range of a ship / part, but the risk there is that the calculations needed to determine when and when not to use physics are just as complicated as the physics calculations themselves.

[Guest]

I think It should be like the terrain scatters option. The Kerbals will not be physical. and they are optional.

Who agrees?

[Souper]

Not me. What if they were interactive NPC AI's? Does KSP allow for that? Oh, and what if you could talk to them?