Accessing the WheelCollider of a rover wheel

[ThermalShark]

First, look at this image:

I need to access the WheelCollider of a rover wheel. In the config file there is a field named "wheelColliderName", and the value is "wheelCollider" for all stock wheels, but i tried to use transform.Find() to search for the GameObject named "wheelCollider" and i found nothing (and the problem was not my plugin, it worked with "Hello World"). But i am not even sure in what GameObject (of the image) my script is attached, so i am probably doing something wrong. Does anyone know how to access the WheelCollider?

[xEvilReeperx]

There are a couple ways. It looks like PartTools rearranges the transforms a little, so here's something of a roadmap of the ingame hierarchy:

[LOG 18:24:33.499]  Transform: roverWheel1
[LOG 18:24:33.499] ---> Transform: model
[LOG 18:24:33.500] ------> Transform: roverWheelBig
[LOG 18:24:33.501] ---------> Transform: base
[LOG 18:24:33.501] ------------> Transform: susp1-2
[LOG 18:24:33.502] ------------> Transform: susp2-2
[LOG 18:24:33.502] ------------> Transform: susp3-2
[LOG 18:24:33.503] ---------> Transform: suspensionNeutralPoint
[LOG 18:24:33.504] ------------> Transform: steering
[LOG 18:24:33.504] ---------------> Transform: wheelCollider
[LOG 18:24:33.505] ---------> Transform: suspensionTraverse
[LOG 18:24:33.506] ------------> Transform: bracket
[LOG 18:24:33.506] ------------> Transform: susp1-1
[LOG 18:24:33.507] ---------------> Transform: susp3-1
[LOG 18:24:33.508] ------------> Transform: susp2-1
[LOG 18:24:33.508] ------------> Transform: trackSteering
[LOG 18:24:33.509] ---------------> Transform: bustedwheel
[LOG 18:24:33.510] ------------------> Transform: bustedwheel
[LOG 18:24:33.510] ------------------> Transform: collisionEnhancer
[LOG 18:24:33.511] ------------------> Transform: Object01
[LOG 18:24:33.512] ---------------> Transform: wheelMount
[LOG 18:24:33.513] ------------------> Transform: wheel
[LOG 18:24:33.513] ---------------------> Transform: collisionEnhancer


[LOG 18:24:33.441] roverWheel1 has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.441] ...c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.442] ...c: Part
[LOG 18:24:33.443] ...c: ModuleWheel
[LOG 18:24:33.443] ...c: FXModuleLookAtConstraint
[LOG 18:24:33.444] ...c: FXModuleConstrainPosition
[LOG 18:24:33.445] ...c: UnityEngine.AudioSource
[LOG 18:24:33.445] ...c: UnityEngine.Rigidbody
[LOG 18:24:33.446] ...c: CollisionEnhancer
[LOG 18:24:33.446] ...c: PartBuoyancy
[LOG 18:24:33.447] --->model has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.448] ......c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.448] ------>roverWheelBig has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.449] .........c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.450] --------->base has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.450] ............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.451] ............c: UnityEngine.BoxCollider
[LOG 18:24:33.452] ............c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.452] ............c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.453] ------------>susp1-2 has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.454] ...............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.454] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.455] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.456] ------------>susp2-2 has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.456] ...............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.457] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.458] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.458] ------------>susp3-2 has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.459] ...............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.460] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.460] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.461] --------->suspensionNeutralPoint has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.462] ............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.462] ------------>steering has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.463] ...............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.464] --------------->wheelCollider has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.464] ..................c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.465] ..................c: UnityEngine.WheelCollider
[LOG 18:24:33.466] --------->suspensionTraverse has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.467] ............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.467] ------------>bracket has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.468] ...............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.469] ...............c: UnityEngine.BoxCollider
[LOG 18:24:33.469] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.470] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.471] ------------>susp1-1 has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.471] ...............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.472] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.473] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.473] --------------->susp3-1 has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.474] ..................c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.475] ..................c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.475] ..................c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.476] ------------>susp2-1 has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.477] ...............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.478] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.478] ...............c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.479] ------------>trackSteering has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.480] ...............c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.481] --------------->bustedwheel has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.481] ..................c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.482] ------------------>bustedwheel has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.483] .....................c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.483] .....................c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.484] .....................c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.485] ------------------>collisionEnhancer has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.485] .....................c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.486] .....................c: UnityEngine.SphereCollider
[LOG 18:24:33.487] ------------------>Object01 has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.488] .....................c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.488] .....................c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.489] .....................c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.490] --------------->wheelMount has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.490] ..................c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.491] ..................c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.492] ..................c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.492] ------------------>wheel has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.493] .....................c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.494] .....................c: UnityEngine.MeshFilter
[LOG 18:24:33.495] .....................c: UnityEngine.MeshRenderer
[LOG 18:24:33.495] --------------------->collisionEnhancer has components:
[LOG 18:24:33.496] ........................c: UnityEngine.Transform
[LOG 18:24:33.497] ........................c: UnityEngine.SphereCollider

You can see a transform named "model" in there where the Unity hierarchy got moved. KSP accesses this portion of the GameObject in a different way; you might've come across Part.FindModel* functions. Use those to find stuff you're looking for that's underneath the model section of the tree. So if you want to find a transform named "wheelCollider" you'll be wanting

myPart.FindModelTransform("wheelCollider")

You can use the base transform to do it, but for that you apparently need the whole path:

transform.Find("model/roverWheelBig/suspensionNeutralPoint/steering/wheelCollider");

You can also look for the component(s) directly, being careful around cases where more than one might exist of course:

var wc = part.FindModelComponent<WheelCollider>();
var wc2 = part.gameObject.GetComponentInChildren<WheelCollider>();

[ThermalShark]

Thanks! I can't test it now, because i only really have time tomorrow afternoon. If this works, i will release a wheel telemetry mod as soon as i can! Seems to be easy enough to do in 30 minutes...

[ThermalShark]

It worked very well, and i will release the mod in about 20 minutes... And probably we will get tweakable suspensions and friction too!

[lo-fi]

xEvilReeperx just pointed me in this direction (thank you again!). I've been working on tweakable suspension over the last couple of days myself! Still a bit flaky.. Will hold off if you've got something working, and very interested to see what a fully workable solution looks like

[ThermalShark]

xEvilReeperx just pointed me in this direction (thank you again!). I've been working on tweakable suspension over the last couple of days myself! Still a bit flaky.. Will hold off if you've got something working, and very interested to see what a fully workable solution looks like

I am not the creator of TweakableWheels, OrbitusII is.

[Azimech]

I'm also interested ... for my hydraulics mod I'd love the ability to modify/block the suspension travel.

[lo-fi]

I've figured out how to modify settings of the wheelcollider. Very new to writing plugins, so it's rough but functional.

Source here:

https://github.com/Lo-FiOrbitalScience/KSPWheelPack?files=1

It doesn't work very well in realtime, though. Seems to modify the value, then ksp will all of a sudden realise it's changed a few minutes later! Still can't figure that out. Be interested to see what you can come up with, give me a shout if I can help at all.