[1.1] RemoteTech v1.6.10 [2016-04-12]

[Hitokiri]

Any chance that remote tech may cause that "Transmit Data" stop working suddenly? (if I start the game fresh I can transfer data, but after some period of time it just delete the test results and no data is sent/no science received) If I quick save close the game start it again and jump to same craft it is again working for a while..

[Cooper42]

Quick question regarding the flight computer: Does the vessel have to be active for it to work?

Or can I program the flight computer to execute a man. node, go off and fly something else, and let it sort itself out?

[JDP]

...(are) planets' terrain modelled as smooth round sphere(s) or (do) objects like mountains and canyons affect signal?...

When it comes to line-of-sight checks, each celestial body is treated like a perfect sphere. It would be an order of magnitude more taxing to do a raycast for each satellite link than to just do a simple trigonometric line-sphere intersection check, even when taking into account that the check must be done with every celestial body in the kerbol system for each link.

Quick question regarding the flight computer: Does the vessel have to be active for it to work?..

The vessel doesn't need to be active for queued commands to fire. It does however need to be loaded. Unloaded vessels don't really exist as physical objects, basically just some orbital informations and instructions on how to instantiate a physical object once the vessel is loaded.

In stock KSP a vessel is loaded if it is within a 2.5 km radius of the active vessel (which of course includes the active vessel itself). In the tracking station no vessels are loaded, not even the focused one.

So to answer your question, yo can queue up commands on one vessel and then switch to another vessel while waiting for the commands to activate. You just cannot switch to a vessel that's further than 2.5 km away, or your first vessel will to some extent seize to exist.

Of course the commands will be saved along with anything else about the vessel, so you can come back to the vessel at a later time when the commands are set to activate. You could use [thread=24786]Kerbal Alarm Clock[/thread] to help you with keeping track of everything.

[stevehead]

Any chance that remote tech may cause that "Transmit Data" stop working suddenly? (if I start the game fresh I can transfer data, but after some period of time it just delete the test results and no data is sent/no science received) If I quick save close the game start it again and jump to same craft it is again working for a while..

I've been having the same issue. I also have the issue of trying to transmit from the launchpad, where the science data is lost and nothing is transmitted even after quicksaving and loading. My install is heavily modded and I haven't had time to narrow down which mod may be causing the issue since the problem is intermittent. Since the issue is with transmissions, I would assume that Remote Tech is a likely suspect or some mod is conflicting with it. My mods being used in case someone may have a clue to what is happening:

Chatterer

Community Tech Tree

Contract Configurator w/ Packs: Anomaly Surveyor, Remote Tech, SCANSat, Tourism Plus

Contract Window+

Crowd Sourced Science

DangIt! w/ Entropy

DMagic Orbital Science

Docking Port Alignment Indicator

Editor Extensions

EVA Parachutes

Final Frontier

Hot Rockets

Infernal Robotics

Kerbal Alarm Clock

Kerbal Attachment System

Kerbal Engineer Redux

Kerbal Inventory System

Kerbal Joint Reinforcement

Kerbal Launch Failure

Kerbal NRAP

MechJeb 2

NovaPunch (only a few parts)

Near Future Tech: Construction, Props, Solar, Spacecraft Parts

Precise Node

Procedural Fairings

Procedural Parts

Remote Tech

S.A.V.E.

SCANsat

Science Revisited Revisited

Science Alert

Simple Orbit Calculator

Smart Parts

SpaceY Heavy Lifters

Stage Recovery

Station Science

Stock Bug Fix Modules

Surface Lights

TAC Fuel Balancer

Temperature Gauge Killer

Toolbar

Transfer Window Planner

Tweakable Everything

TweakScale

USI Kolonization Systems

USI Life Support

Waypoint Manager

Edited May 30, 2015 by stevehead

[Peppie23]

I've been having the same issue. I also have the issue of trying to transmit from the launchpad, where the science data is lost and nothing is transmitted even after quicksaving and loading. My install is heavily modded and I haven't had time to narrow down which mod may be causing the issue since the problem is intermittent. Since the issue is with transmissions, I would assume that Remote Tech is a likely suspect or some mod is conflicting with it. My mods being used in case someone may have a clue to what is happening:

Last week i tried to figure out a problem with 'Science Alert' for transmitting data, maybe this is what your are looking for.

- - - Updated - - -

@Peppie23

A suggestion for a small improvement, or addition:

There is a way to set up more groundstations, but they are static. Would it be possible to have groundstations be treated as science, so that (if configured) as more science is unlocked more groundstations become available?

LGG

Hi linuxgurugamer, we already have a similar kind of your suggestion. It would be nice if you can post some of your ideas directly to this topic http://github.com/RemoteTechnologiesGroup/RemoteTech/issues/108

[linuxgurugamer]

Last week i tried to figure out a problem with 'Science Alert' for transmitting data, maybe this is what your are looking for.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi linuxgurugamer, we already have a similar kind of your suggestion. It would be nice if you can post some of your ideas directly to this topic http://github.com/RemoteTechnologiesGroup/RemoteTech/issues/108

Will do!

[wisnoskij]

Hello all,

First off, amazing mod and thanks to everyone involved.

I was wondering if some setting or complimentary mod exists to manage a vessels connections, somewhat. Something like alternate targets. So I can point a SINGLE dish/antenna at all three of my Kerbin MC relay satellites (if it cannot connect to the first in the list, it tries the second, etc.). requiring a probes to have half a dozen antenna sort of counteracts the entire point of smaller, simpler, lighter than a manned mission. Alternatively, how hard is mod development (any hints?), I am rather proficient at coding, I might be able to add the feature myself.

Edited May 31, 2015 by wisnoskij

[Nayeen]

Hello all,

First off, amazing mod and thanks to everyone involved.

I was wondering if some setting or complimentary mod exists to manage a vessels connections, somewhat. Something like alternate targets. So I can point a SINGLE dish/antenna at all three of my Kerbin MC relay satellites (if it cannot connect to the first in the list, it tries the second, etc.). requiring a probes to have half a dozen antenna sort of counteracts the entire point of smaller, simpler, lighter than a manned mission. Alternatively, how hard is mod development (any hints?), I am rather proficient at coding, I might be able to add the feature myself.

In what situation would you want to alternate connections on a probe? If you are relative close to the satellites a single omni antenna picks up every satellite in range. If you are further away just target planet Kerbin with a dish and it's cone will include all satellites in Kerbin orbit.

[Drew Kerman]

In stock KSP a vessel is loaded if it is within a 2.5 km radius of the active vessel....

Is this really true? I'm still on 0.90 waiting for 1.0.3, but I do know they increased the stock physics bubble in 1.0 - the thing I'm not sure about is whether this was only for in-atmosphere flight or affects orbiting craft as well

[wisnoskij]

The wiki tutorial says to outfit your craft with at many as you have satellites and point them individually. I see your point, but still that is two com parts and particularly with the interstellar dishes you wont have a big enough arc until you are far away

[inigma]

Just had to share this here. I developed a single subassembly that fits three RemoteTech comsats in a Mk3 cargo bay for a starter constellation:

Download: http://kerbalx.com/inigma/STS-ComSats-RemoteTech

More Pics:

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[Samapico]

Does this happen to anyone else? When I EVA out of a ship that is currently targeting the next maneuver node, the ship starts rotating to point elsewhere. Same thing happen if I use [ or ] to switch to a nearby vessel.

[AetherGoddess]

Does this happen to anyone else? When I EVA out of a ship that is currently targeting the next maneuver node, the ship starts rotating to point elsewhere. Same thing happen if I use [ or ] to switch to a nearby vessel.

i see this regardless of RT. when you switch to another vessel, the vessel you were controlling goes ballistic, i.e. all control (SAS, RT, Mechjeb) is disabled and the craft rotates or tumbles uncontrolled. This is most apparent if you are using the SAS to target a node, as the craft will often "wobble", constantly correcting in a small circle around the targetted angle. switching to another vessel (or simply switching off SAS) will result it the craft slowly rotating in the direction of whatever the last correction was.

[Sigma88]

i see this regardless of RT. when you switch to another vessel, the vessel you were controlling goes ballistic, i.e. all control (SAS, RT, Mechjeb) is disabled and the craft rotates or tumbles uncontrolled. This is most apparent if you are using the SAS to target a node, as the craft will often "wobble", constantly correcting in a small circle around the targetted angle. switching to another vessel (or simply switching off SAS) will result it the craft slowly rotating in the direction of whatever the last correction was.

I think you can avoid this disabling SAS and then do a quick time warp, since warping puts stuff on rails it should stop any movement and then you can go eva.

and then you may want to do a time warp again cause when you eva you push the craft

[Deimos_F]

There's something I feel is very necessary in this mod.

As is mentioned in the instruction page, getting a constellation of comm sats up in equal circular orbits is basically impossible, due to limitations of the game engine. Yes, one can launch the satellites and position them in near-perfectly identical orbits, but the slight difference in each semi-major axis, that cannot be nullified due to the low precision of flight controls, means the constellation will drift out of shape, and coverage will eventually break. The instructions of the mod suggest we go into the persistent save file, and force equal SMA values for each satellite in the constellation. However, this would need to be redone every single time you have to, for some reason, switch to one of the satellites, as their physics values stop being on rails and the SMA suffers small changes.

I think it would be adequate to have a tiny button/menu stowed somewhere in the on-board computer panel that would enable setting, storing, and resetting of the SMA value of the comm sats' orbit. I'm by no means versed in Unity programming, but I would think a simple adjustment of a variable's value would be easy to do. I would like to avoid being forced to install an entire mod (Hyperedit) just to be able to manage my swarm of communications relays without having to leave the game and go save-file tweaking every time I do it.

On a related note, I'm bumping a previous suggestion I made:

I've noticed that, when using the root range mode, plus the suggested 0.5 range modifier, the target selection menu fails to account for the root, and generates false "out of range" warnings.

It makes it necessary to switch to each vessel, check what antennas are there, and calculate all the ranges manually. You can then select one of the targets wrongfully identified as out of range, and connections are established normally, but that menu generates confusion.

I guess it may be tricky to have the menu calculate the root range, but it could at least check if root and 0.5 range modifier are both in use, and display true range (1.0 modifier) with an asterisk, or something like that.

[FancyMouse]

It is realistic - just like in real life your orbit will get perturbed and you need to fine tune regularly. I feel strongly changing the value directly a cheat, regardless of whether you edit the file yourself or via some tiny window.

[jordanjay29]

It is realistic - just like in real life your orbit will get perturbed and you need to fine tune regularly. I feel strongly changing the value directly a cheat, regardless of whether you edit the file yourself or via some tiny window.

Except KSP doesn't model orbital decay above atmosphere.

[wisnoskij]

It is realistic - just like in real life your orbit will get perturbed and you need to fine tune regularly. I feel strongly changing the value directly a cheat, regardless of whether you edit the file yourself or via some tiny window.

I've got to agree. Just don't empty your probe's tanks. A second or two of fuel (at max throttle) will give you enough maneuvering potential to keep your probes in good orbits for millennia, I imagine.

[Deimos_F]

I install this mod for the added challenge of having to design, launch and setup communication relays, not for the need to fine-tune the orbit of about 12 satellites every 400 in-game days.

There's a difference between a game and a simulation, and that difference is where the arbitrary realism line is drawn.

There's plenty of things in this game that are not 100% realistic, but as long as there's an underlying plausibility, they are acceptable.

For example, in real life the orbits of satellites are closely monitored and adjusted/maintained by dedicated staff, not NASA mission control.

So to me, suggesting that micro-managing your entire satellite constellation is a realism feature makes about as much sense as demanding the game to force you to manually drive the fuel trucks up to your rocket to refuel them before launch.

[jofwu]

Strongly agree with Deimos_F.

Well, I dunno if I feel like it's a missing aspect of RemoteTech itself. I can understand why some might not want this functionality. But I personally don't have a lot of time to play KSP and there's a LOT of fun things in the game I want to do besides repeatedly check and adjust my satellite constellation. That's not fun and it's not a challenge; it's just tedious.

I imagine a VERY simple mod which let's you enter a Period for the active vessel. Hit enter and it immediately quickloads with your ship in the new orbit. It preserves your current inclination, RAAN, argument of periapsis, eccentricity, and mean anomaly. No drastic changes. It literally just scales your SMA to get the desired period. And you could even put a range requirement in, so that your period has to be within a certain margin of error from the desired period for it to work.

It's not a matter of cheating. It's a matter of I-have-better-things-to-do-with-my-time.

[hbkmog]

Yeah I feel the same about RemoteTech. I like the concept and have successfully set up some communication networks. It feels really great the first few times when you do that and watch the network nice and tidy. But the problem is the satellites drift away way too fast even if you have set up a very closely synced network. The game engine itselfs limits how fine tuned the orbit can be and it gets quite tedious and boring to have to manually correct it every few hundred days.

I hope there could be a feature like ground satellite control that the system automatically synchronize and adjust the orbits of satellites, provided you have launched them properly within a reasonable margin of error(eg. 5 seconds). That would relieve a lot of tedium of maintaining the networks.

[FancyMouse]

Sounds like I'm not busy in real life?

This kind of thing is encouraging you to find a better orbit and a better way of fine tune your orbit. My 4-satellite equatorial Kerbin network still preserves a pretty decent square shape even after 10 years of game time without adjusting at all (and no save file editing - only adjusted by their own engines upon initial setup). How much maintaining would that cost? I think you find the checking/adjusting costly because you haven't found a better way of doing it.

Optimizing orbit is part of fun that RT brings me.

Edited June 2, 2015 by FancyMouse

[dave99]

Yeah I feel the same about RemoteTech. I like the concept and have successfully set up some communication networks. It feels really great the first few times when you do that and watch the network nice and tidy. But the problem is the satellites drift away way too fast even if you have set up a very closely synced network. The game engine itselfs limits how fine tuned the orbit can be and it gets quite tedious and boring to have to manually correct it every few hundred days.

I hope there could be a feature like ground satellite control that the system automatically synchronize and adjust the orbits of satellites, provided you have launched them properly within a reasonable margin of error(eg. 5 seconds). That would relieve a lot of tedium of maintaining the networks.

I edit the save file once geostationary sats are in place, and as long as I never select the ship from the tracking center or otherwise, they stay on rails. And since they are just local comm sats, there is rarely a need to select them once the constellation is done. I also find fine tuning orbit after they are in place tedious.

[Deimos_F]

People seem to be missing the point I was trying to make.

I'm not complaining about the need to go up into the perfect orbit height. That's part of launching a satellite. Though it is indeed impossible to have a constellation in perfect sync, so the ability to tweak the SMA value for the vessel is essential.

And more importantly:

(...) as long as I never select the ship from the tracking center or otherwise, they stay on rails.

THIS is what I was talking about. You can set it up near-perfectly, but if for some reason you need to take control of the vessel it all goes down the drain and it needs to be readjusted.

Having an SMA tweaking ability in the mod would mean I wouldn't need to stop everything, shut down the game, go find the persistent save file, back it up, open it, find one of the satellites in that constellation, find its SMA value, copy it, go find every single one of the other satellites on the constellation, overwrite their SMA values, exit the save file, fire up KSP, wait for it to load, load my saved game, and finally go back to what I was doing. And god help you if you ever accidentally switch to one of those vessels, you'll have to do it all over again.

Though I quite like something I believe was suggested here: an addition to the tracking station building that would serve to monitor satellite orbits and automatically maintain them. You would need to send your satellites up with extra fuel, which would be slowly deducted over time to simulate the corrections, and when the fuel runs out the satellite can no longer be adjusted and drifts, which may create the need for a replacement.

[Sigma88]

My 4-satellite equatorial Kerbin network still preserves a pretty decent square shape even after 10 years of game time without adjusting at all (and no save file editing - only adjusted by their own engines upon initial setup).

Same here, I was starting to feel like I'm the only one