[1.4] Routine Mission Manager [v032]

[PrivateFlip]

I've found a bug. When I ordered RM supply to my shipyard, I have got not only funds subtracted, but also got my Science and Reputation lowered (Science got to -171 from about 193). The amount of subtracted science and rep seems to be roughly equal to my strategies (for Science, that's 5% commitment, so for my supply ship which costs 255K it goes like 255000*5%/35=364, that's the amount of science I got lost), so maybe there's where the bug is lying.

KSP 0.90 x86, RMM 009, I can list my whole GameData if this will help.

P.S. Sorry if my English is bad - I'm from Russia.

Thanks you for reporting this. Never paid attention to that during testing. I'll try to find a way to just add the funds and ignoring strategies.

EDIT: What strategies are you using? I have tried a few combinations myself but can't reproduce the bug. Science and Reputations are unaffected. I will make some changes to the transaction reasons under which the transaction is logged to be on the save side for the next version (to be released soon with some other small changes). It was previous logged under "Any", for now I will go with "VesselRollout" and "VesselRecovery" for the ordering and return/cancellation respectively.

I would like to reproduce this bug, so any additional information about the strategies used would be welcome.

Edited March 13, 2015 by PrivateFlip

[AccidentalDisassembly]

FWIW, I regularly get an NRE with RMM. Believe it happens on scene changes, like launching a craft, but also happens I think on first load when you end up at the KSP screen. It looks like this:

AddonLoader: Instantiating addon 'RMMModule' from assembly 'CommercialOfferings'

(Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d63dfc6385190b60/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 49)

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

at CommercialOfferings.RMMModule.OnAwake () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

at PartModule.Awake () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

UnityEngine.GameObject:Internal_AddComponentWithType(Type)

UnityEngine.GameObject:AddComponent(Type)

AddonLoader:StartAddon(LoadedAssembly, Type, KSPAddon, Startup)

AddonLoader:StartAddons(Startup)

AddonLoader:OnLevelWasLoaded(Int32)

(Filename: Line: -1)

Could this possibly cause problems for any other mods downstream? I'm pretty ignorant of whether or not any particular error is important, but I'd read that NRE's from one mod can theoretically mess up others. Thought you might want to know in case it actually is a meaningful error.

[PrivateFlip]

Oh, well that's good for space stations, but not so much for surface bases.

Any way to extend that functionality, or will surface bases have to be self sufficient?

Just out of curiosity, why does the docking have to be in orbit? I've designed land bases with docking ports at standardized heights so I can have a lander/rover with a docking port at the same height. Then I can land and roll over to dock. Any reason your mod couldn't spawn the lander/rover attached to the docking port on a base?

The current mod doesn't have the capability to do landings, it's not just something I'm actively blocking. Docking on the ground is being blocked right now, but for good reasons; the current orbital docking logic would lead to violent explosions.

Compared to orbital docking, landing on a spot is, I imagine, technically a lot easier to accomplish. It would however require an almost whole separate flow for tracking/managing those missions, albeit a little simpler than orbital docking. Docking on the ground I don't want to begin to ponder at this point.

Edited March 13, 2015 by PrivateFlip

[Der Kosmos]

Landing at a specific point then would be an acceptable compromise.

[Superfluous J]

Yeah if I could define a mission as starting at a certain point landed, up to an orbiting station, and then come back down and land at that specific spot it would eliminate 95% of the drudgery from my Karbonite and ELP bases on Minmus.

[Jarin]

What about a routine delivery to a specific orbit? Like, I want a routine "satellite launch" to high kerbin orbit as a time-saver for basic satellite contracts.

[Cheetah]

Thanks you for reporting this. Never paid attention to that during testing. I'll try to find a way to just add the funds and ignoring strategies.

EDIT: What strategies are you using? I have tried a few combinations myself but can't reproduce the bug. Science and Reputations are unaffected. I will make some changes to the transaction reasons under which the transaction is logged to be on the save side for the next version (to be released soon with some other small changes). It was previous logged under "Any", for now I will go with "VesselRollout" and "VesselRecovery" for the ordering and return/cancellation respectively.

I would like to reproduce this bug, so any additional information about the strategies used would be welcome.

Outsourced R&D (5%), Appreciation Campaign (5%) and Recovery Transponder Fitting (100%).

And, if this helps, that's my Gamedata:

ActiveTextureManagement

ADIOS

Asteroid Recycling Technologies

ContractPack ScanSat

CrossfeedEnabler

DMagicOrbitalScience

Engineer

Extraplanetary Launchpads (Karbonite adaptation)

FAR

Firespitter (only firespitter.dll)

Hangar (orbital hangars mod)

KerbalAttachmentSystem

KASA (Spacedocks for EPL)

KJR

NearFuturePack (Propulsion, Electrics, Solar, Spacecraft)

Philly Klaw (got this part from Asteroid Cities mod, analyser module removed)

PreciseNode

ProceduralWings

ProceduralFairings

RadialEngineMounts

RemoteTech2

RMM

ScanSat

ScienceAlert

ShowAllFuels

SmartParts

SoundtrackEditor

StationScience

TarsierSpaceTech

TechManager

ThrottleControlledAvionics

TACLS

Trajectories (doesn't work, however - even the latest version)

USI (FTT, Karbonite, Karbonite+)

UniversalStorage

WombatConversions (another folder for EPL->Karbonite)

and ModuleManager2.5.8.dll of course.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Cheetah
oh no, spoilers do not work here

[PrivateFlip]

FWIW, I regularly get an NRE with RMM. Believe it happens on scene changes, like launching a craft, but also happens I think on first load when you end up at the KSP screen. It looks like this:

Could this possibly cause problems for any other mods downstream? I'm pretty ignorant of whether or not any particular error is important, but I'd read that NRE's from one mod can theoretically mess up others. Thought you might want to know in case it actually is a meaningful error.

First off, thank you for reporting it! This was easily fixed. I also don't really know what the effect will be for mods downstream.

- - - Updated - - -

Update

-while tracking a landing on kerbin, a successful landing is registered with a ten seconds delay instead of immediate upon touchdowns to account for damages incurred shortly after touchdown.

-under the hood changed the transaction reason under which mission procurement, cancelation and vehicle return fee are logged.

-made fix for reported null reference exception occuring during scene changes.

[Technical Ben]

I see -- so it's sort of a "record and replay" function for resupply missions (or any kind of mission, I suppose, but resupply missions are the ones most likely to be repeated and get boring). Nifty! Thanks for the clarification.

How did I miss this mod? It's great to have. Brilliant idea, and nice implementation. It takes away those boring refuel / relaunch missions (AKA ISS servicing etc ).

[jlcarneiro]

The current mod doesn't have the capability to do landings, it's not just something I'm actively blocking. Docking on the ground is being blocked right now, but for good reasons; the current orbital docking logic would lead to violent explosions.

Compared to orbital docking, landing on a spot is, I imagine, technically a lot easier to accomplish. It would however require an almost whole separate flow for tracking/managing those missions, albeit a little simpler than orbital docking. Docking on the ground I don't want to begin to ponder at this point.

What about routine missions to stations outside Kerbal's SOI? Are they possible (now or in the future)?

[smjjames]

It's probably just KSP, but I'm getting OOM crashes sometimes when it loads several large ships at a station at once. Also, KJR REALLY hates it when Routine Mission Manager spawns a ship docked to a vessel or station as it spams an exception until I return to KSC.

[PrivateFlip]

It's probably just KSP, but I'm getting OOM crashes sometimes when it loads several large ships at a station at once. Also, KJR REALLY hates it when Routine Mission Manager spawns a ship docked to a vessel or station as it spams an exception until I return to KSC.

Thanks for the report. Maybe I can put some delays between when multiple ships spawning to ease the load on the system. This weekend I have the time to put some effort into this. Don't know about KJR, can see how it could get confused when a ships spawns in space and then docks in the next second.

[PrivateFlip]

Update

-added functionality make the mod more suitable to process multiple vessel arrivals.

Vessels which are supposed to have arrived at for example a station since the last visit to the station by the player are, under the hood, "pasted" into the game at the first time at which the station is again visited. To reduce the load on the system, multiple of such simulated arrivals are now processed sequentially. In addition logic has been added to prevent arriving vessels to by chance be loaded to the same location.

-brought the mod up to date with ksp version 1.0 by adding all resources used as an abblator for a vessel to the "Required Return Resources".

-when ordering a vessel automatically return to Kerbin, the plugin logic has been expanded to not only check whether the "Required Return Resources" are present but also if there are still engines on the craft to use these resources.

[frencrs]

Awesome!

[curiousepic]

Does this allow you to choose which crew members are on board a mission?

[PrivateFlip]

Does this allow you to choose which crew members are on board a mission?

Current version does not but that seems to be getting a more an essential feature with the KSP 0.90 and 1.00 changes.

EDIT(10 may): Functionality to set a preferred crew list for requested missions has been added for the next version. Will do some more testing and probably release it somewhere this week.

Edited May 10, 2015 by PrivateFlip

[PrivateFlip]

Update

-added functionality to set a preferred crew list when ordering a mission

[lperkin1]

I am kinda new here, but I can't tell if your mod works with the stage recovery mod. (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/86677-1-0-2-StageRecovery-Recover-Funds-from-Dropped-Stages-v1-5-5-%285-2-15%29)

It doesn't look like it, and it would be kinda cool if it would. Save me 50k on my fuel shuttling if it would work

[DuoDex]

By the way, are you planning to add support for the other bodies soon? If so, I will find a way to give you moar rep.

[Captain_Party]

I'd just like to say this is really useful in my RSS save, as resupply/crew transfer missions can take upwards of 20 - 30mins

Cheers, CP

[PrivateFlip]

By the way, are you planning to add support for the other bodies soon? If so, I will find a way to give you moar rep.

No, I'm not planning formal support for other bodies anytime soon. Allowing other bodies would quickly generate the requirement they be handled realistically so in practice this request would require a lot more than simply enabling other planets.

It would need to take into account launch windows which then would have to calculated by the mod.

The way crew is currently handled while the mission is underway would be blatantly insufficient for longer missions.

Interplanetary missions are likely to be more complicated mission configurations like some LKO fueling or assembly which the tracking part of this mod simply cannot handle without a major increase in complexity of the code.

Adding all this would be a significant amount of work while only bringing a niche functionality to players who are flying regular identical interplanetary missions.

Then there is the fact the in practice usage of this mod isn't completely straight forward for the player which does not read the manual (few players do). In short there are all these finicky things how the mod tracks the mission the player is flying and what the consequences are for the mission which can be ordered after tracking. If you have used the mod yourself you have probably been in the situation where you decided to redo a tracking flight of a particular mission, say your station resupply mission, because the mission you can order based on your first tracking of this mission type did not exactly gave you the options you wanted. Maybe it didn't give the you an automatic return options because you undocked from the station without engaging the tracking for the return mission, maybe the mission requires a minimum crew of three even though its vehicle can fly unmanned. When flying to Kerbin orbit this is, I suspect, all reasonably acceptable. This is a mission a player would be flying on a regular basis even if the player didn't have this mod, so flying it a second time after learning by trial and error how the mission is tracked isn't an issue. For interplanetary missions however things will likely be a little different and this mod in my opinion cannot deliver what a player would reasonably expect.

What I have done for the next version is make an option available in a config file where you could expand the list of enabled planets at your own discretion.

[MatterBeam]

Hello.

I might be interested in this mod.

If you track a mission, then launch a Routine Mission, will you be able to switch to the new craft and watch it repeat your movements, or will it just teleport to the final position?

[PrivateFlip]

I am kinda new here, but I can't tell if your mod works with the stage recovery mod. (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/86677-1-0-2-StageRecovery-Recover-Funds-from-Dropped-Stages-v1-5-5-%285-2-15%29)

It doesn't look like it, and it would be kinda cool if it would. Save me 50k on my fuel shuttling if it would work

Welcome to the ksp forums!

Like you already suspected this mod will indeed not take into account any recovered stages at this point.

- - - Updated - - -

Hello.

I might be interested in this mod.

If you track a mission, then launch a Routine Mission, will you be able to switch to the new craft and watch it repeat your movements, or will it just teleport to the final position?

The repeat flight takes place in the background; there is no actual autopilot functionality.

[sirreality]

Privateflip, greatly enjoying this mod, and appreciate the hefty manual you wrote to accompany it. I was wondering if there was currently support, or future planned support, for having Tourist Kerbals join the crew of ordered missions? Currently I can only choose amongst my career kerbals (Pilot/Engineer/Scientist). I'm getting a lot of LKO tourism missions that it'd be great to use RMM for. Regardless of the answer, thanks for all the hard work!

[PrivateFlip]

Privateflip, greatly enjoying this mod, and appreciate the hefty manual you wrote to accompany it. I was wondering if there was currently support, or future planned support, for having Tourist Kerbals join the crew of ordered missions? Currently I can only choose amongst my career kerbals (Pilot/Engineer/Scientist). I'm getting a lot of LKO tourism missions that it'd be great to use RMM for. Regardless of the answer, thanks for all the hard work!

Seems like good expansion of the current functionality.

Two issues exist regarding the automatic return functionality and tourist:

First most of those contracts also requires a suborbital part, which would not register for an automatic return.

Also there is the question how the game registers a return, if this is processed during recovery of the vessel or simply the return of the kerbal to the roster. In the former case this could present somewhat of a difficulty.

If one of those issues would be a problem which cannot be overcome I could always disable automatic return when tourist are on board, forcing the player to return the vessel by hand.

Will do some research into this over the weekend.