The Grand 0.24 Discussion Thread

[SQUAD]

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[td]Welcome!

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Hello everyone and welcome to the release discussion thread for KSP 0.24, otherwise known as KSP: First Contract!

Like several other features in the past, we’ve been working on the Contracts system in the background for several months already. In fact, We’ve started work on Contracts early this year. However, there is a big difference between a functioning game system and a fun gameplay mechanic. This is why we needed to take our time on this one, to make sure the contracts were not just working, but were also a fun addition to gameplay. That plus the extra time needed to polish and bugfix added up to a pretty massive update, indeed. We’re very happy with the results we’ve achieved now and everyone who’s worked on the update or tested it agrees it was time well spent. Read the changes below and if you don't own the game yet go to our store or get a copy on Steam![/td]

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[td]Common problems

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Mods often lose compatibility between versions. If you're experiencing troubles then make sure that the only two folders in \Your_Install_Path_For_KSP\GameData are called 'Squad' and 'NASAmission'. Delete all the others then try again. Mods are usually updated in the hours or days following a release, so keep an eye open for any updated versions. Most mods can be found right here on the forums or on the website of our official mod provider Curse.[/td]

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[td]This version is the first version of KSP to ship with a 64 bit build for Windows. Please note that this build is expected to have some hidden bugs.[/td]

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[tr][td]New features

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<div style="overflow-y:scroll; max-height: 250px">Contracts

Contracts require you to complete objectives, in order to gain funds, science and reputation. Once accepted, contracts must be completed before the deadline expires and will fail if the deadline expires or if some critical parameter fails (like killing a Kerbal in a mission to rescue him). Procedurally generated 'mission briefings' for contracts were added, and they may even make sense (sometimes). Contracts come in three levels of prestige ("Trivial", "Significant" and "Exceptional"). Higher levels offer greater rewards and are usually more ambitious. Your reputation regulates the amounts of each level of contracts on offer. You'll start with a few 'starter' contracts:

• First Launch: Launch any vessel.
  
• Altitude Records: Set a new altitude record.
  
• Reach Space: Escape Kerbin's atmosphere
  
• Achieve Orbit: Achieve a stable orbit around Kerbin.

After you've completed these first contracts, you'll be offered contracts based on the progress you've made in the game. There are several types of randomly generated contracts:

• Part Test: perform a test of a part in a specific location, situation and within given flight parameters (when applicable).
  
• Collect Science: return or transmit any scientific data from a specific location.
  
• Rescue Kerbal: rescue a kerbal who is stuck in orbit.
  
• Plant Flag: Plant the agency's flag on the surface of a given location.
  
• Explore: Complete several exploration goals for an unexplored location.

Currencies

Funds and reputation have been added as new career mode currencies. Funds are required to launch vessels which means that part costs are now in use in career mode. Resources like liquid fuel and monopropellant also have costs of their own, which figure into the cost of a launch. Tweaking a part's resource sliders in the editors will adjust the cost of the vessel accordingly.

64 bit build for Windows

KSP now has a 64 bit build for Windows alongside the 64 bit build for Linux. Please mind that this is still very much experimental and is likely to contain platform specific bugs.

Mission Control

The mission control facility is now active in career games. Mission Control allows you to select contracts, review them, and either accept or decline them. Gene Kerman is now present as advisor in the mission control screen, ready to give his opinion about what you're doing. The mission control screen also features an 'archives' tab, where you can review previously-completed contracts.

Agencies

Agencies will be offering the contracts. Each agency has its own personality traits, which affects the generation of the contracts they offer, and they also have their own logos, which were added from the winners of the community logo design contest. Clicking the agency logo in the Mission Control screen will display extra info about the Agency.

Vessel Recovery

Recovering vessels now refunds you for the value of recovered parts and resources. Recovered value varies based on distance from the Space Center. Land at the Runway for 100% value.

User Interface tweaks

This version adds a universal time clock to the KSC scene UI, and also a pause menu to the KSC scene, instead of leaving to the main menu immediately on pressing the quit button. This menu allows saving and loading with a custom filename. A new toolbar, which exists in all game scenes and is mod-friendly has been added. This toolbar includes new widgets to display state of ongoing contracts in flight, KSC and the construction facilities as well as the messages app which shows messages about contracts and such and apps that display your fuel levels and science, reputation and funds. Finally, the old 'Science Summary' dialog was remade into a complete 'Mission Summary', displaying information about recovered experiments, parts and crew.

New Parts

• "Vernor Engine"
  The Vernor engine is a very powerful RCS module powered by liquid fuel and oxidizer.
  
• O-10 Maneuvering Engine
  The O-10 is a low-thrust main engine powered by monopropellant.

New Game Mode

When starting a new game now, you’ll see three game modes: sandbox and career, which we already know, and ‘science’, which has the contracts, funding and reputation modules disabled, so only science is active. This makes the game function in a 0.23-style mode.

New Tutorials

All of the older tutorials are still there, but most have been revised, for example, the Mun Part 1 tutorial now includes a crash course on Maneuver Nodes, the flight tutorial now walks you through a simple flight and the recovery mechanic. There are a few new tutorials, To The Mun Part 2 now actually exists, it explains how to get from the Mun back to Kerbin, a tutorial that explains the basics of science is also there, and there’s also a new two part tutorial on asteroid redirecting.</div>[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Important Bug Fixes and Tweaks

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• KSP now runs on Unity 4.5.2, an upgrade from version 4.3.2
  
• Gimballing Engines now respond to roll input. The 4x engine cluster and RAPIER engine have gimbal roll authority even if stacked over the centerline (due to multiple nozzles).
  
• Asteroids are now able to collide with other asteroids.
  
• New launches now start with throttle set to 50%, like in the old days.
  
• Saving restriction when throttled up removed.
  
• Timewarp restriction when throttled up removed. Engaging time warp now automatically cuts throttle.
  
• Improved logic for detecting a vessel in 'orbiting' situations.
  
• Fixed a bug in the editors where dragging a part off the ship and deleting it straight away would not generate an undo state.
  
• Fixed a bug where ctrl+clicking over a part in the build area would not reveal the part in the parts list.
  
• Orientation of VAB scenery rotated so spacecraft orientation is consistent at launchpad.
  
• VAB Flag moved to the opposite wall.
  
• Redesigned the Parts List UI 'Footer' section.
  
• Fixed a bug where map objects were created but never removed, leaving dozens of 'leaked' objects behind.
  
• Launchpad and Runway Launch Dialogs now show vessel costs.
  
• Added 'Edit' Button to Launch Dialogs, which takes you to the VAB or SPH to edit the selected vessel.
  
• Launch Dialogs and Craft Browser now allow selecting vessels with 'invalid parts' (for editing).
  
• Added new Pre-Flight Checks to prevent launching vessels containing invalid parts or with costs exceeding available Funds.
  
• Kerbin's Solar Day is now exactly 6 hours long (sidereal day is now 59 seconds shorter).
  
• Slight optimization to Kerbin, Mun and Eve surface shaders.
  
• Resource flow mode can now be defined for each propellant on Engine, EngineFX and RCS Modules in the part config.
  
• Previously useless Engine Nacelle and Radial Engine Body parts repurposed as air intake + fuel tank combos.
  
• Tweaked Costs for almost every part.
  
• Tweaked Mass for several parts, especially spaceplane fuselage sections and structural components.
  
• Fixed a potentially gamebreaking issue when activating a Separator if it was the root part of a vessel.
  
• Fixed a bug where some particle FX (mainly on newer engines) would cause a stream of errors when the vessel was unloaded with the FX active.
  
• Fixed a bug where StrutConnectors could cause hierarchy issues if linked in certain configurations.
  
• ModuleRCS can now use multiple resources.
  
• Revised R&D node layout so 'control' type nodes have a more logical progression.
  
• Moved basic RCS parts to tier 4 (from tier 5).
  
• Added more connections into aerodynamic parts from other nodes on tiers 5 and 6.
  
• Fixed an issue introduced in 0.23.5 where unowned vessels could complete progress nodes.
  
• Fixed AltitudeRecord progress node (now used for contract generation).
  
• Fixed crewmembers not being properly flagged as dead if their vessel was destroyed while unloaded.
  
• Crewmembers are now keyed by name in the roster, and can properly be added and removed.
  
• Added reputation reward and penalty for recovering and killing crewmembers.
  
• Added new unique names for Kerbals, suggested by the Community Logo Design Contest winners.
  
• Fixed issue with persistence when reverting to flight.
  
• Added rich text support to several UI text fields.
  
• Fixed several cases of texture point-filtering issues resulting in crooked text.
  
• Fixed potential crash related to reentry FX on Linux when no depthtexture hardware support is available.
  
• Overhauled all UI screens and text. All text fields using Arial font now use proper Calibri.
  
• Exposed Gameplay difficulty options to the Alt+F12 Debug Toolbar.
  
• Updated Credits Scene.
  
• Fixed permission issues with KSPLauncher which prevented it from properly launching the game on Linux.
  
• Messages displayed on the upper-right corner in flight are now displayed above the crew portraits instead.
  
• Removed a 'rogue' tooltip from the Staging Reset button at the VAB and SPH.

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[tr][td]Media

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[tr][td]<iframe class="imgur-album" width="100%" height="400" frameborder="0" src="http://imgur.com/a/ARzfQ/embed"></iframe>[/td][/tr]

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[panfish5]

yes! yes yes!

[qazsedcft]

Woohoo! It's here!

[montyben101]

Thank you <3

[adge]

Thank you for all the hard work, Squad. Really appreciated

[Holyvision]

Thank you SQUAD for all your hard work! I love the Jeb's Junkyard video!

[dryer_lint]

We didn't get the hypetrain to 300 pages... dang it

But still.

​0.24 IS OUT YEEEEAAHH

[Exclipse]

Hold on let me pull my face bits off the front of hypertrain after it stopped so suddenly.

Edited July 17, 2014 by Exclipse

[waffelzman]

I just get a 404 error when i download.

[MonkeyFuzz]

Aaaaaand the hype train seems to have derailed at Download Station. KSP site hasn't let me start the download.

/I can wait a bit longer.

[GusTurbo]

I'm going to use the new monopropellant engine to land my command pods like the Dragon Mk2, using the onboard monopropellant.

[Astronomer]

8/8 m8 this update i cannot h8

Edit: ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED

Edited July 17, 2014 by Astronomer

[Guest]

Now to explain to the wifey I'll be busy with KSP on our 22nd anniversary...

[Bilfr3d]

Thank you SQUAD!! Great work with the update!!

[Redrobin]

Page 2.

Can't wait to download

[Rufledt]

yay! squad rules!!

[KandoKris]

Yes Yes Yes Awesome... Now to just get through the work day so I can download tonight. Hopfully by then the servers arn't to overloaded

Thank you Squad:cool:

[Deejay2000]

Too much hype... Too much download.

[tygoo7]

YES!!!

-snip-

EDIT: Sorry Kasper.

Edited July 17, 2014 by tygoo7
no reaction videos please

[Holyvision]

Try launching the patcher manually. It seems to work for me, though slowly.

[FlowerChild]

Woot! And there was much rejoicing!

Now to explain to the wifey I'll be busy with KSP on our 22nd anniversary...

On the bright side that will likely save you the trouble of having to explain anything at all on the 23rd one

[Jodo42]

 rsync: read error: Connection reset by peer (104) 
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at /home/lapo/package/rsync-3.0.9-1/src/rsync-3.0.9/io.c(764) [receiver=3.0.9] 
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (253 bytes received so far) [generator] 
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at /home/lapo/package/rsync-3.0.9-1/src/rsync-3.0.9/io.c(605) [generator=3.0.9] 
rsync exited with code 12: Error in rsync protocol data stream 

Methinks something's gone wrong. Not sure if I should restart the patcher, or what.

[Bioman222]

Barely got my hands on my copy... phew! I think I might have been first to download!

[TheBrisbyMouse]

I've got Let It Go playing on iTunes to lower the hype levels in my bloodstream. It's not working!

[Holyvision]

Error code:

rsync: failed to connect to kerbalspaceprogram.com (198.20.66.242): Connection refused (111)

rsync error: error in socket IO (code 10) at /home/lapo/package/rsync-3.0.9-1/src/rsync-3.0.9/clientserver.c(122) [Receiver=3.0.9]

rsync exited with code 10: Error in socket I/O

I'm sure it's just overloaded.