[0.90.0] Fine Print vSTOCK'D - BETA RELEASE!!! (December 15)

[MrCynical]

The satellite contracts have several things that can be different even if you are overlaid right on top of them. First things first: Are you going in the same direction the spinners are?

Aargh - forgot to check that! On close inspection I am indeed orbiting in precisely the right ellipse in precisely the wrong direction...

Thanks for the help

[Wanderfound]

Aargh - forgot to check that! On close inspection I am indeed orbiting in precisely the right ellipse in precisely the wrong direction...

Thanks for the help

Those spinners are very hard to see. Making 'em a smidge bigger wouldn't go astray.

EDIT: actually, it appears that most of the hard-to-seeness was the fault of Active Texture Management,

Edited October 20, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Alshain]

I had one of those station building contracts and I completed the first two objectives, but I needed some money to start on the science station. I went and flew an areal mission and when I came back the first two objectives were no longer marked as completed. This was in 2 sessions. The station I did last night and the survey today, but the objectives were green before I started the survey.

EDIT: OK, well I switched to the station via the tracking center and it re-marked them, so I guess I'm ok now. I was afraid it would consider that an "old" station.

Edited October 16, 2014 by Alshain

[Jeroen D Stout]

I spent an hour of real time flying at mach 4 to catch the markers. I think I finally understand aircraft simulators.

I never would have spent so much time just flying on Kerbin, listening to the radio while cruising at an altitude if it were not for this mod. Absolutely lovely.

(Also, precision steering at 18km height is insane if you did not think ahead about it.)

EDIT: Are there any plans to have missions use specific unique parts (like the test models)? Just flying over an area has a slightly different feel to it should I have to add in a specific sensor and activate that at the right time.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Jeroen D Stout

[Hyomoto]

Well, apparently I'm not the only one. I just enjoyed a similar experience as Jeroen, and I must say it was very enjoyable to just get out there and fly the planet. My zones were a bit closer to home and I flew a low-altitude plane, but these contracts have the feel that I think Squad missed on. It doesn't surprise me Squad would include your work here, they are a fine addition to contracts.

[Starbuckminsterfullerton]

Congratulations on the stock inclusion, I can't play career without your improvements, actual missions are SO much more interesting than endless part testing!

[Wanderfound]

I spent an hour of real time flying at mach 4 to catch the markers. I think I finally understand aircraft simulators.

I never would have spent so much time just flying on Kerbin, listening to the radio while cruising at an altitude if it were not for this mod. Absolutely lovely.

(Also, precision steering at 18km height is insane if you did not think ahead about it.)

EDIT: Are there any plans to have missions use specific unique parts (like the test models)? Just flying over an area has a slightly different feel to it should I have to add in a specific sensor and activate that at the right time.

Seconded. Maybe RPM integration that requires a downwards camera? The aerial survey missions are great, but they have the potential to be a lot more diverse with just a few tweaks. How about barometer/atmospheric sensor readings at particular locations?

[Wanderfound]

Hyomoto, is there anything you can do to integrate FP waypoint tracking into your MFDs?

[Alshain]

There is a survey point called Engineer's Abyss just over the mountains that is impossible to collect. Must be a bug, I've flown through it a dozen times now only to have it snap to the other side of the navball.

[Wanderfound]

There is a survey point called Engineer's Abyss just over the mountains that is impossible to collect. Must be a bug, I've flown through it a dozen times now only to have it snap to the other side of the navball.

What's the altitude?

[Alshain]

It was around 3000km. I'm afraid I edited my persistence and removed it already. I have limited play time these days so I couldn't waste a lot of time on it.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Alshain

[Wanderfound]

It was around 3000km. I'm afraid I edited my persistence and removed it already. I have limited play time these days so I couldn't waste a lot of time on it.

Apologies for the obvious question, but: were you flying at 3000m above sea level or 3000m above the mountains? I had a similar very low altitude waypoint in the mountains west of KSC. Doing it required finding a hidden valley with a 2900m floor and then scraping the treetops.

[Alshain]

Apologies for the obvious question, but: were you flying at 3000m above sea level or 3000m above the mountains? I had a similar very low altitude waypoint in the mountains west of KSC. Doing it required finding a hidden valley with a 2900m floor and then scraping the treetops.

Sea Level, but I was really just putting my prograde marker on the navball icon. That should have taken me straight to it, it has for every other one I've done thus far. I haven't really paid attention to the altitude requested in the contract text, just followed the marker.

[Hyomoto]

Hyomoto, is there anything you can do to integrate FP waypoint tracking into your MFDs?

Right now? I don't know. It depends on if the waypoints are exposed and whether or not RPM has support for it. I have been getting more Kerbal time in recently and I'd like to work on it but I'd hate to make any promises I don't keep. All I can say is I'd like to, and if I can this would be on my list of things to do.

[Alshain]

This mod is really not very good. If it's not buggy survey points, it's asking me to put satellites in orbits that would collide with the Mun, and then the inclination is wrong. The indicator says 1.7 and the contract text says 1.5. It's a good start but I'm sorry, if Squad is going to implement this they are going to have to do a massive overhaul.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Alshain

[forsaken1111]

This mod is really not very good. If it's not buggy survey points, it's asking me to put satellites in orbits that would collide with the Mun, and then the inclination is wrong. The indicator says 1.7 and the contract text says 1.5. It's a good start but I'm sorry, if Squad is going to implement this they are going to have to do a massive overhaul.

You're adorable.

[Alshain]

You're adorable.

Gee thanks. Your so unhelpful.

So now it wants me to neutralize controls for 10 seconds, how long is 10 seconds to this mod? I have all engines and reaction wheels turned off, what does it want?

[BigD145]

Gee thanks. Your so unhelpful.

So now it wants me to neutralize controls for 10 seconds, how long is 10 seconds to this mod? I have all engines and reaction wheels turned off, what does it want?

Don't touch anything and sit on your butt without your fingers on keyboard/mouse/controller.

This is an alpha mod made for an alpha game made by a coder that does not have access to the KSP source code. I'm fairly certain it's not going to work quite right. It's going to be a bit rough around the edges.

[forsaken1111]

Gee thanks. Your so unhelpful.

So now it wants me to neutralize controls for 10 seconds, how long is 10 seconds to this mod? I have all engines and reaction wheels turned off, what does it want?

Neutralize controls means no control input. Turn off SAS, ensure nothing is running on mechjeb if you have it, etc.

[Alshain]

Neutralize controls means no control input. Turn off SAS, ensure nothing is running on mechjeb if you have it, etc.

I did more than that, turned off RCS, I deactivated all engines, and toggled torque on all probes and reaction wheels. I don't use autopilots. Left it running when I went to the grocery store came back, still 3/4 objectives complete. I don't know what to do anymore, but this is second launch in as many days where the contract couldn't be completed for some reason. I'm trying to play hard mode here but this mod is going to bankrupt me at this rate.

[TranquilTempest]

I just saw an aerial survey waypoint inside a mountain, I was still able to complete it by flying next to the mountain, but it may be necessary to account for max terrain altitude when generating contracts, or possibly switch to terrain altitude at some point.

[Wanderfound]

I did more than that, turned off RCS, I deactivated all engines, and toggled torque on all probes and reaction wheels. I don't use autopilots. Left it running when I went to the grocery store came back, still 3/4 objectives complete. I don't know what to do anymore, but this is second launch in as many days where the contract couldn't be completed for some reason. I'm trying to play hard mode here but this mod is going to bankrupt me at this rate.

See upthread. Failure to complete "deactivate controls" is usually caused by trim being set to non-zero values. Alt-X to clear. You don't need to shut anything down, just cancel trim, zero throttle, toggle off SAS and RCS and don't touch the keyboard for ten seconds of in-game time.

The other major cause of contracts failing to complete appears to be people trying to deploy satellites into orbits that are correct apart from being in the opposite direction which they're supposed to be. The little spinners on the required orbit show required directionality.

I haven't had any problems with this mod that didn't ultimately come down to user error.

[Arsonide]

This mod is really not very good. If it's not buggy survey points, it's asking me to put satellites in orbits that would collide with the Mun, and then the inclination is wrong. The indicator says 1.7 and the contract text says 1.5. It's a good start but I'm sorry, if Squad is going to implement this they are going to have to do a massive overhaul.

I'm not sure what indicator you are referring to, but the only visual indicator that refers to inclination is relative inclination difference, and that is how different your inclination is from the target orbit. That is shown as a tooltip on the target orbit in the map.

Either way, a difference of 0.2 degrees will not result in a non-match even on the highest difficulty. On the highest difficulty you would have to be about 2.7 degrees off to not count as matched, which is pretty visible. Your problem does not lie with the inclination here, I think you may have misunderstood the tooltip.

I did more than that, turned off RCS, I deactivated all engines, and toggled torque on all probes and reaction wheels. I don't use autopilots. Left it running when I went to the grocery store came back, still 3/4 objectives complete. I don't know what to do anymore, but this is second launch in as many days where the contract couldn't be completed for some reason. I'm trying to play hard mode here but this mod is going to bankrupt me at this rate.

If ten seconds doesn't work, something is wrong. Going to the grocery store will not help. You accidentally (or purposefully) hit a trim button and need to cancel your trim. The default key combination for this is Alt-X. Some functions of MechJeb can also interfere with this because they exert force on your vessel.

Thank you for your feedback. I hope these tips help you enjoy your time with the mod.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Arsonide

[AetherGoddess]

[...]If ten seconds doesn't work, something is wrong. Going to the grocery store will not help. [...]

One thing i ran into is that my (antique) Saitex x45 has very poor deadzones and very sensitive controls, meaning that if all the controls are zeroed, it will still register one rotation knob twitching between 0 and +1 on it's axis (-127 to +127). this .05% wiggle in an unbound control was enough to cause problems with the "zero all controls for 10 seconds" objective. since i wasn't using it for KSP anyways, i just unplugged it.

[Spheniscine]

I'm having quite a bit of fun with this mod (crashing unmanned drone planes into the ocean ). That said I think there needs to be a few tech tree requirement changes to the mission types:

From what I can tell satellite missions require docking parts (Specialized Construction) to be unlocked? (all I know is until I research it all I saw was aerial surveys and part tests) It should unlock much earlier; Flight Control Electrics perhaps, since the Stayputnik probe solar panels (oops forgot about those) unlock then, and you're not actually required to undock your vessel from the satellite. And it's one of the easier missions, if you know your orbital mechanics, and have a rocket with enough ÃŽâ€v.

Speaking of which, aerial surveys should unlock at Aerodynamics; it is possible to build planes without jet engines, but liquid fuel engines don't nearly have enough range to complete even the closest missions. (yeah I know I already brought this up... but that was before I learned how to design a low-tech plane suitable for it, and learned to fly it.)

Oh and just to confirm: Does "newly discovered asteroid" mean you have to track a new one from the station after you accept the mission, or does it just mean that you've not touched it before? I found one close by Kerbin and just tracked it out of curiosity; turned out to be in a stable orbit; would be a shame if I can't eventually use it...

Edit: Oops, didn't see this post:

You will get aerial contracts when you unlock mid level aeronautics parts. Rover contracts appear when you get wheels. ARM will show up when you get the klaw, station and base require you to have antennae, power, and docking ports researched. Satellites just require antennae and power. ISRU will require the tech associated with your resource mod if you have properly configured it.

I guess I was just unlucky with the satellites, and perhaps should've researched electricity earlier (I kept running out of power on my Mun landing attempts, serves me right for hoarding science points)

Edited October 19, 2014 by Spheniscine