[1.4.1] Kerbal Construction Time 1.4.0.69 (2018-03-24) - Unrapid Planned Assembly

[StevenV]

Never mind, it doesn't happen on a clean install.

[magico13]

Just so you know the IVA delay is done in ShipManifest.

Cool, looks like I won't have to do that myself then

Starting a new career game seems to set all buildings to fully upgraded, and gives an error loading KCT data. This is with a lot of other incompatible mods though.

Are you trying this with the 64bit community work around? I played around with that for a while and it throws KCT errors on load.

The error that KCT pops up with isn't necessarily an error within KCT, it just means that KCT didn't get a chance to load it's data (which is frequently caused by errors in other mods). If you're trying the 64 bit Windows Community Hack, for some reason KCT hasn't been working properly in it and it's not a priority for me to fix (since it appears to work fine in every other version of KSP, including Linux 64 bit), as Nori has kindly pointed out. You're always welcome to send logs, but there's a chance they won't contain any helpful info.

Just saw your update (prior to actually submitting this response). Glad it seems to be working now. If you've got any other issues in the future, don't hesitate to ask (but do provide logs )

[Rodhern]

There have been several suggestions how to get rid of items in the Part Inventory and get some benefit from it. If this particular variant was already suggested I am sorry that I missed it.

First, the reason we have parts in the Part Inventory, is because we spend Kerbucks and build time, and then later got the Kerbucks refunded. What I am saying is, the reason we have parts in the Part Inventory is because we spend time (build points) building those parts in the first place. If in the future we use those parts we save some build time. If we never use the parts we won't ever (again) realize that time saving. Excess parts in the Part Inventory is a product of time passed.

I suggest that the player may trigger a VAB and SPH Part Inventory garage clearing sale. The reward for discarding all items is additional upgrades (you know, those that you start your career with 15 of). You can already buy upgrades for Kerbucks and science points, so why not for excess inventory parts as well?

I imagine it working for instance like this:

1. The player trigger the garage clearing sale event.
   
2. The value of the sum of all items in the Part Inventory is calculated (as if they were all part of one giant vessel being constructed from those parts). The grand total is measured in build points.
   
3. A calculation is done that will tell the player:
   
   • A) the number of upgrades that can be achieved (possibly zero) by clearing the Part Inventory.
     
   • the fraction of an upgrade that is lost because the number in "A)" is rounded down to the nearest integer.
     

[*]The player accepts or rejects.

I think probably it is necessary that the decision is an all or nothing decision, to avoid fiddling about with the Part Inventory in micro-management fashion.

It would be even better if a check is done automatically when a vessel is recovered to check if the threshold from zero possible upgrades to one possible upgrade is crossed, so that the player can be told that a clearing sale is now possible.

What thoughts do you all have on this topic?

Remember Wernher von Kerman told us the place had just been cleaned up, so we should try not to mess it up too much?

[magico13]

I kind of like that idea for clearing out the inventory. It gives a tangible benefit for clearing it out, while not being cheaty. Players who use reusable craft with the same parts extensively won't have an inventory that's worth much, but they benefit from reduced build times already. Players who don't pay much attention to the inventory will likely have a lot of parts in there, so clearing it out will let them speed up their main rates and continue having speed increases as their career goes on. If other people like the idea, I can probably get it in the next update pretty easily and provide a formula for it so people can tweak it (or disable it entirely). I'm thinking the rewards should probably taper off as you "sell" more parts, as it shouldn't be a main way of getting upgrades. Which means the total value "sold" previously will have to be a variable in the formula (if it were linear, then that wouldn't be an issue), which shouldn't be hard to do.

[JeffreyCor]

Been trying it a lot with 1.0.4 and not having any problems even with an existing save

[MarcAFK]

Realistically there should be a downside to keeping large inventories, but it would suffice to simply provide an incentive for people to clear it out once in a while. How about allowing individual parts to simply be sold off for some percentage of their build cost?

[magico13]

Presets are coming along nicely. Hopefully they'll be ready for testing tomorrow (Sunday)! Just need to add in the general settings somewhere and make it so you can save new presets based on your current settings.

I'm curious what your thoughts are. I'm trying to not make it too hideous or difficult to work with, but GUIs are not my forte.

The keen eyed of you will notice there are quite a number of new formulas and settings. The whole settings infrastructure was rewritten pretty much from scratch.

Edited June 28, 2015 by magico13

[Rodhern]

The idea with the presets sounds good. I for one probably won't take much notice of the GUI though; sure the GUI might be nice while balancing settings, but once a good preset is reached you basically just want to load that preset file, maybe even download it from somewhere or someone. In some sense, the most important in-game GUI setting will be the "preset name". Presets aside, kudos for all that nice formula flexibility.

[magico13]

Presets are now released for Beta testing. It's slightly save breaking and there's quite a few changes I haven't gotten around to testing, so I really do not advise trying the betas yet if you're not ok with some save breaking, but I'd like to get a couple Presets to include in the next release, so people should try it out

[Jackson Mackenzie]

It seems the Dreaded Tourist IDX Problem has reared its ugly head again. Identical problem, identical steps to reproduce, identical persistent.sfs edit to work around.

Running Win32 1.0.4.

USI Tools 0.4.1

CapCom 1.0.1.1

Chatterer 0.9.5.86

CRP 0.4.2

Contract Configurator 1.5

Contract Pack: Anomaly Surveyor 1.2.2

Contract Pack: Field Research 1.0.5

Contract Pack: RemoteTech 1.1.4

Contract Pack: SCANSat Lite 1.1

Contract Pack: Tourism Plus 1.1.4

CTT 2.1

DMagic Orbital Science 1.0.4

FAR 0.15.3.1

Firespitter 7.1.4

Interstellar Fuel Switch 1.14

KAS 0.5.2

Kerbal Construction Time 1.1.8

Kerbal Joint Reinforcement 3.1.4

Kerbal Inventory System - 1.1.5

KSP-AVC 1.1.5

Infernal Robots 0.21.3

MKS 0.31.4

ModularFlightIntegrator 1.0

Docking Port Alignment Indicator 6.2

Near Future Construction 0.5.3

Near Future Electrical 0.5.1

Near Future Propulsion 0.5.1

Near Future Solar 0.5.2

Near Future Spacecraft 0.4.2

PlanetShine 0.2.3.1

PreciseNode 1.1.3

Procedural Fairings 3.15

RealChute 1.3.2.3

RemoteTech 1.6.7

SCANsat 1.1.2.1

ScienceAlert 1.8.7

SmartParts 1.6.5

SpaceY Lifters 0.17.2

StageRecovery 1.5.6

Stock Bug Fixes 1.0.2e3

TextureReplacer 2.4.6

TAC Life Support 0.11.1.20

Trajectories 1.3

TweakScale 2.2.1

Universal Storage 1.1.0.5

Waypoint Manager 2.3.4

Wider Contracts App 1.1.2

Log.

[magico13]

It seems the Dreaded Tourist IDX Problem has reared its ugly head again. Identical problem, identical steps to reproduce, identical persistent.sfs edit to work around.

Running Win32 1.0.4.

I can't be certain, but it looks like it's somehow Contract Configurator related. The error below is being listed repeatedly. I'm not sure if it's KCT related still (like an issue with how KCT loads passengers), but you might post it over in that thread too and see if it's something nightingale has seen before or something he can help track down the source of. I can't say I'd be too surprised if it's an incompatibility with KCT's loading mechanism.

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  at ContractConfigurator.Behaviour.SpawnPassengers+PassengerLoader.PassengerDialog (Int32 windowID) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at UnityEngine.GUILayout+LayoutedWindow.DoWindow (Int32 windowID) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at UnityEngine.GUI.CallWindowDelegate (UnityEngine.WindowFunction func, Int32 id, UnityEngine.GUISkin _skin, Int32 forceRect, Single width, Single height, UnityEngine.GUIStyle style) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

[Jackson Mackenzie]

I can't be certain, but it looks like it's somehow Contract Configurator related. The error below is being listed repeatedly. I'm not sure if it's KCT related still (like an issue with how KCT loads passengers), but you might post it over in that thread too and see if it's something nightingale has seen before or something he can help track down the source of. I can't say I'd be too surprised if it's an incompatibility with KCT's loading mechanism.

Dollars to doughnuts says it's something to do with Tourism Plus. I'll run some tests, and also post over in the CC thread, and get back to you.

[ebigunso]

Start in orbit function of KCT simulation breaks antennas that are set to start deployed, if they are the kind that snaps under high dynamic pressure. I want to test out probes with RT, and this is forcing me to add non snapping antenna for testing which has a significant impact on mass when the probe is very small.

I hope it gets fixed.

[magico13]

Start in orbit function of KCT simulation breaks antennas that are set to start deployed, if they are the kind that snaps under high dynamic pressure.

Can you test for me to see if the same thing happens if you turn on the Delay Move To Orbit setting (under Advanced in the simulation configuration window). If so, I might need to try out a new way of starting simulations.

[ebigunso]

Can you test for me to see if the same thing happens if you turn on the Delay Move To Orbit setting (under Advanced in the simulation configuration window). If so, I might need to try out a new way of starting simulations.

It does. Also it would be nice if there was an option to wait on the pad longer (maybe until I press a button or something) until I finish setting targets on the RT dishes, for when I test things out on distant planets.

EDIT: It does at first when you come out of the VAB, but it doesn't when you hit restart simulation from the KCT button. Don't know whats the difference here but that seems to be how it works.

Edited July 5, 2015 by ebigunso

[Mal]

Vessels take time to build, dependent on vessel complexity (cost), how many times the parts have been used before, if any of the parts are in your inventory, and your Build Rates.

Is there any documentation of what the rates - ie, rate 1, rate 2, rate 3 etc actually do and why you would want to use them?

[magico13]

Is there any documentation of what the rates - ie, rate 1, rate 2, rate 3 etc actually do and why you would want to use them?

There's the Getting Started Guide which covers all the basics. The rates control how fast a particular vessel is built. The higher the rate, the faster it gets built. Having two rates means you can build two vessels at once. Having a rate of 2.0 means vessels take half as much time as if you were building something at a rate of 1.0.

If you want to get technical, rates are listed in Build Points per second. Vessels have a certain Build Point value (based on cost, number of times a part has been used, and whether the part is pulled from the inventory). So if you have a vessel worth 86400 Build Points and a rate of 1.0 BP/s, then it will take 86400 seconds to build, which is 24 hours. If you have a rate of 2.0 BP/s then it will take 43200 seconds (12 hours) to build.

Multiple rates don't stack together to build a single vessel, but allow you to instead build multiple vessels at once. I can provide some concrete examples of how that can be better than putting all your points into a single rate, if you want.

[Mal]

Having two rates means you can build two vessels at once.

Thanks. That clears it up. Being on the menu as a selection item, and as it isn't that intuitive it might be better to add this tiny bit of info to the first post as well.

[Svm420]

Well, this is what I get for posting a "solution" without testing it myself. Sorry.

However, I've looked and it seems that the first formula I gave you caused KCT to go through a loop, creating build lines forever, until you eventually shut the game down forcefully (might want to mention that in your documentation, magico13. Would help people like me who want to modify the formulas )

This will solve that:

BuildRateFormula = (0.05*[N] + max(0.1-, 0))*sign(20*([L]+1)-)

This won't give you an unlimited number of build lines (as I hoped to give you before), but it will give you 20 build lines per upgrade level of the VAB/SPH. I have tested this on my own game, and it works, although you'll need to start a new game (loading an old save will not load the build rates properly).

Quoting this for later. Cat wait to try this

[Probus]

Magico, even though I have build rate 4 up to 1.4, KCT won't allow me to put points towards build rate 5. I looked through the documentation to see if I missed something, but couldn't find anything related to this problem. What am I missing?

[magico13]

Magico, even though I have build rate 4 up to 1.4, KCT won't allow me to put points towards build rate 5. I looked through the documentation to see if I missed something, but couldn't find anything related to this problem. What am I missing?

Is your VAB only level 2? Because that would be why. You can have two rates per level with the default values (kinda snuck that in, partly as a proof of concept). If you want to get around that, you'll need to make a small change to the rate formula. In BuildRateFormula, change the "sign(2*[L]-+1)" portion to "sign(X*[L]-+1)" where X is the number of rates you want at each level (set it to 10 or something like that to basically ignore the limit). Just don't remove that section, otherwise it won't stop trying to make rates and you'll get stuck in an infinite loop (I may have fixed that in the released version, but it might only be fixed in the dev version. I apparently didn't mention it in the commit log)

[Probus]

Is your VAB only level 2? Because that would be why. You can have two rates per level with the default values (kinda snuck that in, partly as a proof of concept). If you want to get around that, you'll need to make a small change to the rate formula. In BuildRateFormula, change the "sign(2*[L]-+1)" portion to "sign(X*[L]-+1)" where X is the number of rates you want at each level (set it to 10 or something like that to basically ignore the limit). Just don't remove that section, otherwise it won't stop trying to make rates and you'll get stuck in an infinite loop (I may have fixed that in the released version, but it might only be fixed in the dev version. I apparently didn't mention it in the commit log)

Nice touch. I had a feeling something like that was happening. Just drop a note in the docs or OP and you should be good.

[magico13]

Nice touch. I had a feeling something like that was happening. Just drop a note in the docs or OP and you should be good.

I need to go through an update the documentation for the next release anyway, so I'll make sure to point that out. The Presets system needs a thorough explanation and some solid examples to make it easier to make new, unique, Presets. And the basic user needs to know what they need to do with that window, since it can be quite a bit of info all at once but is where you set all of the settings. (End users will just have to select an existing Preset, or turn a feature on or off with a button press)

[Cosmic_Farmer]

I've used this mod for quite a while now, and wouldn't be without it. I've found it to be an excellent tool for mod development, due to the ability to easily and instantly get vessels into various situations. Keep up the good work!

[autumnalequinox]

I just realized something upon starting my first 1.0.4 career. You know, if it wasn't for KCT, there would be little meaning to the contract completion time limits. I mean..wow, I have had to juggle some builds and my few upgrade points to just barely get a few contracts before they expire. I mean seriously, that's something in stock that is literally made for this mod. Awesome.