Hull Camera/AGs + Raster Prop Monitor (making full IVA missions more interesting)

[KerTrotsky]

I saw someone mention this as a suggestion on Curse. Raster Prop Monitor ( http://www.curse.com/ksp-mods/kerbal/221222-rasterpropmonitor ) populates the internal IVA panels with all kinds of useful stuff, and there are further add-ons which allow you to configure what is displayed on the in-ship monitors and panels.

So far as I know (which is not a whole lot, because until now I have played almost entirely stock) there is no add-on for the Raster Prop Monitor DLL which does either of the following :

1) Allows you to populate one of the internal displays with a view of hull cameras provided by Hullcam VDS ( http://www.curse.com/ksp-mods/kerbal/220258-hullcam-vds )

2) Allows you to fire action groups from an internal panel control ( of course we can still fire them by hitting the key bind for the AG, but a panel control is a more immersive experience).

One of the limitations of an IVA mission is the lack of visibility on the external craft itself without going to the default camera views (which are not realistic). Add-ons requested above would permit, I believe, a more fully immersive and realistic experience during an all-IVA mission - with the ultimate goal of being able to run a full IVA mission without ever going to map or the default external view.

Correct me if I am mistaken, please; also comments and/or initiating a project for integrating Hullcam VDS with RasterPropMon would be great.

[OrbitusII]

1) Getting one of those Hullcams to work is just a matter of setting up the config file correctly. Take a look at the configs for the cameras included with RPM and try to reverse-engineer it for the Hullcams.

2) I know the new update for B9 Aerospace has those, but I'm not sure if they're a part of RPM or Firespitter or something else entirely.

[Drew Kerman]

1) Allows you to populate one of the internal displays with a view of hull cameras provided by Hullcam VDS ( http://www.curse.com/ksp-mods/kerbal/220258-hullcam-vds )

Don't know what you might be missing to make that not happen, but you can do this. Maybe its the MFD plugin that allows that. Look for links in the RPM first post for extras

2) Allows you to fire action groups from an internal panel control ( of course we can still fire them by hitting the key bind for the AG, but a panel control is a more immersive experience).

The recently-released B9 has switches to toggle AG, but not through the RPM. Although I think it is still linked through RPM (I think I recall the IVA author asking about AG binding in the RPM thread) so they may have just not chosen to use a screen interface. I think the switches are cooler anyway

edit: god dammit OrbitusII I'm the ninja here and I don't recall having to do anything to set up Hullcam functionality. It was just there for me as far as I can remember

[Mecripp]

You might like this too http://kerbal.curseforge.com/ksp-mods/222251-probecontrolroom/images and the RPM's comes with it's own cameras there not pretty and, After placing a camera you have to set what camera it is like cam 1 , cam 2 and so on it use to work with it but haven't play'ed with Hullcam in some time and this mod as one of the best IVA in KSP http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/54925-WIP-ALCOR-Advanced-Landing-Capsule-for-Orbital-Rendezvous-by-ASET-%28UPD-30-06-2014%29 and it as some cameras you can use if you just want them download the ASET Props Pack and that commandpod you can use AG not on RPM's but has some buttoms in pod you set.

EDIT- sorry forgot about the new B9 IVA and the Mini-Shuttle mod and well there's more now that, I think about it.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Mecripp2

[KerTrotsky]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/members/98860-MeCripp Yes I actually plan to install the Probe Control Room soon . . . but that's a bit different than getting hull cam feeds into the displays within a ship.

Some good suggestions here and elsewhere, I will check them out.

[KerTrotsky]

Okay here's my report.

Installed these Add-Ons: Raster Prop Monitor, Spaceplane Plus, Hullcam VDS, Space Engineer 1.0.7.1.

The Spaceplane Plus mod includes the Firespitter DLL, but the version included with this mod isn't compatible with KSP 0.24.2. Downloaded the Firespitter Add-On separately, and the DLL there is compatible - so clicked 'replace file' when the Firespitter add-on install reached that point. KSP then launched normally.

As it turns out, Spaceplane Plus and Raster Prop Monitor already allow you to link external cameras to the IVS displays. Hullcam VDS includes (of course) cameras that when activated give you a full screen view of the camera field of vision, and these can also be detected as "external cameras" by the Raster Prop Monitor. Spaceplane Plus may have cameras also - but since I installed all these mods at the same time I'm not sure which cameras came with which add-on. Some of the Hullcam VDS cameras don't work properly with the internal displays - notably the booster cam - but this is not a big deal. I noticed two anomalies - one was that at one point even when de-activated the LV-909 engine has thrust exhaust coming out; the other was that at some point one of the external cameras no longer provided an image to the internal display - on re-start function was normal.

All in all, a much more immersive and 'realistic' experience with these extras, and my hats off to the entire add-on dev community. The obligatory images :

[nli2work]

RPM supports Hullcam parts by adding External Camera selector module to the hullcam parts. You can use just about any part to supply a transform for RPM to place a camera. It's how RPM links any external camera to it's screen, and how it's docking camera works. RPM's bundled placeable external camera is a re-purposed linear RCS port with a different texture.

my transparentpods mod has an external camera part; basically replacement for the one that comes with RPM. It's color coded axis for easier placement to work with RPM. Green-Up; Red-Right; Blue-Out.

Edited September 4, 2014 by nli2work