[0.90][WIP] Kerbal Konstructs v0.6.6 (Dec 16) - Static Objects and Launch Sites!

[Gaalidas]

Like all mods, you need to retain the directory structure you find in the zip otherwise you are going to have a lot of odd and unstable behaviour from KSP.

EDIT - Also I see from the screenshot that base isn't on Kerbin. Kerbal Konstructs doesn't properly support off-Kerbin launchsites because of limitations in KSP. tldr: If you have bugs happening from launching, recovering or reverting from off-Kerbin sites, or you are ignoring standard mod installation convention for KSP, I can't help.

I can confirm that launch sites on the Mun, at the very least, do work rather well without any side effects so far.

[AlphaAsh]

I can confirm that launch sites on the Mun, at the very least, do work rather well without any side effects so far.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/93699-0-25-WIP-Kerbal-Konstructs-v0-4-%28Nov-11%29-Static-Objects-and-Launch-Sites!?p=1519815&viewfull=1#post1519815

Beale's problems will be down to mis-installation anyway.

[blowfish]

Out of curiosity, will static sites without launch capability work on other planets?

[AlphaAsh]

Out of curiosity, will static sites without launch capability work on other planets?

Justin or Beale can give you a better idea on that. Justin's issues were to do with launching from Duna. Since KK does support celestial bodies and co-ords are always relative to that, then it should yes. Give it a try and let me know how it goes. If you have no problems with vanishing statics then I can consider properly supporting it in KK in future.

[Justin Kerbice]

Justin or Beale can give you a better idea on that. Justin's issues were to do with launching from Duna. Since KK does support celestial bodies and co-ords are always relative to that, then it should yes. Give it a try and let me know how it goes. If you have no problems with vanishing statics then I can consider properly supporting it in KK in future.

Using a previous release version of KK as well as Kerbtown, static buildings works on other bodies out of Kerbin SOI the same way as they do on Kerbin.

(I'll never understand why people don't give it a try by themselves... is it so hard ? )

[Beale]

Out of curiosity, will static sites without launch capability work on other planets?

From my own experience with playing around:

(This is all anecdotal, I'm not a developer of this mod, so my information may be false / mis-informed)

Misc. Static Objects

Work fine on any body.

Launchpads

The force used to put vessels on the ground seems to cause a "bounce" on lower-G bodies.

Since re-installing to fix the problems I had earlier,

Launchpads on the Mun: Pretty sizable bounce depending on weight of craft.

Launchpads on Gilly: You can guess.

Also, I think as mentioned earlier, there are problems with co-ordinates when launching from other bodies in the Kerbol system (But at least the moons of Kerbin seem reasonably fine).

If you want to give it a try, it works okay. Just maybe prepare for a little maneuvering as soon as you launch (And don't use clamps off-Kerbin).

Edited November 25, 2014 by Beale

[_Augustus_]

So, does KerbalKonstructs definitely not work with StarSystems?

[AlphaAsh]

v0.5.1b is available from KerbalStuff.

This is an experimental release. Whilst stable, new features may be buggy!

If you do not want to help test this version, do not install it!

If you do want to test this version, if you have any problems please report them in this thread.

Changelog:

• In career games, recovery will now be to the nearest open base. You will still return to KSC and the widget may report recovery by KSC but the recovery rate will be based on the range to the nearest open base, not KSC.
  
• A Base Boss app is now available in the flight scene of career games. Right now it'll just show you the distance to the nearest base and nearest open base.
  

[Justin Kerbice]

Thanks for this update, but:

v0.5.1b is available fromKerbalStuff.

This is an experimental release. Whilst stable, new features may be buggy!

This is very bad, DO NOT upload experimental on KS, people will be aware of update and may download the last release, as reading is too much for some people... You'd better put it on an alternative download site (like mediafire or whatever you want) and just put the link here for people who really want to try it.

[AlphaAsh]

I'm quite aware and if I were concerned I wouldn't have put it on KerbalStuff. I'm not concerned. Thanks for the advice though.

[Eskandare]

Ash, what governs the cost of unlocking launch sites?

[AlphaAsh]

There's a couple of new tags in instances: OpenCost and CloseValue.

There's no real formula I'm using to determine them at the moment because there aren't enough attributes or abilities to measure individual worth beyond location and launch type. I just pulled the current numbers out of the air.

[_Augustus_]

Ash, does this work with StarSystems or not?

[Beetlecat]

There's a couple of new tags in instances: OpenCost and CloseValue.

There's no real formula I'm using to determine them at the moment because there aren't enough attributes or abilities to measure individual worth beyond location and launch type. I just pulled the current numbers out of the air.

Ooh nice! Could this be tied to reputation as well? Some of the bigger/more advanced sites, or more remote and hard-to-build sites could require lots of reputation as well as high cost to open.

[trekkie_]

how's this for a nice little landing pad/viewing spot.

[lextacy]

is there a list of landing strips with thier coordinates? I would like to land my shuttle at these places during my de-orbit , but do not know the locations of them. Also the launch sites. What about a list of what inclinations these new launch sites support? I realize that launching from some of these facilities you cannot do a zero inclination orbit.

[AlphaAsh]

v0.6 now available from KerbalStuff.

Changelog:

• The Launch Site Selector is now draggable in the VAB and SPH.
  
• Added Base Boss app to tracking station and map view. Use this to toggle icons of open and closed bases in career mode, and to toggle icons of rocketpads, helipads, runways and other launchsites in all game modes.
  
• Please note that currently the celestial body must be targeted in the tracking station or map view in order for icons to be displayed. Just double-click on the planetoid.
  
  
• The Base Boss app in flight-scenes has some new features.
  
• In career mode, if you are landed within 2000m of a closed base, using the Base Boss you can now open that base for half the funds it would cost in the launch site selector of the VAB and SPH.
  
  
• When landed within 2000m of a base, the facilities at that base will be listed in the Base Boss. Currently this is just for information and this feature will be expanded on in a future version of KK.
  
• A simple ATC feature can be enabled and disabled in the Base Boss. When enabled, you will recieve messages from open bases when you enter their airspace or leave their airspace. These are accessed by the KSP message widget on the right end of the KSP toolbar. This feature will be expanded on in a future version of KK (hopefully with the addition of audio!)
  
  

[BudgetHedgehog]

Ooh, nice update! Thanks!

[Justin Kerbice]

Looks good, I guess discovery feature as defined before was no longer needed, at least on how I understand these new features .

[lextacy]

I guess this new update answered my unanswered question

[AlphaAsh]

Looks good, I guess discovery feature as defined before was no longer needed, at least on how I understand these new features .

I've no plan to implement such a feature no but you're welcome to code it and put in a pull request.

I guess this new update answered my unanswered question

It's something of a pain to collate the co-ords of all the bases and not something I'm in any rush to do when at least you now get a display in the tracking station/map view (thanks to medsouz). There's a lot of other mod support I want to implement with KK (RemoteTech and SCANsat are top of the list) but poking through other mod's code to figure out how comes after working on primary features for KK.

Besides I think having exact navigational data to work with is a bit easy-mode. Mechjeb and NavUtilities ILS already support KerbinSide bases, although the latter needs some work from the player and I'm not sure sarbian has been able to keep up with my updates to KerbinSide

[Justin Kerbice]

I've no plan to implement such a feature no but you're welcome to code it and put in a pull request.

But you (almost) did it:

n career mode, if you are landed within 2000m of a closed base, using the Base Boss you can now open that base for half the funds it would cost in the launch site selector of the VAB and SPH.

What it miss is just a bool attribute for base (isDiscovered), false by default, can be set to true by launch site creators. With your own new code, set it to true when a vessel is within the 2000m range and update site cfg.

+ add UI button for creator to set it to true or false when adding a site.

At least that's how I saw it and I give it a first try but unity UI is definitely not my cup of tea, so weird. It is not even event driven (the fact is unity redrawn the exact same GUI stuff at the exact same place every frame or so, instead of drawing it once, and let the graphics data where they are and as they are, checking for changes on events, like any common GUI system), that's may explain why KSP use so much CPU resources (+ try with and without crews in SPH/VAB) !

By the way, I forgot before: "base boss" maybe not a good name, I don't like it IMHO.

[AlphaAsh]

If you believe it's that straight-forward Justin, then code it and put in a pull request. However, there's more to it than that, involving the caching and visibility parts of KK which are notoriously tangled code reliant on a notoriously unreliable part of the KSP API for statics. Regardless, yes I could do it. I'm not going to because "I don't like it IMHO."

EDIT - Your concerns regarding Unity's GUI are valid although 'common GUI systems' don't really apply to video games the same way to software applications, except perhaps in turn-based games. I believe some of your concerns are being addressed in an upcoming version of Unity but I don't expect Squad to want to migrate to that or implement the new GUI features in a hurry. Otherwise, the current GUI implementation of 'looping rendering' is actually still very common in a lot of game engines. Whilst prone to memory leakage if your code is sloppy, it doesn't actually have as a large a hit on CPU or GPU performance as you might think.

Edited November 29, 2014 by AlphaAsh

[lextacy]

Numberous problems with the new v .6

1. The alternative launch pads Kraken the ships

2. Causing hard locks , mostly when trying to go into tracking station

3. Map view sometime will make all other vessels disappear

Edited November 30, 2014 by lextacy

[Justin Kerbice]

If you believe it's that straight-forward Justin, then code it and put in a pull request. However, there's more to it than that, involving the caching and visibility parts of KK which are notoriously tangled code reliant on a notoriously unreliable part of the KSP API for statics. Regardless, yes I could do it. I'm not going to because "I don't like it IMHO."

maybe you forgot it is nothing related to hide/display physical model on the body but "only" the launch site button(s) in the VAB/SPH AND the map icons (should be already done for this "base boss" thing). Which looks like to be 75% or more GUI only stuff. A skill you've proven to be good at.

And if you don't like it... this would end either like KSP (devs don't like a feature so they don't add it even if 99% of players want it) or someone add it and... you'll have to accept it or not in the main branch of code or offer a forked/alternative version with this.