Editor being revised for 0.90: What would you like to see?

[Capt Snuggler]

- Buy, borrow, steal, or reimplement m4v's RCS Build Aid. It is an incredibly useful tool for construction.

- Allow all context menu items in action groups. Allow action group items to be added to staging. Allow action group editing while in flight.

this this a thousand times this.

- Thumbnails of parts when moused over in the staging list. Allow context menu access through clicking staging icons.

showing a line pointing to the part/engine when you mouse over the icon in staging. would be great. also being able to access the context menu from the staging icon would be great too. It shouldn't be so hard to click parts when your craft is spinning out of control.

[RocketPilot573]

I get that the devs don't want Delta-V readouts and stuff, but can we at least get total mass, total empty mass, etc? The problem isn't that there is no delta-V readout, the problem is that it's not really possible to calculate it without mods because I really, REALLY don't want to add up the mass of my 400 part ship...

[Red Iron Crown]

I get that the devs don't want Delta-V readouts and stuff, but can we at least get total mass, total empty mass, etc? The problem isn't that there is no delta-V readout, the problem is that it's not really possible to calculate it without mods because I really, REALLY don't want to add up the mass of my 400 part ship...

I think the readouts just don't combine well with KSP's analog 1960s style. Maybe if each stage had an analog gauge for showing dV, as well as one for the entire craft. Perhaps with a scale from 0-15 in km/s, with a highlighted mark at that magic 4.5km/s point.

[Overfloater]

Ooh, ooh!

Being able to change the root part would be usefull.

THAT.

[Tw1]

Are we taking it to mean that the SPH and VAB will still be separate, but now the only differences will be one is for long craft, the other for tall?

I also think offering informative readouts would be a good idea. The problem is, how far do you have to go before they are useful. You could give mass, and empty mass

I also think staging could be improved. You could have advanced and basic modes- basic like there is now, and advanced would be done from a tab, and let you take things out of the staging sequence, or include things that formerly could only be done by action groups. etc.

[moogoob]

The implications of such a feature are very far-reaching, but at the moment all we want from it is the added simplicity of working with a single Editor scene (the scenery is loaded on top from separate scenes). Also, this should make it very simple to add a switch to the editor UI to let you simply flick between Mirror (SPH-style) or Radial (VAB-style) symmetry modes. On the same build, on the same vessel."

- Harvester

[napoleon dynamite]yessss[/napoleon dynamite]

No really, this makes me tremendously happy. No more making rovers in the bloody spaceplane hangar, or being unable to put 4x symmetry RCS blocks on spaceplanes.

[Laie]

As I understand it, Editor Extensions will no longer be needed after the update -- that suits me fine and covers 90% of what I hope for.

Being able to change the root part would be usefull.

That would be the other 10%.

I`d like `shift` to be removed from the hotkey to zoom in either editor. I can`t count the times when flying that I have pressed shift to zoom in and ended up messing up my trajectory and fuel remaining (sometimes docking)

Oh yes! I'd never though of this, but you're so right.

One more thing I can think of: multiple connections. As in, two tanks coming from a bicoupler and leading into another one.

[Red Iron Crown]

Bump for more details in this weeks devnotes (added to OP as well):

There are now four construction modes when you are building a ship.

Place Mode: This is the standard mode, where you click on parts to pick them up or attach or detach them from the ship.

Offset Mode: In this mode, you can select parts from the ship, and on selecting, a translation gizmo will pop up, allowing you to slide the part freely, without detaching it.

Rotate Mode: In this mode, you can rotate the selected parts using a rotation gizmo. This mode also works on unattached parts, and you can also switch to it while attaching too.

Root Mode: This mode is only available if you have an eligible set of parts selected. Activating root mode will allow you to select another part (from the children of the selected set) to attach by. It will reflow the hierarchy much like docking does, so the selected part becomes the new root of the hierarchy. This one is particularly useful for subassemblies and such.

The last few days were mostly devoted to ironing out issues with the new implementation, and improving the way the editor handles rotating parts and symmetry. It is now possible to switch between Radial and Mirror symmetry modes using the Y key (a UI button will follow shortly), both in the VAB and SPH. This is amazingly useful for building shuttles and hybrid type vessels.

I'm very pleased with the addition of SelectRoot-like functionality.

[Dodgey]

While I'm looking forward to select root functionality I'm more looking forward to offset and rotate mode, it sounds like they will make placing wings much more easy.

[Padishar]

Indeed, the offset and rotate gizmos sound very useful (and quite similar to features I've been developing in Part Angle Display) though I'd like some more details about how (and how accurately) they actually work along with a mention of how you actually switch between the modes...

[Wanderfound]

Along with the obvious integration of RCS Build Aid, I'd like to beable to analyse monoprop RCS and Vernors separately. I use balanced RCS for docking and totally unbalanced Vernors for stall and spinout recovery.

[Red Iron Crown]

Indeed, the offset and rotate gizmos sound very useful (and quite similar to features I've been developing in Part Angle Display) though I'd like some more details about how (and how accurately) they actually work along with a mention of how you actually switch between the modes...

Somehow I doubt it will have the precision of your PAD mod where you can enter actual numbers. I'm hopeful that there will be robust and complete keyboard shortcuts, though.

[Red Iron Crown]

Bump for more details available about the editor gizmos, check this video around the 49:00 mark:

http://www.twitch.tv/ksptv/b/583936963

Only a few stills of the gizmos, and it's not clear if they're operated by mouse, keyboard or both. Looking good though, and what I presume is the search parts button is visible at upper left.

[Solarspaceprobe]

Reaction wheel torque indicators. They would appear next to and in the same way as center of mass/lift/thrust indicators, and make it much easier to set up your torque in the places it's needed! Idea I had a while back actually.

[Las-pen]

My ideas

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/98850-Ideas-for-less-cluttered-catalog

EDIT: Also subcategories. Especially for Propulsion-tab. Engines and Fuel Tanks

Edited November 2, 2014 by Las-pen

[Red Iron Crown]

Some more details emerged in this week's dev notes:

- Some symmetry fixes.

- Persistent crew assignment.

- More keyboard shortcuts (including ones for the new gizmos) that are rebindable.

- Fixed Undo/Redo functionality.

- Some reworking of how struts and fuel lines work internally (not clear to me how this will affect players).

- Elimination of the category tabs, replaced by filters. User-definable categories.

Sounding better and better.

[Wanderfound]

It would be nice if it became possible to detach or relocate a strut from either end.

[Red Iron Crown]

It would be nice if it became possible to detach or relocate a strut from either end.

Along those lines, it would be great if the second connection of a strut or fuel line could be made to angle snap. Not sure it's possible currently as I think those parts are defined with the first node's attachment and then an angle at which the line extends until it hits something. Hopefully the rework of those parts allows more precision.

[Aatch]

I would like to see better handling of detached sets of parts. Right now they only have attachment nodes where you detached them, which makes trying to re-arrange crafts (especially planes) a pain. It's a little thing, but I'd like detached blocks to function more like normal parts.

Setting up staging is an exercise in frustration for complex crafts. I'm not sure how to fix it, but having it be a bit smarter about where it decides to place things in the staging stack, taking into account which sets of parts are controllable would be nice.

Otherwise, I don't have anything I feel strongly about that hasn't already been confirmed (root changing being the biggest).

[Wanderfound]

Setting up staging is an exercise in frustration for complex crafts. I'm not sure how to fix it, but having it be a bit smarter about where it decides to place things in the staging stack, taking into account which sets of parts are controllable would be nice.

The other key to that is fixing the highlighting system. When I mouse over a part or staging icon, I want the matching icon/part to be clearly marked, not given a faint green glow or a subtle outline. Turn the things bright red instead.

[Hyomoto]

In the current Editor Extensions, you turn on vertical snap and it snaps to the center of the part. I want to be able to cycle through options:

1x: Snap to the center like it does now.

2x: Snap to 2 places, 1/3 and 2/3 of the way down the part.

3x: Snap to 3 places, 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 of the way down.

4x: Snap to 4 places, 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, 4/5th of the way down.

...etc.

And also maybe the option to snap to the very top and very bottom (but still on the side) to make placing landing gear a little easier.

This is really the only major feature I'd like to see that EE doesn't do. There are ways to finagle it, but if we can adjust separation degrees, and the mid point of a part can be calculated, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to use a variation of snap on the vertical axis as well.

[NWM]

1/ Selecting root

2/ Connecting coping parts without struts - the new wing part beautiful, but building greater surfaces and employing struts on them is SUX! If possible make it available for constructional parts' nodes too - building closed frames without struts!

3/ Make each of the micronode and hubmax nodes be able attached first - quite fatiguing to search the "first" node.

4/ make the parts able to attach "radially" with not only by on edge. For example the nacelles can be radially attached only by their bottom (opposite side of the intake slot), and cannot be attached by their left-right side. For example the wing connector A and B could be one, if the attachment edge could be changed.

5/ Attachment "texture" instead of 0/1 at some parts. If there would be a bi-color texture of yes and no meaning, there could be surfaces on a part both allowed and not allowed to attach (cabins doors for example)

6/ More tweakables

[Red Iron Crown]

More devnote information:

To recap on last week, I’ve made several tweaks to improve usability on the editor gizmos. Angle-snapping is improved now: holding LeftShift (remappable) will engage extra precision, reducing the angle snap interval from the default 15° to 5°. This also works with both gizmos. The offset gizmo snaps to a 0.2 unit sized grid, or 0.1 when holding shift.

I added a new edge-highlighting effect. ... this new edge-highlighting effect is now used to highlight valid root candidates when using the root tool, to highlight valid destination parts (in flight) when transferring crew members around, and also to highlight parts when you mouse over their staging icons, both in the editor and in flight.

The improved angle snap granularity is a bit of a letdown to me after using Editor Extensions for so long, let alone the high degree of precision that PartAngleDisplay permits (looks like those mods are not redundant just yet). The new part highlighting looks great (pic here).

[Daveroski]

I would like both the SPH and the VAB to have the same editors. Both with a MIRROR toggle and both with a SYMMETRY toggle.

This would make transferring more complex parts as subs to and fro much easier and less messy.

Right now when you transfer parts with fuel lines and struts from as a sub, often the fuel lines and struts are not aligned, not connected, or not there.

Why shouldn't I be able to build my rover in the VAB with all the same controls as the SPH? If I am launching it on a rocket, it makes sense. Mirror toggle in the VAB. Handy!

Why shouldn't I be able to build my winged return vehicle in the VAB too? It is starting out vertical, it will be launched vertically. Need to be able to mirror parts, not just rotate them about an axis.

Why shouldn't I be able to build a lander in SPH. Here I need symmetry for the legs and RCS. It is going to go in my new cargo hold. So a toggle-able symmetry gizmo would be good.

If I have a pre-built lander in VAB I should be able to sub it to SPH without having to practically rebuild the thing one it's there.

They are basically the same buildings, just rotated through 90 degrees.

While it may be possible to make just one building for construction, I think for aesthetics, I like my planes to be made with a hangar style background and my rockets with a rocket style background.

I would like to be able to resize objects BUT NOT in steps of 'common rocket' sizes. Resize should be an integral part of the editor and I should be able to resize an object by the smallest increment possible.

I would also like to be able to resize an item on any axis x,y or z.

This would make my vehicles look custom made. Just for the look of it, I prefer to make landers with several small tanks for fuel instead of one larger tank. Please give me more options for such customisability.

I want the option of having a command seat manned when I launch a rover. Right now I have to either; have a kerbal waiting outside ready to get in on launch (But I have to keep him away from the launch area or I can't launch anything) or I have to build a contraption with a command pod that I can detach on launch or I have to have the rover build with a probe core installed.

I want a Wind Tunnel (wind speeds up to 2200m/s would be nice). Where I can check for drag.

I would also like to be able to build devices for astronaut training which will change the stats of a given kerbonaut.

When I attach an object such as an RCS thruster. I want to be able to put it on straight right away. Not have to tweak it because angle snap gives it a little twist.

An info gizmo in the SPH that will tell me and estimated take off speed from We're hopeful - down to - a few meters per second.

I want a fuel regulator researchable and available for purchase in both VAB and SPH which will automatically make a vehicle use fuel in favour of COM.

I am aware that there may be mods available for some of these things but I want then in vanilla.

[Red Iron Crown]

I believe both symmetry styles will be available in either editor, HarvesteR has mentioned unifying the editors in previous devnotes.