[WIP] Actions Everywhere (Test Download Available))

[Diazo]

Download Prerelease 0.2 here.

Alright, I am looking for input on my next mod on what actions people want to see added.

I am looking to add actions (as assignable to action groups) for all those things in the game that currently don't have them.

This is a direct extension of my AGX mod (in my sig) as that allows you to have as many action groups on screen as you wish to do this with.

Of course this mod will be also be compatible with default KSP and allow you to activate the actions in it via those 10 keys.

So far the list of things I'm intending to do for sure are:

Fuel Cross Feed enable/disable

Control from here option from right-click menu

Unfortunately that is a rather short list, but that is where you all come in. I need suggestions. The concept of this mod feels like it can offer so much more then just those two things.

Have you ever said to yourself "I can do this action via mouse-click, keyboard, other method, wouldn't it be nice if I could use an action group?".

If so, please post suggestions here on what to add. Something in a mod is okay to suggest also, I will be adding support for my VertVel and RCLLandAid mods as testbeds for supporting mods as examples of controlling things through action groups.

Note that I'm not looking for any sort of auto-pilot functions, rather I'm looking for those functions you as a player can easily access with a mouse but don't have an equivalent action so auto-pilots can't use that function without the auto-pilot author writing code to specifically call it.

D.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Diazo

[Red Iron Crown]

Some things I've wished were action-groupable at times (in addition to the ones you mention):

Enable/disable tanks.

Adjust thrust limiter to x%.

Enable/disable specific RCS thrusters.

Enable/disable control surface axes.

[madbadger2742]

Is it within the scope of this mod to right-click enable tweaks (in the editor) of actions which are accessible in-flight? I am particularly interested in "disable crossfeed" and "control from here."

[Diazo]

Is it within the scope of this mod to right-click enable tweaks (in the editor) of actions which are accessible in-flight? I am particularly interested in "disable crossfeed" and "control from here."

In the editor? Hmmmm. I'm going to have to say no, that is out of scope.

Both of those sound like excellent candidates for little mods of their own however. I won't commit to anything but you've got me thinking.

D.

edit: On second thought, maybe. Rather then setting it in the editor and so locking the options to just cross feed and control from here, what about adding the ability to execute actions automatically on launch? That way rather then being limited to just those actions, you could execute any action (or actions) automatically when you spawn a new vessel on the launchpad.

Edited November 7, 2014 by Diazo

[madbadger2742]

...adding the ability to execute actions automatically on launch...

That would have the same effect, I suppose.

[Diazo]

And I like it better because it will work for all actions out of the box, not just the few actions that get hardcoded in that would be required for it to work in the editor.

Add automatic action execution on launch to the probable features list.

D.

[MK3424]

Is it within the scope of this mod to right-click enable tweaks (in the editor) of actions which are accessible in-flight? I am particularly interested in "disable crossfeed" and "control from here."

You should ask the devs of TweakableEverything for the "control from here" action group.

[Malah]

And I like it better because it will work for all actions out of the box, not just the few actions that get hardcoded in that would be required for it to work in the editor.

Add automatic action execution on launch to the probable features list.

D.

I want this for ALL action group

I always play in hardmode this mean I've always edited my abort system,

I always play with mods like RemoteTech this mean I've always enable on the first action group the antennas extend.

I don't know if this has been already made on an other mod, but a mod which can make "enable all SRB", "all decouple", "extend all antennas" ... on action group would be awesome for me

(for me "enable all SRB" + "all decouple" == a easy abort system )

Edited November 7, 2014 by Malah

[starkline]

Boy would I love it if you could set an action group to a specific thrust output for engines!

[Felbourn]

I want access to all the things you can't always do without the mouse, but ALSO I want an "action bar" (think of it like WoW spell buttons, or KSP Toolbar buttons) where I can assign any action I want to the buttons, as well as mouse-over reminders of what they do.

[Diazo]

Have you seen my Action Groups Extended mod? That is one of the things it does for you.

This is the inflight window that lists all the groups with actions and the key bound to them, it expands as needed to show all groups with actions assigned. (The groups list on the right side is normally hidden.)

Note that you do not have to bind a key to each group, you can have groups with no key assigned that can only be activated via mouse click.

At the moment, AGX is limited to existing actions in game, hence this mod I am looking at doing to increase the types of actions available.

D.

Edited November 7, 2014 by Diazo

[kujuman]

I don't have the game on this computer so I can't check, but I think by default the gimbal module only AGs "Toggle Gimbal". I'd really like to see "Start Gimbal" and "End Gimbal" (there are probably better names for it). For "Start Gimbal", I think it needs to force activate the module, which may mean force activating the part. This'll solve the issue of using an AG to start an engine but then the gimbal never starts, leaving the player with less control.

[cantab]

Enable/disable tanks.

I'd extend this to general enable/disable/toggle resource usage. In stock that's mainly the fuel tanks and also the batteries.

Perhaps a "Run and Transmit" option for experiments? Will probably be a bit more complicated, especially as the stock game has a delay when you run certain experiments.

EVA Kerbal actions, mainly the EVA Report, but possibly those associated with command seats too.

PS: Off-topic, but an AGX suggestion too: Search and filter based action groups. For example a group that will retract all solar panels, and you could put it on a station and no matter what ships are docked to it at the time you can hit the action to pull in all the panels.

Edited November 7, 2014 by cantab

[Diazo]

Keep those suggestions coming, I will at least look at everything people suggest to see how viable it is.

PS: Off-topic, but an AGX suggestion too: Search and filter based action groups. For example a group that will retract all solar panels, and you could put it on a station and no matter what ships are docked to it at the time you can hit the action to pull in all the panels.

This request keeps coming up, but I keep having to say no due to technical reasons.

Notably, how do I find all solar panels on a station? Both stock and modded? I could easily find all the stock panels of course but I don't know all the modded panels out there.

"Retract all panels" has to be "retract ALL panels", not "retract all the panels from only the mods I know about".

If anyone ever figures out how to define "all" for this purpose I will jump all over it, but it has not been figured out so far.

The best workaround at the moment is to use the "List all parts" and then select each type of solar panel on your vessel and make a "Retract All" group yourself.

D.

[LitaAlto]

I second enabling/disabling tanks. There have been ample missions when it would have been easier to disable tanks above a docking port, to prevent cross-feed, if I could use an action group to toggle it.

[Gaalidas]

I want access to all the things you can't always do without the mouse, but ALSO I want an "action bar" (think of it like WoW spell buttons, or KSP Toolbar buttons) where I can assign any action I want to the buttons, as well as mouse-over reminders of what they do.

http://i.imgur.com/Eukz1vv.png

Have you seen my Action Groups Extended mod? That is one of the things it does for you.

http://members.shaw.ca/diazo/FlightWinVer17.jpg

This is the inflight window that lists all the groups with actions and the key bound to them, it expands as needed to show all groups with actions assigned. (The groups list on the right side is normally hidden.)

Note that you do not have to bind a key to each group, you can have groups with no key assigned that can only be activated via mouse click.

At the moment, AGX is limited to existing actions in game, hence this mod I am looking at doing to increase the types of actions available.

That's great and all, but I'd like that feature separate from the total overhaul of the action groups that your full mod provides. I find that your mod changes too much about how I set up my action groups in the editor and it's rather overwhelming. Of course, maybe I should give it another go now that I've fixed many of my old performance issues.

[Diazo]

That's great and all, but I'd like that feature separate from the total overhaul of the action groups that your full mod provides. I find that your mod changes too much about how I set up my action groups in the editor and it's rather overwhelming. Of course, maybe I should give it another go now that I've fixed many of my old performance issues.

Or I could get around to actually finishing off a tutorial. The first post in the thread is horrendously out of date at this point and even when it was correct it was not really good.

Anyone know of a capture software I could do a Youtube vid with? I'll investigate FRAPS of course, but are there others out there?

Also, if the base 10 groups are enough, once you are in Action Editor mode in the VAB, click the AGX button on the toolbar to hide AGX and show the default KSP editor. AGX is fully integrated with KSP so the default editor works perfectly fine even with AGX installed.

D.

Edited November 7, 2014 by Diazo

[madlemur]

Or I could get around to actually finishing off a tutorial. The first post in the thread is horrendously out of date at this point and even when it was correct it was not really good.

Anyone know of a capture software I could do a Youtube vid with? I'll investigate FRAPS of course, but are there others out there?

D.

Open Broadcaster Software seems pretty good. My 11-yo used it for a while, but is now using something that takes a little less prep/thought/configuration. I don't recall the package off-hand, but I'll update later when I get home and get the name from him.

[A-Stax32]

How about the ability to toggle whether or not a wheels brakes activate without having to have separate action groups? For example: I have a rover that has by default has brakes enabled on all four wheels, however if I know I might be going very fast or loading it in a manner which moves it's center of mass further to the front of the vehicle I can disable the front brakes.

A few other things I would like to see are the ability to bind a cockpit's window lights to an action group and the ability to toggle via action groups what axis a control surface functions on (similar to the brakes)

[Red Iron Crown]

Another one I thought of: Enable/disable engine gimbals.

I've had vessels that had upper engines firing to help the ascent that needed gimbals off as they were above the CoM, but as the lower stages were shed it would have been useful for those gimbals to be unlocked to help with control authority. (This probably wouldn't matter if gimbals were fixed to be CoM-aware like control surfaces, but until then...)

[Gaalidas]

False alarm y'all, I gave AGX another try yesterday and while there were a few confusing moments here and there, after a little tinkering it feels pretty intuitive.

[Starbuckminsterfullerton]

I would love enable/disable brakes on specific rover wheels to be included, as well as batteries (I think that's covered by fuel tanks though).

[Diazo]

Proof of concept release 0.1

Okay, to see what you guys think, here is a quick demo of how things will work.

Download link.

This test version will add Enable Gimbal and Disable Gimbal actions to all engines using the ModuleGimbal module. (The toggle gimbal action is present in stock.)

A couple things I want feedback on:

-Does it work?

Works on my computer but more results is always better.

-Actions location.

You may note that their are other actions separating the Toggle and Enable/Disable gimal actions in the actions list.

This is caused by the fact that I have to add a separate partModule with those actions so I can't guarantee the actions will show next to each other in the list.

I did take a look at adding the actions to the partModule of the gimbal instead of in a separate partmodule, but while it is probably technically possible, it is beyond my current knowledge and would significantly delay any sort of release while I learned.

-Actions affect entire part

The other limitation using a separate partModule imposes is that the actions are global to the part.

By that I mean that the "Enable Gimbal" action provided by this mod would enable all gimbals on the part, you can't enable one but not another doing it this way.

I can't think of any actions where this is a problem, if a part has two gimbals/wheels/things, I can't think of a time when you would want some on and some off on the same part.

Are there any flight scenarios you use where you might want to do this?

Overall thoughts?

D.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Diazo

[JedTech]

Would like an action group to return Focus to my vessel in map view.

Maybe a Throttle up and throttle down action that increments thrust limiters of selected engines.

[cantab]

Would like an action group to return Focus to my vessel in map view.

Backspace does that IIRC.