Change Kerbal Skills

[Major999]

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering if there was a mod, or at least a method of changing the "Type" (Scientist, pilot, engineer) of kerbals, or is there no method or mod that can do this. It would be insanely useful to those with preexisting bases and so- on who want kerbals with different types than the ones that they suddenly have. Any pointers would be great.

-Major999

[TriggerAu]

Havent seen anything just yet, but have seen some people trying to work in that section of the code.

[Pingonaut]

Huh, I figured this'd be something you'd find in the save file. I wonder where that info is saved?

[Crzyrndm]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/103152-What-s-new-in-0-90?p=1609036&viewfull=1#post1609036

[NathanKell]

No, Mike (Mu) decided to simply hardcode it: it's based on the name of the kerbal.

To fix it you'd have to write a plugin that would change a kerbal's trait after every load, since the trait *never* persists, it is *always* recalculated based on kerbal name every time the kerbal is loaded... :\

[Pingonaut]

No, Mike (Mu) decided to simply hardcode it: it's based on the name of the kerbal.

To fix it you'd have to write a plugin that would change a kerbal's trait after every load, since the trait *never* persists, it is *always* recalculated based on kerbal name every time the kerbal is loaded... :\

That's really disappointing.

[Tw1]

Would it be possible to add extra traits to a specific kerbal via module manager?

[Red3Tango]

Any news or anything if someone is working on a mod for this? maybe like integrating into Crew Manifest?

I know I'm a fairly unskilled modder, but if no one else is working on this, I may try taking it up when I have the spare time

[Scientist]

there is a cfg file of the current 4 skills in squad/experience, would adding to that list be used in the random name/skill draw? wouldnt be good for old saves, but lets you get new features using new skills

[sumghai]

The current version of Ship Manifest allows the changing of Kerbal professions - it does so by appending non-alphanumeric Unicode characters to the existing name of the Kerbal, to trick the game into generating a different career from the altered hash. The problem with this workaround is that the Unicode character used is a smiley face, and in Map View, a Kerbal on EVA is displayed as literally "Jebediah Kerman☺☺☺☺☺" for instance.

According to a conversation in IRC, apparently the reasoning behind SQUAD not wanting people to change Kerbal careers after the fact is because they "want it to persist across savegames" - i.e. in any given universe, Billy-Bob Kerman will always wind up being a scientist with a high level of stupidity.

futrtrubl and I have been campaigning for a change in ProtoCrewMember:

- When a Kerbal is first created, use the hash of the name to determine the profession of the Kerbal

- Store this value in a profession variable for this Kerbal

- Most users won't change the default assigned profession, which fit's SQUAD's desire for "persistence"

- However, at the same time, intrepid users will be allowed to edit their savegame file and change the value of profession to suit their own RP / headcanon tastes - the new manually-specified value will take precedence over the hash-based default for that particular savegame

- If an add-on provides new professions (e.g. Flight Surgeon), users will also be able to assign Kerbals to that profession easily

- If the aforementioned add-on is changed/removed, the custom profession becomes invalid; in that case, the game should automatically recalculate the default career for that Kerbal and rewrite the profession value

Some pseudocode to explain this concept:

When a Kerbal is first created
    Use the hash of the Kerbal's name to generate the default profession
    Write the text string value of the profession to the specialization field for that Kerbal
End

When accessing a Kerbal (in the Astronaut Complex, loading a savegame, loading a vessel etc.)
    Check the profession of the Kerbal
    If the Kerbal's profession is invalid (i.e. not  pilot/scientist/engineer/tourist or other any other custom profession  provided by add-ons)
        Use the hash of the Kerbal's name to generate the default profession
        Write the text string value of the profession to the specialization field for that Kerbal
    End
End

[I](There is no else statement, since the game doesn't need to do anything if a valid profession name, stock or mod, is found )[/I]

[Superfluous J]

I made a modulemanager config that does what I personally want: It gives everybody the abilities of an Engineer, and gives engineers the ability of pilots (in addition to their other abilities). This makes Pilots and Engineers swappable, and gives scientists the ability to change tires.

It doesn't seem to work with mods. I think the mods acutally check the profession, not the existence of the module. It works fine for all stock stuff I've encountered though.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/117530-

It would be trivial to just add all 3 modules to all 3 professions, making them all essentially the same (except for mods).

Edited May 1, 2015 by 5thHorseman

[capran]

I was just thinking it'd be awesome if you could dual-class Kerbonauts a la D&D. Maybe they'd stop leveling up in the first class after adding a second, or each class would still level up, but at half the normal rate?

[micha]

Yeah, Kerbals definitely need the ability to multi-class. Especially early in the game before you get access to the bigger command pods. And there needs to be a way to gain higher-level Kerbals without doing a tour of Jool just to fix a set of lander legs.

[Red3Tango]

futrtrubl and I have been campaigning for a change in ProtoCrewMember:

Where do I signup! haha

But if Squad decides not to do this, It would still be possible with a mod. The hard part I think would be re-assigning the modules when forcibly changing their skill ever time it loads a scene.

[Aelixander]

Do you think it would be possible to create NEW names for Kerbals (Zeepjod Kerbalman), and since its hard coded - choose their profession upon insertion of the new name to the game?

And on that note, if we wanted to add a NEW profession, would we be able to tie the new profession to the new name and have that work in?

[Superfluous J]

Do you think it would be possible to create NEW names for Kerbals (Zeepjod Kerbalman), and since its hard coded - choose their profession upon insertion of the new name to the game?

Not only possible, but that's just what happens. Hire a Kerbal, exit your save (you don't need to exit the game), edit your persistent.sfs, change the name from Glebbart Kerman (or whatever) to Zeepjod Kerbalman (or whatever) and reload the game. He'll have the new name and any one of the 3 professions. Not only that, but Zeepjod will be that profession in ALL games in which you insert him.

There is even a mod that - using a trick - modifies the Kerbals' professions independently from their (displayed) names. I can't think of the mod's name off the top of my head, and am not using it anymore as I'm not changing names in the series. Due to all the above doohickery required to get a specific name/profession combination, it is just too annoying.