Contract / Navigation Markers on EVA

[beeawwb]

Hi all,

Apologies if this has already been suggested before. I'm very new to Kerbal and just sort of figuring my way out as I go along. So anyway, I got the Beta Than Ever patch and started working my way through career mode. I faked my way to a surveying rocket within the 30 part limit (2 Rockomax BACC for lift, attached to wings / LV-T45 engine & fuel, + 4 parachutes for a soft landing) and made my way through the first surveys.

I then accepted my first "EVA" survey mission, and while I was able to land essentially directly on top of the navigation marker (I wish I'd taken a screenshot but it was near midnight and I was about to go to bed) when I got out of the craft to EVA I didn't receive any notification that I was at the navigation marker, despite it being selected on my Navball. In fact, what happened was as soon as I stepped out of the craft I could no longer see any navigation markers or Navball, and zooming out to "continental" zoom levels showed no indication of where the EVA was supposed to take place. Worse still when I was at the Navball / Tracker map you can't zoom in close enough so I was left with a marker for my ship obscuring / on top of the marker for the navigation point so I couldn't even work out what direction I might need to walk.

So, unless I'm missing something I feel there should be some way of honing in on where the EVA Navigation contracts are supposed to be completed once you're actually on EVA!

Cheers.

[Anquietas314]

Hi, welcome to the forums (and KSP!) There is a search feature in the top right corner (it's a little derpy sometimes mind), but I think in this case you're in the clear. I've seen suggestions for it buried in other threads, but not an explicit thread like this

There is no such thing as "faking" your way into doing something KSP; there is no wrong way to do something (unless you're doing something really stupid), there's just your way, and (probably) better ways

You can rotate the map by holding right click and dragging though - use that to get a better angle on where you are with respect to the marker. They're also slightly transparent.

Otherwise, yes, we do need some way to see the markers while on EVA

[THX1138]

We need better ways to see markers than printed on the navball (a moving arrow could work). I can't look for the green marker without pointing my engines in different directions which is not conducive to a good landing and avoiding unintended disassembly of the space craft.

Here's a screenshot of where I'm at. I've wasted all of my fuel looking for the exact spot. You can't zoom in very much in the game so I used GIMP to enhance the image further. According to the map, the spot I'm looking for is right in the middle of my massive ship. Bloody useless. I pressed F5 before I began hunting so I can go back and hunt again with more fuel. This isn't much fun.

[space jake]

+1. I'm in this exact situation right now.

Seems like it would be a trivial mod. I'm guessing there's a "max zoom" parameter in a file somewhere, and it simply needs to be changed. I'll poke around a bit in the config files, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will pick up this torch.

EDIT: I didn't find anything in the .cfg files, but I did notice that there's an icon on the nav ball that points you in the right direction if you have selected to navigate to the target.

Edited December 24, 2014 by space jake

[Anquietas314]

We need better ways to see markers than printed on the navball (a moving arrow could work). I can't look for the green marker without pointing my engines in different directions which is not conducive to a good landing and avoiding unintended disassembly of the space craft.

Here's a screenshot of where I'm at. I've wasted all of my fuel looking for the exact spot. You can't zoom in very much in the game so I used GIMP to enhance the image further. According to the map, the spot I'm looking for is right in the middle of my massive ship. Bloody useless. I pressed F5 before I began hunting so I can go back and hunt again with more fuel. This isn't much fun.

http://i.imgur.com/35qo4fq.jpg

Well, in the original Fine Print mod the idea was really to use a rover for those; just drop one nearby and drive over

[The DigitalAlchemist]

I was literally about to post this... IMO, they need to take it a step further, and make the nav points visible while in flight. It would help immensely if I didnt have to switch back and forth from the map and try to guestimate where the point actually was distance wise.

If you could actually see it, you could know exactly where it was, fly up and land right ontop of it. Perhaps even having the radius around it where the mission is capable of being completed would be nice too.

Well, in the original Fine Print mod the idea was really to use a rover for those; just drop one nearby and drive over

I would use a rover myself, but they're so terrible to use anywhere that I've never been able to appreciate them. If the game was better tuned to have better driving physics (like SAS unit's that wont unnaturally torque your vehicle in motion, and try to keep it better planted), and easier to make driving vehicles (like tools to align your wheels for one... Or how about better parts to attach wheels?) maybe it would be worth while.

Sure, at 20m/s your going 40mph, which is pretty quick but the physics makes it feel... wonky. A slight bump and you go flying 100 meters through the air lol. Tires explode like a balloon VS a nail gun and they dont just "loose grip", they lock up completely and it's like putting a rod in bikers front tire while theyre doing 30... Hilarious to watch, not fun to be a part of.

[jcantara]

If the game was better tuned to have better driving physics (like SAS unit's that wont unnaturally torque your vehicle in motion, and try to keep it better planted)

Remap driving controls to the same as docking controls, that way when you push "forward" you aren't also simultaneously pressing "pitch down"

[Nitrous Oxide]

Remap driving controls to the same as docking controls, that way when you push "forward" you aren't also simultaneously pressing "pitch down"

I just drive my rovers with docking mode... works well enough.

[BudgetHedgehog]

I was literally about to post this... IMO, they need to take it a step further, and make the nav points visible while in flight.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/104758-0-90-In-Flight-Waypoints-v1-2-2-2014-12-29

Stockified in 0.91, calling it now. Should've been there in the first place.