KSP Pet Peeves

[InterCity]

My pet peeve is IVA's. The mk1 and cupola and mk1 can have quite decent ones (yet nothing like ALCOR), but what about mk3? And for all, WHERE ARE ALL THE COOL BUTTONS, DIALS AND DISPLAYS? RPM shows that it's possible, so y u no in stock?

[technicalfool]

1. Build a rocket.

2. Launch rocket.

3. Press M for map mode.

4. Press Esc and click on either of the revert options.

5. Attempt to launch again.

Notice anything? Are you zoomed way out?

Press M for map mode. Press M again to return to normal mode and your view should return to normal.

- - - Updated - - -

How you tell your guy to hold, say, retrograde. He does so for you for a while and you hit "T" to turn off SAS for a while. You move the ship around, get it all situated, and hit T again to lock your heading.

...and your Kerbal dutifully starts aiming retrograde again.

Doh! That just happened to me recently. When SAS is turned off, the SAS mode should immediately switch to "stabilize".

Here you go (alternate). It took me a little while to poke about with VesselAutopilotUI, there was a fiddly problem with multiple buttons lighting up at once, but it's not like you need to know that. Install that mod in the usual way, and SAS will flick to stability-assist mode when you enable it. License is MIT and included in the zip. Source is on github and linked in the Curseforge project page.

Edit: Forum thread here. Direct any bug reports, hate mail or worshipful adoration in that direction.

Edited January 7, 2015 by technicalfool
Thread link added.

[Traches]

alot of complaints i see in here are unfixable/ not ksp's fault

jittering orbits:

computers can only simulate physics so far, when you get to a point of smallness and accuracy theres going to be errors, hence why its called "floating point errors"

you pack a supercomputer into a tiny home computer and then come back, even then it might not be completely solved, remember, NASA landed on the Moon with a supercomputer of the time that has less processing power then your iphone, we've come a long way, but we still have a ways to go before we can simulate physics on a home computer perfectly.

Of course there's a limit to the accuracy of orbit predictions, but don't tell me there's no possible fix for jittering orbits. You could filter/average results, slow down or limit recalculation for certain distances or velocity changes, or even allow the user to pause recalculation for a little while while planning a maneuver. Someone smarter than me could come up with all sorts of clever solutions to stop them oscillating all over the place; squad just hasn't taken the time to do it.

no axial tilt:

limitation of Unity, talk to them and stop whining here.

It's not whining, and RSS would like to have a word with you.

rocket orientation:

the way it is in the VAB is how it will be on the launchpad, if thats not good enough, look out the open VAB door and picture your rocket on the launchpad out there in its current orientation.

Just because it's possible to figure out doesn't make it good UI design. It would not be difficult to indicate more clearly to the user how the rocket's going to end up on the launchpad.

My own pet peeves:

- Maneuver nodes in general. They ignore clicks, sometimes you can't even create one when and where you'd like, it's really easy to accidentally scroll on an indicator (and then there's no undo/reset optoin), half the time you accidentally delete them and the other half you can't select them to delete them, there's no clear indication of what the different components of the burn are, attempting to drag a node forward or back in time is a laughable nightmare, and fine tuning a maneuver is very fiddly. I don't know how people play without precisenode.

-Close approaches not showing in places that make sense, especially when 2 orbits are similar but not identical. I want to be able to see where the target will be when I cross its orbit, not 3/4 of the way around because that happens to be the next closest approach by straight line.

-The bug that causes my orbit line to mostly disappear when intersecting a different SOI in conics mode 0 (which is the only one that's actually useful). It's been present for every version I've played (since .21) and it usually hits when fine tuning a close approach.

-When using landing legs, I have to click the gear button twice because they start out of sync. (Yes, I know it's because of spaceplanes.)

-Crew state (manned/unmanned) doesn't save when building ships (may have been fixed in .90, I haven't messed with it).

-Only tangentially related-- the game's aerodynamics being so laughably bad that people go around calling something a "gravity turn" when it's really just a regular turn.

-Curse, and Squad's use of it.

-Physicsless parts that have no business being so.

Edit:

Oh yeah! Also the very first menu you see when you open the game. Why does it exist?

Another thing is that you have to click through several menus, a loading screen, and a couple animations to quit out of the game. We should be able to do it from the pause menu.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Traches

[Johnny Wishbone]

If you're getting excessive sideways G-forces, you're probably weren't going to space anyway.

But I guess I've never thought of it like that. They are flying sideways into space. I don't think you'd notice it as an astronaut though. I mean, the space shuttle is upside down on the way up.

Actually, KSP is oriented and launching correct (at least as far as "real life" goes).

Take a look at most NASA manned launches, even going back to Apollo. Shortly after the rocket clears the pad, a roll program is initiated by the flight computer to rotate the Saturn V/Shuttle by 90 degrees so the crew launches "forwards" not "sideways". This is even stated in the movie "Apollo 13"; when the crew launches for the moon, Tom Hanks character says the line "Roll complete. We are pitching!" He's telling Houston mission control that the rocket has completed the roll program (90 degree rotation anti-clockwise) and has begun to pitch over to start the gravity turn. So, when you launch your rocket in KSP, if you're concerned about sideways G forces, you should roll your rocket just like they do in "real life".

This leads to one of my KSP forum pet-peeves, which is when people say to start your gravity turn by "pitching over at X altitude". If you didn't roll first, technically, you're 'yawing' over at X altitude, not pitching. Based on the rocket orientation on the pad, and the fact that nobody ever rolls their rocket after launch, if you "pitch" over without rolling first, you'd be heading south, not east.

Yes, I'm being pedantic. But that's what makes it a pet peeve.

[cantab]

On a sidenote, why did they need to do a roll program like that. I kind of get it with the Shuttle, that's all asymmetric and stuff, but the Saturn V was pretty much symmetrical, why not put it on the pad the right way round?

[Johnny Wishbone]

On a sidenote, why did they need to do a roll program like that. I kind of get it with the Shuttle, that's all asymmetric and stuff, but the Saturn V was pretty much symmetrical, why not put it on the pad the right way round?

http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum29/HTML/000805.html

[vetrox]

Just remembered my most hated peeve. It rarely happens but when it does, it tickles my hate gland [snip - keep it clean guys].

unable to stage in map view. You think I would learn by now but when I hear an engine cut out and I instinctively hit spacebar to stage and nothing but the sigh of despair as I remember, yet again, to come out of map view, stage, then get back to it.

Oh how I find it ever so slightly irksome

Edited January 8, 2015 by Vanamonde

[Rithsom]

Just remembered my most hated peeve. It rarely happens but when it does, it tickles my hate gland [more snip]

unable to stage in map view. You think I would learn by now but when I hear an engine cut out and I instinctively hit spacebar to stage and nothing but the sigh of despair as I remember, yet again, to come out of map view, stage, then get back to it

That actually saved a couple of my missions (I play with quicksaving off). I accidentally hit the space bar while in map view, freaked out because I thought I jettisoned a stage, but when I got out of map view everything was okay.

But yes, I would still prefer being able to stage in map view than not.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Vanamonde

[RocketScientistsSon]

Another thing is that you have to click through several menus, a loading screen, and a couple animations to quit out of the game. We should be able to do it from the pause menu.

This has gotten me in trouble with the wife sooooo many times! It takes FOREVER to quit the game.

[tetryds]

This has gotten me in trouble with the wife sooooo many times! It takes FOREVER to quit the game.

While ALT+F4 does not cause issues as the save file is persistent, that still does not feel right and I agree.

[Traches]

While ALT+F4 does not cause issues as the save file is persistent, that still does not feel right and I agree.

If I have to force-quit a game, that usually means I'm playing a terrible console port.

That said, I've played terrible console ports that were better optimized than KSP, so I suppose I'm setting the bar a little high.

[Jonboy]

Used to be when you accidentally double-click on a planet in map view and switch focus. For the longest time I never realized that you just need to hit backspace to reset focus to your vessel.

[Superfluous J]

unable to stage in map view.

I hated this one too. It's actually the main reason I installed the Alternate Resource Panel mod (though the actual purpose of the mod is also great).

[redsh]

+1 for jittering orbits and disappearing intercepts/approach markers. I can take up floating point errors, but KSP frequently loses even precise Jool or Eve intercept.

Also I'm not happy with "flights in progress" counter that includes flags. SQUAD does not want to fix even a such little thing.

[marcushouse]

Awesome game... but can always use work.

- Lack of bigger solid rocket parts. Apart from wrapping the Kerbodyne Solid rockets with tiny Solids. Lets put in some big Solids to go with it all.

- Some form of part scale (Like tweakScale perhaps, but restricted to be sensible / realistic). Perhaps this would solve problem 1 as well if we could make the booster rockets 1-2-3-4-5 metres in diamater etc. Then you wouldnt need to put in multiple parts that all do the same thing (just smaller of bigger).

- Lack of things to spend science on.... I've done a bunch of Kerbin, Mun and Minimus missions, haven't even been out of Kerbin yet. I've unlocked everything and have 3000 science points I cant do anything with. How about adding many more things to keep unlocking (perhaps even go into futuristic (but realistic) parts, fusion engines, much better ion systems, much better power systems (light solar sails, etc etc). Give us more reason to keep unlocking things with science that is my entire motivation behind planing.. unlocking the next great part.

- Needing to unlock Action Groups should be removed. If they can make landing gear or lights come on from day 1, why would the technology of extending solar panels be any different.

- Needing to unlock manuver nodes seemed a bit strange (at least needs to be explained better as I had no idea why I didn't have them any more). Perhaps make it so that when you attempt to place one a message says (requires unlock) just so it is obvious). Also, because I hadn't unlocked them yet, I couldn't see them in tutorials that really needed them either.

- Please put in better docking systems like http://www.curse.com/ksp-mods/kerbal/220299-docking-port-alignment-indicator-version-5-0

- Instead of rescuing a Kerbal in orbit (seems odd... how the heck did he get there)... put him in a little failed ship (e.g. another competing space company sent him up), perhaps an engineer could fix the ship.

- Depending on angle and distance from your camera, when rotation around trying to place accurate nodes, the camera snaps in big increments (making it difficult to line things up or get the perspective you need to set the node correctly). The further away from your focal object, the worse it is. Try accurately setting a node on the opposite side of the sun. Panning your camera results in huge incremental snaps. Surely the further the distance from the object the more fine the camera could be moved when panning around? Or is this some kind of floating point problem?

- Adding parts to mine asteroids. It would be awesome to bring a big asteroids into earth orbit and set up a huge refuelling station there. Perhaps any rare metals (gold etc) could be returned for some $$$

[Starhawk]

It's another small thing, but...

Mouse click transparency. In the VAB when working on large craft and I go to change the staging, I often end up inadvertently selecting and detaching the part 'behind' the staging icon I'm trying to click on.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Starhawk

[Dispatcher]

While I really like the music used in KSP (including the Credits music), now that its in Beta, I'd like even more music added to the stock music rotation (without adding it myself). We've already seen visual and aural improvements in the way of new parts, textures, pyrotechnics and space center building iterations; I think the music could be expanded in a similar fashion and involves little additional coding; only someone willing to listen to and legal acquire the additional tunes. Perhaps Squad could even hold a forum contest to which members could contribute their own appropriate music, or links to appropriate royalty free music. New KSP music could be introduced to the game from this pool of winners in a similar way as was done with the KSP company logo/ flag artwork.

[hellblazer]

People not adjusting the brightness on their lights (70% is much better). It looks bleached out when they post pics of their station and rockets. Maybe its just me.

[Madrias]

Oh, this is a big can of worms for me regarding KSP 0.90.

One: I hate the lack of a Lock Symmetry Mode button in the SPH/VAB hybrid. The number of times that I've encountered an automatic switch and had to tear apart a bit of assembly work I spent hours building because it's decided my wing needs Radial symmetry, not Mirror symmetry...

Two: What's with the bloody camera? Spawning at different heights to the parts, plus the weird "I dropped the camera" views when trying to do top-down view (Hey, I used to use the top down view to make sure I had everything just how I wanted it, so this is a big one for me.) is annoying.

Three: Why use the VAB controls in the SPH?! Why? I got used to the SPH controls, and now I've got to relearn the whole mess because my camera controls aren't working the same, my rotation controls are all screwed up, and on top of that, pressing Shift seems to make the parts go wonky.

Four: The new menus aren't something I like at all. Sure, I get it, the ordered lists are nice. I could put up with that. Now either give us a search box, or at the very least, give us back the ability to click on the tab and return to page one, like we had before.

Five: Despite the awesome new MK3 parts, a few flaws came up there. One is the lack of any definitive "super heavy" wing sets. Two, the one-size-fits-everything landing wheel needs an update. Three, the MK2 - I'm sorry, the MK1 Inline - cockpit needs an IVA still. Four, the MK3 Cockpit has no IVA.

And last, but not least, Six: Despite the last two updates being "Space-plane Oriented," I feel the parts haven't been given their full justice. Sure, the MK2 and MK3 got an overhaul. The MK1 still looks like MK0.5 and there's still a lot of unfinished business regarding plane parts. The MK1 Cockpit has an IVA that is at least usable, though visibility to the sides is lacking. The MK1 Inline might as well be as dark as the MK3, because neither can be flown from inside without having supernatural piloting ability. The only tail-boom in game is that... thing, the one that doesn't fit with the color scheme, and there's a distinct lack of small jet parts.

Not to mention I could gripe for hours about the lack of useful rover parts.

[Kethevin]

1. No option to have it default to free camera.

2. Starting with 50% throttle.

3. Not being able to change my Kerbal's names without it also changing their vocation.

4. The persistent bug that causes the default flag to frequently show at the launch pad.

[KerBlam]

When scrolling through vessels in the tracking centre and it zooms the view in and out... This bugs me more than it probably should.

Some GUI text being unreadable if the background is a bit busy (maybe a semi-transparent box or a box with adjustable transparency around text would be good)

Clicking on the 'description' window under the vessel name in the VAB/SPH (among other things) and it grabs a part of the ship!!!

Grabbing the wrong control on a transfer node, because the one you want is close to/behind it.

50% throttle on Launch... What's it for?

[eddiew]

On-rails orbits changing for non-focussed vessels.

Seriously, finding out that my Eve encounter is no longer an encounter, after many hours of play time have passed since launch, that just grates. Don't give a hoof about whether this is 'because of SOI changes at high timewarp' as we keep getting told - it is a massive, game breaking, horrible bug, and it needs to be resolved. Until then I shall keep using the infinite fuel cheat, or HyperEdit, to put things back where they should be at the time they said they would be. But I shouldn't have to​.

[Superfluous J]

On-rails orbits changing for non-focussed vessels.

Seriously, finding out that my Eve encounter is no longer an encounter, after many hours of play time have passed since launch, that just grates. Don't give a hoof about whether this is 'because of SOI changes at high timewarp' as we keep getting told - it is a massive, game breaking, horrible bug, and it needs to be resolved. Until then I shall keep using the infinite fuel cheat, or HyperEdit, to put things back where they should be at the time they said they would be. But I shouldn't have to​.

I normally don't like to suggest mods to fix in the stock things but you mentioned mods yourself... Check out Kerbal Alarm Clock. You and not only set it up to slow the game down and alert you on SOI changes an maneuver nodes (and dozens of other things), but you can set it up to do so AUTOMATICALLY. Once you set it up, you will never miss a major event unless you specifically told it to ignore it.

[Charley575]

Lack of effective Nav Aides is a real problem for me, particularly in EVA, where there are no Nav Aides. I find it frustrating to land close to a survey area and have no idea if I'm walking in the right direction. Also, having the Nav markers on the Nav Ball is not the best idea when the marker is below the horizon of the Nav ball. This happens when the destination is on the opposite side of the globe but is particularly troublesome when landing a vertical lander. Could we have some kind of HUD-Style visual cue to call out these locations on the terrain?

[SAI Peregrinus]

Lack of effective Nav Aides is a real problem for me, particularly in EVA, where there are no Nav Aides. I find it frustrating to land close to a survey area and have no idea if I'm walking in the right direction. Also, having the Nav markers on the Nav Ball is not the best idea when the marker is below the horizon of the Nav ball. This happens when the destination is on the opposite side of the globe but is particularly troublesome when landing a vertical lander. Could we have some kind of HUD-Style visual cue to call out these locations on the terrain?

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/104758

Mods my friend, mods.