[DEV THREAD] REPOSoftTech - AmpYear Power Manager, Reserve Power , Ion RCS v0.18 23rd June 2015

[JPLRepo]

I figured out why the reserve power felt backwards.

The term got subconsciously associated with back-up generators. So the entire power flow scheme was flowing in reverse of what I was thinking it should be.

But it did get me thinking about a feature that might be interesting in this.

Designating a EC using part as critical. Critical systems can be powered, maybe at a lower efficiency, directly from reserve power without having to convert the resource to Electric Charge. This would be very useful for life support mods. Mark the air recyclers as critical and no longer worry about the crew suffocating while passing behind a planet.

Hmmm...i havent tried the new version of this mod yet, so I dont know if what I'm suggesting may be part of it or not, but Invader Myks above post just got me thinking...maybe it would be nice to have a feature kind of like TAC Fuel Balancer, where you could assign/prioritize separate parts, into critical/non-critical systems, which turn off/on, once certain power levels are reached...??

I know you can turn off/on electrical parts, and move EC between parts, with the stock right click menu, and do the same and even balance with TAC FB, but would be nice to have the added functionality to assign automatic actions once certain power levels are reached, rather than having scramble and do it all manually, right before you realise you are about to run out of power...

For example, once ship power reaches, say 20%, assign science, lighting, data transmission, and other non-essential parts to automatically shutdown, solar panels to activate...Then maybe at 10%, have navigation and possibly manuevering systems shutdown, and life support switch over to reserve power...

Anyway, i just think it would be kewl to be able to customize everything to mission parameters, using a GUI kind of like TAC Fuel Balancer...

It does actually have the rudimentary beginnings of this already... hidden away...

There is a button that says "EmergShutActive" or similar on the GUI (at work at the mo, can't actually check). What this does is:

1) Shutdown lights, wheels, few other things (again will have to go back and check) automatically when you reach a certain percentage (config via the space center GUI).

2) It activates solar panels automatically when same trigger is reached, but it will only do this if you are not in an atmosphere or landed.

But I like the idea of using a GUI to assign parts to this function, and the idea of powering critical systems directly from reserve power... although, will have to think a bit more of how to implement this effectively....

right now however, when I have some spare time (maybe starting this weekend) I want to:-

a)finish the current non-published version I have which squashes a bunch of bugs etc and get that out.

b)look to split KabinKraziness into a separate mod

c)I feel it is close to a proper release.... then maybe can look at adding features like this... hmm, I need some more time to think about this. Which is not right now.

thanks for the ideas and feedback.

[Stone Blue]

It does actually have the rudimentary beginnings of this already... hidden away...

There is a button that says "EmergShutActive" or similar on the GUI (at work at the mo, can't actually check). What this does is:

1) Shutdown lights, wheels, few other things (again will have to go back and check) automatically when you reach a certain percentage (config via the space center GUI).

2) It activates solar panels automatically when same trigger is reached, but it will only do this if you are not in an atmosphere or landed.

But I like the idea of using a GUI to assign parts to this function, and the idea of powering critical systems directly from reserve power... although, will have to think a bit more of how to implement this effectively....

right now however, when I have some spare time (maybe starting this weekend) I want to:-

a)finish the current non-published version I have which squashes a bunch of bugs etc and get that out.

b)look to split KabinKraziness into a separate mod

c)I feel it is close to a proper release.... then maybe can look at adding features like this... hmm, I need some more time to think about this. Which is not right now.

thanks for the ideas and feedback.

Nice!! Cant wait to see what you come up with...:thumbsup:

Like I said, maybe take a look at TAC Fuel Balancer's GUI...???...Course, I'm biased: I LUV that mod...

[JPLRepo]

V0.12d published. See OP post.

Fixed Vessel switching bug (save settings correctly). Kraziness balancing. Removed Auto-Hibernate and added timewarp/low power warning pop-up. Updated to latest versions of other mods.

Next up: Look at splitting KabinKraziness out to a separate mod and/or look at the Emergency Shutdown function - critical parts function to expand out as per previous posts.

[Probus]

JPLRepo, love the mod. Now part of my standard mod package. Is there a way to turn AY on by default for each vessel. It keeps turning my SAS and RCS off by default.

Thanks! Keep up the great work!

[JPLRepo]

JPLRepo, love the mod. Now part of my standard mod package. Is there a way to turn AY on by default for each vessel. It keeps turning my SAS and RCS off by default.

Thanks! Keep up the great work!

Thanks Probus. I'm just glad others are finding it useful.

The latest version (0.12d) fixed the problem when switching vehicles and EVAing wasn't saving the settings correctly for each vessel.

But are you talking about setting the Power Manager ON and RCS and SAS ON by default when a Vehicle first launches?

I've also been slightly annoyed by that, so was thinking of adding that as a setting. I was also thinking about making it save the GUI state as well for each vehicle (currently it doesn't and you have to turn it on each time).

I'll look at adding this in the next version. I have started work on splitting KabinKraziness out of the mod and making it separate, but dependant on AmpYear.

The separation would see AmpYear Base mod including all the functions it has today including the ION and PPT RCS but without KabinKraziness the Luxury features and KabinKraziness are removed. If you add KabinKraziness add-on mod you get all the functions as per v0.12d.

[JeffreyCor]

Not having any of those weird problems any longer when using the newest version. No idea why but I'm happy with the result

[JPLRepo]

Not having any of those weird problems any longer when using the newest version. No idea why but I'm happy with the result

That's great... weird... but great. I found what I was doing around tracking vessels and saving the settings. was pretty busted.... and causing everything to be a bit weird in flight. Which I have now fixed. But your issue was in the editor.. So I can't really explain that. Anywho. Glad it seems to have gone away now.

[JeffreyCor]

I noticed when testing some other mods KSP can be very weird and times and do things it shouldn't for seemingly no reason or a cause have absolutely no connection with the symptom. Probably something like that. Not going to question why it works, just going to be happy it does

[JPLRepo]

I noticed when testing some other mods KSP can be very weird and times and do things it shouldn't for seemingly no reason or a cause have absolutely no connection with the symptom. Probably something like that. Not going to question why iot works, just going to be happy it does

Yeah I've had weird things too that can't be explained. My mods code is shared between flight mode and editor so it could have been something that executes in both. Anyway, hopefully it's fixed. And hopefully I don't introduce more problems splitting KabinKraziness out. I've started the work but it's got some way to go because I want to do as much testing on it as I can before I release it. Want to make sure it works. Fingers crossed.

[dan2600]

Just found and Really like this mod, but I'm experiencing a bug since installing. Whenever switching from VAB to the launch pad the keyboard/mouse becomes unresponsive to game play (can't click on anything/rotate the camera/launch/etc). I can push escape, If i quit to the space center, it starts zoomed in, and I can't move the camera. If quit to the menu reload, I can load the rocket from the launch pad, and play as usual. Any ideas? Don't want to uninstall, the battery backup idea is so good!

[JPLRepo]

Just found and Really like this mod, but I'm experiencing a bug since installing. Whenever switching from VAB to the launch pad the keyboard/mouse becomes unresponsive to game play (can't click on anything/rotate the camera/launch/etc). I can push escape, If i quit to the space center, it starts zoomed in, and I can't move the camera. If quit to the menu reload, I can load the rocket from the launch pad, and play as usual. Any ideas? Don't want to uninstall, the battery backup idea is so good!

Can't help much Without a log. Go to the space centre and turn debugging on in the AmpYear menu. Then repeat the process, capture the log and post a link. If you need help doing that read this.

It could be corrupted save file? Did you install and then try to use an existing save file? I had this happen on a save file when testing a new version of the mod. Starting a new save fixed it. failing that I would need a log.

Edited March 25, 2015 by JPLRepo

[dan2600]

Can't help much Without a log. Go to the space centre and turn debugging on in the AmpYear menu. Then repeat the process, capture the log and post a link. If you need help doing that read this.

It could be corrupted save file? Did you install and then try to use an existing save file? I had this happen on a save file when testing a new version of the mod. Starting a new save fixed it. failing that I would need a log.

Thanks for the response!

Pretty new Science Sandbox save file (but not fresh), no older versions of Ampyear installed before. I'll try it again when i get home and if it happens again I'll post the log!!

[Faster]

Noticed with a few different craft that when the power production is slightly higher than the drain, e.g., 2.337 drain and 2.500 production, and the stored power is increasing at 1X time warp, increasing the time warp by one or more steps will cause the stored power to begin to decrease while the drain and production readings remain the same and dropping back to 1X reverses the problem.

[lepht]

this very much needs a way of setting the manager on by default, and I daresay it should be on by default, by default.

because it took me an hour to figure out what was turning SAS on and off, bc the options config didn't have it, and 'manager' didn't make sense to be turning it off.

I know my way around things, and if it took that long, well.

[JPLRepo]

Noticed with a few different craft that when the power production is slightly higher than the drain, e.g., 2.337 drain and 2.500 production, and the stored power is increasing at 1X time warp, increasing the time warp by one or more steps will cause the stored power to begin to decrease while the drain and production readings remain the same and dropping back to 1X reverses the problem.

I can't seem to be able to produce this. Can you please turn on Debugging mode in the AmpYear settings menu in the spacecenter, then re-produce the problem you are talking about and post your log file.

- - - Updated - - -

this very much needs a way of setting the manager on by default, and I daresay it should be on by default, by default.

because it took me an hour to figure out what was turning SAS on and off, bc the options config didn't have it, and 'manager' didn't make sense to be turning it off.

I know my way around things, and if it took that long, well.

Try latest version I just published. v0.12e. Changed default value for all new craft to have the Power Manager function switched ON. I also updated the OP post to call out that you need the power manager ON for all subsystems to function including RCS and SAS.

This is a quick fix, I didn't change anything else as I am currently working on splitting KabinKraziness to be a stand-alone mod and some other features, fixes and polishing which I hope to have done over the Easter break.

Edited March 31, 2015 by JPLRepo

[JPLRepo]

Noticed with a few different craft that when the power production is slightly higher than the drain, e.g., 2.337 drain and 2.500 production, and the stored power is increasing at 1X time warp, increasing the time warp by one or more steps will cause the stored power to begin to decrease while the drain and production readings remain the same and dropping back to 1X reverses the problem.

I can't seem to be able to produce this. Can you please turn on Debugging mode in the AmpYear settings menu in the spacecenter, then re-produce the problem you are talking about and post your log file.

.

Actually I just figured out what is happening here... I'll look to incorporate fix in next version, basically the GUI is showing the figures out of sync with the game/time updates.

EDIT: 3rd April: Found there is bug in KSP at high time warp with regard to electric charge generation. So looks like only alternative is to re-implement the Auto-Hibernate at high time warp rates. So close to release of V0.13 with AmpYear and KabinKraziness split, but have been trying to deal with this issue most of the day. Think I will have to re-implement Auto-Hibernate and re-test then should be good to go.

Edited April 3, 2015 by JPLRepo

[JPLRepo]

V0.13 Released. See the OP. Removed KabinKraziness - will be releasing this as an add-on to AmpYear in the coming days.

Edited April 4, 2015 by JPLRepo

[rasta013]

Great mod man! I love using this and it sure has made monitoring and setting up electrical far easier. I just got the latest version downloaded and the toolbar button is no longer available. Your's was the only mod that got updated and I verified the install twice by ripping and reinstalling just to make sure. I also checked to make sure nothing funky happened on my save game and checked with a new career mode but still no joy. While the manager is definitely on (I can turn on RCS/SAS) and the mod is definitely installed (I can see the reserve batteries and RCS modules) I cannot get the toolbar back up on either the stock or blizzy's bar. Was this function temporarily removed prepping for your KK add-on in the next few days or has something funky happened?

[JPLRepo]

Great mod man! I love using this and it sure has made monitoring and setting up electrical far easier. I just got the latest version downloaded and the toolbar button is no longer available. Your's was the only mod that got updated and I verified the install twice by ripping and reinstalling just to make sure. I also checked to make sure nothing funky happened on my save game and checked with a new career mode but still no joy. While the manager is definitely on (I can turn on RCS/SAS) and the mod is definitely installed (I can see the reserve batteries and RCS modules) I cannot get the toolbar back up on either the stock or blizzy's bar. Was this function temporarily removed prepping for your KK add-on in the next few days or has something funky happened?

This would probably indicate the mod is not loading correctly. I would need a log to confirm, but I would ask you to check you installed it correctly. You should have both an AmpYear folder AND a KabinKraziness folder in your Gamedata. My bet would be you haven't installed KKInterface.dll in the KabinKraziness folder and the AmpYear mod needs this to load correctly.

if you have got both folders installed pleasepost a log file.

[rasta013]

That was it. I was missing the KabinKraziness folder. Apparently using CKAN to update only installed the AmpYear folder although the KabinKraziness was contained in the zipfile. Extracting it and dropping it in solved the problem of course. Guess I missed that on my folder check.

Thanks for the quick reply and keep up the great work. Love this mod!

[JPLRepo]

That was it. I was missing the KabinKraziness folder. Apparently using CKAN to update only installed the AmpYear folder although the KabinKraziness was contained in the zipfile. Extracting it and dropping it in solved the problem of course. Guess I missed that on my folder check.

Thanks for the quick reply and keep up the great work. Love this mod!

No Probs.

I don't support CKAN and I didn't load this to CKAN, nor do I use it myself.

The distribution files/folders I will look to fix for the next version when I release KabinKraziness.

[JPLRepo]

KabinKraziness has been split into a separate installable. go here for the forum post, links and instructions.

[StahnAileron]

Hi there! I'm looking at this mod and the one thing that comes to mind is Nertea's Near Future Electrical mod and its capacitor system. (Amusingly, caps and batteries in KSP act in reverse roles compared to reality... But that's something else.) I noticed you mentioned NFE/Solar in the OP. Does this integrated directly with NFE/S if present? Or is it just power calculations? I believe Nertea's prepping updates for the eventual jump to KSP v1.0, but I would like some way to manage his capacitors better. (His currently method is functional, but not very fine grain.)

[JPLRepo]

Hi there! I'm looking at this mod and the one thing that comes to mind is Nertea's Near Future Electrical mod and its capacitor system. (Amusingly, caps and batteries in KSP act in reverse roles compared to reality... But that's something else.) I noticed you mentioned NFE/Solar in the OP. Does this integrated directly with NFE/S if present? Or is it just power calculations? I believe Nertea's prepping updates for the eventual jump to KSP v1.0, but I would like some way to manage his capacitors better. (His currently method is functional, but not very fine grain.)

At the moment AmpYear has specific code for the mentioned MODS to include in electric charge calculations. With regard to NFE AmpYear includes the Fission Generators in calculations for electric charge. It's actually a fair bit out of date. I should add support for NFE Radioisotope generator, capacitors and fission reprocessors as currently AmpYear does not identify them.

[sc0rch]

That's a great idea. Do you know of any of these mods? Haven't come across any myself yet. Otherwise I could look to extend Ampyear to do this. Wouldn't be hard.

It's not necessaily a mod, but these guys were talking about a sort of sanity mod here. It looks abandoned, but I wanted to talk to the OP and try to continue the mod myself utilizing this dude's calculations.