Devnote Tuesdays: The Really Hot Edition

[mindstalker]

I think that's my biggest concern with Squad moving straight from 0.90 to 1.0. There really needs to be a 0.95 beta release with all of the new content folded in followed by 1-2 months of bug fixes and feature polishing / balancing prior to doing a 1.0 release.

Expecting everything to magically be perfect without doing another beta test of new features is hubris.

If they stick with "1.0 or bust" then it's going to go splat and the game press is going to beat them up for it mercilessly.

Or, Or they hire a large team of tester and REALLY put the game though its paces internally. This could mean a 1.0 release that is mostly bug free and its being a "whole new game" for old players and new players alike. Having a 0.95 release would mean that 1.0 is a no big deal release for many as it doesn't include many new features. If they also purchase a decent advertising campaign to go along with it, their 1.0 release could mirror that of a AAA game.

[Alshain]

Asset loading and handling still hasn't been mentioned anywhere. If that doesn't make it into v1.0. I think I will have made up my mind about Squad.

Right? Fast loading and low memory usage? In v1.0?

LoadOnDemand doesn't work anymore...

Not to take away from all the other nice things that are coming, but seriously.. loading of assets is a fundamental thing isn't it? For v1.0?

I thought Harvester had already mentioned that once before, but I think it was for 0.90. I remember him saying something about a slight speed increase to the load time but there might not be much more they can do on that front.

[CaptainKipard]

I thought Harvester had already mentioned that once before, but I think it was for 0.90. I remember him saying something about a slight speed increase to the load time but there might not be much more they can do on that front.

A slight speed increase is nothing compared to what LoadOnDemand did. KSP Shouldn't be loading everything on startup anyway. It's crazy.

[Alshain]

A slight speed increase is nothing compared to what LoadOnDemand did. KSP Shouldn't be loading everything on startup anyway. It's crazy.

LoadOnDemand was terrible. Get within range of your space station then sit there any wait forever, go away, make a sandwich, come back, wait some more...

[Robotengineer]

I would like to see KSP load all the assets at once, but use ATM style loading, where you can load 5GB of textures in < 1 minute.

[Alshain]

I would like to see KSP load all the assets at once, but use ATM style loading, where you can load 5GB of textures in < 1 minute.

It does that by reducing the textures size, you lose quality when you do this. If Squad were to go that route I'm sure they would just re-render the textures at lower resolutions rather resize them on the fly every time the game loaded.

ATM works the way it does out of necessity.

[Kibble]

I put that in quotes because I don't think the current models for Kerbals are "exaggerated" or "overtly,"

I agree - in fact I'd say the current models are pretty androgynous!

[NoMrBond]

It does that by reducing the textures size, you lose quality when you do this. If Squad were to go that route I'm sure they would just re-render the textures at lower resolutions rather resize them on the fly every time the game loaded.

ATM works the way it does out of necessity.

What happened to the mod that loaded up all the textures as, I think it was 32x32px images then dynamically swapped in the real (full size) textures only as/when KSP was actually using them?

[BudgetHedgehog]

Who said anything about an overly feminine appearance?

Indeed - Max said on Squadcast that the current design for female Kerbals was no lipstick, same colour green, slimmer bodies, rounder faces.. probably something not disssimilar to the concept art drawn by various people.

[dryer_lint]

Thank god we're not getting lipstick. TextureReplacer is a cool mod but the female Kerbals... no

Re-entry heat and female Kerbals = Sizziling Hot Green Sights

How on earth has this not been censored yet

[Bilfr3d]

Kasper (KasperVld): A lot of things are happening at the same time, but sadly there’s not much to share at this point. I’ve listened with great interest to the discussions the guys had regarding 1.0, and other than that I’ve been away from the computer, in meetings and on the phones quite a bit.

Mysterious, classified phone meetings.... Sounds promising Can't wait to see the stability tester and the new drag model. I especially like the sounds of the stability tester.

[SaturnV]

Thank god we're not getting lipstick. TextureReplacer is a cool mod but the female Kerbals... no

How on earth has this not been censored yet

Red lipstick + Green face = Disaster

[AmpsterMan]

Okay guys, let's just stop talking about it. If you see something iffy, report it; otherwise, move on.

[CaptainKipard]

What happened to the mod that loaded up all the textures as, I think it was 32x32px images then dynamically swapped in the real (full size) textures only as/when KSP was actually using them?

That was LoadOnDemand. It hasn't been updated for 0.90.

[DGonzalez]

So... No Duna biome review.. All the biome´s in Kerbins SOI look good. Like someone thought about them.. Duna´s look like someone had a deadline and this needed to be done quickly without imagination.

[pwlnw]

Mike (Mu): Well, the drag system is all but finished. The change in flight dynamics is fun but we will require a rebalancing of a number of parts

So what about fairings parts ?

[Whirligig Girl]

So... No Duna biome review.. All the biome´s in Kerbins SOI look good. Like someone thought about them.. Duna´s look like someone had a deadline and this needed to be done quickly without imagination.

Well we don't know. Tanuki Chau was working on the biomes some more fore 0.91 (now 1.0), but she's not technically a developer, so she doesn't get a devblog. Although that might still be cool.

This is Tanuki Chau's devblog: https://twitter.com/TanukiChau

[basic.syntax]

Those are awesome notes

[Red Iron Crown]

Plains, Trains, and Rockets. If only John Candy were still alive.

[Whirligig Girl]

Plains, Trains, and Rockets. If only John Candy were still alive.

This is actually what my science teacher used to say when I mentioned space travel. But he said it in a mean way.

That's not to say that I don't like the phrase, however.

[BudgetHedgehog]

IIRC, Tanuki had some personal health problems around the time biomes were due so if they ended up feeling rushed or incomplete, well.. they were. It wasn't so much a deadline that needed to be met, it was more the fact she was in hospital, yo. She did say that she'd be revisiting them, though, so don't worry too much about it.

[DocMoriarty]

A couple things that i would like to see in 1.0:

- I really hate that Kerbals have no pitch control on EVA and joystick can't be used since Kerbals rcs thrusters are WAY too rough

- group actions still are not restored properly in VAB/SPH for mirrored parts when they are detached and re-attached

- Didn't find any buttons for switching symmetry in VAB/SPH, only keys that i actually found by accident. There should be buttons. Also VAB symmetry in SPH should be a tad different, that is it should be a rotation symmetry around a laying body, not a standing one

- Transfer of Kerbals inside an assembly is nice. But science data should be transferable the same way or you still need to EVA around just to haul data. Doesn't make sense.

Other than that: Keep up the good work and great that we will even get re-entry heat.

[CaptainKipard]

LoadOnDemand was terrible. Get within range of your space station then sit there any wait forever, go away, make a sandwich, come back, wait some more...

Maybe they could ease it; load the textures gradually as you get closer so there's no pause. Also switching to a different filetype could help.

[r4pt0r]

You guys are ready for the "Wearegoinginto1.0hereisasupriseforyouall" GP2 right?

[Errol]

I don't know if this has already been suggested or not, but I would really like to see a checklist item for the pre-flight checks in VAB that lets you know if any engine on the vessel is not connected to a fuel tank.

Playing in a game with many mods it can sometimes be a bit of guess work about if you need to add a fuel line, and where, when you are using a bunch of structural part packs. Especially when you are building tiny probes with lots of science. I find I quite often get to the flight scene to find my engines are dead. I don't like just adding fuel lines in-case either, as that cranks your part count.

I also don't think this should tell you if the engine will start (fuel/no fuel), rather just tell you it is connected to a fuel tank, which can supply the correct fuel, and that any fuel lines are going the correct direction.