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PC Games (Games) Space Games

Kerbal Space Program 1.0 Released After 4 Years of Development 99

Posted by Soulskill from the onward-and-upward dept.
hampton2600 writes: The beloved space simulator game Kerbal Space Program has just hit version 1.0 after four years in development. It has risen to prominence in public beta, but the full release brings a host of new features: "The flight model has had a complete overhaul, meaning the lift is now calculated correctly to all lift-generating parts, which includes lifting bodies. The drag simulation has also been completely revised, and uses automatically pre-calculated data based on the each part’s geometry, to be finally applied based on not just the orientation of parts in flight, but also taking other parts into consideration. ... A new heating simulation has been implemented together with the improved aerodynamics. Now, not only temperature but also energy flux is considered when making heat calculations, meaning radiative, conductive, and convective heating and cooling are all simulated and all parts have their individual thermal properties. Parts will emit a blackbody radiation glow if they get hot enough." To the mun!
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Kerbal Space Program 1.0 Released After 4 Years of Development More

Kerbal Space Program 1.0 Released After 4 Years of Development

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  • Awesome! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dotancohen ( 1015143 ) on Tuesday April 28, 2015 @03:55AM (#49566955) Homepage
    Everything that I know about orbital dynamics, I learned from KSP. Thank you!
  • Now I just need all my mods to update for compatibility.

  • Stoners call it (Score:5, Funny)

    by larpon ( 974081 ) on Tuesday April 28, 2015 @04:06AM (#49567001)
    Herbal Space Program
  • While this feels a bit like a slashvertisement, I'll let it slide for a game this good.

    • Re:I See it made it to GoG.com DRM-free (Score:5, Informative)

      by hab136 ( 30884 ) on Tuesday April 28, 2015 @05:00AM (#49567157) Journal

      The Steam version is also DRM free; Steam is just used as a downloader. Once downloaded you can move it to another directory or even another computer, and even uninstall Steam.

      You could always buy directly from Squad as well and just download a ZIP file.

      KSP has never had DRM.

      • You don't archive games by storing the installation folders. GOG gives you the full independent installer which is the proper way.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by TheCarp ( 96830 )

          Whats the difference? I let steam update it, and then copy it off to another directory for mod installs so I can keep a pristine copy around. Sometimes I make two copies so I can run different mod sets.

          I see no issue here, plus I have steam already so why go anywhere else if I already use it? Don't really need an installer.

        • You don't archive games by storing the installation folders.

          Maybe you don't, but I do, when they don't depend on registry entries. I got tired of installing Civ and AlphaC on every build via the installer, then the official patches, then the unofficial patches, so I just 7z-exe'd the directories.

        • If there's no registry crap, then all the installer is doing is inflating files into a folder. Who cares if it's InstallShield or 7Zip doing it?

          • Right, but you still have to do the research if the game has "registry crap". It's more relaxing to just have the installer take care of all that.
          • Even if there is registry crap, can't 2 registry exports and diff take care of that? Just run the diff'd registry hunk and you should be golden.

            The only other thing to watch out for is those shared libraries, like VC, VC++, MFC42, DirectX 9.0c (June / July / etc...) and so on that are added by the installer, and maybe compatibility settings, such as when the game requires admin. Might be a good idea to backup what the MS DirectX WebInstaller installs, just to be on the safe side.

      • Can't you buy it anymore directly from them? Back when I got it there was no Steam or GOG support (and the snow was THIS high and we had to walk uphill both ways, and without shoes...)

  • "Now, not only temperature but also energy flux is considered when making heat calculations, meaning radiative, conductive, and convective heating and cooling are all simulated and all parts have their individual thermal properties."

    But, in typical Squad fashion, they gave us the ability to overheat - but failed to give us the ability to cool off.

    They also gave us a more advanced (and accurate) aerodynamics and engine performance model - but at the cost of the game's much vaunted simplicity and user friendliness.

    Seriously, I love KSP - but the developers don't always think through the consequences of their design decisions. With the 1.0 update to the aerodynamics and engine performance, I'll no longer be recommending it to friends. The part of the game you spend the least amount of time doing (launching into Kerbin orbit) has now become a wearying slog with a steep learning curve and a roadblock to the fun parts of the game.

    • I would respectfully disagree. The old "aerodynamics" was only bearable because people ignored it completely, building oversized rockets with TWRs in excess of 3-4 and launching into space at ridiculous speeds. SSTOs are no longer a dead concept either, for example.

      • Re:I love KSP, but sometimes... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Rei ( 128717 ) on Tuesday April 28, 2015 @08:15AM (#49567797) Homepage

        Yeah, the old aerodynamics was pretty horrible. Add a nosecone to your blunt-tipped rocket and it increases the drag? What kind of logic is that? It needed to be fixed.

        There's a couple balance issues I'd like to see fixed, mind you. For example, it's possible to make small solar ion-powered aircraft in Kerbal. But only small ones, because all of the ion engines available are tiny, and all of the fixed solar panels are tiny, so while technically it's possible to make bigger craft, the necessary part spam makes the game unplayable. Fuel for ion engines is also absurdly and unrealistically expensive for no obvious reason. Yet solar panels and RTGs produce orders of magnitude more power than they should for a given size, if ion engine power to thrust ratios for a given ISP are used as the baseline.

        Drop xenon costs, tweak power production / consumption for existing hardware, and add in nuclear reactor power sources (after all, they have nuclear rockets, we know kerbals understand nuclear physics), and and you could balance that out pretty well in terms of both gameplay and at least slightly more approaching realism.

        (Note that one may be tempted to say that the ion thrusters are far too high power, but at least that's plausible if we assume that they're MPD thrusters with some type of advanced cooling system - you can get crazy power to weight ratios (by ion standards) out of MPD thrusters if you could somehow supply them many megawatts of power and dissipate all the waste heat - they manage it in pulsed mode, at least. But Kerbal's solar panel area-to-thrust ratios at the given ISP are not even close to being compliant with the laws of physics)

        • Note that one may be tempted to say that the ion thrusters are far too high power

          Temptation is not needed to tell the truth - ion thrusters are deliberately overpowered. They even received a buff a version or two back.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      That isn't even the main problem. The main problem is they made massive changes to the game *as* the 1.0 release. Everything else in KSP has had months of testing (perhaps even years) and they change fundamental things like the aerodynamics model without letting it be tested by the established community?

      The last beta should be identical, or really close to, the first production release. If it isn't, you're doing it wrong!

    • Re:I love KSP, but sometimes... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Smidge204 ( 605297 ) on Tuesday April 28, 2015 @08:48AM (#49568057) Journal

      But, in typical Squad fashion, they gave us the ability to overheat - but failed to give us the ability to cool off.

      Parts act as blackbody radiators and will cool off just like any object would.

      Solar panels also now act as passive radiators (source [reddit.com]) so they now have dual functionality.

      They also gave us a more advanced (and accurate) aerodynamics and engine performance model - but at the cost of the game's much vaunted simplicity and user friendliness.

      I dare say the new model makes it *easier* to get a rocket or space plane flying. Too easy, actually... my rockets and planes from 0.90 are all way too fast and destroy themselves much faster than they used to. I haven't had time to really dig into the new mechanics but so far it's promising that my 2000+ ton rockets might actually fair better than before!
      =Smidge=

      • my rockets and planes from 0.90 are all way too fast and destroy themselves much faster than they used to.

        Note the implication that prior to 0.90 his rockets still destroyed themselves.... just in 3 minutes rather than 2.5 minutes.

      • But, in typical Squad fashion, they gave us the ability to overheat - but failed to give us the ability to cool off.

        Parts act as blackbody radiators and will cool off just like any object would.

        True - but making parts radiators aren't the same as giving us the ability to add radiators. Players shouldn't have to spam passive radiators instead of being able to add (much more efficient) active radiators.

        • You might be over-estimating the effect heat actually has, the actual sources of heat or the rate at which it builds up.

          I know i haven't had sufficient opportunity to test things out for myself yet, but it really does not seem like heat is really a factor outside of atmospheric effects.
          =Smidge=

          • I haven't fully tested either, but heat buildup is reported as being a real problem for LV-N's.

            Other than that, if heat doesn't have the ability to cause problems, then it's just eating CPU cycles to no good end - and KSP is already compute bound.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Thus ends the single known example of Early Access done properly. Truly, this was a bitter-sweet moment in gaming history.

  • Come on! (Score:5, Funny)

    by FreeUser ( 11483 ) on Tuesday April 28, 2015 @09:39AM (#49568529)

    It's not rocket science ... oh, wait ...

  • It's Been an amazing ride.

  • Dang (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I just built my first halfway decent space station, got a quad nuclear rocket transfer vehicle docked to it and was preparing to outfit it with probes and landers for a round trip to one of the gas giants for a multi-planetary expedition. Oh well it'll be worth having to start over if I get some decent flight dynamics. Every aircraft I've ever built has been un-flyable at some point in its flight profile for no apparent reason and some of my rocket designs have had to have some "interesting" modifications

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Sowelu ( 713889 )

      KSP has had this unique property among the early access games I own, that the early game feels like the most fun part. I'm sure opinions differ but hey, it's fun to see how fast I can get a space program off the ground with whatever new features there are.

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