ResearchBodies is a mod that adds the functionality of tracking celestial bodies to explore them. When you start a new save, you have to choose a difficulty preset (that sets celestial bodies that are shown from the start) and values for research and discovery costs. This mod's original Author @simon56modder has handed the reigns over to me to maintain support and develop his work going forward due to Real Life commitments. Big thanks to him and to the other contributers below for making this mod happen. His original Thread can be found here. (Please NOTE parts of this code written by JPLRepo are All Rights Reserved as per the license information in the Code headers).
What this Mod does, or how to use this mod: This mod will Make Celestial Bodies invisible at the start of a new game. You can change which celestial bodies are visible by default by changing the difficulty setting in the Difficulty Settings Menu. This mod should be played in Career mode as it offers contracts.
At the beginning of a game you can only see a few bodies. First you have to gain enough funds to upgrade your Tracking Station to Level 2. This will unlock the Observatory Facility. - Yes this mod adds a new Facility to the KSC that acts like a stock facility (destructible and upgradable). Entering the Observatory you can find out information about the Celestial Bodies you know about, or what research level you are up to for discovered bodies. (This UI is still a placeholder and will be updated soon! - will also be upgraded to show information about ResearchBodies contracts).
You will be offered contracts to Search the Skies via the Observatory - or via a Telescope. This mod comes with it's own infrared telescope, but also modifies the stock infrared telescope (That has been included from Asteroid Day). You can also install my TarsierSpaceTechnology Telescopes which also integrate with this mod and perform in a similar way (But also can take pictures of the celestial bodies and you can see their details become progressively clearer as you research celestial bodies).
Yes that's right - This mod also alters the physical characteristics of the celestial bodies. So when you first discovery them they are just a grey blob. As you progressively research them they will progressively become clearer. This mod also alters the Mapview/Tracking Station so you cannot see celestial bodies you know nothing about. And gradually as you research more about them, things like their characteristics and orbits, etc become known to you.
Finding a Celestial Body:- You can a) randomly point your telescopes at the sky and try to scan and find bodies. b) accept Search the Skies contracts and complete them.
Researching a Celestial Body:- You can a) point telescopes at bodies and scan them (or take photos of them if you also have TarsierSpaceTechnology mod installed). b) accept Research Body contracts and complete them. When the research state reaches 100%, you can finally go to this body and you earn science!
If by pure stroke of luck (or not :wink:) you manage to encounter a previously unknown body in flight, or one that has not had it's research completed, the body will be automatically discovered and have all it's research completed.
Localisations (translations) - English, Français, Español This mod previously supported the above languages. And still does. From KSP 1.3 English and Spanish is supported by default when you select those languages via KSP. For French however, you need to go into the Difficulty Settings for ResearchBodies and manually select French as the language.
This mod also can support the other KSP 1.3.0 supported languages - but has not been translated at this stage. Volunteers for translation to Russian, Japanese, Chinese more than welcome.
Install Instructions:
Dependency: You must have installed (NOW included in this package). Module Manager
Completely delete REPOSoftTech\ResearchBodies and REPOSoftTech\ProgressiveCBMaps folders from GameData before updating from a previous version.
As of V1.8 the install folder location has been changed. Please ensure you remove \GameData\ResearchBodies folder if you have one in your install.
Download and install Contract Configurator Mod (This is required).
Un-zip into your GameData folder.
Released on 2022-05-15
V1.13.0 (10/04/2021) - NOTE there are still issues with the detail levels of planets and viewing them through telescopes that I need to sort out. Re-compile for KSP 1.12.x. Fix issue where CBs were becomming visible when they shouldn't be. Fix issue where CB visibility was not being reset when loading different save games in the same game session. Fix issue where errors would occur and game stuck when entering the SOI of a CB that hadn't been discovered before. Fix issue where Asteroids entering CBs were making them discovered. Fix issue with bumpmaps on CBs. Fix issue with lighting on CBs. Added setting to DAtabase.cfg file that allows the player to manually change the research percentage step for research plans. (Default 10%). *Fix RCS FX on TRBH-75M telescope (thanks linuxgurugamer).
Released on 2020-10-16
This is for KSP 1.10.x only. Needs Contract Configurator 1.30.2 installed as well. Compiled for KSP 1.10.x Fixed RemoteTech MM patch.
Released on 2019-10-19
V1.11.0 Re-compile for KSP 1.8.x Code Garbage gneration improvements. Add Remote Tech antenna to TB-75. If you encounter a planet without having discovered or fully researched it it will now no longer set it to fully discovered. Instead it will initially set the discovery to 40% and then over time whilst the vessel stays in the SOI of the planet it will slowly increase the discovery percentage.
Released on 2019-06-23
Re-compile for KSP 1.7.x Fix NREs when going to tracking station.
Released on 2019-02-17
Re-compile for KSP 1.6.1 Fixed issue with ResearchBodies UI if opening in flight before you have opened the Observatory UI at the KSC.
Released on 2018-12-09
Re-compile for KSP 1.5.1 The Search for the skies contract will now randomly discover a body within observable range. https://github.com/JPLRepo/ResearchBodies/issues/34 *Fixed issue with Wernher instructor portrait appearing double. https://github.com/JPLRepo/ResearchBodies/issues/36
Released on 2018-03-17
Re-Compile for KSP 1.4.1 Implement caching of textures (thanks to AlexALX for their contribution) Russian Localization (thanks to AlexALX for their contribution) Removed custom French localization, now uses the KSP Stock Localization for French. *Contract Configurator dependency updated. You must have Contract Configurator v 1.24.0 installed for this mod to work.
Released on 2017-10-08
Re-Compile for KSP 1.3.1 Fixed orbiting text in Observatory. The sun no longer orbits the sun. Fixed the research complete message always saying you can now send a vessel to the the bodies parent body. Now shows the correct one. Fixes to Tarsier Space Technology (TST) integration for researching Galaxies not showing up in the OBservatory or being persisted correctly. When finding TST galaxies they don't show the Found message twice any more and they show the actual localized Galaxy name instead of their internal name. Fix harmless NRE when leaving flight scene with the ResearchBodies UI window open. ResearchBodies Log files are now kept and timestamped in the \GameData\REPOSoftTech\ResearchBodies\Plugins\PluginData folder. You need Contract Configurator v1.23.3 with this version of Research Bodies. *Removed shinyness changes from the celestial bodies - for the color and detail changing.
Released on 2017-08-14
Fix fix loading different saves in the one KSP session to show body visibility correctly. Fix fix discovery of bodies via telescopes and contracts actually appearing in the Observatory (related to the previous). Fix the OBservatory background texture not showing in any other UI window that uses the default KSP UI skin. Show the correct Observatory Ranges when Kopernicus is installed in the Observatory Facility upgrade stats window.
Released on 2017-08-13
Fix Tracking Station and Observatory Upgrade Level checks for contracts.
Fix Range checks for Observatory and Vessels with Telescopes for contracts.
Fix MapNodes appearing in MapView when there are orbits available for any contracts.
Localized strings for the Observatory Facility UI Menus and added Range Information to it's UI.
Fix Bodies discovery levels when you switch saves in the same KSP session, including modded bodies.
Added Background and Contract information to the Observatory Facility UI.
Released on 2017-07-15
Fix Instructors showing in other KSC Facilities - now only show in the Observatory.
Fix a few issues with discovery of bodies using the TB-75. NOTE: TB-75 can only DISCOVER previously unknown bodies.
It cannot be used to further research a found body by scanning manually. It does have a role to play in the research contracts though that
allow you to further discover information about the bodies.
If you load a save file that was created before you installed ResearchBodies - ResearchBodies will now correctly update the save with the
necessary ResearchBodies information and automatically turn ResearchBodies on. The default difficulty setting will be used as to which
bodies you will be able to see.
You should restart KSP any time you disable or enable ResearchBodies in a save game.
Added Part module info for the telescope parts to display in the extended tooltip in the parts picker in the SPH/VAB.
Fix issue with save file reloading not resetting the visible bodies in the Tracking Station/MapView.
Enabled old mode of clicking to research in the Observatory, etc if the current game is a sandbox or science sandbox game. But this is not
much fun at all. The mod is intended to be used in Career game mode.
*Fixed issue with the popup window not clearing in Flight when the telescope found a body.
Released on 2017-07-02
Fixed typo in locales for Characteristics and Orbit in UI. Added Observatory SpaceCenter Facility. Yes - this Facility acts exactly like a stock one. It has TWO upgrade levels that provide different features, functions and contracts for Finding an Researching celestial bodies. New Game and Settings for this mod are now accessed via the Stock Difficulty Settings for new game and existing game. Fixes issue with Contract Configurator. Fixes integration with TST (V6.6 and above). Bodies occluding the telescopes are taken into account when searching for new bodies. Capped Research Percentage at 100% Amended Contract processing to use Weighting System override in KSP 1.2.1 so that contracts should not be generated for undiscovered bodies. Fixed GUI for when Research State is < 10%. Added pop-up menu when a body is found in flight. Integrated Contract Configurator mod for ResearchBodies Contracts. Contract Configurator mod is now a dependency and must be installed alongside this mod. You can no longer just click and research bodies from the Observatory. You must complete contracts or find and research them via the telescopes. *Full 1.3.0 Localization/Language support. Game is translated into French and Spanish. To access French, as it is not supported by KSP yet, you have to go into the * difficult settings and select French manually. For all other languages simply set your language for KSP to your language. * Note - Mod support Russian, Japanese, Chinese - but has not been translated at this stage. Contract text is not translated to French or Spanish currently. * You now have to use contracts or Telescopes to advance research on celestial bodies (no more just click in the UI). * Changed default research and science values - to something a bit more balanced. * Celestial Bodies that you have not discovered no longer appear in the Mapview or Tracking Station; icons do not appear and tab, alt-tab do not work for undiscovered bodies. * If you also use TarsierSpaceTechnologies Telescopes you need to update it to V6.8
Released on 2016-07-30
Released on 2016-07-10
Released on 2016-06-01
Released on 2016-05-10
Raw stats are from the beginning of time until now. Each follower and download entry represents one hour of data. Uneventful hours are omitted.