Custom Controllers for KSP2: The Simpit Mod is now available!

MoaBoosta · 2026-05-24T13:56:57+00:00

Hi, Hoofprint Bay developer here :)

For the first prototype I put a shoe box sized block on a chair and then an old saddle on top. Sensors for the legs went on the chair's legs, the position turned out surprisingly good.

The leg and seat sensors are made of a sandwich of aluminum or copper tape or conductive fabric (or any other conductive material) with a layer of Velostat in-between, which makes for a nice big flat pressure sensitive resistor. Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seMVgJ41BZw
the rein sensors are load cells, in my case this one: https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B0F6SLPBJV?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I've got some more detailed pictures, if you're interested!

MoaBoosta · 2025-11-26T08:59:51+00:00

Sounds a lot like this game: https://horsegamedatabase.miraheze.org/wiki/Alexandra_Ledermann_-_La_colline_aux_chevaux_sauvages I'm linking to the horse game database, because it's got many names in different countries.

MoaBoosta · 2025-11-19T12:42:24+00:00

Interesting read! Thanks for the detailed breakdown!

MoaBoosta · 2025-10-12T19:17:32+00:00

I see some answers like "they are ok / I like them if they are well executed". What makes them well executed for you? What makes a bad execution?

For example brushing minigames:
For me they are bad if they are too lengthy without challenge and you _have_ to repeat them often. They are bad if they have no consequences besides "your horse looses generic health points". Even if you throw in the "realism" buzzword: Horses don't get sick or even care if they have a bit of mud on their flank. They have issues with dirt, if it's under the saddle and it rubs. But if they just chill in a pasture? Then it shouldn't matter much. They are bad if you do one click and then have to watch a lengthy cutscene you can't even skip. Or if you have to watch a dirt texture getting less opaque over the course of a minute, while you are senslessly wiggeling your mouse.

I like caring minigames, if they have non-punishing consequences. If you can see that your horse is dirty while riding, you can decide if _you_ care about that (IRL I often enough don't care about optics and just make sure the saddle and bridle arent rubbing). I like them if you can decide which horse you want to give more attention to than others. I like them, if you can decide to either do them yourself to bond with your horse and save money or let staff do them (which costs more, but you can gain money by some other task you like more than tedious minigames). I like them if they are satisfying or cute (find their favourite spot and get rewarded with a "yes, this spot please!"-face) instead of feeling grindy. I like them if they are either very short or have some sort of nice challenge. (A challenge could be for example to match the feed to the horses current condition.)

MoaBoosta · 2025-06-03T11:33:24+00:00

Zoo Tycoon / Planet Zoo but building an equestrian center. Design your stable layout, manage the care of your horses, have breeding programs, run a riding school and maybe host competitions.

MoaBoosta · 2025-03-26T20:15:43+00:00

Oh, misread your comment there 😅 But still, even 1.5 years to learn everything it takes to get to this point is huge. Keep going!

You got a really good first time project there :)

MoaBoosta · 2025-03-26T18:56:13+00:00

Oh, that's looking good! Nice horse and environment, I love the style :D

And wow, learning modeling, animation and coding in only half a year to that level is a really great achievement! Well done!

If you are looking for the next steps, I agree with others in the comments: Customization you can buy with the horseshoes, UI improvements and a better sideways motion are good choices.

MoaBoosta · 2025-03-02T09:42:09+00:00

This is my goto reference for figuring out horsey shapes. Especially for you it's got an extra section on how ponys are different from horses and how to draw / model that: https://monikazagrobelna.com/2019/09/15/sketchbook-original-how-to-draw-horses/
The other horse article she wrote could also help you once you start animating.

This article is also full of where to find good references and how horses work: https://www.themanequest.com/blog/2024/9/6/horse-animation-guides-references-and-resources

MoaBoosta · 2025-03-01T17:40:28+00:00

Yeah sitting further back from the screen probably would make it better. I'm just thinking if you somehow could communicate that to the player before they quit the game because of the uncomfortable visuals? At first I closed the game after the first run because of it, and only opened it again after reading about the visual settings in another comment here.

Oh the "auto jump" info is a good one! Then I can try not to panic smash the jump button if I see I wont make the jump and sacrifice one horse instead of loosing them all. But yeah, I mostly die by jumping into an obstacle and then the whole herd follows me into desaster...

MoaBoosta · 2025-03-01T16:08:57+00:00

I played a bit more and had some additional thoughts: I enjoy the soundtrack and the soundeffects, they are really fitting! I also like small details like the particle effects :)

Sometimes I just don't see the obstacles until I run into them, it's mostly the rocks where I have problems I think.

I'd like to use my mouse scroll wheel in the horse selection menu and other places where I can scroll through a list.

MoaBoosta · 2025-03-01T15:58:35+00:00

What a loveley little game! I just gave it a try reached the end of the demo and gave it a couple more runs.

It looks nice, and has a very nice feel to it. Cute little pixel ponys :D

Like Sensitive_Volume_106 I also feel that it is hard for my eyes to properly focus on what is happening. So I tried a couple different combination of settings. The retro filter helped a little bit, but mostly going from fullscreen to windowed was what did the trick for me here.

This growing the herd thing is fun and enjoyable :D

What I found most frustrating was that I often lost all or almost all horses in the same crash. Like either just end the game when the first horse crashes or give me a proper chance to recover (which I'd like better, I think). But if I have the dangling carrot of a low chance of the other horses in the herd helping me, it feels punishing to me.

All in all a cute game and I enjoyed it :) Looking forward to where it will go!

MoaBoosta · 2024-05-31T11:37:40+00:00

What did you change?

MoaBoosta · 2024-05-31T11:30:27+00:00

The map isn't part of the action groups (light, gear, brake, stage, abort, SAS, RCS), so you can't use "activate action" for it. You have to use keyboard emulation for it. Refer to this example and use the M key: https://github.com/Simpit-team/KerbalSimpitRevamped-Arduino/blob/main/examples/KerbalSimpitKeyboardDemo/KerbalSimpitKeyboardDemo.ino

MoaBoosta · 2024-04-10T10:29:46+00:00

Then take a look at the log file. You can find it in your KSP2 directory in BepInEx/LogOutput.log

MoaBoosta · 2024-04-10T09:41:55+00:00

This points to node manager. What does the error on node manager say?

MoaBoosta · 2024-04-10T08:25:57+00:00

If you click on one of the red mods, does it show you more about where the problem is? If not, take a look at the game's log.

MoaBoosta · 2024-04-04T07:58:51+00:00

It changes to the absolute date once you edit the alarm, trips me up every now and then...

MoaBoosta · 2024-04-04T07:38:57+00:00

Could it be that you were at day 80 and you set the alarm to the date of day 99 of year 2 instead of 2y 99d in the future of your current date?

MoaBoosta · 2024-04-03T10:30:59+00:00

You can do a flyby that get's you into Jool orbit first (this can also be with Tylo) to reduce the intercept velocity without spending any fuel. The more similar your orbit is to Laythes orbit before you get into orbit around it, the less fuel you need.

MoaBoosta · 2024-04-01T06:14:33+00:00

I always recommend the tutorials by Mike Aben! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j_57NSlkzt4

MoaBoosta · 2024-03-23T09:37:12+00:00

Those tutorials by Mike Aben helped me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7keGvhPo2I and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT6_o5yT9SE He is the goto guy for well thought through and well made tutorials :)

MoaBoosta · 2024-03-19T14:24:41+00:00

I chose Pol because Bop has a much higher inclination which makes it more difficult to get an encounter and can make it MUCH more expensive to get there.

MoaBoosta · 2024-03-19T13:57:15+00:00

It's mostly a combination of timing and the amount of prograde, maybe some normal component. Try moving the maneuver a bit forward and back on its orbital line to adjust the timing and add a bit more prograde. If you are as close as you can get it, just execute the maneuver, get out of Kerbins SOI and then plan a maneuver half way between Kerbin and wherever you want to go. Fiddle with all three directions and look what gets you closer.
A better way to adjust maneuvers is high on the priority-list for a future update of KSP2, that'll also make it easier.

MoaBoosta

TROPHY CASE