[1.3] Planetary Domes

[Starslinger999]

does this work with 1.2.2? And How does one get these bases to a planet?

[Thrimm]

30 minutes ago, Starslinger999 said:

does this work with 1.2.2? And How does one get these bases to a planet?

Yes it does work with 1.2.2 and regarding your second question, you can either use Extraplanetary Launchpads, Ground Construction or any other mod of your choosing. Or you can do it the way I've done it:

 

[Starslinger999]

On 3/15/2017 at 5:53 PM, Thrimm said:

Yes it does work with 1.2.2 and regarding your second question, you can either use Extraplanetary Launchpads, Ground Construction or any other mod of your choosing. Or you can do it the way I've done it:

 

So You used MKS Logistics I see. Neat. 

Also, Is there a way to launch components and Dock them together Somehow? 

[JadeOfMaar]

On the subject of docking base segments I'd like to suggest adding to the airlock part (or a variant of) with the features of a shielded docking port. It shouldn't have an actual shield that fully opens or closes but maybe some small bits slide or rotate, or a light turns on that shows it's ready for docking. I suggest shielded docking nodes as it's a known thing that unshielded ones are passively searching for a partner and that means lag.

I'm not asking that USI Konstruction's welding port be replicated but if there's any tiny update that would be appreciated immensely and immediately it'll be this.

[Thrimm]

On 19/03/2017 at 1:58 PM, Starslinger999 said:

So You used MKS Logistics I see. Neat. 

Also, Is there a way to launch components and Dock them together Somehow? 

For the moment, you need to use KAS to do so, or add a Konstruction port and dock two components together, and then fix them. That's how I do it now most of the time.

On 20/03/2017 at 2:16 AM, JadeOfMaar said:

On the subject of docking base segments I'd like to suggest adding to the airlock part (or a variant of) with the features of a shielded docking port. It shouldn't have an actual shield that fully opens or closes but maybe some small bits slide or rotate, or a light turns on that shows it's ready for docking. I suggest shielded docking nodes as it's a known thing that unshielded ones are passively searching for a partner and that means lag.

I'm not asking that USI Konstruction's welding port be replicated but if there's any tiny update that would be appreciated immensely and immediately it'll be this.

I feel like I owe you guys an update on what's been going on with the development. Among other things, I wanted to make domes deployable from a container that you can ship in a cargo bay. Problem is, that it's really difficult to make a simple animation for deploying rigid domes, that doesn't look like they are inflatable. But that's a minor point. Second problem is that I wanted to make airlocks hollow with animated doors that you can open and walk through. This as you have probably figured out causes issues with the dome walls themselves, so the domes now need to have a second order animation for adapting to the airlock while it is present. On top of that, attachment nodes in stock KSP cannot be animated so I would either need to fix them in deployed position or make/use a module that animates them, like IR or Konstruction ones. This is already getting complicated as you can see, even from the end user perspective (multiple animations available once you dome is deployed and it would be very glitchy, as it would be up to you which part of the dome transform to fit the airlock).

As for docking the tunnels, I tested an experimental ring docking port and in principle it works. It's a part that has the shape of the tunnel, hollow inside, that you attach to the airlock and to the tunnel and you can now dock them together. There are only two problems with it: you often end up docked rotated and it looks bad, and it increases part count by quite a lot - now a connection between 2 domes need 7 parts instead of 3. I tried adding some sort of locks to ensure correct rotation but that didn't really work.

I have made a number of models for new dome types but they are not implemented because I wanted to figure out the shipping problem first. As you know, I'm not good at C# so I also started learning the language to make the needed modules, but I have rather limited time and therefore it is taking some times (ok very long time). Nevertheless, I'm prioritizing this mod for the moment over SpaceX ITS and directing all my available resources to its development.

Anyway, I'm really happy that you guys enjoy the mod and I can promise you I'll do my best to keep it updated and expand it in the future. The bottom line here is that I greatly underestimated the amount of time and effort needed to implement the features I want and greatly overestimated the amount of spare time I have - but I'll do my best anyway. Cheers!

Edited March 28, 2017 by Thrimm

[JadeOfMaar]

@Thrimm Don't go giving yourself a stroke over making your mod glamorous with animations. I'm sure many of us (anyone who's played an RTS) would appreciate and even find it humorous if you made the dome unpack animation into an RTS-style affair where the domes themselves appear chunk-by-chunk or transparent with something serving as a progress gauge. Everyone with sense knows that KSP has its limits, and multiple animations and certain restrictions to combinations of modules on a single part are some of these limits.

Anticipating your hurdles I therefore suggested that (maybe) you add a variant of the airlock part, one with a clearly marked docking node on the outside instead of a hatch to keep a handle on the docking part count problem, and add angle snap to the nodes to fix the docking rotation problem. There's an MM patch for this and some connectors in Near Future Construction have it. Your parts are already beautiful enough.  They don't need any more flair if said flair is going to hold you back.

 

Edited March 20, 2017 by JadeOfMaar

[ezekiel086]

Hi Thrimm!

I really liked your video of landing a dome base on the Mun, so I've done the same thing (albeit a little smaller) on my career mode game. I now have a permanent research station on the Mun, with a little hopper to fly around collecting experiments and bringing them back to the research lab.

Now, when I return to base, I would like to transfer the experiments from my hopper to the science lab inside the dome. The problem is, when I enter an airlock carrying science experiments, it forces me to dump them all. So I don't seem to have any way of moving the experiments inside the dome for safe keeping. In the mean time, I've connected the hopper to the dome with a KAS pipe, and I'm using that connection to process experiments into data as space becomes available in the lab. 

Is there any reason science experiments aren't allowed in the airlocks? Or is this only a problem on my install?

[Thrimm]

8 hours ago, ezekiel086 said:

Hi Thrimm!

I really liked your video of landing a dome base on the Mun, so I've done the same thing (albeit a little smaller) on my career mode game. I now have a permanent research station on the Mun, with a little hopper to fly around collecting experiments and bringing them back to the research lab.

Now, when I return to base, I would like to transfer the experiments from my hopper to the science lab inside the dome. The problem is, when I enter an airlock carrying science experiments, it forces me to dump them all. So I don't seem to have any way of moving the experiments inside the dome for safe keeping. In the mean time, I've connected the hopper to the dome with a KAS pipe, and I'm using that connection to process experiments into data as space becomes available in the lab. 

Is there any reason science experiments aren't allowed in the airlocks? Or is this only a problem on my install?

Hi, it turns out that I forgot to add the appropriate module to the airlock! I'll be fixing that with next release, but for the time being you can just add the following to the airlock.cfg:

    MODULE
    {
        name = ModuleScienceContainer
        reviewActionName = Review Stored Data
        storeActionName = Store Experiments
        evaOnlyStorage = True
        storageRange = 2.0
    }

It should fix the problem. Post a picture of your base please, I'd love to see it!

[ezekiel086]

Thanks for the fix! I'll probably just wait for the next release since this isn't a huge problem right now. I'm using Community Tech Tree, so I still have a lot of science to do, and my Kerbals will be sitting there processing the experiments I've already done for a good long while.

I took some pictures:

 

[Butterbiscuitx]

Is this for 1.2? I've seen a recent video of yours that had this in 1.2, But I can't find a download for 1.2, just 1.1.3. Can someone help me with this?

Edited April 8, 2017 by Butterbiscuitx

[JadeOfMaar]

1 hour ago, Butterbiscuitx said:

Is this for 1.2? I've seen a recent video of yours that had this in 1.2, But I can't find a download for 1.2, just 1.1.3. Can someone help me with this?

The DOWNLOAD link is right under the video in the OP.  The dev is holding back on publishing any kind of update but you have seen that it works just fine in current KSP.

[[email protected]]

Hey Thrimm!

I think you have to balance the cost of the domes. I believe they are to cheap.

I edited my configs to give them some reasonable prices based on their weights.

I also gave them some "USI Habitation" bonuses based on some info that Roverdude has on his wiki. 

What do you think of those:

- Floors, Tunnels and airlocks -> no changes

- Big Domes: 14000 Kerbucks (instead of 400), 10 Crew affected (1 per ton), 5xHabitation multiplier (0.5 per ton), no extra kerb-month

- Small Domes: 7000 Kerbucks (instead of 400), 5 Crew affected (1 per ton), 2.5xHabitation multiplier (0.5 per ton), no extra kerb-month

I believe that a Kerbal won't live inside the dome by itself, so it is better to make them multipliers of other Habitation bonuses.

 

Another thing that feels OP with MKS is the crew capacity of the airlocks. I understand you need some capacity to make kerbals go in/out but if you have a big dome, with 4 airlocks you have 45 days of Hab-time for 8 kerbals (with my Hab-bonus settings) without anything else on the base.

 

I said it on YT and I say it here, your missions are really great and your cinematic versions are awesome!

[Thrimm]

37 minutes ago, [email protected] said:

Hey Thrimm!

I think you have to balance the cost of the domes. I believe they are to cheap.

I edited my configs to give them some reasonable prices based on their weights.

I also gave them some "USI Habitation" bonuses based on some info that Roverdude has on his wiki. 

What do you think of those:

- Floors, Tunnels and airlocks -> no changes

- Big Domes: 14000 Kerbucks (instead of 400), 10 Crew affected (1 per ton), 5xHabitation multiplier (0.5 per ton), no extra kerb-month

- Small Domes: 7000 Kerbucks (instead of 400), 5 Crew affected (1 per ton), 2.5xHabitation multiplier (0.5 per ton), no extra kerb-month

I believe that a Kerbal won't live inside the dome by itself, so it is better to make them multipliers of other Habitation bonuses.

 

Another thing that feels OP with MKS is the crew capacity of the airlocks. I understand you need some capacity to make kerbals go in/out but if you have a big dome, with 4 airlocks you have 45 days of Hab-time for 8 kerbals (with my Hab-bonus settings) without anything else on the base.

 

I said it on YT and I say it here, your missions are really great and your cinematic versions are awesome!

Quite interesting concept. The prices are surely not balanced and your suggestion is definitely a step in right direction. I'll add this to the update.

Regarding the habitation, I'm testing different options right now as I really want to make this mod compatible and useful with other base building mods - starting with MKS. Right now I added to my domes a shared living space modifier, 500 months to large ones and 300 months to smaller ones. They have 0 crew capacity, as the idea being that the domes themselves only make other modules more enjoyable and comfortable to live, but not offer much more on their own. Where there are few Kerbals in the base, they have pretty decent hab time, and that was intended, but once it gets crowded the hab times decreases quite dramatically. I'll be happy to compare my results with you and figure out what the best settings might be.

I made a bunch of other domes that I'm testing currently that have been specifically designed as crew quarters so those might work differently. Also regarding the airlocks, their crew capacity will be gone with the next patch as I intend to make them hollow with animated doors, much like the other parts this mod provides. I'm also working on adding more dome friendly interior addons, such as greenhouses and plant pods, trees (as suggested earlier in the thread here) and maybe custom processing plants. But that's later down the road. The next update, which is going to be released relatively soon as I just need to make sure that all the animations are working correctly together and rework some models to support them, will add a bunch of new domes, new airlock behavior (model is largely the same, but with interior) and make them shippable in containers.

I'm also experimenting with making tunnels behave as KAS pipes and MKS Flex-o-tubes. If this works and you will be able to walk inside, this is the way to go in my opinion.

And hey, I'm glad you like my videos

[Murdabenne]

@Thrimm My $0.02 from a former software communications systems engineer and aerospace systems integration engineer (now a cardiac RN, long story):

There is no need to reinvent the wheel.  I'd say reduce your stress and just make Ground Construction Core and KIS/KAS as mandatory dependencies.  You're worrying a lot over functionality that is already developed and maintained in those mods for production and deployment.  The DIY kit and onsite assembly in the "Core" of GC is probably sufficient to solve the shipping and deployment issues. KIS/KAS handle the in situ manipulation, as well as the storage for GC.  The nice side effect of this is that they are in very widespread use already, and relieve you of the burden of maintaining all that functionality. This would allow you to concentrate on the dome systems and inner workings, and the gorgeous modeling and graphics -  not the deployment and assembly minutia that send you deep into dll land.

[[email protected]]

So I finally finished one base. Followed some of your video's strategies with the kranes.

I have auto-mining rigs all over Minmus to mine raw resources and here is where I manufacture everything else.

Here's some pics of it:

 

BTW, all was built with 100% recovered rockets, spaceplanes, landers, etc etc on Kerbin all on KSC or very close.

Edited April 24, 2017 by [email protected]

[Merkal]

Is there a solution to this problem? i`ve attempted to make domes on my minus flats city but when I attempt to get one of my kerbal`s into the dome through an airlock, they get stuck and it says "cannot automatic EVA at this time, please open a hatch, but no hatch can be opened, can I please have some help?

[theJesuit]

3 hours ago, Merkal said:

Is there a solution to this problem? i`ve attempted to make domes on my minus flats city but when I attempt to get one of my kerbal`s into the dome through an airlock, they get stuck and it says "cannot automatic EVA at this time, please open a hatch, but no hatch can be opened, can I please have some help?

I've had this issue before so I've generally used just used the KPBS airlock while I've been waiting for the Soon(TM) release from @Thrimm.

Peace.

[N3N]

Hey Thrimm,

 

Very nice mod! Great idea and good work! Keep on going!

And don't let you get stressed, better do little steps, we all will still appreciate it!

 

I think it's enough, to support "Ground Construction" for building it and maybe "MKS/USI-LS" for life support.

And maybe CKAN for installing/updating it.

 

 

 

Sorry for my english, it's only my third language.

[Thrimm]

12 hours ago, Merkal said:

Is there a solution to this problem? i`ve attempted to make domes on my minus flats city but when I attempt to get one of my kerbal`s into the dome through an airlock, they get stuck and it says "cannot automatic EVA at this time, please open a hatch, but no hatch can be opened, can I please have some help?

Just left click on the airlock hatch.

[Merkal]

4 hours ago, Thrimm said:

Just left click on the airlock hatch.

oh

[horace]

23 hours ago, N3N said:

Hey Thrimm,

 

Very nice mod! Great idea and good work! Keep on going!

And don't let you get stressed, better do little steps, we all will still appreciate it!

 

I think it's enough, to support "Ground Construction" for building it and maybe "MKS/USI-LS" for life support.

And maybe CKAN for installing/updating it.

 

 

 

Sorry for my english, it's only my third language.

your english is not bad...

btw what is your first and second language

?

[N3N]

20 minutes ago, horace said:

your english is not bad...

btw what is your first and second language

?

Thank you horace!

 

I can speak:

German, Italian, English, Spanish (a little), French (very little).

[horace]

wow

 

impressive

 

[Thrimm]

On 30/04/2017 at 9:08 AM, N3N said:

Hey Thrimm,

 

Very nice mod! Great idea and good work! Keep on going!

And don't let you get stressed, better do little steps, we all will still appreciate it!

 

I think it's enough, to support "Ground Construction" for building it and maybe "MKS/USI-LS" for life support.

And maybe CKAN for installing/updating it.

 

 

 

Sorry for my english, it's only my third language.

I think that Ground Construction can be used already, it's just not a requirement for the mod to function - I will think about adding a dedicated "construction module" part that will serve as a basis for your base building. USI-LS is currently in testing and I think looks promising so that will be implemented in upcoming patch.

I have no idea about CKAN, I've never used it. I can ask CKAN moderator to add this mod however.

I'm glad you like PD!

[N3N]

1 hour ago, Thrimm said:

I think that Ground Construction can be used already, it's just not a requirement for the mod to function - I will think about adding a dedicated "construction module" part that will serve as a basis for your base building. USI-LS is currently in testing and I think looks promising so that will be implemented in upcoming patch.

I have no idea about CKAN, I've never used it. I can ask CKAN moderator to add this mod however.

I'm glad you like PD!

Hey Thrimm,

Nice!

 

And I directly subscribed your youtube channel, nice work there, too.