Tips on modding The Expanse Rocinante

[Spaceception]

I kinda want to make it at some point, any tips on how to create part based mods?

http://expanse.wikia.com/wiki/Rocinante

Edited May 7, 2017 by Spaceception

[Spaceception]

Also, I don't have blender, and I don't know how to export textures, or really anything, so any and all tips would be welcome

[Moiety]

@Beale has written some excellent Modding Tutorials.

[Spaceception]

Thanks

Also, I made a stock Roci

 

[Urses]

Try to Contact dboi88 he is realy great in making big bad ships

Funny Kabooms 

Urses 

Edited May 7, 2017 by Urses

[Spaceception]

1 hour ago, Urses said:

Try to Contact dboi88 he is realy great in making big bad ships

Funny Kabooms 

Urses 

Didn't show up in the search, can you @ them please?

[Urses]

@dboi88 if i may insisist to lend a Hand here please?

I think the best way for @Spaceceptionis to go to build the Roccinannte in small parts like Engine, Bridge, Corpus and i think you will have some good ideas to get it done?

Thank you in advice

Funny Kabooms

Urses

[OmegaOne]

Epstein Drive - we need the Epstein Drive.  having the Roci would be awesome, but the ability to build a Donnager or the Agatha King, or even Nauvoo / Behemoth / Medina Station would be completely over the top!

I read the books.  If you haven't read them, you probably won't recognize some of the names i tossed out there - so go read them :-)

[Spaceception]

15 minutes ago, OmegaOne said:

Epstein Drive - we need the Epstein Drive.  having the Roci would be awesome, but the ability to build a Donnager or the Agatha King, or even Nauvoo / Behemoth / Medina Station would be completely over the top!

I read the books.  If you haven't read them, you probably won't recognize some of the names i tossed out there - so go read them :-)

 

Ooooooh, I really want the Epstein drive too.

I dunno if it'll be big enough to recreate the Donnager, but it'd be one hell of a ship.

[OmegaOne]

Just now, Spaceception said:

Ooooooh, I really want the Epstein drive too.

I dunno if it'll be big enough to recreate the Donnager, but it'd be one hell of a ship.

they could create different sizes of the drive to suit different ship sizes.  As long as they can push something of similar size/mass as the Roci up to 150 m/s^2 (15 g's) acceleration and not run out of fuel, it would work (I would have to go back and flip through the books, but i think that's what the Tachi could do before they started making money between Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate).  remember - Epstein Drives are exceedingly efficient fusion torches

[Spaceception]

8 minutes ago, OmegaOne said:

they could create different sizes of the drive to suit different ship sizes.  As long as they can push something of similar size/mass as the Roci up to 150 m/s^2 (15 g's) acceleration and not run out of fuel, it would work (I would have to go back and flip through the books, but i think that's what the Tachi could do before they started making money between Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate).  remember - Epstein Drives are exceedingly efficient fusion torches

 

Yep, they're like just about impossible Unless we create some wonder material that could withstand the heat.

 

And for at least my first mod, I'll only be making 1 version of the Epstein drive.

[NoXion]

The Handwavium drives in the Space Opera parts pack would seem to fit the bill. You might even have to limit their thrust.

[Spaceception]

10 minutes ago, NoXion said:

The Handwavium drives in the Space Opera parts pack would seem to fit the bill. You might even have to limit their thrust.

But those are just engines,  tanks, and reactors, I want a full (or Kerbal scaled) size Roci.

[NoXion]

1 minute ago, Spaceception said:

But those are just engines,  tanks, and reactors, I want a full (or Kerbal scaled) size Roci.

You could combine those with the B9 HX parts which are plenty big enough. I'm kind of tempted to give it a try myself, since I have both sets of parts.

[FreeThinker]

On 5/7/2017 at 2:44 AM, Spaceception said:

I kinda want to make it at some point, any tips on how to create part based mods?

http://expanse.wikia.com/wiki/Rocinante

The Rocinante Epstein drive can be found in KSP Interstellar Extended

[KerboNerd]

KerboNerd, at your service!

https://imgur.com/a/BRCA1gM

 

Edited August 11, 2019 by KerboNerd
Please don't get the *cough* crappy *cough* engine from Interstellar Extended

[Elidnas]

6 hours ago, KerboNerd said:

KerboNerd, at your service!

https://imgur.com/a/BRCA1gM

 

Want 

[vossiewulf]

Modeling in 3D is not something you learn in a weekend. If you really want to do this and have it not be an endless series of not having any idea what to do next and having to ask someone, download Blender and get some good books and spend a couple months working through tutorials until you have a grasp of what 3D modeling is and how it works. That includes everything having to do with UVW texture coordinates and texture mapping methods and processes.

Then when you go to make parts for KSP it will be a reasonably accessible experience and you'll be able to make something good that you're happy with.

[KerboNerd]

5 hours ago, vossiewulf said:

Modeling in 3D is not something you learn in a weekend. If you really want to do this and have it not be an endless series of not having any idea what to do next and having to ask someone, download Blender and get some good books and spend a couple months working through tutorials until you have a grasp of what 3D modeling is and how it works. That includes everything having to do with UVW texture coordinates and texture mapping methods and processes.

Then when you go to make parts for KSP it will be a reasonably accessible experience and you'll be able to make something good that you're happy with.

Actually depends on if you're a quick learner... I was. I learned to make most of the KSP parts in about one and a half weeks (sleeping included  ).

Also the forums is a good place to ask around for questions. You get responses very quick.

[vossiewulf]

1 hour ago, KerboNerd said:

Actually depends on if you're a quick learner

Yes, some folks can be making reasonable parts in a few weeks, but I'm sure you know now, if you've been doing it for a while, that at that point you only knew a very narrow and focused slice. I did something similar way back in the 90s, but I also go back and occasionally look at some of the work from that time and I shudder as to how little I knew and how inefficient my processes and models were. You should also know that it's completely possible to model something that looks correct and works, but has way too many polys or bad edge geometries or isolated vertices all over. It takes a while until you can make things that couldn't be improved upon by another modeler adhering to the same poly budget, and even longer to do that in a reasonable amount of time.

[KerboNerd]

1 minute ago, vossiewulf said:

Yes, some folks can be making reasonable parts in a few weeks, but I'm sure you know now, if you've been doing it for a while, that at that point you only knew a very narrow and focused slice. I did something similar way back in the 90s, but I also go back and occasionally look at some of the work from that time and I shudder as to how little I knew and how inefficient my processes and models were. You should also know that it's completely possible to model something that looks correct and works, but has way too many polys or bad edge geometries or isolated vertices all over. It takes a while until you can make things that couldn't be improved upon by another modeler adhering to the same poly budget, and even longer to do that in a reasonable amount of time.

I totally agree... Even now, a month in my modding "career", i go back and perfect the models. It doesn't take 10,000 h to make something... It takes 10,000 h to perfect it. And you learn a lot of ways to improve with time.

The biggest challenge was to optimize the workflow.

[vossiewulf]

50 minutes ago, KerboNerd said:

I totally agree... Even now, a month in my modding "career", i go back and perfect the models. It doesn't take 10,000 h to make something... It takes 10,000 h to perfect it. And you learn a lot of ways to improve with time.

The biggest challenge was to optimize the workflow.

We called it divide cut turn when we figured it out, and I've never changed basic method since. It means create simple primitives and add detail only where you need it by dividing or cutting edges and turning them to the new right direction. Same holds true with boolean operations, do it with simple primitives and then add your detail, unless you prefer spending four hours welding vertices and deleting edges that are created in complex boolean operations.

You know you're reasonably far along when you can quickly and efficiently make what you want with no stepping back starting with a single vertex. 

Kids these days with all them yoootube tutorials and dedicated forams and books there t'weren't NONE of them things back when we started, and we had ta walk uphill both ways through snow twenty feet deep at least, wearin' iron boots with the spikes on the INSIDE, and did I tell ya about them polar bears and wolverines? RABID wolverines!  Rabid wolverines that shot pulse lasers out of their eyeballs! The kids these days...