Friznit

You just need to put them in the middle of a forest where there's nobody around and they won't make any noise at all, just like falling trees.

Castor_Control_1_N, _O and _P have been deprecated and changed to Castor_Control_s0_1, _s0p5_1 and s1_1 respectively. It looks like they're meant to be soft deprecated only (techhidden=true) but looks like they're not loading because reasons. You can quick fix by opening your savegame file in a text editor (make a backup first, just in case), find castor.control.1.P and replace with castor.control.s1.1 then reload the save and you should be good to go. You may want to do this to any craft files you have too.

From my admittedly limited digging on the subject, there's some confusion and contradiction around Nova or C-8, not least because Saturn C-8 imagery is often used in articles about both. It's well-documented that the original C-8 concept was a larger than Saturn "Nova Class" rocket that was considered for direct ascent moon landings but was ultimately discounted in favour of the C-5 concept that eventually evolved into Saturn V - the most detailed close-to-contemporary source I've found is Logsdon, Aug 1969, in which Von B is quoted in June 62, having listed "Nova or C-8 mode" as is fourth and least preferred option primarily because it was more expedient to shoot for C-5 Ultimately the 8x F-1 C-8 was too big to be assembled at Michoud, would required a parallel programme to C-5 and take over a year longer. This does nevertheless indicate an appetite to continue development of bloody big rockets in the post-Apollo era. Nova, or Supernova, appears to loosely refer to a number of larger than Saturn V concepts submitted by the likes of GD, MM and DA and which, alongside Saturn MLV, were considered for missions to the planets (chiefly Mars). There is precious little documented because, as we know, funding got cut and shuttle things happened instead. Confusingly, one of these concepts was apparently called Nova C8, and was "almost identical to Saturn C-8" (according to an uncited comment on wiki). Apparently MM's 1B concept used 14x F-1's. That's so bonkers I'm going to have to try it. Pics n clicks: my own take on the C-8 uses proc fairings, engine plate and a tweakscaled stock tank for the first stage. The rest is tweakscaled BDB parts.

People keep asking for a guide, so I've figured something out. It's rough around the edges but it'll get you started. https://github.com/friznit/Unofficial-BDB-Wiki/wiki/International-Space-Station

Basically yes to all the above. Though really if you're using USI MKS I'd prefer to stick to USI LS as well (second option above). The outcome gameplay wise is largely the same as combining Tac and KH, and you'll obviously get better compatibility. Option 3 works too but occasionally KH and USI disagree on when a Kerb is in hibernation and you have to resuscitate them manually by editing the save file

I have a Mr. Vikram and Mr. Beresheet on the line asking for a conference call. Shall I put them through?

I might be working on something....

Engine spool up and down is a real life feature on some engines which is simulated in BDB. I believe some other mods do it too. You can add orbital correction motors for precision manoeuvres after the main burn is complete (e.g. RCS). For added fun, the next release will have an optional patch to limit the number of engine ignitions too. Many bothans died to bring us this information. Science labs are more efficient when they have more data to process. When it runs low, you'll still get the same amount of science from your data but it'll just take longer. The airlock issues looks like a bug feature

Both! I'll definitely add it to the wiki guide and will need to make a craft file to do that anyway, so will sling it into the collection. I just started using Rocket Emporium too - really nice set of complementary parts!

I believe Pioneer 12 (PVO) is on the list for BDB as it's not covered by Probes Plus. I'll keep the Sats reference up to date as things get added so you can see which mod covers which: https://github.com/friznit/Unofficial-BDB-Wiki/wiki/Satellites

Don't tempt me...

I'm glad you find them useful. Do please let me know if there's anything you think is missing or could be clearer. Beautiful shots as always @Zorg

WIP stuff is looking great! I poked a few of the experts to see if they could help shed some light on the dark arts of balancing parts. I think there's a spreadsheet knocking around somewhere that people have used to balance volume/mass/fuel/isp ratios in a stockalike manner.

I'm not quite sure what you are referring to by standard vs extended. There's the regular round base, a low profile base and the cone shaped payload adapter bases. Functionally there's no difference and it largely depends what you're putting on top of the fairing base and how much clearance you have around the payload for fitting the fairing sides. The low profile one gives you the least clearance so the sides can sometimes bulge out from the fairing base, which looks ugly but on the other hand it works well when used as an interstage adapter, engine fairing or other interstage fuselage. The payload adapter variants take up more room in the stack but are good for mounting smaller diameter payloads inside the fairing, especially if parts of the payload need to hand down below the payload's lowest connecting part (such as the ends of antennae or solar panels). The regular one is the original generic fairing base. It's good for most use cases but a little bulky for my tastes.

Still tagging parts, even while out in the wilderness.