HarvesteR

I remember that game! I played when I was a kid too. It was the same one where you could build a lab rat track-machine-thing, wasn't it? Anyhow, Welcome to the KSP Community! Cheers

Hi, Just wanted to officially announce the release of the 0.10 update, which introduces a completely overhauled terrain system, joystick support and an active control winglet, among many other things. You can get it here at the downloads page. Also, for the first time we're also releasing a Mac version of KSP Cheers

This error is thrown when the loader can't process the collider node's mesh. That can happen for several reasons, but the most likely one is that your collision mesh is lacking a material. The DAE model importer requires all meshes to have materials. Even the ones that aren't visible in the game. Later, the collider's material is discarded, but if the mesh didn't have one to start with, it'll crash the model importer. [mod]Also, I think this thread would fit in better at the Addon Development Forums [/mod] Hope this helps, Cheers

I think the ability of programmers in general has actually decayed... I mean, now we have much more advanced tools that allow us to think on a higher level, and produce more interesting things, but 30 years ago, programmers had to really use their brains to produce just about anything. It's sad, but I think languages like ActionScript, Python and Javascript are producing a generation of programmers who don't really understand how software works. Cheers

I changed the picture to an attachment now. It was hotlinked before, and it might have been unviewable for some. Cheers

Thanks I'm using Jarmonik's D3D9 graphics client. It allows for a greater range of resolutions than the inline (D3D7) renderer. Cheers

This is already in as of version 0.9, and it works. The parachutes use this parameter to deploy when jettisoned. Just make sure the engines you want to activate are staged properly, and it should work. By the way, the values for that parameter can be either True or False (or you can omit it altogether and it will default to false) Cheers

I used this technique myself on a few large stacks here. The lower stage engines were powerful enough to plow though the upper stages by themselves, with very entertaining but nonetheless catastrophic results. So I used struts with 8-sided symmetry to brace the large fuel tanks from top to bottom, adding a lot of structural strength. Cheers

Most of my earth-moon flights in orbiter were done like this: * get yourself to low-earth orbit (aligned to the moon's plane) * wait until you're opposite the moon's future position and burn prograde a lot. (I use transfer MFD for that bit) * then coast until you're in the moon's sphere of influence * once there, burn sideways until you get a non-crashing, non-getting-lost-in-space trajectory * At moon periapsis, burn retro until the orbit is circular enough for your taste. * For extra credit, before reaching periapsis, burn up and down to get your inclination the way you want it. * then deorbit and land All of this should be possible with the new orbiting system, once we rig up an interface to display it, that is... that's a big task in itself, because this interface has to be very well thought out, so as to not be too complex for non-orbiter-nuts like ourselves, but still useful. About the ton of fuel you'll need for a moon landing, it's not as much fuel as one would expect. You'll be landing at a world with only 1/6th the gravity, so a small engine with good fuel efficiency could do the job. Cheers

I chose the mini max because the nose-cone is made of balsa and could be carved to make the command module. Please note I have no proper carving tools or skills, just an exacto knife and some sandpaper. The fins had to be slightly modified and they're still too big, but I'd rather have a stable flight than an exact kerbal replica. The 'paint' job was done by printing texture maps onto adhesive shipping labels. Finally, if anyone's curious, the rockets in the back are the comanche (orange one) and the patriot missile (with custom fins and retro paint job (both are Estes kits). I'm so happy right now. :thumbup: Cheers

Hmm, I guess it doesn't go as far, although 'Terra' is the name of the planet in Portuguese and Spanish (it literally means 'earth', as in soil (well, in spanish it's 'Tierra', but same thing) ) Cheers

In my day, if we wanted to play rocket pilot, we had to duct-tape cardboard cones to our heads and light our trousers on fire! AND WE LIKED IT! JK, I'm 26, and so far my trousers haven't caught fire Cheers

Me. Hard-core Orbinaut here! :hailprobe: I have to say, the Orbiter community has helped me a lot in developing KSP. Even though in the first six months they (nor anyone) had no idea what I was talking about, they helped me out nonetheless. And it's also where it all got started really. In early July, I posted a thread about KSP in Orbiter Forum, and from there it went. Here's my Orbiter setup (Note also the DG paper model sitting on top of it ): Cheers

Hi again! I know it’s pretty meaningless at this point, with all the mirrors and reuploads out there, but our own download counter has just gone over the 200,000 mark. Once more, many thanks to everyone who downloaded, and many more thanks to those who have pre-ordered/donated already! Cheers!

Wow! Thank you so much everyone! It makes me really happy to see everyone enjoying the game and supporting the project! :thumbup: The Mac version is being worked on. It will come eventually, I promise! Cheers!

Hi again! It’s been a long time in the making, but the 0.9 Release is finally official. You can get it at the Downloads Page. You will also notice that we now have a Pre-Order/Donations system set up. You can now support the KSP project by making a donation. Donations from 7.00 USD up will automatically be counted as a pre-order, and you’ll already have a valid account to download the first fully payware version, which is due in a few months. In the meantime, we’ll continue to update the free version of KSP. Then, the last free version will remain forever available as a demo. The 0.9 release has many improvements to the game, most importantly: A completely overhauled staging system, to make stage editing a lot more user-friendly and easy to understand A new type of part, called a Strut Connector, that allows linking any two parts together for greater structural integrity A new Settings screen, where you can customize Video, Audio and Controls. And a heap of bugfixes and tweaks We thank you all very much for the support and the incredible reception of our game! Happy Launchings! Cheers

I was gonna say! That is just awesome! I wonder what the polycount is.

Unity does support animation, for the models you import and bake into the project... those are very non-moddable. In fact, Unity has no native support at all for runtime loaded models. KSP uses a library that parses obj and dae files, but that library is very early in development, and has no animation support yet. For now, all animations on the parts are being done through code (I think only the parachute has any animation, in fact) Cheers

I agree that we really need a LOD system in place to make things easier on lower-end computers, but for now, addon makers really need to keep the limitations of the engine in mind, and try not to abuse the polycount. Here, we try to keep all parts at no more than 1,500 polys each, and strive to keep them under a thousand. Also, the textures don't need to be higher than 512x512. Most parts will actually do well with even less. Only the largest parts, like the engines, fuel tanks and the pod have 512 maps, the smaller ones use 256x256, and the really small ones (like the new struts) use a 128x128 map. The size of a texture map can also have a big impact on performance. Thankfully, Unity does have a texture quality control built-in. Cheers

The last value on an attachnode entry defines the size of the attachment point. You will notice that the parachutes have small, purple attachments, while most other parts have the default blue node. Parachutes specify a size 0 attachment, while all others have the default size 1 attachment. There are attachment sizes up to size 4. They become larger and have different colors. For now, that's all the difference it makes. Later, the plan is to add a size compatibility check before letting parts attach, so you have to use adapters to connect different sized parts to each other. Meanwhile, since there are no adapter parts, everything can connect to everything else. Cheers

Yeah, unfortunately, this isn't possible under the current version of the game engine (Unity). Particle effects are defined as scene objects, and they're saved as metadata (a.k.a. gibberish) on the game build. We do have planned to include a lot more particle effects and other cool things on the FX collection. Right now it is very barebones, and has very few effects. But we will add a lot more eventually, and if possible, add a way to get them loaded at runtime like the parts. Cheers

Well said. I was thinking of posting something about this eventually. By merging all meshes (except functional ones) into a single object, the part becomes significantly less heavy on the game. Remember that each separate object on a part will be imported as such, and the game will have a lot of extra trouble managing those objects. Cheers

Talk about memories! I remember a styrofoam shuttle kit I had, with C-type motors. I think we did one single full launch, and it ended up in a tree. Then we got to playing with just the C-types, and strapped cardboard fins and toothpick struts to them. And of course, little tin foil men, which were named 'Kerbals' Thank you for making that reskin. It's significant on many levels here. Hmm, now, we need an Estes-like tripod launchpad Cheers EDIT: Oh and yeah, I've done a small change to the parts loading scheme, and underscores will no longer be a taboo character on part names

Awesome! That cockpit looks like it's been revised so many times. There's Apollo-like gauges next to glass displays. Anyone notice there's a guy standing near the access hatch on the lower flight deck? Talk about photobomb Cheers

Here I mostly play Orbiter, Minecraft and ArmA II. (And occasionally Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space) As for the drink: Boing. It's boxed guava juice, and it's almost 100% sugar. It's bound to kill me one day Cheers