Tiberion

It was balanced against stock before 1.0; For 1.0.2 I did a high level re-balance because the game is quite different now, so things may still be in need of more tweaking. I'll do that more when we know how Squad may change some things for the next version.

Good lord, man. No way. I ran at full settings when the game came out on my laptop, which has a GTX 525 Mobile GPU in it, with an i3. KSP has certainly gotten more CPU intensive since then, but not really any more graphically. Even now I only run a i5 2500K (not overclocked) and a GTX 575, and I play 1920x1080 with it all turned up, and I've used graphics mods like EVE as well. There are plenty of games this system can't run on high anymore, but KSP isn't one of them

Unity is not a 3d modeling program, and as such there is no need to choose. You will in fact need both a 3d modeling program like 3DS Max and also Unity with the KSP Part tools script installed to properly export a .mu model file that KSP will load properly. Unity is in fact a game engine (like Unreal and others) as well as a game development environment. KSP runs on top of a Unity executable. Modders use Unity in a few ways, part makers specifically use its editor along with the KSP Part tools script (made by KSP Developers) to set up a 3d "scene" containing the models for their part (with textures assigned) as well as animations and vectots that describe certain functions called Transforms. (These can be the direction of thrust, which way a docking port connects, the direction a landing leg points when deployed, and so on.) Once its setup properly they use the script to export the entire constructed scene as one model file and any textures it uses. These files can be loaded by KSP, and with the proper CFG file they'll be recognized as a part and show up in the part menu in the VAB to be used in game. So to make a part you'll need 3 basic things: A 3d Modeling program; You know of 3ds Max. Some other choices are: Blender, Wings3d, Sktechup. There are quite a few more, some may produce models supported by Unity and KSP easier than others. Some are free (like Blender) and some cost a lot of money (like 3ds Max) An image editor to create textures and bumpmaps for your models; Photoshop, Paintshop, gimp (general imagine manipulation program, gimp.org), Paint.net (somewhat like the original Paint for windows but with many more features.) Again, some of these are free (Paint.net, gimp) some cost as much as normal software (Paintshop) and some are again quite expensive (Photoshop) And finally unity with the KSP part tools script. The good news is that the normal Unity package is free to most hobbyist and students. As for what is best; impossible to say. They all excel at different things, they have different interfaces and all of them will take some time to learn. You should probably hit up Youtube and watch some videos of them in action, it might help you decide which one to tackle. I personally use Blender (from blender.org) and Paintshop Pro X14

Blender.org for Blender - 3d modeling and animation software, open source, definitely works on Linux gimp.org for gimp, general image manipulation program - a Photo-shop-like program, again open source and definitely for Linux. Your main issue is Unity, even though projects made in Unity are portable to Linux, the editor itself does not run natively (only windows and Mac OSX) - it will work through Wine though, and the limited ways you use it for KSP part making that shouldn't be a problem.

Once you have a normal map image created (the NVIDIA script takes your regular texture, called the diffuse texture and turns it into a normal map) you save it in the Unity asset folder next to your diffuse and your model. Then find it in the Unity assets list, click on it and in its info panel change the texture type to Normal Map, then uncheck Create from Greyscale if its checked, the other defaults are normally okay to begin with. Hit Apply. Once that is done you need to click on the Material for your model and make sure the shader is set to KSP/Bumped or Bumped Specular, this adds the 2nd texture slot for the normal map, select it and you should see the added detail on your model in the scene right away, and now when you export it will put both texture files in there. You might want to adopt a naming convention for your normal maps, the standard one for KSP mods is using the same name as your diffuse texture and then added _NRM; so like engineTex.dds and engineTex_NRM.dds (Note: if you use KSP/Bumped Specular you might want to add a specular map to your diffuse texture to tell it where it should be shiny/reflective and where it should be matte/dull. You can also change the settings on the material to change exactly how shiny the part is overall. That's a bit more advanced, so get the basics down first.

The exported model files have texture names in their metadata, which KSP can read. However KSP only cares about the name before the file extension, not what the extension is or anything like that. So even if the model says "myTexture.png is its texture file, KSP will load myTexture.dds if its in the same place. You can also override textures via the MODEL {} node in the config of course if you need to reuse a texture from another folder or whatever. So basically you can export it as TGA, PNG, MBM or whatever and then convert it to DDS. There's a KSP-specific tool to do this automatically: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/98672-WIN-KSP-to-DDS-texture-converter Its a very slick program. I converted several hundred textures from my mod in one batch using the program, it did any flipping or sizing needed and even deleted the old files.(its optiional) That should be all you need.

Yes, unless you model a differnt type of fairings that aren't multipart (IE snap together with nodes or srf attachments) you will need a new plugin. the cargobay module does change its shielded parts from shielded to not via a toggle, but it does so based on the status of the animation playing, there's no way to make it thing "These parts are attached, so its shielded, and now they are jettisoned so they are not shielded. Furthermore, there's no way to set up a shielded region for multi-part fairings because they can be 1 panel tall or 10 if the user wants.

IN blender, make sure you're in edit mode, then hit "N" to open the properties of your model (in a vertical meny inset in the main window) then scroll to the bottom until you find "Normals" Normals determine which side of a 2d face reflects lighting and is thus visible, if they are flipped backwards then the outward facing side will be transparent, but it will show up through the model on the other side. In the normals section you'll want to click on the small button that has the face highlighted, if you hover it says "Display face normals as lines" - click that and then adjust the length so you can tell which way each line points. You'll see that the troublesome faces have no lines (they're actually pointing "inward") There are a couple of ways to fix them. The way I do it is via the left tool panel (the one with the vertical tabs) Click on the Shading/UVs tab and you'll see another "Normals" heading with 2 buttons; Flip and recalculate. Flip works by flipping all faces you currently have selected, so you can use sift+right click on the model to select the incorrect faces and then hit Flip to fix them. Recalculate takes the whole model and tries to decide which faces should be visible and adjusts the normals accordingly. Recalculate works in MOST cases but it won't handle some complex geometry quite right. Be ready to Undo and try the other method if you don't like the outcome. Once that is done you can save and the changes should appear in Unity for you to re-export to KSP. This post has some more info in it; he and I may be using different versions of Blender so the tools may be in different places. (I am using 2.70)

All of that should probably be done in Unity, though you can use blender empty objects to make the transforms and nodes too. You can also make simple cylinder colliders for engines and just turn it into a physics->mesh collider in Unity; you can also do that to the actual engine models too, as long as you check "concave" it'll fill in the polygons needed to make a solid shape physX will recognize. The third option is to add Unity primitive colliders (capsules or cubes) to your hierarchy. I've done all three, there's a right time for all of them. As for normal maps, there are normal map generators out there, but if you need an image editor you can try "gimp" which is a free open source "photoshop" type program, and there's a clone of the nvidia plugin for it: https://code.google.com/p/gimp-normalmap/ Never used it though; Personally I use Corel Paintshop Pro, which is an old competitor of Photoshop and most photoshop plugins are compatible with it, including the Nviidia one. It's much much cheaper than Photoshop and a one time fee, but its also different in a few ways so you might want to do some research.

Yes as the patch notes said the fairing walls and half-nose pieces are removing, there is currently no way to make them function so they would only be a drag penalty to your rocket. I left the panels and the nosecones in to use as structural pieces and regular nosecones.

Welcome to KSP/Unity modding, It won't be the last time.

KSP is still being published on Unity 4.6.x but the version you use to export parts doesn't need to match that, its better to use a version most compatible with the KSP Part Tools script (last version was 0.23) and that is still 4.2.2. Newer versions will probably work, with some issues to work around. But if you don't need a newer version for other projects, then 4.2.2 is the best bet for part-making. You can download older versions here: https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download/archive

You'll need to download Unity and the KSP "Part tools" unity script. If you're only using Unity for exporting parts then you can download the specific version that the latest Part tools was made for: Unity 4.2.2: https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download?thank-you=update&download_nid=2511&os=Win Part tools for 0.23: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/65356-0-23-PartTools?p=1878643&viewfull=1#post1878643 Also, I made a tutorial video about the basics of importing and exporting models through Unity from Blender, which you can watch here:

I also made a Unity basics tutorial;

Yes, you need Part tools to export models from Unity as .mu files. You can add the colliders and do all of the editing, but to export you need part tools, and to have the part tools "script object" attached to the top object in your hierarchy (it should be a Unity empty object with your model attached as a child of that) This post has a link to the 0.23 part tools download from sarbian, which is the newest one.

The chutes? They should be working...

Toyotawolf: sure there's a chance, might also need to re-distrbute the current engines to some roles as well. Sort of need to take stock of what we have vs whats needed. Augustus: Highly Kerbalized versions, yes (mostly because I suck at replica modeling)

Yeah engine power works differently in 1.0 it scales off of Isp. You find your current thrust by this: maxthrust * currentIsp / vacIsp (you can call currentIsp / vacIsp your IspFraction or something, so its maxthrust * IspFraction) That means thrust is at 100% in a Vacuum because currentIsp will be equal to vacIsp so its just maxthrust * 1 For the bertha at sea level Isp is only 100 since its an orbital engine, while vacIsp is 344, so 100/344 comes out to 0.291 and thrust comes out at 138. I now have a middle key in the curve at 0.8 atmospheric pressure, so between sealevel and like... 20k it curves from 100 to 222 so I have Isp ramping up pretty fast (half of the curve in the 1st 20% of the atmosphere) - in the end I may revisit the curve stages or make other changes. The end result is that orbital engines aren't more efficient in a vacuum, they're better performing like in reality. They'll make good landers in places without atmosphere still, but in other cases you'l need to bring an engine meant for atmospheric uses (for instance the aerospike, whose Isp curve is pretty flat and works generally well in both, at an overall performance penalty (could need balancing)

No, he's right, they are for size sorting in the VAB. Size0 = 0.625m diameter parts Size1 = 1.25m size2 = 2.5m size3 = 3.75m srf = surface mounted parts Mk1, mk2, etc means they match that hullshape and can attach together seamlessly. That lets you sort parts in the VAB/SPH by those sizes.

Novapunch 2.09 just released for 1.0.x compatibility (beta versions been out a while)

KSP 2.09 is now available on KerbalStuff Thanks to everyone who submitted feedback. It's by no means "finished" but I think its in a pretty good place. I decided not to mess with the costs for now, we can do a deeper dive on career after getting all the technicals re-polished. Fixed a few more things from Test#3: The conical soyuz booser had 8000 thrust instead of 800. I think I fixed the 5m fairing - I know they aren't perfect but they are what we have right now. I fixed the fairing nosecones that didn't get their bottom nodes tweaked, so they'll attach now. The craft files are rebuilt - I edited the old ones and flew them up to space, they seem to be working fine, but let me know if there are issues. Subassemblies included. Dropbox mirror incoming in a few minutes, will be on front page (along with the full changelog) Enjoy! Leave feedback! I need a nap.

Yeah I started out with 1800 on the freyja ablator, thats how much the stock 3.75m shield has. Lowered it to 1000 later but it still never uses nearly all of it. Lowered it to 500 now. Here's test 3: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46506740/NovaPunch_Test3_for1_0_2.zip You'll need to delete NovaPunch2 from your gamedata folder this time before installing because I converted the textures to DDS, so the old ones must go. The partdatabase.cfg should be fine this time. It's important that people try this one out to make sure the textures are loading properly on a variety of setups. Please and thank you. Note: download size is down 30mb and ingame usage should be much better. The only other change is a small config tweak on the 5m stockFairing clone. Re: Odin shield - yeah its an issue with all the nodes, the editor does not like it. Not sure I can get it any better; spinning the camera a bit does help. If we don't find anymore issues hopefully I can get some craft built and get everything ready to publish later this evening. Finally

The engine fairings are an actual model (or pair of models, in the case of the LV-N) located within the same .mu file as the engine. It works with the ModuleJettison module in the config file, where you name the fairing "object" or model there. That module hides the model until such time that the bottom node of the engine has a part attached to it, then it spawns the model and activates it. During flight you can manually eject them, or when the bottom node gets decoupled from, the fairing will fall away with the part below automatically. The panels themselves become debris and won't persist through a reload. Since they are models, the only way to modify their size is to edit them. It's possible to load the fairings with a separate MODEL {} node in the part config, so they load from their own .mu, which means you can also independently set their scale and locations in the MODEL {} node. I have used this in Novapunch to use one model file for several different parts, you just need a texture that can handle the scaling without looking bad. So yes you can use it on any part that has stack nodes (it doesn't have to be the bottom node, you can specify it in the ModuleJettison module config) and you can use the module to eject any sort of model you want, it doesn't have to be a fairing. As such, its not really a "functional" fairing but for most of the currently implemented engine fairings, the difference it would make to drag performance would be negligible. Actual interstage fairings would be wonderful at some point though, for sure.

Yeah after a couple more flights I can make it happen now, though sometimes you can get the heatshield turned around and it'll stay stable. I tried adjusting some stuff and it didn't help at all, much like the floating thing. Possibly related for all I know; for now it looks like we'll make due with SAS-aided entry. Here's the 2nd test version finally; https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46506740/NovaPunch_Test2_for1_0_2.zip You MUST delete PartDatabase.cfg from the main KSP folder to upgrade. You should just be able to overwrite the actual mod in Gamedata, no new files just updated versions. Some saved craft might have some connection node issues afterwards though. Minus some more balancing of engines I think its pretty close to final. I still have to rebuild some example craft. Also maybe DDS textures. The only major balance tweak since I listed posted them is to the 2.5m bearcat 'single' - I reduced its thrust to 900 and adjusted Isp and mass accordingly; it was overlapping with the M50 a bit and now it adds a nice 2nd-stage engines (Skipper-like) while still working as radial booster engines. Here's the full rolling list of what has been worked on or looked at so far, let me know if I missed something; Parachutes. - fixed Odin heatshield attachment - fixed (mostly) Yawmaster SM attachment - done More smoke! -done added gimbal range - needs testing! fixed mini-decoupler gap engine flameout sound: stock bug with non ModuleEnginesFX-based engines removed ModuleSAS from reactionwheels, pods, added sizenodes where appropriate Bearcat 3x thrust 2400 -> 2500 - done 2.5m Bearcat single thrust dropped from 1400 to 900, ISP and drymass adjusted (now suitable for 2nd stage lifting, like a more poweful Skipper) Heavy Struts - fixed? Add Ablator - done Freyja re-entry orientation - Bug confirmed, not sure how to fix Freyja floating level - cannot fix Odin heatshield not using ablator - cannot fix Nerf LFBooster massively - done Radial chute wobblyness - done

That is exactly the same ship I am using to try it out and I can't get it to flip, very weird. I changed the CoM of the part later after testing, so I guess we'll see if it still happens when I push the next release. biohazard15 you said you had converted everything to DDS already, is everything loading up properly? If so can you zip them up so I can drop them in? No use doing the work again. You should just be able to search+Delete all non .dds files in the Parts folder and then zip it and drop it on dropbox. I'd appreciate it, and you're definitely going in the credits for that and all the testing you do.