[WIP][1.8.x] SSTULabs - Low Part Count Solutions (Orbiters, Landers, Lifters) - Dev Thread [11-18-18]

[RedParadize]

3 hours ago, Jimbodiah said:

Sounds like War Gaming that have just closed an almost 900 page thread on how broken their MM is.

I use to play World of tanks quite allot. My clan (-G-) was one of the prime reason MM was broken. Good times.

[Shadowmage]

BTW, this thread has hit the 100 subscribers/followers milestone.  With that, I would like to extend a special thank-you to each and every one of you;  this mod would not be in the shape it is in without the suggestions, feedback, and contributions from all of you guys (and gals).  So, thanks

I wanted to do something special for the occasion, such as releasing a new super-cool part/set of parts; sadly I'm still stuck in wheel-fixing-mode... so have not had any time to do anything of worth.  Hmm... how about some gold-foil'ish textures for the tanks?  I do have a set of foil textures that @JoseEduardo made up that I can likely clean up and get integrated for this weekends' release.  So... maybe   We'll see how my evening goes tonight, I may have the time to get those in place.

 

[Jimbodiah]

Gold foilz!!! yippie!!!!!

[Sudragon]

23 minutes ago, Jimbodiah said:

Gold foilz!!! yippie!!!!!

All the bling. AAAALLLLL the bling. 

Shiney!. 

(Seriously...would the parts switch allow for higher costs for gold foil parts?)

[Theysen]

49 minutes ago, Sudragon said:

All the bling. AAAALLLLL the bling. 

Shiney!. 

(Seriously...would the parts switch allow for higher costs for gold foil parts?)

If it was gold foil then you could think about it !  

 

if you're talking about goldish looking Copernicus tanks it's most likely MLI foil, Kepton is in it so it gets the goldish look  

 

 

[Shadowmage]

Yay, it works! The wheels that is... and only basic functionality at the moment... but its not wigging out, jumping, bouncing, jittering, or any of that other 'bad stuff'.  So... off to a good start.  You still can't park it on a hill very well (it'll slowly slide)... but for shuttle gear I think it is likely functional enough for now.

 

No, I likely won't have these back in for this weekends' release.  Going to try, but still a lot of cleanup to do as far as UI and modules goes.  And... will be re-integrating the landing gear back into the wings and fuselage parts, as my custom wheel code doesn't care about orientation (will still be separate models, but integrated back into the shuttle parts via MODEL nodes).  Going to try and still have the wheels available on a stand-alone basis as well, but that is dependent on me getting the exterior casing models figured out (might just cheat and base them on the stock geometries...).

[StickyScissors]

8 hours ago, Shadowmage said:

Hint... I need working wheels....

I won't be doing anything else major until wheels are working, in one form or another.  And sadly, I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to pull that off... so there might not be anything else; this might be the end of the road for my KSP modding.  Unity sure as hell isn't going to fix the problem; they are going along just ignoring the whole thing... the Unity devs response on the Unity forums are... not instilling me with any confidence.  They seem to have no interest in fixing it, and won't even acknowledge that there is a problem.... even though there is a 40 page long thread on how terrible their new wheel implementation is... they just keep going on in ignorance.

If I can't get wheels working, I'm afraid I'll be done modding KSP fairly soon.  I can't actually play KSP without wheels and landing legs; and if I can't play KSP, I have no reason to be modding it.  The one thing that I need solved in order to use the u5 wheel colliders is the arbitrary 'wheel colliders suspension axis must be aligned with the rigidbody Y+ axis'.  If they had not put that retarded system in place, this whole thing would not be an issue, and I would be able to figure out some way to make the u5 wheel colliders work.  Sadly, as long as that arbitrary limitation is in place... they are completely unusable for my purposes.

Alternatively what I need for the custom solution is the ability to stop a wheel collider from sliding along the ground when it shouldn't be, and I need the ability to stop the wheel from over-compressing its suspension.  Basically, I need access to the low level PhysX backend data and physics update sub-steps... none of which are available to user-created scripts.

 

Awww, man, i always worried this day might come D:

Now i REALLY hope wheels get fixed, i need mah SSTU. I don't want to have to go back to managing hundreds of part mods when SSTU is an all-in-one solution to the headache of remembering what is/isn't updated, and what parts come from what mod.

Edit: and your posts of successful wheels doesn't show up until AFTER i post my reply, thanks a lot, you slow-ass forums :/

Yayy, it works!

Edited June 18, 2016 by StickyScissors

[GoldForest]

7 hours ago, Shadowmage said:

Yay, it works! The wheels that is... and only basic functionality at the moment... but its not wigging out, jumping, bouncing, jittering, or any of that other 'bad stuff'.  So... off to a good start.  You still can't park it on a hill very well (it'll slowly slide)... but for shuttle gear I think it is likely functional enough for now.

 

No, I likely won't have these back in for this weekends' release.  Going to try, but still a lot of cleanup to do as far as UI and modules goes.  And... will be re-integrating the landing gear back into the wings and fuselage parts, as my custom wheel code doesn't care about orientation (will still be separate models, but integrated back into the shuttle parts via MODEL nodes).  Going to try and still have the wheels available on a stand-alone basis as well, but that is dependent on me getting the exterior casing models figured out (might just cheat and base them on the stock geometries...).

Well then, this is quite funny. You go from, "Sorry guys, I'm losing interest because of a problem." to "I fixed it, partially! Interest restored!" in one day, or is it two... I'm too lazy to check lol, but awesome sauce!

[GoldForest]

@Shadowmage As for the suggestions:

1) Resizable probe core with the model based off the Saturn V third stage Avionics Ring
2) Station parts. I thought of a way to make these resizeable. Basically take the IVA from w/e model you use, and the outside model, and just dupiclate them per stretch. For example, the hitchhiker, when someone goes to make it from MFT-1 to MFT-2, it will just look like two hitchhikers welded together.
3) Proton main engines, or at least a mount that will put the six engines like the Proton, I.E. protruding past the internal tank.
4) Modular/Resizable rcs thrusters with the ability to make ports appear on any side of the rcs
5) Modular Parachutes? Like the ability to make one to five parachutes deploy from one canister, also, to change the shape of the parachute. The stock models are fine, but I would like something like the Ares/Orion parachutes, the red white and blue ones.
6) Stock engine mounts with modularity. I would like to have 9 mainsails, or skippers, on one mount. Jebidiah wants to go crazy. *Is already thinking of giant rockets*

[blowfish]

31 minutes ago, GoldForest said:

6) Stock engine mounts with modularity. I would like to have 9 mainsails, or skippers, on one mount. Jebidiah wants to go crazy. *Is already thinking of giant rockets*

Stock engines won't work well for clustering because most of them include massive tankbutts.  I also heard Porkjet is redoing many of the rocket parts for 1.2 ... probably best to wait anyway.

[GoldForest]

5 minutes ago, blowfish said:

Stock engines won't work well for clustering because most of them include massive tankbutts.  I also heard Porkjet is redoing many of the rocket parts for 1.2 ... probably best to wait anyway.

Porkjet seems to be throwing all the old stuff out. He started with planes, now he's on to rockets. Wonder what the new Mainsail will look like.

[Sudragon]

1 hour ago, GoldForest said:

@Shadowmage As for the suggestions:


6) Stock engine mounts with modularity. I would like to have 9 mainsails, or skippers, on one mount. Jebidiah wants to go crazy. *Is already thinking of giant rockets*

I did a test run for clustering Nertea's engines, the Volcano-C, it's a few pages back.

[Jimbodiah]

3 hours ago, blowfish said:

Stock engines won't work well for clustering because most of them include massive tankbutts.  I also heard Porkjet is redoing many of the rocket parts for 1.2 ... probably best to wait anyway.

Stock engines "suck" once you have SSTU. The only stock engines I still use are the radial thumper thingies, for everything else I use SSTU or Kerbal Atomics (and NF Prop if I'm in the sci-f mood). Once you have SSTU there is no need for any stock engines or fuel tanks, plus they look much more realistic. Just my opinion as I like the look of realistic parts better than the playmobil style of stock parts. 

[NeoMorph]

Any news on when the SSTU craft files repository is going to get updated? I just wanted to use a Soyuz in my game and used the normal build from 1.0.5 and it's failing now  (where it didn't previously). Did you rename parts in the 1.1.2 build?

[GoldForest]

17 minutes ago, NeoMorph said:

Any news on when the SSTU craft files repository is going to get updated? I just wanted to use a Soyuz in my game and used the normal build from 1.0.5 and it's failing now  (where it didn't previously). Did you rename parts in the 1.1.2 build?

There have been game breaking updates, but no name changes.

[NeoMorph]

1 hour ago, GoldForest said:

There have been game breaking updates, but no name changes.

Strange that it says that parts are locked....

Edited June 18, 2016 by NeoMorph

[Shadowmage]

2 hours ago, NeoMorph said:

Any news on when the SSTU craft files repository is going to get updated? I just wanted to use a Soyuz in my game and used the normal build from 1.0.5 and it's failing now  (where it didn't previously). Did you rename parts in the 1.1.2 build?

Yes, most parts were renamed between 1.05 and 1.1 builds.  I would not expect any 1.05 craft files to function in 1.1.

[Nightside]

Wow, I'm excited to try the wheels! I've just been pretending kerbals never invented the wheel. (Except the reaction wheel of course).

[Shadowmage]

2 hours ago, NeoMorph said:

Any news on when the SSTU craft files repository is going to get updated? I just wanted to use a Soyuz in my game and used the normal build from 1.0.5 and it's failing now  (where it didn't previously). Did you rename parts in the 1.1.2 build?

'Soon' ...

I have to get the wheel stuff finished, and fix/re-integrate all the shuttle parts, at which point the mod should be stable enough to start working on craft files.  It mostly is in a stable state now, but is missing a few parts still.

15 hours ago, StickyScissors said:

 

Awww, man, i always worried this day might come D:

Now i REALLY hope wheels get fixed, i need mah SSTU. I don't want to have to go back to managing hundreds of part mods when SSTU is an all-in-one solution to the headache of remembering what is/isn't updated, and what parts come from what mod.

Edit: and your posts of successful wheels doesn't show up until AFTER i post my reply, thanks a lot, you slow-ass forums :/

Yayy, it works!

I'm not going anywhere,... yet.  I've given myself until 1.2 is released to get them finished, whenever that may be.

But, yeah... the wheels are mostly working as-is.  Working well enough to land and recover a shuttle anyway.  But not working well enough for general rover / landing-leg use... still a few problems that need sorted out.

[Jimbodiah]

Soon™

[Shadowmage]

9 hours ago, GoldForest said:

Well then, this is quite funny. You go from, "Sorry guys, I'm losing interest because of a problem." to "I fixed it, partially! Interest restored!" in one day, or is it two... I'm too lazy to check lol, but awesome sauce!

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

I'm am extremely frustrated at the wheels situation, and having them partially working doesn't really help.  I need them to be fully working and finished so that I can stop spending my time on them and get back to real development.  The more time I spend working on them... the less interest I have in continuing working on or playing KSP at all; I've already lost nearly a month of time working on something that I should not have had to fix at all... essentially I'm wasting and throwing away my time to fix a problem that should not exist; I consider it wasted because even if gets finished and completed and works flawlessly... we're just back to 'normal' status from 1.05 (e.g. wheels that work) and have not gained anything new in the process.

[Jimbodiah]

2 hours ago, NeoMorph said:

Any news on when the SSTU craft files repository is going to get updated? I just wanted to use a Soyuz in my game and used the normal build from 1.0.5 and it's failing now  (where it didn't previously). Did you rename parts in the 1.1.2 build?

As soon™ as the mod is stable and Mage gives the word I will build the 1.x versions of the crafts I made in the repository. I've made several Delta IV and Saturn V build since 1.0.5 but every few updates I have to rebuild them, so I didn't see much use in placing them in the repository.

[rasta013]

9 hours ago, GoldForest said:

4) Modular/Resizable rcs thrusters with the ability to make ports appear on any side of the rcs

A million times this...

I don't even know if this kind of thing would be possible or how hard it might be but this is one thing I've honestly never seen any mod try anywhere.  The ability to do modular builds of RCS units is a dream of mine.

[Shadowmage]

Took a few hours of playing with different noise textures and colorings... but... I think I have something I'm okay with (given the limitations of current shading/etc).  The MFT A/B tanks and the set of tank nosecones will all have gold as an option now.  I'll consider adding the texture for some of the other parts in the future (MUS, mounts, SRB nosecones?).

 

I'll revisit it in 1.2 and/or whenever PBR shaders become available;  it would look -sooo- much better with proper reflection support and specular reflection coloring.

Close-up of the details/normals:

[Shadowmage]

3 hours ago, Jimbodiah said:

As soon™ as the mod is stable and Mage gives the word I will build the 1.x versions of the crafts I made in the repository. I've made several Delta IV and Saturn V build since 1.0.5 but every few updates I have to rebuild them, so I didn't see much use in placing them in the repository.

I think that the tanks/engines/decouplers/Ship-Core series stuff should all be in a 'stable' state.  The biggest changes that I'm anticipating in the near future will be adding back in the shuttle parts, but those should not effect any other builds/parts/craft.  -Might- be a couple tech-tree placement updates... but those shouldn't necessarily break the craft files either.

So, you can likely start working on most of them now if you want.

Here some images of the few craft that I will be providing as defaults with the mod (not shown/not yet-done are the full and kerbal-sized shuttle stacks).  Most of these are... very... OP for the stock system, even the 'short' versions: