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[WIP, 1.0.5] Stock Replacement Assets 0.4 [25 Feb]


hoojiwana

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A very Work-In-Progress set of parts to replace various rocketry art assets with improved models and textures, intended to look at home with the fantastic aircraft assets that @Porkjet has created. I do want to do things a little differently than the excellant work done by @Ven in his Stock Part Revamp though, in both art style and scope. For example, I will not be touching any aircraft parts whatsoever since the aforementioned Porkjet has done such an incredible job of those himself.

I've set a few basic rules to follow, these are not hard rules and I'll probably break one or two:

Spoiler
  • Recognisably the same part
  • Equal to, or (preferably) smaller memory usage
  • Equal to, or (preferably) fewer materials per part
  • Command pods use existing IVA
  • Uses identical attachment node locations as stock parts (same length)

Parts included so far:

Spoiler
  • Mk1 Command Pod
  • Mk1-2 Command Pod
  • Mk1 Lander Can
  • Mk2 Lander Can
  • RT-5 "Flea" SRB
  • RT-10 "Hammer" SRB
  • CR-7 R.A.P.I.E.R. (renamed to CR-7 "Rapier")
  • IX-6315 "Dawn" Ion engine
  • Xenon Tanks (0.625m, 1.25m, Radial)
  • Mk 16 Parachute
  • Aerodynamic Nose Cone (1.25m)
  • Heat Shield (1.25m, 2.5m, 3.75m)
  • Stack Decoupler (1.25m, 2.5m, 3.75m)
  • Stack Separator (1.25m, 2.5m, 3.75m)

0.4 Changelog:

Spoiler
  • Tweaked all thumbnail-only models, they should look tidier
  • Added Oxidizer fuel gauge to the staging menu for the Rapier (in rocket mode)
  • Changed names of transforms on the Rapier to match stock (smokepoint to smokePoint, thanks Skalou)
  • Added IX-6315 "Dawn" ion engine replacement
  • Added PB-X150 Xenon Container (Size 0) replacement
  • Added PB-X750 Xenon Container (Size 1) replacement
  • Added PB-X50R Xenon Container (Radial) replacement

[snip]

Vens Stock Revamp is compatible, parts in this pack will overwrite their counterparts in Vens. Any additional functionality such as pod RCS, SRB gimbal etc. will be reverted to the same functionality as stock.
ModuleManager patches are used to alter the configs of the stock parts, no models or textures are directly replaced. This is to prevent issues with mods that may make use of those stock models and textures. As much, RAM usage will not be improved by using this mod.

88x31.png
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The bundled ModuleManager dll, made by ialdabaoth and @sarbian, is licensed under a "CC share-alike license".
Please visit this thread for more information.

Edited by Vanamonde
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With all the hullabaloo in the last few days over Porkjets fantastic new and revamped aircraft parts, and the impression that the rocket parts are being left in the cold, I decided to try my hand at a stock replacement pack. I do want to do things a little differently than Vens Stock Part Revamp though, in both art style and scope. For example, I will not be touching any aircraft parts whatsoever since the aforementioned Porkjet has done such an incredible job of those himself.

I've set a few basic rules to follow:

  • Recognisably the same part
  • Equal to, or (preferably) smaller memory usage
  • Equal to, or (preferably) fewer materials per part
  • Command pods use existing IVA
  • Uses identical attachment node locations as stock parts (same length)

These are not hard rules and I'll probably break one or two.

Below is a potential Mk1 Pod revamp with a texture that hopefully looks like it would fit alongside Porkjets aircraft parts. Main changes are an extra handle on the hatch itself, the top is exactly 0.625m, and a much less rounded bottom (since there are separate heatshields).

http://i.imgur.com/nD9mnDv.png

I'll be doing these parts roughly in order with the tech tree, starting with the Mk1 Pod, small parachute, RT-5 Flea and maybe the Mystery Goo.

For the fuel tanks and engines, the 1.25m LFO parts will be roughly based around Redstone/Atlas/Thor, fuel tanks using the Redstone livery and Reliant and Swivel based very roughly on the Atlas engines. The RT-5/10 will share a texture based roughly on a Castor 120, the BACC will be slightly different since it's Rockomax branded, and I'm thinking about maybe putting 4 nozzles (like the Minuteman first stage) on either of them.

What do you guys think? Very open to suggestions, especially those with big pictures!

Wow!

I want.

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cool!

I have no idea what a castor 120 is, but I remember people throwing hissy fits or something like that at ven over 4 nozzle srb's so if you do that be ready to stick to your guns.

As for the LFO tanks judging by pictures redstone/thor were usually white with black words/stripes while atlas was a shiny bare metal look. I'm not sure how you'd mix those also atlas was a wider rocket perhaps its shiny style should be saved for 2.5 parts if you ever get that far it wouldn't be a problem if you kept with the american space program theme and was planing to go titan2 for the 2.5m parts as it was essentially a shiny metal style too.

Now back to the 1.25m tanks now I know I said the redtone rockets were white with black bits much like the stock tanks, but there were also some that came in black(or olive I guess) with white bits much like the mk1 pod and I've always wondered how would it look if the mk1 pod matched the 1.25 lfo tanks. Still you said you wanted the parts to be recognizable so this idea is easily dismissed if you don't like it ;)

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Thanks guys! Happy to see it's going down well.

I have no idea what a castor 120 is, but I remember people throwing hissy fits or something like that at ven over 4 nozzle srb's so if you do that be ready to stick to your guns.

Oh really? Well it was just an idea to potentially spice up the SRBs and make them more interesting since they're essentially just tubes with a nozzle on one end.

As for the LFO tanks judging by pictures redstone/thor were usually white with black words/stripes while atlas was a shiny bare metal look. I'm not sure how you'd mix those also atlas was a wider rocket perhaps its shiny style should be saved for 2.5 parts if you ever get that far it wouldn't be a problem if you kept with the american space program theme and was planing to go titan2 for the 2.5m parts as it was essentially a shiny metal style too.

Now back to the 1.25m tanks now I know I said the redtone rockets were white with black bits much like the stock tanks, but there were also some that came in black(or olive I guess) with white bits much like the mk1 pod and I've always wondered how would it look if the mk1 pod matched the 1.25 lfo tanks. Still you said you wanted the parts to be recognizable so this idea is easily dismissed if you don't like it ;)

For tanks I was intending to make Redstone parts, and the engines would be based on the Atlas. In terms of scale I think the Titan would be 1.875m, so not entirely suitable for what I'm doing here.

Is there a way you could have these installed by module manager as not to disrupt the stock install?
I personally would prefer manual install I found ven's use of large mm files to be unwieldy and hard to edit (the code gets confusing when you want to mm over another mm)

I've not looked too deeply into Vens method just yet, but the idea is to make everything as painless as possible to install.

Second point: will hatch placements or ladder locations be changing at all during this overhaul? That could be a major save-breaker...

They should all be in roughly the same place, so if you have ladders lined up with the stock pod then they should still line up with the replacement pod. As for the 2.5m pod and it's rotation, well I'm not quite there yet. :P

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Thanks guys! Happy to see it's going down well.

Oh really? Well it was just an idea to potentially spice up the SRBs and make them more interesting since they're essentially just tubes with a nozzle on one end.

yeah its one of those cases where peoples knee jerk reactions don't line up with reality (like solarwinds stripping off a terraformed mar's restored atmosphere without realizing that would take millions of years, or that a jet engine could work on venus or mars if you could get it to run off a fuel that could use carbon dioxide as an oxidizer like powered or gelified magnesium) in this case no one believes right away that srb's can have multiple nozzles or gimbal until you point out ones like the minuteman stage or the shuttle srb's. I'm fine with the idea of some visual variety I just think there would be some people who'd need to be educated if you went that route

For tanks I was intending to make Redstone parts, and the engines would be based on the Atlas. In terms of scale I think the Titan would be 1.875m, so not entirely suitable for what I'm doing here.

Ah that makes sense though shiny 2.5m still has my vote for one excuse or another but its good not to get too hung up on being a replica of anything because then odd comprises start cropping up like some of the parts in the tantares pack (gemini service module... there has to be a better way...). I would hope for the white and black "redstone based" parts you use your mk1pod shades of white and black and at least make the black version of the tanks as alternate texture. That would just be an easy inversion of base colors wouldn't it?

I've not looked too deeply into Vens method just yet, but the idea is to make everything as painless as possible to install.

That depends on what you consider more painful backing up your squad folder out of the way and then just pasting the revamped parts over it? or not knowing what went wrong when there is a bug in a large mm file or auto pruner script. One method is painless by being convenient the other is painless by being reliable.

They should all be in roughly the same place, so if you have ladders lined up with the stock pod then they should still line up with the replacement pod. As for the 2.5m pod and it's rotation, well I'm not quite there yet. :P
So no slidey doors on the service bays so you don't break the designs that rely on those doors? darn...
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Great work on that Mk1 capsule, can't wait to see what else comes.

yeah its one of those cases where peoples knee jerk reactions don't line up with reality (like solarwinds stripping off a terraformed mar's restored atmosphere without realizing that would take millions of years, or that a jet engine could work on venus or mars if you could get it to run off a fuel that could use carbon dioxide as an oxidizer like powered or gelified magnesium) in this case no one believes right away that srb's can have multiple nozzles or gimbal until you point out ones like the minuteman stage or the shuttle srb's. I'm fine with the idea of some visual variety I just think there would be some people who'd need to be educated if you went that route

There was backlash over those SRBs? Like at all? Personally I was just curious where the design came from (Also I just didn't like the look, but that's just imo).

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Great work on that Mk1 capsule, can't wait to see what else comes.

There was backlash over those SRBs? Like at all? Personally I was just curious where the design came from (Also I just didn't like the look, but that's just imo).

I recall it being a ways back in vens development the SRB's went through multiple revisions one of those before they had fairings had quad nozzles and people tried to say "srb's don't work like that" then someone pointed out minuteman and a few versions later they had gimbals because minuteman had gimbals and some people freaked cause they didn't want the mod to "add" stuff to stock parts

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I originally used Ven's because I wanted the aligned Mk 1-2 pod, then I liked all the smaller probe fuel tanks and stuff, then I liked the fact it added unified style decouplers in various sizes/heights. Along came the fact that I could use Skippers on 1.25m tanks for high thrust boosters and I was happy. Then things changed, I got tired of the MAJOR improvement of the looks of the end of crew parts over my other stock-like parts, I got tired of massively changed engine looks (Mainsail), I realized I didn't care about how it looked so much anymore. Finally, the last straw in my use of Ven's was RLA Stockalike updating to 1.0.4. I spent 2 days deciding, and went with RLA. I am happy with my choice :)

I say all that because I would love to have parts that are stocklike replacements that update the art assets, assuming they keep fairly close to the originals. That said, I started using Fuel Tanks Plus, which has swappable tank variants, so I'd be mostly interested in overhauled small parts like solar panels, pods, engines, etc.

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What do you guys think? Very open to suggestions, especially those with big pictures!

Oh my! This will be good!

You have RLA Stockalike, now Stock RLA-alike.

Are you still thinking to use normal maps like (most?) of stock parts?

Could be a huge saving in space to ditch them (When, IMO they do not provide much benefit in most cases).

ee6d3a053f.jpg

On emissives, if you make the windows a separate mesh, you could get away with a tiny 4x4 plain white emissive texture, at the cost of more draw calls. Just my 2¢

Edited by Beale
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Hell heckin' yeah! It now pains me to see that this won't be coming in 1.0. I looked at it and thought it was Porkjet quality.

No point in rewriting the same praise here. So I'll just let my Reddit counterpart explain my feelings in the form of song. Can you hear the tune?

It's

. Gordon was an A1/3 class engine. You know what else is an A3? The Hype Train Locomotive.

Next I hope to see remodeled heatshields and Mk1-2 pod alongside the 1.25m parts.

In terms of where to go next, I would love to see the Poodle fixed. It is literally the worst looking engine in the entire game. The Mainsail is pretty ugly, but it does not come close to the horrors of the Poodle engine. Mainsail after that, then Skipper. Maybe some redesigned Rockomax tanks.

When you compare the model output of Porkjet and RoverDude, it is extremely obvious that for all of RoverDude's epicness at design and programming, his modeling skills are not as good as Porkjet's. So all of his models should be looked at. There's also the Mk1 size Jet Fuel Fuselage parts, which still look mostly like they did Pre-0.25. The lineup of Rover Wheels all look okay, but I think this mod could address the severe lack of wheels in between the size of Huge Tank and the Ruggedized Wheel.

The Rockomax BACC should not have four nozzles. I just don't like that idea. I feel that they should be nice and simple. Maybe do that to one of the RT-series boosters like Ven's Stock Revamp did.

I see there being a huge potential for this to replace Ven's Stock Revamp both in my savegame and in my heart.

EDIT: How about decouplers? Do we all really like those black/yellow stripes? Because I very much tire of them. I think the Jeb's Junkyard and Rockomax Decouplers should have Redstone-ish black/white striping and corrugated metal with Saturn-esque black stripes respectively. Of course, my version of the art test is just a piece of paper and a pencil, but I have drawn it, and even without changing the shape of the decoupler it looks better. Keep the red stripe though.

EDIT2: I suppose some bits from RLA would make it in, correct? Things like the tiny rocket tanks and decouplers?

Edited by GregroxMun
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The Mk1 basic cockpit could do with a little love.

The question is, could a revamp go as far as adding a Tiny nose connector to the front, so you can slap all and sundry nose-cones on it? That's been a long-running bugbear of mine. Breaking the nose off should be traditional, after all. ;)

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Good work, mini rtg guy! You're one of the modders who I'll trust to make a stock revamp! This will be a good alternative to Ven's, especially if it will seamlessly work with existing save files. So, my question: will it work with existing save files? I would like to use this revamp on my existing career game.

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No point in rewriting the same praise here. So I'll just let my Reddit counterpart explain my feelings in the form of song. Can you hear the tune?

It's

. Gordon was an A1/3 class engine. You know what else is an A3? The Hype Train Locomotive.

Next I hope to see remodeled heatshields and Mk1-2 pod alongside the 1.25m parts.

In terms of where to go next, I would love to see the Poodle fixed. It is literally the worst looking engine in the entire game. The Mainsail is pretty ugly, but it does not come close to the horrors of the Poodle engine. Mainsail after that, then Skipper. Maybe some redesigned Rockomax tanks.

When you compare the model output of Porkjet and RoverDude, it is extremely obvious that for all of RoverDude's epicness at design and programming, his modeling skills are not as good as Porkjet's. So all of his models should be looked at. There's also the Mk1 size Jet Fuel Fuselage parts, which still look mostly like they did Pre-0.25. The lineup of Rover Wheels all look okay, but I think this mod could address the severe lack of wheels in between the size of Huge Tank and the Ruggedized Wheel.

he said he was doing them in the order they come up in the tech tree already, and I for one like the poodles shiny roundness :P (though I agree it should be optimized like the rest when the time comes)
The Rockomax BACC should not have four nozzles. I just don't like that idea. I feel that they should be nice and simple. Maybe do that to one of the RT-series boosters like Ven's Stock Revamp did.
see what I mean hooj? everyones knee jerk reaction is "srb's should be dumb and simple" when reality is far from this. You should do what you want because if you did quad nozzle the RT-series it will also offend someone else equally as much in this matter.
I see there being a huge potential for this to replace Ven's Stock Revamp both in my savegame and in my heart.
Vens stuff is good but it's so good it makes a lot of other mods that try to fit in with stock look bad which is where it's disodents come from. The people who want to use more mods than just vens. Maybe this would change if ven released the source files for the textures like what beale does. following a style guide is a lot easier when you can copy/paste.
EDIT2: I suppose some bits from RLA would make it in, correct? Things like the tiny rocket tanks and decouplers?

Why? You can just install RLA separately it's no big deal.

The Mk1 basic cockpit could do with a little love.

The question is, could a revamp go as far as adding a Tiny nose connector to the front, so you can slap all and sundry nose-cones on it? That's been a long-running bugbear of mine. Breaking the nose off should be traditional, after all. ;)

He already said he wasn't touching the plane parts thankful squad approved porkjet to run wild and give the mk1 cockpit an official revamp that's coming in the next release so we can finally throw that ugly old thing away assuming the people obsessed with making stock military fighter jets don't get their way.

either way breaking the nose off would be a save breaker if someone switched back to stock which has no separate nose cone for the mk1 cockpit, and extra parts with "improvements" like that I would assume to be outside the mods scope.

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cool!

I have no idea what a castor 120 is, but I remember people throwing hissy fits or something like that at ven over 4 nozzle srb's so if you do that be ready to stick to your guns.

I'm coming in to this late, but yes, be ready for lots of comments about 4-nozzle SRBs. There are historical precedents, but you'll be forever pointing that out to people, since all people are really familiar with is the STS SRBs.

That's not a reason to not do it, of course, but I recently switched the SpaceY SRBs back to single nozzles just to avoid having to explain it. I'm tempted to put 4x nozzles back on the larger SRBs though, because I have to admit, they're really cool.

There was backlash over those SRBs? Like at all? Personally I was just curious where the design came from (Also I just didn't like the look, but that's just imo).

I didn't look at Ven's threads, but in my case I ran into confusion more than anything else.

Edited by NecroBones
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see what I mean hooj? everyones knee jerk reaction is "srb's should be dumb and simple" when reality is far from this. You should do what you want because if you did quad nozzle the RT-series it will also offend someone else equally as much in this matter.

I wouldn't call "I don't like that look" a kneejerk backlash. Also saying someone shouldn't do somthing because people would be "offended" (What does this even mean in this context...) is a bit silly.

Vens stuff is good but it's so good it makes a lot of other mods that try to fit in with stock look bad which is where it's disodents come from.

Eh, Vens making some questionable design decisions. First was making the tomato heat sheilds, then the brick Vernors and a few paint-bucket colored parts. I kinda stopped following when I saw engines have big hazard symbols as if we didn't already know that the engines contained enginey bits.

But this isn't really the place to discuss Vens stuff.

Edited by Tankman101
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As I said over on Reddit, lovely. Looking forward to seeing more.

With some thinking and reading this thread, suggestions:

Redstone for the 1.25m tanks is cool, just make sure and stripes line up better than the stock 3.75m parts... :D

Four nozzles on the BACC sound like a fine way to set it apart from the RT-5/10 and make an otherwise plain-looking part a little more interesting. If anyone complains, show 'em this.

For my personal taste, the decouplers (and separators) could definitely be more restrained with their colours. The red triangle is important, obviously, but the stripes could be toned down to a just a thin section. No preference on the look otherwise, but perhaps match it to whatever the automatic engine fairings end up looking like, 90% of the time, those two are going to be right next to eachother. Sketchy mockup for stripes:

NJGeSaX.png

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On emissives, if you make the windows a separate mesh, you could get away with a tiny 4x4 plain white emissive texture, at the cost of more draw calls. Just my 2¢

I think in general you can just use a single diffuse texture, and make the emissive texture very small. With some care in where the emissive part of the model is placed in the UV map you can get away with something much smaller than the color texture. Something like a 512 color map and a 128 or 64 emissive, for instance. Once you get down to that size you're talking about a few dozen kbs. It's probably easier to spend time finding RAM savings in more low-hanging fruit, like having 15 or so fuel tanks share 1 big texture (which could still accommodate multiple styles).

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