[WIP] Coatl Aerospace ProbesPlus Dev Thread [Beta] 10/19/2020 (1.8-1.10)

[CobaltWolf]

2 minutes ago, akron said:

Awww...

Seriousness: I am in no way going to try and emulate any sort of pyrotechnic explosive bolt stuff. It's just that everywhere I have checked, the method for the boom's deployment is rather ambiguous. I couldn't figure out how it deploys from the schematics either, but didn't see any mechanical devices to do so. I do know that the system locks into place with a strut after it deploys and actually caused NASA some concerns about whether it had done so properly in (I think) Voyager 1. I will animate it deploying with the locking strut as if it was actuated.

I usually animate such things as twitch (being unlatched) > swing > Bang down into the end of the rotation, bouncing slightly > visibly lock into place. Better than a simple linear rotation.

[akron]

5 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

I usually animate such things as twitch (being unlatched) > swing > Bang down into the end of the rotation, bouncing slightly > visibly lock into place. Better than a simple linear rotation.

Yup. It's what I did with my Magnetometer boom. For an assembly like this though. I cannot possibly bring myself to have it swing open like that without an actuator arm or something. It's visually too heavy and looks weird to me. I actually did this last night while modeling it and it looks too flimsy.

[CobaltWolf]

@akron to answer your earlier question, yes I believe that is a servo. I didn't see your edit before.

[akron]

Probes Plus! Beta 0.1

Considering that I anything I finish this evening will be done pretty late. I am going to go ahead and release my progress so far so hopefully some of you folks can try it today. Another update will likely come out this evening with the Voyager RTG and maybe the Quetzal probe. Per usual, this is a beta yadda, yadda, expect bugs, WIP, and save-breaking updates. I may setup a Github at some point so I can upload "daily" updates (meaning every day I actually do mod work). If you download it, please give me some feedback.

Dmagic Orbital Science is required for the Magnetometer to work

DOWNLOAD

Hera ya go @Virtualgenius!

Know issues:

- Barometer animation does not run along with experiment

Edited March 17, 2016 by akron

[hraban]

Nice Parts, very nice animation on the RTG and congrats to the beta release!

Suggestion:

- a "normal map" on the gold foil would visually enhance this.
- the texture of the "magnetometer" is strongly improved.

[Virtualgenius]

I love these parts you have done an excellent job cant wait for any additions you will add. Trying to add some small thrusters from the supply I have none do it justice I think you should make your own. The animation on the RTG is so cool I could watch it all day 

[akron]

18 hours ago, hraban said:

Nice Parts, very nice animation on the RTG and congrats to the beta release!

Suggestion:

- a "normal map" on the gold foil would visually enhance this.
- the texture of the "magnetometer" is strongly improved.

Thank you! I do have specular/normal maps planned (sorta) but I was going to do them after my first inevitable texture revision/cleanup pass. That way I can buy some time for KSP 1.1+ to be out and see how the new part tools and shaders will work. I have gotten good feedback on the revised coloring for the foil so maybe this weekend I can retrofit it to the older parts as I work on the Quetzal probe.

7 hours ago, Virtualgenius said:

I love these parts you have done an excellent job cant wait for any additions you will add. Trying to add some small thrusters from the supply I have none do it justice I think you should make your own. The animation on the RTG is so cool I could watch it all day 

Thank you as well! I have no regrets about the painful process to get that RTG animated (twice) since everyone seems to like it! I think I am falling into a trend of small-medium-large parts and could do that for RCS. I do have Cassini's RCS boom planned, as well as the RCS for H-II, which will likely be the "large."

update

I tried my best to get some more stuff finished last night but I underestimated my detail obsession with Voyager's RTG. I finished it and got it in-game but Unity did not like the expression-scripted animation I used on it, so I will have to redo the animation with a less elegant method. I also got the clever idea to add an attachment node on top of it for you to add a DMagic magnetometer for that 'Voyager' look. Unfortunately I couldn't get the node to be at the 60 degree angle I need it so you currently have to rotate it manually in the VAB. It uses a fairing module so it is not visible if you don't use it.

My current reasoning with the RTGs is to start unlocking them from largeElectrics to experimetalElec. I know the last one will be New Horizon's but I can't figure out which one will be first and second. I currently have Voyager's be first, as a much heavier and weaker earlier tech option. Should Pioneer's be the R2000 and Voyager the R3500 instead? I am open to suggestions.

Last thoughts on the RTG. The way I UV'd it made it efficient but harder to add weathering to the texture because it becomes a bit blurrier. If it looks too "clean" let me know and I'll see what I can do. Also the cat jumped on my keyboard and somehow made it go up to like 2200 polys, sorry about that. Now that I've got it out of my system maybe I can make lower poly parts from now on. Maybe

Oh, I also added a thermometer to it, cuz I felt bad about the weight.

I hope it passes the @VenomousRequiem seal of approval. I will upload it once I fix the animation.

Edited March 18, 2016 by akron

[VenomousRequiem]

Approved! 

[rakol]

Had a play with your parts and you just made some of my probes very fun and good looking. 

I made a RemoteTech config for those that want it (hope that's ok) and looks to be working fine though probably needs balancing at a later point. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cbg95wdrlw8gxrg/RemoteTech_Coatl.cfg?dl=0

Adds a small omni (3km)to the probe core and I tried to balance the dishes (with what I had from other mods) so Medium is around 1Gm and Large 50Gm.

[CobaltWolf]

Looks amazing dude. I think it could stand to add some weathering, if only a couple swipes at the darker parts using, say, a very light 2% opacity brush, just to lighten them a bit and give them some variation. Right now the darks are like a black void or something on my monitor.

[akron]

1 hour ago, rakol said:

Had a play with your parts and you just made some of my probes very fun and good looking. 

I made a RemoteTech config for those that want it (hope that's ok) and looks to be working fine though probably needs balancing at a later point. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cbg95wdrlw8gxrg/RemoteTech_Coatl.cfg?dl=0

Adds a small omni (3km)to the probe core and I tried to balance the dishes (with what I had from other mods) so Medium is around 1Gm and Large 50Gm.

Awesome! Thank you! I have some simple antenna that might easy pickings this weekend. Do you mind if I link that in the OP? Post pictures of your probes! I'd love to see them

1 hour ago, CobaltWolf said:

Looks amazing dude. I think it could stand to add some weathering, if only a couple swipes at the darker parts using, say, a very light 2% opacity brush, just to lighten them a bit and give them some variation. Right now the darks are like a black void or something on my monitor.

That seems to be weakness. I'll lighten it up a bit

[rakol]

37 minutes ago, akron said:

Awesome! Thank you! I have some simple antenna that might easy pickings this weekend. Do you mind if I link that in the OP? Post pictures of your probes! I'd love to see them

Yeah go ahead and link it and will update it if there is new antenna. 

As for pics I will try when I get some more of the parts, I just did the cfg's in my mod test install not in my career one so not got everything to play with yet

[akron]

2 hours ago, rakol said:

Yeah go ahead and link it and will update it if there is new antenna. 

As for pics I will try when I get some more of the parts, I just did the cfg's in my mod test install not in my career one so not got everything to play with yet

Thank you. I will update the OP

[VenomousRequiem]

To follow up on my post on the BDB thread...

Here's one for your OP.

[akron]

@VenomousRequiem I will fix that animation and get you the correct RTG pretty soon! I am away from my PC but I'll see what I can do on my MacBook. Although I don't know how to setup Unity on it...

[VenomousRequiem]

1 hour ago, akron said:

@VenomousRequiem I will fix that animation and get you the correct RTG pretty soon! I am away from my PC but I'll see what I can do on my MacBook. Although I don't know how to setup Unity on it...

It wasn't supposed to be a direct replica of anything!

Take your time, fam, no rush.

[akron]

Probes Plus! Beta 0.11

Dmagic Orbital Science is required for the Magnetometer to work

DOWNLOAD - Game save-breaking!

 

New dev release available, but it is a small one. I somewhat fixed the animation for the Voyager RTG and it is now included. It is still a little twitchy but it is passable for now. I can always come back to it, but I really gotta move on to other stuff. Also, introducing the CA06 'Quetzal' probe bus (Picture below). You can now build a Pioneer 10/11-ish replica. New gold foil texture retrofitted to the old parts. It make the Quetzal look very saturated as opposed to stock, but sooo nice looking. I'll await some play-testing feedback from you guys. I also juggled the RTGs. Quetzal's unlocks first now, Torekka is second so they keep the same order in which the probe cores are unlocked. Can you guys also let me know if the Torekka antenna's two nodes are okay how they are?

 

 

Edited March 21, 2016 by akron
speilling errs

[akron]

One more thing before I call it a night. WIP if the CA-Q02-M bus. I feel like I need a better name than 'Barquetta'. Suggestions? 

This one has a small monoprop tank, built-in RCS, and star-trackers for SAS. 0.625m Width.

[rakol]

Updated the cfg for the new probe core, and 2 crappy pics (as my mod test install decided it didnt like the clouds). 

 

Everything is yours except the engine and mono sphere's. 

[akron]

3 hours ago, rakol said:

Updated the cfg for the new probe core, and 2 crappy pics (as my mod test install decided it didnt like the clouds). 

<*snip* cool pictures>

Everything is yours except the engine and mono sphere's. 

Thank you. I tried getting some new antennas done, but I didn't have time. some new low-tech antenna will be done pretty soon.

Are you using a planet mod? I don't recognize the second one. I am also curious, what engine is that and what thrust are you getting? I ask because I want to balance in a service module with probable a monoprop engine. I am hoping that Torekka isn't too heavy, but probes can be much larger than stock KSP makes them seem. I mean, a scaled Juno would be huge next to a Probodobodyne.

[rakol]

I am just using KSPRC with SVE clouds, second picture is orbit around jool. 

As for engine that (iirc) the LAE from SSTU mod pack (wanted to test that too), nice little mono engine. Thrust wise I can not remember, but iirc I had +1TWR (a little overkill) and around 1.2kdV with 3 stock monotanks attached ontop of your stuff. 

As for size this is maybe the smallest I go, I am kinda trying to get out of the habit of cramming as much science onto one thing instead of it all making sense and planning out extra progressive missions. 

[CobaltWolf]

Lovin' it @akron. Keep it up!

[akron]

12 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

Lovin' it @akron. Keep it up!

Thanks. I will certainly try.

Update

Two parts have been textured and added in-game: Barquetta and its deployable dish, the A10. I really consider this a first-pass, due to get revised again probably before the next release. I tried a something slightly different with the textures, not sure how I feel about it yet. Barquetta draws cues from a bunch of stuff, and in the first of the "cube" line which is followed by an advanced, but smaller, cubic probe now based on MAVEN. It also essentially has a built-in AACS provided by the star-tracker cameras. The antenna in based on ARSAT-1 and is equivalent to the DTS-M1. I dislike the stock game's locking and retracting of the antennas after a transmission so I am trying a couple of tricks so the antenna stays open. 3 probe cores is pretty good now. I Will try to finish those low-tech antenna and move one to moar science!

-Cheers

 

[CobaltWolf]

12 hours ago, akron said:

Thanks. I will certainly try.

Update

Two parts have been textured and added in-game: Barquetta and its deployable dish, the A10. I really consider this a first-pass, due to get revised again probably before the next release. I tried a something slightly different with the textures, not sure how I feel about it yet. Barquetta draws cues from a bunch of stuff, and in the first of the "cube" line which is followed by an advanced, but smaller, cubic probe now based on MAVEN. It also essentially has a built-in AACS provided by the star-tracker cameras. The antenna in based on ARSAT-1 and is equivalent to the DTS-M1. I dislike the stock game's locking and retracting of the antennas after a transmission so I am trying a couple of tricks so the antenna stays open. 3 probe cores is pretty good now. I Will try to finish those low-tech antenna and move one to moar science!

-Cheers

I'm not sure about the new texture, I think I liked the last one you showed where the probe was all-foil.

[akron]

2 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

I'm not sure about the new texture, I think I liked the last one you showed where the probe was all-foil.

I am still debating it as well. I do know that I do not want it to be all foil. It is not so interesting visually that way. This was just the first thing that came to mind.