(1.1.x) Build a Kerbal scaled ISS

[selfish_meme]

56 minutes ago, WooDzor said:

This cannot be repeated often enough!!

You do something really nice.. 'oh yellow ff-ing line' WRAAAAGHH!

If you see my youtube videos I used FairingTextureSwitcher to change the fairing textures, I have not tried it yet in 1.1.2 but I just got the decals working so it might be resurrected again.

hmm this mod will go well with this

Quote

What does it do? This mod makes the real solar system mod stock size. So yes, Kerbin size.

 

[WooDzor]

oooh shameless plugging of your youtube channel, lemme have a look. I tried making my own textures for the fairings, but broke everything turning the texture completely white (which I was somehow happy with) got a link? (and didnt we have a chat about the same a few months ago?

And yeess! that looks awesome! I'd run a separate safe with that mod

 

[selfish_meme]

33 minutes ago, WooDzor said:

oooh shameless plugging of your youtube channel, lemme have a look. I tried making my own textures for the fairings, but broke everything turning the texture completely white (which I was somehow happy with) got a link? (and didnt we have a chat about the same a few months ago?

And yeess! that looks awesome! I'd run a separate safe with that mod

 

Uh..hrg...mmm yes my youtube channel, it needs some plugging...lol

This is the mod but it's pretty fiddly

 

I'm trying to convince @RoverDude to make it part of Firespitter

[WooDzor]

So what happens if you open a craft with the fancy looking fairings in a stock KSP? Does it change it back to the original ones? That would make your craft stock, it'll be like using texture replacer to make things look pretty.

Speaking of which why has nobody ever used texture replacer for the fairings? Would that work?

[selfish_meme]

8 minutes ago, WooDzor said:

So what happens if you open a craft with the fancy looking fairings in a stock KSP? Does it change it back to the original ones? That would make your craft stock, it'll be like using texture replacer to make things look pretty.

Speaking of which why has nobody ever used texture replacer for the fairings? Would that work?

If you don't have the mod they just appear stock, much like KerbPaint.

I know you can just replace the fairing textures manually yourself, just find the texture file, open it with a dds editor, change it and re-save, it will show up in game.

Edited May 3, 2016 by selfish_meme

[WooDzor]

Just copied this file into the folder. wow what a difference it makes not having those yellow lines! Thanks @5thHorseman

[sgt_flyer]

a quick sneak peek - yup, i used the stock canadarm to move the module from the bay to the docking port

Edited May 3, 2016 by sgt_flyer

[selfish_meme]

20 minutes ago, sgt_flyer said:

a quick sneak peek - yup, i used the stock canadarm to move the module from the bay to the docking port

it's brilliant, but I know it's going to take me three times longer, good we put the lights in!

[sgt_flyer]

2 minutes ago, selfish_meme said:

it's brilliant, but I know it's going to take me three times longer, good we put the lights in!

take the time to train a bit from a quicksave   it's going to become easier

Edited May 3, 2016 by sgt_flyer

[selfish_meme]

Exciting stuff! The Space shuttle is released and also the Endeavour STS-88 version. You can now dock Unity to Zarya. Using the Canadarm takes a bit of practice and patience, I have got it undocked and docked, but watch @sgt_flyer's videos and you will get the hang of it. Uploading the shuttle re-entry video now.

[sgt_flyer]

i'll prepare a specific canadarm video for giving a proper tutorial on it - the two vids i made simply show the assembly of the first components

but the base thing to know when using it : quicksave before using it docking events can sometime rip the canadarm apart.

 

[sgt_flyer]

a sneak peek of things to come (from currently done ISS modules ^^) 

 

Edited May 4, 2016 by sgt_flyer

[LaydeeDem]

@sgt_flyer Dayum

 

So I tired out the canadaarm and used it to dock Zarya to Unity (I overwrote my save by accident so I'm restarting with the modules you guys have put out currently). It handles really well! I don't have much problems with it and the problems I do have are problems I have with modded robotic arms (Which is that I have no clue how to rotate them into position without a ton of trial and error.) It's definitely one of the coolest things I've seen made in stock KSP.

 

Also does anyone have any advice for the alignment of the modules? Using the robotic arm.

[sgt_flyer]

@Nutt007 you docked zarya on the wrong side of unity  (other than that, it's correctly rotated in regard to unity :))

for lining up (in rotation) the various modules, use SAS on the wrist to keep it in the correct direction  

we'll add the various alignements in the tutorials  

Edited May 5, 2016 by sgt_flyer

[sgt_flyer]

the next step Zvevda docked to Zarya

 

[sgt_flyer]

for those that would want to train with the canadarm (or just dock Unity and Zarya without doing the ascent and rendez-vous), here's a quicksave made after the shuttle made it's rendez-vous with Zarya .

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j4yga0fg5cplln8/unity%20zarya.sfs?dl=0 

also, here's the Shuttle / Canadarm operation manual :

Spoiler

 

 

Action groups :

AG 1 : toggle the OMS engines fuel. (you can disable the fuel flow if you want to be safe during canadarm's operation, and not risk any accidental throttling messing things up :p)

AG 2 : toggle the shuttle bay doors.

AG 3 : toggle the canadarm's reaction wheels.

AG 4 : decouple / undocks the canadarm from the shuttle.

 

----------------------------------------

Canadarm's operations :

important : do not use timewarp while elements of the canadarm are undocked.

Before decoupling the canadarm :

quicksave ! this level of miniaturisation comes with some fringe cases in physics, which can break the arm. so always quicksave before

 

- Activate the shuttle's SAS (the shuttle must keep it's SAS active at all times during canadarm's operation, else the canadarm's movement would alterate the shuttle's attitude).

- turn on the canadarm's reaction wheels (AG 3)

- press AG4 to decouple the canadarm (the first time you use the canadarm it will instantly redock on two points - repress AG4 to completely free the canadarm)

 

you can now switch vessels between the various segments of the canadarm.

you can use your roll / pitch / yaw keys to control the various elements - the joints of the canadarms will make it so using one element will make it move accordingly to the other elements

turn on SAS on a specific part for 'locking' an element while you move others. the canadarm is susceptible to momentum, so make only short keypresses (or enter soft mode), else the SAS will have an hard time slowing down that kind of momentum

control specifics :

for all elements : the key to press to perform a specific movement can change depending on which part has a 'control from here'.

- Arm section (shoulder to elbow) : restricted to 2 Degrees Of Freedom. - using control from here on either the probe core (on the shoulder) or the docking port (on the elbow) can switch the pitch and roll controls.

using the Yaw or roll keys depends on how much pitch the canadarm has. (the higher in a vertical pitch above the shuttle the arm section has, the more you'll need to use Roll instead of Yaw to make it

 

- Forearm section :

only 1 DOF. the probe core and the docking port are lined up, so controls should stay the same.

use roll control to rotate the forearm around the elbow.

using other inputs will apply torque on the elbow, and can be used to have limited control onto the Arm section if the arm's section SAS is disabled, without needing to switch to it.

 

- Wrist and End effector section :

3 DOF. use pitch, yaw and roll controls to move the wrist section around. after you docked the end effector onto something, - you can switch 'control from here' to the payload carried by the wrist, if needed. (in this case, yaw / pitch / roll controls would be applied to the orientation of the controlling part on the payload)

---------------------------
 

for docking the wrist onto something : move the other elements of the arm so the wrist end up near the docking port jr you want to dock onto. adjust the wrist section's attitude, so it's correctly lined up with the docking port, then switch back to either the arm or the forearm to make the final approach into docking port magnetism range. - once magnetism has kicked in, it can be useful to disable the SAS on the various sections of the canadarm (helps the magnetism to correctly position the wrist for docking it)

---------------------------

Known problems : docking events can sometime rip off sections of the arm (they fly out of their joints) - to limit the risks of seeing that, avoid putting the canadarm in a position which would 'strain' the joints during docking. (ex, the arm section in contact with the cargo bay side) also, disabling SAS on the various elements just before magnetisation and docking also limit the occurences. (if it still happens, just quickload :p)

 

 

Unity and zarya docking steps

Spoiler

-  Unity :

use the canadarm to latch onto one of the docking port JR's of unity. once you docked the canadarm on unity, switch to the shuttle, and click on the shuttle's rear docking port and use the docking port decouple action to free unity.

gently move unity out of the cargo bay with the canadarm (even shorter keypresses with the addionnal weight - more momentum at the end of the arm) rotate unity to dock it onto the shuttle's topside docking port.

- Zarya :

use Zarya's RCS to approach the shuttle which now has unity.

Zarya has a docking port JR avaible for the canadarm to grab on, so place Zarya within the reach of the canadarm.

dock the canadarm's end effector onto Zarya.

you can now manoeuver the canadarm around to position Zarya onto the other Unity docking port

 

 

Edited May 5, 2016 by sgt_flyer

[selfish_meme]

9 hours ago, sgt_flyer said:

for those that would want to train with the canadarm (or just dock Unity and Zarya without doing the ascent and rendez-vous), here's a quicksave made after the shuttle made it's rendez-vous with Zarya .

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j4yga0fg5cplln8/unity%20zarya.sfs?dl=0 

also, here's the Shuttle / Canadarm operation manual :

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Action groups :

AG 1 : toggle the OMS engines fuel. (you can disable the fuel flow if you want to be safe during canadarm's operation, and not risk any accidental throttling messing things up :p)

AG 2 : toggle the shuttle bay doors.

AG 3 : toggle the canadarm's reaction wheels.

AG 4 : decouple / undocks the canadarm from the shuttle.

 

----------------------------------------

Canadarm's operations :

important : do not use timewarp while elements of the canadarm are undocked.

Before decoupling the canadarm :

quicksave ! this level of miniaturisation comes with some fringe cases in physics, which can break the arm. so always quicksave before

 

- Activate the shuttle's SAS (the shuttle must keep it's SAS active at all times during canadarm's operation, else the canadarm's movement would alterate the shuttle's attitude).

- turn on the canadarm's reaction wheels (AG 3)

- press AG4 to decouple the canadarm (the first time you use the canadarm it will instantly redock on two points - repress AG4 to completely free the canadarm)

 

you can now switch vessels between the various segments of the canadarm.

you can use your roll / pitch / yaw keys to control the various elements - the joints of the canadarms will make it so using one element will make it move accordingly to the other elements

turn on SAS on a specific part for 'locking' an element while you move others. the canadarm is susceptible to momentum, so make only short keypresses (or enter soft mode), else the SAS will have an hard time slowing down that kind of momentum

control specifics :

for all elements : the key to press to perform a specific movement can change depending on which part has a 'control from here'.

- Arm section (shoulder to elbow) : restricted to 2 Degrees Of Freedom. - using control from here on either the probe core (on the shoulder) or the docking port (on the elbow) can switch the pitch and roll controls.

using the Yaw or roll keys depends on how much pitch the canadarm has. (the higher in a vertical pitch above the shuttle the arm section has, the more you'll need to use Roll instead of Yaw to make it

 

- Forearm section :

only 1 DOF. the probe core and the docking port are lined up, so controls should stay the same.

use roll control to rotate the forearm around the elbow.

using other inputs will apply torque on the elbow, and can be used to have limited control onto the Arm section if the arm's section SAS is disabled, without needing to switch to it.

 

- Wrist and End effector section :

3 DOF. use pitch, yaw and roll controls to move the wrist section around. after you docked the end effector onto something, - you can switch 'control from here' to the payload carried by the wrist, if needed. (in this case, yaw / pitch / roll controls would be applied to the orientation of the controlling part on the payload)

---------------------------
 

for docking the wrist onto something : move the other elements of the arm so the wrist end up near the docking port jr you want to dock onto. adjust the wrist section's attitude, so it's correctly lined up with the docking port, then switch back to either the arm or the forearm to make the final approach into docking port magnetism range. - once magnetism has kicked in, it can be useful to disable the SAS on the various sections of the canadarm (helps the magnetism to correctly position the wrist for docking it)

---------------------------

Known problems : docking events can sometime rip off sections of the arm (they fly out of their joints) - to limit the risks of seeing that, avoid putting the canadarm in a position which would 'strain' the joints during docking. (ex, the arm section in contact with the cargo bay side) also, disabling SAS on the various elements just before magnetisation and docking also limit the occurences. (if it still happens, just quickload :p)

 

 

Unity and zarya docking steps

  Reveal hidden contents

-  Unity :

use the canadarm to latch onto one of the docking port JR's of unity. once you docked the canadarm on unity, switch to the shuttle, and click on the shuttle's rear docking port and use the docking port decouple action to free unity.

gently move unity out of the cargo bay with the canadarm (even shorter keypresses with the addionnal weight - more momentum at the end of the arm) rotate unity to dock it onto the shuttle's topside docking port.

- Zarya :

use Zarya's RCS to approach the shuttle which now has unity.

Zarya has a docking port JR avaible for the canadarm to grab on, so place Zarya within the reach of the canadarm.

dock the canadarm's end effector onto Zarya.

you can now manoeuver the canadarm around to position Zarya onto the other Unity docking port

 

 

I'll get this on the front page

[selfish_meme]

OK so we are live with all components up to Destiny, big milestone, much rejoicing.

There is still a bit to finish, mostly it is assembling payloads into craft files, the components themselves are ready to go. Also to test how far it can be built until it blows up 

Please test and let us know if you have any problems, we all play a bit differently.

 

Just a note for those who use MechJeb, probably don't, everything works better manually with just SAS engaged except where it is explicitly stated to use Prograde Hold or some other mode.

[sgt_flyer]

ok, a small video for the ongoing ISS assembly

Zvezda launch and docking to ISS

here's some quicksaves to represent the corresponding ISS states before and after Zvezda docking

ISS 2 modules : Zarya and Unity docked together

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z2cre2z1atnwvr5/ISS%202%20Modules.sfs?dl=0

ISS 3 modules : addition of Zvezda to ISS.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6gsnfynn6o7swn0/ISS%203%20modules.sfs?dl=0

Edited May 6, 2016 by sgt_flyer

[sgt_flyer]

Progress on ISS !

Progress M1-3 of course ^^

[sgt_flyer]

Progress is now avaible for servicing ISS (also, R7 launch yeah ^^)

 

Avaible .craft files :

Progress without launch pad (316 parts) : https://www.dropbox.com/s/i5cxnhchqlyx440/Progress.craft?dl=0

Progress with the launch pad (731 parts) : https://www.dropbox.com/s/dtblrz3hu1dswse/Progress%20launch%20pad.craft?dl=0

Action group 1 to deploy the antenna and solar panels once in orbit.

launch profile :

i start a 5° pitchover when i reach around 70 m/s, afterwards, Stability assist or prograde hold both works

i try to reach an angle of 45° above the horizon by 20000m. fairing ejection once the rocket reaches above 40000m (you can start heading for the horizon by this point)

once on the third stage, stage a 2nd time to eject the engine shroud. i generally aim the 3rd stage between 15 - 20° under the horizon - allows me to control the rate at which the apoapsis raises, allows me to make a single burn to spacecraft separation (with periapsis in atmosphere)

 

also made a small update to the already released soyuz, you can redownload it if you want

 

Edited May 7, 2016 by sgt_flyer

[selfish_meme]

Added all the new content to the frontpage, Welcome progress!

[selfish_meme]

How meta, me orbiting above myself

[selfish_meme]

Everyone should try the Canadarm, it is so cool, even if it does make me want to smash something sometimes.

[selfish_meme]

A couple of craft have been updated, new Shuttle payloads coming soon, and I have been playing with SSRS by @sDaZe got the clouds and city lights going, I am also looking at some other SVE tweaks.

It looks flat enough to land doesn't it?