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[1.3.0->1.5.*] Kerbin Rover Off-road vehicles


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JSolSxh.jpg

This mod started when I was trying to find a way to make a smaller rover for landing on Duna.  It strikes me that building rovers requires a crew capable part, which are all pretty big.  So I thought to myself, I need a small off-road vehicle to land, AND to see the scale of the stock parts to reality check my impression.  Then, looking around for a familiar, real-world vehicle, to use as a rover, I stumbled into realizing I could not pass up the opportunity to make a Rover rover.

So, like most real world parts from mods, this is half scale.  Because kerbals are (roughly) half human scale, most of the rocket parts are about half the scale they should be, and, well it needs to kinda fit in, and with the IVA overlay, it'd be nice if Kerbanauts didn't look like they'd stolen their mom's car.  And well, it's smallish.
 

Download from SpaceDock, http://spacedock.info/mod/602/KerbinRover%20Off-Road%20Vehicles

Dev thread at

Features;

Hybrid generator/fuel cell powering a small battery system powering electric wheels.  Two wheel types available, dual purpose road/off-road and dedicated off-road tires.

Roof rack.  It's useful, honest.

Miniaturized spotlights.  Handy for seeing where you're going.

Versioning:  X.Y.Z
X: Changes to number of and which fully working vehicles are included.  EG: I'll increment when I add a new rover.

Y: Any changes that significantly affect any deployed vehicles.  Caution to be applied moving from subversion to subversion if (and only if) vehicles using the parts are "In Flight".

Z: Tweaks, bug fixes etc.

 

Plans for next vehicles;

I really want to do the Haglund Bandvagn 206, but there will be a slight delay as there's no module for tracked vehicles.  Plus I'll need to look at KAS/InfernalR for articulation and decide what (if anything) will work.  So, although it's my favourite for next-to-work-on, it won't be the next released.  (The Bandvagn is a low centre of gravity dual box on tracks that floats, is sealed, and is generally used by every country that has to deal with really cold horrible conditions.)

APC:  I want to add in a modern style APC like the Russian BTR range or any of the others that look very similar.  I'm thinking an 8x8 amphibious sealed vehicle.  I'll probably do an original and light-weight variant.  The mil spec APC would be a lot more solid, but a lot heavier than anything built for space.  So I'll do that second version without the armour, and provide some waffle about lightweight construction etc. This will mean two wheel variants as well.  APC wheels are often solid.

AWD car.  I really want to make a GTR or WRX type AWD coupe type thing just for contrast.  But experience with ground edges and smaller wheels is suggesting this might not be a good idea.  Also, KSP hates close wheel arches due to wheel colliders liking lots of elbow room.  So this may not be possible.  Which would lead me to a 1930's style open-wheeler racing car with KSPification.

A dedicated, probably invented from scratch, extra-planetary rover.

And, taking suggestions.

Edited by TiktaalikDreaming
added splash
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5 hours ago, veryinky said:

I like it, been wanting some kind of jeep to wander around KSC in. Though I think it's a bit too small considering how huge Kerbal heads are.

mf4vgr1.jpg

Kerbal heads are pretty darn big.  But I couldn't just pick some random scale, and the 7 kerbals do kinda still fit.

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The three seats across the middle row are a bit of a squeeze, but 3 adult humans across the back seat of many sedans is as well.  Kerbals are worse due to their shape, but they do fit into spaces you might think they don't.  Their heads are bit, but their bodies and limbs are small.

 

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Considering the giant heads of kerbals, maybe the Rover cabin should accommodate their form more? Namely larger doors, higher roof and more spaced out seats. It'd look more like a child's toy than the real world Rover but then kerbals have the proportions of human infants. The cars from the old Kerbal Shuttle Orbiter System by helldiver for example.

ciGfYQL.jpg

Either way I'm happy that you're working on adding a civilian vehicle to the game.

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33 minutes ago, veryinky said:

Considering the giant heads of kerbals, maybe the Rover cabin should accommodate their form more? Namely larger doors, higher roof and more spaced out seats. It'd look more like a child's toy than the real world Rover but then kerbals have the proportions of human infants. The cars from the old Kerbal Shuttle Orbiter System by helldiver for example.

ciGfYQL.jpg

Either way I'm happy that you're working on adding a civilian vehicle to the game.

I'd probably need to do something like that for a sedan.  Luckily there's a large amount of head room in the Defender, so kerbal heads squish in OK.  Total height of a seated Kerbal isn't exceptional, as their torsos are so short.  But the head size means their eyes are lower due to the foot or so of forehead.  Which makes dashboards a bit weird.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Since the Rover appears to have undergone some major modifications to make it space-worthy, maybe add some fancy greebles to the hood or some such?

Also, the life support system should take up some space in the interior, cutting down the (currently rather ridiculous) crew capacity.

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24 minutes ago, Christoph Lipka said:

Since the Rover appears to have undergone some major modifications to make it space-worthy, maybe add some fancy greebles to the hood or some such?

Also, the life support system should take up some space in the interior, cutting down the (currently rather ridiculous) crew capacity.

If I hadn't been interested in whether I could cram 7 kerbal heads into the thing, I would have had the rear taken up with a fair bit of life support.  I won't even mention that you'd have to use the whole rear to include anything like an airlock.  But KSP seems rather light on airlocks.

I am going to resize this.  I found out my assumptions of 50% scaling aren't "standard", but that 64% is where it's at for converting real life stuff.  If it wasn't NathanKell saying it, I probably would have gone with the "pull the other one" reply.  See here

I did some quick resizing, and I was shocked at how little it broke the wheels.  I'm a bit nervous about messing with some of the values as if they're scaled be "rescale", then things will go horrible.  The IVA needs rescaling at Unity layers.

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2 hours ago, Christoph Lipka said:

A buggy! We absolutely, positively need a 1985 Mad Max-style dune Duna buggy!

I just ventured to google for Mad Max vehicles, stumbled on a wiki regarding them, and got caught up in stupid Aussie car nostalgia.  My parents had a Kingswood when I was learning to drive.  Not the panel wagon thing Max has in the first movie, the sedan.  It drove like an aircraft carrier.  You suggested where it should go, and in a few minutes it'd gently drift that way.  And then there's a "pursuit special" Monaro. I never had one, but I had a later successor, a highway pursuit VL commodore.  Twas smaller, had more doors, weighed less, pretty much the same massively inefficient engine and gearbox.  You could hear it slurping petrol as your foot went down in the time gap before the engine decided to make noise.

But, after being sidetracked, I had a look at the buggy things.  The Beyond Thunderdome vehicles look best suited to duna buggies.  I'm certainly not doing something (again) with wheel arches until KSP wheels don't freak out or panic stop if they get near other parts.  So buggy type things it is.  Some of them look very kerbal.  Some seem to answer the question "can I build a vehicle completely out of struts?"

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8 hours ago, TiktaalikDreaming said:

Some seem to answer the question "can I build a vehicle completely out of struts?"

Yes, yes -- that's exactly the type of ride I'm talking about :cool:

Of course we need the possibility to strap a rocket engine to its back, just for the freakin' sake of it.

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5 hours ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Please make it bigger

Please see where I said;

Quote

I am going to resize this.  I found out my assumptions of 50% scaling aren't "standard", but that 64% is where it's at for converting real life stuff.  If it wasn't NathanKell saying it, I probably would have gone with the "pull the other one" reply.  See here

Once resizing it I noticed I had more room in the cabin and I'm currently busy populating props on the dashboard and adding oxy tanks and life support consoles.  And writing my own speedo prop.  I did find the brilliant ASET pack of props, but the velocity scales are completely out of touch with ground craft.  So I've done my own speedo, and I'll be adding some other props as well.  There's no way of doing an odometer, or a tachometer for that mater.  I'll probably do up a "forward acceleration" dial as a placeholder for a tacho.  Or maybe a liquidfuel rate of change. 

It seems the RPM_MATH_VARIABLE system isn't working.  Or not for me anyway.  It could be syntax though, as out of the 3 packs of various props I have, non have a math variable.

I will be doing car style (aiming at LR Defender to start) fuel guages and any other guage I can lay my hands on.

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10 hours ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Oh couldn't tell

The biggest change is in internal room.  7 Kerbals in the 50% scale rover was a bit like a clown car, but it looks about right with the 64% scale.  Comparison (with gratuitous dashboard dev shot) of internal spaces;

 

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6 minutes ago, BigFatStupidHead said:

FYI:

It hasn't been updated yet, but usable tracks will some day be ours again!

Yep, I'm lurking like mad on that thread. :-)  The latest test video shows their wheel collider doing exactly what stock KSP wheels can't do.  Apply force when the wheel isn't touching directly down.  Somewhat important for any rover I would have thought.  I do still want to add a small tracked vehicle like the Hagglund Bandvagn, and it's not going to happen without tracks.

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I'll soon be adding some more accessories.  I intend a snorkel, spare tire, bullbar/roobar and anything else I can think of reasonably easily.  Roobar and spare tire down.  The spare being just the wheel alone without any fancy stuff with an attach node.  That was possibly the easiest part I've ever made.  :-)

 

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What about a KIS/KAS modulemanager config for the spare tire so that you can actually use it to replace a broken wheel? Also maybe make the wheels only repairable by Level 4-5 Engineers, or something, but only if KIS and KAS are installed.

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