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Inner Planets Mod - Development Thread


CaptRobau

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Inner Planets Mod

Inner Planets Mod, or IPM, is going to be a companion mod of my well-known Outer Planets Mod. Now that this mod has matured a lot, I thought it would be interesting to look at the stock celestial bodies. Because like KSP's parts, there is a great deal of difference in terms of quality. Kerbin or the Mun still look pretty good, but some planets and moons haven't been touched in years. This mod tries to rectify that and give it a more balanced level of quality, that will integrate well with OPM.

I intend for their to be two versions or two settings for IPM (I'd prefer the latter, but it'd have to be doable config-wise):

  1. A lite version:
    • Fixes bugs or blemishes (like missing easter eggs or ground scatter in weird places)
    • Overal improvements like better timewarp altitudes, better transitions between the terrain and ScaledSpace, etc.
    • Better looking terrain and ground scatter textures
  2. A more thorough overhaul:
    • Everything from the lite version
    • More radical changes to the look and terrain of bodies, while not straying completely from their core concept. Sort of enhancing what's been established by the developer/community created lore

Below are some WIP stuff, a mix of lite and revamp features:

 

So what did I have in mind for the various bodies in the overhaul version?

Moho

Still in flux. Mercury isn't the most interesting place IRL, but the old Moho (overheating atmosphere) is a bit too cartoony. Maybe I can come up with some sort of compromise that's both realistic and interesting. Definitely getting procedural craters.

Eve

Stock Eve has some interesting bits to it, but after the initial challenge of going down and getting back into orbit it's not that fascinating. It's also become a bit too oceanic for my taste, especially for something that's supposed to be like hellish Venus. So the plan is to make it a real foreboding place, with lakes instead of oceans and countless ugly tiny islands (which is more inline with old Eve).

I also intend to reduce the gravity from 1.7 to a more realistic (for a body that size) 1.2 g. This will make ground/low altitude exploration a bit more doable, seeing as the terrain detail will be increased by quite a lot. To offset this reduction in delta-V difficulty (it's still not easy), I want to make Eve's ocean dangerous. Kopernicus' HazardousOceans will slowly overheat any craft that lands in it, meaning that you will have to be a bit more careful when choosing a landing spot. This overheating would simulate strange ocean's corrosive liquid (mercury or hydrogen peroxide). This will make the ocean and Eve feel much more unique.

The look of the planet will remain purple, but I intend for it to feel a bit darker, more ominous: a hellish volcano planet. In the screenshot above you can also see some procedural volcanic domes. Those are unique to Venus and I think they really add something previously unseen to the game.

Gilly

No concrete ideas yet.

Kerbin

No major changes planned. It looks good and aside from some detailing here and there it's fine. The lite and overhaul version of Kerbin will be relatively close.

Mun

I plan to reduce the density of the large craters and introduce some features that makes our Moon, the Moon, such as relatively flat basaltic plains (the dark grey maria where many of the Apollo's landed).

Minmus

The basic concept will remain the same, but Minmus will have a bit rougher terrain. I plan to keep the flats similar, but the mid-and highlands should be a bit more uneven. Look to comet 67P for an idea of the difference between the smoother and the rougher parts.

Duna

Duna is an ugly, featureless lump of red rock. People just want a KSP version of Mars for this one and I plan to give them that (as far as the original layout allows me). I'm trying to go for mesas, procedural craters, more mountainous areas, etc. Transform that central valley into something that feels more like Valles Marineris.

Ike

No concrete ideas yet, although the rusty coloration of Mars' Phobos and Deimos are much more interesting than Ike's dull greys and blacks. Definitely getting procedural craters.

Dres

See the screenshot above. Dres is a boring Mun-alike. I intend to spice it up by making it more oblate (like Ceres' neighbor Vesta) and giving it rings like Chariklo (the only confirmed rocky body with a ring system). The latter also lines up with Squad's addition of procedural asteroid in a ring-like orbit a few updates back. Hopefully this will help more people to go and visit it at least once. WIP ring btw, just a modification of Urlum's. 

Jool

More like Jupiter, but keeping in line with dark ominous look of Jool.

Laythe

Pretty much the same, as it's a very high-quality planet. It's surface will have darker and rocky textures to make it feel as volcanic as it's supposed to.

Vall

No concrete ideas yet.

Tylo

Probably going to make the surface more like the real Ganymede: icy and irregular. I'll keep the high gravity though. It's not as unrealistic for its size, useful for getting gravity assists/capture and unlike Eve an airless rock doesn't have as many options to make it feel unique. 

Bop

No concrete ideas yet.

Poll

No concrete ideas yet.

Eeloo

The same as the Eeloo overhaul in OPM. If you have OPM installed, it'll move it there but otherwise it'll remain in its current orbit.

Thoughts, comments, critiques, etc. are always welcome.

 

Edited by CaptRobau
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24 minutes ago, davidy12 said:

NICE :D Can't wait to see how this turns out. PLEASE add a big crater to the Mün.

...

25 minutes ago, CaptRobau said:

Mun

 

I plan to reduce the density of the large craters and introduce some features that makes our Moon, the Moon, such as relatively flat basaltic plains (the dark grey maria where many of the Apollo's landed).

twitch-kappa.jpgare you reading sometimes ?

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12 hours ago, DiscoSlelge said:

are you reading sometimes ?

Size ≠ density. Kerbin has the mother of all impact features, but it's ultra-low density on the crater front.

Regardless, these look great Capt! Definitely eager to see Dres spruced up a bit.

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2 hours ago, Interplanet Janet said:

Would you want to add new bodies to the Inner Kerbol System?

Not at this point in development. There's more than enough to improve with adding new bodies.

4 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

Where's the Tylo love?

I like your ideas for Dres and Moho. Can't wait to try your version of the [inner] planets.

Forgot about that. Added it up there as well as here;

Tylo

Probably going to make the surface more like the real Ganymede: icy and irregular. I'll keep the high gravity though. It's not as unrealistic for its size, useful for getting gravity assists/capture and unlike Eve an airless rock doesn't have as many options to make it feel unique. 

5 hours ago, KerbOrbiter said:

How about more hi-res scaledspace texture ONLY for Kerbin? Because we see it very often compared with other bodies :wink:

Not necessary to actually go higher res. There's some tricks that I can use to make both the terrain and the ScaledSpace versions of Kerbin look much better without having to add resolution/degrade performance.

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2 hours ago, Interplanet Janet said:

Would you want to add new bodies to the Inner Kerbol System?

 

28 minutes ago, CaptRobau said:

Not at this point in development. There's more than enough to improve with adding new bodies.

Forgot about that. Added it up there as well as here;

Tylo

Probably going to make the surface more like the real Ganymede: icy and irregular. I'll keep the high gravity though. It's not as unrealistic for its size, useful for getting gravity assists/capture and unlike Eve an airless rock doesn't have as many options to make it feel unique. 

Not necessary to actually go higher res. There's some tricks that I can use to make both the terrain and the ScaledSpace versions of Kerbin look much better without having to add resolution/degrade performance.

A Tycho-alike would be cool, but new bodies or moving existing ones would be nice too. Moving Gilly to Duna orbit and making Ike smaller and lumpier, an Amalthea analog, and maybe moving Minmus to be like Cruithne?

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Gilly could become like 2002Ve68, a near Earth object that is actually a (temporary) quasi-satellite of Venus.

It orbits, the sun, not Venus, although it does have the impression (Rotating Frame-wise) that it orbits Venus.

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2 hours ago, Kertech said:

Was wondering if you could make sure it doesn't break @Xenonclave planet packs, they're my go to inner planet expansion atm, and loving the expanded Duna and Eve systems, but your ideas sound interesting too! Also OPM is incredible!!

I'll take that in mind. Should be easy, since I don't intend on changing orbits.

On 6/1/2016 at 1:02 AM, Astrofox said:

Gilly could become like 2002Ve68, a near Earth object that is actually a (temporary) quasi-satellite of Venus.

It orbits, the sun, not Venus, although it does have the impression (Rotating Frame-wise) that it orbits Venus.

See comment above.

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Hi, everyone. Mini-update:

Currently slowly working on the lite version of IPM. This is relatively simple process, as it doesn't involve major redesigning like OPM 2.0 or the overhaul version of IPM. I'll release this version of IPM first, so every can play something that looks at least passable compared to OPM and other planet packs. The overhaul will of course take more time, but it'll also be more awesome :D

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30 minutes ago, CaptRobau said:

Hi, everyone. Mini-update:

Currently slowly working on the lite version of IPM. This is relatively simple process, as it doesn't involve major redesigning like OPM 2.0 or the overhaul version of IPM. I'll release this version of IPM first, so every can play something that looks at least passable compared to OPM and other planet packs. The overhaul will of course take more time, but it'll also be more awesome :D

Well, we all know Small Steps are the key to huge change and success :wink: So take your time and I am pretty sure the Lite version will be already quite worth it

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Quote

I also intend to reduce the gravity from 1.7 to a more realistic (for a body that size) 1.2 g.

Coincidentally, that is exactly what I did when I developed Eve's atmosphere for Realistic Atmospheres.  Not only is 1.7 g unrealistically high for a planet that size, but it also compresses the atmosphere to a very shallow depth.  The atmosphere ended up being so shallow, in fact, that I rejected it and recomputed using a surface gravity of 1.2 g.  Making that change resulted in a much more playable atmosphere.  I fully support changing the surface gravity to 1.2 g.

 

Edited by OhioBob
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I'm thinking of finding and teaming up with a 3D modeller to create new forms of ground scatter to provide more varied environments for IPM. Before I do that, I was wondering if you, the community, had any suggestions for scatter that'd work well for the stock planets and moons. If you don't know what scatter is, it's those boulders, trees, etc. that you can find on Kerbin, Mun, etc.

There are some limitations to what'd make good scatter:

  1. it can't be be too unique-looking, as even the lowest density scatter will have at least some 
  2. it can't be too big, like an entire mountain
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A couple ideas for scatter: Puddles, on say Eve - have to have an atmosphere and a surface liquid, but could imply a constant rain.

Another would be a vent/geyser - this would need to be on a bit larger world with some geological activity, but doesn't need an atmosphere or surface liquid - just that there is something near the surface that could be heated to vaporize.  (So you could have nitrogen vents on one of Jool's moons, for instance, or carbon dioxide in places on Duna.)

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