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[1.4+] BETA: Kerbal Attachment System (KAS) v1.0 Release Candidate 1


IgorZ

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>>> Support me at Patreon if you like the mod!

Starting from Beta9 it's OK to use the new parts in the carrier games. Any new version of the Beta build is guaranteed to be compatible with your save games. You're encouraged to use as many parts from the mod as you can. And your feedback is very welcome!

The old parts (KAS 0.6.*) will be eventually deprecated. Once the 1.0 version is out, the legacy parts will be in the package for 3 months, but then they will be completely removed. You'll be able to manually install them from CurseForge from the older archives, but any issues will be refused. The only right approach is using the new parts. If you choose to use the old parts, it's your responsibility to make them working.

KAS 1.0 is a direct descendant of KAS 0.6.0, but it's not just another version of it. New KAS inherits the main idea of connecting two vessels into one, but does it in a different way. All code has been re-written from scratch, new parts designs were invented, new models developed, and physics has been significantly re-factored.

Here are main points in KAS 1.0:

  1. All connections between the vessels are physical. They have mass and volume, and they interact with the world's physics.
  2. New parts are engineering wise correct. I.e. they look and work as they would behave in a real world (at the extent the game allows it).
  3. New KAS should be easy to use by third-parties. Ideally, it should be a no-brainer to create own KAS-like part or interact with KAS from the other mods. KAS API is being developed, and the docs will be published soon (here is the very first preliminary version).

Full feature parity with the old KAS is not expected but the goal is to cover all aspects of joining vessels together. Since it's a beta for now avoid using these parts in your main game. While parts design is pretty stable the exact properties may change (e.g. break force or minimum length).

Current plan of development

  • TJ-1. Rigid joint part that makes a durable fixed connection to another vessel. DONE.
  • TJ-2. Rigid joint part that makes a durable connection that keeps some flexibility at the connection points. DONE.
  • Extra: TB-60. Rigid joint that designed specifically for towing vessels. DONE.
  • HJ-1. Rigid joint built of two hydraulic cylinders that allow changing length of the link after the connection is done. DEPRECATED.
  • JS-1. Socket to connect with rigid links. DONE.
  • RTS-1.Part that allows connecting vessels at greater distances with a flexible pipe. It doesn't provide any structural strength. Used for transferring resources. DONE.
  • PCB-1. It's a portable cable brace. Basically, it's just a durable rope between two parts: you cannot stretch it but in all other directions the parts can move. DONE.
  • W-1. Light winch. It's a replica of old IW-50 on the new code base. DONE.
  • W-2. Heavy duty winch. It's a replica of old RW-50 on the new code base. DONE.
  • Hooks, harpoons, and magnets are in design stage for now. POSTPONED to the release.

Installation

  • Download this binary form Github.
  • Delete old KAS-1.0 folder from GameData folder if any.
  • Unzip folder KAS-1.0 from the archive into GameData folder.
  • KAS 1.0 is totally independent from the old KAS and doesn't conflict with it. You may use both.

cwqR7In.jpg

Some more videos and images

Known issues

For issues being worked on see Github pages.

Here are some low priority issues that are noticed but not to be fixed for now:

  • In interactive mode link collider is disabled which may result in physics triggering if there was a collision prior to the mode start.
  • TJ-1 and TJ-2 models looks too similar.

License

  • New KAS code was created by @IgorZ. The code is released under Public Domain license. Note, that old KAS code is still under restricted license.
  • New KAS models and textures were created by @Shatten and @Enceos. They are released under Public Domain license.
  • Old KAS models and textures (that are still used) were created by @winn75 and are released under Public Domain license for KAS 1.0.
  • See license file for more info.

Sources live in the main KAS Github repostory.

Edited by IgorZ
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Really cool!

Do you intend to make a somewhat Physical "rope"? I mean, will it have colliders and wrap around stuff if you're not careful?

If I'm not mistaken, the old implementation of the winch rope was a straight line from winch to connector, and only the connector had colliders and mass.

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6 minutes ago, Kobymaru said:

Really cool!

Do you intend to make a somewhat Physical "rope"? I mean, will it have colliders and wrap around stuff if you're not careful?

If I'm not mistaken, the old implementation of the winch rope was a straight line from winch to connector, and only the connector had colliders and mass.

Ooh nice! physical cord! now we can make umbilical cords for EVA.

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7 hours ago, Kobymaru said:

Really cool!

Do you intend to make a somewhat Physical "rope"? I mean, will it have colliders and wrap around stuff if you're not careful?

If I'm not mistaken, the old implementation of the winch rope was a straight line from winch to connector, and only the connector had colliders and mass.

There are some ideas. The simplest approach would be using many small colliders but it will be very CPU expensive solution. There are ideas how to get "kind of a rope". Though, at the beginning there will be same approach as in old KAS - just a straight line between two points.

Edited by IgorZ
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5 hours ago, IgorZ said:

There are some ideas. The simplest approach would be using many small colliders but it will be very CPU expensive solution. There are ideas how to get "kind of a rope". Though, at the beginning there will be same approach as in old KAS - just a straight line between two points.

An physical rope would be a bit useless as I see it, that is outside of towing or lifting where you want it to be straight anyway.

First I though of then seeing this was building landing legs. 
An flexible connection to transfer and share resources without having an rigid connection, nice for base building and refueling huge tankers or ships. 

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Just now, magnemoe said:

An physical rope would be a bit useless as I see it, that is outside of towing or lifting where you want it to be straight anyway.

First I though of then seeing this was building landing legs. 
An flexible connection to transfer and share resources without having an rigid connection, nice for base building and refueling huge tankers or ships. 

A fully physical rope could be used in constructing a burton. Not sure if Unity engine will handle it, though. My idea was to use some elements of physics to draw rope (or cable) more realistically. Anyways, such nice features are at the bottom of the priority list. First of all I'm going to implement the listed parts, they are required to say KAS 1.0 is complete.

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Just some fun experiments with TJ-2 (note, that you cannot repeat it on 0.7.0, wait for a new beta build).

 

35 minutes ago, Kobymaru said:

If a perfect rope isn't possible, what about a chain (that looks like a rope)?

Perfect robe is not possible at all. PhysX doesn't naturally support robes, the only way to simulate a robe is chaining a definite number of connected joints. That said, any robe will be actually a chain :)  The only difference is in the joint settings: "free" for chain, and "limited" for robe.

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Should I expect that upgrading to the final version of this will break saves? This looks awesome, but I'm hesitant to start a new career with 0.6 if an upgrade to this version down the road will cause issues.

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On 10/18/2016 at 11:35 AM, jofwu said:

Should I expect that upgrading to the final version of this will break saves? This looks awesome, but I'm hesitant to start a new career with 0.6 if an upgrade to this version down the road will cause issues.

KAS 1.0 is totally independent from KAS 0.6.0. Once 1.0 is out I'll be shipping both 0.6.x and 1.0 for a while in one distribution package to let people migrate. Those who choose using both mods will have an option to do so. What you may (and should) expect is that KAS 0.6.0 support will be stopped once KAS 1.0 is officially released. That said, feel free to start a new career with 0.6.0.

Edited by IgorZ
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Very excited to see these new changes. Would better snapping be possible? One of my gripes with doing precision surface construction was that snapping like the VAB's (down the centre of parts/at certain angles) was not an option, meaning I couldn't be sufficiently neat. 

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9 hours ago, Hoddd9000 said:

EDIT: Nevermind, does this new version of KAS work with your version of KIS?

KAS & KIS are independent mods. KAS 1.0 is not an exception, it doesn't need KIS to work. And it doesn't conflict with it.

7 hours ago, MrMeeb said:

Very excited to see these new changes. Would better snapping be possible? One of my gripes with doing precision surface construction was that snapping like the VAB's (down the centre of parts/at certain angles) was not an option, meaning I couldn't be sufficiently neat. 

KAS doesn't deal with parts attaching/detaching. KIS does. That said, no changes to the snapping will be done in scope of KAS 1.0.

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New Beta version (0.7.1) is available (see link in the topic starter). Fixes/changes:

  • #184: Free joint limit angles are checked incorrectly
  • #183: TJ-2 context menu doesn't update correctly
  • #182: TJ-2 incorrectly restores state on load
  • #181: ESC opens pause menu when in interactive mode
  • #177: Free joint stops working as free
  • New part added: TB-60 Tow Bar.

Now you can link and tow vessels with wheels. I'd recommend using special TB-60 part for that (attach it at the vessel being towed) but TJ-2 can be used as well.

 

Edited by IgorZ
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Tested the 0.7.1 version. It's still pretty hard to tow a craft with the TB-60 part, especially when the towing car is not heavy. Do you think you can enable two connections per craft at the same time? And two joints connecting in one port?

That would be my suggestions for the mod. Really like it so far. :)

 

Edit: Already made a little video for the mod: 

 

Edited by Space Scumbag
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2 hours ago, Space Scumbag said:

Tested the 0.7.1 version. It's still pretty hard to tow a craft with the TB-60 part, especially when the towing car is not heavy. Do you think you can enable two connections per craft at the same time? And two joints connecting in one port?

That would be my suggestions for the mod. Really like it so far. :)

 

Edit: Already made a little video for the mod: 

 

If it could somehow be configured so that the steering angle if the front pair of wheels follows the angle of the tow bar, it would solve a lot of problems. It's what real life multi-trailer setups do.

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2 hours ago, Space Scumbag said:

Edit: Already made a little video for the mod: 

Nice!

2 hours ago, Space Scumbag said:

It's still pretty hard to tow a craft with the TB-60 part, especially when the towing car is not heavy.

Yeah, crafts joint with this joint are really hard to control. From KSP perspective such joined crafts are one big craft, and physics becomes weird. I'm going to play with a tow bar which doesn't dock vessels. May be it will be better.

2 hours ago, Space Scumbag said:

Do you think you can enable two connections per craft at the same time? And two joints connecting in one port?

You already can connect multiple sources to one target craft. Connecting multiple joints to a single port is rather challenging from the technical perspective. For now one port handles exactly one connection, it may change in some distant future.

5 minutes ago, Norcalplanner said:

If it could somehow be configured so that the steering angle if the front pair of wheels follows the angle of the tow bar, it would solve a lot of problems. It's what real life multi-trailer setups do.

Right. In this case steering would be much easier. Alas, there is no easy way to figure out which pair of wheel to rotate at what angle (KSP core does it for rovers but I didn't find how to re-use this logic). One possible solution would be using a rotating part (e.g. from IR) to connect front wheels axle with the rover, and attach tow bar to the axle. This way it will automatically follow prograde direction.

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Just the other day I was playing with an articulated rover, whos two parts were joined with two uncontrolled pivotrons and one uncontrolled rotatron from IR. Other than the two parts being part of the same craft, so if it jack-knifed the trailer would float right through the hauler, it worked well enough.

One used to be able to do something similar to what's shown above, with a KAS winch with the rope let out a meter or two. It suffered from the same problem of the trailer wanting to go all crab-wise. I think I state the obvious when I say it seems to do with there being two joints in the connection between parts.

If there were some way to have a one-joint version of this, I think it would solve a lot of problems, once the hookup was made - the trailer would have to pont directly at the hauler, and thus would have to follow it. I concede that making the hookup might become more difficult - just witness how awkward it can be trying to back up to a trailer in real life.

Either way, great work all 'round! Mark Kerman will be hauling his rover-train across the surface of Duna in no time...

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