[1.8.x] Kerbal Foundries -- Continued - Tracks, Wheels, and Gear

[Shadowmage]

On 12/28/2018 at 5:49 PM, Fireheart318 said:

Hey, um, quick question, I have a vehicle that weighs almost as much as two 747s. How do I keep the wheels from breaking? I'm using 16 KF Large Wheels if it matters.

As @0111narwhalz points out, the best way to make the wheels support larger loads is to make the wheels larger.  Kerbal Foundries includes built-in part scaling, so feel free to make the wheels as big as needed.  Also as pointed out, there are other options in the mod specifically intended to support large loads -- Large wheels and large tracks.  Sounds like you might already be using the larger wheels, but you might try the large MOLE tracks, or simply scale the existing wheels up a notch or two.

Finally -- if breaking from 'overloading' is your only issue, you can disable the wheel-break-from-overload functionality in the KSPWheel settings in the in-game mod settings.

 

To provide more pointed information, I would need more information to work from -- screenshots of the craft, and more specifics on the mass.

[BGYT]

is it updated for 1.6.0?

 

[DirtyVenomSteam]

On 1/3/2019 at 4:30 PM, BGYT said:

is it updated for 1.6.0?

 

Just tested, confirmed working in 1.6.x.

[eddiew]

Just dropping a thought off; is it possible to have increment/decrement gear as an action button?

With 8 wheels on my current rover, it would have been lovely to have a shift-up and shift-down button for all of them at once x)

[Shadowmage]

1 hour ago, eddiew said:

With 8 wheels on my current rover, it would have been lovely to have a shift-up and shift-down button for all of them at once x)

As in, adjusting the ride-height / spring values for multiple wheels at the same time?

For most wheel functions, if you set each part the same 'Wheel Group', any actions triggered on one wheel in the group will propagate to the rest of the group; adjust spring on -one- wheel, and it gets set for all of them.

(might not be exactly what you are looking for; if not, let me know with perhaps a bit more detail, and I'll see what I can put together)

[DarkOwl57]

1 hour ago, eddiew said:

Just dropping a thought off; is it possible to have increment/decrement gear as an action button?

With 8 wheels on my current rover, it would have been lovely to have a shift-up and shift-down button for all of them at once x)

 

3 minutes ago, Shadowmage said:

As in, adjusting the ride-height / spring values for multiple wheels at the same time?

For most wheel functions, if you set each part the same 'Wheel Group', any actions triggered on one wheel in the group will propagate to the rest of the group; adjust spring on -one- wheel, and it gets set for all of them.

(might not be exactly what you are looking for; if not, let me know with perhaps a bit more detail, and I'll see what I can put together)

What I think he meant is something like a gearshift in a car. Hit [button], and the gears shift up. Hit [other button] and the gears shift down. Could be my imagination/wishful thinking though, who knows

[Shadowmage]

1 minute ago, DarkOwl57 said:

What I think he meant is something like a gearshift in a car. Hit [button], and the gears shift up. Hit [other button] and the gears shift down. Could be my imagination/wishful thinking though, who knows

Changing gears works with the wheel-group functions as well.  Set the wheel groups, and then change the gear on a single wheel will see it propagate to the rest of the wheels in the group. 

This is all done through the part right-click menu; I don't remember if action-groups are supported in that functionality, or what specific functions have action groups that trigger them.

[eddiew]

1 hour ago, Shadowmage said:

Changing gears works with the wheel-group functions as well.  Set the wheel groups, and then change the gear on a single wheel will see it propagate to the rest of the wheels in the group. 

Ohhh... I kind of left the group setting alone because I wasn't sure what it did x)

[Oafman]

On 1/14/2019 at 3:06 AM, DirtyVenomSteam said:

Just tested, confirmed working in 1.6.x.

Not for me, I can't access any right click menus in VAB or flight

[Shadowmage]

On 2/1/2019 at 3:56 AM, Oafman said:

Not for me, I can't access any right click menus in VAB or flight

Please include a link to a KSP.log file, and I can take a further look at what is going on.  Likely that some dependency is missing.

 

In development news, I think I'll finally be able to get back to the PBR updates in the upcoming weeks.  Here is one that I was nearly finished with when things got derailed, that I spent a few moments today to clean up a bit further:

As this is one of the RBI parts, it is sticking with the 'stealth black' color scheme.  Still unsure on how much of the 'dust effect' I want to have present in the final products, but it is a very easy parameter to tweak in the setup I have in place for texturing these parts.

[Shadowmage]

Created an easily changeable set of of wheel tread textures that I'll be using for as many of the wheels as possible, will be an option in the VAB to select the specific tread texture, likely with an additional option to reverse the tread direction on a per-wheel basis (for directional treads...).

Will be quite a few tread patterns available to choose from.  Most of the existing tread patterns will still be available, as well as some old concepts that never made it in or were retired, and a few new ones as well.  Undecided as to the exact number, but as they will be re-usable across all the wheels, I don't feel bad about including a decent selection.  The tread patterns do not change any of the wheel properties(friction/grip/?); it is a purely visual/texture change, and will remain so for a few versions.

Also, one more part with the retexture/re-rig/config update 'done'   Nearing about 30% completion on the PBR/model reworking update in total, with ~9/30 parts being done.

[Beetlecat]

On 1/17/2019 at 9:57 AM, Shadowmage said:

Changing gears works with the wheel-group functions as well.  Set the wheel groups, and then change the gear on a single wheel will see it propagate to the rest of the wheels in the group. 

This is all done through the part right-click menu; I don't remember if action-groups are supported in that functionality, or what specific functions have action groups that trigger them.

 

On 1/17/2019 at 11:03 AM, eddiew said:

Ohhh... I kind of left the group setting alone because I wasn't sure what it did x)

I wonder if something like ModActions would work for this -- though this seems to be quite out of date:

 

[Shadowmage]

Few more parts finished up yesterday, as well as adding a few more wheel tread options (not shown).

Small Wheel + Medium Wheel:

Truck Wheel (Single + Dual):

These went quite fast, as I already had considerable work done on them, including all of the UV mapping and most of the rigging.  Mostly they just needed various texture or model related issues 'fixed' before they could be finalized.  Well, they've been fixed up, and things are coming together nicely now.

[eddiew]

Looking good @Shadowmage 

Btw, are you aware that medium wheels have a wobble issue at 3-4x timewarp and high spring+damper ratings? It may be a game-physics problem and beyond your ability to fix. My only workaround was either 2x timewarp, or low ratings, which stopped them wobbling.

On 2/15/2019 at 1:55 AM, Shadowmage said:

As this is one of the RBI parts, it is sticking with the 'stealth black' color scheme.  Still unsure on how much of the 'dust effect' I want to have present in the final products, but it is a very easy parameter to tweak in the setup I have in place for texturing these parts.

I think it's about right as-is

Unless you could do something that would measure elapsed mission time on the ground and make them dustier as the days pass  

[Shadowmage]

35 minutes ago, eddiew said:

Btw, are you aware that medium wheels have a wobble issue at 3-4x timewarp and high spring+damper ratings?

They all have issues at timewarp > 2 (meaning KSPWheel in general); its a physics thing that I'm unlikely able to be able to solve.

37 minutes ago, eddiew said:

I think it's about right as-is

Unless you could do something that would measure elapsed mission time on the ground and make them dustier as the days pass  

Don't put it past me in the long run...  the shaders/materials don't support it currently, but I was investigating a similar possibility not too long ago regarding mixing in secondary detail maps; these secondary maps could well be a 'damage/wear' texture.

The alternate would be to somehow expose my entire Substance material stack to Unity (its supposedly possible?), and tweak the parameters in-game & rebake textures occasionally to increase the dust/wear effects.  This would be the 'better looking' solution, but I'm entirely unsure as to its possibility or impact on performance.

[Shadowmage]

Couple more parts done, and some interesting changes/additions...

Tiny Wheel:

Nothing too complex or surprising there.  Its a wheel

 

Finished up the standard Repulsor texture...

And gave it a new particle effect for when it is enabled (effect varies with repulsor height setting).... 

So far it is always enabled, but I'll likely have a config/toggle somewhere to turn it off.  Fairly lightweight though, single emitter using the new Unity ParticleSystem (Shuriken).

Now that I've got the effect and texture done, the surface-attach repulsor will likely be finished up in short order as well.

Edit:  Because, well, why not...

Edited February 19, 2019 by Shadowmage

[kcs123]

There is always a good reason to re-invent a wheel

[Shadowmage]

Up to 35/66 tasks completed in the tracker for the model/texture updates.  Just a bit over 50% done...

One more part re-UV'd and with initial textures applied -- this is one of the landing legs originally modeled and textured by @TiktaalikDreaming, with some minor changes to geometry (made it a bit shorter):

It will also be receiving a bit of a functional update, where the middle piston (black) will have its extension controlled via user-selection.  Will be fixing up the deploy-angle specification/use as well.  Both will end up being linked to an otherwise empty animation so the leg will still be fully retractable/deployable, only now the extends of the deployment will be easily changeable from in the editor (and flight?).

Next up I'll be testing out some updates to the ALG parts.  I'm unsure if they will need new UV maps... if they do, I might skip updating them -- keeping the existing textures available to match the stock parts for these particular pieces is kind of important.

Edited February 20, 2019 by Shadowmage
Grammar

[Shadowmage]

Good news is that at least the ALG-Large looks like it will be able to keep its original UV map.  This means that I can provide PBR textures, as well as utilize the existing stock-compatible textures.  I have not yet looked at the other ALG parts, but instead took a moment to play around with some concepts for this series of parts in general.

 

Hmm... PBR semi-stock texture?

The doors are only half done, but upper body is otherwise complete.  Tried to mimic the stock smudgy stuff around the panel edges a bit, though its certainly less visible than the original/actual stock parts.  I'm not sure what it is supposed to be, so its hard to replicate in PBR.... is it dirt?  scuffed paint? idk...  so black smudgy stuff it is

After removal of the 'stock' details, and instead using a 'scuffed paint' effect in combination with standard edge damage effects along the paneling lines, it ends up more like:

 

 

Just playing with concepts at the moment (and refining some 'hand painting' skills), haven't settled on anything for these parts yet, and indeed don't even know if I'll be able to do all of them yet.

[Star-Eagle]

On 2/18/2019 at 5:07 PM, Shadowmage said:

 

Could anyone tell me if the parts under the rover cab are in the stock game or this mod? I've tried looking but I can't see it.

[Shadowmage]

3 hours ago, Star-Eagle said:

Could anyone tell me if the parts under the rover cab are in the stock game or this mod? I've tried looking but I can't see it.

The cab portion of that craft consists of one stock Mk2 lander can, in square form, two stock rover bodies, the stock claw, and the wheels are from KF.  All stock aside from the wheels (and the SSTU fuel tank in the trailer segment).

[Shadowmage]

New features for user-controllable transform manipulation are in-place and working nicely...

Allows for one set of landing legs to function both for short and compact setups:

While still being configurable for a bit more clearance when the situation demands:

 

[Shadowmage]

Question:

I had previously intended to retire the existing part-textures for this next update (due to changes in the models/UVs that make them unusable), but I have recently realized that there might be an alternative.  Blender has the capability to bake textures from one mesh to another, across different UV layouts, essentially allowing for converting of an existing texture between one UV mapping and another.  This process however is not loss-less;  the textures are basically sampled and rendered back onto the geometry as if they were being rendered at very high resolution, and any differences in UV layout/rotation/scaling can result in differences in the output compared to the original.  It also takes time to do the baking as it is a wholly manual process, lacking any sort of batched automation.

The question is -- how many of you would like to see the existing textures continue to be available in future releases?  Is this a step that I should plan and schedule for prior to the next releases? 

If I don't bring in the original textures, the new PBR textures will be the only ones available for most parts.  While I personally think the new textures are a vast improvement and more compatible with my personal mods, I can understand others' desires to keep the original stock-compatible textures around.

[kcs123]

1 hour ago, Shadowmage said:

The question is -- how many of you would like to see the existing textures continue to be available in future releases?  Is this a step that I should plan and schedule for prior to the next releases? 

I can't speak for others, but I could live without old textures just fine. Some old craft designs might look odd at first, but it's not big deal for me either. While I used to transfer craft designs from old KSP versions in the past, I got better luck with re-designing new crafts trough career from strach whenever new KSP version drops. Less strange mod interactions and unexpected behaviour that way.

Though, I'm more practical person and care much less about craft aestetics. As long as my kerbals can land and take off again, I'm good

[Shadowmage]

One more nearly done, at least for this initial pass.  I'll likely go back over all of these textures a second time to make sure all the colors and settings are consistent, but it will be relatively fast compared to the initial setup work.

This is another of the landing legs modeled by @TiktaalikDreaming, with a slight change in color scheme to better line up with the rest of the re-textured parts.  Not entirely sure about the red text or ring on it, but giving it a try for now; easy enough to change this stuff around later.  This landing leg will also be getting the adjustable-deployment feature, where the vertical and horizontal extensions (black sections) will be independently controllable.