KSP Interstellar Extended Support Thread

[FreeThinker]

On 8/5/2021 at 2:39 AM, ss8913 said:

 

@FreeThinker - separate topic, something I've been meaning to ask for a while - the Winged Edge graphene radiators have a maximum pressure limit before they will dissipate heat - it seems to be the same limit as the folding graphene radiators (which makes sense for those, you can't extend them if there's high dynamic pressure for obvious reasons).. but considering that none of the other fixed graphene radiators have that limit, and considering that it's a "winged edge" radiator, why do the parts not work in the presence of significant dynamic pressure?  they don't *break*, they just *don't dissipate heat*.  It seems a bit counterintuitive that these particular parts would have that particular limitation?  As I recall they didn't always do this, either.

Your totally correct and its simply an oversight, it should behaive exactly like a Edge Radiator. Is was missing a isDeployable = false setting in the config file. You may add it manually or wait for the next update this weekend

to do it manually open Kerbal Space Program\GameData\WarpPlugin\Parts\Radiators\LargeFlatRadiator\radiator.cfg and update FlatFNRadiotor to look like this

 

	MODULE
	{
		name = FlatFNRadiator
		isDeployable = false
		partMass = 0.43  		// -30% mass for static radiators -50% reduced weight by graphite
		radiatorArea = 215

		surfaceAreaUpgradeTechReq = metaMaterials

		emissiveTextureLocation = WarpPlugin/Parts/Radiators/LargeFlatRadiator/glow
		bumpMapTextureLocation = WarpPlugin/Parts/Radiators/LargeFlatRadiator/radtex_n
	}

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by FreeThinker

[TheChair55]

This is a simple question but how do you open the thermal mechanics helper in the VAB? I see it in videos but I do not know how to open it.

[ss8913]

18 hours ago, TheChair55 said:

This is a simple question but how do you open the thermal mechanics helper in the VAB? I see it in videos but I do not know how to open it.

in the stock toolbar, look for the all-black-and-gray icon that says KSPIE on it.

[enewmen]

Hi All.

I don't know if I am making a mistake or something is broken.  It looks simple.

To reprocess nuclear fuel from a molten salt reactor: 

I have an advanced mobile processing lab with 2 scientists. Container of empty Depleted Fuel. Multen salt reactor deactivated and with lots of actinides . Lots of electric charge and mega-joules.  When I click on Reprocess Nuclear Fuel in the science lab, it says "Reprocessing"  and using 0.05 MW of power.  The science lab should be converting the actinides back to uranium and putting the depleted fuel in the depleted fuel container, but no fuel gets reprocessed.

What am I doing wrong?  Thanks!

Edit :I gave a highly deserved PayPal to help continue development and buy a couple beers.

Edited August 23, 2021 by enewmen

[zit]

KSPIE seems to mess up loading on the nuclear engine when Whirligig World is installed. Never loads past it and I can hear a whining noise in my headphones indicating that the GPU is working really hard.

My GameData folder, and the logs (did a fresh install with just WW, KSPIE, and dependencies):

[ss8913]

@FreeThinker just a heads up, I recently updated MechJeb2 and Tweakscale; not sure which of them has caused the conflict, but right clicking on an alcubierre drive no longer has a functional 'show warp window' - it just says "Warp Window: false" and there is no button.  Most of the functionality I can get from the right-click menu itself so it's not critical, and there's absolutely nothing in the logs (did full regex queries against the log to try to find anything relevant, and I cannot).. but wanted to let you know that this mod conflict has cropped up.  I'd suspect MechJeb over tweakscale (just a gut feeling), but, there you have it.

... or am I the only one seeing this?  anyone else notice this?

[ss8913]

On 8/25/2021 at 5:18 PM, ss8913 said:

@FreeThinker just a heads up, I recently updated MechJeb2 and Tweakscale; not sure which of them has caused the conflict, but right clicking on an alcubierre drive no longer has a functional 'show warp window' - it just says "Warp Window: false" and there is no button.  Most of the functionality I can get from the right-click menu itself so it's not critical, and there's absolutely nothing in the logs (did full regex queries against the log to try to find anything relevant, and I cannot).. but wanted to let you know that this mod conflict has cropped up.  I'd suspect MechJeb over tweakscale (just a gut feeling), but, there you have it.

... or am I the only one seeing this?  anyone else notice this?

2 days later, came back to it.. cannot reproduce the issue.  Not sure what went on the first time, but I guess sometimes KSP just has a bad day?

[The Black Knight]

I may be missing something, and I've searched for an answer to this, but I haven't found one.

I'm using the Universal Drill to mine Uraninite on the Mun, and I'm converting the Uraninite to Enriched Uranium. When I switch from the mining vessel to another vessel, then switch back to the mining vessel, the Universal Drills are no longer active. It doesn't seem to be a power or a heat issue, since as long as the ship doing the mining is the active vessel, the drills don't stop working and I don't get any power/heat warnings; if I accelerate time, nothing overheats/shuts down/explodes. Also, the Uraninite processing doesn't stop when I switch vessels, just the drills. Has anyone else had this issue? Is there a fix for this that I'm missing? I can accelerate time and sit and watch the drills working until the Enriched Uranium tank is full, but that's kind of annoying.

Using KSPIE 1.29.2 on KSP 1.12.1. The only mod I'm using (besides the ones that come with the Interstellar install) is Kerbal Alarm Clock.

Edited September 2, 2021 by The Black Knight

[Don0303]

I cant find anyone else with this issue, but all of my thermal turbojet engines show no propellant when right clicked, next and previous propellant dont change this,  and they wont start when the ship is launched

[enewmen]

20 hours ago, Don0303 said:

I cant find anyone else with this issue, but all of my thermal turbojet engines show no propellant when right clicked, next and previous propellant dont change this,  and they wont start when the ship is launched

Please give a screenshot. You need a way to get air inside, like a shock-cone if using the atmosphere.   What propellant are you using?  I often use oxidizer while in space.

Edited September 4, 2021 by enewmen

[Don0303]

3 minutes ago, enewmen said:

Please give a screenshot. You need a way to get air inside, like a shock-cone if using the atmosphere.   What propellant are you using?  I often use oxidizer while in space.

as i said there is no propellant and i cant choose one

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/270680615454638080/883785892626575410/1.JPG?width=484&height=325

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/270680615454638080/883785898515394601/2.JPG?width=524&height=325

 

[enewmen]

13 hours ago, Don0303 said:

as i said there is no propellant and i cant choose one

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/270680615454638080/883785892626575410/1.JPG?width=484&height=325

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/270680615454638080/883785898515394601/2.JPG?width=524&height=325

 

You still don't have a propellant attached to select and no way for air to get in.  Also, select your propellant after launch. You also need a reactor to get heat to the turbo-jet.

My SSTO Turbo-jet plane:  Select atmosphere or oxidizer propellant.

Edited September 5, 2021 by enewmen

[Codraroll]

I'm trying a Career playthrough using KSP Interstellar, just a general jut around the stock solar system, and I must admit ... I feel a little overwhelmed. Tons of different fuels, parts I have no idea what they're used for, engines that seem hellishly expensive but offer unknown usefulness, and setups that are overwhelmingly more complicated than the good ol' "put tank next to engine and press space to go to space" gameplay of the stock engines. The result is, I'm halfway through the tech tree, still building vessels using stock or stockalike parts, have no idea what I should research next, and no idea how to get to the outer planets without making it a one-way trip.

The resources in the OP do a good job of explaining how certain engine types work, but their advantage over stock parts are unclear to me. I tried to go Sanbox and try out a basic setup, just an orbital launch vehicle with a Molten Salt Reactor and a Thermal Rocket Nozzle, connected to stock tanks. It gives me less delta-V than the same setup with a Skipper, has a vastly worse TWR, and makes the rocket cost $440,000 instead of $24,000. The benefits, if any, aren't immediately obvious.

Likewise, I see references to "beamed power" or "microwave grids" here and there, but I've yet to see a consise and understandable description of what this even is, what it does, or how/why I should look into it. And don't even get me started on ISRU ...

So yeah, overwhelmed. There appears to be some good documentation on how each component works (this is what the guides all focus on), but I have no clue how they fit together or what situations they are useful for (and the guides I've found don't say either). There are some guides linked in the OP (some of which are the same just hosted in different places), but they appear to mostly be works in progress and five years old.

I know Scott Manley did an excellent playthrough of Interstellar way back when, where he explained how the various parts worked and fit together, but the mod appears to have received a total overhaul since then and the info in the Let's Play is severely out of date. Are there any other good "start here to get a clue"  guides out there, or Let's Plays that show what they are doing and why? I really want to like this mod, but I find getting into it to be a quite lengthy tedium of trial and error that consumes a lot of time without getting me anywhere.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Codraroll

[enewmen]

On 9/5/2021 at 11:55 PM, Codraroll said:

I'm trying a Career playthrough using KSP Interstellar, just a general jut around the stock solar system, and I must admit ... I feel a little overwhelmed. Tons of different fuels, parts I have no idea what they're used for, engines that seem hellishly expensive but offer unknown usefulness, and setups that are overwhelmingly more complicated than the good ol' "put tank next to engine and press space to go to space" gameplay of the stock engines. The result is, I'm halfway through the tech tree, still building vessels using stock or stockalike parts, have no idea what I should research next, and no idea how to get to the outer planets without making it a one-way trip.

The resources in the OP do a good job of explaining how certain engine types work, but their advantage over stock parts are unclear to me. I tried to go Sanbox and try out a basic setup, just an orbital launch vehicle with a Molten Salt Reactor and a Thermal Rocket Nozzle, connected to stock tanks. It gives me less delta-V than the same setup with a Skipper, has a vastly worse TWR, and makes the rocket cost $440,000 instead of $24,000. The benefits, if any, aren't immediately obvious.

Likewise, I see references to "beamed power" or "microwave grids" here and there, but I've yet to see a consise and understandable description of what this even is, what it does, or how/why I should look into it. And don't even get me started on ISRU ...

So yeah, overwhelmed. There appears to be some good documentation on how each component works (this is what the guides all focus on), but I have no clue how they fit together or what situations they are useful for (and the guides I've found don't say either). There are some guides linked in the OP (some of which are the same just hosted in different places), but they appear to mostly be works in progress and five years old.

I know Scott Manley did an excellent playthrough of Interstellar way back when, where he explained how the various parts worked and fit together, but the mod appears to have received a total overhaul since then and the info in the Let's Play is severely out of date. Are there any other good "start here to get a clue"  guides out there, or Let's Plays that show what they are doing and why? I really want to like this mod, but I find getting into it to be a quite lengthy tedium of trial and error that consumes a lot of time without getting me anywhere.

I'm fully through the tech tree (a few times), so I can help a little. Key parts to KSPI are different fuels, propellants, reactors, engines, fuel waste, heat waste (and a few more things).  These things, when combined, gain a lot of efficiencies.  KSPIE makes KSP, an already huge high-quality game, more than 10x bigger and better. A HUGE amount of work went into this.

It seems you did a lot with LF-O fuel and engines. The next logical step is Argon, Xenon, and Lithium - before getting to the fancy antimatter, liquid hydrogen, and warp-drive.     I personally suggest getting starting with getting beam power working, lithium engines, and megajoule capacitor.  The argon and xenon are mostly for 1-way missions, so I focus on lithium.   You can use reactors to power the electric lithium engines, but those are heavy, and beam power is WAY cheaper and lighter.  First, understand (generally) the lower the frequency, the shorter the range, and the higher the frequency, the less efficient.  Some unique frequencies go through the atmosphere better than others, but I ignore that for now.

Do this: (strong advice)  Make a rocket with the largest aperture laser transmitter you can get and the largest (bigger than a football field) blanket solar panels you can get.  Also, add a normal-size molten salt reactor connected to a thermal generator.  Add a Comm receiver, lithium tank,  megajoule capacitor, heat radiators,  and a lithium engine.   The laser needs a large aperture because that will give the power receiver a smaller spot size. Set the laser to near-infrared.  That is the highest frequency a low-tech transmitter/receiver can use. Put this thing on top of a large solid-fuel booster rocket to get the laser out of the atmosphere.

EDIT: A more correct way to do this without Near Future is The Nuclear Lightbulb engine with hydrogen.  Then get hydrogen using the IRSU refinery.

Lithium engines have an ISP of near 2500-3400, which is near 10x the LF-O engines. That means the fuel tanks can be a lot smaller.  The lithium engines (and most electric engines) are not as powerful as the normal LF-Ox or liquid H2-O2 rockets, so they need some support. After you get the laser out of the atmosphere, activate the lithium engines.  The lithium engines require a LOT of electric power. That is what the large capacitors are for.  Get enough megajoule capacitors to power the engines until you reach orbit, then the rest is easier. If the capacitors are empty, just let the thermal generator charge them on the ground.   After orbit, the reactor/generator has enough electric power to move the rocket forward slowly.  Deploying the solar panels this time gives the engines additional power if needed.  The reactor and laser generate a lot of heat, and you need large radiators to get rid of the waste heat.  After you reach a large kerbin orbit- farther than Minmus, activate the laser using power from the reactor and solar panels.  Now you are broadcasting near 1 megawatt of power to all locations near kerbin and the muns! This is 10-100x the power a large solar panel can receive!  Fifty years later, you can recycle the molten salt reactor fuel - another special procedure.

Now build the relays because the beam power can relay just like the comm relays!   There are special laser mirrors that can work as relays.  Make sure you get the correct mirror for the laser frequency.   I usually add three relays for Kerbin and 3 for each mun (and other planets/muns).  Two relays in polar orbit are running perpendicular, and one relay is in an equatorial orbit.  Set the orbit altitude, so they are far enough away to connect most of the sky from the ground and not too far to make the orbit very slow.   Now you have lots of power you can receive day or night.  This is useful when mining, so you don't need huge batteries in case there is mining at night time while using solar panels.

Next, build the ship for doing missions.  The design is similar to the laser transmitter probe you made before with the lithium tank & engine, megajoule capacitor, radiators.  Except using a power receiver to get the power needed instead of weak solar panels or an expensive/heavy reactor.  You still need radiators to get rid of excess heat.   Now you have a low-cost and high-range compact spaceship!  The stock drill can mine lithium also. That is a good way to stock up on lots of lithium on a mun for long journey missions.   You can also use reactors to get high ISP and high power engines by attaching a reactor (that generates heat) to a nozzle.  Then add an intake to use the atmosphere or another propellant in space.   You can also deploy an X-Ray laser to beam power from Kerbin all the way to Jool (and beyond)!  Can also get a solar receiver very near the sun to use/transmit huge amounts of power.  But I think the highest frequency you can relay is vacuum-ultraviolet.   I can go on, but I hope this is useful.

Edited October 5, 2021 by enewmen

[enewmen]

@Codraroll.  Forgot: Do some sandbox testing with different size laser transmitters, receivers, and frequencies. Then you get a better idea of the different ranges and spot-sizes  and what transmitter/receiver/frequencies you need to get where you want to go. You can also go nuts with super-size blanket solar panels, reactors, and laser sizes if you want.  I've personally used these techniques to get to other star systems using different mods.  For a two-way trip to Duna for example, just bring a small/compact miner on your spaceship. Then mine lithium on Ike to fill your tanks for the trip home. I've personally also added a small laser transmitter and relay for a Duna mission to make landing and mining easier at night-time.

Edited September 5, 2021 by enewmen

[craidie]

Am I missing something obvious, or why is Pebble bed reactor doing 3/4 of its output in charged particles that can't be used?

 

Is there a spreadsheet that lists all the reactors for comparison? I recall there being one for KSPI... I've been away for a while.

 

 

[enewmen]

3 hours ago, craidie said:

Am I missing something obvious, or why is Pebble bed reactor doing 3/4 of its output in charged particles that can't be used?

 

Is there a spreadsheet that lists all the reactors for comparison? I recall there being one for KSPI... I've been away for a while.

 

 

Check your waste heat and thermal generator. The reactor won't output much if there is no place for the power to go. Please give a screenshot to better show the problem.

[craidie]

In the editor the reactor says it does 4.5GW 

Scaled down to 1.25m we''re down to ~560MW 

All good so far. Warp drive wants 340MW for 1c. That's fine, I have triple that...  

Aand it shuts down after couple seconds because of lack of power. Reason being only ~100MW of the reactors output power is in thermal. the rest ~470MW is in charged particles. 

But swapping the thermal generator for the charged particle one has the latter one just complain about not being attached to a suitable reactor, Which makes sense since there a red x on it. But why list  the reactor as 560MW reactor if you can only ever utilize 100MW of it?

[enewmen]

47 minutes ago, craidie said:

In the editor the reactor says it does 4.5GW 

Scaled down to 1.25m we''re down to ~560MW 

All good so far. Warp drive wants 340MW for 1c. That's fine, I have triple that...  

Aand it shuts down after couple seconds because of lack of power. Reason being only ~100MW of the reactors output power is in thermal. the rest ~470MW is in charged particles. 

But swapping the thermal generator for the charged particle one has the latter one just complain about not being attached to a suitable reactor, Which makes sense since there a red x on it. But why list  the reactor as 560MW reactor if you can only ever utilize 100MW of it?

Use an antimatter reactor for your warp drive. It just works a lot better. Also check your waste-heat. That can severely limit the power you can generate. For doing warp, stay FAR away from a gravity well. That also makes a big difference and uses more power, even if you think you have enough power.

Edited September 6, 2021 by enewmen

[craidie]

2 hours ago, enewmen said:

Use an antimatter reactor for your warp drive. It just works a lot better. Also check your waste-heat. That can severely limit the power you can generate. For doing warp, stay FAR away from a gravity well. That also makes a big difference and uses more power, even if you think you have enough power.

This was less about the warp drive and more about the Where's most of my reactors listed output going?  I knew I would needs omething round 500MW of power and took double that and it still was half what I needed.  So either I'm missing something obvious or something is broken.

 

Edit: I would have no problems with this if the reactor could use cp generators(or engines). Or if it listed just the thermal power as output. It's not output power if no possible configuration accessible to us can utilize said power

Edited September 6, 2021 by craidie

[enewmen]

On 9/6/2021 at 11:55 PM, craidie said:

This was less about the warp drive and more about the Where's most of my reactors listed output going?  I knew I would needs omething round 500MW of power and took double that and it still was half what I needed.  So either I'm missing something obvious or something is broken.

 

Edit: I would have no problems with this if the reactor could use cp generators(or engines). Or if it listed just the thermal power as output. It's not output power if no possible configuration accessible to us can utilize said power

I see two problems.  1, the Pebble bed reactor only outputs thermal power. 2. you have no CP generator if the reactor did create charged particles.  There are some reactors (like the Tokamat) that produce heat and CP, but then you need both a thermal generator and CP generator.   Anyway,  your pebble bed reactor and thermal generator seem to be working fine.  I tried myself and it works the same.

I don't know why your reactor window says it can produce charged power when it  can't. Pebble bed   500MW CP should not be possible.

Edited September 7, 2021 by enewmen

[samooo2]

On 9/6/2021 at 5:55 PM, craidie said:

This was less about the warp drive and more about the Where's most of my reactors listed output going?  I knew I would needs omething round 500MW of power and took double that and it still was half what I needed.  So either I'm missing something obvious or something is broken.

 

Edit: I would have no problems with this if the reactor could use cp generators(or engines). Or if it listed just the thermal power as output. It's not output power if no possible configuration accessible to us can utilize said power

I get this too. Pebble bed is supposed to be entirely thermal, and I know it used to be. But now 6/7 of its output is in charged particles, making it almost useless.

[Bej Kerman]

On 9/5/2021 at 4:55 PM, Codraroll said:

I'm trying a Career playthrough using KSP Interstellar, just a general jut around the stock solar system, and I must admit ... I feel a little overwhelmed. Tons of different fuels, parts I have no idea what they're used for, engines that seem hellishly expensive but offer unknown usefulness, and setups that are overwhelmingly more complicated than the good ol' "put tank next to engine and press space to go to space" gameplay of the stock engines. The result is, I'm halfway through the tech tree, still building vessels using stock or stockalike parts, have no idea what I should research next, and no idea how to get to the outer planets without making it a one-way trip.

Near Future parts are usually a better call if you prefer the stockalike charm of not introducing way too many fuel types that don't offer any additional gameplay.

[Metadane]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong but the NERVA fission engine keeps telling me I've run out of fuel (Enriched Uranium) but I definitely have it on my ship. It also shows two other fuels I can switch to Uranium-238 TWR or Plutonium TWR but I can't find anything that stores these. Please can someone offer some help. 

 

Edit: I've noticed that the EnrichedUranium slider doesn't come up on the NERVA engine like it does other nuclear engines so possibly a conflict, not sure though.

Edited September 12, 2021 by Metadane

[enewmen]

On 9/12/2021 at 9:05 PM, Bej Kerman said:

Near Future parts are usually a better call if you prefer the stockalike charm of not introducing way too many fuel types that don't offer any additional gameplay.

I disagree (sort of). The Near Future parts seem easier to use and look more stock. However, KSP-IE seems to have more realistic physics.  Fuel decay, atomic reactions, atomic waste, half-life, ideal operating temperatures, waste heat, and more propellants than just LF/Ox/Atm, are all important. There is also a huge section on beam-power.  Very different than rather just install it and turn it on to get electricity for n-number of years. Anyway, if you want to learn real physics which  KSP  always was based on without as many internal workings hidden, then I think you will do better with KSP-IE. Anyway, my 2-cent option.

Edited September 14, 2021 by enewmen