[1.8.1-1.12.x] Modular Launch Pads v2.6.1: Launch clamps evolved: Real-style launch bases and towers [03 July 2023]

[Emilius73]

Is there any chance SLS swing arms get made for the Saturn tower?

[GuessingEveryDay]

5 minutes ago, Emilius73 said:

Is there any chance SLS swing arms get made for the Saturn tower?

The arms for the Saturn tower can be either red or grey, so with enough research, you could find a way to find arms that look close enough.

[AlphaMensae]

11 minutes ago, Emilius73 said:

Is there any chance SLS swing arms get made for the Saturn tower?

No, that's what the Saturn Tower General Arm is for. I don't care enough about SLS to bother making anything for it

All work on MLP has stopped. I don't care anymore, this is pretty much a goodbye.

[xD-FireStriker]

5 hours ago, AlphaMensae said:

No, that's what the Saturn Tower General Arm is for. I don't care enough about SLS to bother making anything for it

All work on MLP has stopped. I don't care anymore, this is pretty much a goodbye.

Thanks for all the work you have done on this mod, You will be missed but you leave an amazing legacy and some amazing launch pad hardware.

[Zelda]

On 11/17/2022 at 3:58 PM, AlphaMensae said:

No, that's what the Saturn Tower General Arm is for. I don't care enough about SLS to bother making anything for it

All work on MLP has stopped. I don't care anymore, this is pretty much a goodbye.

I've been using your mod for many years, and can't imagine playing without it. That said, I can definitely relate to getting burned out on a project. Take care, and thank you so very much for making something fun, unique, and special, and sharing it with us all.

[DaOPCreeper]

is there any chance we could get one last update with working rain birds and an Ariana V pad and umbilics?  

Also do you plan on making MLP for ksp 2 when it comes out?

Edited November 22, 2022 by DaOPCreeper

[xD-FireStriker]

On 11/22/2022 at 12:45 AM, DaOPCreeper said:

is there any chance we could get one last update with working rain birds and an Ariana V pad and umbilics?  

Also do you plan on making MLP for ksp 2 when it comes out?

i dont think MLP will be required for KSP2 since it comes with better launch pads out of the box but I for sure know people will want specialized launch pads for KSP2. I dont think alpha will return to fulfill that want this time around 

[zakkpaz]

Would you be willing to add extensions to the bottoms of the servius towers?

So they dont look like they are floating if they're hanging over the side of the launchpad.

[AlphaMensae]

Hi all!

Work on MLP hasn't been totally stopped after all, it just happens in spurts, which may be infrequent depending on motivation.  I'm in one of those spurts right now, spurred by be dislike of how the general launch base revamp was going, specifically how the decks were made. The now-first draft was just too complicated and got away from my goal to simplify the construction. In the end I got what I wanted: the decks are made up of simple 0.5m, 1m and 2m square blocks, which can be arranged in groups and turned on and off as needed to form the various exhaust hole shapes and sizes. Still, even with just 3 different sizes, making the all the hole types is like a game of Tetris, what with all the arranging of blocks in this way and that.  So I'm definitely going to limit the number of exhaust hole types to keep things simple. The current Mini base and new Small Base have the most hole sizes (3); the rest will be limited to just 2.

Also, I've decided to keep the old general bases and retitle them Multi Launch Bases (keeping the original internal part name). The revamped ones will be too different from the old ones and will most likely no longer fit in current craft, so they will be kept.  These revamped ones will be the new general launch bases, just without "general" in the title. The revamped ones will have far less overlap in exhaust hole sizes; the new Small Base will fit the BDB Atlas V with 5 SRBs in a custom 4mx6m  rectangular hole, with room for the MLP Atlas V service mast (just enough room like the real one, though the styling is very different); this variant will be called "BDB Atlas V 4m".

Short demo of the also-revised Mini Base, with more hole sizes, hold-down support pads and more ladder options:

 

Also, the Medium General Service Tower Section, with the fixed top node for the 10m variant, has been fixed on the GitHub Master. All the new launch bases will be on the GitHub Master until the release happens.

[AlphaMensae]

Ok, I've finished the new (General) Small Launch Base. Yep, i was designed to fit the BDB Atlas V:

However, I did check the KNES Ariane 5 and found it would also fit. Then I was finally inspired to make a special general hold-down for large SRB. The hold-down has 4 hold-dopwn brackets, which can be adjusted in linear spread for different size SRBs and in rotational spread for SRBs with hold-down points not at 45-degree angles, like the stock Clydesdale. It also has optional Z-axis and X-axis extensions to fill the exhaust hole of a launch base, or it can be attached to the deck.

New SRB hold-down with stock Clydesdales:

Demo video:

 

KNES Ariane 5 on the new base:

Demo with Ariane 5 launch. No tower yet, but I will be making a sorta Ariane 5-ish flat slab tower thingy.  

 

 

[Jacktical]

This is gonna be so useful  An option for changing what side the wheels are on would be nice for the ariane 5 pad as we could make accurate replicas 

Spoiler

As you can see here the wheels are at the front instead of sides

 

[AlphaMensae]

Well, since I did something for the Ariane 5 with the new Small Launch Base, I went ahead and did some more: added the new Flat Slab Mast and Scissor Arm Umbilical:

All combined to do this:

Ariane 5 from the KNES mod.

I had to offset the rocket from the center of the launch base, as I made the scissor umbilical too long to fit with the rocket in the middle. I'm making all the launch bases have a max temp of 10,000, so no problem with firing SRBs into the base's deck, but I might add an offsetholw option for the Ariane 5, as the real launch base for it has the rocket at one end and the mast at the oppposite end.

[AlphaMensae]

Also now realized I need to angle out the inner arm of the scissor umbilical, since that's how it's like IRL.

[AlphaMensae]

Modified Scissor Arm Umbilical:

 

[AlphaMensae]

Just uploaded the Flat Slab Service Mast, Scissor Arm Umbilical and a revised Small Launch Base to the Master on the GitHub.

I added an offset variant of the Ariane 5 hole shape to the base, and the wheels can be rotated 90 degrees.

Patch to add an extra bottom node to the KNES Arian 5 core tank  has been put into the Compatibility Patches folder.

Custom category has been updated.

Also retitled the swing arms and umbilicals, following a common pattern and grouping them all together in the CCK and custom categories.

[AlphaMensae]

Ok, putting together the Ariane 5 craft showed me that even my largest-size droop-style umbilical wasn't long enough. Since I never liked the long extension tube or longer mount types (they were a convenient way to add length to the umbiicals, but looked ugly) anyway, I'm revising all of the droop umbilicals. Telescoping sections are being added to increase the length via deploy-limit slider, without changing the angle of the droop (something I should have realized I could of done back then  ). The extension tube is being reduced to 0.5m, and both the umbilical and extension tube will start out at the minimum length; I think that many people thought that the long extension was the default and left it that way.  I also removed all the longer mount types, as the umbilical rightly should start angling directly from the hinge; I left a 0.5m extension to fine-tune the length.

And since the current umbilicals were kind of "scrunched", I'm adding a stretched version for even more length (30 degree angle compared to the scrunched 60 degree).

Demo of thr completed revised Mini droop umbilical:

 

 

[BlackDinoShadows]

Hi @AlphaMensaeI've a problem with b9 partswitch for the flat slab tower

Here's a screen and hope you find a solution to solve the problem , thanks.

[OrbitalManeuvers]

34 minutes ago, BlackDinoShadows said:

I've a problem with b9 partswitch for the flat slab tower

Can confirm I saw this last night as well. 

[AlphaMensae]

2 hours ago, BlackDinoShadows said:

Hi @AlphaMensaeI've a problem with b9 partswitch for the flat slab tower

Here's a screen and hope you find a solution to solve the problem , thanks.

 

1 hour ago, OrbitalManeuvers said:

Can confirm I saw this last night as well. 

OOPS!  Forgot the textures for it in the upload  

Now fixed.

Edited January 15, 2023 by AlphaMensae

[DaveyJ576]

On 11/30/2022 at 5:47 PM, zakkpaz said:

Would you be willing to add extensions to the bottoms of the servius towers?

So they dont look like they are floating if they're hanging over the side of the launchpad.

This issue actually has nothing to do with MLP. The size 0 launch pads from Tundra are actually slightly undersized. You should be able to upscale them by pulling up the Kerbal Konstructs menu for the pad. Alternatively, just move the launch tower to the left until all four legs sit on the pad surface. This reduces the historical accuracy as it interferes with the ramp that was used to bring the Atlas booster to the launch mount. Unfortunately, there isn’t a perfect answer. 

[AlphaMensae]

16 minutes ago, DaveyJ576 said:

This issue actually has nothing to do with MLP. The size 0 launch pads from Tundra are actually slightly undersized. You should be able to upscale them by pulling up the Kerbal Konstructs menu for the pad. Alternatively, just move the launch tower to the left until all four legs sit on the pad surface. This reduces the historical accuracy as it interferes with the ramp that was used to bring the Atlas booster to the launch mount. Unfortunately, there isn’t a perfect answer. 

That's the old Atlas launch pad (LC-12 through 15), and both the Agena and Centaur towers were located directly behind the rocket on the concrete, so that pic has it wrong, so I'm not doing anything. The Mercury tower (what I use as the elevator) was angled to fit the BDB Mercury pod hatch, but still fits on the concrete.

[TruthfulGnome]

Will the Shuttle MLP ever be updated to fit with SOCK/reDirect

[Sanchez_1]

What he said ^^^, Most of the community (minus the solid stock players) use SOCK.

[AlphaMensae]

6 hours ago, TruthfulGnome said:

Will the Shuttle MLP ever be updated to fit with SOCK/reDirect

I can modify the SRB Hold-Down to be like the new General one, but that's it. SOCK works well enough with the base as it is, there are just some cosmetic differences.

[TruthfulGnome]

11 hours ago, AlphaMensae said:

I can modify the SRB Hold-Down to be like the new General one, but that's it. SOCK works well enough with the base as it is, there are just some cosmetic differences.

The SRB hole is too small so you have to move the pad way too far down which makes the Orbiter too high for the Tail Service Mounts to reach it