KSP Weekly: Ultima Thule

[passinglurker]

3 minutes ago, klesh said:

I offered to buy those 3.75m parts for myself. I would adore KSP looking like that. 

he has a donation button on the bottom for his mod threads you know 
 

 

6 minutes ago, klesh said:

Modders can be tough though.  I really do see value in parts coming from Squad that are "guaranteed" to work with all future versions of the game.  A modded part that looks great today may be abandoned or forgotten a year from now. 

I don't think the "official content" edge means as much as it once did we've seen squad push out "offcial" content with a lot less stability, quality, and polish and take forever to fix it if ever/at all. IMO people's DLC money would probably have a better return spent on thier favorite mod authors instead.
 

[klesh]

7 minutes ago, passinglurker said:

he has a donation button on the bottom for his mod threads you know ;)

 

I've never tried one of his mods.  I saw that 3.75m preview several months ago with a "don't ask when it'll be done" caveat, so I have been waiting patiently for it.  Tipping him for some mod I don't use in the hopes he someday releases that isn't my cup of tea.

 

Quote

I don't think the "official content" edge means as much as it once did we've seen squad push out "offcial" content with a lot less stability, quality, and polish and take forever to fix it if ever/at all. IMO people's DLC money would probably have a better return spent on thier favorite mod authors instead.

 

After my experiences with Making History, you might be right.

[passinglurker]

8 minutes ago, klesh said:

I've never tried one of his mods.  I saw that 3.75m preview several months ago with a "don't ask when it'll be done" caveat, so I have been waiting patiently for it.  Tipping him for some mod I don't use in the hopes he someday releases that isn't my cup of tea.

I believe he said when he showed them off on reddit that its for his near future launch vehicles mod which presently covers diameters 5m and up you could probably replace MH's saturn tanks with that if you need to find something already released to support.  

[panzer1b]

So much neagtivity here, i may not be 100% happy with whats being done, but to tell you the truth, im never 100% happy about ANYTHING, theres almost always something i can think of that would make everything i work with or own a little bit better...

 

Anyways, i just wanted to see what i could do to the 2.5m rocketmax tanks with the limit of spending half an hour messing with textures, and here is what i came up with.  All i did was focus on the raw texture, dropped res to 1024 as there is absolutely no need for 2048x2048, added a few details, scratches, dings, wear, and thats about it.

Yeah its not great, as i ONLY spent half hour to make this, but i really dont feel the 2.5m fuel tanks are quite as terrible as some of the more vocal community members seem to think.  Also, i think we are starting to get into different styling.  I myself like the older style with a few defects here and there compared to teh newer super clean style (which btw is alot closer to what spacex launches as they dont exactly leave scratched paint everywhere (and their rockets are more or less perfect cylinders, no bumps or details sticking out of them cause aerodynamics).

And yeah, new models may not be perfect either, but at least i have something i can work with (no stupid rims sticking out) and make my own damn textures if im unhappy with what the base game comes with (i mean ive done texture passes on other games i play which had ugly textures or something i didnt like).  Inefficient or not, they take up LESS hard drive space (just the models) then the old drums, and they might lack fine detail, but thats when my art skills come into play.

Still, if anyone is interested in the texture i made for this maybee i can make a quick mod to bring a few of the newer textures back to old standards...

Edited August 5, 2018 by panzer1b

[passinglurker]

@panzer1b Squad won't change if we just hugbox them all the time they'll just block everyone else out as long as there are vapant fanboys frothing with praise. Also its not exactly fair showing it with a bunch of post processing mods, but I digress.

The 2.5m parts have UV mapping issues(its basically miming the 3.75m placeholders and all thier flaws) this skews with texel density in a way that can only be fixed with a mesh edit to make a new UVmap to even out the texel density and use the space more efficently. What you've done is a band aid at best and will look blurry and pixelated next to actually good parts like porkjet's spaceplane work. we can do better starting the fuel tank over from scratch. honestly there is no point in settling for half measures. (I should know I once tried to fix those 3.75m tanks with just a texture change)

[panzer1b]

1 minute ago, passinglurker said:

@panzer1b Squad won't change if we just hugbox them all the time they'll just block everyone else out as long as there are vapant fanboys frothing with praise. Also its not exactly fair showing it with a bunch of post processing mods, but I digress.

The 2.5m parts have UV mapping issues(its basically miming the 3.75m placeholders and all thier flaws) this skews with texel density in a way that can only be fixed with a mesh edit to make a new UVmap to even out the texel density and use the space more efficently. What you've done is a band aid at best and will look blurry and pixelated next to actually good parts like porkjet's spaceplane work. we can do better starting the fuel tank over from scratch. honestly there is no point in settling for half measures. (I should know I once tried to fix those 3.75m tanks with just a texture change)

You have a good point, and i do agree with you that having the parts done with porkjet style/quality would be the best option.  I also did notice the UVmap issues like textures not being aligned right (and for some reason the largest tank has paint done with 3 way symmetry vs 4 like the rest?...).  Well, all i can do is hope they improve the quality of future work, its very doubtful we will get porkalike parts made from now on, but they could try and make something similar in the quality dept.

At least what i did is better then default, even though im well aware of the mapping issues that are there which arent really avoidable (i might be able to hack a texture together to take advantage of it, but thatd take way too much time for me to do and i dont really have enough time in my life to spend modding more then on occasion).  Anyways, maybee one day if im bored and dont have anything better to do ill take a serious look at hacking together a texture that can bypass broken UVmapping, afterall, i used to do that ALOT for older games, specifically some of the tank models in MoW series (which was one of my fav RTS games ive ever played back in the day).  Tank UV mapping there was atrocious, and i had to painstakingly make textures line up to edges correctly...

[passinglurker]

7 minutes ago, panzer1b said:

Well, all i can do is hope they improve the quality of future work, its very doubtful we will get porkalike parts made from now on, but they could try and make something similar in the quality dept.

Porkjet was good but he wasn't unequalable or insurpassable, and we technically already have porkalike's for 1.25m parts on the books. They can do it, we should accept nothing less, and if they somehow can't then they give up on dev entirely move on to he next kerbal game. Then we don't have to worry about modded parts getting out-dated anymore. It's basically win win to hold them to standards.

[klgraham1013]

3 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

Personal opinion. Not moderator statement. 

For people who express so much hatred for the game and the people who make it, you guys sure do play it and talk about it a lot. When I dislike a game, I stop playing it. I don't just keep going back to its forum to insult the makers for years at a time. It's better for my mental and emotional health. 

You can enjoy something and also be critical of it.  There are many games and movies I love that I understand are "bad" or, in KSP's case, just frustratingly flawed in a few key areas.

 

[StarStreak2109]

4 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

Personal opinion. Not moderator statement. 

For people who express so much hatred for the game and the people who make it, you guys sure do play it and talk about it a lot. When I dislike a game, I stop playing it. I don't just keep going back to its forum to insult the makers for years at a time. It's better for my mental and emotional health. 

@Vanamonde, I find your statement a bit insulting. First of all, as others have pointed out, @SQUAD have asked for our opinion. We gave it: We don't all like it... There it is. Do we have all have to turn into fanbois and sing "Praise be to you Squad, we cherish your new parts till the awakening of the Kraken!!!"??? No we don't.

The fact is also that we do not dislike the game. Quite the contrary, most of us love playing it. That is why we are so passionate about it. That is also why we feel so strongly about telling Squad what we fell should be done better.

So please, don't come here patronizing us because we exercise our right for (mostly) constructive criticism. If we are not allowed to express our opinions in a civilized way, then obviously this is not the venue to discuss the game... I am sure this is not the fact, just saying.

4 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

 

@Vanamonde@SQUAD

Edited August 5, 2018 by StarStreak2109

[Nertea]

3 hours ago, klesh said:

I've never tried one of his mods.  I saw that 3.75m preview several months ago with a "don't ask when it'll be done" caveat, so I have been waiting patiently for it.  Tipping him for some mod I don't use in the hopes he someday releases that isn't my cup of tea.

Hey sorry I haven't been able to make it available yet. It takes a while to ensure that content I build is bug free and as perfect as I can make it with one unpaid amateur working on it. I wanted to wait until I had the SRBs and the 2.5m/0.625m parts also reworked before distributing anything. That's taking a while.

[Barzon]

I hope that all goes well, and I am extremely excited for when they are released!

[Firemetal]

Alrighty. I like the 2.5 revamp. The 1.25 revamp looks nice. I'm fine with this stuff.

But I agree that PorkJet and @Nertea did a much better job. It would be nice if Squad Staff responded to the comments and maybe listened to the players. I'm sure they could make the parts look a heck of a lot better than they do now. Why don't they do it? It isn't impossible. 

So @SQUAD, please take these posts as constructive criticism, rather than hate comments and please listen to them a little more.

Fire

[klesh]

17 hours ago, Nertea said:

Hey sorry I haven't been able to make it available yet. It takes a while to ensure that content I build is bug free and as perfect as I can make it with one unpaid amateur working on it. I wanted to wait until I had the SRBs and the 2.5m/0.625m parts also reworked before distributing anything. That's taking a while.

 

No worries dude.  Take your time, you're clearly super talented at this.  I saw it on reddit and nearly fell out of my chair at how tasty they look(ed).  I really like the aesthetic you've gone for, its just gorgeous.

0.625m as well!? SRB's? My goodness.  I will totally kick you some ducats should these see the light of day.

[LegendaryAce]

On 8/3/2018 at 2:11 PM, wizzlebippi said:

Since my aging laptop decided it no longer needed a screen, I've been playing on Xbox. Seeing all the improvements pc is getting is nice, but consoles don't have making history, or even a clear future. It's really hard to justify a new machine for one game, even if I have nearly a thousand hours in it, when something I already have will play ksp. Are consoles going to get making history and these updates? Not looking for a date or schedule, only a yes/no answer.

Well, even with 4 pages worth of replies, nobody but you has noticed the lack of any attention to the console stepchild it seems. Of course, why would they? They've got at least ten updates in the time it's taken us to get two. That pretty much shows where we stand. 

And now unfortunately, once again, KSP takes its rightful place in the back of my hard drive in favor of Elite: Dangerous. Maybe by the end of the decade we'll get Making History.

P.S.: Any idea if we're ever gonna get a fix for the aggravating crackling sound when you're using afterburner with the Panther or JX4 engines?

<Edited because my internet was laggy and decided to post the same content 7x over>

Edited August 7, 2018 by LegendaryAce

[Frozen_Heart]

On 8/5/2018 at 2:54 PM, passinglurker said:

You're excited for them to break and quadruple in ram footprint like the 2.5m revamp? 

 

Sorry if this personally offends you or something but I actually liked the 2.5m revamp. Rockets finally look like they aren't made of actual oil barrels.

[passinglurker]

1 hour ago, Frozen_Heart said:

Sorry if this personally offends you or something but I actually liked the 2.5m revamp. Rockets finally look like they aren't made of actual oil barrels.

so now they look like a student's first photoshop project so much better/s

No one liked the oil barrels for thier design I'll acknowledge that, but that doesn't mean we should accept something that could be made with just a box selecter and a fill tool as a substitute. If that were the case squad could have gotten away with replacing everything with untextured cylinders years ago. 

[Delbrutis]

On 8/5/2018 at 11:52 AM, panzer1b said:

Still, if anyone is interested in the texture i made for this maybee i can make a quick mod to bring a few of the newer textures back to old standards... 

That looks awesome and matches the old Porkjet style perfectly. I would be very interested in just that one texture if you would be so inclined to release it ? I have been trying to bundle together my own low part count patchwork revamp . Your the first person besides myself I’ve seen comment on the lack of heating emissive's on all of the new DLC engine's. It has been driving my OCD nuts. the Porkjet engines came with a full emissive DDS sheet but sadly they appear to have never been finished. I always wondered why no one has fixed that ? I have seen several release’s with the MU reworked in Unity to combine the plain and boat-tail  models for part switching. Anyway texture looks really good.   

[panzer1b]

3 hours ago, Delbrutis said:

That looks awesome and matches the old Porkjet style perfectly. I would be very interested in just that one texture if you would be so inclined to release it ? I have been trying to bundle together my own low part count patchwork revamp . Your the first person besides myself I’ve seen comment on the lack of heating emissive's on all of the new DLC engine's. It has been driving my OCD nuts. the Porkjet engines came with a full emissive DDS sheet but sadly they appear to have never been finished. I always wondered why no one has fixed that ? I have seen several release’s with the MU reworked in Unity to combine the plain and boat-tail  models for part switching. Anyway texture looks really good.   

Ill prolly release a mod for that if 1.5 doesnt fix the 2.5m tanks.  I still need to mod the specular and normal maps anyways b4 im truly happy with it.

 

Also a bit of a thing ive noticed with quite a few new parts (including all the fairings), is that the normal maps are broken and occasionally flip themselves if you orient the ship a certain way in universe.  That i cannot fix, and sadly i think im going to completely remove normal maps from those parts since i CANNOT make them look good using a broken flipping normal map, and because of this ill need to alter the texture to not have any sticking out things.

[eldorim]

How about a new background image of space (with higher resolution)? Or I'm the only one who does not like it?
 

[Ithirahad]

On 8/3/2018 at 9:21 PM, Nertea said:

Damnnit guys I'll do it almost pro bono. Two UCS Millenium Falcons. 

Holy cow. Do I smell a Nertea's Stock Revamp?