A "KSP Loading..." Preview: The 48-7S “Spark” Liquid Fuel Engine revamp

[swjr-swis 2,420]

4 hours ago, SQUAD said:

The iconic 48-7S “Spark” Liquid Fuel Engine is getting a full-fledged aesthetic makeover! The geometry was redone from scratch and got brand new textures, too. The Spark Engine is also getting 3 different variants for players to choose from. Additionally we are adding a new emissive texture for the throttle animation that will make your ascents, transfers and landers look great!

I'll be honest: I'm going to miss that one. It's done a lot of work for me over the years.

The revamp looks good, and the bare variant will be welcome.

 

If I may ask for one tiny improvement: can you please rotate the part 90 degrees so it is symmetrical through the dorsal to ventral plane? This will make mirror symmetry -and rotations in mirror symmetry- work correctly. It's the one thing that's always bugged me about the Spark and makes me break symmetry every time to rotate them 'the right way'. (*)

(*: it's a flaw that other parts have too, but like I said, the Spark has seen a lot of use and so I run into it often)

[Nightside 1,131]

It is wonderful!

I'm getting much hyped!

By the way @RoverDude and @JPLRepo are part variants and UPGRADES compatible? Can a variant be unlocked by an upgrade?

[Raptor9 2,701]

Saa-weeeeet!

[Kroslev Kerman 46]

beatiful maybe a good suggestion for the next version is SRB Fuel tanks(tanks that hold Solid fuel)because am annoyed with the limited SRB fuel i want to put more Solid fuel)

[Snark 13,145]

3 hours ago, RoverDude said:

 bare is around 0.3 give or take.  The spark is a small engine

 

3 hours ago, RoverDude said:

Yep clustering is the idea.

Okay, now I really want a 1.25m engine plate.

 

[Zero266 21]

I like it!

[basic.syntax 730]

Yay!   Very nice, great range of options!    

I like the faint arrows, very Kerbal.

Would like to see lore-friendly maker's names or logos on parts, where appropriate. 

Edited November 10, 2018 by basic.syntax

[The_Cat_In_Space 1,941]

Yay revamps!

Would it be possible to have an option to switch between the old graphics and new graphics for parts?

[GrandProtectorDark 440]

6 hours ago, Snark said:

 

Okay, now I really want a 1.25m engine plate.

 

Better suggestion. Make all engines radially attachable.

[RealKerbal3x 2,530]

2 hours ago, The_Cat_In_Space said:

Yay revamps!

Would it be possible to have an option to switch between the old graphics and new graphics for parts?

You can still find the old parts if you really want them, in the advanced tab.

[sh1pman 3,332]

7 hours ago, Snark said:

 

Okay, now I really want a 1.25m engine plate.

 

There’s no 1.25m engine plate? I never noticed. How did they miss that?

[BRAAAP_STUTUTU 140]

Ooh, what diameter size is the bare variant? I could see that fitting extra small craft really well (does it also come with a smaller shroud?)

[Poodmund 2,365]

• The boat-tail shroud could benefit a lot from a re-texturing pass. If you look back at the current Kerbodyne ADTP-2-3 Adapter part with its little nicks and scratches (mind the .dds artifacting however) these could be reflected on the new Spark shroud and I'm not quite sure what the yellow band on the boat-tail shroud is representing in this case...? This is probably my biggest gripe with this preview.
• The emissive texture is objectively incorrectly done as this is not really how engine bells heat up. The outermost extent of the bell is typically not the hottest area and therefore the emissive texture should not get brighter as it extends down towards to bottom of the bell. Typically the hottest regions are in the throat and in the midriff regions of the nozzle; a simple Google search would show this.
• This continuation of 'we don't utilize strong normal mapping on all part surfaces' is starting to wear thin as some of the details looks really flat: The circular details on the mountain plate, the two recessed, darker bands on the turbopump look flat and the ridges on the tip of the engine bell could also do with stronger normals. This is a very small part so stronger normals can really help in giving the player a visual indication of scale.
• The specularity looks uniform across the entire part. Is the entire engine housing and shroud and mounting plate and engine bell etc. all made of the same material?
• The overall structural design has been simplified a bit compared to the Porkjet concept vision (I'm sorry I have to bring this up) of the engine with a lot of the rigging for the gimbal mechanism removed as the engine housing on this new part seems to have a lot of the upper geometry housed within a fairly basic shaped combustion chamber. It is a novel way of "hiding" or faux-simulating the gimbal though as its essentially being hidden within the combustion chamber shroud. EDIT: I appreciate that this is more akin and paying homage to the current look of the Spark engine.

Other than that, compared to what it could potentially be in-lieu with what we see generated by the modding community it is rather simplified and the texture work is a little cookie-cutter (flat areas of colour) but as far as the KSP stock revamped parts go I think its in a good direction considering the standard that is being set. The only thing that I would strongly suggest at the moment, with respect to the points brought up above, is that it appears to be only, like, 80% finished.

Edited November 10, 2018 by Poodmund

[Frank_G 1,663]

Looks like KSP is getting a lot more beautiful without losing its flair... all the current revamped parts are well done and the ones to come seem to be no difference. Thanks a lot for giving this game the care it deserves. I am really looking forward to come back to playing KSP in the future .

[Snark 13,145]

3 hours ago, GrandProtectorDark said:

Better suggestion. Make all engines radially attachable.

Doesn't help.

Let's say I want a Spark cluster on an upper stage of a 1.25m stack, with another 1.25m stage below it. Surface attachable engines don't solve the problem. I need the lower 1.25m stage to attach firmly (via a 1.25m node) to the upper 1.25m stage, not to one of the little bitty Spark engines.

This is what engine plates are for.

1 hour ago, sh1pman said:

There’s no 1.25m engine plate? I never noticed. How did they miss that?

Well, in their defense, at the 1.25m size there aren't as many smaller things to attach to them. Sure, it would still be useful (which is why I half-assed cobbled together one in the MissingHistory mod by rescaling the 2.5m plate)... but not as big a priority as the bigger sizes, I would imagine.

But the presence of an important workhorse engine like the Spark, in a little bitty "bare" variant that by Squad's own statement is specifically designed for clustering, makes the idea of a 1.25m engine plate even yummier.

1 hour ago, BRAAAP_STUTUTU said:

Ooh, what diameter size is the bare variant?

RoverDude says, a few posts above, that it's likely around 0.3m.

1 hour ago, BRAAAP_STUTUTU said:

I could see that fitting extra small craft really well

+1

Though more useful still, if we had a small engine plate.

[BRAAAP_STUTUTU 140]

15 minutes ago, Snark said:

 

RoverDude says, a few posts above, that it's likely around 0.3m.

+1

Though more useful still, if we had a small engine plate.

0.325m? seems like the QBE has a new friend!

[RealKerbal3x 2,530]

22 minutes ago, BRAAAP_STUTUTU said:

0.325m? seems like the QBE has a new friend!

Indeed. Finally another engine we can use on cubesats!

And while I think all of the new styles for parts are fantastic, this one has to be the prettiest of them all

Edited November 10, 2018 by RealKerbal3x

[TyrannoFan 72]

Wow ok this is actually really good, definitely my favourite part revamp so far. I like the different alternative versions of it. 

[Delbrutis 45]

On 11/9/2018 at 11:06 AM, RoverDude said:

At the moment aesthetics and drag cubes, but bear in mind these are previews and stuff changes as it moves through QA, etc.

Well what's there looks really good to me . I cant tell you what a relief it is for my OCD to see a proper nozzle heat emissive ! One of the biggest let downs for me with the DLC was none of the engines having a heat emissive just does not look right. The models are fantastic but I miss my glowing engine bells at stage separation. And I was really worried when 1.5 came out and we lost the heat emissive on the hammer SRB. I like the look of it just fine just hate to see a step back on the effects. Looks really good though hope all the new engines overhauls look  this good.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Delbrutis

[panzer1b 1,041]

On 11/9/2018 at 1:54 PM, SQUAD said:

 

I really like this new model, especially the ability to use a "bare" version which lets me stick these rather versatile things on almost any vessel, even ones that have sub 0.6m engine assemblies (replicas come to mind but thats not all).  The shielded one is also nice since i can finally get rid of the so called fake shrouds by placing a backwards facing small air intake on the rear of said engine to make it look cooler (might still do it on some ships but its nolonger a essential part of every design and saves 1 part per engine, which adds up when you have a entire squadron of starfighters each with 3+ engines on them).

 

And unlike everything from MH, it HAS ACTUAL GLOWY FX!!!

 

Really cant find a single thing to complain about which is rather impressive considering i tend to be super picky about every little detail, and this one looks spot on.

 

It may have taken a bit of time (and alot of very vocal forum rage posts from a few people), but it seems the art team actually understands to a good degree what makes a KSP part look decent, while keeping polycount and excessive resolution down, not to mention making it have just the right amount of details and simplicity.  GJ @SQUAD and keep up the good work. 

Edited November 10, 2018 by panzer1b

[Delbrutis 45]

On 11/10/2018 at 3:28 AM, Poodmund said:

I'm not quite sure what the yellow band on the boat-tail shroud is representing in this case...?

I'm going to guess the yellow stripe came from someone looking at the Porkjet part revamp? In this case it would be wrong because Yellow represented JebsJunkyard-LTV series engines. The stripe for the Spark should be RockoMax Orange.   

Going back and looking at those pick that stripe looks like it might actually be orange? Just not a very bright Rockomax like orange?

Edited November 11, 2018 by Delbrutis
Addition

[The_Cat_In_Space 1,941]

5 minutes ago, Delbrutis said:

I'm going to guess the yellow stripe came from someone looking at the Porkjet part revamp? In this case it would be wrong because Yellow represented JebsJunkyard-LTV series engines. The stripe for the Spark should be RockoMax Orange.   

What's with the numbers on the engines? Or have I just not been playing KSP lately

[Delbrutis 45]

7 minutes ago, The_Cat_In_Space said:

What's with the numbers on the engines? Or have I just not been playing KSP lately

These are from the Porkjet overhauls that never made it in the game but got released when he left.  Go look at your stock engines "LTV-30" "LTV-45" "LTV-909" The "LTV-15" and "LTV-303" were going to be new engines.

[The_Cat_In_Space 1,941]

8 minutes ago, Delbrutis said:

These are from the Porkjet overhauls that never made it in the game but got released when he left.  Go look at your stock engines "LTV-30" "LTV-45" "LTV-909" The "LTV-15" and "LTV-303" were going to be new engines.

Ok

[theJesuit 816]

It's a little ironic that I've just spent time (a month ago) using the 303 model to redo the spark for personal use...

Now, for the skipper and the poodle please!

Peace.

Edited November 11, 2018 by theJesuit
I'm a full.