can we get shrouds that fit the decoupler and not the engine?

[putnamto]

im not good at explaining things, so heres a picture.




it looks rediculous and probably affects drag and performance or something, maybe give us the option on the size of the shroud or something?

[Superfluous J]

yeah this wasn't such a big deal when the engines were all obviously set to fit each tank size, but now with tweaks to remove tankbutts it does look fairly silly.

I tend to turn off the fairing and then put everything that looks like that under a big fairing to get it out of the atmosphere.

[putnamto]

Just now, 5thHorseman said:

yeah this wasn't such a big deal when the engines were all obviously set to fit each tank size, but now with tweaks to remove tankbutts it does look fairly silly.

I tend to turn off the fairing and then put everything that looks like that under a big fairing to get it out of the atmosphere.

i end up doing that to, but it needlessly raises the part count and complexity of the ship, instead of being Tank>engine>decoupler>engine it has to be tank>engine>decoupler>fairing>Tank

[klesh]

The engine plates from Making History DLC are a godsend when tackling this problem.  Nearly every rocket I make uses them for precisely this issue.  

[AVaughan]

But +1 to a stock solution, that doesn't require adding another part to the rocket.  

[The Aziz]

Someone could say "hey but this tank is too big for that engine! That's why you should use bigger ones"

No. I say this engine has enough power to do its job, and any bigger (and more expensive) would be a waste of resources.

Totally support that. Shroud should be based on decoupler upper node, not engine.

[putnamto]

27 minutes ago, The Aziz said:

Someone could say "hey but this tank is too big for that engine! That's why you should use bigger ones"

No. I say this engine has enough power to do its job, and any bigger (and more expensive) would be a waste of resources.

Totally support that. Shroud should be based on decoupler upper node, not engine.

exactly, i could do the job in this instance just fine with a poodle, and it would look nice, but i would lose 300dv in the process.

[swjr-swis]

Decouplers with integrated fairings would be nice indeed. I would be willing to sacrifice the automatic shroud option of engines to get this, because it would not longer be necessary.

And I say 'fairing' and not 'shroud', because I would want it to also cover for the cases where the top is not the same diameter as the decoupler. Let us shape the shell to fit each case in the best way.

[Mjarf]

That's what fairings and engine plates are for?

[klgraham1013]

I was playing around with a MM patch that added fairings to decouplers.  I wouldn't mind if they removed engine shrouds all together and did some sort of solution like that.

16 minutes ago, Mjarf said:

That's what fairings and engine plates are for?

To fix poor game design?  Why not just change the design for the better instead of adding additional good things to cover up the old bad things?

[Mjarf]

I guess the engine plates is a start, maybe they could simply add a built-in decoupler to the fairings?

[swjr-swis]

Just now, Mjarf said:

maybe they could simply add a built-in decoupler to the fairings?

Which effectively is saying the same thing...

[Mjarf]

21 minutes ago, swjr-swis said:

Which effectively is saying the same thing...

Yeah, but I imagine it would be slightly easier to implement.

[tater]

SSTU lets you adjust the upper and lower size of the shrouds. I've gotten so used to it I'm surprised when confronted with that ugliness in the OP.

[Psycho_zs]

From a technical standpoint there should be some structure between the tank and the engine that bears the loads of both thrust and interstage. So MH engine plates look like a step in the right direction. But it is still inflexible.

Adding fairings to decouplers has a lot of potential, but it is unusable in its current stage: collider clipping, properly closing fairing geometry is hard, staging not working properly.

How about this:

1. add procedural fairings to decouplers (code reuse is good)
2. remove static fairings from engines and thrust plates
3. add special cues to engines and thrust plates to aid interstage fairing closure
   • predictable position and diameter of interstage attachment
   • maybe via a new type of node
   • changeable with part variants to account for different tankbutts
4. add bevels to fairing wall ends (it's a minor thing that helps greatly in Decoupler Shroud mod)

This would allow easy interstage creation with predictable results, and also a killer feature: instant size adapter interstages!

 

 

Edited December 26, 2018 by Psycho_zs

[bamslamkabam]

theres some mods that do it well. I just use a smaller decoupler and then put an aproppriatly sized fairing.

[Tonka Crash]

Decouplers shroud is an hard to top solution that allows customizing the dimensions and textures of the shroud using the stock decouplers, or it's own zero height decouplers (if you don't want a visible decoupler)