Carmics AIES Part Pack for 1.8.1

[Probus]

Has anyone updated Carmics AIES parts pack (specifically the legs and antennas) for 1.8.1?  If not, would someone please update?  Maybe the guru to the gurus of Kerbal updating, @linuxgurugamer?

[linuxgurugamer]

As I recall, the license is an ARR, meaning that no one can do anything.

Someone did this a while ago as an addon to it:  

 

[Probus]

Hmmm....   Everyone who has used AIES loves AIES.  Is there anyway to unofficially make it compatible even though Carmics is MIA.  I'm sure he would love for his work to live on.  Would it be very hard to do?

[Geonovast]

Moved to Add-On Discussions as it's not a mod release.

[Knarkle]

I've made a basic patch for AIES. Other than some texture issues it should work fine. https://drive.google.com/file/d/14Q2f_YAz1vop3qds5IRi2a9tuN0iRCrn/view

[linuxgurugamer]

I looked at all the parts in the available download.

While they were nice at the time, they have been eclipsed by more modern parts and artwork.  Many of the surface details are just a graphic rather than an actual surface.

The solar panels are nice as are the antennas.

I've taken this:

updated it for 1.8 and added the antennas, brought them up to current standards as well.  I can't distribute the parts, but I can make the configs available, if you like

[Probus]

On 12/17/2019 at 12:43 PM, linuxgurugamer said:

I looked at all the parts in the available download.

While they were nice at the time, they have been eclipsed by more modern parts and artwork.  Many of the surface details are just a graphic rather than an actual surface.

The solar panels are nice as are the antennas.

I've taken this:

updated it for 1.8 and added the antennas, brought them up to current standards as well.  I can't distribute the parts, but I can make the configs available, if you like

That would be wonderful @linuxgurugamer!  Is it possible to update the config file for the landing legs to make them work again?

[Stone Blue]

@linuxgurugamer FYI, user DeimosRast (sorely missed), had done a bunch of config work for AIES also.

I have a .zip of it, but not sure on a license. Its dated Nov/08/2016... I did a quick search of his posts, but couldnt find anything around that date, but I dont have much time right now to dig thouroughly.

AIES Continued Patches ONLY v0.2.1 (1.2.2) [DeimosRast].zip

I know he did TONS of .cfg work on TONS of mods around that time, and he was very generous about making them freely available to everyone, so if his post can be found, it will probably state in there somewhere thats basically an open license. vOv

Edited December 19, 2019 by Stone Blue

[linuxgurugamer]

@Stone Blue sounds nice, do you have a link to the file?

 

Edit:  Found it here:  https://github.com/deimos790/AIES_Continued

Edit 2:  It had been forked and more updates made.  I've forked that, and will apply my changes to it, if any are needed.

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by linuxgurugamer

[linuxgurugamer]

I've gone through all the updates made by @DeltaDizzy in his fork.

All the changes I made to my local copies had already been done by him, so here's a shout-out to @DeltaDizzy for a job well done.

His fork is here:  https://github.com/DeltaDizzy/AIES_Continued

I've put it up into a release on my fork on github here:  https://github.com/linuxgurugamer/AIES_Continued/releases/download/v0.1.2/AIES_Continued-0.1.2.zip

For my own use I only use the Antenna and Solar Panels, all the other parts don't look that good since a lot of detail is put into the textures rather than the model.

It's easiest to just delete the folders in the AIES_Aerospace folder that you don't want. 

 

[Probus]

31 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

For my own use I only use the Antenna and Solar Panels, all the other parts don't look that good since a lot of detail is put into the textures rather than the model. 

 

He does have really awesome antennas and solar panels. They still use them in RO.

  Some of the lander leg models are still the best I’ve seen. Is it possible to fix the deployment of lander legs with just minor edits to the config files?

[linuxgurugamer]

4 minutes ago, Probus said:

He does have really awesome antennas and solar panels. They still use them in RO.

  Some of the lander leg models are still the best I’ve seen. Is it possible to fix the deployment of lander legs with just minor edits to the config files?

There are fixes in the patches for the landing legs.  I'll start up and see how they look.

The legs work in that they extend and retract, but are just "parts" and don't have any flex to them.  It would take some work to make them use their pistons, etc. in a realistic way

[Stone Blue]

Dang... too bad the textures cant be redistributed... they are all .mbm

Not mentioning what the performance gain might be in converting them to .DDS, doing so would at least shrink the mod by almost 60MB
Not much diff for peeps with nice computers, but would make a difference for peeps on potato computers, and/or less than 6GB of RAM, as well as those whose credo is: "Mod it till it breaks..."

[DeltaDizzy]

I have to admit I didnt expect this, but its good to see some stuff finally happening.

[Probus]

I think pretty much everything is working.  Did I miss something?

[Probus]

Why does the texture format slow down performance?

[goldenpsp]

On 12/12/2019 at 5:34 PM, Probus said:

 I'm sure he would love for his work to live on.

Unfortunately when a modder licenses ARR it kind of speaks otherwise unfortunately.

1 hour ago, Probus said:

Why does the texture format slow down performance?

Not being in the native format requires the game to have to work harder.  I'm sure there is a better technical explanation.

[zer0Kerbal]

38 minutes ago, goldenpsp said:

better technical explanation.

additional steps needed by game to 'translate' and 'adjust' from non-native formats to format the game understands natively. Takes memory and processing cycles.

 

DirectDraw Surface (aka DDS) is a native format that KSP understands natively.

 

very simple explanation, but hope it helps.

can always manually convert to .dds - just remember DXT5 and to flip&mirror.

[zer0Kerbal]

I (for personal use) might use a batch file to run mbm2png.ext (wintel)

replace [C:\][___] with path to executable.

one source of mbm2png.exe is https://github.com/krupski/MBM_Utilities

always scan for malware et al.

/YMMV/

Spoiler

dir /s /b *.mbm | [C:\][___]\mbm2png.exe

 

the next step would be to convert from PNG to DDS, but this step alone

mbm files --> png files
~70 mb --> ~11 mb

[linuxgurugamer]

I'll  be coming out with an AIES Continued soon, with two variations on the antennas.

@zer0Kerbal if you write a batch file, could you send it to me for inclusion?

[zer0Kerbal]

1 minute ago, linuxgurugamer said:

I'll  be coming out with an AIES Continued soon, with two variations on the antennas.

@zer0Kerbal if you write a batch file, could you send it to me for inclusion?

yes. working on the png2dds as well now.

[linuxgurugamer]

Just to follow up, what I'm doing is a full set of MM files to apply updates to the mod.  You will still have to download it from Curse

1 minute ago, zer0Kerbal said:

yes. working on the png2dds as well now.

Please provide instructions and links to the programs.  I won't  be able to include them because of forum rules

I had been planning on releasing this on Wednesday as a holiday surprise, this kind of spoils that

 

[zer0Kerbal]

11 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Just to follow up, what I'm doing is a full set of MM files to apply updates to the mod.  You will still have to download it from Curse

Please provide instructions and links to the programs.  I won't  be able to include them because of forum rules

not going to include png2dds because only tools I can find require compiling.

https://github.com/krupski/MBM_Utilities

has the mbm2png.exe

will supply rest later. dough is calling.

 

[Probus]

39 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

I had been planning on releasing this on Wednesday as a holiday surprise, this kind of spoils that

It's a Christmas miracle!!

[zer0Kerbal]

@linuxgurugamer instructions and links below. Only for the mbm->png

thank you! Merry Christmas! May all your explosions be bright!

3 hours ago, zer0Kerbal said:

https://github.com/krupski/MBM_Utilities

has the mbm2png.exe

 

1. place mbm2png.exe from releases in GameData\AIES_Aerospace\
2. place mbm2png.bat (see below) in GameData\AIES_Aerospace\ (should be included)
3. edit mbm2png.bat and replace placeholder ([C:\]) to reflect actual KSP directory
4. run mbm2png.bat (might need administrator privileges)
5. search for all *.mbm and archive/delete them. Didn't include in batch file on purpose
6. /YMMV/ - caveat emptor - not responsible for bad things or other things.

dir /s /b *.mbm | [C:\]GameData\AIES_Aerospace\mbm2png.exe

will only work on winTel
pipes a directory of *.mbm into the converter.

I personally have converted all png to dds (DXT5) - but was a long and convoluted process. Had to create a batch file with each .png file individually listed, then using png2dds.exe  I had the batch file individually process each, then manually deleted all .png.

cmd /c C:\[path to executable]\png2dds.exe -i "C:\[KSP Directory]\GameData\AIES_Aerospace\Command\AIESexplon\model000.png" --rotation=180 --flip-horizontal
...

replacing [path to executable] and [KSP Directory] with appropriate for your system

Edited December 23, 2019 by zer0Kerbal