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[1.10.0 - 1.8.1] ArcAerospace Wyvern 5 Crew Capsule v0.5 (2020-10-29)


Stone Blue

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Introducing the Wyvern Crew Capsule.

Industry newcomer Arc Aerospace unveiled their new crew capsule today. With modern computer-aided design practices and its state-of-the-art computer system, it's capable of fully autonomous flight without any astronauts onboard. Furthermore, thanks to its lightweight composite design, it's able to hold five astronauts while weighing less than the competition's Mk1-3 while still compatible with existing 2.5m launch vehicle infrastructure.

At the same time, Arc Aerospace announced a new form of capsule recovery: propulsive landing. When fitted with four Wyvern Engine Pods (sold separately), the Wyvern crew capsule is able to land propulsively. (Parachutes not necessary, but strongly recommended.) These engine pods also provide launch abort capability from the launchpad all the way into orbit. Each engine pod contains a full tank of monopropellant, so no external monopropellant is needed for vertical landing. (Make sure you set your fuel tank priorities correctly so that they're not drained while in orbit, leaving you to find no monopropellant in your tanks after reentry!)

With all of the extra mass afforded by the ultra-lightweight design of the crew capsule, Arc Aerospace says that the Wyvern has leading-in-class electric storage, data transmission capabilities, and even limited-duration crewed deep-space operations.

Kerlington Paper Planes and Model Rockets, Inc. contended that the Wyvern, as a clean-sheet design, was not fit to carry crew without an extensive safety record. Arc Aerospace responded with evidence of over a dozen uncrewed launches that demonstrated the reliability and safety of the Wyvern crew capsule, including a long-duration uncrewed deep-space mission. In unrelated news, Kerlington has slashed the price of their competing Mk1-3 crew capsule.

nS2GTOR.png

Complete Imgur album

Updated Imgur album

 

Requirements (Not Included)

 

Suggested Mods (Not Required)

 

Credits

@zlsa for giving me their blessing to pick this mod up, and "continue" it.

@Ven for Ven's Stock Revamp, for the models and textures for the top and bottom of the capsule (and an incredible art style to boot);

@MOARdV, @Mihara  & @JonnyOThan for RasterPropMonitor (Adopted) for the IVA props

@EmbersArc & @damonvv for Kerbal Reusability Expansion (which inspired the idea of a modern crew capsule mod for KSP)

@Tonka Crash for major suggestions (long/short & Mono/LFO engine versions), balancing, and especially reminding me of some long forgotten, unfinished work I had done on the mod. This "continuation" wouldnt have happened without them.

And a HUGE shoutout to @JadeOfMaar for basically writing the B9 patch for me. ;)
 

Installation

Just download the mod file (.zip) and unzip it into your GameData folder. Note that the mod's files are within the ArcAerospace folder.

(However you manage it, just make sure the /ArcAerospace folder is directly a subfolder (like where the /Squad folder is), just inside your /GameData folder.

Make sure you have B9 PartSwitch and RasterPropMonitor (Adopted) (for KSP 1.8.+) installed, available seperately.

Tested in both KSP 1.9.1 and 1.8.1

(*Should* be backward compatable all the way back to 1.4.0, with appropriate KSP versions of B9 PS & RasterPropMonitor (KSP 1.7.3 and prior)

 

Downloads

SpaceDock

Github

 

Known Issues
-Capsule nose does not fit 1.25m parts well, leaving overhang and gap
-Capsule mesh/collider bleeds thru the engine pods if placement is not fine-tuned manually in editor
-
Currently the IVA lighting is subpar. I hope to add some actual light fixture meshes, with emissives and switchable lighting
- Mono Engine Pod is shown in Editor Part Info, yet LFO is selected by default.
- RCS atmo curve is optimized for vaccuum, needs to set for sea level
- RealPlume support patch is untested.
- Current engage/disengage plumes are, at the very least, over-sized
- Mass/Cost differences between the scaled engine pod variants, may cause issues with TweakScale

 

License

CC-BY 4.0 International

Don't forget to credit Ven if you reuse the textures or models! The top and bottom of the Wyvern capsule are taken directly from Ven's Mk1-2 remodel.

 

Original Release Thread: [1.3] Wyvern, an advanced 5-kerbal crew capsule

(Original version downloadable here: WyvernCrewCapsule-0.1-alpha.zip )

 

How you can help

Right now, Tonka Crash & I are looking for feedback on the overall balance of these parts. I play 100% sandbox, so I dont know much about balancing for stock, stock tech tree, contracts or upgrades.

Have a favorite mod you would like to see supported?

Go ahead and request it, with as much info as you can, and I will consider looking into it. (No promises, unfortunately, but I will try)

 

Edited by Stone Blue
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@damonvv WOW! ... Thanx. I wish I could take credit for this mod, but @zlsa deserves all that. ;)
But a nice endorsement, coming from the creator of Tundra Exploration

If anyone wants to skip, or step up from Wyvern, to a *serious*, full, Dragon/SpaceX-alike mod, TE or KK's mods have a larger inventory of matching parts.

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Update v0.4 is up... Github v0.4 (1.10.0-1.4.0)

Some of the changes:

  • Fixed the atmocurve for the Mono engine, back to sea-level performance (for launch abort/propulsive landings)
  • Renamed Parts/Control folder to /Parts/Command (contains the Command Pod)
  • Fixed LFO Long subtype being default when placed in editor (should be Mono Long) [THANK YOU, JadeOfMaar]
  • Changed Required Crew back to 0, for autonomous flight
  • Filled out part and stat descriptions some moar
  • Scaled down one of the LFO plumes
  • Removed an unused engine effect
  • Re-added ModuleTestSubject to the engine
  • Updated README
Edited by Stone Blue
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Could you perhaps consider adding ModuleDepthMask/it's ReStock component  to the engine? Capsule walls do pertude through it sometimes, when you put it on, and I don't like that little gap between the engines and the capsule, but when I try to clip them in the capsule obviously pertrudes through the back wall of the open section of engine's nacelle (I think it's not only me). 

 

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On 7/19/2020 at 8:57 AM, NiL said:

Could you perhaps consider adding ModuleDepthMask/it's ReStock component  to the engine? Capsule walls do pertude through it sometimes, when you put it on, and I don't like that little gap between the engines and the capsule,

No I wont be adding DepthMask. The issue isnt bad enough for that. DepthMask should be used as a design feature of a part.. not to act as a bandaid, and especially not for such a small issue as this.

Yes, a tiny corner of the pod shows thru. This is due to how the geometry of both the engine and the pod were done, and made to line up.
This appeared because the angle between the engine and pod was off quite a bit. In fixing that issue, and closing the gap between the rngine and pod, caused the corner of the pod to show thru. I figured that was less minor than the mounting angle.
To get around this, make sure you are in "snap" mode, then slightly try to move the engine pod sideways, toward the next snap position. You will see the "peek thru" get worse in one direction, and completely go away when moving the other direction.

I plan to fix this, but I also want to scale up the top of the pod, as it only seems to properly fit a couple stock 1.25m parts, yet is too small for the other 95% of the 1.25m parts. In doing that, the side angle of the pod and engine will have to be readjusted again, anyway.

As to the next update, my ISP turned off my internet, and the soonest they can send a tech is maybe tomorrow sometime.

I'm going to flipthe IVA back around, so the hatch is ventral (at the kerbal's feet). Launch position will be with the hatch away from the default camera position (hatch on North side). This might be an issue with people who want to use modded launch towers, but we'll see.

I've added new light sources, that should brighten up the inside of the pod. I dont have them switchable yet, tho.
I'm also adding moar props and controls.
This is just using basic RPM itself, *without* any ASET props. This should make it into the next update.
I hope to do a seperate RPM IVA "with" ASET props, and/or a MAS IVA with ASET props, in a future update. These may also have NearFuture Props, and/or TD Industries Props.

Edited by Stone Blue
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  • 3 months later...

Let There Be Light... v0.5 released

Scaling & IVA Lighting updates

  • Scaled up the top of the capsule to better match moar of the 1.25m stoc parts (should fit most modded 1.25m parts better, too)
  • Adjusted the top node, to better close the gap between attached parts
  • Added two internal lights sources to brighten up the IVA
  • Added two light meshes to the IVA
  • Created animations for light source & emissive light meshes in IVA. Currently, no way to activate the animations in IVA, but they are there if I (or someone) can figure out how to get animations woring in IVA
  • Adjusted the fitment of the engine pods and capsule collider, so there's no moar bleed-thru of the capsule mesh showing thru the engine pods
  • Added the clickable interior hatch handle prop, so you can just click it from any of the 5 seats, and that specific kerbal will EVA, without having to leave IVA view, and then having to click on the external hatch to select a specific kerbal to EVA

https://imgur.com/4Z6I4lR4Z6I4lR.png

Moar images here:
https://imgur.com/a/gtCjGCA

I just added the mod to SpaceDock for this update too ;)
https://spacedock.info/mod/2556/ArcAerospace Wyvern 5 Crew Capsule

Next up, will be an IVA props update,  with ASET props, and possibly a NearFuture Props optional patch
Also, thinking about doing a Dragon-alike nose cone.
Then I would consider the mod feature complete, and finished, unless there are balancing changes or features requested by the community.

 

Edited by Stone Blue
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Thanx, @thomash ;)

Ooff... sooo... i guess I have not play-tested this enuff. I was making some very minor cosmetic fixes to the models, getting the source files ready for a push to Github, and I found out, for one thing, that SAS *does not work at all*, on what is  supposedly an autonomous flight capable (crew-less), command pod. :blush:

Also, I know there was feedbac about the orientation of the ventral hatch, and normal launch-orientation on the pad (basically affecting the Control Point orientation). I'm testing what may be a PAW button, that will let you switch that. (Its currently set "reversed"). So that means by the control point orientation being reversed, it matches the IVA and crewed positions, so that up is up, and down is down. By changing to "normal", then basically, the crew will be sitting upside-down, relative to the control point's "up".

SO, hopefully, watch for another minor update Soon™.

Edited by Stone Blue
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  • 2 months later...

I'm seeing an odd error:

B9PartSwitch has encountered a serious warning.

Initialisation errors on ModuleB9PartSwitch(moduleID='variants') on part ArcAero.Wyvern.Engine subtype 'LFOLong' Could not find matching module

Initialisation errors on ModuleB9PartSwitch(moduleID='variants') on part ArcAero.Wyvern.Engine subtype 'LFOShort' Could not find matching module

Any thoughts?

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I guess it has something to do with this:

 

SUBTYPE
		{
			name = LFOLong
			title = LFO, Long
			primaryColor = ResourceColorLiquidFuel
			secondaryColor = ResourceColorOxidizer
			descriptionSummary = LFO Wyvern Engine Pod, Long <br> An LFO version, primarily designed for Orbit Maneuvering and/or Propulsive Landing. Balanced so that 4 pods are the equivalent of one Terrier. Each has the same atmosphere curve of a Terrier at 1/4 the thrust. No fuel is carried, so a fuel tank attached to the command pod is needed (Pay attention to cross feed restrictions)
			descriptionDetail = Isp =  (ASL), \n\TWR =  (, 4 eng. combined)\n\DOES NOT INCLUDE AN INTERNAL TANK
			defaultSubtypePriority = 0
			allowSwitchInFlight = false
			addedMass = 0.01
			addedCost = 200
//			resourcesTweakable = false

			tankType = LiquidFuel


			TEXTURE
			{
				texture = ArcAerospace/Assets/Engine/ArcAero_Wyvern_EngineLFO_DIF
			}
			
			TRANSFORM
			{
				name = B9_scaling
				scaleOffset = 1.0, 1.0, 1.01
			}
			
			MODULE
			{
				IDENTIFIER
				{
					name = ModuleEnginesFX
					engineID = Mono
				}
				
				DATA
				{
					maxThrust = 15
					heatProduction = 50
					EngineType = LiquidFuel
					powerEffectName = running_LFO
					engageEffectName = engage_LFO
					disengageEffectName = disengage_LFO

					PROPELLANT
					{
						name = LiquidFuel
						ratio = 0.9
						DrawGauge = True
					}
					
					PROPELLANT
					{
						name = Oxidizer
						ratio = 1.1
					}

					atmosphereCurve
					{
						key = 0 345
						key = 1 85
						key = 3 0.001
					}
				}
			}
		}

However a module with id ModuleEnginesFX does not seem far fetched. I cant spot another error at first glance

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  • 6 months later...
  • 8 months later...
On 1/17/2021 at 5:54 AM, MacLuky said:

I'm seeing an odd error:

B9PartSwitch has encountered a serious warning.

Initialisation errors on ModuleB9PartSwitch(moduleID='variants') on part ArcAero.Wyvern.Engine subtype 'LFOLong' Could not find matching module

Initialisation errors on ModuleB9PartSwitch(moduleID='variants') on part ArcAero.Wyvern.Engine subtype 'LFOShort' Could not find matching module
 

Any thoughts?

@Stone BlueI just tested this (was curious), didn't see the issue.  This was on a 1.12.3 system

 

On 8/1/2021 at 11:43 AM, TaintedLion said:

The RPM monitors aren't working.

These also are working

 

BTY,  nice capsule (I hadn't looked at it before

Edited by linuxgurugamer
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1 hour ago, Stone Blue said:

Thanx @linuxgurugamer ... I cant take all the credit... I just gave it a little revamp... still need to get back to it Soon™.

Also, thanx for testing... i wont bother then, which is good, because i am still deep in ERS ;)
Been working on it pretty solid the past couple days.

I know, that's why I took a look.

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