Jump to content

[WIP] (1.9.1 - 1.12+) TrekDrive - a Star Trek-like Warp Drive by ShadowWorks v0.99.1w NX-Class (10/08/2021)


TheShadow1138

Recommended Posts

I'm slowly getting the screen textures done, but it is taking longer than I would like.  I've gotten 11 done, but I still have more to go.  I also haven't even started on the IVA for the shuttlepod.  So, here's what I'm thinking:  the NX and shuttlepod are working, although the docking rotation isn't ready, but the NX and shuttlepod can be used, and it wouldn't take much testing to be able to get it into your hands.  So, I'm thinking that I can release the NX without the IVA, and then release the IVA for the NX and shuttlepod as an update.

That leaves one question that I have.  What planet packs do y'all use?  I thought that Galaxies Unbound (GU) would be the best one to test with, but I'm not sure which one(s) are most popular among the community.  I ask because I want to make sure that my warp factor formula is sufficient to allow easy travel to extrasolar systems in reasonable amounts of time.  I have never installed any mod that adds other star systems, and this is pretty much required with a warp 5+ ship because that's simply too fast for in-system travel, it is possible, just not necessarily advisable.  So, let me know what your preferred star system/planet pack is so that I can do the final testing to get y'all the NX.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm currently using JNSQ with GEP (Grannus Expansion Pack - adds a second star - with planets and moons - turning the Kerbin system into a binary system).  JNSQ+GEP are 2.6x scale, which should be a decent test.

Galileo's Planet Pack is stock scale, and also works with GEP. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, TheShadow1138 said:

I'm slowly getting the screen textures done, but it is taking longer than I would like.  I've gotten 11 done, but I still have more to go.  I also haven't even started on the IVA for the shuttlepod.  So, here's what I'm thinking:  the NX and shuttlepod are working, although the docking rotation isn't ready, but the NX and shuttlepod can be used, and it wouldn't take much testing to be able to get it into your hands.  So, I'm thinking that I can release the NX without the IVA, and then release the IVA for the NX and shuttlepod as an update.

That leaves one question that I have.  What planet packs do y'all use?  I thought that Galaxies Unbound (GU) would be the best one to test with, but I'm not sure which one(s) are most popular among the community.  I ask because I want to make sure that my warp factor formula is sufficient to allow easy travel to extrasolar systems in reasonable amounts of time.  I have never installed any mod that adds other star systems, and this is pretty much required with a warp 5+ ship because that's simply too fast for in-system travel, it is possible, just not necessarily advisable.  So, let me know what your preferred star system/planet pack is so that I can do the final testing to get y'all the NX.

I personally just wanna warp around and build with NX parts, I think releasing IVA in another update would be a good idea, though its my personal opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's been a long road, getting from there to here...

NX-class RELEASE!!!

v0.99w - NX-class Release
* B9PartSwitch is now a hard dependency. (Included in download)
* Updated the TrekDrive.dll
    * Warp speed formula changed to allow faster interstellar travel
    * OnLoad function updated to not automatically set the warp drive to "Not Ready"
      if it was in a "Ready" state at the last save.  This allows the player to
      immediately engage the drive after the vessel loads, if the drive is in a Ready
      state upon loading.
* Added NX-class Starship Parts
    * Bridge module (Crew capacity of 6)
    * Saucer section (Crew capacity of 20)
    * Engineering section
    * Nacelle Pylons (B9PartSwitch variants)
        * Upper variant (2 upper pylons)
        * Lower variant (2 lower pylons)
        * Four variant (2 upper & 2 lower pylons)
    * Warp Nacelles (Port & Stbd)
    * Main Impulse Engines (Port & Stbd)
    * Secondary Impulse Engines (Port & Stbd)
    * Navigational Deflector (2 variants) - Serves as a transmitter
        * NX-01 Oval "Mark I" Deflector
        * NX-02 Rectangular "Mark II" Deflector
* Added NX-class Refit Starship Parts
    * Engineering Section Refit (Includes warp 7 warp core and warp drive, Crew capacity of 10)
    * Refit Warp Nacelles (Port & Stbd)
* Added Custom Waterfall FX model and texture for streaking stars at warp effect.
* Updated the warp stars effect on the Phoenix
* Added six (6) craft files for the NX-class and NX-class Refit
    * NXClass_A:  Standard NX-class starship (as seen in Star Trek: Enterprise)
    * NXClass_B:  NX-class starship with two (2) ventrally (lower) mounted nacelles
    * NXClass_C:  NX-class with four (4) nacelles
    * NXClass_Refit_A:  Standard NX-class starship Refit
    * NXClass_Refit_B:  NX-class Refit with two (2) ventrally (lower) mounted nacelles
    * NXClass_Refit_C:  NX-class Refit with four (4) nacelles

Some Extra Notes:
Plugin:
The biggest change for the plugin since the 0.9w update is the change in the warp factor formula.  I had been using a simple cubic formula, the same used in Star Trek and Star Trek:  Enterprise, which means that at warp 5, the ship is traveling at 5^3 = 125 times the speed of light.  This is obviously quite fast, but to travel to Nova Kirbani (the equivalent to Alpha Centauri), approximately 4 lightyears away, would take 11.68 days of real time at 125c (warp 5).  This is realistic, but without using a very high physical timewarp, I don't think many players would like to deal with a trip that will take almost 12 real days of continuous warp travel.  I wouldn't leave my game running for 12 days straight, and I don't think many others would as well.

So, I changed the formula to be:

speed = warpFactor^(0.25*warpFactor + 2.5)

This gives the following speeds:

Warp Factor Speed
1 1c
2 8c
3 35.534c
4 128c
5 417.9267c
6 1296c
7 3905.4103c
8 11585c
9 34092c
10 100000c

At these speeds, a trip to Nova Kirbani would still take about 3.5 days of real time, but at the highest stock physical timewarp can be done in less than an hour.  Of course, if you use higher physical timewarps, afforded by BetterTimeWarpContinued, travel times can be greatly reduced.  At warp 7, however, travel to Nova Kirbani takes far less time and no timewarp is necessary.

I also changed the loading code so that if the drive was in a "Ready" state when the game was last saved, it remains in the "Ready" state so that all you have to do is engage the drive and warp away.

Docking Port Rotations:  I had to comment out the ability to rotate docking ports because I have not been able to get it to work.  I will continue to see if I can get it to work properly.

Included Craft Files:  I included six (6) NX craft files using each of the nacelle arrangements in the base NX-class and the NX-class Refit.  If you open these craft files you can change the color to the bluish gray, and of course change the registry of the ship.

Registries:  I have included NX-01 through NX-10 in two "flavors":  with our without "S.S." in the name of the ship.  There is a "Registries" folder in the "NXClass" folder in which there are two files that you can use to make custom registries.  The "NX_RegistryBuilder.png" file is a PNG file that contains the letters and numbers in the correct font, sizes, and color that you can copy and paste to make a custom registry texture.  There is also a "NX_RegistryTemplate.psd" file, which is a Photoshop formatted file that you can use to simply type the registry if you have the necessary font, Airborne.  The last file you need to know about is the "Registries.cfg" file, which is where you need to add the code to be able to use your custom registries, it's a simple copy/paste and change part of one line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excuse me whilst I teach my Kerbals how to appreciate the chance to join the Fleet .

Thanks so much for doing this , without a doubt one thing i've always wanted in KSP is a proper Enterprise ship to assemble .

Time for me to work out how to build a orbital spacedock above Kerbin now .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Shadow :)

I like your Starship very much. It is a real beauty. :wub:


But I seem not to be able to maneuver it correctly.

Would you mind to give me (and maybe others too) a simple manual how to take off, how to land an how to fly simple normal maneuvers like changing apoapsis or the like.

 

Thanks a lot!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Isabelle.V.Fuchs said:

Hello Shadow :)

I like your Starship very much. It is a real beauty. :wub:


But I seem not to be able to maneuver it correctly.

Would you mind to give me (and maybe others too) a simple manual how to take off, how to land an how to fly simple normal maneuvers like changing apoapsis or the like.

 

Thanks a lot!

I assume you are referring to the NX.  I forgot to mention in the release post, or really anywhere, that the best thing to do is to cheat the NX into orbit after launching from the runway.  So, with the NX on launch clamps on the runway, press the Space Bar to launch.  This stages the main impulse engines and the ship will automatically begin lifting upwards.  Then bring up the Cheats menu by pressing "Alt+F12", and selecting "Cheats" on the left-hand side of the window that pops up.  Then select "Set Orbit", and you can use the default orbital altitude and other parameters, or change them to your liking, and click the "Set Orbit" button under the parameters.  This will place the starship in orbit without issue.

The ship has RCS thrusters, and once in orbit with the impulse engines active you maneuver just like you do with conventional rockets.  Taking off and flying it to orbit can be quite difficult because of atmospheric drag.  The impulse engines apply thrust through the center-of-mass at all times, but the nacelles cause non-symmetrical drag which will tend to cause the ship to flip in the direction of the nacelle placement while in atmosphere.  It's much easier and far less aggravating to cheat the ship to orbit where it behaves much better.  I hope that helps you, and any others having difficulty flying the ship.

2 hours ago, Isabelle.V.Fuchs said:

Just something:

2014 there was a USS Voyager with a nice IVA. It is long gone, but I have the files. And an Enterprise (TOS) with IVA too.
Maybe you want to have a look. I can send you the ZIP, if you like.

I am aware of this old mod, and I do have its GitHub page open for coding references, so I can get to them.  I am planning on doing the NCC-1701 USS Enterprise, though not the exact TOS version, but with modifications taking inspiration from the film refit, the version in DISCO, and the nacelles of the NX-01.  My goal with my version is to make the film refit Constitution-class Enterprise more of a refit than a complete rebuild.  That is, I want my pseudo-TOS version to look like a more logical precursor to the film-era refit.  There is also a planned bridge IVA for the 1701, as there is for the NX-01.  As for the Voyager, I hadn't planned on doing it myself.  I may look into seeing if it could be made to work with my mod, and see if its original author would allow it to be included.  I won't make any promises about this though, but the NCC-1701 will be coming.  Thanks for the offer.

39 minutes ago, TOMMY (JEB 2.0) said:

what about kerbal styled parts for our kerbal style ships (a space station with warp nacelles)

Kerbal-style parts weren't in my plans.  When I set out to do this, my plan was to make Star Trek ships with which to use the warp drive, but there is at leas one other person, I believe, that would like more stock-alike parts.  For the time being, they are not in my plans.  Maybe, and I stress maybe, I'll consider stock-alike parts after the NCC-1701 is completed (that means in-game, released, with IVA), but I make no promises, guarantees, or assurances.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, theJesuit said:

Rofl.  

Congratulations on the release.

Peace.

I couldn't resist.  Enjoy the NX, and boldly go where no kerbal has gone before. 

10 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Nice rendition of the NX-01, and its refit. :)

Thank you, it turned out much better than I could have ever hoped.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Puggonaut said:

https://vimeo.com/584009447

If I didn't make me usual pigs ear when trying to link things , hopefully this has worked ..... :blink:

This is absolutely gorgeous!  It's so cinematic, and the ship passing the camera at warp is exactly how I imagined it when I set out to do this.  If I can get the video to embed so that it can be watched in a post, may I put this in the OP?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, TheShadow1138 said:

This is absolutely gorgeous!  It's so cinematic, and the ship passing the camera at warp is exactly how I imagined it when I set out to do this.  If I can get the video to embed so that it can be watched in a post, may I put this in the OP?

Your more than welcome to , least i can do after you have given me a chance to fly this ship in KSP .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok so I decided to try out Textures Unlimited , all was fine except one slight issue , which is a shame as for me at least it look well....erm shiny :ph34r:

Short video kind of explains it better than I can .

In the meantime Columbia decides to share the Warpfield with Enterprise , now the rumour that because Jeb is piloting the NX-01 and Val is piloting the NX-02 just to keep a close eye on him is unfounded , honestly it is :ph34r:

 

Edited by Puggonaut
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Puggonaut said:

Ok so I decided to try out Textures Unlimited , all was fine except one slight issue , which is a shame as for me at least it look well....erm shiny :ph34r:

Short video kind of explains it better than I can .

In the meantime Columbia decides to share the Warpfield with Enterprise , now the rumour that because Jeb is piloting the NX-01 and Val is piloting the NX-02 just to keep a close eye on him is unfounded , honestly it is :ph34r:

 

Fantastic videos again!  It seems that TexturesUnlimited doesn't like the alpha textures for the registries.  I've never used TU myself so I'll have to take a look and see if there is a way to fix this.  A better solution would be the ConformalDecals mod's text decals as it would negate the need for a bunch of registry textures, the trouble is fonts and getting ConformalDecals to recognize them.  There is a font in ConformalDecals that is passable for the Airborne font, but any TOS-film era ship and beyond would need a new font.  It's still something I'm planning on working on from time to time.

Edit:  Solving the small issue with TexturesUnlimited may be easier than I thought.  Apparently in the TU configs, which I assume you had to make for the NX, you can exclude certain messes, which I assume will fix the registries.

For the saucer:

excludeMesh = Saucer_AftNameplate
excludeMesh = Saucer_MainRegistry
excludeMesh = Saucer_VentralRegistry_Port
excludeMesh = Saucer_VentralRegistry_Stbd

For the Refit hull:

excludeMesh = RefitEngHull_AftNameplate

For the Refit Nacelles: (One for each nacelle)

excludeMesh = Warp7Nacelle_Registry_Port
excludeMesh = Warp7Nacelle_Registry_Stbd

Alternatively, you could assign a second TU shader, perhaps the Transparency shader to just the registry meshes using "mesh = " in the MATERIAL definition in the CFG.  Hopefully, one of these two options would alleviate that unsightly registry issue.

Edited by TheShadow1138
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, TheShadow1138 said:

Fantastic videos again!  It seems that TexturesUnlimited doesn't like the alpha textures for the registries.  I've never used TU myself so I'll have to take a look and see if there is a way to fix this.  A better solution would be the ConformalDecals mod's text decals as it would negate the need for a bunch of registry textures, the trouble is fonts and getting ConformalDecals to recognize them.  There is a font in ConformalDecals that is passable for the Airborne font, but any TOS-film era ship and beyond would need a new font.  It's still something I'm planning on working on from time to time.

Edit:  Solving the small issue with TexturesUnlimited may be easier than I thought.  Apparently in the TU configs, which I assume you had to make for the NX, you can exclude certain messes, which I assume will fix the registries.

For the saucer:

excludeMesh = Saucer_AftNameplate
excludeMesh = Saucer_MainRegistry
excludeMesh = Saucer_VentralRegistry_Port
excludeMesh = Saucer_VentralRegistry_Stbd

For the Refit hull:

excludeMesh = RefitEngHull_AftNameplate

For the Refit Nacelles: (One for each nacelle)

excludeMesh = Warp7Nacelle_Registry_Port
excludeMesh = Warp7Nacelle_Registry_Stbd

Alternatively, you could assign a second TU shader, perhaps the Transparency shader to just the registry meshes using "mesh = " in the MATERIAL definition in the CFG.  Hopefully, one of these two options would alleviate that unsightly registry issue.

Blimey that was a quick response . i'll add these configs and get back to you with the results

I have one other question , just a observation though , the NX Class Bridge ? would the dome on top not look better if it was the same as the botttom in that it had a light . Just a obs and not meant to disrepect your amazing build in anyway whatsoever .

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One more , thought yeah well those Kerbals are brave , so why not lets try and Warp ( gently i may add ) from just above the KSC Airstrip to Orbit ......... sort of works , you have to be careful not to leave the known Kerbal Star system as things go from fast to holy **** very quickly :blink:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Puggonaut said:

One more , thought yeah well those Kerbals are brave , so why not lets try and Warp ( gently i may add ) from just above the KSC Airstrip to Orbit ......... sort of works , you have to be careful not to leave the known Kerbal Star system as things go from fast to holy **** very quickly :blink:

 

That is a quick way to get to orbit.  Thinking about it, when a drive is set to have a max warp of 10 things will really go from 0 to "was that Alpha Centauri?" reaaaally fast.  It gave me an idea.  It might be  possible to have a warp factor selector slider that moves in maybe 1/4 increments.  This would allow you to say, select warp 1 and then throttling to full throttle would only be warp 1 as opposed to the drive's actually maximum warp.  That would allow at least a little more control while maintaining the ability to use the throttle.  You'd be able to limit a Warp 5 or even Warp 10 ship to just Warp 1 for use in-system with fine control.  I'll have to see about doing this.

1 hour ago, Puggonaut said:

Yehaa found one

 

This is awesome.  Did you make that drydock?  If not, where's it from?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, TheShadow1138 said:

That is a quick way to get to orbit.  Thinking about it, when a drive is set to have a max warp of 10 things will really go from 0 to "was that Alpha Centauri?" reaaaally fast.  It gave me an idea.  It might be  possible to have a warp factor selector slider that moves in maybe 1/4 increments.  This would allow you to say, select warp 1 and then throttling to full throttle would only be warp 1 as opposed to the drive's actually maximum warp.  That would allow at least a little more control while maintaining the ability to use the throttle.  You'd be able to limit a Warp 5 or even Warp 10 ship to just Warp 1 for use in-system with fine control.  I'll have to see about doing this.

This is awesome.  Did you make that drydock?  If not, where's it from?

Spacedock is from Skunkworks a older mod published on here , I have a external hard drive with around 2tb of stuff going back to KSP 1.04 so did a search in that ( took a while ) to find it as I remembered something from the past vaugley .

That Warp SLider idea sounds really like a great idea , I usually just adjust the throttle thrust via the right click menu .

Lastly yeah you was right , the original domes without lights look great , once I got my head around the option to go from bronze to blue grey and blue grey with the TU cfg's looks fantastic .

Edited by Puggonaut
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Puggonaut said:

Spacedock is from Skunkworks a older mod published on here , I have a external hard drive with around 2tb of stuff going back to KSP 1.04 so did a search in that ( took a while ) to find it as I remembered something from the past vaugley .

That Warp SLider idea sounds really like a great idea , I usually just adjust the throttle thrust via the right click menu .

Lastly yeah you was right , the original domes without lights look great , once I got my head around the option to go from bronze to blue grey and blue grey with the TU cfg's looks fantastic .

It is a pretty perfect drydock for the NX.

The slider makes more sense the more I think about it, plus it might give that feeling of giving the command for warp 3 and being able to quickly and accurately get to it without any guesswork.  But, you'd still have that fine control of the throttle.  It'll probably be in the next update, which will be the IVAs, which will be the full 1.0 release.

I imagine that the blue hue in the gray makes the overall blue glow from Kerbin that much deeper/noticeable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Great work man! I myself am a massive Trekkie! I've loved Star Trek ever since i was a little kid. I was wondering if you are going to recreate the Star Trek ships from the outdated SciFi Shipyards mod and the Star Trek Shuttles mod? If you can that will be wholesome buddy!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...