[1.0.X - Experimental] [On Hold] FusTek Station Parts (WIPs on GitHub)

[Zerro]

Greetings,

Mod looks sweet and can't wait to try it. Just have a couple of questions:

Does the docking module actually act like docking ports to dock with other modules/ships or do I still need the stock docking pieces to dock with FusTek pieces?

If I do have to use stock docking ports, then how do I go about EVAing my crew when the hatch is obstructed by a docking port? (Crew Manifest seems to solve the problem but just curious if I didn't have the mod)

Will this mod function with IonCross life support? I didn't see an O2/CO2 meter on the modules and when adding an IonCross part, the O2 meter never went down (Of course I was testing on Kerbin so maybe IonCross is able to suck in O2 if it's available in the atmosphere)

Thanks

[Keome]

You do need to attach docking ports to the hub.

There is a part that airlock with room on one end for a docking port. You can EVA from there, or from any other place that normally allows EVA (command module, Hitchhiker can).

And yes, Ioncross works fine with the parts. You can even edit the cfg files to add the recycler to the habitat module if you want, it saves you a bit of mass and it's one less part.

[Zerro]

You do need to attach docking ports to the hub.

There is a part that airlock with room on one end for a docking port. You can EVA from there, or from any other place that normally allows EVA (command module, Hitchhiker can).

And yes, Ioncross works fine with the parts. You can even edit the cfg files to add the recycler to the habitat module if you want, it saves you a bit of mass and it's one less part.

Okay. I never actually edited a cfg file before so how do I go about doing that and where would I find them?

Thanks

[sumghai]

Does the docking module actually act like docking ports to dock with other modules/ships or do I still need the stock docking pieces to dock with FusTek pieces?

The Kirs Docking Module is not a docking port - rather, it is simply a extended fuselage section used as a stand-off between the space station and any oversized vessels such as spaceplanes.

Therefore, yes you will need to add your own choice of docking ports, which are usually. stock Clamp-o-trons. Alex "fusty" Sterling, the original developer of FusTek mods, has also made his own style of docking ports (dubbed Common Berthing Mechanisms)

If I do have to use stock docking ports, then how do I go about EVAing my crew when the hatch is obstructed by a docking port?

At the time of writing, all docking ports will obstruct the hatches on the ends, as this was a design intention.

However, I am currently developing a new type of docking port to go with these modules, that will allow crew to EVA through them. Check in the development thread for details.

(Crew Manifest seems to solve the problem but just curious if I didn't have the mod)

Bear in mind that for space stations, Crew Manifest is primarily for transferring crew between modules within a space station structure. You will need to make sure you have an specialized Kuest / Kuest Legacy Airlock compartment in order for crew to be able to go on EVA.

Will this mod function with IonCross life support? I didn't see an O2/CO2 meter on the modules and when adding an IonCross part, the O2 meter never went down (Of course I was testing on Kerbin so maybe IonCross is able to suck in O2 if it's available in the atmosphere)

You will need to manually edit the CFG files to add the IonCross capability to the modules you want.

The reasons I haven't done so myself are:

- I currently don't use life support

- I plan on developing my own life support / resources management plugin

- I want to give people the choice of which life support mod to use

Okay. I never actually edited a cfg file before so how do I go about doing that and where would I find them?

Assuming you're familiar with installing mods (each modder will have their own folder - mine currently shares the "FusTek" name with fusty), the CFGs for each part are inside their respective part folders.

So for instance, the part.cfg for the Karmony Node Mk III is in GameData\FusTek\Parts\KarmonyNodeMkIII, while the CFG for the tapered version is in GameData\FusTek\Parts\KarmonyNodeMkIII_Adapter, etc.

I won't go into too much detail here, but CFGs can be edited using Wordpad/Notepad on Windows (Don't ask me about OSX or Linux - I don't use either).

Edited September 24, 2013 by sumghai

[Zerro]

You will need to manually edit the CFG files to add the IonCross capability to the modules you want.

The reasons I haven't done so myself are:

- I currently don't use life support

- I plan on developing my own life support / resources management plugin

- I want to give people the choice of which life support mod to use

Assuming you're familiar with installing mods (each modder will have their own folder - mine currently shares the "FusTek" name with fusty), the CFGs for each part are inside their respective part folders.

So for instance, the part.cfg for the Karmony Node Mk III is in GameData\FusTek\Parts\KarmonyNodeMkIII, while the CFG for the tapered version is in GameData\FusTek\Parts\KarmonyNodeMkIII_Adapter, etc.

I won't go into too much detail here, but CFGs can be edited using Wordpad/Notepad on Windows (Don't ask me about OSX or Linux - I don't use either).

I definitely look forward to seeing more from FusTek and your interpretations on what life support should be like for the game.

I figured out the CFG. Wasn't too hard and IonCross had a support file that I used to copy life support info to your modules.

Thanks for the help and keep up the great work

[Ghostshark27]

I first tinkered around with this mod a few months ago, and it didn't really fit my plan of huge grand contraptions floating around in space (which never really worked very well.) Now, with the new update, I'm working on creating a more conservative approach to space flight, and the design of these modules will work quite well for my orbital stations I have planned. I've even created a reusable craft to push these modules up into orbit, and a mini-tug to put everything in place.

Keep up the good work, you've got something amazing going, and it's going to be even greater once the IVA's are put in. I'm battling a mystery bug in the VAB right now, but once I'm able to start launching stuff again, I'll be building up my station and getting pictures.

[Adampeay]

Is there anyway to transfer crew between modules without going on an EVA?

[Sentmassen]

I'm trying to build a station like yours. Where do i find the girders i see you using in the image on the front page?

[johnsonwax]

I'm trying to build a station like yours. Where do i find the girders i see you using in the image on the front page?

THSS Mod are the triangular/orange ones. The round-ish ones at the ends are KOSMOS, same mod as that giant solar panel.

[Kimberly]

Is there anyway to transfer crew between modules without going on an EVA?

Yes, if you use the Crew Manifest mod. The base game does not have a method for doing so.

[Quilbo]

Seriously, how the hell did you build something that big?

And i don't mean because of it's projectual difficulty, but because the game is barely playable with 200 items on screen, that **** must be like 10 times mine

And my pc runs Battlefield 3 smoothly (i know Kerbal isn't optimized.. so WHY you and others are able to build stuff like that? are you masochists playing with 5 fps?

[Keome]

My current station (shown a few posts back) now has ~1200 parts, give or take based on how many ships are currently docked. It runs fairly smoothly as long as I'm not looking at Kerbin. The main trick is to lower the texture size and don't go too crazy with lights everywhere. I run at half textures and there is no visual different between that and full texture size, but the RAM use is about a third less and it's an easier workload for your video card. A total of eight lights (4 symmetrically placed at each end) plus the lights on the FUSTEK parts fully illuminates my station. Lights will kill your fps more than adding an extra 100 parts will.

There's also basic building principles to limit part count. Some people love adding battery packs everywhere. Five battery packs provides the same power as a single 4K stack battery. That's four less parts for the same electrical power. Same with those radial monopropellant tanks, people seem to add those all over. #1) they are a pain to fuel because you need to click each one and #2) one of the large monoprop tanks holds 750 monoprop, a radial one holds 40, so 18 radial ones equals one large tank, a difference of 17 parts for the same fuel capacity.

Same goes for solar panels. The large Gigantor is equal to nine smaller ones. You can use two Gigantors and two girders, for the same power while using less parts.

Struts ... people love to say 'MOAR STRUTS!' when it's really not true or necessary. My Kerbin station is held together by exactly four struts on the girders. An identical one at the Mun has no struts. Struts are parts, and using them to excess will just increase part count.

[Quilbo]

Gonna try with lowest textures available, fact is my pc runs smoothly stuff as Battlefield 3, but just can't run Kerbal

I can't even launch a 200 parts rocket

Actually, with ZERO graphic settings, it even stutters in main menu, after clicking "start game" it moves the camera to the right, and it lags and sutters..

I know the game isn't optimized and so on, but as i play it it's unconceivable to even think building large stuff..

[Captain Sierra]

Gonna try with lowest textures available, fact is my pc runs smoothly stuff as Battlefield 3, but just can't run Kerbal

I can't even launch a 200 parts rocket

Actually, with ZERO graphic settings, it even stutters in main menu, after clicking "start game" it moves the camera to the right, and it lags and sutters..

I know the game isn't optimized and so on, but as i play it it's unconceivable to even think building large stuff..

What's your system setup?

KSP, in it's unoptimized alpha state, doesn't have very good GPU offloading, no multi-threading, and (at least until update .22 is out) no 64 bit support. Even higher performance computers will struggle with it. The real draw is not the graphics but the physics, which eat CPU up.

An i7 processor is a quad-core with Intel hyper-threadingTM giving it a total of 8 threads to run. KSP can use 1 of these and onl 4 GB of RAM (32 bit limit). The good news is the game is going to Unity version 4.2 in update .22 and that supports 64 bit systems. We can expect some good performance boost from that as well as lots more memory allocation for: MOD-ORAMA!!!

[Quilbo]

i7 860 with 4gb RAM and 64 system

I just tried the delta physics settings and performance went better. SLIGHTLY better.

I'll just wait the 64bit update.. thanks: )

[sumghai]

Just saw this today:

Hello, all,

I've fixed the issues with the latest Kethane! I've also switched the density of RocketParts to match what Extraplanetary Launchpads now uses (1/400 of a ton per unit instead of 1 ton per unit) and upped the capacities of everything accordingly. Unfortunately, ships in flight will now be left holding 1/400th of the mass of RocketParts they previously had. So sad.

Do you guys think I should increase the RocketPart capacity in the warehouse modules? If so, by how much?

[NoMrBond]

Just saw this today:

Do you guys think I should increase the RocketPart capacity in the warehouse modules? If so, by how much?

Keep the tonnage of resource the same and recalculate the RocketParts# based on the new values I guess?

[Kimberly]

Just saw this today:

Do you guys think I should increase the RocketPart capacity in the warehouse modules? If so, by how much?

The simplest thing to do would be to keep the mass the same and change the unit capacity to accommodate this. What seems like more your style is to calculate how much the warehouse could actually hold in terms of volume, assuming rocket parts are a Terminator-like liquid construction material.

[johnsonwax]

For folks that are enamored with the station on the first page, I've put up a few tutorials on how to weld parts together into single models. Handy for reducing part counts where there are common elements that you tend to repeat.

But another part of the tutorial is how to scale models in only one dimension, so if you're trying to get your THSS struts to match up with your Karmony nodes (and find they don't, because everyone works on their own scale), you can now fix that by stretching or compressing your strut a little bit along it's length to get everything to line up just right. It takes a bit of work, but if you have a particular design pattern (as I do) you can throw together some parts which are designed to make everything work and just reuse them over and over.

Give it a look.

[Adampeay]

Annoying question. What is the IACBM for. My guess is it will allow kerbals to move between pods without EVA'ing or the use of crew manifest mod.

[sumghai]

Annoying question. What is the IACBM for. My guess is it will allow kerbals to move between pods without EVA'ing or the use of crew manifest mod.

IACBM = Improved Androgynous Common Berthing Mechanism. Essentially, my personal update to the CBM docking ports fusty originally designed.

Other than that, they function exactly like any docking port in the game, so no, these IACBMs won't magically allow crew transfer between modules without Crew Manifest. I should also note that I'm not going to write my own plugin for IVA navigation because SQUAD have specifically stated that improved IVA navigation will come with future releases.

[NoMrBond]

Sweet, the CBM's have been some of my favorite parts thus far surviving many a mod purge

Glad to hear they're getting an update.

[fusty]

Still looking amazing Smughai.

I'm finally going to play with this stuff tonight!

[Starwaster]

Okay. I never actually edited a cfg file before so how do I go about doing that and where would I find them?

Thanks

Suggestion. Do not edit cfg files. Get ModuleManager and write cfg patch files. It's easier to remember what you changed later and it patches the cfgs in memory when the game runs, seamlessly. no actual original (or mod) files get changed.. so reversing it is as easy as deleting the patch files

[HeadHunter67]

That would be very handy, indeed. I'd love to make a station that looks all unified and uniform - and nothing says "ugly" like parking a Jumbo next to these beautiful modules.