Wheels mod for large and heavy "rovers"

[cjones]

I've been trying to find a wheels mod (or any mod with wheels in it...) for 0.23 (or at least 0.22) but haven't had any luck.

I have this heavy 'rover'/strip mining vehicle I'm using in conjunction with a construction facility on Duna's surface:

The kethane patch is about 14km away from the ore patch so a truck was needed to go get the kethane, refine it on the spot into fuel and bring it back to the construction site.

Thing is, when this truck is full it weighs 86 tonnes which either causes the large rover wheels to pop all the time or else they just plain sheer off the tank they are attached too, even with struts.

The only 'wheels' mod I found that was up to date was the tank tracks mod but they are quite small (ironically) except for the largest tank body one which seems bugged and didn't move at all.

Any suggestions for mods? I checked for the old omniwheel/modular wheels mod but it is very out of date now (0.18).

[Raven.]

I've used the tank tracks for some absurdly large vehicles. The thing to keep in mind about the tank tracks is that they have to be combined with with another rover wheel in order to provide the initial push. Lack Luster Labs has some interesting rover parts (including kethane tanks) that can be used in conjunction with the tank tracks.

[KhaosCorp]

Those tracks, while cool, are rather buggy. Have ya looked into TT mod wheels. Not sure if they are career mode ready, but I do think they are working in current version elsewise (could be wrong about that).

[somnambulist]

Have you considered just adding a few more wheels? Right now you've got 21.5 tons/wheel. Another pair would drop that to 14.3

[cjones]

Thanks, the TT Mod is the omniwheels/multiwheels mod I was talking about. This was a fantastic mod but hasn't been updated since 0.21 which means all the parts files will not work.

As for adding more wheels, it doesn't seem to help as much as you would think because the inertia of the vehicle when it's starting or stopping still seems to transfers all that force to the front pair of wheels which break/pop off anyway.

[cjones]

Ohh hmm scratch that. I just saw that in the last post in TT mod thread, someone has posted a fix for 0.23... will have to test and see!

[Greys]

TT should work with 0.22 and 0.23, but for whatever reason TouhouTorpedo has decided he doesnt like GameData and refuses to update out of the legacy folders, this means that using TTMW will make your instance unstable and prone to crashing at lower memory usage levels, just as if you were using 0.19 again.

[Nereid]

To bad. I really liked the TT mod but I havent used it anymore since 0.20 because of the crashes and memory issues.

[cjones]

Success!

Takes 1.32MW of power to drive, but it tops out at around 35m/s and goes over moderately hilly terrain quite well. There's an airplane wheel that supports the front wheels though because when you turn on the brake, it has a tendency to nosedive and rip the front wheels off. The airplane wheel prevents that.

Also, you can just create a new folder in gamedata and throw all the TT mod files into it and it works fine. Just use the file that is posted at the end of the thread which updates the part.cfg files to work with .22/.23 format.

Edited January 29, 2014 by cjones
break vs brake -_-

[Vladthemad]

I thought I'd give you and the others a heads up. The Tracks mod you're talking about really isn't designed for Kerbin transport. Once you get them off planet, they aren't "buggy" and work fine. They don't have the torque needed for Kerbin, so if that's the only place you've tested them that's likely your problem. Problems arise if you set them up to work on Kerbin's gravity. If you do and you take it to the Mun, the torque they provide will literally pull a wheelie and flip your rover over, Grover. Now, with a huge base attached to the back of that large set of cat tracks, I'm sure you wouldn't really want that happening. If you want speed, go to the end of the thread for the newest version, you'll see some updated config files discussed, give them a shot but be sure to use incremental throttle and don't expect a building sized vehicle to stop quickly

In stock form aren't fast...but then again cat tracks aren't meant to be.

I also had (another) look at multiwheels. I had it working in .23 before, but pulled it because I wasn't using it. I often put in about three times as many mods I end up using and then removing them as I decide what I really want. Anyway, I see nothing in the configs that would prevent you from putting it into the gamedata folder and having it work. You might have to change something if it's looking for files in say the main KSP directory, but that stuff is all in the config files anyway and would be easy to fix. At most you might have to find updated .dlls if it requires them and add tech tree nodes...which is what I think I needed to do.

If that's too much work and you're afraid of memory issues, have a look at this typically overlooked post, for the monster truck sized tires it adds as well as the fancy rollkages...

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/36786

[cjones]

I thought I'd give you and the others a heads up. The Tracks mod you're talking about really isn't designed for Kerbin transport. Once you get them off planet, they aren't "buggy" and work fine. They don't have the torque needed for Kerbin, so if that's the only place you've tested them that's likely your problem. Problems arise if you set them up to work on Kerbin's gravity. If you do and you take it to the Mun, the torque they provide will literally pull a wheelie and flip your rover over, Grover. Now, with a huge base attached to the back of that large set of cat tracks, I'm sure you wouldn't really want that happening. If you want speed, go to the end of the thread for the newest version, you'll see some updated config files discussed, give them a shot but be sure to use incremental throttle and don't expect a building sized vehicle to stop quickly

In stock form aren't fast...but then again cat tracks aren't meant to be.

Yes, I only tested them on Kerbin, so that definitely sounds like the reason they weren't working for me. I got frustrated at maxing out at 5m/s and the huge tracks didn't move at all.

I do have a working kethane truck now with the TT wheels but I AM thinking of making a rolling city for the ore mining/smelting/rocket parts bit.

I often put in about three times as many mods I end up using and then removing them as I decide what I really want.

Haha, yeah, I know what you mean. I'm having some crash issues even though I've gone and manually shrunk all the textures I could fine to be 256x256 or even 128x128.

Anyway, I see nothing in the configs that would prevent you from putting it into the gamedata folder and having it work. You might have to change something if it's looking for files in say the main KSP directory, but that stuff is all in the config files anyway and would be easy to fix. At most you might have to find updated .dlls if it requires them and add tech tree nodes...which is what I think I needed to do.

Yup, it works about 75% correctly as-is, when dumping it into the gamedata folder. It's not 100% though as it doesn't seem to work with MechJeb rover autopilot for some reason (mechjeb doesn't send any inputs, maybe it's not detecting wheels?). Not sure which mod has the bug in this case. Mechjeb works fine with the tank tracks although it has a hard time making turns as the tracks tend to stick to the ground when turning.

If that's too much work and you're afraid of memory issues, have a look at this typically overlooked post, for the monster truck sized tires it adds as well as the fancy rollkages...

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/36786

Omg, how did I miss those wheels? Those are positively bad-ass! Definitely need to try those out too, thanks!

[Vladthemad]

Yeah, theres a decent number of mods out there that are pretty cool, but get buried in the forums. Have to do some digging sometimes!