[0.24] Spaceplane Plus 1.3

[TheHengeProphet]

I acknowledge there is indeed a problem with the collision mesh of the cockpit and connecting wheels to it. They tend to attach at a very slight angle even tho the editor is supposed to lock them to the given rotation increments. It's just, it never really caused any take-off problems for myself for some reason. It does this with a few other parts and some stock parts too. That's not my fault, I didnt do it! However, I'll fix it by evening out the collision mesh at the center of the part like it was suggested earlier.

If possible, please ensure both the tops and bottoms of the parts are evened, as I have been having the same placement issue with dorsal rudders. Also, placement of objects (most apparent in wings) on the sides of your parts, when not near the centre, an unwanted rotation of the part to be placed occurrs. Will attatch screenshots at another time if requested.

Edited June 11, 2014 by TheHengeProphet

[Starwaster]

If possible, please insure both the tops and bottoms of the parts are evened, as I have been having the same placement issue with dorsal rudders. Also, placement of objects (most apparent in wings) on the sides of your parts, when not near the centre, an unwanted rotation of the part to be placed occurrs. Will attatch screenshots at another time if requested.

Insure? Or ensure? One means to guarantee and the other.... well it sounds like you want something legally binding....

[TheHengeProphet]

Thank you starwaster. It is uncommon for me to make such a common spelling mistake, so... I'll blame heatstroke! Because that's at least a SEMI-legitimate claim.

[kodemunkey]

Where do i find the parts? I can only seem to find the cockpit.

[Starwaster]

Thank you starwaster. It is uncommon for me to make such a common spelling mistake, so... I'll blame heatstroke! Because that's at least a SEMI-legitimate claim.

I can relate to that. The inside of my house is 83 degrees

​Life support is failing!!!

Where do i find the parts? I can only seem to find the cockpit.

Wing parts are in Aerodynamics. A lot of the fuselage parts and adapter parts are in the fuel/engines section.

[TheHengeProphet]

Where do i find the parts? I can only seem to find the cockpit.

There are the two cockpits and the probe core in the command modules tab. Most of the fuselage pieces are in the propulsion tab, due to them having fuel.

I believe the cargo bays are under the utility tab, but I'm too lazy to start the game and find out.

I can relate to that. The inside of my house is 83 degrees

Yup, it's been constantly in the 90s here, meaning that in my room it's normally up about 2-3 from the outside temp.

[RoboRay]

And now for something smaller... a six-seat ground-to-orbit taxi.

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[jfull]

And now for something smaller... a six-seat ground-to-orbit taxi.

Very nice! Crew-carrying SSTOs are the kind I use most often.

Would you be willing to share the craft file?

[Neutrinovore]

Hmm. I've seen a lot of pictures posted of really neat SSTO's using the inline docking port, but I have one question: Has anyone actually docked to anything with it? See, here's the thing, in the config there are only 2 nodes specified, the front and back stack nodes. So when I click 'control from here', it controls the plane from the front stack node, which means that the navball orientation remains the same, and all RCS translation commands are not aligned to the face of the docking port, but to the nose of the plane.

Okay, fine, I'll cope with the extra challenge. Moving in to dock by visually aligning the docking ports, no dice. The docking port just bounces off of a clamp-o-tron, no magnetism, nothing. So I figure that if the 'control from here' node is the front one, called out as 'node_stack_top' in the config, that's probably where the thing would want to dock to, huh? I looked at Squad's stock part, and the B9 radial docking port as well, and they don't look significantly different from the SP+ config, so I don't know what the deal is exactly. Perhaps something got missed in the model rigging?

Anyway, I'll mess with it some more in-game, but I don't think I'll get any different results. Just a heads up, since I'd not seen anyone mention this problem. The rest of the pack works bang-on, btw, I use these parts almost exclusively for building spaceplanes now. I just want to dock with my space station!

Later.

[Starwaster]

Hmm. I've seen a lot of pictures posted of really neat SSTO's using the inline docking port, but I have one question: Has anyone actually docked to anything with it? See, here's the thing, in the config there are only 2 nodes specified, the front and back stack nodes. So when I click 'control from here', it controls the plane from the front stack node, which means that the navball orientation remains the same, and all RCS translation commands are not aligned to the face of the docking port, but to the nose of the plane.

Okay, fine, I'll cope with the extra challenge. Moving in to dock by visually aligning the docking ports, no dice. The docking port just bounces off of a clamp-o-tron, no magnetism, nothing. So I figure that if the 'control from here' node is the front one, called out as 'node_stack_top' in the config, that's probably where the thing would want to dock to, huh? I looked at Squad's stock part, and the B9 radial docking port as well, and they don't look significantly different from the SP+ config, so I don't know what the deal is exactly. Perhaps something got missed in the model rigging?

Anyway, I'll mess with it some more in-game, but I don't think I'll get any different results. Just a heads up, since I'd not seen anyone mention this problem. The rest of the pack works bang-on, btw, I use these parts almost exclusively for building spaceplanes now. I just want to dock with my space station!

Later.

That sounds like either PJ didn't give it its own control transform or he did but didn't assign it in the docking module

[BudgetHedgehog]

That sounds like either PJ didn't give it its own control transform or he did but didn't assign it in the docking module

MODULE
{
	name = ModuleDockingNode
	deployAnimationController = 1	
	nodeType = size1
	nodeTransformName = dockingNode
	controlTransformName = controlNode
}

That's the SP+ docking port module. This is the stock Inline Clamp-o-tron docking module:

MODULE
{
	name = ModuleDockingNode
	deployAnimationController = 1	
	nodeType = size1
	controlTransformName = controlNode
}

Both have the same stuff in in.. not sure what the nodeTransformName is in SP+, but it has a control transform name.. Hmm..

[RoboRay]

Very nice! Crew-carrying SSTOs are the kind I use most often.

Would you be willing to share the craft file?

Honestly, it doesn't fly that well. Very twitchy (I crashed on the runway several times trying to land). Let me see if I can make some improvements to it first.

[Porkjet]

Just tested the docking port, it still works flawlessly on my install, even the 'control from here' feature. I can only guess some other bug or mod conflict is causing this for you.

And @Roboray: That's a cool design, I might steal it!

[Angelo Kerman]

@Porkjet:

I like this mod, I am thinking of ditching B9 for this pack since I hardly use anything from B9. I also like your art style. Have you considered a MK3 spaceplane parts pack? I know others have built parts but they've been discontinued.

On a side note, I want to create parts for KSP but I have only found bits and pieces of documentation on how to go about it. I was curious about where you learned to make the parts. I know I need a plugin for unity, and I have a number of 3D art tools myself, but I've been finding that figuring out how to make the parts sized and working in KSP to be daunting. Any help you can provide would be appreciated.

Here's an example of what I've done in the past, from my Contact Lost website, so I know I can do the art side.

[BudgetHedgehog]

Don't know about anything, but Mk3 parts arent planned. No point in them as they're too small to have a 2m cargo bay. Details in the OP, but yeah, don't hold your breath.

[Angelo Kerman]

Don't know about anything, but Mk3 parts arent planned. No point in them as they're too small to have a 2m cargo bay. Details in the OP, but yeah, don't hold your breath.

Ha! That'll teach me to RTFM...

Anyway, I'm still interested in learning how to make parts from start to finish. I've found a few tutorials but they're pretty spotty. Help is appreciated.

[RidingTheFlow]

If not mk3, can we at least have bigger mk2 cargo bay? current one have zero clearance top-bottom (and this is with paper-thin doors already). Its not possible to put anything there with even smallest side attachments (unless attached to sides only) - which pretty much precludes it from use, say, for landers.

Can we have a cargo bay that "taller" in vertical direction?

[jfull]

I think porkjet might have a whole new fuselage type in the works, one with plenty of cargo space

[BigD145]

Those stock parts needed to be fleshed out and I think this is it.

[BudgetHedgehog]

If not mk3, can we at least have bigger mk2 cargo bay? current one have zero clearance top-bottom (and this is with paper-thin doors already). Its not possible to put anything there with even smallest side attachments (unless attached to sides only) - which pretty much precludes it from use, say, for landers.

Can we have a cargo bay that "taller" in vertical direction?

Not entirely sure what you're getting at here.. I think you're putting in cargo that's just too big - 0.625m sized probes and satellites fit perfectly in it. Anything larger than that and I'm using a rocket. If you want bigger cargo bays, there is always B9... And how do landers fit into all this?

[Angelo Kerman]

Maybe you could just rescale the 3D meshes so that the payload bay accommodates 2.5m parts. You'd need some adapter to handle the upscale to the new MK2 cockpit, and some upscale fuselage sections like the tail cones and such, but hey, it's plausible.

[AccidentalDisassembly]

There's always the option of writing a customized TweakScale cfg file - maybe not ideal, but if you do 1.5x size, I imagine that 1.25m parts with bits on the outside would fit in the bay...

[ArcFurnace]

Just to see if I could do it, I managed to slap together a tiny lander that would fit in the Mk2 cargo bays and land it on the Mun. I did have to use Infernal Robotics extendable rails instead of proper landing gear, though. The reaction wheel helps keep it from tipping over despite the unhelpfully narrow support base. Also, I don't think that design had enough delta-v to get back ... details, details.

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Edited June 13, 2014 by ArcFurnace

[Starwaster]

If not mk3, can we at least have bigger mk2 cargo bay? current one have zero clearance top-bottom (and this is with paper-thin doors already). Its not possible to put anything there with even smallest side attachments (unless attached to sides only) - which pretty much precludes it from use, say, for landers.

Can we have a cargo bay that "taller" in vertical direction?

I use a B9 S2 wide bodied cargo bay. The B9 pack has two adapters that when combined will bridge the gap between S2 and Mk2 parts.

(I'm also working on an adapter that goes direct from S2 to Mk2 but I don't have a texture for it)

[VaporTrail]

Had a bout of inspiration thanks to this design:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/76668-0-23-5-Kerbal-Aircraft-Expansion-%28KAX%29-v2-2-1-Now-With-100-More-Helicopters?p=1130093&viewfull=1#post1130093

and I wound up with this. I present the Gyrfalcon VTOL system shuttle. Pics inbound, video to follow.

Planning on attempting a cargo version... thought that's gonna be interesting. Balance is really finicky on a VTOL... might balance it for landing, and just STO it (the passenger version is pretty capable in a short takeoff mode).

Video's done.

Edited June 13, 2014 by VaporTrail