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[1.0.x] [V1.9f] Kerbal Foundries wheels, anti-grav repulsors and tracks


lo-fi

What to work on next?  

1,282 members have voted

  1. 1. What to work on next?

    • More wheels
      123
    • More tracks
      453
    • Rover bodies
      241
    • Landing gear
      137
    • Landing legs
      108
    • Something completely different
      193


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Not that bizarre. Physics warp causes all sorta of weird issues. It's really best to steer clear whenever possible.

I hadn't heard about the KK issues. However, since they added KSC upgrades and such, I'm sure that the method to adding static structures has changed dramatically, and plugin authors will need to be aware of what could be expanded in the structures there so as to not get in the way.

I did recompile the KF plugin last night to make sure there were no issues. Sure enough, the only issues are a few warnings about functions that don't return anything, and those are only warnings anyway. No problems detected on that front.

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To be honest, the wheels do weird stuff when physically time warped. They somehow manage to lose most of their traction and the suspension winds up... Not really surprised the repulsors do similar. You're spot on with KK, though last I saw there seemed to be a ray of hope. Poor AlphaAsh seemed pretty bummed about the while thing though.

I'm taking a bit of time out to see if I can bring my texturing skills up to scratch. Nli2works stuff sets the bar as far as I'm concerned, so that's the standard I'm aiming for. It's insanely difficult and time consuming, but getting quicker as the workflow develops.

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If there's any way to address the physics warping - I mean, if it has anything to do with your modules rather than the game engine or whatever (maybe TimeControl, once that appears for 0.90?) - it's really useful for the otherwise very, very long rover missions where you're asked to visit multiple sites etc. Regular wheels go crazy on warp too (you can kind of drive sideways on them), I suppose, but you can still drive around real fast =)

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I have a feeling it's related to resource checking with the 1.7 setup. I've since made some changes to make things a bit more robust as the KSP API is flaky in that area, so the dev versions are working fine at full time warp.

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Yeah, its kinda weird. Annoying if you don't realise you're going sideways and drop back to normal time, grip suddenly reappears and crashy crashy, boom boom happens :D

I found this out on an extended rove around Duna the other day to test the tracks. Sadly, I found a really annoying bug with the suspension code I'm not really sure what to do about yet. Apparently unity or KSP takes it upon itself to swap object translation axis around sometimes, which results, after an extended drive, in the track wheels moving sideways all different amounts and bendy tracks. Not good :(

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Also, I made something I probably shouldn't have, because it opens up many, many cans of worms - far more than I can possibly deal with - but I did it anyway...

L90BUso.png

And before anyone asks: No it can't deform the terrain :D I don't believe that will ever be possible in KSP. Pushing stuff, maybe digging small rocks out of the ground where it hits it..... Possibly. The only functionality it has right now is that it's really, really hard to push when in contact with the ground, and it looks kinda neat on the front of that rover. I have to admit to quite liking the idea that dragging this thing over the surface would give better resource yield from Kethane/Karbonite, or maybe reveal rocks with precious metal or whatever that can be collected and processed for science/funds. But we're talking big picture stuff that's well beyond my remit or skills here. I'm hoping there's a way to leave a texture trail behind where it's scraped, but again, I'm not sure if that's possible in KSP (would be essentially the same as tyre marks).

Anyway, thought I'd share, even if it is a massive, massive tease :D

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Well, I've had my fun fartin' around in 0.90 for now. Time, I suppose, to get back to testing new and improved parts. I'm planning on only having a core layout this time, no more filling the KSP GameData folder full of stuff until KSP completely pukes, but I can get by with a few modified parts here and there. Biggest one's gonna have to be a super-high-power RTG and battery combo to replace those wonderful devices known as fission reactors I kept carrying around from the Interstellar kit.

Unfortunately, my choice in flight gear is a bit limited at the moment, and again, we've been gifted with cockpits I can't use because you can't bloody see out of them. And also we haven't gotten any 0.625m cockpits, either. So I'll patiently wait to see what comes up as options.

Although I have installed that tug cockpit for rover duty because, well, it's actually kinda awesome. No frills driving cab, great forward and road-angle visibility, absolutely great for it. Not as much fun for flying, but I've done a few IVA only landings.

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The tug cockpit is great, isn't it :) even I like IVA with that! Really looking forward to the finished version.

Haven't heard from Spanner in ages, so the DSR range is stuck. Few bits we were going to tidy up on it before releasing, so I may end up .mu importing and re-exporting as I don't have the source models. I hope he's ok and just taking it easy.

I'm going to send your cockpit and plane/glider parts ideas over to nli2work to see what he makes of it, as they're a good fit with his retro future stuff.

Do kerbals even fit in .625m cockpits?

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Well, considering what else happens to them, that might be a kindness. Darren9 got reported to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Kerbals last week. I gather he's out on bail ;)

On a different note, I've been busy learning how to spawn rocks. Stuff is going crazy round here :D

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I take it those sweet new landing legs went on hold then? We should think about releasing another update on your wheels n' stuff soon too. Not that spawning rocks isn't super fun too... though I was pretty sure rocks didn't spawn.. isn't that purely a fish-related activity?

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The spandex was always going to be a risk, Darren :D

The landing legs are sort of a tie in with the DSR3 I was working on with spanner, and needed a little pod adjustment to fit. Haven't heard from him in ages, and he was really ill last time we spoke, so that's sort of stalled for the moment. Hope he's ok and just taking it easy or having a break!

I haven't heard from JC who was texturing small wheels and tracks in ages either. Might be worth sending over to Philotical who did the long tracks actually, as that's the last piece that needs putting in place before I can think about releasing. I fixed the suspension issue the other day with a new bombproof method, so that's all good. Other than that, I don't think there's anything show stopping that needs attention, and I'm thinking its time to take the opportunity to go beta. Any objections? I'm feeling the time is right :)

Edited by lo-fi
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I see no flaws with Kerbal Foundries going Beta. Although one thing you could use would be an atmospheric version of your APU. I find carrying oxidizer troublesome when building mostly electric vehicles, and get quite a lot out of the Firespitter Biplane Cockpit's 20 units of liquid fuel. Making a version of it use intake air and liquid fuel would be useful for those of us who really aren't heading into space any time soon.

After all, I have biomes on Kerbin to go explore. May not be able to claim any science points in Sandbox, but I can read the flavor text and have fun cruising around the world in my flying truck, once I get around to building one in 0.90.

Oh, and some form of slim, or otherwise small electric air engine would be nice (using electricity and air to propel itself, having some form of low thrust value, but being small enough to easily mount multiples for thrust multiplication. Of course, they'd be useless in space, and low enough thrust to avoid making them into electric boosters.)

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Alright, APU running on LF and air is easy enough :)

So you're thinking an electric fan? That would actually be pretty cool.

I'll start the tidy and comment process to strip out all the debugging stuff, and the last job on the list ought to be changing to MODEL nodes for some texture sharing. Happy with TS support? It's been flawless for me so far, I'm pretty happy with it.

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I haven't heard from anyone who says it hasn't, so please let me know if you do run into trouble. We are, genuinely, very close to dropping the next version (which will also move to beta) on ya'll :) Seriously happy to be at this stage!

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I haven't heard from anyone who says it hasn't, so please let me know if you do run into trouble. We are, genuinely, very close to dropping the next version (which will also move to beta) on ya'll :) Seriously happy to be at this stage!

Shut up and take my money! :sticktongue: Really looking forward to what you've been cooking up all this time, lo-fi! :D

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