[WIP] Salyut Stations/Soyuz/Vostok/Voskhod/ASTP - Released!

[Guest]

Well, that's actually what I meant. It is a "payload compartment". The telescope was the "payload" in question when it comes to Almaz stations. The three stations that flown launched with a telescope, but the last one was built with a different device (a radar array).

Regarding references, you've got a pic of Salyut 3, and it doesn't seem to have the spherical tanks (also mentioned on RussianSpaceWeb as atypical). I'm sure I've seen at least one more very good front picture (in black and white, likely of Salyut 2), but I can't find it now. The cannon was also mounted there on Salyut 3 (check out BDArmory, that one might be a fun idea).

[sp1989]

Will it have defenses like the Almaz?

[raidernick]

Did some more work on Almaz. I got most of the texturing done on the main parts of the station. I still have a TON of small details to add all around the station, including the telescope on the bottom.

[Guest]

Looks really promising. Is it too late to make changes to the front part? I've found you something:

The front of an actual, flown Almaz station (probably OPS-3). Probably the best picture on the internet. You can see the front airlock (likely used for experiments) and a whole slew of antennae.

It also had whip antennae on top. It seems that they didn't fold very well, too, since the fairing has a large housing for them (seen here):

[raidernick]

Here is the new top:

[Guest]

Looks spot-on. Really looking forward to this. I always liked the Almaz stations.

[raidernick]

The main body of the station is now done and in the game. Next I will work on the solar panels and sample return. I have no reference for what the solar panels look like deployed other than some drawings. The last picture shows the drawing I am using as reference.

[Guest]

Could you add some more "greeble" to the rear? It's got that angular "made of primitives" look, which clashes with the blanket texture and the excellent detailing on the front. Also, the hull texturing in general seems somewhat blurry, especially in comparison to small, modeled detail. In general, it might need a lot more detail on the stern (yeah, I know there's little in terms of reference), a lot of the stuff you're just implying with a texture could be modeled with little harm to performance. The telescope looks decent, though perhaps the foil should be more jumbled. Also, I think there were roll thrusters somewhere on the stern. Right now I can't see any, and the station must have had them. Oh, and I don't see the top mounted whip antennae anywhere, I think they were a prominent part of the station (though if you want to have them as a separate part, that shouldn't be a problem).

As for the solars, there are no pictures of Almaz in orbit (that I know of). I suspect that they didn't want to photograph their secret space station... If there are such pictures, they're likely rotting in some old Soviet archive. So I'm afraid the drawings are the best we can get. That said, they seem to be pretty consistent on the panels.

[raidernick]

I was already planning on redoing the back. I hate the way it looks, so far it is only a placeholder until i do the solar panels. The back needs to be built to "fit" the panels, not the other way around so I was holding off doing any work on it until the panels are done. As for the antennae, do you have any pictures of those, I do not see them in any of my reference pictures, or any that are there aren't consistent across pictures.

As for the "blurry" textures, there is nothing I can do about that. I've got what I've got in terms of pictures and the resolutions are all low. Even if I did have better textures I wouldn't use them. The station model file as it sits now is 20mb by itself (because of the tiny wiring details), adding high res textures would be a game killer on a pack that is already pushing memory limits. Any larger and the station itself will start producing lag in game. If you want better textures I have to sacrifice some surface detailing, I'd rather it be this way than lower detail but better textures(even if it was possible).

Edited December 3, 2014 by raidernick

[Guest]

Actually, I doubt higher-res textures would produce lag. They could take up memory, but I think that performance would not suffer that much. That said, if you don't have anything better, it's kind of a moot point.

The antennae are hard to find, besides the drawing, but they're located under the white fairing visible here:

They were most likely laid out much like in this picture. To need a fairing that big, they had to be rather thick and unwieldy. There were four of them, which is consistent between various drawings. It might've been a SLAR radar, seeing as there are very few pictures of it (and the fact it wasn't present on any of the unlaunched stations). A communications antenna wouldn't be kept that secret.

Another drawing that supports this idea, with dimensions for solar panels as a bonus:

Also, I've found another useful picture. This one shows two green boxes I have no idea what they are (they would have a though time fitting under a standard fairing...), and the station's gun:

The brown thing on the front, underside the station is the 30mm cannnon. BDArmory does a splendid job of making guns viable in KPS, and it was one of the more famous features of the Almaz. Might be worth doing, maybe as a separate part so the station can be launched without it.

[raidernick]

Here is a replacement for the back of the station. I based it off of the below picture as it is the only picture of this side that I can find.

[raidernick]

Solar panels are done:

[Guest]

They look a bit big, are they to scale? I posted a drawing with their dimensions. That might be just perspective, though. Also, the green edges look horrible, but I suppose nothing can be done, as they're green in the reference picture, too. Dang it. Also, on the drawing, you can see some sort of antenna mounted above and below the solar panels. This looks like a neat idea, would likely have a very interesting unfolding animation. Mounting antennae on solar panels seems to have been a common Soviet practice.

The back looks good, but the rearmost part of the "main diameter section" seems to have a lot of flat, blurry detail. It could be better for those bits to be modeled. This sections stands out from the rest of the station.

Overall, it's looking better and better. Besides tweaking, it seems that it only needs a docking port, the top antenna array, and the cannon.

[raidernick]

The solar panels are to scale with the reference picture. They should be the same width as the docking port and length from the back of the station to the end of the port. I made them these dimensions so this is the size they should be. I am not putting an antennae on the panels, I don't care what's in the drawings. It is ugly and adds unnecessary complexity.

I will add the top antennae and the docking dishes, there already is a docking port on the back you just can't see it in the reference shots. I am reusing the Salyut 6-7 port to save memory space.

Also of course the back is flat detail, the pictures were taken in blender which doesn't show the normal maps. As for the blur I already explained why I can't fix that. I am not "modeling" thousands of wrinkled edges for back.

[raidernick]

I finished the Almaz main body 100% now. I changed the solar panel color to more of a blue, decreased the solar panel size and added some more little details to the station and antennas. I am now DONE working on the station and WILL NOT be adding or changing anything else Dragon01 (The gun is there, you can see it in the pictures I posted right before you posted that pic of the gun, which I already had. I'll post another pic showing it just so you can see). Up last is the sample return.

Edited December 6, 2014 by raidernick

[raidernick]

Almaz 3/5 is officially done (and by done it means I am not adding anything else to it Dragon01 so DON'T ask). I finished the film return capsule and changed the texture on the telescope lens. The film capsule has no SAS or reaction wheels as it did in real life. You need to "aim" the station so when it decouples it is facing retrograde. You activate the solid motors and it'll auto-turn in the atmosphere due to drag to face the right way.

I was forced to remove the bottom dish as it would get in the way of the film capsule. I only saw this antenna on one drawing so I am not convinced it was there in the first place so it's not a major loss.

I also added hullcam support for the telescope. Expect a release sometime later today.

[sirkut]

Awesome work!

[Guest]

I like it. Looks like you've got everything. Yeah, I saw the gun on the Blender pic. Great work. Looking forward to release, can't wait to fly it on Denny's Proton.

[raidernick]

Update posted in release thread: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/88383

[ANWRocketMan]

@raidernick: I'm having a weird fps issue where my fps is horrendous until I deploy the antennas on each section. Once I've deployed them once I can retfract and deploy without issue and my fps is back to normal. Any idea why this might be?

[raidernick]

I completely gave up on the crappy stock animation module. I switched back to firespitter on ALL of my mods. This seems to have fixed the FPS lag issues. Please download the latest update on the release page.

Edited December 7, 2014 by raidernick

[ANWRocketMan]

I completely gave up on the crappy stock animation module. I switched back to firespitter on ALL of my mods. This seems to have fixed the FPS lag issues. Please download the latest update on the release page.

Oh thanks for the info. Amazing work if I might add! The level of detail is astounding.

[Kerbal01]

smexy almaz!

[raidernick]

In preparation of the Proton release I have begun working on something I previously said I wasn't going to do, see if you can guess what it is.

[billbobjebkirk]

Why, is that a Transpotalnyi Korabl' Snabzheniia?