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Procedural Airships development thread

RadarManFromTheMoon
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RadarManFromTheMoon

RadarManFromTheMoon

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I checked the F3 thing, it says that it exploded from to high/low pressure, and i made that stop happening by disabling it in the config. The temperature thing still persists, though can be fixed by pointing jet engines at it, heating it up. I still haven't made anything more then a single probe core and an rtg take flight, and even then it took like a 3 by 6 meter blimp or something. Is it supposed to take that much or is it still bugged somehow? I like it if it does need that much, but then you run into the problem of huge zeppelins being very unstable because the parts don't work well when 20 meters across.

They are airships. They are BIG. For a simple airship (command pod + tanks&engines) 30x15 meters is a good starting point. Just try to keep the net. buoyancy close to zero. I also built 100 meter long behemoths and they worked quite well, but if you come to the conclusion that you want them a little bit smaller, edit the BuoyancyMultiplacator in the config file.

Just did a testrun with deadly reentry and it worked for me. Do you have any other mods installed?

Have you launched your airship by clicking on the launch button in the editor or by clicking on the runway/launchpad in the space center scene? Because I just encountered a really weird bug by using the runway.

So you built an airship in the SPH, the pressure status in all envelopes is nominal (near zero). Then in the flight scene, the temperature and pressure are all messed up and the envelopes explode on the runway. Is that right?

Would be great to see the logfile because that sounds like bug/incompatibility to me. Could you please paste it to pastebin and then send me the link?

Edited by RadarManFromTheMoon
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RadarManFromTheMoon

RadarManFromTheMoon

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What log file do you mean? The game doesn't crash or anything. And i have a lot of mods, i'll mess around with it a bit more to see if i can find the a problem. And i am using the launch button.

Please do the following:

Run KSP. It is imprtant that the error actually occurs so you have to start an airship. Then close KSP and see if you can find the following file: "directory in which KSP is installed\KSP_Data\output_log.txt"

Almost everything that ProceduralAirships and other mods do, goes down to that file. As well as errors and unhandled exceptions. So it's a great help in debugging. Without it, I'm totally shooting in the dark.

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  • 2 weeks later...
RadarManFromTheMoon

RadarManFromTheMoon

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This release fixes a bug that causes envelopes on uncontrolled vessels to explode.

ProcAirships receives the parts temperature from the KSP API. However there is a strange bug that sometimes the temperature on vessels that are loaded, but currently not controlled, decreases steadily. As a workaround I made the envolpe use the external temperature instead, as long as the vessel is not the currently active vessel. Hope this fixes the problem.

you can get the new release here.

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  • 3 weeks later...
RadarManFromTheMoon

RadarManFromTheMoon

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I just released a new version that incorporates support for the NEAR aerodynamic system. The NEAR interface is more or less exactly the same as the FAR interface. So there should be no problems, but I haven't tested it much so it's considered somewhat of an experimental feature.

get it here.

Edited by RadarManFromTheMoon
typo
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  • 2 weeks later...
RadarManFromTheMoon

RadarManFromTheMoon

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There it is! Procedural Airships hits stable release.

This is new:

  • Preferences window - Tweak your game by clicking on the little airship icon in KSC, some of the options are specific to the active savegame so it is possible to play hard mode in one savegame, and easypeasy in another.
  • drastically increased buoyancy. You can change that in the preferences window if you don't like it. Set it to 1x for total realism, 3x for 3 times more buoyancy (like it was before) or whatever you like it to be.
  • Included two example crafts (Tutorial Aircraft). One for FAR and one for Stock and NEAR aerodynamics As the name suggests: There will be an ingame tutorial soon.
  • included a .version file.
  • Fixed a little bug associated with the ProceduralParts cost handling

I highly suggest a clean install. And when I say clean install, I mean delete previous installations before installing.

Here are some instructions on the included crafts:

on the runway, rightclick on the envelope in the middle between the two envelope caps. deflate the balonett just a bit, until the net. buoyancy gets positive. The airship will begin to rise into the sky. You can use Action Group 1 to pitch up and Action Group 2 to pitch down. Doing so adjusts the ballonets in the caps. After gaining some altitude right click on the envelope in the middle again and activate pressure control, start your engines and float around.

Have fun!

edit: Doh! Just uploaded the wrong version. Now it should be the correct one.

Edited by RadarManFromTheMoon
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RadarManFromTheMoon

RadarManFromTheMoon

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I just released Version 1.2. It includes an in-game tutorial which should help beginners to get started with PA. Besides the tutorial there are no real changes. I just really wanted to get the tutorial out because I think that PA can be a bit overwhelming for beginners.

I also created a release thread. From now on all new Version will be announced there.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Resender

Resender

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This what I've been looking for (if it works my plans that is)

Since I use remotetech & plan on building out a ground network on Kerbin first, these could help me lift relays to places hard to reach by plane or rocket.

Also I never understood hooligan's lab buoyancy,every time my craft started lifting the buoyancy would drop like a stone

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curiousepic

curiousepic

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What are the main blockers? If it's having parts attached to parts that change their size, I think it's fine to have the inflatable parts restricted from having any attachments - KAS/Autostruts could take care of reinforcing structures after inflation, and then any part of the envelope that needs something attached to it initially could just be restricted to its inflated state.

Ideally though, this ability would come from Procedural Parts; I can think of other cases where it would be nice to have re-sizing of parts in flight, such as custom inflatable habitat modules, resource bladders, custom extensible booms, perhaps even inflatable antenna/telescope dishes, etc.

Also, I'm hoping this generally plays well with RealHeat: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/103474-90-RealHeat-Heat-Transfer-101!-WIP/

Edited by curiousepic
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RadarManFromTheMoon

RadarManFromTheMoon

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What are the main blockers? If it's having parts attached to parts that change their size, I think it's fine to have the inflatable parts restricted from having any attachments - KAS/Autostruts could take care of reinforcing structures after inflation, and then any part of the envelope that needs something attached to it initially could just be restricted to its inflated state.

Ideally though, this ability would come from Procedural Parts; I can think of other cases where it would be nice to have re-sizing of parts in flight, such as custom inflatable habitat modules, resource bladders, custom extensible booms, perhaps even inflatable antenna/telescope dishes, etc.

Also, I'm hoping this generally plays well with RealHeat: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/103474-90-RealHeat-Heat-Transfer-101!-WIP/

Can't say much about RealHeat since it's a wip and I haven't tried it yet. But it seems to offer some interesting stuff. Lifting gas temperature handling needs some improvement indeed.

It's exactly that. I use Procedural Parts as a shape generator and it is not really intended for real-time in-flight shape changes. I think the most feasible approach would be to let the user choose shape and maximum size and then procedurally generate an animated mesh. There are other features on my mind that are much less complicated and so I stick with them for now. But it is definitely on my wishlist. Will maybe do some experimenting after PP and PA gets updated in january.

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  • 2 weeks later...
AngelLestat

AngelLestat

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Ok Radarman, just do it the best you can. if that means keep it simple, go for it.

With the time, and maybe if you get some help, I guess it will be great to have a complete airship and hotair ballons procedural mod.

About the animation, I guess the best approach will be create a new procedure box shape, which depending its volume it would generate a standard shape/volume blimp attached to that box, you can not attach things to the envelope, only to the box, and without buoyancy control. As in real life.

So then you can separate standard procedure rigid airship structures (which you can attach things to the sides and able to control its buoyancy) from the inflatable blimps.

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skykooler

skykooler

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That would be awesome. But unfortunately, it is not possible. KSP limitations.

It is definitely possible, Hooligan Labs airships can do this. IIRC, they accomplish it by setting the airship's situation to Vessel.situations.LANDED even though it's flying. This lets you time warp and keeps it from despawning when you switch vessels.

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RadarManFromTheMoon

RadarManFromTheMoon

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It is definitely possible, Hooligan Labs airships can do this. IIRC, they accomplish it by setting the airship's situation to Vessel.situations.LANDED even though it's flying. This lets you time warp and keeps it from despawning when you switch vessels.

Interesting... I will do some research on that...

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BigFatStupidHead

BigFatStupidHead

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My own recollection of the HL parts was that they needed some part of them to be touching the "ground"; KAS winches with the anchor head was the recommended method to accomplish this. HL added a "make stationary" button because airships in motion would also prevent saving or changing vessels.

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RadarManFromTheMoon

RadarManFromTheMoon

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My own recollection of the HL parts was that they needed some part of them to be touching the "ground"; KAS winches with the anchor head was the recommended method to accomplish this. HL added a "make stationary" button because airships in motion would also prevent saving or changing vessels.

had a little browse through the HL source and I think you are right. PA does not have such a "slow-down button" but anchoring with KAS should work.

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