CobaltWolf

Tuesday at 06:23 PM

Mercury needed an Atlas and could survive re-entry.

X-15 (apparently) needed a Saturn C-8 and could not survive re-entry.

I wonder why we went with Mercury? :mellow:

April 29

20 minutes ago, GoldForest said:

So, I figured out how to get BDB Dev Branch to load. You need to have KSP Community Fixes installed.

@CobaltWolf Might want to make it a requirement until you fix the bug in BDB itself.

We are aware, but all it does is (effectively) delete the parachute, so it's not really a solution. I'm not sure what to do at this point, seeing as putting the ventral on at all makes the whole thing way less stable (just like real life!)

April 29

On 4/26/2024 at 5:43 PM, zakkpaz said:

@CobaltWolf are you planning on making custom IVa's for the X-15 cockpits or are you just sticking with the Mk1? If I recall correctly your one of the modders that hates making IVA's(if I recall correctly all modders hate making IVA's).

Anyway I had the Idea of patching in the one IVA from @Well's Blue Steel mod, they go together pretty well i think, just need to figure out how to raise the iva a bit, and having a patch in Bluedog_DB_Extras would be nice for users of both mods if anyone wants it want it. there's even two-seat one for when that part is done.

I was not planning on making a custom IVA, but I must say that Blue Steel one fits pretty well, all things considered.

2 hours ago, Entr8899 said:

So uhh, what's SEASAT looking like? And Pioneer Venus? And that weird ramjet engine thing? And all the other stuff on the backburner that I can't think of on the top of my head?

@CobaltWolfUnrelated, but is there any chance you could add a white switch for the Saturn vernier engines so they can be used for other rockets without looking odd? I'd be very grateful

If you haven't seen updates on something, assume that it hasn't been touched or looked at. I am working on X-15, Zorg is working on Atlas, that's it for the time being.

If I remember, I tried doing an all-white one and it looked weird because of how I'd unwrapped the part. I can try taking a look.

April 26

On 4/25/2024 at 3:17 AM, CashnipLeaf said:

That is very interesting. I will fwd this to CobaltWolf.

These drag cubes are just the gift that keeps on giving, huh?

*whimpers*

On 4/25/2024 at 5:21 AM, Taco Salad said:

I've tried researching it on my own but, I can't find anything on them so I gotta ask.
Is the F1-V, the vacuum variant inspired by any proposed design, or are they purely fictional?

23 hours ago, Davi SDF said:

It's fictional, but it's probably something that could have been easily done if they needed a Vacuum F-1 variant

I made it since it was an easy edit after being inspired by this image; I don't know any more context than that

6 hours ago, GoldForest said:

@CobaltWolf A lot of parts need to be rotated, they don't come out of the part list in the right oreintation.

Yes, I don't think I can change that. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but the required orientations for lifting/control surfaces and wheels are hard coded and can't be changed. So all the aero surfaces need to start in the "wing" orientation, even if they're meant to be vertical tail surfaces. And the nose gear needs to be oriented such that the deployed wheel is Y-down.

6 hours ago, GoldForest said:

Also, why the size reduction?

When I made the X-15, I made it at 1.25m (actually, 1.27m on accident). I didn't check the real scale. It never occurred to me that a KSP X-15 wouldn't be 1.25m. But 1.25m X-15 is nearly real-scale. If I kept it that size, it would seriously throw off any potential carrier aircraft, and I just didn't want to cause a cascade of issues leading from that one lazy decision.

6 hours ago, GoldForest said:

Also also, now it is unstable, really bad. I get endless aileron roll spinning and the control surfaces and RCS combined can't counteract it. Even Atmospheric Autopilot can't cope.

I haven't rebalanced any of the aero after making the scaling change. In my defense - my tummy hurt a bit last night.

6 hours ago, GoldForest said:

Also also also, the extended fuselage doesn't seem to have a node.

I think the rescaleFactor is messing with it, I will have to look.

6 hours ago, GoldForest said:

Also also also also, would you put a node on the engine to allow for vertically mounting the X-15 on rockets? Like in this picture:

Fine.

EDIT: Pic unrelated, brought to you by the X-15 gang member @LoadingTimeExpert

GMDUxnPXQAAtH1g?format=jpg&name=large

April 24

12 hours ago, zw_45 said:

@CobaltWolf, I found some weird thing about the drag force of x15 fuselage. At Mach 1.4 / 15000m, the total drag is 71kN, which might be too big for a plane of this size.

Then I set “dragModelType = none” and “useInternalDragModel = True”, the total drag becomes 42kN at Mach 1.5 / 14000m. I think this would be more reasonable, and the final speed is Mach 4.2 / 22500m.

9 hours ago, GoldForest said:

Is this with or without the new update?

8 hours ago, zw_45 said:

I didn’t test the new update.

6 hours ago, GoldForest said:

I got Mach 5.87 (2012 m/s) at between 35km to 40km. I launched X-15 on top of a Juno rocket.

Yes, last night we discovered that having open/missing endcaps on the parts really messed up the drag forces. I put placeholder endcaps in the missing areas and everything is behaving much better now. I never would have guessed that was the issue - I'd assumed it generated the drag cubes based on the colliders.

Huge thanks to @CashnipLeaf for holding my hand through the whole process and figuring this all out!

There's still a lot of work to be done, especially with that pesky ventral fin, not to mention finishing the uprated versions of the plane. I'll have to get a GitHub issue together for tracking everything.

April 23

We are working the issues with the ventral fin, and many others besides. In the meantime:

April 22

On 4/20/2024 at 4:56 PM, zakkpaz said:

there's something up with the X-15 parts, the game freezes when loading a part

Not sure what any of log stuff means, but this looks relevant.

On 4/20/2024 at 5:37 PM, GoldForest said:

Same error on my end. @CobaltWolf My guess is you made a boo boo in the config file.

I have no idea why the ventral isn't loading. I've seen several other people playing with it in game (and not just duplicating the dorsal fin) and have no idea what the difference would be. My guess is it has something to do with drag cubes? But I don't know anything about them besides being named "drag cubes"...

April 16

37 minutes ago, Beale said:

I've been guilty of it myself, I will try to stick to imgur (that will never suffer the same fate hahaha... ha... ha. ...ha)

April 15

On 4/11/2024 at 8:52 AM, DaveyJ576 said:

For those of you interested in the X-15 (who isn’t???), I can highly recommend the book Hypersonic: The Story of the North American X-15 by Dennis R. Jenkins and Tony Landis. It is THE authoritative reference to the aircraft and program, no other book on the subject is necessary, except perhaps for their companion book, the X-15 Photo Scrapbook, a collection of photographs that they weren’t able to fit into the book. Both books are out of print, but copies can be found for reasonable prices. Jenkins is also the author of the three volume magnum opus Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon 1972-2013. The X-15 book has an exhausting amount of detail, but is well written and readable.

Update - My copy of Hypersonic has arrived and it is INCREDIBLE. I only got to flip through it for a moment but I don't think I've ever bought a reference this dense, with this much detail and this many beautiful images.

But that's not all - a friend ( @Sgt.Shutesie) was able to send a copy of the Photo Scrapbook as well and it should be here soon.

April 15

16 hours ago, Richmountain112 said:

Any plans to make the Gemini heatshields more like the stock ones (if they aren't already)? Last time I tried sending a Gemini spacecraft with the BDB heatshield, it exploded during reentry.

As far as I know, there's nothing different from the stock heatshield.

Here's what I've managed to get in game for the X-15 so far. It looks a lot more complete than it is - this is sort of the bare minimum to get this stuff in game and snapped together. A lot of the parts don't have some or all of their functionality, the aerodynamics are a wreck, etc. What I'm saying is, don't expect a GitHub upload in the next few days.

Another variant I think I'm going to do is X-15/SERJ, which is... a fascinating engine. Combine a ramjet and a rocket engine, and then a supercharging fan. It would work like a SABRE/RAPIER engine as a dual-cycle engine.

Modifications to the in-game craft would essentially just be a different ventral fin combined with an air scoop, and a different engine on the back.

April 14

On 4/12/2024 at 10:27 PM, LoadingTimeExpert said:

Regarding the X-15 experiments, are you going to implement entirely new experiments or existing experiments?

I don’t think I’ll need to add new experiments. A lot of these are actually tests of systems that would fly on later missions, so they can use those experiments. There are a couple stock ones, like the atmosphere experiment, that don’t currently have coverage in BDB.

April 12

20 hours ago, The Dressian Exploder said:

Is it likely that you'll be doing other X-Planes in the future or is X-15 going to be a one-off?

I didn't really plan to make X-15, it just... came out of me one day. The thought of making an updated X-1 is kind of appealing, as is the family of cute little lifting bodies, but there's always lots I want to make and each thing takes more time than I'd like. Committing to making something means several months of dedication so I have to prioritize what I choose to work on.

Once X-15 is done, I really think I owe you all a Viking.

17 hours ago, Entr8899 said:

You don't like the «APU Yekhnaust»?

@CobaltWolf If you wanna be really accurate with your Russglish, you could use the obsolete early-Cyrillic letter Ksi Ѯ to represent the English "ks" sound.

At this point my specific process feels like such a tradition I can't change it: I go to this page, type what it should say in english, and copy whatever gets put on the other side. The fact that it results in gibberish is kind of the point - for one, you don't know what kerbal writing looks like! and two, it means any text that's baked into the textures is as meaningless for English readers as it is for everyone else.

5 hours ago, GoldForest said:

Yes please. I'd like to use X-15 like a space shuttle. Or at the bare minimum, a sub-orbital (100+ KM AP) glider

I'm not sure the X-15 is really... up to that task. But I'm sure people will make it happen regardless. I'd rather not make every part have an ablator module though. Among other things that would add... many tons to the weight of the craft. If someone really wanted to make an extras patch they could.

Spoiler

Made... some progress getting things in game? I can't promise anything but I'd hope to have something flyable in a week or two. This weekend is already shot for me unfortunately.

April 11

48 minutes ago, GoldForest said:

@CobaltWolf The X-15 will no doubt have high heat tolerance, but will it have optional ablative shielding? If not, can it be requested?

What, like, on everything?

April 11

23 hours ago, OrbitalManeuvers said:

Can this not still be done via the Extras patch?

It's actually a tag applied to the individual collider objects in Unity, and can't be changed from cfg or in game at all.

20 hours ago, Legolas5533 said:

The payload bay behind the cockpit would be very useful for general experiment storage, especially if it's a cargo bay of sorts (satelite deployment comes to mind too). Same goes for the rear. The wingtips would be very good mounting points for ~~missiles~~ weather experiments and are especially easy to access and possibly replace on EVA on the ground (or even maybe in space). Just a thought. You do what you think is best, all of the options are great.

I should clarify - I'm making experiments for each location, I'm just not sure how many or specifically what.

8 hours ago, Taco Salad said:

Oh that looks great. How did you make the tanks and engine mounts all white though? Looks really slick without the markings.

7 hours ago, Entr8899 said:

Yeah I agree, @CobaltWolf pretty please could we have at least a white color variation for Saturn parts?

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh if I have any productive time in the near future it's going to be getting X-15 stuff in game. Which seems like it will be wayyyyy more work than I expected.

6 hours ago, Taco Salad said:

Also, I can't tell if this is just a bug on my end, or if it's an oversight. But the Kane-11-MSM payload bay cover weighs about 700 kg, which is rather substantial in my opinion.
Tested both in the VAB and in the pad, 700kg lost on it being jettisoned.

That's... interesting. I'll have to take a look.

1 hour ago, DaveyJ576 said:

For those of you interested in the X-15 (who isn’t???), I can highly recommend the book Hypersonic: The Story of the North American X-15 by Dennis R. Jenkins and Tony Landis. It is THE authoritative reference to the aircraft and program, no other book on the subject is necessary, except perhaps for their companion book, the X-15 Photo Scrapbook, a collection of photographs that they weren’t able to fit into the book. Both books are out of print, but copies can be found for reasonable prices. Jenkins is also the author of the three volume magnum opus Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon 1972-2013. The X-15 book has an exhausting amount of detail, but is well written and readable.

Thanks for the tip - managed to snag a copy for $16. I also have a copy of The X-15 Rocket Plane: Flying the First Wings into Space by Michelle Evans. I tried reading a few pages in bed before I turned off the lights, next thing I knew it was 1am. It's much more focused on the people involved in the program than the technical details.

April 10

On 4/6/2024 at 8:06 AM, Gupyzer0 said:

@CobaltWolf Any pictures of the "extras" (science experiments) you talked about earlier?, the X-15 sure looks fine!

So, there's three main places for experiments:

1) The payload bay behind the cockpit.

2) The wingtip pods

3) The rear of the plane, above the engine and behind the vertical stabilizer. On X-15A-2 it's a helium tank, but a number of other experiments flew there.

As for what specifically will make the cut? Hard to say quite yet.

April 9

On 4/5/2024 at 9:12 AM, Taco Salad said:

We have the SNAP-29. The S-IVB tank-wrapper RTG.. But could we get a parts-switch for a radiator less version for general use? Rather like the flat form-factor of it.

Super belated answer, but the existing SNAP-29 wouldn't work as a standalone I think? Since it's made to fit to the 4.25m cylinder. I'd have to make a completely separate part I think.

1 hour ago, Entr8899 said:

Is there any progress on SeaSat?

No, Invader is too busy making real rockets in real life

April 5

18 minutes ago, AmateurAstronaut1969 said:

Also, since the shape is very particular, if you weren’t gonna do already, it would be nice to have nodes for all the stuff like gears and wings etc etc

Yeah everything will have attach nodes for ease of assembly

April 5

2 hours ago, The Dressian Exploder said:

Just out of curiosity, how will the parts be split? This is personally how I would've done it, but then again I don't really know how large the parts are or if something like this even works at all

Bearing in mind this isn't really an actual suggestion, how are you splitting them up?

Honestly? Great question, I'd love people's input on this - again, bearing in mind, that none of these parts have "standard" cross sections, so interfacing with other part families is a bit off the table unfortunately...

Nose - will have the functionality from the stock Fly-by-Wire part.
- Also includes a switch for the early (spike) and late (Q-ball) model nose.
Cockpit - ~~not sure how to break this part up, or rather, if I should. I could see splitting it at the front of the canopy, which would leave a dedicated gear and RCS part to go between the cockpit and nose.~~
- The cockpit includes the APU generators and a small cargo bay which will have some dedicated experiments made for it
- ~~Here is the current cockpit part on it's own. The question is whether this should have the front 1/3 or so split off.~~
- Alright, already gotten some significant feedback off-forum about this. I'm going to split the gear/RCS and the cockpit. So here's what the cockpit itself looks like now.
Fuselage - the big kahuna. No good way to split this up IMO. It's never going to match other bulkhead profiles.
- Will include at least one length switch to represent the X-15A-2, but I don't think I want to add more.
Engine - One of the only parts that will be normal, since it should have a 1.25m attachment ring.
- I think this will be a dedicated "X-15 engine" part with the early dual XLR-11 config, the XLR-99, and the XLR-99 with extension for the delta wing variant.
As you said, other parts like the wings are fairly self explanatory. The only notable thing is that the control surfaces for the vertical stabilizers will be separate parts, with the bottom one having a decoupler and parachute for recovery like the real thing.

Anyone have thoughts? Particularly any that aren't asking me to rip things apart and do a lot more work, which I kind of figure the reaction to this will be?

April 4

9 hours ago, GoldForest said:

@CobaltWolf Any chance of a metallic white version and/or a "shuttle" like version? Tiles and blankets.

Edit: Also, found this on Astronautix...

wnavx15v.jpg (500×242) (astronautix.com)

I'm doing a white version (what do you mean metallic?) and I'd like to do one in the style of the "modern" Apollo CM but I really don't want to be the one to make it.

April 4

6 hours ago, The Dressian Exploder said:

How 'Lego-able' is the X-15 going to be? Will the airframe be a single monolithic part or will we have, for example, a separate cockpit for kitbashes and such?

Not very legoable, I'm afraid. The parts will be split up but that's mostly to ensure there isn't too much going on with any one part. The problem I quickly ran into with the X-15 is that the cross section changes along the entire length of the craft, so it wasn't something I could make compatible with other bulkhead profiles. However I hope that I'm able to add enough variation that it's still fun to mess around with!

April 3

March 29

7 minutes ago, Pudgemountain said:

Will we have a Navaho or something similar to launch it, or is that something for us to kitbash lol.

Launching it will be up to the user, I'm sure you all will come up with some weird ideas and make me uncomfortable.

March 29

Just now, zakkpaz said:

Sorry if this has already been answered but is there a list of planned parts for the X-15, are you going to make an XLR11 or the external fuel tanks X-15A-2?

Yes, you will be able to fly the flown configurations plus a couple more treats.

March 29

1 hour ago, Adventures said:

Cool! May I ask if you have an ETA for when this & the new Atlas will be on Github?

No, sorry. Once you start seeing screenshots of stuff in game, we'll be close. Both part sets have a lot more left to do than it might seem.

March 28

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