CobaltWolf

GIMP also supports directly editing the alpha channel (which is used sometimes for transparency but really is an arbitrary data channel, in this case being used for specular data)

@Drakenex you should use a better end cap for the crew tunnel than just a Boeing logo. Something like the one from one of the stock spaceplane parts, or the one from the BDB Apollo.

I'm not MIA, I've just sort of given up on trying to fix it since I spent years trying to figure out why this mod keeps breaking, and despite finding several possible causes and correcting them, this keeps happening. I stopped enjoying working on SEP since all it does is generate issues that are beyond my ability to solve. But, yes if you attach to those ugly concrete bases it will work fine. I'd like to note that there is basically nothing different between those bases and the SEP experiments (ie the colliders, attach points, etc).

Oh, trust me it's actually usually appreciated (after an initial bout of 'what' ); since there is indeed a lot that I miss. I go into it a little more below, but trust me when I say I generally want the same thing as you all I just simply need to make compromises and judgements on factors other than accuracy. For example I've had a couple of people ask about detachable insulation panels for the Centaur D over the years, but after looking into it I had to decide it wasn't worth the a) time to make them, especially because it would include remaking the Centaur tank again, b) texture space since that would increase the memory overhead of the mod, c) it wouldn't be intuitive to a lot of players and would likely earn me more grief than it would praise. Those are all the sort of thing I have to think about when making new parts, and honestly it's only in the last... year or so that I've been focusing more on accuracy. That's both because I'm finding it more rewarding trying to capture unique details from real life vehicles, and also because I've found that often, when I make too many compromises on a part it just winds up creating issues further down the road (see: things like the Saturn V scaling). That is good to know about the Atlas II / III Centaur tank length. If you have an actual number for the length that is even better. Unfortunately the issue with things like the Thor tanks is that BDB is built on, at this point, years of work and questionable decisions. The earlier parts were much looser in their interpretation of IRL rockets. You also have to remember that I am only one person, who already has a very finite amount of time ( @Jso does a ton of work on the back end but pretty much anything involving the models and textures is up to me). This Atlas V is taking months to get done, and I have plenty more stuff on my plate. Now, it's true that I'm not exactly thrilled with the Thor parts when I look at them, yeah I'd love to have time to redo that rocket along with several others, but the simple fact is I don't have time to fix every issue in the mod. If something is 'good enough', I have to try and force myself to leave it alone because usually there are much more significant issues that need to be addressed. By that token, it's appreciated if such energy is devoted to upcoming/current projects. Better to know Specifically talking about the Saturn tanks, my fear/worry/the-thing-I'm-upset-about is that I put these very big, prominent intertank structures where the tank domes go, which is generally at the ends of the parts. I am worried that adding more parts above/below those will look strange, and I'm still not sure how I plan to resolve it. Things like the S-II tank don't really lend themselves to having those structures removed. Anyways, as usual this is a half-baked ramble from work while I shuffle through renders, so apologies if it's a bit incoherent. Also, AJ-60As!

Well, since I was tagged, I'll weigh in and say I don't have that much of an interest in hosting my mods on Steam. I have a system through Github that works fairly well, with uploads to Spacedock to make things easier for people that would prefer getting mods through that service. I haven't ever heard of someone actually using Curse so I never even looked into uploading there. From my POV, what I stand to gain from uploading my mods to steam is a lot of, to use a term, 'lowest common denominator' players *possibly* seeing my mod. I say possibly since in my experience the Steam Workshops are generally a mess and a lot of low quality / poorly supported mods float to the top. Players that I stand to gain from steam, as I said, likely would be people who aren't engaged in the community which entails a fair bit (less likely to generate good bug reports, just lower quality interactions as a whole) as people that are engaged and looking for a good discussion are likely already on the forums. Now, this is also probably because (as a player, and then now as a modder) I don't really look for mods on Spacedock. I usually just skim the thread titles of the first couple pages of the Add On boards at least once a day or so, and check in on any that interest me. This has a side affect of the aforementioned low quality or poorly supported mods generally not hanging around for very long (especially with the moderation team's habit of locking necro'd threads which don't have anything productive happening in them) since those threads die pretty quick. With all of that said, I happily use the Steam workshop for mods for other games (AoE2HD, Cities) so I get where the playerbase is coming from, especially regarding the ease of subscribing to mods (which is very much a double edged sword from a modder's POV - easy for people to just click a button without actually reading the description). I also choose *not* to use the Steam workshop for things like Bethesda games, partially because the communities for those games lie on other sites, and also because I know I need to use utility software and some manual tweaks to get things to work right, similar to a lot of people's KSP installs. Anyways, this was just a quick train-of-thought post on my lunch break so sorry if it's a bit rambling/unclear.

@JoE Smash was it the golf club added by Surface Experiment Pack?

You and @Pappystein should get together, you have the same eye for detail The D3 and D5 tanks are 'obsolete' and are being replaced, the D5 with the new Inon-V tank and the D3 with a new tank that I need to make that is a trimmed down version of the Inon-V.

Wow, good eye! The 'Fenris' parts were made a long time ago, when the standards for accuracy in BDB were a lot lower. I don't think I ever used any sort of reference to make sure they were the right lengths, but trying to fix it now would just break people's craft files. If need be, you can roll your own rescaled tanks with a module manager patch. I am working on making my own 'official' craft files for BDB... actually, I think I have them laying around here somewhere... I don't think we'll see proper Castor 4s for BDB, there already isn't a terribly larger gameplay difference between the Scout's Castor and the GEM-40 oweing to them both being 0.625m diameter in game (since the Castor ALSO has to work as a inline part...).

No, sorry.

If it only uses BDB parts, can you send me a .craft file that is affected? I'd be happy to take a look. Also would like to know what KSP version you're on, what version of BDB you're using, stuff like that. There's definitely opportunity for special Atlas 3 tanks, but they're definitely not a priority (as in, no plans to actually do them). I intended the Atlas 3 to be made just by stacking more of the Atlas extension tanks on top.

Working towards finishing the Atlas V 401. The RD-180 isn't done but I need to clear my head so I'm starting with (hopefully) finishing the Centaur V tankage.

Something of an impromtu dev stream going up in the next ten minutes or so, no idea how long it will go on for.

WIP bare RD-180 textures... I don't think I'll want to use any of those shrouds now... first pic is where we started from yesterday, second pic is what it looks like now... EDIT: And since I'm a bad person and keep forgetting to being this up every time I post about this engine, but thanks again to @PickledTripod for the amazing RD-180 model!

Well, feels like life has been kicking me in the teeth lately, but I finally have something to show for the first time in a while...

I think @Beale should make more probes but that's just me

the link is missing an a/ before the album code... or something

Make me

Reminds me, I wanted to do the other extra Gemini parts from FASA (the ahistorical stuff like the little legs and dish) some day... I believe me and @Beale spoke about it once and decided it was his problem I have always intended on expanding the Saturn related parts, so 'yes'. For some reason I keep getting diverted off of doing more Apollo and Saturn stuff - I think it's a semi-conscious thought that says the ahistorical Apollo/Saturn stuff is the 'end goal' of both the mod development and the in game tech tree, meaning I want to get everything else done first. Now, that's not actually how it has to work since I can (and indeed do) jump around and work on whatever. In reference to your specific requests, there already is a stretched 3rd stage tank (or rather, an additional shorter tank to add to the existing tank's length) that was included in the last release of the mod. Creating stretched variants of the S-1C and S-II is harder. I basically modeled/textured myself into a hole with them. Because they have the ribbed intertanks at the top and bottom of the part, it would look very weird if an extension tank was just stuck on top. Does anyone have feelings on that or ideas for a solution?

I don't know, I just did it with some adjustment layers to get the idea across

Will this support Bluedog's Apollo LES which uses a modified version of the PEBKAC LES module? And the stock-type Mercury LES?

hawt

@Drakenex I think the colors are a little (or a lot) too much on those Geminis - what about something more like this:

Oh wow, I forgot I never did that one. Yeah I'll probably get to it at some point.

Come back we miss you <3