Angelo Kerman

I would have to see your logs since I have no issues running KSP with the latest. You need to install everything that comes with the mod.

So at this point are the threads gone, or can they be restored?

Snacks is also under new management I've made a bunch of revisions, refinements and improvements including a snack recycling option, snack containers (I just added a radial one), the ability to mod the mod's plugin, and added a KSPedia entry.

Hm, replenishing a kerba's snacks while on EVA isn't a trivial task, so I'll shelve it for now. But, this release adds the radial snack tin, found in the Payload category. FYI, making new snacks parts from stock is pretty easy if you use the existing parts as a template. Then you don't have keep bugging modders. Just sayin..

Well, I was testing this radial container when *somebody* suggested a nice idea to let a kerbal on EVA refil the suit's snack pack...

Wow, that's quite a few threads! I was wondering what happened to the MOLE thread...

That happens when writing code as well as with 3D modeling. Sometimes I just have to toss out what I did and start over. If I didn't, you'd have a docking port on the Bison that looked like a door knob...

When Gene suited up, I immediately thought of this:

One of the comments by @TheReadPanda was that there wasn’t much to do in any given biome. I decided to do something about that beyond taking core samples to improve your production efficiency, and Buffalo’s repeatable science experiment that requires you to drive around the biome. The next update gives you something new to do: a mini-game called Gold Strike. It’s based upon an idea I had in 2015 when I first started Pathfinder, where I wanted the ability to dig up a limited amount of valuable resources within a specific area. And of course, Gold Strike is in keeping with Pathfinder's gold rush mentality. The way it works is pretty simple: certain parts, such as the Gold Digger, Buffalo’s crew cab, Bison’s Geology Lab, and of course the Pathfinder Geology Lab, have the ability to detect deposits of valuable resources like Aurum, ExoticMinerals, Karborundrum, and RareMetals. These valuable resources can occur even on worlds and asteroids that don’t officially have the resource as part of their abundance. Wherever you find Ore, you might also find one of these valuable resources. If you discover a lode, such as a Karborundrum lode, then start drilling for Ore! As you harvest the Ore, you’ll use the drill’s new gold strike converter to convert Ore into the valuable resource until the lode is depleted- as long as you remain in the area. (Making KSP add the limited resource is... problematic as best as I can tell, but the converter works well...) You can bring in any number of drills to convert the lode, as long as they stay within a certain distance of the lode’s location; Pathfinder keeps track of where you found the lode and it even sets a waypoint for you. And in keeping with the prospecting theme, if you don’t find a lode in one spot, simply move some non-trivial distance away from where you last checked and try again. To prevent prospecting spam, you only have a limited number of chances to find a lode within a given biome. You can reset those chances, but you’ll pay a hefty price in Career/Science mode. The good news is that kerbals with the science skill can improve your chances of striking it rich. And if you strike the motherlode, you'll get more than average... Here are a couple of pics to give you an idea: I’m just about done with Gold Strike, and I'm pretty excited because I got to learn about setting waypoints, creating some music to play, and figuring out a mini-game. Plus, Gold Strike is a needed component for a top-secret project I'm working on...

I haven't looked at the Outback in awhile, and I don't use TAC, so if you have some values you can suggest, that would be helpful. @Sharpy Looks cool!

I wasn't really planning on a bottom opening cargo bay or a rear cargo ramp. The parts pack has a lot of parts as it is...

I really like how the two authors are talking about the other author as a whole conversation. Nice touch!

LOL, I remember visiting El Toro for the annual Marine Corps air show. Lots of fun... there are hangars of that design at Moffett too.

I just checked, the snack tins already have an option to hold Soil. You can switch between Snacks, Soil, and Snacks and Soil. The radial tank will have the same ability.

No problem. Also, Snacks is pretty stable now, and one of my design goals was to make the mod itself moddable. One option I'm considering as an addon to Snacks is a hardcore mode death penalty for starving your kerbals. That's not something I'd use, and it doesn't belong in the base mod, but I know others have asked for it in the past. Another option is something where you track how long a kerbal has been in space. Not sure I want to do this as there are other means to track flight time, such as with Kerbal Alarm Clock. Again, not appropriate for the base mod, but it could work as an addon.

Yeah, I should be able to add that option as well. These are small changes, I can get to them tomorrow.

What I might do is take the stock radial RCS tanks and make small Snacks container variants. That should do the trick.

Great, I'll incorporate those changes into the next release. Um, how does changing the crash tolerance affect AirPark? @Stone Blue Those look cool. Moffett Field's hangar One is near where I live so if anything, I'd make a hangar based on that, heh. It would be neat to replace the stock game's hangar..

Pathfinder 1.3.6 is now available: - Minor KerbNet fixes. - Added the Oxide Processing Automated Lab (OPAL). Found in the Casa and Ponderosa, this specilized geology lab can convert Ore into Water, Waste, Slag, and Oxygen. - Simplified the production chain for TAC-LS to use Waste in place of Fertilizer. Minerals and Fertilizer are no longer required. - Simplified the production chain for Snacks; you no longer need Organics, and Fertilizer is made in the Pigpen from Ore and Minerals. @TheReadPanda You should find the changes to TAC-LS helpful. The greenhouses run on TAC's resources, and the new OPAL configuration will help supplement Waste, Water, and Oxygen production. I think the production chains are pretty stable at this point, so if people want to create flowcharts or spreadsheets showing what produces what, you should be good to go.

Glad you like the mod. It was the second major mod that I created, along with Multipurpose Colony Modules. It's the oldest mod that I've made that is still active (MOLE is not too far behind...). As for the texturing on the fuel containers, I don't have plans to change them at this time. The large 3.75m tanks were designed to emulate the stock big orange tank, and I definitely succeeded at that. The textures used in the truss segments are straight from stock. The only tanks that are kind of meh for me are the 1.25m tanks; I might just replace those with the ones that Porkjet made for the stock parts revamp and call it a day. Since I got derailed by the Heisenberg last month, this month is DSEV, with a little bit of MOLE thrown in (finally, 1.875m segmented solid rocket boosters). Rather than rework the existing textures, my goal this month is to finish up the part set for the Kerbal Discovery II by completing the Clydesdale and creating the animated centrifuge. You won't need Infernal Robotics to make the centrifuge. I already figured out how make the IVA spin along with the external model, so the centrifuge is going to look pretty cool when it's done. The design is based on NASA's Discovery II spacecraft, so it will be non-inflatable. It will fold for compact storage too, and it will functionally work like the Pilgrim Observer. What's nice is that the Pilgrim Observer had artificial gravity both when under thrust and when coasting. After that, I can look into some texture improvements, but like I said, I like the look of the orange 3.75 tanks.. I'm also debating what I want to do for the Nautilus-X. Its modules are hexagonal instead of cylindrical. Last month I figured that I'd just do cylindrical modules, both because it would simplify the amount of work I have to do, and because it wouldn't clutter the parts catalog with two sets of crew parts with the same functionality. I'll have to revisit that when I finish with Kerbal Discovery II. I'm definitely going to make a Bigelow-style inflatable module, the Mk3 Homestead...

How did those changes I suggested work out? Actually, the Hangar Deck was specifically designed so that it could be flipped upside down and form a drop bay for exactly that purpose. Just flip it upside down and install your winches on the ceiling. Although, it sounds like what you are looking for is a longer lift section, like 10m...

Sure, create a pull request on GitHub and I'll review it.

Last but not least, a couple of news stories of missions I considered for Test Flight, but rejected... Kerbals Orbit the Mun and Return Safely Kerbal Space Center: Gene Kerman, Flight Director for the world's only Kerbal Space Program, announced the safe recovery of Valentina Kerman and Bob Kerman, flight crew for the historic Titan-Brumby-2 mission, known as TB-2 at the Kerbal Space Center (KSC). “With Bill and Jeb’s phenomenal test flight behind us, we knew we had the means to orbit the Mun,” Gene Kerman said during the post-landing news conference. “The Titan-Brumby worked like a champ, getting TB-2 into orbit and providing the initial kick to reach the Mun. Brumby’s OMS Kit did the rest and TB-2 settled into munar orbit, the first time that anybody had ever done that. We even had the first spacewalk in orbit of the Mun, when Bob stepped out to reset some science experiments and collect their data.” Aerial and satellite images of the Titan-Brumby-2 launch “Our first attempt to orbit the Mun on TA-12,” Valentina added, referring to the twelfth Titan-Appaloosa flight, “was a good test of the Appaloosa and the Corvette upper-stage engine, but we didn’t have the fuel to orbit the Mun. Bob and I were honored to make the [world’s first munar] flyby, but we were ready for a rematch with TB-2.” Bob Kerman watches the TB-2 launch after he and Valentina perform their Trans-Munar Injection Burn. “Mission objectives called for TB-2 to rendezvous with Mecho Relay 1,” Gene continued, referring to a communications relay satellite already in munar orbit that was visited by TB-1, “but it didn’t have the delta to reach either it or Mecho Relay 2.” The Flight Director explained that TB-2 lacked the fuel needed to reach either of the communications relays, an objective of the mission. “We were a bit concerned that TB-2 didn’t have the delta to come home, but we had a backup plan already in place. Mecho Relay 3. We launched the relay with Coach [logistics] modules filled with monopropellant to refuel TB-2 with, and a day later, Valentina docked with it and met the lunar docking mission objective. We even got credit for starting the first munar “space station,” though we have a real station in planning. Anyway, we then transferred monopropellant to TB-2 and used Mecho Relay 3 to maneuver into a better orbit to return home from. Since there wasn’t enough delta remaining in the Mecho’s tanks to reach its target orbit, we simply de-orbited the relay.” Mecho Relay 3: Pre-planned or rescue mission? When asked if the Mecho Relay 3 was a rescue mission, Gene Kerman responded. “It was a contingency plan already in place in the event that the fuel situation didn’t work out. The astronauts were never in danger. In fact, it gave us time to meet more of our mission objectives. Bob performed the first spacewalk around the Mun, for instance, to retrieve some science data and reset some experiments.” TB-2 not only performed the first docking around the Mun and the first spacewalk around the Mun, Bob and Valentina made several observations of the munar surface, including reporting two unusual sightings, one near the north rim of the East Crater, and one near the East Farside Crater, that they couldn’t explain. The first docking around the Mun. “We don’t know what they were,” Bob added, “but what I do know is that we should send a follow-up mission. If the SCANSat mission we’re working on goes well in Kerbin orbit, maybe we can send one to the Mun.” An anomaly on the Mun? After the docking and refueling operation, TB-2 performed a Trans-Kerbin engine burn to set course for home. A day later, Valentina and Bob successfully re-entered the atmosphere and made a safe splashdown. "We're pleased with the performance of the new Brumby," Gene concluded the briefing. "It has much better visibility for rendezvous and docking compared to the Appaloosa, and it's purpose-built for holding two astronauts. We have many more missions planned." Thanks guys! And the last news story... Kerbal Space Program Launches the World's First Space Station Kerbal Space Center: Ionic Symphonic Protonic Electronics hired Kerbal Space Program (KSP) to deliver a station into orbit that had space for 5, power production, an antenna, and 2,500 Electric Charge. Following the completion of the Titan-Brumby-2 mission, KSP proceeded to develop and fly the station, which would become the first space station to orbit Kerbin. "We’ve wanted to launch a space station into orbit ever since YAML-10 put Jeb into orbit," says Gene Kerman, Flight Director for Kerbal Space Program. "So when Ionic reached out to us to build a station for them, we saw the makings of a cooperative agreement. We'd develop the technology for space stations and the means to transport kerbals to and from them, and Ionic would profit from our shared research. So after TB-2 [Titan-Brumby-2] orbited the Mun with Valentina and Bob, and all the stuff we learned from that, we began working on the station." The modified Titan I launch vehicle, with four BAAC "Thumper" solid rocket boosters, successfully ignited its engines and lifted off the launchpad, sending the Mark One Research Laboratory (MORL) on its way. A staging event to jettison the spent solid rocket boosters resulted in an explosion of some kind. Flight Control immediately began to assess the situation. "We were really concerned about the anomaly," Gene said. "If the launch failed, we'd not only lose the station, but we'd have faced financial penalties for failing to deliver the station on time." Telemetry data indicated loss of an engine on the Titan I lower stage. However, Flight Control determined that the stage had sufficient propellant and thrust to continue the mission. “The Fulcrum engine lived up to its name and kept the rocket on course,” Gene said. Flight Control jettisoned the payload fairing once atmospheric pressure reached safe levels. The Titan I continued to increase MORL's velocity until burnout. Its staging event was nominal. "The Titan I upper stage performed admirably," Gene continued during the post-launch news conference. "It performed its orbital insertion burn to place MORL into a 72km by 92km orbit, and then circularized its orbit. Once on the dayside of Kerbin, the Titan I upper stage separated from the station and performed its de-orbit burn. Stage Recovery teams then proceeded to the splashdown site to recover and refurbish the upper stage. Meanwhile, we did some on-orbit tests and so far, so good." Despite the engine-out event on the Titan I, Kerbal Space Program managed to successfully deliver MORL into orbit. Per contract negotiations, KSP will use the station to support a Mark One Laboratory Extension that they will fly at a later date, and conduct space research that they'll share with Ionic Symphonic Protonic Electronics. "With a design life of about 4-6 months," Gene concluded, "We'll have enough time to do several experiments before we need to de-orbit the station. So while MORL is the world's first station and short-lived, it won't be the last. In fact, we're already entering negotiations with other companies to put stations in orbit around the Mun and Minmas. We get paid to put stations in places where we want to go and do science, and we share our findings with our benefactors, who are interested in the spin-off technology. It's win-win." ---- That's it for Test Flight: A KSP Mission Report. Test Flight was a test flight in more ways than one. One of the things I wanted to explore is what format works best for my mission reports. I kind of like both the comic format and the news report, so maybe what I can do is have a main storyline in comic format and news reports for things that don't really fit in the comic...

And the final part: