purpleivan

I'll be extra clear here. @GrandProtectorDark in his original post, was talking about console modding as in KSP (i.e. software modification), not modding of console hardware. That was and is the subject he wanted to discuss. Not console hardware modding, not symantics of the term... just game mods, for KSP. There's nothing in that first post that indicates they want to talk about hardware mods, other than the use of the term that you disagree with. They then repeatedly state that what they are referring to, and want a discussing of, is games mods of the kind seen in KSP on PC. You may disagree with the terminology that he's used, but I think unless there is a pressing legal reason (on this forum) for them not to use the term "console modding", then I think he should be free to use it.

I'm currently in the middle of (well I wish... I'm about 25% through) a boat drive around the coastline of Kerbin. I've been really impressed by how some it looks. One feature I noticed, not too far from the location of the KSC, was what looked like a meteor crater. I don't have an exact location, but it was somewhere in the middle of this leg of the trip. There's a map at the top of the post and it should be somewhere near the middle of the leg of the journey marked on it. Most likely though it's the one at 24.9, -98.2 (based on Temporary Kerbal Maps) I'm currently passing through the big crater bay near the equator, and to me that has by far the best terrain I've seen in the game.

It's very clear that @GrandProtectorDark is talking about "mods for consoles games" and not "modding of console hardware". Context is everything. Is the issue that they should not use the term on this forum for legal reasons? If not this seems like argument for argument's sake. I know this is the lounge, but the OP was clearly setting up a discussion of mods for consoles, in the form they are know in KSP. That being modifications or additions to the game only (not hardware) of a kind approved of by the developer. What they weren't looking for was a discussion of the semantics of the term "console mods".

Today it was some completely unnecessary use of personal parachutes. Start with Val exit a perfectly good rover... ... add some dramatic scenery... ... then have her jump off a cliff, 5.3km ASL, leaving Bob to take the long route back down to sea level in the rover on his own. Just a shame she couldn't quite nail the landing (she was aiming for the boat).

Big Bulge in BBQ Bay - Part 2 With morning comes another jaunt of 27km in the Coastal Cruiser. The rover's going to make making its way along the top of the rim to meet them further along the coast, but Val has other plans. Some driving the boat along dramatic coastline later and... ... they're a lot closer to the pair in the rover, especially considering that a good chunk of that distance is altitude. Talking of altitude, here it is... 5.3km above the boat. Val might seem a little overdressed, but that's how she EVA'd and I'm not one to argue. She walks to the edge and takes a look. It is a very long way down, maybe sticking with Bob in the rover isn't going to be so bad. Power seat, A/C a good supply of sugary snacks. Then again, Bob did keep her up half the night with a string of bad knock, knock jokes. Who are we kidding... this is Val right. Of course she going to take that short cut back to the boat. Ok... that jump did take almost 7 minutes, but it is a loooong way down. The plan was to land on the boat, but a splashdown is almost as good, if a bit wet. With Val back down at sea level, it was time for Bob to make his own break for the coast. His was going to be just a smidge longer though. Ok, a smidge might be the biggest understatement since Jeb's tax return, but with scenery like this Bob doesn't mind spending a day and a half getting to the coast. Look at this place, I mean there should be some pterodactyls flying around here... riden by orcs in an epic battle. But today it's just Bob, the rover and the trees. The rover speeds through the impressive scenery (video coming soon), up and down, up and down, but overall heading down. The high level valley that he's in gradually drops in height, as he drives along it, following the line of the crater rim. This goes on for quite some time, with lots of snap-able views, but so as not to break Imgur, here's just one. Well and another one. It's early evening and the sun's low in the sky, so not much more driving for today. With sunset comes the end of new juice for the rover, but it's pretty much just a downhill slope now. The high valley breaks out into the lowlands that sit between the two edges that make up this part of the crater rim. Finally night falls and Bob brings the rover to a halt. In the morning he'll make for a low point in the crater rim (it's just above the rear of the rover in this pic) for a rendezvous with the rest of the crew.

More from the gift that keeps on giving (the big crater bay). Bob an Val set a new record for the trip, at 5.7km up

Big Bulge in BBQ Bay... or, heading for the heights once again. Once the rover was detached, Bob and Val raced up the hills towards the cliff wall. A break in it offered a way to the top of the cliffs. Their target is the large bulge in the crater rim, left of center of this picture. They don't know how high the peak is, but they're pretty confident of setting a new record. The going on the slopes up the the break in the cliff wall are steeper than expected and the rover needs to be stopped frequently to recharge. It's 2.3km up and they've still not made it to the rocky part of the break in the crater rim. That's the break they're aiming for. The picture gives an incorrect impression of the gradient.. it's about 45 degrees where they are, and the way ahead is 50 - 60. Between here and the dip ahead, it take 4 or 5 recharges to make it up. The going is so steep that it's a case of 2 steps forward, then when step back, when they have to stop to recharge while sliding down the slope. Finally they break out on top of the slope, then their way a little higher, before finally finding flat ground... at almost 3.4km up. That's the way ahead, most of it is fairly easy driving, but there's still quite a way to go to the bulge. They stop under one of the mysterious floating boulders that can be found around these parts. Val climbs on top of the rover to see if she can reach. Sadly for her, she cannot. 4.4km and they can see their target ahead of them. The going is generally pretty easy and they're making good time, though occasionally it does get steep enough to force them to recharge. The terrain is pretty bumpy, so the rover gets airbourne from time to time. Twice the rover comes up over the top of a gradient, going a little too fast and tumbles end over end, only to land squarely on it's wheels. To quote a certain Youtube channel "It survives this". They've made itup to over 5km, breaking the previous record at Mount Triumph. But there's plenty more climbing to do, so this new record is set to tumble. 5.5km and they break out on top of a small plateau near the summit, which is seen just behind them. The going up that last part was pretty steep, requiring a recharge, but the sun is low enough for that to be a slow process now. With some extra charge in the batteries the pair gun it for the summit, straight into the low sun Bob's blinded by the glare, but he can just about make out the edge of they're narrow strip they're driving up, with the steep 3km drop on the right side. At last they make it to the top and set a new record of 5734m. Both look pretty happy with that achievement. It's a very long view from up here and the pair spend a little time taking it in. But the sun is setting, and the weak light just gives them a trickly into the batteries, so they're not going much further today. The sun hits the horizon and at this altitude (possibly aided by clouds) they get the spectacular view of the sun through one cab side window, and the darkness of night throught the other.

Leg 22a The following morning, back at the boat, the crew prepared for the almost 30km trip down the coast to retrieve Bob, Bill and the rover. A short hop by their standards. They dash along the coast, admiring the scenery on the inside of the bay. They reached the cove that the rover descended to the previous evening. With it and the two crew back onboard, they head back out to sea. Then that dash along the coast once again. There's some great scenery around here and the crew are really enjoying this part of their trip. Bill and Bob look at the altimeter... it's wierd for them to see it at 0. The boat has well over half a tank of fuel left, so they speed onward along the coast. The chain of mountains seems to go on forever, and there's something in it that grabs Bob's interst. That big bulge in the cliff wall must be higher than his last conquest, so he's joined by Val in the rover, ready for another wheels based adventure. Coming in the next post... Bob and Val on record breaking form.

Bob and Bill back down to sea level, from the 3km high area on top of the big crater bay. That'd be these slopes, that are about 2km from the top, down to the foothils. If you're going to go sightseeing anywhere on Kerbin, you've gotta come here.

But that's only about 7 hours for me... can't wait

Pictures from a descent... heading down the crater rim wall in Kerbin Sorta-Circumnavigation. I definitely think this is the best looking region on kerbin I've come across in the travels so far... certainly the most dramatic.

Descending Barbeque Bay Coming down from the top of of hmmm.. what does Bob want to call it. "Bob's Triumph?" "Too you." "B's Triumph?" "Nice try." "Ok, how about just Mount Triumph." "That'll do." OK, where were er, ah yes... coming down Mount Triumph, Bob and Bill tried many way to get down in reasonable time. Sliding backwards. Sliding forwards. "How about down there for a shortcut." "Good idea Bob, but I'd like to get down with my insides still, you know, inside" FInally after much sliding, slow driving and generally crawling around, the pair made it to the bottom... of the mountain that is. Trouble is... They're still 3km about the sea. They could drive a looooong way that way, to get the end of this section of the mountain chain, but the going looks vey rough and slow. Heading back to the nice gentle slope on the right might be an option, but... ... the sun will be setting soon, so there isn't time to get there and still have power. So the only choice is going down where there are, which is here. Bob pokes the rover out over the edge and hits the brakes to stop them hurling down the slope. After a minute or so they reach some shallower slope and they stop to top up the batteries. But that's the last of it for a while.. they're now in the shadow of rim wall. From now on it's just steering and brakes. But hey... at least it's all downhill. The slope in places is is over 70 degrees and the rover starts to spin, pirouetting around a dozen or more times, until Bob graples it into pointing one way, albeit backwards, down the slope. After what feels like an age, they still have over 2km to down until they get to the sea. But Bob seems sastisfied with progress so far. After another long slide on the brakes, the slope gradually eases, and Bob gently swings the rover round to point downhill. He's even confident enough to star letting the brakes off now and then to get them down quicker. But they're still over 1800m up... when will this end. Bob's mood has changed from satisfied to positively happy about they're trip down the rim wall. FInally they're back into sunlight, but that isn't going to last long. From the cabin the slope seems impossibly steep... how is this rover holding on? But at least they can see the end of the steep slope isn't far ahead. Finally the slope that felt almost vertical in places softens into something manageable. With a nice little bay on the coast visible ahead, Bob aims for it and picks up some speed. Having moved away from the wall that is the rim of the crater, the sun once again starts to feed the batteries. But not for long, as they're soon in that special "you're visually lit, but your solar panels are blocked" state. At last they roll onto the beach, the 3km high wall they just decended behind them. With batteries empty there's no juice to run the lights on the rover, so Bill whips out some matches, firewood and food he has in his pockets (he had his expanded for the trip) for a barbeque on the beach.

Bob and Bill climbed one of the big beasts in big crater mountain chain... in the little runabout for the Kerbin Sorta-Circumnavigation. That involved a sideways scramble across a very steep (greater than 45 degrees) slope of doom, just below the peak, to avoid going all the way down, driving around the whole mountain, then up the other side. That'd be the slope just above the center of the picture below, with the cluster of trees on it.

Climbing Barbeque Bay - Day 3 Bob and Bill had a lie in after the effort of the previous two days, so didn't get on the move until mid morning. The first 20 minutes was moving along the valley and over some ridges, that separated them form there target mountain. Bob got out on top of the rover for a clearer look... is it too much, I mean, it is a bit steep. 2700m and the pair haven't even made it it to the base of the thing yet. Surely yesterday's record climb will be broken. With the foothills (the ones that are 2.7km above sea level) out of the way, the going got tougher, with some steep slopes to climb. fortunately they encounter shallower gradients from time to time, allowing the rover to be recharged. Nowhere near the peak and the record is already beaten. The rover is on the flatish area in the bottom right, and the plan is to scramble up to the ridge in the upper left, then follow the ridge up to the peak. The going was steep, but fortunately it was short too. Once up on the ridge, the pair drove to the end of it to take a look at the view. It's a long way from the mountain they were at the top of a couple of days ago. With admiring the view out of the way, Bob swings the rover around and points it towards the peak again. it looks pretty steep up ahead, but at least it looks like there are spots to stop and recharge. They reach a small almost flat section and park up in the shade of a very short tree. Fortunately it doesn't block the solar panels. As they head towards the peak, they break through 4km for the first time. Ok... the easy stuff is over, from now on things are going to get a lot harder for the pair and their trusty rover. Bob's getting worried now. The rover isn't going to make it up that last slope on the left side of the picture from where they are (the shallower slope just left of the middle of the picture). He needs another route if they're going to make it to the top. "So Bob, this plan of yours". "Yup". "This plan is to drive across that really steep slope ahead" "That is the plan" "The slope that looks like it's about 30 degrees from vertical... and looks like death in rock form" "Uh huh" "The slope that crashes down almost vertically for about a kilometre" "Indeed" "When we're done with this trip I think you need a new psych eval". Bob then explained to Bill the reason is that they're almost to the top on the left side of the peak in the middle of this picture. The only alternative to the dash across the slope of doom, is driving all the way back down to foothills on the bottom on the left, then all the through the foothills to the right end of the mountain. After that drive round the back a bit, then all the way up the right side. "Ok Bob, just checking... I've got insurance, so let's get going". Bob floors it across the steep slope. The rover keeps trying to turn into the slope, and point uphill, but each time Bob swings it around a little downhill, to keep them moving sideways across it. About halfway to the far side the going thankfully gets a little less steep... about 45 degrees, and they finally make it to safety with about 1/3 charge left in the batteries. The slope in the middle of the picture is what they had to scramble sideways across, in order to reach the safety of the plateau on the left. Bob and Bill stare up towards the peak. The going looks the easiest they've seen in a while. The rover pushes on up without having to stop to recharge, before breaking out near the summit. The top is almost flat and Bob guides the rover over to the highest point. 4768m... it's so high up that the pair are actually in the base of the clouds. The pair look pretty satisfied. Why not... there's a great view from up here. Just don't look down.

Climbing Barbeque Bay - Part 2 With the mountain at the tip of the crate rim ticked off, it was time for Bob and Bill to follow the rim to bigger, better mountains. They left they vanquished foe behind them and headed along for the ridge along the rim. It's a pretty sharp ridge but at first doesn't look too steep, but as they climb it it's clear that they won't be able to make it to the top this way. So they go over to the South side to drive past the peak, the idea being to attack it from the further along the rim. Up over 1000m and the nearby peak beckons, but it's still too steep to climb it, so they had past once more. Reasonably gentle slope on the South side makes for easy driving. Having rounded the first peak on their travels along the rim, the come across this staircase of rock ahead of them. The rover with our two brave heroes is in the middle of there... somewhere. The larger peaks that are further along the rim start to come into view. 2150m and still not climbed a peak yet. Surely today will see the trip's altitude record broken. Decisions, decisions... which peak will Bob head for. He'd like to take a crack at the one on the South side (right of image), so he heads towards it to take a closer look. 2363m and were driving in a valley... kinda weird. After taking a closer look of the South side peak, Bob can see that althought the lower slopes look easy enough, the peaks themselves are clearly impossible for this rover. So his focus switches to that on the North side. Yep... trying to get to the top of the highest peak there would have be a case of scratch one rover (plus Bob and Jeb), so the pair are ok with their decision to bail on climbing it. Right... into the lower slopes of the North side peak, quite pleasant terrain for the pair to be driving through. Bob says that he'd like to have a cabin up here. They reach a small plateau at the base of the peak. Parked on the plateau they find it's atover 2600m, but how high is the peak they are about to attempt to reach. Bob swings the rover around as he thinks he might be able to make the short, but every steep, dash up the South side of the peak. No such luck though... the rover quickly falls to 5m/s and it's clear that the batteries won't make it to the top, and it's too steep to park on and recharge. So Bob swings the rover round to the East and heads along the base of the peak to try and find a better route to the top. The pair stop for a moment to take in the view, as well as take a look at other mountains they might want to climb. They rule out the very tall steep peak on the right, that Bob names Wicked Witch Mountain. Skirting around the base of the peak, they find a ravine, but a steep one, at the eastern end of the peak, that might give them access to the top. Bob noses the rover from the plateau into the ravine. Then he guns it for the top. The going is steep, but not as steep as the assault on the South side was. Finally the batteries give out and they have to stop to recharge. Fortunately the slope is just shallow enough to stop and charge the batteries without slipping too far down the slope. FInally they make it... well, kind of. It's a new record altitude of 2933m, but the true peak, slightly higher than this bump, is ahead of them. The batteries won't make it the the peak itself, so they stop on the closest to flat ground they can find. They make it up to he narrow ridge that the peak is on. The drop on either side is about 70 degrees, so Bob has to be extra carefull here. One slip and the rover is going to be scattered in bits over the mountainside. They assault the ridge, but it's just too steep on either side to stop at the peak and they don't fancy charging at it just to get an extra couple of metres higher. Still, it's another record at 3028m. 3km up in this little rover and Bob thinks there are even higher peaks for it in the future. Like the one dead ahead. With the sun heading for the ocean, behind them to the West, Bob and Jeb trundle on through the high level valley, towards their next target. But with night falling, they stop the rover and break out the pre-dinner snacks. They're looking forward to tomorrow, which could bring their highest mountain climb yet.

Yup I actually misread the rules of the challenge and thought it was just a question of how fast you could get a kerbal to Eeloo's SOI. It turned out you had to land and return from that frozen world... that made my entry a bit redundant, but at least it made for fun little video.

The thing that comes to mind for me was when I sent a plucky Jeb on a fast flyby of Eeloo for a challenge. Shot by at closest approach (3600m) at 31km/s... he's not been seen since. Just a shame I shot past the shadowed side.

More mountain climbing with Bob and Jeb in Barbeque Bay. On the way up. Looking at the ones they'll be climbing tomorrow.

Climbing Barbeque Bay - Part 1 In the morning Bob with Bill along side him, left the beach to tackle the mountain in the distance. They trundled up through the foothills. Then more foothills. and even more foothills... come on hurry up, where's the fun stuff. At least the mountain in behind them was shrinking, at least they had that clue they were making progress. Ok, that looks more impressive. The pair make it up to 1000m. Not something to write home about, but there's plenty more climbing to go. From here the going got a lot steeper and progress slowed, but it did provide a pretty good view. Finally something vaguely flat and a chance to stop and recharge. Somewhere in the middle of that flatish area in the middle of the picture is the rover. They made their way up to just short of the peak and yet again had to stop to charge the batteries (I wish I'd added a couple of 400unit batteries instead of the 100 ones). After a short dash towards the top, the pair finally made it and perched on the peak to help braking. 2600m... not exactly a record, but not a bad climb. Bob rolled down from the top to the edge of a small plateau just below it. "Nice view from up here Bob, just don't let go of that brake handle..." "... it's a bit of a drop". With the mountain beaten, the pair headed down, taking a moment now and then to look at the scenery. "There's some bigger mountains along the crateer edge... should be good for a record" remarks Bob. "and the best way to get at them is from this end". "Ok Bob... what are waiting for, the quicker we get down, the quicker we get back up again".

I was quickly scrolling through the page when this caught my eye. Immediately thought "is this Triop?" Scrolled up to the top of the post to check... yep, it's Triop

It's at the tip of the south end of the crater bay.

Further adventures were had in the Kerbin Sorta-Circumnavigation. The crew of the Coastal Cruiser arrive at the dramatic Barbeque Bay. Bob gets excited. They cruise beneath steep mountain peaks. Plus help from above is called in.

Bob's Barbeque... or, the land that time forgot. It gonna be big... REAL BIG. Big Coast, Big Action, Big Story. Well... at least one of those isn't a lie. Leg 21 started out like any other. Tanks full (well nearly) of fuel and a crew of four eager to press on around the coast. The Mun came up over the horizon. The boat whisked over shallows. They even had some time for Bob to name stuff. "So Val... do I get to name those mountains" "Sure... go nuts". "The Kraken's horns, pretty cool huh?" "But the Krakken doesn't have horns" "Yeah... but if it did" Then something appeared on the horizon... Bob's rovering senses began to tingle. This was big... REAL BIG. Bob climbed on top of the rover to get the best view possible, what greeted his eyes had him dancing with joy. Either that or he really needed the bathroom. Jeb pulled the boat in to a 100m or so from the base of the huge mountain range and the whole crew went on deck to take a look. After checking the map they realised that they had reached the famous Barbeque Bay. Named after the smell of kinosour flesh, speed roasted by the huge asteroid impact that wiped them out, that lingers in the area to this day. Bob was eager to attack those mountaintops, but even he didn't want to start out on slopes this steep. As the boat carried on along the coast, an isolated mountain appeared in the distance. Bob thinks that this will make a fine start. Jeb agrees with Bob that starting from the shallow beach on the other side of this long spit of land will be the best bet. "So... Kraken's toe?" "But kraken's don't..." "I know, I know". Bob's mouth starts to drool thinking about climbing this beast. Some pretty impressive slopes to climb, good thing Bob won't be going up that way. Jeb pushed the boat on towards the beach a few kilometres down the coast. All of a sudden Jeb shuts of the engines and coasts to a halt. In all the excitement no-one's been watching the fuel gauge and there's not much left in the tanks. No problem you say, just call the Goose. Well Jeb doesn't want to risk a tanker getting wiped out, landing in this terrain. So they call up their new friend. MIRF make a de-orbit burn, before falling away from the orbital platform. The first attempt (aided by Trajectories... all your re-entry needs, in a can) was looking good, until MIRF got to about 30km and started to tumble, meaning that all bets were off for the final landing location. So a 2nd attempt was made with the predicted landing site left long, to allow for the extra drag from the tumble, during decent. Sure enough at about 30km, MIRF started to tumble, things got hot... but not too hot. Ok, looks like we're going to land a little long, so time to hit the brakes. This scenery looks familar, we can't be too far from the Coastal Cruiser. Splashdown. Wellcome, to Jurassik Park. So how far are we from the boat... 11.8km, way better than last time, and well within range of it (probably about 30km with the current fuel load). With their new load of fuel waiting in the water, the Coastal Cruiser hauled stern towards the waiting MIRF After several unsuccessful attempts to clamp onto the nice round cargo bays (that worked fine in tests), MIRF finally takes a bite of the thin edge of a wing. No accounting for taste I guess. Then with full tanks and the sun about to set, the boat headed towards the shore. "Hmmm..." says Bob. "Mount stupidly big statue broken off at the feet". "Come on... be original" says Val. "Plus it's clearly Mount Gemstone". Once they reach shore and make the boat ready for the overnight stay, Bob sits in the rover, barely able to sleep thinking about what tomorrow will bring.

Thanks... I've downloaded the mod and give it a go next time I'm dropping a MIRF. I've always just eyeballed my landings, which makes life... interesting. But I think this mod might be the way to go.

MIRF and Merriment... or, "Death from Above"... er... I mean, "Fuel From Above". In a secret program, known only to select staff at the KSC... and their families... freinds... plus the readers of the Daily Kerbin (including free Saturday edition) the Coastal Cruiser was going to get an exciting alternative source of fuel. The military might have their MIRVs, but the KSC has MIRFs (Multiple Independent Re-entry Fuel stores). A set of four of these MIRFs were launched towards a low orbit of Kerbin. The second stage engine was assisted by those of the MIRFs, using fuel from the central tanks in the stack. Once in orbit (75km) the MIRF orbital platform waited... waited to rain terror... well, fuel supplies, on an unsuspecting world. The automated platform received the instruction to deploy one of the MIRFs. The Coastal Cruiser was a bit South of the equator, but the re-entry burn took care of that. Early in the descent it looked like the vehicle might end up long of the landing site, so the bay doors were opened to help bleed off some speed. Then as things started to heat up, the concern was that MIRF would land short of the target. Well... we're going to land short anyway, might as try out those airbrakes. Chutes ahoy and a decent slug of fuel onboard for the boat. Splashdown. Okay... 56km from the target is a bit more than planned, but the idea was always for the boat to come to the fuel. Time to rail the sails... well, solar array and wait for our first customer. The Coastal Cruiser has 226 unit of fuel onboard, but that might not be enough to make it the 56km to MIRF. Gusman's route back to the Dessert Airfield takes him over the the boat, so he'll drop in to give them what fuel he can spare. The purple marker on the left is MIRF and the green on the right, the Coastal Cruiser. Hi guys... I ain't got much fuel for you this time, but you can have what I can spare. Hmmm... only just over 1000 units onboard, so can't spare much. The crew says thanks for the top up and head out. So an extra 218 units should be enough to make it to MIRF... they hope. They speed out to sea, the coastline falling below the horizon behind them. Good thing they had the extra fuel from Gus, it would have been too close to call without it. Finally the rendezvous with MIRF. "Hello little fella.. pleased to meet ya". Contact, now for some tank filling. Bill looks for an eyepatch and hat in the trunk of stuff he brought with him, but looks like he left them at home. Still, he climbs across to MIRF, then declares possession of the ship and all the booty it contains. With refilled tanks, they speed towards the shore and away from the orbital fuel giver. Ok... who stole the land. With the sun setting behind them Val decides to moar at the first available spot. A small island just off the coast. Well, as a plan MIRF worked out ok, but with the fuel used to get refilled, we're going to have to get more accurate landings if it's going to be worth using.