[[1.3] Wyvern, an advanced 5-kerbal crew capsule]

I can confirm the IVA does not work with KSP 1.4.5. Not sure what the issue is; I can look into it next weekend if I have time.

[[1.3] Wyvern, an advanced 5-kerbal crew capsule]

Introducing the Wyvern crew capsule.

Industry newcomer Arc Aerospace unveiled their new crew capsule today. With modern computer-aided design practices and its state-of-the-art computer system, it's capable of fully autonomous flight without any astronauts onboard. Furthermore, thanks to its lightweight composite design, it's able to hold five astronauts while weighing less than the competition's Mk1-2 while still compatible with existing 2.5m launch vehicle infrastructure.

At the same time, Arc Aerospace announced a new form of capsule recovery: propulsive landing. When fitted with four Wyvern Engine Pods (sold separately), the Wyvern crew capsule is able to land propulsively. (Parachutes not necessary, but strongly recommended.) These engine pods also provide launch abort capability from the launchpad all the way into orbit. Each engine pod contains a full tank of monopropellant, so no external monopropellant is needed for vertical landing. (Make sure you set your fuel tank priorities correctly so that they're not drained while in orbit, leaving you to find no monopropellant in your tanks after reentry!)

With all of the extra mass afforded by the ultra-lightweight design of the crew capsule, Arc Aerospace says that the Wyvern has leading-in-class electric storage, data transmission capabilities, and even limited-duration crewed deep-space operations.

Kerlington Paper Planes and Model Rockets, Inc. contended that the Wyvern, as a clean-sheet design, was not fit to carry crew without an extensive safety record. Arc Aerospace responded with evidence of over a dozen uncrewed launches that demonstrated the reliability and safety of the Wyvern crew capsule, including a long-duration uncrewed deep-space mission. In unrelated news, Kerlington has slashed the price of their competing Mk1-2 crew capsule.

Complete Imgur album

 

Requirements

• RasterPropMonitor is required for the IVA.
• RealPlume configs are included.
• VenStockRevamp is strongly recommended but not required. These parts were designed to fit in with Ven's style.
• Works with Ferram Aerospace Research.
• Tested in both KSP 1.2.2 and 1.3.

 

Credits

@Ven for Ven's Stock Revamp, for the models and textures for the top and bottom of the capsule (and an incredible art style to boot);

@MOARdV and @Mihara for RasterPropMonitor (for the IVA props); and

@EmbersArc for Kerbal Reusability Expansion (which inspired the idea of a modern crew capsule mod for KSP)
 

Installation

Just download the mod and unzip it into your GameData folder. Make sure you have RasterPropMonitor installed.
WyvernCrewCapsule-0.1-alpha.zip

Note that the capsule's files are within the ArcAerospace folder; despite my dislike for mod authors naming the folder after the in-game company that means nothing to the end user (and making it difficult to find out what parts are provided by which mods), I plan to expand the Arc Aerospace lineup with different parts in the future, and I'd like for my parts to all be in the same place for simplicity and to avoid name collisions.

 

License

CC-BY 4.0 International

Don't forget to credit Ven if you reuse the textures or models! The top and bottom of the Wyvern capsule are taken directly from Ven's Mk1-2 remodel.

 

How you can help

Right now, I'm looking for feedback on the overall balance of these parts. This is also my first KSP mod and I play 100% sandbox, so I just used the existing config for the Mk1-2 pod for science and some minor tweaks to the costs. I'm aware that this pod is pretty darn OP for stock, but my intent was to make it an end-game part.

[[1.2-1.7] Blender (2.83+) .mu import/export addon]

I'm having a problem with normals in my exported model:

http://imgur.com/a/vjr56

It only affects the visuals when the part has the "mouseover" effect. Has anyone seen this, or better yet, found a solution? Thanks in advance for the help!

[[1.0.4] - RealPlume - Stock Configs v0.8.1 - 2015/281]

I was getting major FPS drops with RealPlume installed; I'm fairly certain it's caused by the smoke. Does RealPlume have many more particles than stock?

[[1.0] Mk3 Mini Expansion Pack (Mk3 NoseCone and Alternate Cockpit)]

This is exactly what a mod should be: simple and complete. Incredible job on the modeling and texturing as well.

[[WIP][1.9.x-1.12.x] Scatterer-atmospheric scattering (0.0838 - 14/08/2022) Scattering improvements, in-game atmo generation and multi-sun support]

blackrack, you may want to take a look at the FlightGear flight simulator's atmospheric light scattering implementation. They only have to handle a single planet, but it does it quite well.

[[1.2.2] Stock Part Revamp, Update 1.9.6. Released Source Files!]

To fix the Mk1 fuselage scaling, just add:

scale = 1.25,1.25,1.25

after the

model = VenStockRevamp/Squad/Parts/Mk1/<whatever>

line in the

MODEL {
...
}

block.

(The files are in GameData/VenStockRevamp/Squad/Parts/FuelTanks.cfg and Structural.cfg.)

[[WIP][1.9.x-1.12.x] Scatterer-atmospheric scattering (0.0838 - 14/08/2022) Scattering improvements, in-game atmo generation and multi-sun support]

I get around 30-40fps in VAB and around 15-30 in flight, depending on conditions. With a single-part ship in orbit with stock, I can get about 35fps or so. Launch framerate is much worse, though, because of the particles and the KSC; plus, there's usually dozens of parts during launch so KSP is CPU limited there.

Edit: I probably should have said GPU.

[[WIP][1.9.x-1.12.x] Scatterer-atmospheric scattering (0.0838 - 14/08/2022) Scattering improvements, in-game atmo generation and multi-sun support]

I have the same issue; what graphics card do you have? I have Intel HD 4000.

[[WIP] Mars Transfer Vehicle]

It looks like SpaceX used your vehicle in a presentation; they used it to show NASA's Mars vehicle architecture: http://i.imgur.com/48woCCf.png