rougeaux

I think the metal texture pack is now included in the normal install. As for the B9 error, your KSP.log file might have more information, but if it were me I'd just delete both SSPX and B9, then reinstall them both using the latest SSPX package from Github (as opposed to CKAN). That will either fix the issue, or tell you that the issue is being caused by a conflict with something else.

I'll just leave this here:

While playing around with the MagPie Mods set of TexturesUnlimited configs by @Skonks, I noticed that with the latest version of BDB, a lot of the parts appeared to be missing the SHINEY (or, more accurately, some parts didn't use a shader and therefore looked weirdly matte.) I poked around through the config and found that it was missing a ton of parts that had presumably been added since the config was made, along with a number of parts that had their names changed. So, in the interest of SHINEY, I rebuilt the config to include the new and/or changed parts. Basically, I created a list of all the models in the BDB folder ("dir /b /S *.mu > models.txt"), copied the list into the MagPie config, then sorted the models based on whether they were metallic (Atlas balloon tanks, engines, some Apollo stuff), less-metallic (almost everything that could have been painted), or non-metallic (parachutes and heat shields). How does it look? SHINEY. Here it is, in all its glory. Save it as "BDB.cfg" and use it to replace the file in your GameData/MagpieMods/TU_Cfgs folder.

If you go into the "Betas" tab, there's a drop-down menu that lets you select any previous version of KSP as your installation, including 1.8.1.

If the only parts in the craft file that are missing are the RCS units, another possible way to get it to work is to edit it in something like Notepad to remove the offending PART{} blocks (and any links to them) then add the RCS units back in manually in the VAB.

"FIXED: Added 0.0.9 to version number due to 1.8.1 being less than 1.9.0"

I've been using it in 1.8.1 as my "daily driver" crew transport and the only issues I've had are some minor decoupling anomalies in which the capsule gets a rotational kick when detaching from the aeroskirt. But it's nothing SAS can't handle in a few seconds, and moving the skirt down so it's not clipping through the bottom of the SM eliminates it completely. The only other thing I noticed is that the reinforcing ring with the holes in it around the upper part of the service module occasionally appears backlit, which is probably an issue with either the direction of the model's normals or the normal map for that part.

The prospect that the latest version of KSP will soon have a matching version of Kopernicus to go along with matching versions of Planetshine, EVE and Scatterer is actually really exciting. It's the sort of Grand Conjunction that should open a monolith for a journey beyond the infinite or something.

I think the Contares RUS pack includes a half-sized Kliper replica called PINBOL.

So I decided that after three months sitting on the Moon, it was probably time to do a crew swap. But instead of risking my Hermes tailsitter, I went in a slightly different direction. The Star Taxi is a regular lifting body, heavily modified to work as both a VTOL landing craft and a wheeled ground transport. The two major modifications can (kind of) be seen here: First, there are two rows of monopropellant-based thrusters (from the Internal RCS pack) that provide just enough lift to safely land on the Moon. And second, I replaced the skids with wheeled landing gear. Since the gear isn't motorized getting around on the surface requires RCS, but that's not a huge deal since many real-world airplanes do the same thing. The deorbit burn is pretty intense: But the landing is smooth as silk: Here's the whole operation: (That craft to the right is an ore harvesting thing I kitbashed out of some streamlined tanks.) Lunar landing and liftoff each require more than 3km/s of delta-V in RSS, so refueling is pretty much required, in this case using an EVA Transfer connection on the base of the Hermes. Then it's just a matter of taking off again (the Gravity Turn mod is great for that) and rendezvousing with the station:

I've been having a bit of fun with the Hermes myself: Here's full shot of the TLI stack, including the Hermes, a brutally-Tweakscaled Universal Storage fairing filled with RTGs and monoprop tanks, a Stock Stations Redux habitat, some engine from Tantares, and six overworked Tundra fins as legs: The terrifying final burn: And the triumphant (?) landing deep in the heart of Oceanus Procellarum: Even though I have yet to actually take off again (the stack separates between the HRM and the US fairing, leaving the rest behind as a ground base) I figured it would be a good idea to have some sort of orbital station to serve as a control center, so I designed one around KNES and Bluedog MOL components, with some extra bits and pieces to spice things up a bit: No piece of space hardware is complete without tons of stickers: And finally, I figured a mission to the moon needed international participation, helpfully provided by the Japanese in the form of a Fuji-compatible docking adapter and crew transportation services:

One of my favorite things about Tantares is how difficult it is to design and build a Salyut station that doesn't look awesome, particularly with the fancy colors addon. The Salyut parts are also pretty good as landers and surface structures, as long as you have powerful engines and don't mind hiding a bunch of fuel tanks inside other parts. (Here you can also see the Soviet flag, which was planted by Valentina Kerman to empirically prove the correctness of socialist thought, and which subsequently laid itself down as part of a mass labor action against the imperialist force of gravitation.) The legs on that are actually from BDB's Gemini lander pack, since those were the only ones I had around that both looked right and got the hatch close enough to the ground that I didn't need a ladder. I also used those legs on this smaller lander, a craft which is notable for using literally none of the parts from the actual Soviet lunar lander project: Of course, the downside to building-block-style construction is that the number of places fuel can be stored can get out of hand very quickly:

One problem I've noticed in the latest version of this is that the RCS plumes are giant and appear to fire in the opposite direction from the thrust. The issue is entirely cosmetic, as the RCS thrust itself is correct, but it is a huge eyesore and makes playing with RSB very difficult. I finally managed to track down a fix for it here (with credit to both @Shadowmage and @Trufiadok) but that thread is from more than 18 months ago, and since this is the only mod I've found that is still affected by the issue, I figured I'd post the information here. The source of the trouble lies in the ModuleRCS section of the part definition config file, and the fact that ModuleRCS has been deprecated in favor of ModuleRCSFX. ModuleRCSFX provides additional features over the older module, but it also requires some extra support code to work. For example, here's the outdated block from the original Delta IV 4m upper stage: And here it is, but updated to use ModuleRCSFX instead: However, this one change alone isn't enough to make the RCS plumes appear properly; in fact, doing only this change will disable RCS jets entirely. Instead, you also need to add an EFFECTS block to the config, preferably somewhere above the ModuleRCSFX block. This provides both the visual effects and the sound associated with the RCS module. The transformName should be the same as the thrusterTransformName in the ModuleRCSFX block, and the name of the effect should match the one referenced by runningEffectName. With both of these blocks in place, the RCS plumes should return to normal, though you may have to tweak the particle parameters to get the effect to look just right for each part. I just applied the patch to my parts manually (Notepad++ helped a lot with that) but it should be easy for somebody more skilled than I to come up with a Module Manager patch that would get all the parts at once.

Every time you post new previews, I say to myself, "Well, there's another mod I don't have to keep installed because of literally one part." The Titan IV in particular is something I use constantly, and having a version that fits in with the BDB aesthetic will be awesome. Oh, here's three screenshots, of which at least one will be worth anything:

I can confirm that KSC Switcher is working with the latest version of both. Several of the sites do look strange (like Vandenberg sitting on an island, or Baikonur being surrounded by beautiful green meadows) but they are still located at the right latitude and longitude, so those errors are mainly due to the loss of resolution you get from shrinking the Earth by 90%. If the errors you're seeing are due to sites showing up at the wrong coordinates, like Kourou relocating to the west coast of Madagascar or something, that would point to bigger issues with your install, like corrupt files or some kind of conflict between KSRSS and another mod.

I believe it's listed as archived because the developer is no longer active and has stopped offering support for it. You should still be able to download the latest update of RSSVE from this specific link, but I've found it to be almost unusably unstable under the latest version of KSP. Of course, that makes sense because neither RSSVE nor Scatterer (nor RSS for that matter) have been officially updated to support 1.7.3.

Not a video, but I do have some in-hangar screenshots of my build. This is an overview of the USOS, minus the truss structure: And the port-side truss structure. From left, two giant tracking solar panel units, a semi-hex truss with radiator attached, another semi-hex truss, and finally the S0 truss unit which attaches to the top of Destiny using a surface-mount truss connector. The starboard truss structure is identical. Here's a view of the point at which S0 and Destiny connect. And here's a detail (minus the trusses) showing how that relates to Z1, which is berthed to the top port of Unity and not physically connected to S0. Finally, here's my take on the Russian segment, using BDB Skylab parts because USA: I would like to point out that while I have constructed stations like this in orbit with tugs and arms, in this particular case I decided to save myself a few hours and just used Hyperedit to plop the whole thing where I wanted it, which is why it's missing helpful things like grappling points and extra truss connectors.

The problem is that without a complete reproduction of the guidance computer, you can't input "NOUN 616, VERB 23" which is the command to disengage the automatic Elder God summoning program and switch to manual.

I think those figures are pretty much in line with real-world performance. Standard OMS burns could last several minutes, which makes sense considering that the combined thrust of both OMS engines was only 53kN, with a maximum acceleration of less than 1m/s².

I think you mean "strong enough to change orbiter attitude". Reaction wheels only provide rotation, while a change in an orbital parameter like inclination requires thrust.