Jump to content

AlphaMensae

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,782

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by AlphaMensae

  1. AlphaMensae
    Crew access arm has been "installed" on the WIP FSS: Yep, I just modified the new Saturn V crew arm for use with the shuttle. With the RSS and other shuttle-specific arms still to come, any way to reduce the work required is a positive. Oh, yeah, forgot, the arm retracts as well:
  2. AlphaMensae
    I know, and the RSS is going to be a minor nightmare I will simplify things where appropriate, and concentrate on the service arms and crew arm. The nice thing about having SpaceX strip away the RSS is that it's quite clear the core of the FSS is indeed just a section of the Saturn tower with a bunch of stuff added on. That big multi-level arm structure in the middle is just the mount for the intertank service access arm and hydrogen vent line. Crew arm, "beanie cap" arm (gaseous oxygen vent arm) and the intertank arm still look enough like the Saturn arms that I can use them as the core for the shuttle versions. And I already have the lightning mast, it's just the one first installed on the tower used for the ASTP Saturn IB-Apollo launch.
  3. AlphaMensae
    The FSS is growing It's up to the crew access level now, and some fine-tuning will be needed to make it match the orbiter's hatch height. I think now I'll make this one-piece FSS tower designed for the Cormorant Aeronology shuttle, and also provide a modular adjustable-height one to make it taller or shorter.
  4. AlphaMensae
    Work has begun on the Fixed Service Structure for the shuttle pad! First step was to position it properly, using a mock-up of the base part. Now, the actual FSS is starting to take shape: That walkway is for access to the elevator from the stock pad static. There will be no colliders on the lowest section's support beams, so the FSS could be moved around if needed.
  5. AlphaMensae
    Oh yeah, something else: the large version of the Saturn base is not really supported currently, as it was more of a test case of how big it needed to be to handle a real-scale Saturn V. It ended up being a bit bigger than really needed in order for the legs to clear the stock pad static and not sit on the various bridges and such on the ground. I never got around to upsizing the rest of the parts to match--but there is Tweakscale. Even then, it's still intended for conventional-type rockets (like the aforementioned Saturn V), not those ultra Kerbal Specials.
  6. AlphaMensae
    Yikes! That's not exactly what I had intended these pads for, but okaaaaaaaayyyy.... A modular arm like you described is what I had considered some time ago: a base component and an extension that could be moved with the offset gizmo to the exact distance needed. One problem: the arms are retracted by an animation, and the ModuleAnimateGeneric does not move attach nodes...or anything attached to them. I had somehow forgotten that little fact. Only Infernal Robotics could do that, and it was obviously far more than needed...until Katten released Animated Attachment, which makes anything animated move nodes, both stack and surface-attach. It's only for KSP 1.4.x though, and I do not want to give up 1.3.1 support (especially since I still use it ). The alternative is the deploy-limit technique, where the extension would be moved by the slider, not the gizmo. It's not elegant, but I have used it before.
  7. AlphaMensae
    @linuxgurugamer, Thanks for the 7m SpaceY engine node addition! Sort of forgot about those parts, just figured they'd have bottom nodes on them. I had thought about adjustable-length arms using an animation and the deploy limit slider, before going with switchable fixed lengths. It's hard to accomodate all the different kinds of rockets that can be made, so I just decided to go with standard tank diameters. But, I could make such a "stretchable" arm. I even could do the "modular" arm type I had thought about, with a base section and an extension that could be moved in and out as necessary, before remembering that the stock animation module doesn't move nodes. However, @Katten has made such a module plugin, so such a concept could be done, but it require KSP 1.4.x. The other way is just make the length adjustable by an animation deploy limit slider (with the animation buttons disabled).
  8. AlphaMensae
    Finally got the shuttle tails service masts done, they have retracting umbilicals (with blast hoods that come down) and the "sparkers", the hydrogen burn-off igniters.
  9. AlphaMensae
    Ok, rather than waiting until v2 is done before releasing the new stuff, I'm going to do partial dev build "soft releases" as they are completed. First up are the new Saturn pad parts, they can be downloaded from my Dropbox. Just put the "AlphaDev" folder in the .zip into Gamedata. These parts don't actually need the full ModularLaunchPads folder, as they are all new and self-contained, but they will co-exist with the older MLP ones. MLP will still be needed for the patches and the Saturn pad hold-down arms, which were redone for v1.3 (bit still may be revisited) and aren't included in this dev build. Oh, B9PartSwitch and Animated Decouplers will still be needed if somehow you don't have them already. All the new parts have "v2" in their name/title, so a seach for "saturn v2" will bring them up. A lot of B9PS mesh-switching has been implemented for these parts, particularly the swing arms and tower section parts, so right-click and see all the options available.
  10. AlphaMensae
    The SRB supports and hold-downs have been added to the shuttle pad base, they were partly based on the real ones, but with some animated "flair": They are separate parts, and actually have to be placed in mirror symmetry for the offset gizmo to work properly on them.
  11. AlphaMensae
    Thanks! Yeah, I'd rather have the tank or stage names, since I'd rather not have the pads attach to an engine (even though it does work, I'd prefer not to mess with engines).
  12. AlphaMensae
    More details added to the shuttle pad base (technically called the "mobile launch platform"), mostly the sound-suppression pipes and nozzles, but also added a slightly altered version of the Saturn pad's deck hatches...because I could. Next to do are the tail service masts and the SRB hold-downs.
  13. AlphaMensae
    Thanks, and you're welcome! Yep, I've been meaning to add patches for RN's stuff, just kept slipping as I focused on v2.0. Also, I've never used his stuff, so could you please do me a favor? I need to know the names of first stages/core stages/main stages (knowing RN, they're probably integrated stages and not separate tanks), as that is where I'd prefer to add the extra attach nodes, and it would save me time in going through everything looking for them.
  14. AlphaMensae
    Yeah, sorry about the changelog included with the .zip, I keep forgetting to add the minor updates to the actual upload, and end up reusing the original v1.3.0 changelog. Spacedock though has all the changelogs. The latest version of MLP (1.3.4) simply has v2.3.2 of B9 Part Switch, which blowfish recompiled for KSP 1.4.4. It wasn't actually necessary, as 1.4.4 didn't break B9PS, but if it doesn't work in 1.4.3, just use the B9PS from v1.3.3 of MLP, or get an earlier B9PS version here. ===================================================================================================== More work and tweaks to the shuttle mobile launch platform: Sidewalls for the exhaust holes have been added (but not textured or even UV-mapped yet) and the positioning and size of the holes has been changed. Had to move the shuttle inward towards the center of the platform, as having it in the IRL position (near the back) caused the SSME exhaust to hit the top of the stock pad rather than going through the grating and into the flame trench. Those angled engines....coventional rockets are much simpler
  15. AlphaMensae
    @Gordon Dry Which exact version of Modular Launch Pads were you using? In v1.3.3 a number of minor bugs and errors got fixed, one being the milkstool not being able to switch colors, and that was due to me forgetting to change the directory paths for the textures to the proper ones in prior versions (the paths were still from my dev build folder and not ModularLaunchPads). This is it in KSP 1.4.3:
  16. AlphaMensae
    In between work and other things, I finished up the new and remade/reworked Saturn launcher parts. One, the hammerhead crane now has an optional partial hoist: My plans for a fully-working one ran into some problems with the animations that prevented it from working properly. It seems that moving the hoist trolly in or out after raising/lowering the hoist caused the hoist to instantly move up or down. Also, I realized that having the hoist reach the ground would only work with a specific height of the tower. So in the end I simplified and shortened it, and now it's mainly just for show. It's also switched off by default. I've also made the swing arm umbilicals retract before the arms do, by a stupidly simple way: In Unity, at the key frame where the umbilical first retracts, the arm only moves 0.5 degrees. Works nicely: The Saturn tail service masts have also been remade. And so, with the Saturn stuff done, it is at last time to begin work on the shuttle pad. First up is reconfiguring the deck of the Saturn launcher's base to the shuttle layout: Still quite early, and lots of tweaking needs to be done.
  17. AlphaMensae
    You're welcome! Yeah, I hear you, Apollo 7 was the only manned launch of the Saturn IB until the Skylab crew missions...the oddball. I have also made the damper arm and lightning masts (both the original and the white tube one which was first used on the ASTP Apollo and later used for the shuttle FSS) ; you may have noticed they were missing .
  18. AlphaMensae
    Great project you did and awesome use of mods! One in particular.... For Apollo 7, you could have used the square Saturn tower base section and just put the Saturn IB "on the deck" like it was on LC 34 and 37. Still not quite the same, but "close enough" For the next major version of Modular Launch Pads, I will have a small Saturn pad based on that of LC 34/37.
  19. AlphaMensae
    Just posted to Spacedock another minor update to v1.3, this one is v1.3.4: Updated B9 Part Switch to v2.3.2, as blowfish recompiled it for KSP 1.4.4. I don't think this was necessary, as the previous B9PS should work fine in 1.4.4, but hey, why not.... Added a craft file for the DECQ Saturn V, with it on the full Saturn mobile launcher. The craft file was saved under KSP 1.4.3, just change the version number in the file itself to use in other KSP versions.
  20. AlphaMensae
    The tower is part of my Modular Launch Pads mod, available on Spacedock,; here is the forum thread. In short, it's not one piece, but broken down into the various components; even the tower is in modular sections.
  21. AlphaMensae
    Awesome work! I know this comes with a mobile launcher, but if anyone wants to use my Saturn mobile launcher from Modular Launch Pads, I've created a little MM patch that adds a size 5 node to the S-IC (way below the bottom). Also includes a craft file with the complete mobile launcher assembly already added on. File is on my Dropbox. It fits this Saturn V pretty nicely.
  22. AlphaMensae
    Now have remade the hammerhead crane, which was simply recreating the Unity-assembled version in Wings3D, aside from a few bits I left alone as Unity-added things. Then I made the lightning mast that was mounted on top of it, and confirmed why I didn't make it the first time--it was a real pain, being an angled triangular truss structure. Slogged through it, and got it done: The mast is a separate part, so it's entirely optional; also, a new mast was installed for the AS-210 Saturn IB launch for ASTP, a larger white cylindrical one which was later put on LC-39B for the space shuttle, so this way allows the mast to be changed. I'm now working on adding a working hoist to the crane. Probably will have zero practical use other than a ride for Kerbals, but why not?.
  23. AlphaMensae
    Remade the Saturn Milkstool for version 2.0. It was mostly about creating major sections in Wings3D as single objects rather than the current versions's huge number of objects assembled in Unity (it was easier that way, but now I know more about Wings3D), but there are some differences as well. More pics here
  24. AlphaMensae
    Just compiled the new umbilical retraction animations into a single video clip:
  25. AlphaMensae
    Yes, version 2 will still support 1.3.1, as I still do all dev work in 1.3.1. So I'm not going to use any features found only in the KSP 1.4.x versions of B9PartSwitch, and will still include the 1.3.1 versions of B9PS and Animated Decouplers. Also made the one Saturn pad thing I didn't do for the first release of Modular Launch Pads: the damper arm It stablized the Saturn V during the rollout from the VAB and during times of high winds; raised shortly before launch. This one is completely optional, and attaches to a center node on the front of the crew access tower section.
×
×
  • Create New...