EmbersArc

Never thought about just doing that thanks so much, works beautifully. Oh well, but thanks for trying anyway!

Not sure if I understand. I launch my rocket by staging (launch clamps and engines) and it doesn't fix it. About the plume, added thrustTransformR and thrustTransformL and changed the config: That didn't work though, it only shows one plume...

Well that was quick. I've been trying to get two small plumes instead of a big one but that didn't work. Will do some more experimenting but this looks quite cool already

Awesome! Looks cleaner indeed. Does it work for you though? Somehow it doesn't work for me... The fins are moving when stowed and have control forces. Not sure if I've changed anything that would break the plug-in but I don't think so. That would be epic. A first release of the new version is already on Curse if you want to get cracking right away.

My lawyer advised me not to comment on that.

Thanks! No vectoring on the Dracos - just like the real ones. KSP doesn't have differential thrust for steering but SAS gives enough control

Arrival of the Dragon So a few things I've worked on: Heat Shield with tiny landing legs: makes for a more elegant landing than carefully crashing into the ground. SuperDraco engines: High thrust to weight ratio for a very low efficiency. Together with the fuel tank it adds enough deltaV for some orbital maneuvering and a safe landing. Also adds in-flight abort capability. Fuel Tank: Because clipping tanks inside the capsule is not cool. Nicely fits between capsule and heat shield. Also extends the ladder of the mk1-2 capsule. The parts still need some final adjustments but will be released soon. Most likely as part of version 2.0 which will not be called "SpaceX Landing Legs" anymore because well... that's not an accurate description of the mod anymore. Will also move the mod to Addon Releases. Any thoughts on what the name of the mod should be? I was thinking about Kerbal Reusability Extensions (K-REX). Not sure what sounds good though because it's not my native language . Maybe someone has an idea for a name? Also, constructive criticism is always welcome!

From the 1.1.3 changelog: Layer 23 is AeroFXIgnore

Possible, but not in the near future. With the Mars infrastructure announcement in September there will hopefully be some more cool parts to add. But I'll think about it when I run out of SpaceX parts to do .

Having it all as one part is an interesting idea but I prefer the more modular approach. At some point it's not much of a difference to just build the finished Dragon capsule. Building it yourself is more fun and adds flexibility. I'll definitely make a small fuel tank that fits between the capsule and the heat shield. Then some engines that can be attached to the side of the capsule. I don't know Deadly Reentry but the engines won't hang off the sides as much and will have a decent heat resistance .

So I had some thoughts on what to add in the future. I'd like to add more parts to it and go from having just the landing legs to everything reusable rockets might need. The grid fins are a step in that direction. Here's a WIP of the next addition: Just a heat shield and tiny legs, Dragon v2 style. I don't intend to make full Falcon 9 stages and Dragon capsules but rather to have a suite of SpaceX-inspired parts to add reusability to stock parts. So a likely next step will be to add super dracos that can be attached to capsules (Twitch engines don't work that well). So soon the mod will turn into "SpaceX Reusability Tech" or something along those lines. @DavidHunter Thanks for the suggestion, but reusable fairings are probably quite hard to do. I don't have much experience with writing plug-ins and like to focus on making parts, at least for now.

For my next trick I shall make the fins compatible with FAR. How you ask? Well I don't know. The only adjustment that's needed is the drag in the deployed position. Even with FAR the stock airbrakes have very high drag so why not have that with the grid fins too. Currently I'm looking for a way to adjust the drag in the deployed position. Also, what other reusability-related parts would you like to see? Always open for suggestions.

@Angorek Spent the afternoon figuring out how module manager works. Found a way to increase the Isp Writing those lines took way too long but it was worth it. You can add it to your mod if you like. Cheers!

@Angorek I tried the mod and have to say it looks awesome. About the mass reduction config: I'm not sure whether reducing the mass is the best way to increase dV (for example it also changes the TWR). A better way might be to increase the Isp. As far as I understand this should leave everything as it is but the engines will use less fuel. Not saying you have to change it but I might try this myself later.

Thanks! Guess it's time for me to finally give kOS a shot and try this out. Like black ones? I've been thinking about it but I'm not sure if it's necessary. But I'll make some for myself to see if it looks good

Wow it even says it right there Will try this tomorrow. Also just noticed that in the Kerbol4x.cfg it says @Body[Vaal] instead of @Body[Vall]

I'd love to use that mod for the visuals and the sense of scale. Though I'm not a fan of having to use a Saturn V to send a cubesat to space (slightly exaggerated but you know..). Does anyone know a way to have such a mod and still be able to send kerbal-level payloads to orbit?

Update 1.4 Added Grid Fins in three different sizes. Special thanks to @DerpyFirework for contributing the module to make it work properly. Adjustments to model and texture Lowered cost for the legs Changed required tech levels

Just found a way to do it without programming magic I copied the DRAG_CUBE module from the cargo bay config and changed all the variables in model B to 0. It now has zero drag when stowed and has significant drag when deployed, there even is a nice transition in the drag force. Never thought this would work but it did. Now I have to figure out what all those variables actually do to have some control over it.

Did some more modeling and texturing, pretty much finished now. @DerpyFirework Any luck on adding drag to the module?

Glad you like it! Do you have a video of an autonomous landing? It would be cool to see the whole thing in action. Maybe there's a workaround for this for example by automatically redeploying when the ship is loaded (I'd love to help with this but it's not really my area of expertise..). I'll do some more work on the texturing later today to make it look more stock-ish. Should be ready for release soon.

This also happened to be the reason for some strange behavior in flight (the "wing" was basically pointing in the wrong direction). All because of the root part coordinates. The system so far works pretty much as it should. Two things though: Reloading a quicksave of a vessel with deployed fins breaks the animation (redeploying fixes that). One drawback of this system is that the fins barely increase the drag so terminal velocity is quite high. Increasing dragCoeff in ModuleControlSurface only changes the drag when steering. Simultaneously using ModuleAeroSurface seems to lead to conflicts and doesn't look too nice with all the options in the right-click menu. Apart from that it's ready for testing.

Nevermind, was probably just me being strange. I rotated the root part by 90° so that it would attach with a correct orientation but apparently KSP didn't like that. I've now changed the orientation in the config. Now tweaking variables and working on the texture.

Well that was quick Seems to work great so far. I'm having a problem with the control surface transforms though: Not sure where the problem lies yet, will have to do some more testing...

From what I've gathered it's probably not possible in stock. A stock solution with reaction wheels and RCS would be somewhat hacky too. I've done some more work on it and it now has a deployment animation and works as control surface. Quite happy with how it's coming along. It would be awesome if you could contribute the plugin!