Zorg

They're .ogg files, an open source audio format. Most audio players should be able to just play them.

Realplume assigns sounds as part of its template system. It works by looking for a PLUME node in which the user defines basic plume parameters and it uses a rather complex set of MM patches to assign the actual plume into the EFFECTS node along with running sounds, engage, disengage etc. None of this is really relevant to you though. In the case of Waterfall all of this is assigned by the user in the engine config itself to the EFFECTS node (which is now relegated to just doing the sounds) rather than than through a template. For example https://github.com/CobaltWolf/Bluedog-Design-Bureau/blob/waterfall-experimental/Gamedata/Bluedog_DB/Compatibility/WaterfallFX/AtlasV.cfg In the case of BDB those configs refer to the sounds folder in BDB itself. However all of the RealPlume sounds are in fact available in Waterfall so you just need to point the line towards the relevant sound you want. https://github.com/post-kerbin-mining-corporation/Waterfall/tree/master/GameData/Waterfall/Sounds/KW

This is a minor conflict with either some versions of Kopernicus or Kerbalism. The effect is mostly harmless. Some solar panel variants will produce a little more EC than we originally intended as a result of this. The error should be fixed in the next release once its ready. Until then, just click OK.

The previews look great! Just a clarification, CobaltWolf is the primary author of Bluedog Design Bureau though I'm part of a growing team, and the mod is more properly described a giant parts pack of historical US rockets The plumes I've been working on are compatibility files for BDB's own engines and not other stockalike mods though they will be made available. This should be considered not compatible with Restock although it can be made safer by adding :NEEDS[!ReStock] to the patches so it wont cause issues even if accidentally installed together. (this is how realplume handles separate configs for stock and restock). Additionally if it is added to CKAN in the future you can ask the CKAN people to mark it as incompatible with restock thus saving Knight of St John and the ReStock authors queries from confused users.

Yes I can apply configs to any new engines that can make use of existing prefabs. However I am unlikely to have the motivation to expend the (considerable) effort it takes to make custom plume prefabs should something require it. Of course if anyone else were to do, we would be happy to accept a PR. Having said that there arent a whole lot of new engines due as the primary saturn engines were already remade.

These are all now available on the BDB github master Left to right: Alcolox, Kerolox, Hydyne, Kerolox film cooled, hydrolox ablative, hydrolox, Aerozine50/NTO, hydrolox alternate. (I seem to have forgotten to picture the kerolox vernier). Still some work to be done (Alcolox and Aerozine looking too similar in daylight etc). And some vac plumes L to R: Aerozine 50+NTO (with generic hypergolic vernier), IRFNA+UDMH, HDA+UDMH, hydrolox, kerolox (and vernier), hypergolic white (for various combos including MMH+MON etc).

Waterfall is now a soft dependency for BDB and is the default handler for liquid engine plumes. It is now bundled together in the github master branch and an initial implementation is available for testing and feedback. Most liquid engines except for a couple like the peacekeeper kick stages and probe engines now have configs. Those plus vacuum SRB plumes, rcs are forthcoming. In theory these plumes should perform better than stock and realplume as well. RealPlume can still be installed alongside for better looking sea level SRB plumes over stock.

Some more previews

I think that looks quite good! Although I think this discussion would be better suited to the waterfall thread . Even though I have less need for filling out the engine bell I am also looking at a similar tactic in order to make my templates more suitable for general use. Nice to see we're thinking along similar lines.

I dont know, not tested tbh.I think they would be ok.

Should be fixed on the github master as of yesterday.

For anyone who didnt see the stream and is wondering what this is about, its from very cool alternate history timeline being written by TimothyC and Eofpi (the latter being a co-author of Eyes Turned Skyward based on which BDB has several parts like Saturn Multibody). Its really interesting, definitely wild, and worth checking out https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/boldly-going-a-history-of-an-american-space-station.502152/

we're definitely not going for 100% realism. But I like my Titan plumes very transparent. Theres a fair amount of colour in other plumes as previewed in the link though and nothing is final yet. I am tweaking the colours a bit still but deciding the right balance is a little tricky. My personal tastes skew more towards realism in sea level plumes certainly. (realistic plumes in vacuum often means no plume except for kero )

Incredible! Interestingly evocative of their historical inspiration and superb quality too.

Its kinda hard to pin down the exact colour of hypergolic plumes tbh. It often changes a lot based on the lighting as well. I am stylzing things a bit, and am going a bit redder/orange for the UDMH/NTO plume (not for BDB but for tantares and general waterfall use). from what I understand the red tint mostly comes from unburnt NTO actually. but yeah I change my mind every day on what I think looks right and eventually need to stop tweaking

there is no waterfall compatibility in the current release. Its being worked on for the next release though. Its in a special github experimental branch and there will be no support provided for that at the moment as the configs are still early drafts.

There are some known issues with minimum part mass in KSP 1.11. In any case there will be a smaller update well before Saturn though, Soon (tm)

While I mostly stayed out of the stock configs I did update them when new engines were added and I did give the mainsail a kero plume in the end after soliciting advice on the thread. Opinion was divided but leaned more towards kero. I think thats reasonable. On the restock side again that wasnt a problem as their mainsail remained an NK33 inspired engine even after squad added their ariane engine. Oh yeah I guess its methalox inspired. I dont fly spaceplanes so I always forget about it (the config was done by someone else)

So while Im not doing stock engines this time around, when I took over RealPlume, I did do them for ReStock and maintained the existing configs for the base stock engines. You have a slightly tricky decision here. The thing is the actual performance of stock engines do not match their inspiration. Since the stock game doesnt support low density fuels such as hydrolox or methalox you have engines that are visually inspired by real world high efficiency fuels that dont really match that performance. That can be explained away by simply considering KSP is not trying to recreate those engines and is just inspired by them. Making history makes things even trickier though. In this case we have replica engines including Saturn V parts. The problem is the large tankage for the SII and S4B stages come from the proportions of a real world rocket using low density hydrogen. The only way to even slightly balance that out using LFO is to the make the J2 much LESS efficient than even other engines to counterbalance the high fuel density of LFO. Then the wolfhound when it came out had actual hydrolox stats 410s before eventually being *nerfed* back to Raptor vac level (380s now I beleive). Theres no rationale for this given its a hypergolic pressure fed engine and its not even needed to balance the Apollo. Then you now have your main big booster engine the mainsail now being a replica of the Ariane 5 Vulcain. Thing is no matter which way you go someone will complain The approach with restock (which have higher fidelity models that follow the real inspiration better) in RealPlume was to give engines the correct plume based on IRL inspiration. There are no methalox inspired models and all hydrolox inspired ones have optional LH2 configs available via a patch CryoEngines so everything is nice and sensible.

I love the smell of Aerozine 50 in the morning

Speaking of Aerozine the sea level AZ50/NTO plume is now getting to a place where I am almost entirely happy with it. This is the basis I intend to use for other hypergolic combos through simple recolouring as well as Keroxide, Alcolox etc.

Some more previews this time of hypergolic vacuum plumes. All work in progress still of course. The colours in these are a bit evocative and not strictly realistic. IRL these would be practically invisible in vacuum. White plume for Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen+ Monomethyl Hydrazine or Inhibited White Fuming Nitiric Acid + UDMH. For Inhibited Red Fuming Nitric Acid + Unsymmetrical Dimethyl Hydrazine (UDMH) For High Density (red fuming) Acid and UDMH For Aerozine50 + Nitrogen Tetroxide (NTO) This last one is more of a draft than the others. Need to differentiate between this and a UDMH+NTO plume which isnt needed for BDB but I thought I would make for Waterfall anyway. The gif compression is pretty bad Also worth noting that due to the extensive use of the dynamic shader, you do get that black hole in the center. The engines they are being applied to when actually running will have a white hot emissive on the inside which will disguise that but if you want to use these on something that doest have an appropriate emissive it would be advisable to drop a small particle effect "flare" or find another way to disguise it. (or modify the template with an additional custom effect).

Did you create these effects from scratch? Sounds like you forgot to add a brightness controller linked to the throttle.

I am working on plumes for Bluedog Design Bureau. I dont intend to configure stock engines. However any templates (except those too specialised for general use like the J2 aerospike) produced for this effort will be submitted to Waterfall core so that anyone who wants to apply those templates to anything else can do so. Im not sure when that will be though. templates that are being worked on will include the Alcolox and Hydyne plumes posted earlier. Similar looking ones in different colour for Aerozine50+NTO, another slightly different version of that for UDMH+NTO (for Tantares) Az50+NTO vac plume, UDMH+Red Fuming Nitric Acid vac plume. A new kerolox plume with more colourful transitions including red and blue phases. A film cooled version of that as well as a vac version. Probably a dedicated plume for the F1 engine Ablative cryo plume (idk if the template is in Waterfall itself or Cryoengines, but a version of this is being used for Nerteas CryoEngines RS68 already). The some of the existing cryo plume templates in Waterfall were made for BDB originally but I think I want to improve them further with more use of the dynamic shader. Kerolox vernier plume. Thats probably most. If you have efforts in a similar vein perhaps we can compare notes? As mentioned before all the work is in this special branch https://github.com/CobaltWolf/Bluedog-Design-Bureau/tree/waterfall-experimental Specifically here https://github.com/CobaltWolf/Bluedog-Design-Bureau/tree/waterfall-experimental/Gamedata/Bluedog_DB/Compatibility/WaterfallFX