DaveyJ576

Yes, it is definitely Conformal Decals causing the issue. The Mercury spacecraft is very sensitive as to where the decal is placed in relation to the roll thrusters. The decal can not be too close to the thruster or it will cause the stick-like artifact to extend from it. I reviewed how I had placed the decal and found that I actually had them too low and in the wrong positions. I raised and repositioned them in accordance with historical photos and I was successful in eliminating the stick, at least in part. See below: Each had to be placed individually as mirroring did not put them in the right spot. This allowed me to place the flag in the first image without causing the stick. However, I could not place a flag on the other side where the photos showed it to be without causing the stick. I will just leave it off. To me it is less irritating than seeing that stick. I do not know what causes it, I just found how to eliminate it.

I went back through the last several posts and incorporated the suggested balancing changes. I also added a wee bit of fuel to both the Bumper and the WAC-Corporal. The bottom node edit was also greatly appreciated. Below are the results: @AlphaMensaeand his Modular Launch Pads mod provided the tower and umbilicals. Not exactly historically accurate, but you can't expect MLP to have every launch pad! It flies well and looks great! I flew it manually as the flight profile is pretty simple and MechJeb seems to have issues with this rocket. Depending on the trajectory, I got the probe to between 279 and 296 km on KSRSS. Added a few Conformal Decals, as I thought it looked a little better. The upper stage with the Goo experiment. I added a set of extendable long line antennas (I think they are BDB). Anything shorter than these and you don't have the bandwidth to transmit any science before your EC runs out. BTW, another tweak I made was bumping up the EC on all three experiment cores to 30. The original 12 or 15 wasn't nearly enough to transmit science from the higher altitudes. In fact, the original amount would run out before you got to a decent altitude, even without running any science.

In the words of the immortal Gene Kranz (played by Ed Harris), "Work the problem!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0h2Wk6-C_I

“Try SCE to AUX.”

I have actually orbited a VERY short fueled CSM with a Saturn I on KSRSS with three astronauts. I can’t pull up the figures right now as I don’t have access to my laptop, but I left just enough fuel and oxidizer to deorbit from 100 km. Also short fueled the monoprop in the SM and left behind the high gain antenna, personal parachutes, and jet packs. The booster got the CSM to 100 km with just a tad of fuel left in the S-IV. If I remember correctly it was to a 35 deg inclination. My goal was to recreate the planned manned Saturn I flights that were canceled in favor of the Saturn IB. It worked, but the lack of resources would have drastically limited what you could do and how long you could do it. NASA planned for just three day missions for these flights, and it drove home the rational for switching to the IB.

@CobaltWolf, Thank you so much for the very detailed answer. I appreciate it. No issues with anything you said. I have been tinkering with my own design for a LRV and I kind of understand what a pain they must be to work on. Combine all that with robotics for the deployment sequence and you get yourself a complicated situation. The Rescue LM that I referenced above is pictured in that document that I linked. Essentially, it is a LM without the legs, configured as an orbital maneuvering tug but with a scissor type arm for grabbing wayward astronauts. Looks like a cool concept and would be a nice addition to a Skylab style station. It would also be useful for construction. The concept kind of reminds me of the Von Braun "Bottle Suit" from the Disney film "Man and the Moon". I fully understand your reluctance to dive into the LM evolution vehicles, as they would be difficult to bring up to BDB standards without losing what they were in the first place. I have been toying around with the Alternate Apollo Bug and added some BDB greebles to it to jazz it up a bit. It looks better, but I get how the design will drift as you add stuff and new textures. Anything that you decide to do in this regard will be appreciated, but don't let it distract you from the other items. A nice to have for sure, but low in priority. Thanks again and keep up your amazing work. KSP is so much more immersive with mods like this.

I agree with other posters that the dev team has done a fine job on boosters, rockets, probes, and manned spacecraft. Since you are asking, I think you should move in the direction of utilization, i.e. giving the mod users something to do once we get there. It would be nice if some of the AAP and AES concepts could be incorporated into the mod. Some of what I will list below has already been asked for and may be on your list, and some might be able to be kitbashed adequately, but here is my list, many of which come from this article (It should be obvious I am a big LM fan): http://www.glenswanson.space/uploads/1/2/5/7/125738648/grummans_ambitious_spider.pdf 1. LM Taxi (including a three man option) 2. LM Shelter (I know you are working on that one) 3. LM Truck 4. MOLEM/MOLAB/MOCOM 5. Rescue LM 6. A proper LM based ATM with a node that enables it to be attached to the SLA. 7. LASS/ALSS lunar orbit and lunar surface base 8. Alternate LMs from the evolution line: It would be nice if we could get the early '62 conical model, along with the '64 round hatch, wide leg version, and a color switch for the white '66/'67 version. The five leg round window 1962 "Bug" version is already covered by the Alternate Apollo mod. Going waaay out on a limb, there were some alternate proposals from other contractors such as Convair if you are feeling really ambitious. 9. A few months ago I kitbashed the AAP science platform, but it was pretty rough and it would be great to get a formalized version. If you decide to do none of these items, no problem. BDB is still a fantastic mod. I really do appreciate all the hard work the team has done already. Final question, with KSP 2 potentially looming in the not too distant future (fantasy I know), do you have plans to continue BDB once KSP 2 becomes the "norm"?

My favorite part of this mod is the 1962 LEM. Recently I decided to play around with it a little and add a few greebles to make it look a tad more authentic. With the exception of the cargo pods, all of the added stuff came from Bluedog, with the logos coming from Conformal Decals. I am hoping that @mcdoublewill someday be willing to add some inventory slots to either the Ascent or Descent Module. Until then, these look the best. Just enough cargo space to set up a minimal ALSEP.

Love it! How will the weight compare to an orbital config Apollo CSM + SLA? Thinking about performance issues with the Saturn IB. I still think you should call it “Bell” instead of Leo.

Sounds like the perfect time to transition from exploration to utilization!

@Lisias, I downloaded your patch and you have made progress. I can now load my LRV prototype from the Sub-assembly in either the SPH or the VAB without it being borked. However, if I try to combine it with another craft, like my Lunar Module, it still comes out messed up. I load the sub-assembly for the LM, then bring up the LRV to try to attach it to the proper spot on the LM and the LRV comes out of the sub-assembly rearranged. First photo is the LRV right out of the sub-assembly as it should be: Second photo is how it comes out when trying to connect it to my LM: Obviously not how it should be. Can you suggest a work around? Thanks!

Outstanding work once again. Your KSP mojo is impressive! Love your LRV. I am still struggling with my design, mostly because of some weird Editor bug in the VAB/ SPH that scrambles the model when you reload it. There is another thread that is looking into that. In the meantime I just HyperEdit one to the surface. It’s cheating I know.

Have you ever had one of those moments when you feel pretty dumb? After reading your reply I had one of those. I have been running KSP for two years and using MLP for most of that time and I honestly didn't know that mod had that feature. It seemed pretty dumb to me that KSP would be set up to allow a rocket to run out of power on the launch pad, but I thought "Well, they can't think of everything." But apparently @AlphaMensaedid just that. I never had a reason to check the launch platforms once I had a vehicle on the pad. Now, I really wish I had! That dull thud you may have just heard was the sound of my palm striking my forehead! Duh! Thanks for the insight @OrbitalManeuvers. I appreciate it. @Zorg, please disregard my earlier post concerning this. It appears to be a bad case of operator error.

@Zorg, For the dry workshop electrical issue, no I am not using any life support mods, just BDB. I don't think this is related to a recent change. I actually first noticed it quite some time ago but wrote it off to user error as I was fairly inexperienced at the time. For the IU electrical issue on the launch pad: I am using Modular Launch Pads and the trick of putting the IU into hibernation to wait out the launch delay has always worked before. I was having trouble with a Saturn V launch so I right clicked the IU and watched the electrical drain down while in warp, with hibernation set to on! So far I have seen this issue with Saturn V and Atlas Centaur. I haven't tried other rockets in this condition yet. Will do so today. I recently moved my entire KSP installation to a new computer. Could this be an installation issue? Frankly I am mystified. Thanks for your help.

@CobaltWolf, @Zorg, Something else to look into… since I downloaded the latest dev branch update, I have been having problems with timed MechJeb launches (Launch Into Plane of Target). I will send the rocket to the pad with hibernation on for for IU, I set my target and engage MechJeb. The game goes into warp and advances to the proper point before dropping back to 1x. I take the IU out of hibernation but the battery has run down to zero during warp and I do not get ignition. It has happened to me on an Atlas Centaur and the Saturn V. To sum up, hibernation for the IU batteries doesn’t seem to be working now when it was a couple of dev branch iterations ago. Has anyone else seen this yet? Running 1.11. Thanks!

@mcdouble, is there a possibility of getting inventory slots added to the LEM ascent and descent stages?

I was just about to post about this very thing and I found this thread. Here is the problem I am having with a LRV prototype (very much a WIP). The first photo is the LRV folded up the way I intended: The next photo shows what I get after I saved it to Sub-assemblies and reloaded it. I thought I was gooning something up until I found this thread. These are all stock parts at this point. There is some Tweakscaling here with the wheels and all three panels. I sure would like to be able to fix this. The weird thing is that not everyone seems to be having this problem. I have seen LRV creations on the BDB thread that aren't borked (at least the poster didn't say they had problems). I will say that the problem seems to be linked to scaling a part. On all of my other Sub-assemblies that don't used scaled parts they come out fine.

@CobaltWolf, @Zorg, and the dev team, I have been running some test missions with the Skylab dry workshop. After gathering data from the science experiments, I have the crew run science in the workshop. When the station passes into the night side, the electrical drain seems to be quite high, on the order of 10 units per second from the workshop batteries. A check of the batteries on the other station components shows a similar, but somewhat slower electrical drain. The rate of overall useage is so high that if I leave science running in the workshop the entire station will run out of power before it gets back to the day side and it will lose attitude control and drift. On one occasion the station drifted into an orientation that prevented it from charging the batteries from the solar panels for an entire orbit! I fully understand that the station will use battery power while on the night side. But to me it seems as if the rate of useage is unrealistically high while running science. True, I can shut down science while on the night side, but would IRL astronauts have done this? Can this useage rate be adjusted down? It is also distinctly possible that I am gooning up something very simple here. Please let me know if that is the case.

I have been experimenting with it, and it is my impression of watching the reentry that it does not have an effect on the landing spot. I have read up on how to use this feature, and I understand how the vehicle must be oriented during reentry in order to be able to steer the landing spot. Yes, I have SAS turned off. But to my Mk. 1 Mod 0 eyeball it doesn't seem to have much effect. Admittedly I haven't actually done any actual measurements so I can't be sure. There is also the possibility that my still developing KSP-mojo isn't sufficient to work the feature properly. In short, it doesn't seem to work!

You know, upon reflection, I think the dev team needs to shift some names around. I think this creation needs to be called "Bell" (or Belle). Call the Agena something else!

@CobaltWolf, what are your plans for the retrograde package on your above mentioned Big G? Detachable retro module with solids? It seems that there are some OMS motors at the bottom of the SM.

Team Atlas for me. That stage and a half configuration is pretty darn cool. Extremely well done! Some of the finest work I have seen on these forums. Perhaps some day my KSP-mojo will develop to that point. I have read about and understand your reasons behind not doing the two point chute suspension, but it sure would be nice… Just sayin…

Thank you. I suspected that was the case, but wanted to confirm. High speed, low drag. I like it!

I will be buying a new computer soon and would like to verify the procedure for transferring my heavily modded game and the saves to the new machine. Is it really as simple as copying the main folder and all the sub-folders and pasting them onto the new machine? Is there any benefit to doing a step by step clean install and just transferring the craft files and saved games? I would love for it to be simply copy and paste. Reinstalling all the mods one by one gets a little tedious. Thanks!

I just downloaded this and flew a couple of test flights. Simple mod but pretty cool for the early stages of rocketry. I plan to kitbash a few "improvements". Might try to recover the nosecone, or add an antenna to the Corporal for data recovery. BTW, the rocket doesn't like MechJeb. A lot of roll, pitch, and yaw oscillations. Nothing major, but more than historical. I just flew it manually and she flies well that way. Request... is there any chance a node can be added to the bottom of the vehicle so that Modular Launch Pads can be used? Thanks!