Absolution

Why are my DDS files so much larger than their PNG counterpart? Is that just the way they work? For example I have a 1024x1024 image. The PNG is 71kb but the DDS is 683kb (using DXT1 and mipmaps). Is that a normal result?

Having downloaded KSP 1.1 and tested my rockets a little I am glad I never bothered to upload CORE to SpaceDock because although my rockets appear to be fundamentally compatible with 1.1 they can't fly worth a damn. I need to go back to basics and try to get my rockets flying right. The first thing I need to look into is making my fairings protect their contents from aero forces which I suspect is the root of the issue (rockets are back flipping in flight). The second thing is I need to tweak the gimbals. Currently they are set to about 0.6 which is what KSP used to interpret as "6 degrees" (iirc) but at some point I think they changed the interpretation to now see 0.6 as "0.6 degrees" which would make sense. Lastly, I need to take a hard look at all the other attributes to make sure they still make sense. Furthermore, it goes without saying that after Harvester rebuilt the wheel mechanics from the ground up that my Dune Raider is now completely broken. I have no idea what it will take to fix it. However, first things first: the rockets.

I absolutely do not mind. Although I don't share your vision I am glad that you managed to tweak the First Light to your liking. You have given me some food for thought, though. The Anvil IX came about as a solution specifically for launching the First Light into orbit as a complete assembly. One of the other concepts was to strap boosters on the sides not unlike the Space Shuttle. Your comments made a little light bulb go off in my head concerning a "self launching" package and I think I will investigate it for the current project I am working on. It will most certainly involve the use of boosters and a non-disposed set of engines, again like the Space Shuttle. For some reason I never connected the dots to reason that if I am going to bother launching a set of engines into orbit they might as well contribute, at least partially, to said launch. I'll also look into making my docking components visually compatible with stock parts. Maybe not 2.5 parts but I'll take a stab at it and we'll see what I can come up with. Lastly, not going to lie. I made the mistake of downloading Stardew Valley last week and I have been playing it nearly non-stop. As a result work has ground to a near halt on my KSP projects. I'm getting back to work on it this week, though. Stardew Valley is a very enjoyable game; look it up!

How is it I am just figuring out that KerbalStuff is dead and has been for over a month? Ha, guess I should pay attention to the news more closely. I really liked the KerbalStuff interface and I am glad to hear that a clone "SpaceDock" is available. Give me a few days to find the time to set up a new account and I'll have CORE Solutions back online. Of course, nobody seems to have missed it enough to tap me on the shoulder but, hey, I know I'm a very small fish in a very big ocean.

Wow! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to notice this. Short answer is, No. The long answer goes a little something like this: Raider is one piece of a bigger puzzle that I am trying to fit together and it's been tough to wrap my head around. My entire motivation is a "proper" mission to Duna mostly using parts that I engineer. The Raider represents step 4 of 7. 1. Launch Pad to Orbit (Anvil) 2. Orbit of Kerbin to Orbit of Duna (First Light) 3. Orbit of Duna to the ground (Fire Hawk) 4. Do stuff on the ground (Raider) 5. Ground to Orbit of Duna (Fire Hawk) 6. Orbit of Duna to Orbit of Kerbin (First Light) 7. Orbit of Kerbin to the ground (???) The problem I'm having is each of these steps relate to the other in some way so a change in any one tends to cascade to the others quickly and I've struggled to find a "starting point". The Raider, being firmly in the middle of the problem has compelled me to leave it be for now. Compounding matters is the promise of a very significant revision on how rover wheels work in the next KSP update which has me utterly paralyzed with fear. --- Since I am here I might as well update everyone else on what's going on at CORE. I've been flying the First Light around and I'm a little disappointed with it. For example, on my first fly-by of Duna I imagined myself riding along in this, relatively, cramped ship for 2 years and immediately began searching for the nearest airlock. Then there's the cargo bay (which is cool) but in hindsight is completely useless for a ship intended to live its entire life in deep space. I suppose one could stow some sensitive equipment in there but the reality hasn't matched up with my imagination. I figured that's where the Fire Hawk would go on round trips between "A" and "B" but the cargo space isn't big enough. Not that I consider the First Light a failure by any stretch of the imagination but I am now viewing it more as a mobile laboratory for short duration trips like between a host planet and its moons or an orbital command post for ground missions. Anything but a primary means of moving through deep space. For that role I have something else in mind. --- More information as it becomes available! Good luck and have fun!

I never stopped. I am just REALLY slow. Thank you for finding CORE again!

The First Light has been released! video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1hvPqQXgMI download: https://kerbalstuff.com/mod/378/CORE%20-%20SOLUTIONS Along with the First Light I have also made some small fixes to the Anvil and Dune Raider. See first post for details! Enjoy! --- Side Note: how the heck do you embed youtube videos in this new forum?

I also agree that much more can be done to make the First Light more visually appealing but I decided not to spend the time over-thinking it. One of the problems I have had in the past is the texturing process was so slow and my skills were improving so fast that by the time I got to finishing the last texture the first texture looked like crap in comparison. This time through I did all the textures in a relatively short span of time to make sure that everything matched. As a consequence they are quite boring. Furthermore, as much as my skills have improved there is still quite a ways to go. I've yet to do any type of strictly artistic flare on any of my textures and I am not confident that they will look as good as I imagine them to be. I envision stripes, vents, and other bits and bobs scattered around the hull but I'll need to practice and run some tests to see what works and what doesn't. I also intend to experiment with more 3D features once I make sure that it runs smoothly in-game. All of this, and more, is hopefully going to happen someday but my priority now is to get it flying. Also, there is no need to remind me about the impending doom that is: Unity 5. I am terrified enough as it is.

Getting pretty close now. The First Light is now remodeled, retextured, and is now heading into Unity 4 for the "make it work in KSP" treatment. While I write the configs and wrestle with the ever-a-pain-in-the-rear emissive textures you may enjoy some out of game renders. ...Enjoy! http://imgur.com/a/cKZfN

It's been a whopping 5 months since my last post and I am sure that anyone who has bothered to check in has probably assumed this thing is dead. It's not and I apologize for making it appear so. The reason for my absence is in large part due to the Unity 5 transition that Squad has been working tirelessly on for several months. In short: I am terrified of what this means for my mods. Will they be utterly destroyed forcing me to start from scratch? Probably not but its a concern that's in the back of my mind. Therefor, I've been very hesitant to commit serious hours into further development until KSP 1.1 is released and I determine what the damage is. I hadn't anticipated Squad taking so long on the update and the weeks very quickly turned into months. I fully understand the giant workload that Squad is dealing with and appreciate their hard work. This is simply the reality of early game development. What's been going on with CORE? I've almost completely remodeled the First Light and put a small amount of effort into redesigning the Fire Hawk. Unfortunately my development cycle has been plagued with iteration as I haven't been able to nail down a good design for the Fire Hawk. Every time I finished drafting a good design I scrapped it the next day because it no longer pleased me. Wash, rinse, and repeat a dozen times and I've gotten quite burned out by my efforts. I hope to start sharing in-progress renders in a few weeks. Finally, I like to offer a big, giant thank you to anyone out there still flying my mods. Even if there's just one person I'd consider my time well spent. Thank you and good luck in all of your adventures! More info soon. :)

Any word on a fix to the emissive issues we've been dealing with for a while? I've been stuck on Unity 4.2.2 because later revisions don't work with the emissive system without tweaking the files (which never solved the issue for me). Reference: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/25023?p=921862&viewfull=1#post921862 How does Squad make it work on their end?

Hello and thank you for downloading Raider. I apologize that the wheels are confusing to use. In the VAB or SPH you can rotate the wheels (or any other object) yourself using WASDQE. Unfortunately, the way I oriented the node axis allows a player to install the wheels backwards. I will indeed fix that in the near future but in the short term you can rotate the wheel yourself so that it mounts facing the right way. Try pressing "A" twice. Furthermore, even after I point the node axis a different way you will still need to rotate the part to get it to hook up right. I will simply make it impossible to install the wheel backwards.

It turns out that Lady Luck was with me today. WELCOME BACK DUNE RAIDER! https://kerbalstuff.com/mod/378/CORE%20-%20SOLUTIONS

Update time: I am almost finished with the Dune Raider. All I need to do is complete the animations for the lights and tweak some values in-game. Unfortunately the animations are very temperamental and getting them to work right is an exercise in frustration. I can follow the same set of instructions, to the letter, three times and get three different results. That means I can't promise when I will release but I hope to do it in the next couple of days. Heck, if I am lucky the animations will go smooth and I will be able to get this out the door before the weekend. Everything else is ready to go. I could use some input on a future direction I am considering for the rovers. At the moment I rely on stock solar panels to provide the necessary electricity. This works okay but I'd like to avoid this work-around. Any time I try to design my own solar panels I have found them to be unreasonably fragile and, in fact, that's a big concern even when using stock panels. I am considering employing some form of fuel cell technology to generate electricity from other sources. There are a number of reasons why this makes sense from a game-play perspective. One, a player will have to pay attention to their fuel levels when adventuring. Two, it would be possible for the rover and its mother ship to share the same fuel type which drastically reduces the logistics. It's a direction I am strongly leaning towards. Thoughts?

I've got the renewed Dune Raider all modeled up. Now I just need to redo the textures. These shouldn't take too long considering they are very rudimentary. The first time I did these I just highlighted the edges and added some slight color variations. It turned out so well, IMO, that I see no reason to deviate from that. More updates soon!