Borklund

Good question. I haven't made any config files yet, but I will soon. I intend to balance the parts in line with stock KSP as long as it makes sense. These first few parts will have a great amount of thrust and carry a lot of propellant, so I imagine that the example launch vehicles I showed off would be quite capable.

And if that reactor fails? Nuclear power is not a long-term solution for a Mars colony of any reasonable (non-Earth) size.

I'm not sure posting your paper on the discussion forum of a video game aimed at adolescent kids necessarily counts as peer review.

Those are jets of water, presumably to protect the concrete pad structure from the acoustical energy of the Merlin engine at full blast.

Yes, everything alluded to in this picture. I'm not going to try to do everything at once and so I'm starting with what makes sense to me; large launch vehicle parts. Thanks! Daishi already sort of answered the second part for me but yes, rendered in 3ds max with mental ray.

Made another nose cone (second one from the left), bringing the total up to five: Large and small solid rocket separation motors: Redid the now 1.875m (was 2m) diameter strap-on liquid rocket booster. It's all one part (except for the nose cone). I'll eventually make a 1.875m-2.5m adapter/interstage fairing but for the first release it's just meant to be used as a strap-on booster. A couple of different launch vehicles using the parts I have created thus far: I think that's all the parts that will be in the first release. Now there's nothing left to do but learn how to create textures and then do it.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the kind words! -- Haven't had a lot of time to work on this lately but here's a brief update. New 3.75m upper stage fuel tank design with a single engine. These two parts will be included in the first release, with more upper stage fuel tank and engine parts to be added later. Different payload fairing designs. Functionally the payload fairing system will be similar to KW Rocketry but with additional variety across all diameters. I should be able to put in more time later this week and make some real progress, i.e. UV unwrapping and creating textures.

Awesome! Glad to have you back hooji!

I know what you're getting at Bomoo and that is something that I am aware of. I'm going to start creating textures soon, I just have to refine some of the 3d models some more. As always, I'm going to post my work and then you can tell me if I'm getting it right or not.

Thanks everyone! wasmic already sort of answered this for me; it'll be a while. I've been creating hard surface 3d models for about a decade now but I have never bothered to learn how to create textures, mostly because I've always had someone else do it for me. This time I'm going to try to learn how to do it myself. This project is also low down on a list of things I want or have to do each day. I very much want to complete this project I've started but just know it's going to take some time. I don't know exactly what you mean, but the fuel tanks and engine parts I'm making are going to be more or less similar to how stock fuel tanks and engines work and look in terms of like, modularity and functionality, if that makes sense?

What does the plugin do that you don't already get just using the alpha channel?

Two examples in 4 years do not a trend make.

That looks incredibly good! By the way the J-2X is being mothballed (if you didn't already know), the baseline is to be the 4x RL-10C variant. The shape of the tank is the same, the only difference is the engines and some piping.

You guys are right, conical plate it is! Here are the three 3.75m engine parts:

This is really useful, thank you nil2work!

Yes, with the possible exception of the 1.875m or 2m strap-on liquid rocket booster I showed off before, all of the parts will be standard diameters, 2.5m or 3.75m. If you're talking about the single engine it could be adapted to fit under a 1.25m tank but I haven't planned on doing that. They're all going to be mounted in sets of 3, 4 and 5 respectively on three different single parts, like the stock ARM SLS-like engine part.

Thanks Cpt. Kipard! Your Skylon looks bleedin' amazing. -- Render time! Slight improvement to the single engine part of the different multi-engined 3.75m engine parts. From left to right: Old model, new model, new model with a differently shaped mounting plate: And mounted on the five engine part: It's between #2 and #3, but I'm not sure yet. Leaning towards #3 at the moment, because of the slightly lower profile (the engine housings are already quite large). I'm going to create a four engine SLS-like engine part tomorrow and put together a collage with the two different options on all three engine parts but if anyone out there already have a preference I'd like to hear it (and why).

First of all, good stuff! The scale isn't to my taste but the parts look real good. Second, it just so happens that I am also making a Large Upper Stage and I couldn't help but notice that the tanks and intertank structure for your Large Upper Stage models are way off the mark - if realism is the mark, I haven't read the whole thread - so I thought I'd help you out by offering you some reference material. Best of luck with your mod!

Thanks Bomoo, Daishi and Cydonian Monk! Thanks! I'm not sure about the adapter. Maybe? Or maybe I'll rethink the 2m scale and go with 1.875m instead. Like I said, I'm not sure yet. My thinking right now is to include just the parts for a complete 3.75m cargo launch vehicle with the 2m SLRB and matching nose cones (also in 3.75m dia.) for the initial release, then add the 2.5m spacecraft and matching 3.75m to 2.5m fairing adapter (I might do an iCPS upper stage equivalent, or I might not) and then finally add 2.5m parts and maybe 1.875m/2m first stage parts. I don't want to make too many parts for the smaller diameters, especially not parts that aren't meant as first or booster stages, because the idea is that the launch vehicle parts are going to support all the exploration systems I plan on making, which necessitate heavy to super heavy lift launch vehicles, or at the very least a medium lift launch vehicle if you want to do it in stages and/or launch departure stages empty and do on-orbit prop depots and refueling etc. 2m upper stage parts: see above. I like the 4x main stage engine cluster and other 2m lifter engine variants you linked to. The various Russian HLV proposals have been a major inspiration for sure and I really like the aesthetic of a lot of them. That said I want a nice balance between variation, modularity and a moderate/not insanely high part count. Having 3-4 different engine parts for each diameter is going to rub up against the third category, but I'll think about it. As for the spacecraft I really, really don't like the look of older Russian (Soviet) spacecraft or things like LOK/LEK. I'm going to try the PTK-NP style design for now. As far as texture and looks are concerned I'm going to go for stockalike more than photorealistic. My current thinking is white or greyish white colour, kinda like SLS but without the black tiling and text and other US/NASA specific insignia. I like the ridges (not sure if that's the right word) that are visible on the intertank structure and the wall segments on both ends of the fuel tanks. When I get around to creating textures I'll do a few different variations and post them and then you guys can help me decide as I'm not really sure yet. I'm not sure what you mean by building for refund parachutes module. I assume you're referring to DebRefund? You just have to stick a stock parachute on the side of the booster, or use a RealChute nose cone parachute part, although they wouldn't be to scale. I might use the RealChute module and put built-in chutes in all the nose cones, I haven't really thought about it yet. -- Nothing new to show this time as I have been busy with other things. More to come later!

No, nowhere in the forum post does it say that when I go to delete the .dll embedded in some other, unrelated mod I unwittingly updated, the contents of some stranger's private server gets dumped on my computer. That is malicious. It is in fact entirely within Squad's purview to dictate what can and cannot be hosted on their servers and what can and cannot be done to their game. I don't understand how you equate "removing obviously malicious software cleverly disguised as a mod" to "abandoning support for mods altogether", so you are going to have to explain that one to me. Also, I don't want to use the mod, but to stay opted out from any accidental inclusion from some other mod it has been bundled with (again, why?) I have to keep the folder and the settings.cfg file on my computer for all time. Or else I opt in apparently. How is this OK? I don't claim to want rights, I want there to be clear cut rules for mods so that I don't have to worry about potentially illegal or malicious content being downloaded onto my computer without my prior, informed consent, from some stranger's private server. I am really struggling to understand why this makes a minority of sense to the majority of you? I shouldn't have to read through the source code, license, readme or forum post of each and every mod to know that I'm not putting myself in a position in which I could potentially find myself unwittingly in contempt of the law, when I just want to download some virtual parts for a rockets-as-LEGO video game I enjoy in my spare time.

If I delete the ModStatistics folder and unbeknownst to me there is another mod with ModStatistics embedded, the next time I start KSP the content's of some random person's private server gets dumped onto my computer clearly not just without my consent but against my wishes. Also, if I delete the settings.cfg file (after changing it to opt out) I am longer opted out, meaning I have to have that folder on my computer in perpetuity to stay opted out. Not you or anybody else for that matters has managed to come up with an explanation for why this is sane or rational in any way, shape or form. Furthermore, why should I have to comb through every mod's forum thread, readme and source just to make sure that I do not potentially get illegal or malicious content dumped onto my computer without me knowing about it? This "functionality" isn't stated anywhere except if you go digging through the source code. Are you now seriously going to tell me that it's my responsibility to go and read through every single line of code before I OK the use of a mod for my rockets-as-LEGO video game I like to play for fun in my spare time? This is ridiculous. Squad should ban any and all mods from downloading anything to my computer, opt-in or opt-out. Also see below Again, I ask Squad, how is this allowed to stand?

You're defending deceitfulness?

Nobody has yet to come up with a reason why a mod for a video game should dump the contents of some random person's private server onto my computer without my prior express consent, and that tells it all really.

Crashes can already be reported to mod makers on this very forum and you can post surveys or ask users what other mods they're using. Crash reporting and relationships between installed mods do not need to - and should not - come at the price of a piece of software which will download whatever is on some random person's private server at any given time without my prior informed consent.

Yeah no I'm going to stick my neck out there and suggest that Valve might have more adequate resources to deal with data security than some random internet stranger in his basement. Even if that were not the case, I know Valve and Squads' motivations. They're businesses. They're not going to put malware on my computer because that would extremely stupid. Some random person on the internet whose motivations I can never know on the other hand... No, I am arguing that it shouldn't be my personal responsibility to go through each and every mod I download for unrelated malware. It's a video game, not a bank loan. Calm down, and play the ball, not the man. Same thing here. I shouldn't have to look through thousands of words or go through every downloaded mod folder to find out if there's any unrelated software that I never asked for included. Neither the SCANsat OP or the ModStatistics OP makes any mention whatsoever that it will download the contents of some random person's server to my computer if I try to delete an instance of it. Why does someone need to know mod usage statistics beyond that which is available in the form of download counts elsewhere? Someone who is not affiliated with Squad, someone who could download possibly malicious or illegal content to my computer without my knowledge or informed prior consent? It should not be allowed to exist, period.