Snjo

First test flight, January 9th, 2013 Thanks to all you guys! I never would have thought when I created that weird texture-less non-rotating propeller above, on a slow day at work, that things would go this well! And now you've all downloaded this thing a hundred thousand times. I've gotten a lot of good feedback and nice comments the last half year, in fact, the only negative comment I can remember, was a Russian guy telling me in russian, that people should go play DCS Black Shark instead

Congratulations on 100.000 downloads!

Physics don't start if you spawn in space with the water launch module, so it has limits of some kind. It udes to be that wings weren't activated, but that's OK now. As far as I can tell, everything starts up after the move. This is of course only tested with stock+FS. Any other mods may tamper with launch, like may be the case in Wolf123's case. Affecting just one part doesn't help you stay level though. Affecting parts on different corners of the vessel, or named transforms on different corners of the single part sub, will keep it level.

In the mean time, one creative youtuber used the oblong tail i use for the Mustang as a nose piece for an awesome fighter jet. You people are so creative

There are four I think. One helicopter electric folding one, a regular 1m and a 0.5m prop, one folding electric 0.5m prop, and all the tail rotors.

The input lock fix and such may no longer be needed, I haven't tried without it, but you don't get the lockup you did in 0.20 any more. That piece of lock fix code is based on lots of experiments by both me and InfiniteDice, so no one really knows what it all does any more Try one thing at a time and see what happens. The buoyancy kills the stock buoyancy on the part, and does pretty much the same thing, but with more configurability, and less crazy. So after killing the stock code on a part, that part will fall through the ocean like it wasn't even there. It's all just air then. The stock one just pushes you more up the deeper you are, no matter what kind of part you are dealing with. Mine pushes up to a max, to allow for parts that have a max load capacity basically. It also allows you to set the ocean level. If you were to set it at 70 m, you would be floating like in water 70m off the ground. If you turn debugMode = true on the float module cfg, you can increase or decrease the float force on the part. It goes between 0 at "ocean" level, and the set force (12 in my case), at the defined max depth (0.5m I think on the floats). If you retool the code, you can just make the part think the ocean level is at your current target depth, and just clamp that so you can't have a target above sea level. It also limits the speed at which a part can rise to decrease bobbing up and down. It does this by only applying force if the vessel is rising less than 0.2m/s. Oh, and water impact resistance in stock is just based on ground impact resistance, so I made that a separate thing. Any part placed on the sub that's missing custom buoyancy code will drag you up, so it has to consist of only parts with that code, unless you do a Destroy on all vessel.parts[x].partBuoyancy. That has to happen after OnStart though, cause it's added at some odd time.

Take a look at one of the included helicopters, and notice how the Center of Thrust sits above the Center of Mass. Also, don't go too fast. And check the guide

Yes, the pre-release always points to the same file on my dropbox, so grab that: Download It usually has newer stuff than the official version, with a slightly higher chance of bugs, but not much.

Improving I even made a craft with drop tanks. It's a bicth to take off with, but with constant vigilance on the trim, and the tail stabilizing air brakes, it should give you great range with 300 fuel.

Make sure you replace any instance of firespitter.dll with the one in the pre-release. Yes, or as close as I can get with this modular system. My goal is the version pictured on wikipedia, cause it looks bad ass. With the new tail surfaces I posted, and when I make an alternate skin for the fuselage fuel tank, it'll be close enough. Don't have the rear landing gear to make it perfect, but there's a limit to how many unique landing gears I can make without going insane

the longitude and latitude is no longer in use, that's what I used in the old version of the code. It now reads a vector3 that corresponds to the vessels location in the current reference frame while in flight. Since the reference frame shifts all the time, the location you read in the log from the part only works close to KSC, after going there directly from launch. Other values are possible, but require guesswork, trial and error. I once put myself into space with some high numbers, but the game didn't like that, and I was stuck. Other parts of the planet might be OK though.

That's how all rockets should look if you ask me! The new water launch module code will only work with the latest version of KSP, so if you're running something older than 0.21, update. What you describe used to be the case in launches too close to KSP in the old code. I run the code in the latest pre-release myself, if you haven't tried that one, do so. My KSP version is 0.21.1. To make you own coordinates for the water launch system follow these instructions posted earlier: edit: this whole water launch code is held together with duct tape and hair pins. It's doing stuff the game does not expect at a vulnerable time in the vessel creation process, so no promises. It's only good luck that it works at all

All surfaces complete. Damn! That's a load off my mind. It's been so long since I decided to do them. Files FAR values are of course missing or wrong.

Was messing around looking at blueprints the other day, made this Wallpapers: 1920x1200 / 1920x1080

OK, so here's how it works. The rotation is just an illusion. After the engine has spun up, it maintains a constant rotation speed that's tuned to look OK at 60fps. You wouldn't be able to notice a change in rotation speed expect for changes in the glitchy way it displays on screen (Don't worry, I'll get the blur disc in there later). The fact that the rotor blades rotate have no bearing in the output on the engine, it's just visual smoke and mirrors to hide the fact that it's an upside down rocket engine. What makes it different from rockets, apart from sound and visuals, is the steering and thrust control. When you increase throttle (or collective if you will), the engine responds immediately, just like blade pitch would. Any lag you see is just overcoming the fact that you were previously falling, and now need to accelerate out of that fall. The hover function will completely override your throttle/collective control to maintain a constant altitude (up to the max effect of you current throttle setting). The steering simulates the net effect of the swash plate tilt in a slightly incorrect, but more predictable way. It rotates the thrustTransform to induce steering. It could instead be more correct and move the thrustTransform back/forwards, left/right, but it just requires a bit more tweaking, and you would be very hard pressed to know the difference. I'm tempted to switch to that system however, to make pitch trim slightly better. There's also some limitations on how much steering input is given at high throttle values to smooth the steering a bit. Now for the collective sensitivity solution... I could make alternate buttons to increase the throttle in smaller increments, but the problem is, almost all the keys are already in use. Maybe something like Page Up and Down aren't used...

It sounds to me like what we have now, so I guess I don't fully see your thought process... When you increase throttle, it simulates pitching all the blades by increasing thrust all around, increasing fuel consumption as a result, and I've kept the engine pitch sound in to make it clearer to the player that you are at a low or high collective setting. The engine is already less effective at altitude, so you need more throttle higher up. The helicopter has an operational ceiling that's only a few thousand meters. It does not however use more fuel at that altitude. That can be changed via the atmosphere curve of course, but it's not my favourite feature. Given that I'm not a helicopter pilot in real life (I only play one in KSP), what are you missing in the current system?

I put the new f-86 wings in the pre-release. You can toggle the leading edge on with an action group, or the context menu. It will give you more drag, but also increase the wing's lift from 1.5 to 2.5. You can land ridiculously slowly with a light plane. The included f-86 craft is of course missing some tail surfaces still, but it works. It's not super stable when you pitch hard, but if you put the rear stabilizing air brakes up one step, it flies like a charm. If you can suggest an implementation that makes sense, I'm all ears. But there are only two options I see. Either it's just a more fine grained version of the throttle control, but then you will still have the same problems, because you constantly have to mind that thing anyways. Or it's a hover controller basically. You ask for a certain vertical speed, and the engine auto throttles to give you that lift or drop rate.

As soon as I brush up the texture, and make some simple code to make the leading edge produce more lift and drag when toggled, I'll throw it in the pre-release. I also have to make some tail elevators and rudder to go along with them, but that's easy. And of course I'm going to throw the texture switcher on these parts so you can make them match the normal FS gray/black/red style, or the shown shiny F-86 style.

I'm just going to leave this here.

For a more powerful version of the standard prop engine, I can just do a quick re-texture and cfg change of the regular one, but I was thinking of an Avro Lancaster engine. It can't be both radial AND still be inline compatible. It can however be the same scale as the regular engine, but with more engine body behind it to explain the increase in power.

If you click on the propeller in the action editor, you can select whether it start retracted or not. I wasn't sure whether retracted or deployed is the best default, what do you guys think? Turn water launch off in the action editor, fly something to the desired location (has to be close to the KSC), right click the water module and click the Log button. In the debug log (Alt+F2), you'll see the current coordinates. Edit the water launch part.cfg to replace/include the lines MODULE { name = FSmoveCraftAtLaunch launchPosition = -1199.2, 66.2, 4095.4 // using your log coordinates of course } Obviously this is not an ideal solution. I'd like to put some more options into it. I saw some awesome optional lauch location code in KerbTown, the only problem is, all launches do "put to ground" too enthusiastically now, so I'm not sure that method alone would work. Big honking radials have been on my mind... Usually I need to place the Center Of Thrust just behind the center of mass. You just need to move the engine in very small increments back and forth to get the right balance. Other things that will affect it are drag from the various parts, shifting fuel balance etc. Remember to trim the craft to get rid of the last bit of pitch, and as time goes by and fuel supplies dwindle. For very precise trim, there's a Trim Gadget in the Control section. I don't use FAR myself.

Give the new folding electric propeller a whirl, I put it in the pre-release file The goal was to make the folded up version smaller in diameter than a 1m regular part, so it should fit inside a fairing. (Blur texture isn't correct yet) Also added brake lights to the bomber gears to bring the FSwheel module to parity with stock gear. And someone pointed out to me how heavy the landing gears are, so they now have much less mass. helicopter may need some slight tweak to engine placement, but it mostly affects the fighter and bomber gears.

New Official Version Download While I'm working on more stuff, I might as well update the official version to fix some KPS 0.21 compatability issues. v5.4 KSP 0.21 compatibility update - New landing gear functionality: motor, roll retracted, friction overrides, etc. - VTOL steering (pitch and yaw through engine rotation, roll through thrust variation) - Texture switcher module. Switch textures in the hangar for parts (Currently only implemented on Bomber nose art) - New float code to combat the new KSP versions inability to float things. - Updated Water Launch module to work with the new KSP version. - Updated FAR values on the wings. Might allow for less bugginess. You still need to delete the FSwingletRangeAdjustment module in each wing cfg for full control though. (Thanks BubbaWillikins) - Support for arrays of values in cfg files through FSnodeLoader

Boy, have I got good news for you! Using the new move to water code, you can set the starting location using coordinates set in the launch systems cfg. Create a copy of the launch part for under water launches, and add the line launchPosition = 0, 0, 0 where you replace the numbers with the coordinates you find on an earlier attempt. It has to be close to KSC, but when you have a nice underwater position, right click the water launch part and click Log Position. That will post the coordinates to use to the debug log. For killing flotation on a part, any part, add this to its cfg: MODULE { name = FSbuoyancy buoyancyForce = 12.0 // the force applied to lift the part, scaled by depth according to buoyancyRange buoyancyRange = 1.0 // the max depth at which the buoyancy will be scaled up. at this depth, the force applied is equal to buyoancyForce. At 0 depth, the force is 0 buoyancyVerticalOffset = 0.1 // how high the part rides on the water in meters. Not a position offset inside the part. This will be applied in the global axis regardless of part rotation. Think iceberg/styrofoam. // for subs you could play with that value to make it think you are at sea level buoyancywisse at an entirely different depth. You could even change this value at run time to create the whole up/down code (Using your own code I mean) maxVerticalSpeed = 0.2 // the max speed vertical speed at which there will be a liftng force applied. Reduces bobbing. dragInWater = 1.5 // when in water, apply drag to slow the craft down. Stock drag is 3. debugMode = True // enables buoyancy control context menus waterImpactTolerance = 125 // forcePointName = // you can set an alternate transform name to set up multi point float. Optional splashFXEnabled = False // on by default, cretes splashed even deep under water currently, so for subs, just turn it off. } Don't have a camera solution for you other than going IVA. And finally, to use this stuff, take a more recent build of the plugin: edit: full release out, see post below

If you do a google search for folding propeller, they all look pretty much as you expect, they either fold back towards the body, or forwards like odd protruding spears. I only saw on vague reference to something crazier, so I mocked up that idea for fun: