Kerba Fett

Layers are indeed the secret of texturing. I usually put the color layer on the bottom and stack all the other details on their own layers. Hull seams have a layer, windows have a layer, luminosity has a layer, bump mapping has a layer. I use photoshop and save the PSD then toggle layer visibility and save components as PNG. By keeping everything on separate layers I can easily copy the hull seams to a new layer and convert them to a bump map. Same with copying the window layer to the luminosity layer. If you need to change just one feature you don't need to redo the entire texture. You can also try out features you're not sure will look good like a logo or text or a noise layer over the color layer to simulate grime or wear.

Thanks guys, I'll check that pack out. (like I need MORE parts) lol.

It works. Thanks. Where were you a month ago?

I didn't notice that, but I was playing with the emissive shader and noticed that it allows for both diffuse and emissive images. So it sounds like there's no way to add more channels unless the shader supports it? That brings up another question. Now that UV mapping is common, most models only seem to use a single material and a single texture image. Should I be building my models with multiple materials so I can get diffuse/emissive for windows and diffuse/bump for the hull?

Keep in mind that if you use the debug menu (alt-F12) you can reload all objects without quitting KSP. Takes about 10 seconds on a stock install. You need to be at the space center screen though not in one of the buildings.

I'm used to building textures in layers in LightWave. You start with a diffuse channel for color, then add another channel for specularity, then one for bump mapping, then one for luminosity, and so on. Each channel can use its own image or you might share a single image for multiple channels. I finally managed to build an object in Wings3d, UV map it, make a texture in photoshop, import it into Unity, then export it to KSP. While it worked, the texture needs improvement, but I can't see where I add new layers (channels) to my texture in either Wings or Unity? It's like you can have color OR normal mapping, but not both. Which program should I be trying to do this in, Wings or Unity, and how do I do it?

What is the problem with the "reply with quote" function? Every time I use it it just sits there with the little busy indicator and never goes any further. Jewelshisen; I recognized the half sphere tanks on your ship. I was talking about the icons in your build tools. I recognize the b9 and fire spitter pods. I don't recognize the 4 at the bottom of the section though. The ones that are white with orange trim. Did you make those or are they from a mod pack?

All the time I've been playing this game I was under the impression that we could only orbit the camera around our current ship using the RMB. Since the camera always points at the COM it can be kind of a bother. Then this weekend I discover that the middle mouse button lets you rotate the camera around its axis while in flight. Am I the last person here to find out about this?

JewelShisen; What pack are those 4 pods at the bottom of your list from? The white ones with the orange trim. They look interesting.

I've used Lightwave for a long time and I can manage most tasks in the modeler pretty easily. I find blender very difficult and I'll often struggle for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to do something that would take me a few seconds in LW. Then I get frustrated and angry and usually quit before I accomplish anything. As a result I'm no better at Blender today than I was 6 months ago when I first loaded it. I've looked at 3dS max and Maya and they seem just as confusing. Perhaps I'm just too old and stupid to learn new software. Is there any object conversion software that will allow me to use the Modeler I know and be able to get objects into Unity or do I have to continue to wait on others to make the mods I want?

I spent some time looking at this thread. A lot of people are building big refueling stations with lots of rockomax orange tanks. You really should check out Talsar's Shperical fuel tanks mod. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/30673-0-21-x-Spherical-Fuel-Tanks-Pack-%28Updated-09-04-13%29 The large ones can hold about 6X the capacity of the jumbo 64 so you don't usually need more than 1 per station. On a large fuel station this could cut your parts count (and lag) by quite a bit. There's empty versions of each size to keep your launch weight down Here's my station with one of them. I think I'm at about 120 parts for the entire station and about 28 for just the fuel dock.

I'm surprised that nobody has ever released a "heatsink" part to place between the engine and fuel tank to address this issue. While functionally identical, a little finned spacer seems more logical way to deal with overheats than a little fuel tank under a big fuel tank.

I like the sphereship. it's coming along quite well. I think the standard yellow would look nicer for the windows though. Big panoramic windows on all 4 sides might be too much. It makes the pilot's window seem less special. A few smaller windows or portholes spread around might look cool. If you assume that the entire lower half was fuel and machinery it still looks like the upper hemisphere would be 2 decks. That's a lot of space for kerbals so I'd think the normal configuration would be space for 6 or 8. I guess how you end up texturing it depends on the mission profile you choose for it. Passenger ships tend to have lots of windows regularly spaced for people to look out. Research or distant habitat ships have a higher ratio of equipment to crew so less windows and not so regularly spaced. Cargo ships would have hardly any windows, but probably a huge cargo bay door painted into the texture. Can't wait to see how this thing turns out............

It wasn't the capitilized R in the RescaleFactor. I changed that and it still didn't resize. I also tried moving the rescaleFactor = line outside of your model definition and it still wouldn't resize. Finally I tried setting your Scale =.8 lines to scale = 3.2 and it finally resized. After all that, it still doesn't really look right as a station. The size of the hub is too big compared to the diameter of the rim and the thickness of the rim is too big compared to it's diameter. This torus has the proportions of a scooter wheel and a station needs to be closer to the proportions of a motorcycle wheel.

I wanted to see if I could get an off balance ship into orbit. it flies pretty good under forward thrust. It pulls to the left when I use the braking engines or RCS though. Need to do some thruster balancing. Sure makes the station look small.

Glad to hear the spherical pods are in the works. I can't wait to try them. I tried to upsize one of your toroidal tanks to see if I could come up with a 2001 inspired station, but didn't have much luck. Since there's no rescaleFactor in the config it's assumed that it's currently 1.25 so adding the line RescaleFactor = 5 should make me a copy 4X as big with a core diameter of 10m. I added it into your model definition and when I load the game it has a new name, but not a new size. Model { model = ModsByTal/Parts/FuelTank/Models/TAL_Large_Toroidal_Tank scale = 0.8, 0.8, 0.8 texture = TAL_Large_Toroidal_Tank_Texture , ModsByTal/Parts/FuelTank/Resource-LFO/Textures/TAL_Large_Toroidal_Tank_Texture_LFO RescaleFactor = 5 } Should I have added it outside the model definition or is the "scale =" line overridding the "rescaleFactor =" line?

Good job on the command pod Talisar. Could I request that you make a version with the attach node on the bottom as well as the back like the one in the picture. I've been playing with making ships from your tanks. Hope to try out your pod soon.

My installation seems to be working OK except that I don't have lights in the cockpit windows. Didn't they used to light up? Is there a particular plugin required for that that I should look for?

Here's my newly completed Grand Karmony Station. Currently a research station and refueling hub it holds over 3000L of monopropellant and can fill over 6 rockomax orange tanks. Normally staffed by 10 station crew, 10 visiting scientists and has sleeping accomodations for 4 guests on layover to the munar station. Negotiations are underway to expand the habitat arm for space tourism. Since the station doesn't move the solar tower rotates to track the sun. The main fuel tank is isolated to protect the station in the event of a mishap. The entire station is about 110 pieces so the framerate stays pretty good The centeral core and axial arms are 24 of those pieces and the removable radial arms make up the rest. If I want to update one of the arms I dock a tug and remove it then plug in a replacment. If I want to add features like ISA mapsat, lazor, or kethane I've got multiple unused docking ports intended for that. If a future update brings incompatability I can remove just the module that carries that addon and i don't lose the entire station. Mods used are Fustek Station parts expansion http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/35043-0-21-FusTek-Station-Parts-Expansion-%28R0-03-4a%29 and B9 Areospace in the core http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25241-0-21-B9-Aerospace-Pack-R3-3-New-pods-IVAs-engines-fuselages-structures The solar arm uses a 2.5m rotatron from Infernal Robotics http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/37707-0-21-Magic-Smoke-Industries-Parts-Infernal-Robotics-0-8 The spherical tank is from Talsar http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/30673-0-21-x-Spherical-Fuel-Tanks-Pack-%28Updated-08-29-13%29 The habitat domes are from the HAB/HUB by zzz http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/43840-Hab-Hub-%28and-other-strange-things%29

You know what I'd like to see in this pack? Stick on windows. The spherical and particularly large toroidal tank would make great station hulls. Maybe even an actual hemispherical command pod with windows and a crew hatch. Like this: or this: and your toroidal tank could easily become a kerbalized version of this with a retexture:

Today I learned to add images from the steam cloud to my posts. Here's a station I finished a few days ago. Of course, if there's a free docking port are they ever really finished. It's got just over 100 parts and of that the core is 26 parts. All of the radial arms are removable for upgrading or in case it starts to lag too much.

Normally you could just make a new copy of the directory, open the part.cfg file and change rescale=1 to rescale=2. In this case you probably want to go to about 2.05. I made some larger tricouplers to hold rockomax 64 tanks and they kept coming unhooked on the launch pad. I think the collision meshes were hitting each other. A bit bigger should work fine.

The "control from here" option also works with docking ports to re-orient the navball. I was launching station modules on the weekend and it took me a bunch of crashes and loads of redesigns in the VAB before I noticed the navball was the wrong color before launch. Once I did I just switched control to a docking port rather than the inverted probe core and everything was fine.

Stopping a spinning ship is easy. Just use warp for a couple of seconds and it will stop all rotation. It's a bit of a cheat, but very effective.

I usually do just tap the keys. It's still too much. I'd like it to be more like a small ship on RCS. (if you want to move fast you hold the button for a while) And are you sure about the 2 direction thing? I would think that running 2 thrusters is applying more movement than just 1. I'd really like to just find a config file or a plugin that would fix it.