Kerbolar

I installed the Stock Fuel Switch mod, which is lovely but only works in the VAB. What I'd like to be able to do is take a rocket fuel tank and, either when one resource is drained or after dumping it, reassign the volume for one fuel to bolster the other. Chiefly this would be useful for launching a tank as a conventional rocket stage and then reassigning it to fuel an LV-N. Empty out the Oxidizer and replace it with Liquid Fuel. Or even Monopropellant! Admittedly, in reality it would probably cause an explosion, but I don't think that matters for the game.

That's a very nice idea. If I ever learn how to do animated parts I'll check back here.

Gristle: Thanks for pointing that out, definitely needs fixing! Ratzap: I do want to try using both FAR and B9, but I'm having some trouble getting the game to load. I'll get there eventually. Thanks for that thorough comparison, it's good data. I haven't used most of those engines. I do want the spikes to be representative of the advantages that they theoretically offer in reality so I'll have to do something about this. I am very cautious of making things overpowered but you've made a very good case for current configurations being underpowered. Again, thank you. P.S. I haven't found time for KSP for about a week, hence my not replying until now.

Brilliant! I wondered about making something like this but hadn't got around to it. Now I don't need to!

I love this mod! I wanted something like this and was thinking about eventually trying to build such a plugin myself. Well, you've saved me the task and done an excellent job of it. Thank you very much! This is going to reduce part counts so much, what with all the struts I won't need. My only issue with it is that the tanks seem indestructible. I followed my launch stage to splashdown at >300m/s and the tank just bobbed in the water.

Part pack updated. Please see beginning of thread for specific information. Updates are based on feedback and current capabilities

Thank you! I'm very glad to have this kind of feedback. Also the stuff that follows. Yeah, I've been thinking about the collision problem and I have a working solution It'll be in the next release. I've also just (a few minutes ago) remodelled and retextured the LS-500 spike to improve its appearance and polygon count. Things will only get better. I'd never used B9 before but I think I'm going to start! Once I've figured out the dimensions etc. I'll gladly improve a couple of compatability plates. It fits will with my plan for Venture Star part design, as a matter of coincidence. Again, thanks!

I'm glad you like it I've tried to keep the power and Isp within reasonable limits while representing the potential advantages of aerospikes. I think the LS-500 may be heavier in the next release, though. I did wonder if the number of parts would be objectionable. So in the next release I'll add some of your suggestions. Thanks. Potentially, yes. The X-33/Venture Star engines were designed to be long and narrow like this. This this is KSP, I thought it'd be fun to be able to extend that to absurd lengths.

Okay, I've started planning parts for the Venture Star!

I have released an update to this part pack. Parts New LS-504 Linear Aerospike engine - Three segments with a built in adapter extension. LS-505 Linear Aerospike engine - Five segments with a built in adapter. Modified LS-500 Linear Aerospike Segment. - Increased weight (from 0.5 in v1.0 to 0.52 in v1.1). - New model, lower tricount. - New texture, better appearance. Old LS-501 Linear Aerospike adapter for size 1 (1 metre) rocket parts. LS-502 Linear Aerospike adapter extension. LS-503 Linear Aerospike aerodynamic end cap. AS-250 Annular Aerospike at size 0 (0.5 metre). AS-250A size 0, five metre tall rocket fuel tank. AS-1000 Annular Aerospike at size 2 (2 metres). This work is released under a Creative Commons CC BY-SA-NC 3.0 Unported license. Get it at the SpacePort! I've been a fan of aerospikes since the days of the X-33 and wanted to bring a more versatile set of these parts to the game than the stock toroidal aerospike. These parts will likely be revised in future with emissive textures and hopefully better models, but I think that this is a good start. I've tried to ensure that these parts are well balanced in terms of gameplay, each having their advantages and disadvantages. I'd be interested to see what people think of the kit, and the other parts. Finally... would anyone be interested in a set of spaceplane parts modelled after the X-33?

Interesting. Would it help to see any of my files?

I'm not sure exactly what you're getting at here. Is there a way that I can display collision meshes while running KSP? When modelling the part in Unity I have the green wires on the collision mesh. Nope, using a .mu created with the .20 part tools in Unity. This didn't fix the problem, but thanks for the suggestion. UPDATE: I've changed some parameters in the config and the part no longer falls off at the drop of a hat. But it's still intangible :\ I've applied the part tools propcollider (if I remember rightly) to node_collider, is that right? SECOND UPDATE: It's working. I renamed various things in Unity and also ticked "is trigger" on the collision mesh. I'm not certain which of these things did the trick, but hey, it's all good! Thanks all for your input.

Sure node_stack_top = 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0 attachRules = 1,0,1,0,0

I had the "Convex" option ticked and I've now tried a plain cylindrical collision mesh, but that made no difference. Do I need to invoke the part tools in some particular way?

The problem I'm having is not like the one in the other thread, so, new thread. I have been modelling an engine part, which after some pitfalls is now available inside KSP at the right scale and with its full texture. YAY! But... it's intangible. In the VAB, once I place the part, I can't pick it up again. In flight when the part becomes separated from the rest of the craft (through either structural failure or deliberate decoupling) it moves THROUGH other parts like a ghost. It's also highly prone to structural linkage failures, so much so that it can't apply full thrust without separating (and quickly flying through its fuel tank). I'm using the collision mesh created by Unity at import. Hypotheses? SOLUTION: 1. In the configuration file, make sure to define breakingForce and breakingTorque. 2. In Unity, on the collision mesh, tick "is trigger". 2a. Also might help to avoid deprecated part names such as "node_collider".