helldiver

Yeah kind of sucks, I had a perfect track record. All shuttles recovered and no Kerbals lost. Unfortunately on my last flight, not enough fuel for the retro burn... So now I got Resolute stuck in orbit. It doesn't have a docking ring or connection or what ever.... How do I send up fuel to it? I can load up a fuel tank in the Dauntless and rendezvous with it. But I don't know how to transfer fuel. Would I need a mod for that? (and yes I know I can cheat and just give myself unlimited fuel, but that's unsportsmanlike).

[Edit]Ignore what I said. I realized Pitch Trim had been set to 0 the whole time... The Bad -Today we've been tweaking the visual model, attachment points and so on. I'm just not a fan of surface attach for this. I can understand generic components, but the KSO was not meant to have its parts surface attached. We discussed having an alternate parts download so if you want the rudder and other parts as surface attachable that's fine. But the default download will have all important components Node attached. Generic components, tools, accessories, and the elevons will be surface attached. -Feels flimsy. -Not enough electrical power, and I think not enough fuel to be able to do a mission. However this is all easily tweaked. The Good -We did an outstanding job on the IVA, getting it finalized and to a point we're both happy. I'm unable to test the HUD as I always run out of electrical power. Seems something is buggy or linked to the engines being shut down or something. -Landings are a lot more user friendly. They are just about where I want them in terms of ease. Nazari killed a lot of the buggy behavior it had earlier. -Nazari did an outstanding job on the smoke effects. Personally I think they are perfect as they are now. MFDs, including a functional ADI! Only thing is the speed and altitude tapes are in weird increments. Will do research later to see how we can have them show up differently (for the future). For now it's very functional and I can use it while the HUD view gets fixed. Unfortunately without power on landing, it's hard to test those two instruments.

Yes the Crew deck/mission deck (I might have that backwards).... Since I keep repeating what my plans are, I'll update the OP once we get this released. But: 1) Space Station components (so you can build a space station) that fit the Cargo bay. 1b. Things like a Lab that is already in game but with an IVA so you can do experiments. 2) A lunar lander kit that fits the cargo bay. 2b. Will include the rover that will fit in the Lunar lander that fits in the cargo bay. So you can be in the rover, while you're in the lander, while the lander is in the cargo bay... 3) Parts requested by Nazari (namely camera's and other components). 4) Crew deck. Currently no purpose aside from looking cool. I thought Labs had to be their own part? By priority: 1) Updated emissive in the cargo bay as well as an attachable emissive part. This makes it so you don't have to use real light parts. Emissive lights are amazing and I'm hoping folks will start adopting them in their projects. 2) Camera part. Little camera you can attach in various places. Will allow you to slave it to the MFD. 3) Everything else. Although we have some more minor testing to do plus I want to play the game for once... I really haven't played KSP to be honest. I think I played it for a week before I started working on the KSO.

Thanks everyone for the enthusiasm, motivation, and compliments. It's really what has kept me going on this project. Fortunately Nazari came in and picked it up. -We're getting a lot of the bugs squashed. -Nazari improved the landing/glide/deadstick approach significantly. I'm really liking it now and it's not so touchy and erratic. Definitely a lot more controllable. Was also able to turn and fine tune my approach.

Latest update: After lots of finagling, got the first flight. Although I had to composite the reentry since I kept landing on the grass. Nazari has done an outstanding job getting this thing working. All credit goes to him for setting it up and getting it working. To do still: -Lots of flight model tweaking. Launch and orbit are pretty smooth. Coming back down is smooth but can be finicky. A bit of it had to do with not being able to assign the airbrakes to an action group no mater what I did. The flaps and airbrake are absolutely necessary otherwise it'll balloon up or roll off the runway. -Minor art related touch ups (seam line along the main gear wheels). -Fixing one of the MFDs so we can produce a rudimentary ADI (easy and simple job). -Preparation for release and final permissions from plugin authors. -Part descriptions. My hats off to Nazari for putting up with the headaches and for all the tweaking and adjusting we still have to do. We are now "Beta" with this. Please do not message me regarding testing. We will be working with a couple other modders who have a lot of experience with this so that they can help us adjust numbers and test it properly. Although right now Nazari has a pretty good handle on things. Personally I'm not that happy with the responsiveness during landing, basically it's too easy to lose control and crash. Controls can be a little jerky, and lots of steps have to be taken which can make handling complicated (turning air brakes on and off, turning SAS on and off, toggling torque) all the while trying to maintain control. I think it's just a bit too complex for the average user as it is right now when landing. Launches and orbiting are right about where I want them. Payloads complicate maters a little bit, but otherwise the average KSP user should have no problem. Re-entry is also pretty good. Unfortunately at around 4000m the thing just gets all weird. Again lots more testing and number tweaking to do. And the latest album from my first flights. Nazari coached me through the first few. I successfully flew a mission and landed. Unfortunately I didn't land on the runway but instead on the grass since I still don't understand what's up with the mysterious power coming out of no where when I turn the airbrakes off...

Nazari and I have been tossing up different ideas. I still want to do some of the stuff I had planned such as: spacecraft components, station components, rovers, and a lunar lander that all fit the cargo bay. Additional research lab modules, tools, equipment, and such that all fit nicely in the cargo bay. It also depends on if Squad is still supporting and enthused about KSP.

Update Believe it or not, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Things are quickly coming to a close. This past couple weeks have been pretty much crunching final touches of phase 1. Nazari and I have been working until late in the night getting stuff going. Unfortunately we've had to make some sacrifices along the way and still some more to go. -Vehicle is pretty balanced, flies magnificently, launches, returns, all perfectly. It's a bit over-powered but it's a sacrifice we had to make. I prefer gamey-ness over realism. If I wanted realism I'd go play Orbiter. -No more Navball. It's hardcoded, so unless someone creates a plugin allowing us to make our own custom Navballs, it's just not possible without a programmer. I didn't even want the freaking thing anyways. It's been replaced by a digital Navball display thanks to the awesome power of RPM. -Because we ended up using RPM for the MFDs, I had to up the resolution of the cockpit. Took a few days to redo all the graphics. I'm still working on the remaining components. We will include lower resolution textures as an option in the future (and or DDS replacement). To do: -Landing gear is giving Nazari issues. Having to do with the bounciness as well as it getting stuck in the piston (a bug with KSP). -The Kerbals are not showing up correctly in the lower right hand corner of the screen. KSP is ignoring the Kerbal cameras Nazari set up, we have no idea what is going on with that. This is important to me, since presentation is a big issue for me. We have no idea how ZRM set it up. -Minor tweaking and a robust testing regimen. Will have better shots once the IVA is finished. High res cockpit, fully visibly text (click to view) http://i.imgur.com/fl6a0VG.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vtQ3xEH.jpg http://i.imgur.com/y98lty0.jpg http://i.imgur.com/hWKcBUe.jpg http://i.imgur.com/yn3ZThs.jpg

Just a quick update. -Nazari continued to import systems and test the fuel, weight distribution, and some separation issues with the LRB (losing control during flight before LRB separation). -We've been researching how to resolve the drag, re-entry issue. -Added additional artwork support needed by some workarounds we've been discussing. -RPM (RasterPropMonitor) support implemented which required redoing the MFDs. Experimental flaps to help solve aerodynamic issues during re-entry and at low speeds so as to keep from cheating by giving the wings too much lift capacity (Nazari will be experimenting and researching different methods to solve this). RPM support for the cockpit. I had to do new artwork since the stock RPM MFDs didn't fit the theme and style of the more civilian KSO.

Unfortunately yes. I removed the attachment node on top anyhow, so you'd have trouble putting one there now. Keep in mind that the KSO was always meant to have a v-tail like in the original pictures. I could have built two on each side above the rear RCS ports. That would have created double the work and have delayed things further, we're already way behind as it is. I'm not sure, that'd be something Nazari would know more about.

Alright guys just a quick status update. -Nazari is still getting the pieces into KSP. He has the main orbiter flying and so far things are looking good. -Had to make a small addition so that he had more control on re-entry, helps keep the nose at the proper angle:

I really appreciate the offer. Nazari is taking care of the import process as well as any plugins and such. I'm sure we'll run into some issue in the future and may need help. Again, thank you so much guys for the support. I'm looking forward to this as much as any of you!

Shader, as in Material Renderer. A Shader renders a texture depending on the function of the shader and the texture (an example of a shader is a Normal Map shader that renders normal map light information on a model). The Shader options are limited and buggy with KSP, hence ZRM programmed a plugin to handle the various textures used by the KSO. Unfortunately I don't have access to those plugins.

RPM is the MFD we'll be using. It fits the KSO like a glove. The KSO already had support for RPM I believe. Just a matter of getting feedback from Nazari as to what has to be adjusted.

While I get a hold of a modder willing to take over, I decided to fix the panel visibility issue. It is now a lot more compact and visibility is improved by about 45%. Comparison: and

RasterPropMonitor I think someone suggested earlier. Going to go with off the shelf stuff as much as I can. Again, this will be up to the programmer to decide what's the most convenient and time effective measure. Don't want to get bogged down programming something from scratch again since I think that may have been what fizzled ZRM. It's just strange since he was done pretty much. I mean the shuttle was flying perfectly. Had a bit of a buggy launch but I chalk that up to the instruments being shut down. This is so mysterious. Not going to announce who I sent messages to out of respect for other modders and it may be a couple days until one of them gets back to me who is available and willing to take on the project.

Alright guys my sincere apologies for the disappearance. I was out of town for the holidays (I live in Cali, was down in Florida). When I got back I got swamped with work and a family trip. Figured I'd hear from ZRM since then but looks like we may have lost him It's alright, no harm no foul. Folks just sometimes lose interest or get busy with other stuff. -I still have all resources. Including the FBXs with most of the KSP specific fixes ZRM recommended. It's all triple backed up (on an SSD, a USB Flash, and two HDDs). -Everything is hierarchied and pretty much ready. What would have to be done: -The entire import process (from FBX->Unity->KSP) -Any missing shader (normal map, specular, glow if needed?) -Any plugin to get the engines functional and the shuttle flying appropriately. -Integration of the Multi-function displays (which ever we decide to use). I'll send some messages out to see if any of the modders with experience in this would like to team up with me. Anyhow, this isn't dead. It's just sitting there like an old engine block getting weathered.

Alright guys, I decided to wait for the weekend to post this. I haven't heard from ZRM. Soon as I get an update from him I'll update everyone else. Going to give it one week. After that point I'm going to again look for someone in the community with a lot of experience programming Unity for KSP. There have been several mod authors on here with the experience and knowledge needed (Tohou comes to mind). Just a matter of finding someone willing to tackle the project to completion. Sadly, I don't have any of the work ZRM has done up to this point. Which means that on the KSP side, the project would have to be started over (the programming part, NOT the art). Fortunately since the Artwork is all done, it's just a matter of working with someone with enough experience to get the stuff into KSP working properly. What is the cause of ZRM's absence, I wouldn't know. Keep in mind not everyone can be motivated 100% on something for any length of time. These are mods after all to a very niche game. My only issue is I wish I would have known earlier so that I could have found someone a couple months back and gotten this done. Anyhow, going to give it one week and then will begin looking for a mod author that has the experience to tackle this. My sincere apologies for this extensive delay.

We're still here. I'm just waiting for ZRM to free up and send me a copy of the functional mod. Seriously guys, just a waiting game at the moment. Once that hurdle is done, I'm back in 100%. Right now just a waiting game.

Won't even sit on the Launchpad without blowing up...

.22 borked connections and physics for some reason. I was at least getting things into orbit and messing around. Even did a multi stage mission putting together a space station (nothing fancy). I wanted to wait on doing additional art until Phase I was done. I need to figure out the physics and learn to fly the thing properly so I know what area to work on. Additional phases of this project won't take as long as this one did since we won't need the foundation of the MFDs.

Sadly no. Lets give it some time. I'd give it about a week or so before pulling the panic button

Hrm, I see I see. Didn't realize that. So far I've been having perfect ascents and even enough fuel for my circularization burn with enough left over in the tank for anything else (about 30%). Shuttle flies and ascends perfectly although I am using KerbCom in Combined Guidance Only mode. It requires some practice and I've been doing my gravity turn by hand. When transitioning and jettisoning the LRBs I'm lowering the engines down to about 15% to keep the transition smooth (with about 3% fuel left in the LRBs). It still requires a bit of practice, but once you get the procedure done you'll be good. Unfortunately the cockpit is still shut down. I haven't been able to figure out why nothing in the cockpit works. Waiting for ZRM to give me an update.

That is correct. I'm a contract artist. I have very little experience in Unity. My experience is in 3D Studio Max, shaders, Mudbox, Zbrush and a little Maya. Unity is very new to me, in fact I only installed it for this project to verify ZRM was getting the proper FBX2013 versions which have the smoothing groups preserved. No problem! Hahahaha! And that's the short of it. I've put together a lot of shuttles using B9 parts and stock parts and seems like I have to wrangle with them. Most folks I know and have seen videos on youtube don't bother with them. Either they do some inline thing, or do regular rockets. If we were going to put this much effort in a shuttle, we'd like the largest group of people to be able to use it. Follow me? Hence, we have to make it so that you can easily plop it together, and with little fuss; be able to launch missions and payload with it.

Actually none of that is true at all. -If I were a programmer, and had any interest in Unity, you'd all have this mod a month ago. I'm neither, so I have to rely on working with someone who has put a lot of work into it, that being ZRM. -I'm dead in the water just as much as you are. We're no different, keep that in mind. Once I get a copy that has everything functional and I can check everything, you can be sure we'll get it out there. -I don't understand what the modular system and such is for. I think you'll have to reread certain parts of the thread ONLY from ZRM or Me, not from other posters. A lot of posters coming on here are making hasty generalizations and confusing people. . That's not going to change, that was my requirement since day one. I hate having to fight with these sorts of vehicles I want to play the game and have fun. Not be concerned as to why it's spinning all over the place ad nausea and falling apart. If you have an issue with that, this might not be the mod for you.Fourth, it seems you and perhaps some others, are not reading the thread properly or ZRM and my posts. I said "I did not get a complete copy of the project, hence I have bugs and errors.". Going to repeat that one more time: I did not get a complete copy of the project when I posted shots, hence I have bugs and errors. I asked ZRM to send me a copy so I could take shots and answer a bunch of questions people had. And finally; ZRM has other priorities currently. I'm waiting for the mod just as much as you or anyone else is. He's not polishing or thumbing around. His version works just fine. He is still finishing to program the other missing MFDs as part of our Phase I goal. However his time is at his discretion. He has school and other priorities that came up that have gotten in the way. To add, ZRM is not over-engineering or adding anything. I'm well aware of what feature creep is. None of that is happening. You simply have to give the man time to brick and mortar. No one is over analyzing, gun shy, or anything of the sort.

As the others mentioned the Cabin is lit. I didn't know there was a light switch when I got into space. I turned it on when I landed which didn't really help much since things were bright as it is. Also, like I mentioned, even if you don't turn the light on, the cabin is actually brighter with the light off, than what those pictures are showing you. I have a color corrected monitor and gamma settings in PS5 so most of my screenshots and art will appear darker with higher contrast than normal when viewed on a browser. This is with the light off. Keep in mind it's a lot brighter in game. I wasn't able to turn the light on, the cockpit system I think is not functioning. Maybe it's because I need to install batteries maybe? The cockpit is very bright and you can see everything really well back on Kerbin (note my previous shots on the ground). I did not try the single rudder configuration, so I wouldn't know. You will be able to easily built a single rudder version however. Keep in mind that the KSO will have its mass balanced assuming a V-tail configuration as well as it's flight model. You may have poor (or better) performance using a single tail. I'll experiment once I get a more complete version of the project.