noonespecial

Hahaha. The one you quoted is photorealistic because it's a photo The ones below it aren't very big. Only a few thousand poly, with 1024 textures done in photoshop and normal maps.

Indeed. I'm a huge fan of TweakScale already

Update 8/4/2014 The tank portion of the Large Upper Stage is complete. I'm doing it in two pieces so can I make the two lower assemblies, a single engine version and a 4x engine version. First three images are cycle renders from Blender, the following four are from KSP. The last two pictures are shown with the Mk1-2 and the ChakaMonkey Orion for size comparison. (I'm in no way affiliated with ChakaMonkey or am I going to redistribute or use YANFRET's models. Just using it in this picture for size comparison.)

Yup. This guy:

LUS (Large Upper Stage) Remodel Comparison to old model Side by Side with Concept Art Still need to do a lot of fine detail work. But progressing nicely.

Holy crap, you're absolutely correct. I have the same pictures. Used them when I was building the pieces, but neglected to look at the pictures when I was putting the pieces together. Wrongly assuming my memory was adequate to the task. I've look at the photo a dozen times since, but payed more attention to the top tank and engines. Somehow I became utterly blind to the details in the middle. Thanks for pointing it out! This was also before I learned you can put a reference photo into Blender. Here is how far off my model is. Again, thanks for pointing it out.

8/2/14 Update

Update 8/1/14 Finished the models for the LUS tank. Also started on the LUS engine clusters. Many details to add to the engine cluster, but there is the tank and the cluster rendered and in KSP.

Oh yes. Found the entry in your example config. MeshesToChange = foo1, foo2, etc. Thanks

Hey Cpt. I'm not entirely sure where you got the impression that I was planning on making this compatible with every other part. The closest thing I've said that hints at compatibility with other parts was in the initial post, stating that some of the SLS parts already appear in the game in the form of other mods. My intention was to not recreate those mods IF they were to proper scale. Specially in this statement: As far as general compatibility, it will have that. The command pod/service module are circular 5 meter parts. Stock adapters (with tweakscale) and KW adapters can adapt any of the larger components of this system to anything in stock. Beyond that, as part of the LUS module, there is a 5m to 8.4m adapter, which if used in combination with aforementioned adapter could even adapt the absurdly large fuel tanks for use with any other mod/stock parts.

Hmmm, I don't think what you're suggesting is possible, but I think I understand your idea. Are you suggesting something like.... the automatic fairings that deploy when something is coupled to an Engine? So, you could make an engine, that has TriHex "fairings" when the engine is coupled? Is that what you're suggesting?

Depends on the version, but I think I agree with you and did make it a bit longer. Update 7/31/14 MPCV + Service Module + Adapter + iCPS Up next: The larger upper stage LUS On a side note: I noticed that Module Manager has a function to search for existing mods and one of the provided examples is detecting RSS and scaling the models down to 0.64 if RSS is not found. Does anyone have an experience with this? If I'm understanding this correctly, I won't even have to release two version. Just a single version with module manager that will detect if RSS is present and do the scaling appropriately. Is that correct?

Too big? Try THST, they are smaller

Fitting something INSIDE the trusses is not outside the realm of possibilities. Look at the Constellation Mod by Starwaster. He has giant round trusses that fit together and an adapter plate that allows for stackable components inside the trusses. Now, the only foreseeable problem I can think of off the top of my head is the collider meshes. A thrust transform provides no thrust it a collider mesh is obstructing it. So you'd have to have a truss without a bottom collider mesh and I can see that getting a little messy. But maybe something worth playing with. Another possibility would just be to make an engine model with the hex truss built around it as a single model.

Pretty much. But I prefer to change the scale in Unity before export instead of monkeying with the cfg files.

Differing opinions on scaling options aside... The more recent Service Module. Texture still needs some (by some, I mean A LOT) of tweaking. The models for the Orion MPCV, Service Module, Adapter, and Aeroshell are complete. The textures for the MPCV and Service modules are about half done. The textures for the Adapter and Aeroshell are done. Still trying to figure out how to do workable normals (all my attempts so far look like [explative]). Next up, the Upper propulsion stage.

I gave the experimental build a run on Win8.1 64-Bit in KSP-64. Ran a ship from Kerbin to Duna and landed. Nothing unusual to report. Seems to be working fine. Oh, one thing I have noticed (not sure if this is covered somewhere on this forum, if so, I missed it), but if a part has multiple meshes, the reflective plugin only applies the reflection to the first mesh. Not only the experimental, but your earlier builds as well.

I mentioned the SDHI as a stock-a-like alternative, not as something to be used with this mod. My rational for the size is this: Using a realistic launch system: The SDHI is, as you said, an orbital system. The SLS is a deep space/other planetary body system. So would you want use the SLS for orbital missions? No, not at all. Want to send a manned mission to Jool without having to do an orbital refuel, unrealistic overbuilt rocket or asparagus configuration, then yes, you would use SLS. My rational for the size is this: RSS and Stock. There are three general options. 1.) I could make two models for each part, one scaled for RSS, one scaled for stock. 2.) I could make stock scaled models and scale them up in Unity for RSS. 3.) I could make RSS scaled models and scale them down in Unity for Stock. As I believe there would be a noticeable quality different from scaling up, I'm choosing the scaling down option. Additionally, I'm not aiming to do a stock-a-like SLS. There are already at least two SLS mods that fit within the realm of stock-a-like, I linked them above. In RSS, this mod will be massive. In stock KSP, it is still going to be huge. Simply, there isn't a need for three stock-a-like SLS mods. Even my scaled down stock KSP version of this mod will be larger than norm. For the express purpose of being a deep space/planetary system, not an orbital/kerbin system.

You are 100% correct. Although, if you are looking for stock scaled SLS, I would recommend one of the following: ChakaMonkey by YANFRET Sum Dum Heavy Industries - Service Module System by Sumghai Both much more mature than my offerings and both are more skilled than me. Definitely worth a look.

I'm not sure I agree with that assessment. As the NASA ARM parts in the stock game are 5m. Some of the more popular mods also include 5m parts. For example, KW Rocketry, B9, NovaPunch, a few others, all include 5m parts. Thus, I'm not sure I understand why you believe 5m is too big for stock, when stock includes 5m.

I'm rather new to modeling, and modeling for KSP particularly. Forgive me for not understanding your meaning. But why is it a shame that I'm doing it full sized instead of 3/4 size? Is there some drawback that I'm unaware of to doing it at full scale?

I have decided on dimensions. I'm doing it to real-life scale (the pod is 5m, I'm doing it as 5m in Blender). When I export from Unity, I will scale it down to 5m in KSP. They appear to be Auxiliary Thrusters. Unfortunately, there are several versions of the proposed design. There seem to be two major versions, one with the Auxiliary Thrusters on the underside, and one with the thrusters on fins.

Update 7/27/04 Sorry for the week with no update. I've been tinkering with normals baking and trying to figure out how to do it effectively. I'm still figuring it out. Here is the progress on the Orion Pod, Service Module, and RCS Block. Basic textures done, but still need some fine tuning. I'm finding that I'm not very good at textures, haha. But with some practice, I'm sure I'll improve.

He has a separate thread on the Release forum.

So, if you are planning a trip to Jool... setup a maneuver node that is in 200+ days, then timewarp to it, you'll come back with zero reputation? Am I understanding that correctly? Might want to suggest Kerbal Alarm Clock to those who use this.