benjee10

Doable roll on the SSMEs, control point set to -15 degrees, and take it slow. SSMEs having roll control can cause instability for some reason.

FAR is almost certainly the cause of this - I haven’t tested it with FAR, but given the magnitude of the changes it makes to aero I’d expect that to cause major performance changes both on ascent and reentry. I don’t know much about SSRSS, but if you’re looking for an alternative, more realistic system to play in JNSQ is beautiful and plays really well with the shuttle.

What other mods do you have installed? The only thing I can think of is some conflict changing either the atmosphere or fuel density. The shuttle is balanced so that it’s far more likely to suffer over-stability (i.e. inability to pitch up) over loss of control.

Unfortunately there’s no way of binding the control point switch to action groups - I wish you could, but this is a feature request you’d need to take up with squad. You’re not making the shuttle tail-heavy per se, just bringing the CoM back far enough to maintain control authority. If it’s too far forward you lose the ability to pitch up, which is fairly crucial to a shuttle and at high AoAs, the CoM can slip ahead of the CoL and cause loss of control.

PVG works nicely with this shuttle, certainly in 2.5x. The procedure for it is in the manual, you have to be sure to control from the -15 degree control point after booster sep, and hen roll heads up. Transfer propellant backwards when landing without a payload, you want to maintain some mass at the back to remain stable high up. Also be sure to reset the 15 degree offset prior to entry, and don’t pitch up too hard! I’ve found around 30 degrees works nicely as an initial AoA (real shuttle was around 40, but I couldn’t get everything to quite match up to real life), slowly dropping down as you dip into the atmosphere. I’ve flown over 40 test flights with the shuttle now and can get PVG to work very reliably and keep complete control down to the runway - you just need to find the technique, and when you do it becomes pretty repeatable. I’ve tried to outline it best I can in the manual.

Ah yes, that makes sense - although you should only need to autostrut the outermost part to get it stable, not all of them. In terms of IVAs, it would be more work to convert those mods for this IVA than doing it from scratch. As the dimensions of the shuttle cockpit are different from the mk3 cockpit the interiors don’t match up.

Infernal robotics will override breaking ground if installed, but since you’re not using it I’m not sure what the cause of your problems is. I can’t replicate the issue unfortunately. Glad you like it! There is already an IVA for both the cockpit and the docking module so not sure what you mean by that - hoping to include support for RPM/MAS in future but otherwise pretty happy with the IVA as it stands. PVG is included with stock MechJeb but works better the larger the system you play on. 2.5x works pretty nicely, and JNSQ (which is natively 2.7x) works with the shuttle flawlessly (in fact, 2.7x is probably the best system scale for the shuttle with a reDIRECT stack). I’m going to look into the joint wobble issues when I get a bit more free time since lots of people seem to be having issues with it.

Are you using breaking ground or do you have infernal robotics installed? This is known and expected. It’s a limitation of how control surfaces are implemented in KSP.

Hmm, not sure what to suggest, but glad KJR has helped. The lock in VAB option is only available in 1.7.2+. In 1.7.1 you’ll need to assign the ‘lock joint’ option to an action group and trigger it before launch.

Make sure you have every single joint in the arm locked. If even one is unlocked, the autostrut won’t be able to run past it. You might want to try adding autostrut to multiple parts of the arm too, for instance the booms or longeron attach point.

Locking the arm parts either in flight or in the VAB basically allows autostrut to run past the robotic joints, so you also need to turn autostrut on on the end effector part, otherwise it doesn’t have any effect other than to prevent the robotic parts actuating actively. When the parts are unlocked autostrut is ignored.

Many thanks, glad you're finding the balance generally good! The issues you're having with the OMS come from using a stock scale system. The shuttle is designed to work best in a 2.5-2.7x scale solar system, where the payload the complete stack can put in orbit is much smaller (I recommend no more than around 15t). Because the shuttle can get a great deal more into orbit at stock scale, its OMS is consequentially under powered here when flying with a heavy payload. Bear in mind that IRL the shuttle's max payload was around 25t, so 41t is way outside of operational margins for the real STS, let alone a sub-scale version for KSP. Flying with a 15t payload you will find OMS burns a lot more manageable. At may payload the shuttle has around 360m/s delta-V which is more than adequate for rendezvous ops & deorbit. In terms of the wing strength, I don't believe there's much I can do here config-wise but applying autostrut to the wings makes them pretty rigid. Afraid I can't be of much help here apart from suggesting a clean reinstall of the mods (making sure to delete them first, not simply overwriting them). It could be that if you've jsut been overwriting the mod folders older config files could be sticking around and causing errors.

I'll quote directly form the installation instructions which are included: To install, drag the ColumbiaWings folder into your GameData/Benjee10_shuttleOrbiter/ folder. If you put the files in the wrong place then B9 doesn't know where to find them so will throw up an error.

What errors are you getting and which textures are you changing? Sigma dimensions, however this won't work with 1.7.2 as Kopernicus hasn't yet been updated. The grapple fixture can only dock in 60 degree angle increments, so try to line the docking camera on the end effector with the target marker on the grapple fixture.

It's very simple, you just add: CONTROLPOINT { name = angled displayName = -15 orientation = 15, 0, 0 } into your ModuleCommand module in the .cfg file. Obviously adjust the orientation/naming to whatever fits your needs.

The cockpit has an additional -15 degree offset control point for OMS burns and flight after booster sep. Depending on how much you pitch up and when during reentry you could conceivably find yourself going back up due to lift but if you follow the guide in the manual that shouldn’t be a problem. The shuttle has been designed to fly as easily as possible while still being challenging. I don’t know how it compares to Cormorant or KSOS really - it’s meant to be broadly realistic but with a little wiggle room so it isn’t too difficult. So long as you aren’t pushing it too hard in terms of down mass or pulling crazy maneuvres it should fly pretty nicely.

You need htRobotics installed as this contains the Canadarm parts used in the craft files. You will also need either Breaking Ground or Infernal Robotics for these parts to function correctly. It sounds to me like you don't have htRobotics installed correctly. Yes, the reDIRECT stack (or indeed, any 5m stack fully fuelled) will be overkill for a stock system, unless you want your Shuttles to be able to reach the Mun or back. At stock scale, building something out of the 3.75m parts with 2.5m boosters will probably get you the most sensible performance.

Noted - the parts that are totally illegible are intentionally so, it’s fluff text parodying old bad scans of NASA manuals, but I’ll make a non messed with version available. The craft files were made with IR for version 1.7.2, so I couldn’t guarantee that they would work properly in 1.7.1. However the craft file editing workaround should at least allow them load. It’s not something I’m planning on implementing myself as RSS/RO doesn’t have much interest for me, but if someone else was willing to create configs for it I’d be happy to bundle them (hint hint )

Restock is definitely compatible with Plume Party (in fact Plume Party plumes are used by Restock to replace stock effects). This is really a limitation of stock rather than the mod. For a craft like this with non-standard RCS thruster placement, you want to be able to define which thrusters are firing in response to various axes in order to minimise induced torque and be as efficient with propellant as possible. In this case, the thrusters are built in, so the thrust transforms have been grouped into separate RCS modules to allow toggling of them separately. However, these action toggles are based on the orientation of the control point, so what is firing 'fore/aft' when controlling from the cockpit will not be oriented correctly relative to the docking port to be firing when controlled from there. It's certainly possible to reconfigure the Shuttle in-flight to overcome this, but given that KSP doesn't give us a way of naming which RCS group is which on a part with multiple RCS modules, it can get a little confusing. It's for this reason that I'm recommending flying with the cockpit set as the control point, as it maintains a constant control scheme for translation at all times during flight. It takes a bit of practice but I find it a lot easier this way than trying to get my head around constantly changing control schemes/orientations. It just means you have to complete the final part of docking visually, without the help of the navball, which is actually pretty easy if you plan your rendezvous smartly and use attitude hold on both craft to ensure you only have to worry about translation. Also the parts by default have all of their actuation toggles on, so this will only affect the craft files provided. I definitely plan to add more decals/flags etc. Variants are a bit tricky because of how much additional texture space it uses (which is why the Columbia style wing strakes are an optional extra), especially the black elevon tiles as that'll require dividing up the mesh to allow both the forward wing strakes and the rear of the wing to be switched independently. However it's definitely something I'm interested in and if I can find a workable solution you can be sure I'll add it. In terms of PVG, if you look at the manual it includes my suggested settings for use with the reDIRECT stock craft provided.

Do you have B9 part switch installed? The alpha rotary joint is a variant of the solar array. Like wise the various truss ports are variants of the truss connector part.

The mass is actually decreased from the stock value of 4.0t to a more realistic 1.2t - the stock vectors are significantly heavier than they should be and it makes balancing the CoM of the Shuttle borderline impossible if you don't make every other part much heavier. If you'd prefer to keep the stock values you can remove the GameData/Benjee10_shuttleOrbiter/Patches/ folder, but it will likely make the shuttle unflyable.

These are all possible, but not near term. The Shuttle alone has been a pretty mammoth job an the thought of going back into it to create further variants fills me with a feeling of almost existential dread right now - but I'm not ruling it out in the future when I'm a bit less burnt out on it. Boys, the time has come - release thread is live: RELEASE THREAD This will stay on as the dev thread, with latest updates and test versions being posted here, and the main thread being reserved for general support of major releases. Many thanks!

Shuttle Orbiter Construction Kit | V1.1.8 | Stockalike Space Shuttle Orbiter Cinematic trailer by @damonvv Shuttle Orbiter Construction Kit is a parts mod designed to build a Kerbalized version of the NASA Space Shuttle Orbiter. This has been something of a labour of love for me - I started work on the modelling for this almost four months ago, and it's been an almost all-consuming project ever since. Countless hours have gone into the modelling & (especially) texturing, along with hundreds of test flights tweaking the balance and aerodynamics. Well, it's finally ready to release to the world - I hope you enjoy it! Key features: Highly detailed parts replicate the Space Shuttle Orbiter in a stockalike/Restockalike style at Kerbal scale Switchable Shuttle names & decals Minimal part count (mirrored parts are handled through part switching) 2.5m diameter payload bay Fine-tuned aerodynamics ensure ease of flight while maintaining realistic mission profiles Works best in 2.5X scale Kerbin, but will function just fine at stock scale Canadarm ("KerboArm") utilizes Breaking Ground DLC robotics, or Infernal Robotics - Next in 1.7.2 if installed Full IVA for all parts, including Mid Deck and Aft Flight Deck Craft files included for Stock + Breaking Ground, as well as for reDIRECT & Infernal Robotics - Next User manual included! IMPORTANT: This mod DOES NOT include the orange External Tank or boosters - these are from my other mod reDIRECT, which is designed to integrate with this mod but is not a dependency. It is perfectly possible to build a working launch system for this Orbiter using stock parts only! Screenshots (feat. reDIRECT, HabTech2 & Restock parts): More screenshots: New for 1.1: TUBES! Download: SPACEDOCK Dev versions available on GitHub USER MANUAL Additional texture variants by InvaderChaos! Dependencies: This mod has B9PartSwitch and Waterfall as dependencies, both of which are bundled with the mod. My mods Benjee10 Shared Assets and HabTech Robotics are also bundled - these contain the parts for the APAS port, OMS engines, and the Canadarm. Recommended mods: Oranges and Photon Corp for updated External Tank & SRB parts in a matching art style reDIRECT - older ET and SRB parts as featured in the screenshots in this post. HabTech2 and Stockalike Space Station Parts Expansion contain space station parts in a matching art style - perfect payloads for your shuttle. Buran Orbiter Construction Kit for a full set of Buran parts to go along with the beta versions of the cockpit & OMS pod included in the extras folder of this mod. Bluedog Design Bureau contains many US rocket parts, including the IUS which was used in Shuttle flights. Restock because seriously, if you don't have this installed, what are you doing? Atmospheric Autopilot makes flying the shuttle down to landing a lot less stressful. Shuttle Payload Delivery System features various parts for satellite deployment etc. SOCK recoloured and SOCK Repainted add alternate texture options for the orbiter, such as tiled, scorched, Enterprise and Moonraker variants. All rights reserved.

The main tank is part of my mod reDIRECT, and yes it is switchable to white!

Awesome, that's a big honour, many thanks! Ah! Forgot mention that I added IR-Next compatibility last update. It'll automatically patch the robotics parts to use IR if it detects it installed. It may cause issues with existing craft when switching between BG and IR and you should probably rebuild any robotics bits on craft in the VAB if you install/remove IR to avoid unexpected issues.