Ivan Ivanovich

Just to make sure I understood you correctly, it's working as designed that the MK 1-2 Capsule has a base diameter of 4.0m while the large TAC stackables and the RC-L01 remain at 2.5m diameter? Just wanting to make sure I didn't install anything incorrectly or forgot anything.

Umm... could it be that the TAC life support stackables don't get scaled properly? At least I couldn't find any that I could slap underneath an MK1-2 pod (the 3-person capsule) sensibly. Is it me or is that part not properly resized? Same question for the RC-001 and RC-L01 (the remote control "pods") parts, though there I was able to resize them properly so that the remote tech remote control part would fit under a capsule.

It looks very fine so far, still digging through the trench to find out what's what, but what I see so far is veeeerry lovely. Loading went fine and without an error, there are still a few items that make little sense but that's more a balance issue than a technical one (like the UP25 decoupler being available from start instead of a smaller one, and all heat shields being there). Just one question: Why is the procedural wings part of the must-have package and the procedural fairings are not? I'd rather need the latter than the former. Can I install the fairings without breaking anything? Oh, and there is actually a little bit that seems to be not working right, in the free tech tree node "Head Shields & Farings" there is a "Nosecone (0.3m)" that would need to be researched but it won't show up as researched. Most likely because there's a nosecone by the same name right next to it. In case the list of installed modules and their order helps, here it is: List of installed modules and order of installation: KSP_0_23_5 (from Squad) Real Fuels v5.3 (from https://github.com/NathanKell/ModularFuelSystem/releases/download/rf-v5.3/RealFuels_v5.3.zip) (RealFuels 5.3 comes with ModManager 2.1.0.dll, installed that, too) Real Solar System v6.1 (from https://github.com/NathanKell/RealSolarSystem/releases/tag/v6.1) (RSS comes with ModuleManager 2.0.7.dll, did not install that) Deadly Reentry Cont v4.7 (from https://github.com/NathanKell/DeadlyReentry/releases/download/v4.7/DeadlyReentryCont_v4.7.zip) (RealFuels 5.3 comes with ModManager 2.1.0.dll, identical in size and timestamp with the one from RF) Realism Overhaul (from https://github.com/NathanKell/RealismOverhaul/releases/download/v5.1/RealismOverhaul_v5.1.zip) (RO comes with ModManager 2.1.0.dll, identical in size and timestamp with the one from RF) RO lists a few things that you should have/need, I'll add them at the bottom of the list StretchySRB (from https://github.com/NathanKell/StretchySRB/releases/tag/v9) FAR 0.13.3 (from https://github.com/ferram4/Ferram-Aerospace-Research/releases/tag/v0.13.3) (along with the 000_Toolbar that comes with it, without ModuleManager 2.0.5.dll) Kerbal Joint Reinforcement v2.3.4 (from http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kerbal-joint-reinforcement/) RemoteTech2 (from http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/remotetech2/) (without ModuleManager_1_5.dll) Remotetech2 Hotfix (from http://www./download/dncc8qu44t30a90/RemoteTech2_2014.01.08.22.30.zip) (overwriting RemoteTech2.dll) TAC life support (from http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/tac-life-support/) KW Rocketry (from http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/0-18-1-kw-rocketry-overhauled/) NovaPunch (from http://www./download/3gd8wz2pq6iozb2/NovaPunch2_03_5.zip) AIES (from http://www./download/c8efj64k6izx6xc/AIES_Aerospace151.zip) FASA (from http://www./download/spk1hok9fhr5d4c/FASA3.86.zip) installed all 4 folders (FASA, JSI, MechJeb2RPM, SCANsatRPM) Procedural Dynamics Procedural Wings (from https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/70818657/ProceduralDynamics0.7.zip) Even though I don't do planes... but it's in the "must have list", so... Real Chutes v1.1.0.1 (from http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/realchute/) Soviet Engine Pack v1.1 (from http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/0-22soviet-engines-pack-v1-0/) (installed the "normal" version only, not the 064cfg one) Active Texture Management (basic version, from https://github.com/rbray89/ActiveTextureManagement/releases/tag/3-1-basic) MechJeb2 v2.2.1.0 (from http://kerbal.curseforge.com/plugins/220221-mechjeb/files/2201514/download) (that one seems to have been updated very recently) RO lists a few more things that need to be done. Most of the things in the "needed" list is also in the one for RPL, what's left is... Engine Ignitor v3.2 (from https://www.dropbox.com/s/yousr4nxflld9ra/EngineIgnitor%20V3.2.zip) ModuleRCSFX (from https://github.com/Ialdabaoth/ModuleRCSFX/blob/master/ModuleRCSFX.zip?raw=true) Advanced Jet Engine (from https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v1funr72y504rz6/dQTj9C3tXn/AJE_1.0.zip) AJE requires HotRockets (from http://www.curse.com/plugins/kerbal/220207-hotrockets-particle-fx-replacement) I decided against the Extras for now. Fewer moving parts and such. So, step #1 done, let's continue... Treeloader 1.1.3 (from http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/treeloader/) RPL Tweak pack 19c (from https://www.dropbox.com/s/8yw5zs4chxzxn9m/RPL_Tweak_Pack_MS19c.rar) Moving GameData\RPL_Tweak_Pack\RPL\RT2_SETTINGS(MOVE THE FILE TO RT2 FOLDER & DELETE THIS FOLDER AFTER)\RemoteTech_Settings.cfg to \GameData\RemoteTech2 RftS_Pack v2 (from https://www.dropbox.com/s/1fg0d4z428nn1vi/RftS_Pack_v2.zip) Exsurgent Engineering (from https://github.com/careo/ExsurgentEngineering/raw/rework_smartergimbal/ExsurgentEngineering/obj/Release/ExsurgentEngineering.dll) Still digging through it all, but I love it so far already. Great work!

I know it's not my place to complain about it, but balance really can wait 'til the whole thing works out. We can very easily counter overpowered items ourselves: Simply don't use them. Or, if you want to, edit the relevant cfg files. That's not really a big issue there. There's other balance issues, like the size of the Sputnik2 and how Explorer and Vanguard are relatively late in the tree compared to the mentioned Sputnik-2. But ... while we're at comparably minor issues... did I forget a step or do something wrong? There's a lot of engines in my collection that not only don't "fit" into the tech level (considering their TWR or ISP), but they simply don't fit AT ALL (being too friggin' big by any kind of stretch, no pun intended). The LR37 may be TL0, but it is also 2m diameter (at least for me), which makes it pretty much useless for TL0 which consists mostly of teeny little other bits. The D4-2 as well as the N1 are TL1 and 2.5m wide, I don't even have any fuel tanks that I could stack above (btw, do the stretchable tanks only go to 2m, or is that TL dependent?). And there's more like that, like the SPS, which would be a great Orbital Engine but it is INSANELY huge with 5m diameter. If that's all a balance issue and subject to change, just ignore it. My question would be whether that should NOT be that way and I forgot to install some kind of mod that shrinks those engines to some sensible diameters and allows stretchy tanks to grow beyond 2m.

Saaaaay... not wanting to distract you, just wondering (no problems this time, just a few musings)... Do you have any kind of science points planned for stuff other than sending various probes somewhere? I like the idea of research for "firsts". Like, say, for getting your first successful docking. Or the first spacewalk. Ok, a spacewalk is not that big an achievement, game-wise, but it sure was in reality. That way you could phase out the "old" science bits while still having enough research points to get stuff going. Not to mention that people could pick their preferred experiments. Some want to get man on the moon, some want to send probes all over the solar system... personally I'm more partial to creating a huge space station in orbit where humankind can research and explore, maybe along with a moon base, rather than sending probes about for no long term gains. Just saying.

OK, I didn't use ATM atm (fun with acronyms!). Thanks for the hint, I tried ATM instead and it works as well, so probably less hassle than working something out myself.

Anything beyond 3.7gb of ram is not being used by KSP, since it still relies on the 32bit Unity Engine (IIRC). Anyway, whatever the reason, if you go beyond 3.7Gig, it's crash time. Aside of using texture reduction, what works for me (and pushes it down to about 2.2Gig of ram used) is using half-sized textures. You can either change that in the settings page of KSP or, if you can't launch it anymore because it keeps crashing, you can alter the settings.cfg file manually. Find the line TEXTURE_QUALITY = 0 and change it to TEXTURE_QUALITY = 1

I did a complete clean reinstall (not that big a deal, considering my setup was completely shot before) and it looks really awesome, lots of thanks and praise from this end of the galaxy for your hard work! One thing I noticed, though, the "Early Probes" research node contains the WAC Corporal experiments thrice, one of them would need to be researched for 6500. It doesn't stay researched, though, when you switch to the VAB you can only activate one WAC, with the other one grayed out and the "Requires an Entry Purchase in R&D" locking it. There is no second probe besides the WAC in the early probe node (wasn't there one before? I think I remember a tiny Sputnik from the old M19a). I am rather sure I did everything right this time, did I miss something? Edit: After reading a few config files (especially RPL_Vanguard.cfg) I get the idea that this surplus WAC should actually be a Vanguard. But ... it isn't. Edit2: After some more searching, I think it might have to do with RO. I guess I'll wait for NathanKell to release his next version and then continue.

First of all, thank you lots and lots for all that work and even though I didn't get it to work out, I'm very grateful for everything you did for us all. Second, I did what Aazard and Sternface suggested (and for the record, the startup procedure for the LEM had fewer pages and steps!). But my guess is that still something is amiss. I still only have two tiny fuel tanks (Oscar-B and AIES T-60) after unlocking all the 0 cost items, I still only have WAC and Vanguard 1 as probe cores (shouldn't there be Explorer1 as well? I dimly remember seeing it back when M18 was in place), I still have a rather ... odd collection of engines available (what's the massive P4, a TL4 engine, doing in the mix of bottle rocket engines that makes up my collection), the engines still don't "fit" on the fuel tanks I have (they're either too small or WAY too large)... I guess I'll do what I should've done in the first place, wait for the next milestone. Thanks for all the work and help, even though it seems I somehow didn't manage to follow it completely.

I have to admit that I either make some terrible mistake when trying to install things, or something is amiss. First of all, I wiped my KSP install prior to trying to install this mod, just to be sure there are no old configs messing with it. Still... somehow I can't get things done right. 1) The install instructions tell me to "#2 - Download and install RPL MS19! (Merge the GameData folder in the zip into your KSP folder)". I downloaded the rar provided in the link, but there is no GameData folder in the zip. Dumping the contents simply into the GameData folder (as with other mods) doesn't seem to be right, and neither does the Squad folder inside the zip fit in any way into the directory structure of the Squad Folder in the GameData directory. Also, quite a few directories in there are empty or contain files that, well, don't really make a lot of sense intuitively. I'd be very grateful for pointers. 2) This is, as I said before, not the first time I try to install it (it's now the third in total). First was a MS18 version, where the stretchy tanks didn't stretch at all (they were kinda stuck in 0.625m size). Now with MS19 I suddenly lack the Explorer and Stayputnik Missions (which logically leads to a very limited chance to gain research points). Any idea what's wrong? I tried to follow the instructions to the letter, and after doing it thrice so far I dare say that there might be something missing in the instructions that people who have done it a few dozen times do by default without considering that the information needs to be said. Sadly, I'm not one of these people. Is there any chance that someone who knows how it should work takes it upon himself to try to do a clean install to see whether I'm just dumb or whether something is missing now? I also noticed a considerable difference inthe MS18 and MS19 package, could it possibly be that something is missing?

I can very well understand your policy about not buying anything that didn't reach 1.x yet (1.0 is something I rarely buy, actually), but this game has a lot in common with some open source projects I encountered: Even in a 0.something state, it's way more mature than many products that have been shoved out the door and didn't even reach a state of maturity with a 2.xx version number. You're looking at a game that is quite stable (as long as you don't overdo the modding), that's heaps of fun and has an insane long time motivation possibility. IMO, the only thing that keeps it from being an 1.xx is the missing career mode, if it was just meant to be sandbox, it'd probably be called done in most circumstances. In a nutshell, you get a way more 1.x game in this 0.22 game than you get in most games that boast a 1 before the dot and are more bug ridden than Win 8.1. Another fine example how version number means jack. IIRC Steam has a sale right now for like 15 bucks or so. For me, that would be about .1 cent per hour played. And once you're done playing with what's there, get a few mods, mine for Kethane, find out how to set up a relay network with Remotetech, juggle the needs of your Kerbals with some consumable mods (where they now need food, water and oxygen) or play with the Interstellar mod (no, sadly it doesn't give you any new planets to play with, but some really cool and nifty fusion and fission generators and other stuff that goes boom). I'm usually not the one to recommend a game that's not even finished yet, but you already get way more than the 15 bucks pay for, even if they did never finish it, you'd get a good deal.

While in theory possible, provided you bring up parts that are ever so slightly curved to follow the planet's curve, I highly doubt the game is capable of handling such a structure.

Maybe i got something wrong and it was just intended as some sort of tutorial to ease new players into the game so they don't get drowned by the insane list of options that falls on their head when opening sandbox, and it sure serves that purpose very well. As a "career mode" I was hoping for something more intricate and more following the idea of cause and effect. Don't get me wrong, the system works and it is actually quite fun, but it feels a bit shallow and I'd fear it gets old pretty fast. It's doing the same stuff over and over again, just around different planets. You expose the goo, you open the science box, report back from the capsule, do a bit of EVA and if you're on a planet you can also collect a bit of soil. And then, well, you can do the same on another planet. In my opinion, what you can do (and "should" do, for progress) is that you use new stuff you got, which opens up new things you can do, and those new things in turn allow you to move on and get further tech. Like, say, there's some insight to be gained from reaching milestones like orbital flight, SOI changes, docking, whatever else. Another interesting idea would be that you have to "perfect" new technology by actually using it. Where it might mis- or even backfire the first couple of times until you got it right. I'd consider that quite Kerbal if a few thrusters behave strangely for the first few flights (which could be something a good, well trained pilot could compensate). Don't get me wrong, I like the new toys, I'm a big fan of games where you research stuff and get new stuff to play with, but right now it seems to get old very quickly since the research is staying the same no matter how far you get in the tech tree.

Newsflash: Exploiting game flaws leads to easy game, film at 11. If everything's too easy for you (and, let's be honest here, if you wiggle your rockets through every loophole there is, it is easy), there's nothing keeping you from imposing your own rules, like I did. 1. No science gathering from below 50km altitude of Kerbin. That logically includes collecting no soil samples (be reasonable, what are we supposedly learning from that?) 2. No "repeat" experiments (you're not really learning a lot of new things from opening that goo box at 70km altitude a billion times, are you?). You may of course do experiments again if you think the altitude changed enough that something new might happen, but if you get a result you already had, dump it. 3. No suicide missions. Actually, all missions have to be done in a fashion that pretty much ensures your kerbonauts come back, that means safety fuel reserves and no hazardous reentry curves. 4. No space EVA on single person crafts. You just don't do that, mmmkay? 5. Most important, play it like you would do in a REAL space program. No insane "straight up, what goes up must come down" flights. Try for a nice suborbital, make it an orbital, let Jeb circle for a few rounds... you get the idea. And yes, even with those rules it still ain't that hard. You have to be a wee bit more creative to come up with space flights that give you points.

My first immediate idea was "reentry heat and realistic aerodynamics", but then I noticed I have Deadly Reentry and FAR, so those can wait. They're good enough for the time being. Same goes for having an awesome docking cam, then I realized I have lazor. But then it hit me, what this game needs and would not only fit with the general idea they already followed with the plugins, i.e. letting the players create content. A mission/campaign engine. What I'd envision is something that lets people create missions that have some set goal, a set of rules and requirements that have to be met, along with some rewards. People would now pick and choose missions depending on their skill, their technology level and their preferences and create their own "campaign" so to speak as they play. Not only would that allow us to make missions, it would allow Squad to only create a basic stock of missions to give everyone a feel for the system, the rest would come by itself, I'm fairly sure. The community is big enough to provide an endless supply of missions for all kinds of tech levels. Oh, and of course we need MOAR BOOSTERS!

Folks, those designs are all fine... until we get realistic drag. Try launching any of them with FAR, I dare you!

The foolproof way to lining up crafts. Note that this is NOT the most fuel efficient way to do it, just the easiest. 1. For this training purpose, put a vessel into a 100x100 km orbit (i.e. a circular orbit at about 100km), this will be our "passive" vessel (the one we dock to). Try to make it fly roughly towards 90°, i.e. around the equator. 2. Launch the second vessel (the "active" one) when the other one flies above the peninsula west of the continent the KSP is on, also towards 90°, i.e. towards the east. Make sure this vessel has RCS and quite a bit of surplus fuel. Get it to an orbit of about 110x80km (i.e. apogee 110,000, perigee 80,000). 3. Click on the "passive" vessel and set it as target. A few new markers will appear. Two green markers labeled "AN" and "DN", and two orange and two red markers. "AN" and "DN" is where the crafts intersect in the horizontal plane (i.e. when they switch sides from left to right), the other markers are where the crafts intersect at the vertical plane (i.e. where they switch their "above" and "below" positions), with the two markers representing how far the crafts are apart when this change happens. The dotted line is where the target will be when the active one is at the other marker. Don't worry if you don't get that right away, we'll get to it. 4. Wait for your craft to get close to the next "AN" or "DN" marker, and while you do, align the ship. If you're getting close to DN, aim towards 0 degrees (always at the horizont, i.e. where the navball's blue and orange parts meet, essentially aim your craft towards the north pole and keep it horizontal towards the planet, not pointing "up" or "down"). If you're approaching AN instead, aim towards 180 degrees. When you're close to getting there, gently accelerate. If you mouse over the marker, you'll get a number that represents your orbits' separation. The closer this gets to 0, the less thrust you should apply. When you're at 0.3 or below, you're good enough. 5. Wait for the craft to fly past the next "solid" red or orange marker. I.e. the one where there isn't a dotted line towards the planet. You'll notice that when your craft passes that marker, the target ship will be at the "dotted" marker. When your craft passes the non-dotted marker, you will notice that the dotted marker moves to a new location. This is where your target will be the next time your active ship passes the marker you just passed. Now it's time to adjust the orbit to match up. If the dotted marker (i.e. your target ship) is AHEAD of you, point your active ship RETROGRADE (i.e. against your flight path), if it is BEHIND you, point it PROGRADE. Yes, that means you slow down to catch up and you throttle up to fall back. Orbital mechanics at work, they make sense once you wrap your mind around it. To make it easier, click on the number above your artificial horizon until the word "orbit" appears, then point to the normal green marker on the artificial horizon to point your ship prograde, or the crossed out green marker to point it retrograde. 6. Look at the map, mouse over the marker you just passed (the solid red or orange one) and carefully throttle up. You will notice that the number next to "separation" gets smaller. If it does not, turn your ship around and thrust in that direction instead. You want to get that number down to about 0.4km (400m) or so. 7. Time warp until you've gone almost once again around the planet (i.e. until you're approaching that marker again), mouse over the marker and stop time acceleration once separation reads less than 2000. 8. Click on the number on the artificial horizon again until it reads "target" and point your craft towards the crossed out green marker. Look around, the target should be close (watch out, you might well hit it at some speed...). Thrusting towards the crossed out green marker on the artificial horizon while it reads "target" will reduce your speed relative to your target. Once it reads 0.0 (or close to it, it's kinda hard to get right TO 0.0), you're "standing still" relative to the target craft (although both you and your target zip around the planet at about 2.5km/s. If everything worked out, you should be about 300m or so from your target. Now throttle up carefully towards the target, wait until you get close enough to see that docking port, point to the crossed out green marker again and zero the relative speed, then it's time to switch to the docking view and do the final approach. Happy docking.

I installed Ferram Aerospace Research and am about to relearn how to build rockets. In the meantime, my relay network of satellites for the Mun is finished and works nicely (Remotetech is really adding quite a bit of logistic headaches to the game), I removed and de-orbited the front of my research&refuel station (I wasn't satisfied with it being a "dead end" due to the airlock at one end), my kethane miner is working nicely (though launching it was almost as much a bit... as landing it is), and my dedicated Kethane detector is about to reach the Mun. And if I figure out how to attach pictures sensibly, I can even show them off.

So it's not my fault that the fuel transfer fails on Mun. Ok, I'll just wait for the fixed version. Thanks.

Well, just recently I noticed that the addons I use (I use LOTS of them, current count is 28) weigh pretty heavily in the ram department. Of course, loading time is close to a minute, but that's not the big deal. A much bigger deal is that the game gobbles up 3.7 Gigs of ram. That MIGHT become a problem when the game keeps growing.

Mostly I found out that too many addons can easily fill up your ram. I have to dump a few, 4 gig allocated is enough for any game...

Pure initial ascent is something I leave to Mechjeb by now. It IS boring to play the Navball game, as you put it. But given the nature of my rockets (e.g. powerful primary ascent engines with nuclear/ion engines on top of them), Mechjeb tends to fail at sensible orbital insertion. Because those upper stages have a TWR below (sometimes a LOT below) 1, I cannot wait until the rocket hits apogee before raising perigee, as MechJeb would.

As a rule of thumb, you're usually better off if using as much thrust as you can during ascent. The only exception to this seems to be the first 10,000 meters when the atmosphere is thick and drag may actually kill more speed than gravity.

They should be in the utility section. IIRC they look like the RCS thrusters that only have one direction. To enable/disable them, either move them in an action group or right-click on them. I do highly recommend disabling them during ascent unless they're already holding onto some pieces, they tend to behave weirdly when not "hitting" something.

Whew, thanks for the warning! I\'m still busy getting used to the last update, why the hurry?