[0.90] FAR/NEAR usability Package - FARuP, v1.0.1, Feb. 25

[Yemo]

This is a small spin-off package from B9 Aerospace for FAR/NEAR (thus redundant if B9 Aerospace itself is installed).

It just provides the B9 airbrakes by bac9 and the jet engine rebalances by Taverius.

Thus dealing with one of the major hardships for FAR/NEAR users, the inability to bleed off speed for landing approaches and

during the landings themselves, while having only a marginal RAM/catalog footprint.

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To all downloaders: Please leave a short feedback in this thread.

Modding is a lot of work and even small suggestions/remarks/comments can help out a lot!

DOWNLOAD v1.0.1

Changelog at Kerbalstuff

License: CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 except for the following plugins:

This mod redistributes the plugin ModuleManager by ialdabaoth and sarbian under CC share-alike license.

The KSP-AVC plugin by cybutek is redistributed under the GNU General Public License.

The firespitter.dll by Snjo is redistributed under custom attribution license.

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I. INSTALL:

1. Copy the "FARuP" & "Firespitter" folders into your "GameData" directory.

2. Copy the ModuleManager.dll into your GameData directory, you only need the newest version.

3. Optional: Copy the "FARuP Basic Jet.craft" file from the "FARuP" folder into your "saves\<savename>\Ships\SPH" folder.

If you need information on FAR/NEAR design principles please consult the

Basic Aircraft Design guide by keptin.

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II. MOD Recommendations:

Action Groups Extended - please follow these instructions to activate action groups without facility unlock

B9 Aerospace - fantastic package from aircraft to space shuttle and control parts, the FARuP mod is redundant if you use B9 Aerospace

FAR/NEAR - THE aerodynamics mod, practically required for FARuP

Improved Chase Camer - camera follows the velocity vector without rolling

Pilot Assistant - a plethora of tweakable settings, from navigation to SAS tuning

SXT Mini-Pack: Airbrakes - provides 3 sizes of airbrakes using stock textures for more variety at a very small RAM footprint

Tweakable Wheels - adjust the braking power of landing gear and wheels, to stop you from flipping over

Edited February 27, 2015 by Yemo

[tetryds]

Nice to see a FAR package

This one is missing on your recommendations list: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/80112-0-24-x-Improved-Chase-Camera-v1-4-0-%287-23%29

Very important for people with joysticks.

[Yemo]

Nice to see a FAR package

This one is missing on your recommendations list: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/80112-0-24-x-Improved-Chase-Camera-v1-4-0-%287-23%29

Very important for people with joysticks.

Thank you, I added it to the list!

- - - Updated - - -

updated to correct model path error

[Enceos]

Personally I thought B9 Aero brakes are godsent, until i discovered how to use spoilers.

[Yemo]

Personally I thought B9 Aero brakes are godsent, until i discovered how to use spoilers.

Spoilers are great for bleeding off speed when touched down, but to use them while still on approach, some good placement and/or symmetry is necessary. Airbrakes are much more comfortable in that regard.

[Enceos]

The books on aeronautics tell us to align spoilers with the center of mass. I always follow this rule and my spoilers give no unwanted torque to my planes.

EDIT: Found a good answer on the web:

Air brakes increase the drag on the aircraft, but do not directly affect lift. Air brakes are often positioned on a non lift producing part of the aircraft and are useful if you want to slow down, but maintain lift. Spoilers disrupt the airflow over the wings and therefore reduce the lift they are producing. Spoilers are useful when landing to prevent bouncing. The auto brakes on many transport aircraft also deploy the spoilers once the wheels touch the ground to prevent the aircraft from becoming airborne again. Spoilers also can increase the drag on an aircraft, and are often used to slow down during decent and approach.

Control surfaces in KSP can be used both as spoilers and as air-brakes, depends on where you place them. B9 Procedural surfaces are awesome for this job cause you can make them look cool.

The Space Shuttle tail surfaces opened like a clam-shell during landing.

The design is called "deceleron" - a control surface can split itself and serve as an air-brake when needed.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Enceos

[Yemo]

I actually suggested the implementation of a deceleron design to bac9, in his procedural B9 thread.

But I would not get my hopes up, splitting parts seems like a quite a challenge for procedural parts.

But on the topic of airbrakes, I just saw airbrake models in Ven's StockPartRevamp thread.

One of them is a cylinder part with 2 small brakes coming out of the sides of it.

[Arron Rift]

Hey, just saw this mod on ckan and downloaded it, but what do you mean by "the jet engine rebalances by Taverius"?

[Yemo]

Hey, just saw this mod on ckan and downloaded it, but what do you mean by "the jet engine rebalances by Taverius"?

There are some module manager config files included, which change the stock engines. Eg making the basic jet lighter and changing their velocity curve to a little more realistic values, so that you can not reach mach 5 or more with the basic jet.

If you prefer stock, you can just delete that config.

[Arron Rift]

There are some module manager config files included, which change the stock engines. Eg making the basic jet lighter and changing their velocity curve to a little more realistic values, so that you can not reach mach 5 or more with the basic jet.

If you prefer stock, you can just delete that config.

Oh ok, so just to clarify, this is not like the "turbo jet" something mod that changes the overall way that jet engines function, it just moves the light engines into more of a low-altitude role while leaving the other jet unchanged for high altitudes?

[Yemo]

Oh ok, so just to clarify, this is not like the "turbo jet" something mod that changes the overall way that jet engines function, it just moves the light engines into more of a low-altitude role while leaving the other jet unchanged for high altitudes?

Generally it nerfs the velocity curve of the air breathing engines, so you wont reach orbital velocities with them, but there is no functionality change.

[Jiraiyah]

hey any news on 1.0 or 1.0.2 release? thanks

[Yemo]

With stock providing an airbrake and the "flavor of the week" aero balancing, updating this mod is very low on my priority list. I will probably wait until KSP is actually out of beta, not only by name.

[Dr. Jet]

New F.A.R. is out. So F.A.R. usability package is still needed.