[1.12.x] Mk2 Expansion v1.9.1 [update 10/5/21]

[Stone Blue]

If it were me, i would keep it all as is... This is a good, integrated part pack.... I dont really know how you would categorize parts to split them up into separate packs...
There are quite larger packs out there, and I would consider this a medium sized parts pack?... I think I would leave it as is now, but if you end up introducing more than several more, specialized parts, then maybe split it later?

Especially since there seem to be bunches of small Mk1, Mk2, &Mk3 parts out there... Split yours up, and it may just all end up getting lost in the chaff with the rest of them...

[SuicidalInsanity]

I was thinking something along the lines of what Nertea did for the Near Future parts, but you have a point about parts pack size, and just where the divisions would fall; looks like I'll stick with a single pack.

[SuicidalInsanity]

A heads up (and I suppose a teaser for stuff to come) to anyone with crafts using the Rontgen nuclear jet: Rontgen using craft will need standard air intakes mounted on the craft following the update; I've followed Porkjet's example and worked out the ModuleManager technosorcery needed to permit the Rontgen TNJ to make use of standard air intakes, so the Rontgen is getting reworked slightly, and the integrated intakes have been removed. The update won't come until KSP 1.1, but currently in-flight crafts may need to be upgraded or retired before then, or they might not work following the update.

[Rodger]

So will the next update be for 1.1, or will there be one for 1.0.5 in the meantime?

[SuicidalInsanity]

At present the plan is to have update 1.7 be for KSP 1.1. That said, i have been considering releasing an early access dev version for 1.05 for the purpose of balance testing some of the new features and so forth to help make sure everything is working as intended

[Rodger]

A test version sounds good to me

[SuicidalInsanity]

The dev prerelease is now up for all who are interested; it can be grabbed here.

Changelog:

Spoiler

Version 1.7
==============================
-New part: Mk2 Inline ISRU drill
-New Part: Mk2 ISRU refinery
-New part: Mk2 ore tank
-New Part: Mk2 FuelCell
-New part: 'Hyperblast" Mk2 Scramjet
-New part: 'Boost-O-Tron' Air-Augmented radial SRB
-New Part: 'Mallet' Air-Augmented radial SRB
-New part: 'Sledgehammer' Air-Augmented Rocket Engine
-New part: 'Banshee' Mk2 Lift fan
-New Part: Linear tricoupler
-New Part: Mk2 Radial Attack mount A
-New Part: Mk2 Radial Attach Mount B
-Air Intake intake volumes and masses rebalanced to be more inline with squad values
-Model rework; 'Rontgen' no longer has integrated air intakes, now uses standard intakes
-Fixed 'Wirligig' reverse thrust
-Model rework: Service Bay collider issue fixed, added IFS configurable tanks
-Model rework: Spadetail now has IFS alternate models
-Model Rework: CBC Cockpit Viper Variant mesh slightly tweaked, retextured
-Model Rework: Chine symmetry fixed, will now properly place when attaching chines to other chines in Mirror symmetry mode
-Fixed CB-C intake NoAttach colliders
-Engine colliders reworked; parts can now be placed on engine housings
-reworked applicable parts' ModuleTestSubject 
-Model rework: Cockpits now have togglable window emissives
-Model Rework; Mk2 hubs now have configurable fuel tanks
-Model retextures: changed model textures on some models to remove depeciated SQUAD texture references 
-J. Edgar fuselage VTOL engine now uses the BDAnimation module rather than AnimateGeneric

 

Feel free to test things out and provide feedback and so forth, but remember this is a dev release; some things may not be finalized or are still placeholders.

Edited January 1, 2016 by SuicidalInsanity

[Rodger]

Can't wait to try the new stuff out, is there anything in particular you feel needs more testing, or want feedback on? (tho I'm no master spaceplane builder...)

And woo chine symmetry fix!

[Rodger]

Just been messing around, and here's some stuff I've noticed:

AASRBs are very hard to use in automatic switching mode. They tend to switch to standard mode pretty much instantly when they start to use the intake air. Maybe an internal air buffer could help? And they do have a tendency to flameout at very slightly different times to each other which can impart a lot of torque for an instant. They’re pretty fun with a running start and in non-switching AA mode tho.
It might be good to add a built in decoupler to them maybe? If you can get it to stage separately from the ignition anyway, (or auto-decoupling when out of fuel, which I think rover dude’s Sounding Rockets parts do)

Still have yet to get the scramjet going, but just a thought, maybe a mk2 shaped streamlined radiator would be good to go with it to help with the atmospheric heating at those speeds. Though the radial stock ones are probably fine.

The multi-fuel generator’s description has weight misspelled as eight.

The G-120 Vector (which isn’t the only “Vector” now with the new stock engine, but don’t know if it’s worth a name change) doesn’t generate EC in wet mode.

The Banshee VTOL fan lists 2 ‘intake atm’ intake modules (no air), but has ‘storage’ for both intake atm, and air

Also it would be good to mention the sledgehammer’s max isp/thrust in it’s description, as the stock info displays don’t really show what it’s capable of very well. (or a isp/thrust curve display module in the editor’s info panel would be cool, not just for this but for everything really lol)

[SuicidalInsanity]

Yeah, the AASRBs are finicky. I've gotten the best results by waiting until the craft is moving at 10-20 m/s before triggering them; I'll try increasing the IntakeAir capacity, see if that helps. Standard decouplers won't work, it will just result in the AASRB firing and decoupling at the same time; I'll take a look at SoundingRockets and see if I can adapt the autodecouple. it uses

For the scramjet, try the Hyperblast example ship. In general, though, the scramjet won't even start unless the craft is going < ~1300 m/s, and functions best at ~26-33km altitude; Just make sure you have enough LiquidFuel, it goes through a lot

Thanks for pointing out the wet mode alternator issue on the  G-120, as well as double intake on the Banshee, I'll fix them and the update the item descriptions for the AirAugmented rockets

[ABZB]

The inline drill & the roentgen engine are not loading - they are returning the "Cannot clone model '<path>' as model does not exist" error when partcompiler  tries to load them.

 

EDIT:

the problem with the roentgen: the path for the model seems to be case-sensitive. In the 1.7 .cfg, the path was changed to 'Rontgen' instead of 'RONTGEN'. changing it back to all-caps fixed that.

This is not the case with the Mk2 drill. Not sure what is going on there.

Found another part that this is occurring with: Mk2Expansion/Parts/Utility/RCS/Cblock (ctrl+f'ed for "Cannot clone model").

Edited December 30, 2015 by ABZB

[ThePixeledFox]

cannot activate or deactivate the sledgehammer engine i can activate it in air breathing mode but i cannot toggle the engine on the number keys after its been activated other than that loving the new parts and fixes my fav part mod

Edited January 1, 2016 by ThePixeledFox
forgot to add stuff lol

[Speadge]

20 minutes ago, ThePixeledFox said:

cannot activate or deactivate the sledgehammer engine i can activate it in air breathing mode but i cannot toggle the engine on the number keys after its been activated other than that loving the new parts and fixes my fav part mod

punctuation saves lives!

[ThePixeledFox]

sorry i was rushing , any ideas to the sledgehammer problem ?

[SuicidalInsanity]

@ABZB: the inline drill is a known issue; the Rontgen and a few other things had their file names changed sightly to improve naming consistency; it sounds like you copied the new version over the old one, which would have changed file contents but left duplicates and unchanged file names in the case of capitalization.

@ThePixeledFox: I took a look at the cfg, and it seems that in the air-augmented cycle there still was the line "allowShutdown = False" that was left over from an earlier version of he engine back when i was testing it using SolidFuel instead of LF/O; delete that line, and the engine should function correctly.

Edit: I've updated the dev pre-release with the fixes and changes I've made over the past few days; things should work a bit better now., can be obtained from the same place as last time

1.7.01-Prerelease changelog:

Spoiler

Version 1.7.01 prerelease
================================
New part: mk2 inline drill, for real this time
New part: mk2 ISRU refinery, ditto
AASRBs now have increased intakeAtm storage and intakes now have mach curves buffing their intake ability at low speed
tweaked AASRB intakeAtm consumption, should be a bit easier to use
tweaked AASRB thrust down slightly to improve burn time
tweaked Sledgehammer AARE, should now properly switch engine modes
Air Augmented engines now have max thrust/ISP listed in their part descriptions
Tweaked Banshee, now uses FanIntakeAir to prevent Banshee from acting as a 2m intake for any other jets on the craft
Vector turbojet alternator now functions during afterburner operation

 

Edited January 1, 2016 by SuicidalInsanity

[ThePixeledFox]

12 hours ago, SuicidalInsanity said:

@ABZB: the inline drill is a known issue; the Rontgen and a few other things had their file names changed sightly to improve naming consistency; it sounds like you copied the new version over the old one, which would have changed file contents but left duplicates and unchanged file names in the case of capitalization.

@ThePixeledFox: I took a look at the cfg, and it seems that in the air-augmented cycle there still was the line "allowShutdown = False" that was left over from an earlier version of he engine back when i was testing it using SolidFuel instead of LF/O; delete that line, and the engine should function correctly.

Edit: I've updated the dev pre-release with the fixes and changes I've made over the past few days; things should work a bit better now., can be obtained from the same place as last time

1.7.01-Prerelease changelog:

  Reveal hidden contents

Version 1.7.01 prerelease
================================
New part: mk2 inline drill, for real this time
New part: mk2 ISRU refinery, ditto
AASRBs now have increased intakeAtm storage and intakes now have mach curves buffing their intake ability at low speed
tweaked AASRB intakeAtm consumption, should be a bit easier to use
tweaked AASRB thrust down slightly to improve burn time
tweaked Sledgehammer AARE, should now properly switch engine modes
Air Augmented engines now have max thrust/ISP listed in their part descriptions
Tweaked Banshee, now uses FanIntakeAir to prevent Banshee from acting as a 2m intake for any other jets on the craft
Vector turbojet alternator now functions during afterburner operation

 

thanks for the fixes works great now , and thanks for this great mod i cannot build without it

[Kolago]

Some engines don`t have bottom node and/or fairing, can you add this in a future release?

[Toguspyder]

I love the look of this pack, but I just can't get KSP to load it. It stops loading at Mk2Expansion/Parts/Utility/Reactor/part/M2X_Generator_CP. I've tried with mods and just by itself. It does not crash, just hangs on that part. I'm currently running KSP 1.0.5 and I normally run the 64 version on windows 8.1 (but I have tried the load in 32 with no mods as well and same thing). I  have dug into the folder and it doesn't show any subfolders or part of /part/M2X_Generator_CP

 

I'm not a modder, so i have not delve into how the syntax works, but one thing should it be /part/M2X_Generator_CP or \part\M2X_Generator_CP

Anyway, any advice on how I can get it up and running would be great. BTW, it was loaded from CKAN, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Toguspyder

[SuicidalInsanity]

@Kolago: Call it a hunch, but I don't think the propeller engine is going to get a fairing, but for the rest, it wouldn't be too hard to add fairings & nodes where reasonable; the rocket engines make sense - AARE, Ion, ESTOC, Aerospike, possibly the MATTOCK - but I'm not so sure about the aero engines - Ramjet, Scramjet, Rontgen, Turbojet - but make a convincing argument and I'll reconsider.

@Toguspyder: M2X_Generator_CP is a part added by ABZB's Mk2 KSPI integration mod, the error suggests you don't have all of the mk2-KSPI dependencies. I would either remove the Mk2-KSPI mod, or re download it to make sure it is installed properly

[ABZB]

5 hours ago, Toguspyder said:

I love the look of this pack, but I just can't get KSP to load it. It stops loading at Mk2Expansion/Parts/Utility/Reactor/part/M2X_Generator_CP. I've tried with mods and just by itself. It does not crash, just hangs on that part. I'm currently running KSP 1.0.5 and I normally run the 64 version on windows 8.1 (but I have tried the load in 32 with no mods as well and same thing). I  have dug into the folder and it doesn't show any subfolders or part of /part/M2X_Generator_CP

 

I'm not a modder, so i have not delve into how the syntax works, but one thing should it be /part/M2X_Generator_CP or \part\M2X_Generator_CP

Anyway, any advice on how I can get it up and running would be great. BTW, it was loaded from CKAN, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance.

You can look through my thread @ http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/118688-starlion-industries-kspi-ifs-compatibility-patches-for-fueltanks-spaceplanes-more-ckan/ to see if you can find a solution there - if you could post there the list of mods you have installed, I will try to determine the issue & solution.

[Kolago]

2 hours ago, SuicidalInsanity said:

@Kolago: Call it a hunch, but I don't think the propeller engine is going to get a fairing, but for the rest, it wouldn't be too hard to add fairings & nodes where reasonable; the rocket engines make sense - AARE, Ion, ESTOC, Aerospike, possibly the MATTOCK - but I'm not so sure about the aero engines - Ramjet, Scramjet, Rontgen, Turbojet - but make a convincing argument and I'll reconsider.

Thats fine with me, the aero engines doesn't need it.

[ABZB]

Thought this would be cool to us here:

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-research-could-save-commercial-airlines-billions-in-new-era-of-aviation

 

I like how they are experimenting with essentially an in-fuselage RCS system using intakeatm. now I can hipster in NASA's general direction! 

[ChrisD]

Is there any reason (besides the name) why the NUK-2 Fission Reactor doesn't seem to work outside the atmosphere? It's stuck at -0.2% thermal efficiency and not putting out any electrical charge or using any fuel.

I had it bench tested on the runway running the ion engine at full thrust with no issues, as long as there were a bunch of radiators installed, but now it is out in space it is like it has frozen solid.

[SuicidalInsanity]

Reproduction steps? It should work in vacuum or atmosphere equally well. Based on earlier testing, the reactor (or anything else using ModuleCoreHeat) will fail to start if its core temperature is too cold, tests determined for the reactor this is around 170, a temperature I was only able to achieve by messing with the thermal multipliers in the F12 menu while in orbit around Eeloo. Testing various crafts in LKO the default temp was around 320 or so. The last person this happened to, the issue only appeared one one specific craft, built in a specific way, that when orbited in a specific way would cause the craft temp to drop to freezing temp, and would not change regardless of orbit, what it was orbiting, or if other, warmer craft were docked to it, and this issue could not be reliably replicated. So, a few questions:

-if you turn on temperature displays in the F12 menu, what does the craft temperature do during launch and obtaining orbit?

-what is the root part of the craft in question?

-what is the method for getting it in orbit? - disposable launcher, SSTO lifter with control switched to the craft once in orbit, is the tracking station visited to recover the lifter before the craft is controlled, etc

-is HyperEdit involved?

[ChrisD]

It was launched on a disposable launcher, the conventional way (no hyper-edit etc) with the standard Mk2 Cockpit as the root.

 

I ended up using the F12 menu to bring it and the crew home. I'll give it another go today and have a better look at the stats as it goes to orbit.