Kerbodyne Plus Development Thread

[Bonus Eventus]

KSP 1.1 pre-release is out. Please report bugs here or in the release thread. Kerbodyne Plus V1.05 will be out in the next couple of days to address some of these initial issues.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Bonus Eventus

[cy4n]

2 minutes ago, Bonus Eventus said:

1.1 pre-release is out. Please report bugs here or in the release thread. Kerbodyne Plus V1.05 will be out in the next couple of days to address some of these initial issues.

HOORAY! I've waited so long! Almost 2 weeks!

[Table]

On 3/29/2016 at 0:14 PM, Bonus Eventus said:

Ultimately, the way I would approach this is with particle effects. But, I'm not clear how to do that in the cfg, outside of engine fx.

EDIT: OK, back to the original radiator plan. Going static and modular, for now. This is like tier one radiators and later you'll be able to unlock more advanced ones.

Hopefully, if I'm clever enough, people will be able to make a wide range of radiator patterns. Myself I really dig the radiators that were supposed to be on the Discovery in 2001:

those are great, but i dig the ones of the ISV Venture Star

[Siphonophore]

2 hours ago, Table said:

those are great, but i dig the ones of the ISV Venture Star

I agree but @Bonus Eventus you could just pattern em after the ISV Venture Star's radiators with similar heating patterns

[Bonus Eventus]

Here's a sneak peek at the new T202 trusses. The modules will snap on to attach nodes to make it easy to mix and match. 

[Table]

Just a question but when will you add the dev parts to the release versions.

[Bonus Eventus]

kp 1.05 will be out ASAP. In that version I plan to include the dev parts that I know are ready to be committed (which are most of them) some of the dev parts won't be included because I'm either going to upgrade them for 1.1 or I decided they were redundant. 1.1 will becoming soon (best guess is two weeks from today), I'm taking my time with the engines because they're important to the pack. I'm putting most of my effort into them. 

[Siphonophore]

42 minutes ago, Bonus Eventus said:

kp 1.05 will be out ASAP. In that version I plan to include the dev parts that I know are ready to be committed (which are most of them) some of the dev parts won't be included because I'm either going to upgrade them for 1.1 or I decided they were redundant. 1.1 will becoming soon (best guess is two weeks from today), I'm taking my time with the engines because they're important to the pack. I'm putting most of my effort into them. 

YESYESYESYESYES

I bet in 1.1 it'll run super smooth w/ those giant starships

 

[Siphonophore]

@Bonus Eventus Can you predict KP 1.05's release date, and plus, could you make the Leviathan Solar Wing SO much bigger, like the same length as the IRL ISS solar panels?

[Table]

8 hours ago, AJTheMighty said:

@Bonus Eventus Can you predict KP 1.05's release date, and plus, could you make the Leviathan Solar Wing SO much bigger, like the same length as the IRL ISS solar panels?

I don't think it would be better if it was bigger tbh, since the solar wing is called leviathan, let's call the longer version of the solar wing like "kraken" solar wing, it's gonna be the same design but as twice as longer.

 

if you have time, could you take my suggestion bonus? it's fine if you don't

 

P.S. I called it "Kraken" because Leviathan's a sea monster etc. you know where i'm going right?

Edited April 3, 2016 by Table

[Siphonophore]

39 minutes ago, Table said:

I don't think it would be better if it was bigger tbh, since the solar wing is called leviathan, let's call the longer version of the solar wing like "kraken" solar wing, it's gonna be the same design but as twice as longer.

 

if you have time, could you take my suggestion bonus? it's fine if you don't

I agree 9001% the biggest solar panels of this mod should be stylized after ISS solar panels.

@Bonus Eventus could you take my suggestion?

Anyway GIVE MR. @Bonus Eventus ALL THE SUGGESTIONS!!!!

[cy4n]

Thought this might be helpful for naming:

Large Things Name Suggestions:

• Leviathan
• Colossus
• Kraken (suggested by Table)
• Goliath
• Titan
• Mammoth
• Behemoth
   

 

[Bonus Eventus]

So, the leviathan panels are the kerbal equivalent of the ISS solar panels. This is a simple misconception. In terms of length, they are exactly the same size. I scaled them down to 60% to fit with the scale of the stock game, as a lot of other mods do. The reason they seem like the wrong size are because the T404 trusses are like three times the size of the ISS integrated truss. The equivalent of the ISS integrated truss would be closer to the T202 trusses.

To be honest this wasn't the original intent when I started KP. I just wanted some large hollow structures to attach crafts to and took inspiration for the design only partly from the ISS truss. However, that changed as the mod progressed, leading to the T404 standardized version. To add to the variety of designs I added the T202 line which is simply half the diameter of a T404 segment. The intent at the time was to put most of the emphasis of the mod on T404. But recently, I have wanted to move away from that and instead move closer to the ISS truss system for various reasons that I'll explain shortly. For now I'll just say that I plan to narrow the purpose of T404 trusses to be what they were in the beginning of KP, serving as docking bays or shipyards.

I plan to add more parts to T404 that increase its capacity to do just that. T202 will be much closer to the ISS truss system, but a little different. The ISS various truss segments like the S0 or P1 vary in diameter between 4.2 to 4.8 meters in diameter.  So, at the low end that would transition in ksp to 2.5m to 2.88m at the high end. I could round up or down. I decided to round up. This way the established size of T202 (a 3.75m octagon) remains the same. T404 and T202 are octagons instead of hexagons to allow for 8 points of symmetry.

It's my belief, that when you build with T202 parts the solar panels will feel just right. When you build with T404 I want you to feel like you're building something massive, and not just a scaled up version of T202. That said I want T404 to make the leviathan solar panels look average in size. That way you know you're building something BIG. I don't plan to scale up everything to that size, because I think the contrast will make for a better experience of scale. T202 won't be just an ISS replica part, however. I want to appropriate the thinking behind the design of the ISS. The ISS truss purpose is to be a structure and an unpressurized storage system. The other modules like Destiny or Unity are pressurized. So, we could say, unpressurized things on the ISS look angular, and pressurized things look round. So, I want to change things a bit going forward to reinforce that thinking. The CM1 then should be round (yeah, I know. However, the change won't be coming until after 1.1).

There are people that really like perfectly symmetrical designs when they build, they also like when things perfectly match or align. I personally don't need things to match, but I'm not judging. I think contrast is interesting so I don't mind a square peg in a round hole. Kerbodyne Plus is informed greatly by my personal aesthetic. I like industrial structures like oil rigs and 1970s era hard sci-fi like Silent Running and Solaris. So, it's no surprise to me that I ended up making a mod that has a lot of emphasis on big clunky utilitarian forms. And, looking back on the progress so far, I think that is exactly what's cool about this mod. There aren't many mods that have a focus on structure. I want to go further with that. Hopefully you guys do too.

Edited April 3, 2016 by Bonus Eventus

[DStaal]

I'm enjoying this mod, so keep it up.    (Though, if you're making a nearly 4m octagon, could you match the size to the USI parts?  The Freight Transport Technologies Honeybadger and the MK-III adapters (the MK-III modules themselves are slightly bigger, but have ends that match that size) are very close to that size, IIRC, and it'd be nice to have them fit together.  (I think they are 3.75m, so they may already.))

My other part request would be a combined reaction wheel/monoprop storage part in the 3.75 round form factor and the T404.  I find them very useful, and while I have several in smaller sizes (and USI has two in the 3.75 octo form factor), I'd like a good one in that size range, and it would make sense for Kerbodyne to be the ones making it. 

[Bonus Eventus]

20 minutes ago, DStaal said:

I'm enjoying this mod, so keep it up.    (Though, if you're making a nearly 4m octagon, could you match the size to the USI parts?  The Freight Transport Technologies Honeybadger and the MK-III adapters (the MK-III modules themselves are slightly bigger, but have ends that match that size) are very close to that size, IIRC, and it'd be nice to have them fit together.  (I think they are 3.75m, so they may already.))

My other part request would be a combined reaction wheel/monoprop storage part in the 3.75 round form factor and the T404.  I find them very useful, and while I have several in smaller sizes (and USI has two in the 3.75 octo form factor), I'd like a good one in that size range, and it would make sense for Kerbodyne to be the ones making it. 

the ISS uses reaction wheels, but they're part of the integrated truss. So, my plan was to provide attitude control gyros for T202. I think adding monoprop storage would make sense. As for T404 I want to do something else less streamlined for attitude control. Not sure how that will work. 

As to other mods, I want to avoid doing that as much as possible. It really complicates the design process when you try to match other mod designs (a constantly moving target) and color schemes. However, this is where having obvious and different transitional parts can help. For example, going from a octagon to a square to another type of octagon. That's part of the reason I'm adding another bulkhead type T101.

 

Edited April 3, 2016 by Bonus Eventus

[Bonus Eventus]

On a different note. I'm looking for beta testers. Ideal candidates should be advanced KSP players, who understand how KSP's different systems work (thermodynamics, drag, resources, etc). Also should have a working knowledge of CFG editing. Not so much to design cfg's but to tinker around to identify bugs and try out their own ideas. Also would like to find people who feel confident they can give around 4 hours per week to beta testing. PM me if you're interested.

[Bonus Eventus]

Here's an update on the new T202. The truss is basically done, I'm just working out the texture for the battery array (the batteries haven't been colored yet) . 

Here's the todo list for KP 1.05:

• finish cfgs for T202
• fix behemoth engines for KSP 1.1 pre-release (The gimbal is broken at the moment)
• double check that everything is working in KSP 1.1
• fix the orange penta coupler

I wanted to at least have the beginnings of the T202 system for 1.05. Don't think I'll be able to get more than the battery module done for it, but whatever, it will contain most of the dev updates you've seen. Somethings aren't making the cut. The dev penta coupler and tri coupler are nixed, in favor of the new orange structural parts. the T202 variants like type D aren't done yet. Some of the parts still require rebalancing, but they're playable and stable. I have some really cool parts for the T202 in mind but most likely they'll have to wait till after 1.1, because they all require lots of animation. That's it for now. I'm hoping to get this update out tonight, meant to have it done yesterday, but life happened instead

 

Don't forget to PM me if you want to be a beta tester!

[cy4n]

On 4/3/2016 at 9:08 PM, DStaal said:

My other part request would be a combined reaction wheel/monoprop storage part in the 3.75 round form factor and the T404.  I find them very useful, and while I have several in smaller sizes (and USI has two in the 3.75 octo form factor), I'd like a good one in that size range, and it would make sense for Kerbodyne to be the ones making it. 

EDIT: I only read part of the post, so I don't need to include the whole thing.

Ooh, yes please! My massive spacecraft would be much easier to keep pointed in the right direction with this!

Edited April 5, 2016 by Osmium

[Bonus Eventus]

So, got pretty far last night, but not far enough. Still have to bigger out the 8 node definitions for the sides of the truss. The battery works though.

[Table]

So how's it coming with the nuclear reactor?

[Bonus Eventus]

20 minutes ago, Table said:

So how's it coming with the nuclear reactor?

I haven't started the model yet, but I have done some experiments and research. You can expect the design to be cylindrical.

[Table]

56 minutes ago, Bonus Eventus said:

I haven't started the model yet, but I have done some experiments and research. You can expect the design to be cylindrical.

I would love for it to be huge

[Bonus Eventus]

So, I made a mistake with the the Solar Wings. When I was testing them last night, having opened the original FBX model file, I noticed that the length in meters was half what it was supposed to be. I don't know how that happened. Apologies peoples, I know some of you tried to point this out, but I was convinced I had the math right. Guess I should trust my eyes more :/

On the plus side, the 1.05 update is coming out tonight, and guess what's going to be included?

[Siphonophore]

2 hours ago, Bonus Eventus said:

So, I made a mistake with the the Solar Wings. When I was testing them last night, having opened the original FBX model file, I noticed that the length in meters was half what it was supposed to be. I don't know how that happened. Apologies peoples, I know some of you tried to point this out, but I was convinced I had the math right. Guess I should trust my eyes more :/

On the plus side, the 1.05 update is coming out tonight, and guess what's going to be included?

YES!!! YESSS!!!! MY LIFE'S COMPLETE!!! THE LEVIATHAN'S AS BIG AS WHAT IT WAS MEANT TO BE!!!!

 

Also can't wait for Kerbodyne Plus 1.05!!! I can just imagine how large the new Leviathan Solar panels will be...

[cy4n]

13 hours ago, Bonus Eventus said:

So, I made a mistake with the the Solar Wings. When I was testing them last night, having opened the original FBX model file, I noticed that the length in meters was half what it was supposed to be. I don't know how that happened. Apologies peoples, I know some of you tried to point this out, but I was convinced I had the math right. Guess I should trust my eyes more :/

On the plus side, the 1.05 update is coming out tonight, and guess what's going to be included?

Can't wait for the 1.05 update! EDIT:  As if we needed more solar power... Oh yes, can you update the animation so each side of it folds to the middle? That would make it much easier to fit it into fairings.  (Also, will the Leviathan structural truss be updated too?)

Edited April 6, 2016 by Osmium