[WIP][1.8.x] SSTULabs - Low Part Count Solutions (Orbiters, Landers, Lifters) - Dev Thread [11-18-18]

[DarthGav]

Thanks, but what about the tank textures?

 

Also this mod looks awesome, just what I've been looking for.

Edited February 27, 2016 by DarthGav

[Jimbodiah]

Do you have the extra textures folder in your GameData directory?

[DarthGav]

I can't find it, do I download it separately.  

[Jimbodiah]

https://github.com/shadowmage45/SSTULabs/releases/download/0.3.28-pre1/SSTU-TextureSets-1.5.zip

 

[DarthGav]

Thanks, one thing about the KSP community is that they are some of the most helpful people, thank you all very much.

[Shadowmage]

Updated testing release is available:

https://github.com/shadowmage45/SSTULabs/releases/tag/0.3.29-pre5

Huge change to engines, swapping over to the new engine-cluster plugin.  There is now a single part per engine-type, and this part allows for switching the number of engines and their layout, as well as mount and mount size where appropriate.  Old parts still exist but are removed from the editor.  See the link for full details.

Few other minor fixes/changes.. a couple tweaks to a few engines' stats.  Minor updates to SC-E geometry, very nearly done.

There is more than likely a few missed/messed up engine-cluster configs; I merely did not have time to test every single variation of engine-layout-mount.  So please report any null-reference exceptions while switching layouts/mounts, or anything that seems odd in general with the engines.

RO patch/update for these engine changes has been submitted and will likely be available shortly.

[ComatoseJedi]

Again, I have nothing to say except this: I don't know why this kind of game mod implementation hasn't been done already. Instead of trying to maintain different engines/mounts, tanks, parts. Combine everything into something that is feasible and usable without a bloated part count. I'll say it again, I need to buy you a drink ShadowMage. Until then; You sir, are a steely-eyed missile man.  

[Jimbodiah]

Mage, is it possible to include the textures directory with the new releases? There are a lot of people downloading for the first time not aware they need a seperate textures pack that was linked a few pages ago. Also maybe redistribute MM and CRP?

 

[Shadowmage]

13 hours ago, ComatoseJedi said:

Again, I have nothing to say except this: I don't know why this kind of game mod implementation hasn't been done already. Instead of trying to maintain different engines/mounts, tanks, parts. Combine everything into something that is feasible and usable without a bloated part count. I'll say it again, I need to buy you a drink ShadowMage. Until then; You sir, are a steely-eyed missile man.  

It hasn't been done before to this extent because... frankly... its a bit of a pain, and there is a need to be good at plugin coding and model setup in order to do it.  For example, just this morning, I spent 2-3 hours straightening out issues related to stock bugs/inconsistencies and part config nodes; none of this would have been needed with 'normal' parts.

But hopefully it will all work out in the end.  Seems to be coming along nicely so far.

 

6 hours ago, Jimbodiah said:

Mage, is it possible to include the textures directory with the new releases? There are a lot of people downloading for the first time not aware they need a seperate textures pack that was linked a few pages ago. Also maybe redistribute MM and CRP?

 

Perhaps when I move to the stable release versions;  at that point I'll likely be splitting the mod into a few different components, and can bundle things as necessary.  I also won't be as worried about texture/memory use with a 64-bit client available.

Otherwise the texture-pack is linked in the OP.  Hard to make it any more accessible than that.

 

On Saturday, February 27, 2016 at 5:49 PM, RedParadize said:

I not quite sure why, but it seem that I have a rocket (in this case the Soyuz) on the lunch pad, It will slowly eat up all the memory and crash.
I have no crash logs and no error spaming in debug. But it doesn't do that with the stock part I still have in my build.

It was not doing this before with the last release, the other difference is that I was not using LH2 before. (yes CommunityResourcePack is up to date.)

Anyone else have this issue ?

I have not noticed any problems like that, but my testing time is often fairly limited.  If you can find out what specific part(s) are causing the problem / how to duplicate it, please let me know and I'll investigate it.

 

On Saturday, February 27, 2016 at 0:42 PM, Jimbodiah said:

@Shadowmage  I don't see a nuke in that list, but I get the picture

I'm not having much luck with the Kerbal Atomics or the Nerv engine on Nertea's LH2 patch, as the dV that MJ shows is about twice what I get in the actual game, and it's not much more efficient than a conventional LH2 engine. Only if I use it on the stock LF then I get higher dV vs use on LH2. The dry mass adds up to fast for the little nuke to become efficient with LH2 (big tanks needed).

Well, the nuke is listed as a sub-section for the SC InterPlanetary series of ships, and not in the list of engines.  Would be a ways out if at all; need to determine what that series of parts is all about / what form factor it would all come in.

 

On Saturday, February 27, 2016 at 0:11 PM, stratochief66 said:

 

@Shadowmage if it wouldn't be much more work, that would be great! If it would be, I'm sure (most) users can figure out how to change a general F-1 mount to a Saturn V 5x F-1 mount. Having them as distinct parts might make it easier for us to give them more precise, historical masses; but users could always get around that by creating it using your new system and avoid our heavier mass anyway. So, entirely your call

And of course, Huge thanks for helping develop RO configs for your mod, as it is becoming a quite popular one in the RO community. Without your help we would probably have to instruct RO users to download an older version of SSTU from back when we had most parts configured, like 0.3.28-pre5 .

I included a couple examples of single-part clusters in the PR, should give enough setup info to do any others that were wanted.  I also may have forgotten to re-add some of the variants and clusters (M-1, large F-1 clusters); I'll look into updating the PR or submitting another one when I have time.

Yah, the only reason I'm submitting the updates is because of the popularity with RO.  I don't personally use it, but can see the appeal, so am trying to keep it as accessible as possible.  The time I can devote to it is limited though, so I'm mostly trying to help out with the major updates and larger changes.

 

20 hours ago, JoseEduardo said:

from me you won't hear any complaint about the OMS shoulder pods

all I want is to be able to make a Buran-like setup, with just two engines and nothing else, so I really don't mind about the shoulders staying  (I wouldn't even try to remove the shoulders if I tried to remove the engines, that would mess with the RCS pods)

btw, I noticed that the hatch was modeled, does that mean we can see a opening hatch (either for eyecandy or to actually remember to open it before going EVA) or that would involve a lot of work? not a request or anything, just wondering

Animated hatches - nope, stock hatch code does not support animation.

[Shadowmage]

Updated testing release is available:

https://github.com/shadowmage45/SSTULabs/releases/tag/0.3.29-pre6

Fixes up some nasty bugs with the new engine parts and symmetry setup, and also fixes up some fairing interaction/persistence issues.  See the link for downloads and full change-log.

[123nick]

Just now, Shadowmage said:

Updated testing release is available:

https://github.com/shadowmage45/SSTULabs/releases/tag/0.3.29-pre6

Fixes up some nasty bugs with the new engine parts and symmetry setup, and also fixes up some fairing interaction/persistence issues.  See the link for downloads and full change-log.

ive been away from the forums awhile-- has the bug with the modular fuel tanks been fixed?

 

[JoseEduardo]

about the hatches, the way I have seen it work was doing the hatch animation and having the standard KSP hatch behind the animated hatch, you would need to open the animated hatch in order to use the stock hatch to have the kerbal doing EVA, you could have the stock hatch a bit further from the animated one so you would need to actually open the airlock to let the kerbal move around, otherwise the kerbal would be stuck between the stock EVA airlock and the animated one

btw, friendly reminder that this is not a request, just a idea for a eyecandy

IF this caughts your attention, and you didn't understand what I (poorly) tried to explain, the one I have seen is DECQ's Buran, he did that on both, the cockpit airlock and in the docking module airlock

again, this is an idea, not a request

[Lemonpie]

Is this mod compatible with 6.4x kerbol?

[blowfish]

3 minutes ago, Lemonpie said:

Is this mod compatible with 6.4x kerbol?

Well it's balanced against stock, so you won't get a very good payload fraction out of your rockets.  If you're using RO it should be ok.  I don't think there are SSTU configs for RF Stockalike or SMURFF yet though.

[SpaceBadger007]

Hey shadowmage, have you considered intergrating your mod with the ETT Engineering tech tree mod?

[Shadowmage]

18 hours ago, 123nick said:

ive been away from the forums awhile-- has the bug with the modular fuel tanks been fixed?

 

Not quite sure which bug you are referring to; if it is the one with SSTU fuel tanks and the MFT mod, then yes; MFT should work fine with the SSTU fuel tanks (though, mostly untested as I do not use it... these are testing releases, so feel free to test it and let me know!).

 

7 hours ago, SpaceBadger007 said:

Hey shadowmage, have you considered intergrating your mod with the ETT Engineering tech tree mod?

Not particularly;  If I do any sort of custom tech-tree integration it would likely be CTT with some custom patches to move stock parts around a bit.

 

Moving on to texturing of the shuttle parts this week; geometry is finished, and I have things mostly unwrapped, just need to decide the texture sizes and start doing the layout of the parts.  Will likely be splitting the shuttle into at least two textures; one for the wheel bits, and one for the rest of the body -- will know more after I start arranging things.

This is the time to start discussing decals/flags/etc.  My proposed system would be to use small distinct textures for each decal (256x100 or so), that way they can be designed easier and swapped between cleanly; just drop your graphic in the gamedata folder somewhere, and edit/patch in the reference to it in the texture-swap module.  These graphics could be whatever you wanted to apply, as long as it fit in the texture size -- text decals, images/logos.  I'll likely only include some very simple example cases of logos or ship names.

Thoughts, ideas, etc ?

[123nick]

50 minutes ago, Shadowmage said:

Not quite sure which bug you are referring to; if it is the one with SSTU fuel tanks and the MFT mod, then yes; MFT should work fine with the SSTU fuel tanks (though, mostly untested as I do not use it... these are testing releases, so feel free to test it and let me know!).

 

Not particularly;  If I do any sort of custom tech-tree integration it would likely be CTT with some custom patches to move stock parts around a bit.

 

Moving on to texturing of the shuttle parts this week; geometry is finished, and I have things mostly unwrapped, just need to decide the texture sizes and start doing the layout of the parts.  Will likely be splitting the shuttle into at least two textures; one for the wheel bits, and one for the rest of the body -- will know more after I start arranging things.

This is the time to start discussing decals/flags/etc.  My proposed system would be to use small distinct textures for each decal (256x100 or so), that way they can be designed easier and swapped between cleanly; just drop your graphic in the gamedata folder somewhere, and edit/patch in the reference to it in the texture-swap module.  These graphics could be whatever you wanted to apply, as long as it fit in the texture size -- text decals, images/logos.  I'll likely only include some very simple example cases of logos or ship names.

Thoughts, ideas, etc ?

ok, thanks for having the bug fixed. about the texture system-- i guess it would work, yeah. some screenshots of the geometry and finished textures would be cool. 

edit: now it still seems bugged :/ i have too turn the utilization down too like, 17% for the default, untweaked MFT-B tank too have the same volume as the stock orange tank, according too MFT. do i have too update my modular fuel tanks as well? im pretty sure i updated the SSTU mod.

Edited February 29, 2016 by 123nick

[tater]

The series_e stuff is under pods instead of aero.

[Shadowmage]

6 minutes ago, tater said:

The series_e stuff is under pods instead of aero.

Yes, this is intentional; it is so that I don't have to go hunting through a bunch of tabs to assemble the craft during testing.  The various parts will (likely) be moved into different tabs when the parts are finished; until then, they will all remain in the pods tab.

[tater]

Ah, gotcha. Makes sense.

[Shadowmage]

First pass on basic texturing (flat texture, no texture AO, only render-time AO); still a lot to do and several bits to clean up, quite a few details to add... but it is looking pretty nice so far

[Jimbodiah]

Will it come in pink?

Looks good Mage!!!

[sp1989]

This pack is the future of KSP. Its popular right now but in the coming months just based on my experience this pack will become as ubiquitous with KSP as FASA, KW, KOSMOS, NOVA PUNCH, Mechjeb, Porkjet, Bobcat, and so many more but this is the future so I highly recommend it. I can't wait to see it when its fully complete. Bravo 

 

One thing that you really should consider is a craft folder. Or a thread for a craft repository. The combinations for this mod are so great it would be great to have a repository for all of the awesome ideas and creations. 

[Jimbodiah]

I made a lot of crafts, but the problem with a WIP mod is that it breaks the builds quite often. Maybe when SSTU gets a stable release it might be worth while to set up a repository for craft like the SLS, Ares, Saturn etc etc etc.

[sp1989]

5 minutes ago, Jimbodiah said:

I made a lot of crafts, but the problem with a WIP mod is that it breaks the builds quite often. Maybe when SSTU gets a stable release it might be worth while to set up a repository for craft like the SLS, Ares, Saturn etc etc etc.

Agreed. Honestly, again this is just from my experience craft files really do help people. In terms of people attaching themselves to mod particularly ones with alot of parts like this one or Tantares. People are impressed with the parts but when they get them in game they lose interest because they just don't know what to do with them. So you either have the super creative people who can do fantastic things with packs like this and people who want to do things like that and then get overwhelmed with the amount of parts and don't know what to do. So craft files are helpful to get the most people to download even if they just help inspire creativity. Also pictures of what the pack can do help too. However I agree with you 100% don't make craft files until the pack is close to or fully complete compatibility issues with craft files suck.