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

[JoseEduardo]

6 hours ago, MacLuky said:

How did you texture those? Mine were still plain white?

I didn't, these aren't Mage's parts, these are from KOSMOS, using Mage's plugin to weld all the separate parts into one

I'm planning on making a patch for Tantares as well and expand the KOSMOS one a bit further, which I might release as an add-on....

[Shadowmage]

22 hours ago, tater said:

I've experimented with some insane craft in sandbox akin to those @JoseEduardo has posted (like some of the 1970s VSSTOL concepts Boeing worked on). One part I find myself using for different things is the petal fairing. I assume that it must not have a full closure option for a coding reason, right? Seems like a toggle for it to be an interstage or a full fairing would be sort of cool.

The deployed petals might have some utility as added surface area for propulsive EDL...

Closed-top petal adapter:

Possible, but would require adding some new methods and special-case handling to the back-end procedural mesh generation code.  It will handle additional profile splits just fine, but currently it assumes that it will always be quads, whereas the top of the fairing (the pointy bit) will need to be triangles / a triangle fan arrangement (which is slightly different vertex winding and UV mapping).

So... maybe at some point in the future.

[tater]

No worries, I just slap a nosecone on top, a small, expendable price to pay  . I'm in a Philip Bono sort of mood lately...

Edited August 28, 2016 by tater

[Shadowmage]

11 hours ago, tater said:

The new probe core defaults to being "debris" instead of probes.

Noted and fixed

[MacLuky]

@JoseEduardo thanks

[Fobok]

I just wanted to comment that this looks like it'll be a fantastic mod. I tend to stay away from the Apollo and other re-creations, as they end up designed, it seems, to only work re-creating those things. For me, designing my craft is part of the fun. (Even if I'm not very good at it, yet.)

However, this mod seems to bring the utility of those combined parts while making them useful for general use.

I'm not a very good tester, so I'm going to wait for now, but I look forward to when this is officially released. :-)

[Pappystein]

So Station parts.  Bug I thought I had narrowed down to SSTU + Connected living space has reared its ugly head again.  Can not undock.

 

Parts used.   DOS power core with the bottom node having the DOS 6 way HUB as part of the station part (Not a separate 6x HUB).    Installed 4 missing docking ports in 2x symmetry.  No nodes appeared for the docking ports so they are surface attached.   Launched my craft.   Undocked from the bottom node.   Moved tug to side node.   Can not un-dock from the side node.  All NODE attached docking ports work fine on my station but the Surface attached ones do not undock.   I will test another station core later today with same parts but add the BZ-1 (Squad) Surface attach Node attachment before placing the docking ports on.

 

I am using exclusively the SC-GEN-DP-1P 1.25m docking ports on this.    All parts with built in ports seem to work great.  All parts with Node attached ports seem to work great.  Bottom Node of DOS Power core worked for undock and then 2nd ship dock.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2016 by Pappystein

[thomash]

So, I guess that means living with the backwards seats in the LC 2 and LC 3 pods.  RPM still works fine for the Orion CMs. Please don't change that.  

Thanks.

[StickyScissors]

@Shadowmage False alarm, it was just my disabling of the PF patch with procedural fairings installed that caused it. 

Edited August 28, 2016 by StickyScissors

[JoseEduardo]

what did you do in order to disable the PF patch?

[Shadowmage]

15 minutes ago, thomash said:

So, I guess that means living with the backwards seats in the LC 2 and LC 3 pods.  RPM still works fine for the Orion CMs. Please don't change that.  

Thanks.

You could dink around with the IVA config files and figure out how the rotation needs to be setup for the chairs (they are config file based, so easy to modify); likely it'll need the Y component of the rotation vector incremented 180 degrees.  If you get it figured and and don't mind sharing I can even include the fix in a future update.

29 minutes ago, Pappystein said:

So Station parts.  Bug I thought I had narrowed down to SSTU + Connected living space has reared its ugly head again.  Can not undock.

 

Parts used.   DOS power core with the bottom node having the DOS 6 way HUB as part of the station part (Not a separate 6x HUB).    Installed 4 missing docking ports in 2x symmetry.  No nodes appeared for the docking ports so they are surface attached.   Launched my craft.   Undocked from the bottom node.   Moved tug to side node.   Can not un-dock from the side node.  All NODE attached docking ports work fine on my station but the Surface attached ones do not undock.   I will test another station core later today with same parts but add the BZ-1 (Squad) Surface attach Node attachment before placing the docking ports on.

 

I am using exclusively the SC-GEN-DP-1P 1.25m docking ports on this.    All parts with built in ports seem to work great.  All parts with Node attached ports seem to work great.  Bottom Node of DOS Power core worked for undock and then 2nd ship dock.

 

 

Interesting discovery... I'll try and play around with that a bit myself.

If I'm understanding you correctly, you are saying that any surfaced attached SC-GEN-DP-1P fail to undock correctly (regardless of what part they are surface attached to) ?

Bottom nodes on DOS built in hub-adapter -- noted, will try and get that fixed up for today's update.  WARNING: This will likely be a breaking change to those parts due to needing to change attach node names.

[StickyScissors]

52 minutes ago, JoseEduardo said:

what did you do in order to disable the PF patch?

Added .disable after .cfg so the filename would be PF.cfg.disable

remove .disable to revert back to normal

[Shadowmage]

Updated testing release is available:

https://github.com/shadowmage45/SSTULabs/releases/tag/0.5.32.123

Quite a few geometry changes to DOS and HAB parts, couple misc bugfixes, and an entirely new kit-out mechanic introduced for the HAB parts.  See the link for change log and further details.

This next week will likely focus on finishing off DOS module geometry and more work towards pinning down requirements, balance, and functions on the HAB parts.

[RedParadize]

These integrated docking port are just too usefull. I would say that having them as a option for the tanks as well would be great.

 

No I want them on everything and everywhere. That plus a working staged docking port (stock bug as far as I know) and we could built a rocket part by part in space!

Edit: Not so long ago I was working on a dockable lateral booster for my mission on EVE. The Idea was to be eable land multiple times on EVE on the same mission. I hoped to have a lateral booster + top ejection tanks kit that I could print using OSE workshop and assemble in orbit or on the ground. I had something working but it was not elegant, too many part...

But with what you have here I might be possible. Maybe even as a single part lateral booster, with RCS for the docking and everything. I will try to make this if I have time this week.

Edited August 28, 2016 by RedParadize

[mechanicH]

@Shadowmage  i just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work. i have literally uninstalled every other mod i had and only kept yours. Yours ideas are genius, keep it up. i look forward to your continued progress, and thank you again.  

[RedParadize]

When you will release your mod, you will be floaded with message like this! 

Edit:

Your last patch is... realy nice! I like the details.

Do you think it will eventualy possible to have integrated docking port on the sides of the adapter 3?

Edited August 28, 2016 by RedParadize

[JoseEduardo]

http://imgur.com/a/TR97P



this is still more fun than NMS

[RedParadize]

The texture don't look too bad in gray. Did you made them yourself?

[JoseEduardo]

you mean the parts in the pic? the grey ones are Tantares parts and the blue ones from KOSMOS, I just put them together with ubiozur (to get the model positioning) and then made some patches using the SSTU modules to make everything work

[RedParadize]

I realy hope others will incorporate shadowmage feature into their mod. There is plany of nice stuff around but without SSTU feature it always feel restrictive. Its always like:

I can't have that tank but just a bit longer?

I need a adapter... That one is hugly, this one is too heavy...

Why these two small tanks hold more juice than the large one? and for the same dry mass.

That engine is heavy, bah, if I use tweakscale and put two of them at 50% scale it will have the same trust for less mass.

Damn, I have way too much parts. I have to remove stuff...

[falken]

I honestly can't think of many reasons to take other tanks unless I am going for a very specific look, for instance MTV Copernicus fuel tanks.

I have a request, be it Shadowmage or anyone who is good with modulemanager patches!

I use SMURFF for adjusted tankage mass, and unfortunately due to the way that Shadowmage has sorted out his tanks, they are not compatible with it. They do not change in tankage mass. I did however find a way around this issue by modifying the tankageMass to the following: "tankageMass = 0.037" from I think 0.15. This puts it in line with SMURFF tankage masses. However, I couldn't get a MM patch to work so I had to do it manually. Normally not an issue, but seeing as SSTU gets updated quite often...

(I have a very specific setup for my Kscale2 install, where my engine ISPs have been reduced by 45%, and all engine max thrust is halved. The lighter tanks seem to fit in nicely here)

 

[RedParadize]

4 hours ago, falken said:

I honestly can't think of many reasons to take other tanks unless I am going for a very specific look, for instance MTV Copernicus fuel tanks.

I have a request, be it Shadowmage or anyone who is good with modulemanager patches!

I use SMURFF for adjusted tankage mass, and unfortunately due to the way that Shadowmage has sorted out his tanks, they are not compatible with it. They do not change in tankage mass. I did however find a way around this issue by modifying the tankageMass to the following: "tankageMass = 0.037" from I think 0.15. This puts it in line with SMURFF tankage masses. However, I couldn't get a MM patch to work so I had to do it manually. Normally not an issue, but seeing as SSTU gets updated quite often...

(I have a very specific setup for my Kscale2 install, where my engine ISPs have been reduced by 45%, and all engine max thrust is halved. The lighter tanks seem to fit in nicely here)

 

I will give you something for this tonight. IF i don't finish too late.

[Pappystein]

21 hours ago, Pappystein said:

So Station parts.  Bug I thought I had narrowed down to SSTU + Connected living space has reared its ugly head again.  Can not undock.

 

Parts used.   DOS power core with the bottom node having the DOS 6 way HUB as part of the station part (Not a separate 6x HUB).    Installed 4 missing docking ports in 2x symmetry.  No nodes appeared for the docking ports so they are surface attached.   Launched my craft.   Undocked from the bottom node.   Moved tug to side node.   Can not un-dock from the side node.  All NODE attached docking ports work fine on my station but the Surface attached ones do not undock.   I will test another station core later today with same parts but add the BZ-1 (Squad) Surface attach Node attachment before placing the docking ports on.

 

I am using exclusively the SC-GEN-DP-1P 1.25m docking ports on this.    All parts with built in ports seem to work great.  All parts with Node attached ports seem to work great.  Bottom Node of DOS Power core worked for undock and then 2nd ship dock.

 

 

FOLLOW UP all with previous release:   I did a lot of further testing last night and today (early AM.)  I launched TWO DOS 6 way (Large) Hubs connected by a probe core and some Mono tanks with RCS.   un-docked the Tug that put them in final orbit and could not dock to ANY port after un-docking.   So I scrubbed my launch and launched the same rocket with only 1 6 way DOS large hub.   Docking worked fine.    Launching a DOS with the Type 3 bottom node (5 way Hub) with 4 SQUAD BZ-52's used as attachment points for Docking ports still left me with locked docks.   Bottom port would un-dock ONCE but none of the 4 side ports I put on individually (Symmetry 1x) would un-dock and the bottom port was locked after the first undock.  

My game crashed out when I was trying to dock onto a NON SSTU tank with a surface attached SC-GEN-DP-1P.  I plan on launching another mission today trying that before downloading the latest update (after RL stuff is done for the day.)   

THEORY: I have never had great luck with multi-use parts working *WELL* in game.   Could the Parachute modules or other features of the docking ports be causing some of this?   The Rename feature?

Now the questions to everyone else.   Are any of you having issues with Docking ports locking?      I DO run a TON of mods and I am not running an SSTU + requirements exclusive game.

 

I am currently not running any Docking port mods (Like Capt Kippard's Universal Docking ports,)   But I do have several other mods that have added their own Docking ports (FASA, Cygnus  etc.) 

 

 

[Shadowmage]

1 hour ago, Pappystein said:

FOLLOW UP all with previous release:   I did a lot of further testing last night and today (early AM.)  I launched TWO DOS 6 way (Large) Hubs connected by a probe core and some Mono tanks with RCS.   un-docked the Tug that put them in final orbit and could not dock to ANY port after un-docking.   So I scrubbed my launch and launched the same rocket with only 1 6 way DOS large hub.   Docking worked fine.    Launching a DOS with the Type 3 bottom node (5 way Hub) with 4 SQUAD BZ-52's used as attachment points for Docking ports still left me with locked docks.   Bottom port would un-dock ONCE but none of the 4 side ports I put on individually (Symmetry 1x) would un-dock and the bottom port was locked after the first undock.  

My game crashed out when I was trying to dock onto a NON SSTU tank with a surface attached SC-GEN-DP-1P.  I plan on launching another mission today trying that before downloading the latest update (after RL stuff is done for the day.)   

THEORY: I have never had great luck with multi-use parts working *WELL* in game.   Could the Parachute modules or other features of the docking ports be causing some of this?   The Rename feature?

Now the questions to everyone else.   Are any of you having issues with Docking ports locking?      I DO run a TON of mods and I am not running an SSTU + requirements exclusive game.

 

I am currently not running any Docking port mods (Like Capt Kippard's Universal Docking ports,)   But I do have several other mods that have added their own Docking ports (FASA, Cygnus  etc.) 

 

 

I tried investigating this yesterday and could not duplicate the problems you are having; the docking ports worked fine regardless of what port was used, where it was placed, or how it was attached.

 

In order for me to have any chance at finding/fixing this problem I will need to know -exactly- how to duplicate the problem on a stock+SSTU+dependencies only install.  An example craft (or two in the case of docking) using only stock+SSTU parts, and a list of the exact steps needed to trigger the problem with those craft.  (if the craft are simple enough that screenshots will suffice, those will do as well; either way I still need to know the exact steps that trigger the problem)

Without that information the best I can do is guess... and I would -guess- there is some other mod interfering with things... but cannot know for certain without being able to duplicate the problem.

 

Also note if you are using HyperEdit for testing of docking port related functionality -- STOP NOW.  HyperEdit causes all sorts of docking related problems.

 

Edit: No, the parachutes nor rename function will have any impact on docking.  They are handled through separate modules with zero cross-module interaction.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Shadowmage

[Pappystein]

1 hour ago, Shadowmage said:

I tried investigating this yesterday and could not duplicate the problems you are having; the docking ports worked fine regardless of what port was used, where it was placed, or how it was attached.

 

 

Sorry for the work then.  I had hoped that someone else was having problems, hence posting.   I am downloading the latest update and have cleaned out MOST of the mods I have in my build.

I WAS using CKAN for the first time ever with this iteration of the game.   I found a bunch of crap that was never deleted by CKAN out of my GameData folder.   It is all gone.  I went down from 57 mods to 9 not counting SSTU.  I will post after further testing.   If it is any of these mods it should show up quickly in sandbox.