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

[Pappystein]

3 hours ago, StickyScissors said:

...i still stuck at gliding, as is demonstrated by my ocean ditch due to overshooting KSC, and i'm...mild at controlling this thing, it likes to roll side to side violently because SAS over corrects :/

 

The Real space shuttle had a split rudder that acted like an airbrake.

Put 4 A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S on the sides of the engine....   Viola!  just like the real shuttle..... Sorta

Then your only worry is UNDERSHOOTING....   Mountains OUCH!

[tater]

And S turns...

[Duski]

Hey all,

Finally got this mod after eyeing it off for a while and what a great job you've done with it! Just a question, with the lander core descent fuel tank, what happened to the integrated landing gear as shown in the demonstration? I did hear some parts of the mod got broken so is that the case? or have they been removed?

Thanks for this mod. Looks like the real things while kinda looking stock-alike in my eye.  

[RedParadize]

I have a bug to report I would like to report but since I have a quite heavily modified built I would like if someone else confirm it first. 

Its quite easy to reproduce. Take a inflatable part and change top or bottom shape. On my part maximum amount of resource is divided each time I change the shape. But only if the inflatable is deflated.

incidentally, on my custom part, even if I there is no changable shape the resource drop to zero under unknown circonstance.

My first guess would be that module SSTUInflatable does not store deflationMult properly.

[blowfish]

Hey Shadowmage, is there a reason you don't include the project files with the code?  I've been contemplating what it would take to add a couple of smallish features but getting the project set up is a bit of a barrier.

Edited September 4, 2016 by blowfish

[Sudragon]

56 minutes ago, Duski said:

Hey all,

Finally got this mod after eyeing it off for a while and what a great job you've done with it! Just a question, with the lander core descent fuel tank, what happened to the integrated landing gear as shown in the demonstration? I did hear some parts of the mod got broken so is that the case? or have they been removed?

Thanks for this mod. Looks like the real things while kinda looking stock-alike in my eye.  

They were lost in the Great Upgrade to Unity 5. It's a case of 'don't mention the war...'

[Duski]

7 minutes ago, Sudragon said:

They were lost in the Great Upgrade to Unity 5. It's a case of 'don't mention the war...'

Damn. Ah well, it's still a great mod.

[AlimOncul]

18 hours ago, Shadowmage said:

SSTU modular parts and engines are incompatible with KR&D; or rather KR&D screws up most of the SSTU parts by manipulating things that it shouldn't.

You will need to drop one or the other of those mods.

Thanks! I drop KR&D then

[falken]

Has anyone got any good SRB thrust curves to try? I need to set up one that tapers off at 200kn of thrust for a few seconds.

Edit: Actually, is there a file somewhere that allows me to make new thrust curves that will stay forever?

Edit2: NVM, found it! /SSTU/Data/Thrustcurves

Edited September 4, 2016 by falken

[AlimOncul]

My first working SSTU rocket carrying 4 sample landers to duna

Sorry about little rocket i zoomed out too much i think

http://imgur.com/a/NXFte

[RedParadize]

@AlimOncul Welcome to SSTU, be carefull its adictive. Soon there will be no more stock decoupler and adaptor on your picture!

[Duski]

Well after learning a few complications and what some things do in this mod, I managed to do my first mission. Starring Orion.

Orion's Mission

By the way, what engines do people recommend for the lander core landers?

Edited September 5, 2016 by Duski

[Shadowmage]

Updated testing release is available:

https://github.com/shadowmage45/SSTULabs/releases/tag/0.5.32.124

Adds initial texturing for DOS modules (still WIP) and adapters, updates HUB-DOS to its proper model setup, and several other minor bugfixes and enhancements.  See the link for downloads and full change-log.

 

[Shadowmage]

12 hours ago, AlimOncul said:

Thanks! I drop KR&D then

Sorry they are incompatible, I really like the concept behind KR&D.

Perhaps in the future after the mod is in less of a 'dev'/ pre-release state I can work with the KR&D authors to get some compatibility in place.

 

13 hours ago, blowfish said:

Hey Shadowmage, is there a reason you don't include the project files with the code?  I've been contemplating what it would take to add a couple of smallish features but getting the project set up is a bit of a barrier.

Have sent you an invite to the real dev repository, the contains all the project setup files, modeling files, etc.  Caution...its huge.   I don't include the project files in the distribution repository as they rely on the KSP .dll files which I can't distribute.

 

13 hours ago, RedParadize said:

I have a bug to report I would like to report but since I have a quite heavily modified built I would like if someone else confirm it first. 

Its quite easy to reproduce. Take a inflatable part and change top or bottom shape. On my part maximum amount of resource is divided each time I change the shape. But only if the inflatable is deflated.

incidentally, on my custom part, even if I there is no changable shape the resource drop to zero under unknown circonstance.

My first guess would be that module SSTUInflatable does not store deflationMult properly.

First part is fixed in todays release (reducing resources when changing end caps).

For the second part (your custom part) -- I would need to know more / see the part config to know what is going on.

 

19 hours ago, RedParadize said:

You are absolutely right. It would have to be folded instand of deflated. I think it would be techinicly possible with SSTU-HAB-D. But in all honesty I would like to know that to get a non-SSTU land based inflatable to work with SSTU pluggin and it kinda need to be deflatable. Its not realy something Shadowmage should be concerned with but if its possible with the current code it would make my life easyer. 

So far it works just great btw... Was realy easy to convert to SSTU. One day I might have all my part SSTU powered!

Have added a config for the SSTUInflatable module for 'canDeflate'.  Is a true/false value, defaulting to false.  Currently it does not return any resources from deflation (may change/make that configurable in the future).

Example usage in a patch:

@PART[partNameHere]
{
  @MODULE[SSTUInflatable]
  {
    %canDeflate = true
  }
}

 

 

22 hours ago, tater said:

If you wanted to make your own spaceplane add-on, seems like you could have them stretch by segments, right? The stretches are discrete, so 1xmk2 hull, 2xmk2 hull, 3xmk2 hull, and so forth, right?

You can already make an MFT-style tank out of the stock spaceplane/mk2 parts and adapters.  It could then include adapter switching, scaling, and fuel switching.  You could even pre-weld multiple segments of tanks together to make super-long single-part tank options.  The body-lift wouldn't scale with the tank diameter or lengths, as that is something that would need to be coded into the plugin/partmodule.

I, however, have no current interest in doing spaceplane or other aero related parts.  Fairly good procedural wing mods already exist, the stock mk2/3 tanks can already be MFT-ized if someone really wanted, and I'm really not that interested in designing or using spaceplanes.  This may change in the future, but do not see it happening anytime soon.

[RedParadize]

Thank you so much! 

Spoiler

Out of curiosity, how many part?

@Duski Depend where you want to land! 

 

Edited September 4, 2016 by RedParadize

[blowfish]

1 hour ago, Shadowmage said:

Have sent you an invite to the real dev repository, the contains all the project setup files, modeling files, etc.  Caution...its huge.   I don't include the project files in the distribution repository as they rely on the KSP .dll files which I can't distribute.

Thanks!  That's a good place to start.

I think most mods get around that issue by just not including the DLLs in the repository and relying on each contributor to set up their dev environment correctly locally.  But there are definitely other philosophies (ask me about my sketchy CI setup for B9PartSwitch some time  )

[Pappystein]

I would like to report that the latest release has fixed all my Docking port woes!  

Thanks @Shadowmage!!!!

 

30 consecutive successful dockings and un-dockings.    Now it is time to relaunch my career!

 

[tater]

2 hours ago, RedParadize said:

Out of curiosity, how many part?

This seems like one of those "guess the number of jelly beans in the jar" things (or a better one my son's friend's mom did for a birthday part, guess the number of legos in the jar, and you get to keep the jar (she was clearing out some legos)... I'm guessing under 30.

[Duski]

6 hours ago, RedParadize said:

Thank you so much! 

  Reveal hidden contents

Out of curiosity, how many part?

@Duski Depend where you want to land! 

 

Well I got it all sorted with what engine to use, just going to see if it even works.  

[tater]

Career contract fulfillment observation: The station parts don't seem to count in terms of power generation, docking ports, or antennae... but I am unsure of which. I suppose I can test a station to orbit with a stock solar panel, and if that works it's the solar, if not try adding an antenna, etc.

[pheenix99]

Where is the config file for this part? I'd like to meddle with it a little bit but can't seem to find it

[Shadowmage]

17 hours ago, RedParadize said:

Thank you so much! 

  Reveal hidden contents

Out of curiosity, how many part?

 

44 parts; 6 being the 'mast', 7 on the shuttle, and a few more for the other spacecraft.  The core station by itself is ~30 parts.

 

15 minutes ago, tater said:

Career contract fulfillment observation: The station parts don't seem to count in terms of power generation, docking ports, or antennae... but I am unsure of which. I suppose I can test a station to orbit with a stock solar panel, and if that works it's the solar, if not try adding an antenna, etc.

I think you'll find it is the solar panels that don't count.  Stock contract code is hard-coded to look for the stock solar panel module.  A potential workaround might be to put a fuel cell on those parts as well (and not entirely unrealistic; having a backup fuel-cell for emergencies seems plausible).

 

2 minutes ago, pheenix99 said:

Where is the config file for this part? I'd like to meddle with it a little bit but can't seem to find it

 

GameData/SSTU/Parts/StationCore/ST-DOS/ST-DOS-BCDEF.cfg  &  .../.../ModelData-ST-DOS.cfg

It is currently made through a patch file for rapid development purposes; in the near future each part will be getting its own distinct config file for clarity/consistency.

Warning: that part is not 'finished' yet and will still be seeing a few more updates to its config and balancing (mass, cost, crew capacity, resources, solar generation).

 

 

This next week will likely consist of more texturing on the DOS parts and adapters, texturing the COS parts + adapters (already mostly done), and more work on the remaining solar panels.

Someone had PM'd me a feature request regarding swappable solar panels on the DOS (and other ST) modules, and I had already been contemplating it quite a bit myself.  Seems like it might be a worthwhile addition to the functionality of the parts, though could be a bit of a nightmare from a coding perspective (depending mostly on if a 'no panels' option is allowed or not).

Is there any other interest in this feature?  Would it be something that would be useful on the rest of the station parts?

[pheenix99]

1 minute ago, Shadowmage said:

 

GameData/SSTU/Parts/StationCore/ST-DOS/ST-DOS-BCDEF.cfg  &  .../.../ModelData-ST-DOS.cfg

It is currently made through a patch file for rapid development purposes; in the near future each part will be getting its own distinct config file for clarity/consistency.

Warning: that part is not 'finished' yet and will still be seeing a few more updates to its config and balancing (mass, cost, crew capacity, resources, solar generation).

 

 

This next week will likely consist of more texturing on the DOS parts and adapters, texturing the COS parts + adapters (already mostly done), and more work on the remaining solar panels.

Someone had PM'd me a feature request regarding swappable solar panels on the DOS (and other ST) modules, and I had already been contemplating it quite a bit myself.  Seems like it might be a worthwhile addition to the functionality of the parts, though could be a bit of a nightmare from a coding perspective (depending mostly on if a 'no panels' option is allowed or not).

Is there any other interest in this feature?  Would it be something that would be useful on the rest of the station parts?

Some of the unfinished/semi-textured parts have me both drooling and frustrated that I can't fully utilize them yet. I'm not complaining, just exceptionally anxious to explore a new type of station design. Guess I'll wait before building my SSTU Station.

[tater]

Textures:

1. Does anyone actually use the "stock" looking textures? I'm soooo past caring about stock parts, literally the only part I have used was the mk1 pod in the latest SSTU career, and I used it with the metal tank texture for a sort of Atlas look (vs Redstone). I'm thinking of just axing those textures (which I know is trivial to do), but your other stuff is so much nicer, at some point that trims a little off the size.

2. Fairing textures---They are anti-aliased along the edges, whereas the stripes on the tank textures are clean edges.

3. I'm liking the beige  .

Solar Panels:

I can certainly see the utility in altering the panels, I guess, but I tend to see the value in no panels, vs panels (for use in spacecraft vs stations).

Edited September 5, 2016 by tater

[RedParadize]

Alterning/desactivating solar panel would be nice not a must have. Unless you introduce more of those two rotation axis panels. I love them. Thinking about it, it would be nice to be eable to scale down the ST-MST-ISS a bit. The structure is proportionaly too big for the rest of station part I think. You can put that at the bottom of the already long nice to have list if you wish.