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

[Jimbodiah]

re docking ports: I have never used docking ports on the Gemini, mkI or Mercury pods, as by the time I get to making stations, I have the Apollo unlocked already. Did gemini every have a port that allowed crew to go through, or was the agena test the only reason for the port on that craft? Would an integrated port be desirable is what I am getting at, or could people just slap on the small port if they needed one? Give it a black texture option and it would even look cool on the black mercury.

[blowfish]

@Jimbodiah the Gemini's port was not passable, just structural to attach the Agena.  I don't think the missions that weren't intended to dock even had a docking port.

For MOL, they would have had a hatch in the hearshield to get into the station part.  I think the lunar Gemini proposals involved astronauts EVAing to get on the lander.

[Plecy75]

i'm having problems inflating my space station modules, as i can't find any parts in my game which include RocketParts. is there a dependency somewhere?

[Nightside]

14 minutes ago, Plecy75 said:

i'm having problems inflating my space station modules, as i can't find any parts in my game which include RocketParts. is there a dependency somewhere?

Do you have Community Resource Pants Pack installed?

Edited July 14, 2017 by Nightside
Autocorrect corrected

[blowfish]

25 minutes ago, Plecy75 said:

i'm having problems inflating my space station modules, as i can't find any parts in my game which include RocketParts. is there a dependency somewhere?

It's an option on the SSTU tanks

[Plecy75]

11 minutes ago, Nightside said:

Do you have Community Resource Pants Pack installed?

the folder is in there, but i'm not sure if that's just from mods that use parts of it

 

Just now, blowfish said:

It's an option on the SSTU tanks

i'm not seeing it

another thing, are there RO/RSS configs for this mod anywhere?

[Plecy75]

is it because i have realfuels installed? i just realized that it may not be showing up in the UI

[CatastrophicFailure]

1 hour ago, blowfish said:

For MOL, they would have had a hatch in the hearshield to get into the station part.  I think the lunar Gemini proposals involved astronauts EVAing to get on the lander.

They also seriously explored the idea of putting a big hinge just below the capsule, then pivoting the whole thing around so the existing hatches were next to the station hatch and connecting the whole mess with an inflatable airlock. 

 

er... wait, that was Mercury...  

Edited July 14, 2017 by CatastrophicFailure

[Nightside]

@blowfish, I thought so but I don't have such an install at the moment. Maybe it was in RP-0?

28 minutes ago, Plecy75 said:

is it because i have realfuels installed? i just realized that it may not be showing up in the UI

Real fuels will most likely overwrite the SSTU resource switching, but it should have its own way of carrying additional resources. 

[blowfish]

Some of the SSTU parts have configs in RO but not all and they're not 100% functional.  Unless you're only using engines, I would advise only using SSTU and RO together if you know what you're doing and know how to debug issues that may arise.

[Shadowmage]

12 hours ago, Plecy75 said:

is it because i have realfuels installed? i just realized that it may not be showing up in the UI

Yep, that would cause problems.  When RealFuels / RO is in use, you are kind of on your own.  I don't use or offer support for either (except for trying to make sure that things still 'work' at a plugin level).

[ComatoseJedi]

Not to cause any undue stress or to be stoned by the users of this awesome mod. Might I recommend, if not already considered on the GitHub, to get the Lander Core worked on before moving on to pouring countless hours into the proposed candy I've been reading here recently. The lander core as of now is an unpolished diamond in the rough. I did read where there was love going to be spread on these parts, but nothing more about it. 

I do not want to tell @Shadowmage how to spend his time on his mod. Nor steer anything in my direction. Just spread the love. Just my two cents. Mr. Worf, raise the shields and arm the photon torpedoes. Set phasers to full spread and target life support.

[Akira_R]

I would love to see some procedural adapter parts, or have procedural adapters integrated with the proc tanks instead of the current ones!!!

[Shadowmage]

2 hours ago, ComatoseJedi said:

Might I recommend, if not already considered on the GitHub, to get the Lander Core worked on before moving on to pouring countless hours into the proposed candy I've been reading here recently.

The LC rework is already scheduled for sometime later this fall/winter when my work and home life are a bit slower.  It will be a much more massive undertaking than the current WIP stuff, which is why it has been on hold for so long.  It will also need some of the pods and other bits that are WIP to be finished as those pods will form the CM for some of the lander variants.  Even if I were to start on it -right now-, you still wouldn't see anything useful out of it until winter/spring, as there is quite a bit of stuff that needs to be done first (e.g. the stuff I'm already working on).

So basically, yeah, that is already the plan.  It is just a bit more long term and complicated of a plan than it would seem from a quick glance.

 

The LC rework will include:

• New fuel tanks and cargo containers.  At least octagonal, possibly with a second squashed octagonal form factor.  These will be a new MFT variant.  All new geometry and textures (and recoloring support) when compared to the existing LC fuel tanks.  Hollow variants will be made available for the multi-stage lander setups.
• New LC-POD models and textures.  The existing stuff works, but is a bit... simplistic and industrial looking.  I can do better on the textures at the very least.
• At least one, possibly two, horizontal lander part series.
  • Landing Module -- deployable engines w/ integrated landing legs and RCS thrusters.
  • Cargo bays, both skeletal and full-enclosure.
  • Service modules that counter-balance the CM's, for easy COG/COT/COM balancing on horizontal designs.  SM's may have variants with different engines and fuels (LFO, hypergolic, hydrolox, LH2-nuke).
  • Crew modules, at least two lengths for each form-factor.
  • ? Aeroshells ? -- big maybe on this one, still some major problems to solve before they could become a reality (engine exhaust holes in a procedural mesh..., or how to combine non-procedural meshes in a usable and easy to construct manner)

[tater]

Don't forget to chuck one of the current LC landing windows onto a cos part

[Shadowmage]

Re:  The Gemini pod sizing/scaling:

Left = 1.40625m CM / 1.875m SM
Center = 1.5m CM / 2.0m SM
Right = 1.875m CM / 2.5m SM

It looks like the only way I can put a standard docking port on the 1.5m/2m variant (center), is if I make the top conic portion a separate part.  I believe that bit was, in reality, the RV and docking section of Gemini, and jettisoned prior to re-entry.  So your options would be like in Jimbodiah's pics above (with the docking port mounted on top of the cylindrical portion of the CM), or to use the tapered Gemini RV module for the 'replica' look (a non-functioning structural part; I might add a docking transform so it could be used as a docking port, but would not be configuring it like that in SSTU).

 

[Jimbodiah]

You mean an invisible docking port?

[tater]

Real Gemini docking was not a pass through, anyway. 

[Jimbodiah]

Are you kidding me... the COS is fully colorable as well???

Spoiler

Now all we need is colorable docking ports     DOoooh, the christmas tree stations I can make with this stuff...



OMG. Stealth stations and landers!!!  Now I will never go to bed in time... gotta try some more stuff.

Spoiler

 

Edited July 15, 2017 by Jimbodiah

[Rodger]

The USI patch to convert rocket parts to material kits for inflatable deployment doesn't seem to be working.

This section, from the USI-MFT-AddResources in the SSTU-OptionalPatches folder:

Spoiler

@PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE[SSTUInflatable]]:AFTER[SSTU]
{
    @resourceName = MaterialKits
    @inflationCost *= 1.33333
}

Don't think it's relevant, but I've made my own part trimming patch for SSTU (for most of ship core), and I've put the USI-MFT-AddResources patch in a folder I have for my own patches "ZRodgertweeks"... So no idea why it wouldn't be working.

Log: https://www.dropbox.com/s/clq8hxlf7v14fh4/KSP.log.zip?dl=0

[Jimbodiah]

Why would you want to make those into MK? The MFT tanks can hold RP.

Edited July 16, 2017 by Jimbodiah

[jdub3350]

On 7/14/2017 at 8:38 PM, Jimbodiah said:

Are you kidding me... the COS is fully colorable as well???

  Reveal hidden contents

Now all we need is colorable docking ports     DOoooh, the christmas tree stations I can make with this stuff...



OMG. Stealth stations and landers!!!  Now I will never go to bed in time... gotta try some more stuff.

  Hide contents

 

What mod are those legs from?  They are purdy. 

[Jimbodiah]

Kerbodyne Plus; old version, but it works in 1.3

I'll add a rescaling patch to my pack in a few minutes (check the link in my signature).

NB: Hey, it's got an SSTU part in the picture, so it's not off-topic ;)))

 

Edited July 16, 2017 by Jimbodiah

[Shadowmage]

Updated release is available:

https://github.com/shadowmage45/SSTULabs/releases/tag/0.6.36.137

Lots of fixes, few new/updated parts.  Be mindful of the changes to some of the part-upgrades, as they may have unintended consequences in ongoing career games.  See the link for full change-log and downloads.

[GoldForest]

@Shadowmage Is that the TKS return capsule?

Does this mean Proton is in the works to come to SSTUL?