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

[Shadowmage]

Speaking of LC-POD's and PBR shader setups...

Works, but needs some adjustment to the specular maps for best effect.

[Russekof71]

Non sort la la nouvelle version maintenant!

[Jimbodiah]

Are you bugging Mage about a new release in froggystanian?

Edited May 9, 2018 by Jimbodiah

[Shadowmage]

Slightly updated PBR version of LC-POD textures (capped from Unity Editor):

This update, and many others, will be available in the upcoming releases.

 

In general development news:

Much progress last night on attach node handling for modular parts, allowing for proper setup and positioning of the attach nodes for the MCB cargo bay parts; can finally move those to the 'working' list.  Model-positioning for ISDC engines has also been implemented, and the ISDC will now be eligible for inclusion of alternate engine models and engine layouts.  The work on model-positioning functions will also carry over to the ModularPart RCS and solar panel options, so it was effort well spent.

Rapidly closing in on having all of the necessary features implemented and working.  At this point the large majority of the work left to do is config work, with most of that being cleaning up and updating the model definitions and part configs.  The systems at play need a ton more information regarding the models in order to accommodate the new features, and all of this information needs to be specified somewhere.  So, updating of config files it is....

[devikwolf]

Great news! Thanks again for all of your continued hard work @Shadowmage

Edited May 10, 2018 by devikwolf

[tater]

Nice.

Regarding legacy shaders...I likely wouldn't notice them gone, I sort of take what I'm given, then mess with it from there. The old LC stuff certainly looks out of place now with the old, matte gray.

Edited May 10, 2018 by tater

[Jimbodiah]

7 hours ago, tater said:

Nice.

Regarding legacy shaders...I likely wouldn't notice them gone, I sort of take what I'm given, then mess with it from there. The old LC stuff certainly looks out of place now with the old, matte gray.

You cna actually run a TU patch to make them shiny like with stock parts :)))  It feels horribly wrong somehow, but it works :)

[Shadowmage]

Don't remember if I ever managed to pull this off in previous versions... but the reworked versions of the MCB (modular cargo bay) parts now include a built in and toggle-able NodeFairing module.  The part by default will also include the AirstreamShield support, to shield contained parts when the fairing is enabled.

And an in-game shot of one of the updated LC-POD parts...

[Akira_R]

@Shadowmage regarding legacy shaders,

While on my gaming rig I don't ever use them I do still keep an install on my potato of a laptop for when I am travelling, SSTU really helps ease the burden on it's poor slow i3 with the lower part counts. I worry that it would not handle the PBR shaders very well since it lacks a discrete GPU.

[Shadowmage]

Tons of work over the weekend on.. well, lots of things.  Fairing interaction (top/bottom/central), RCS+solar positioning controls, tons and tons of model-definition and texture set cleanup.  MFT-A, MFT-D, MFT-L, and MUS are all now on the 'working' list.  Also managed to track down a mysterious issue with the window textures on some parts where they wouldn't be 'shiny' enough (apparently at >90% smoothness, the reflections of lights turn into points.... due to lights in Unity being singularities apparently).  Yet-more work on attach nodes and adapter validation (occupied attach nodes now taken into account on what adapters are 'valid' selections).

The MUS now uses the same SSTUModularPart as the rest of the MFT tanks.  Still supports all of its previous functions, plus some new ones.  Has a switchable 'variant' to choose between split and common-bulkhead, has the same top, and bottom NodeFairings.  Now includes two separate switchable RCS model controls (nose and mount), as well as model selection for solar panels (still a bit WIP... might not stick).

I think this week will see the conversion and updating of the StationCore parts to use the new ModularPart system.  These should function very much like they did before... really not much/any differences should be coming to them.  Possibly additional options for a few adapter slots, but the core functionality should remain unchanged.

If all goes well this week I might be ready for some pre-release/dev-release testing soon after.

 

[Sudragon]

On 5/14/2018 at 6:35 AM, Shadowmage said:

 

.

That's some riveting detail work there...

[Jimbodiah]

You hit the nail on the head!

[Shadowmage]

Conversion work on the ST-DOS parts is progressing nicely, should have them and the COS parts wrapped up today.  I even managed to work the 'integrated' RCS to use the RCS-model slots, which would potentially allow for switchable/configurable rcs models (currently only a single model is available, but it is an option that can easily be added in the future).  In theory these parts could even include CORE model switching and scaling.... entirely supported by the plugin (and should make conversion for RSS/rescaling a fairly simple affair).  I'm considering on adding built-in top/bottom integrated fairings for the DOS modules, though I'm not entirely convinced of the utility of it, as you would still need a separate nose-cone of some sort....

After I finish up the StationCore parts, that really only leaves the MSRB part(s) to finish/rework.  Hoping to get the rest of the ST parts reworked this week, and tackle the MSRB stuff over the weekend.  If all goes perfectly, could have some dev-testing releases as early as next week.  I imagine there will be a couple of weeks worth of testing and bugfixing needed, but we are much closer now to a 1.4 version than we were even a couple of weeks ago.  (Yes, there will be bugs in the new releases, both new and old.  Inevitable given the massive amount of changes to the code and configs)

[Jimbodiah]

I already have core size adjustments on my COS storage containers        But could you use that on the Lab/Hab units and change the crew capacity in the plugin now? That would reduce partcount even further.

RCS would be most welcome though. Not sure on the fairings either as any module I launch is put inside a regular fairing anyway, but that is just the way I play the game.

 

 

[Jimbodiah]

Spoiler

 

[Shadowmage]

3 hours ago, Jimbodiah said:

But could you use that on the Lab/Hab units and change the crew capacity in the plugin now? That would reduce partcount even further.

No, I still do not support changing the diameter of crewed parts.  To many additional problems come with it (mostly related to stock not fully supporting the feature).  Nor does stock allow for dynamic add/removal of the science-lab module.

More it would be intended for minor visual variations on the existing part concepts -- e.g. allowing the DOS-HAB and DOS-LAB to switch between the two very similar models.

3 hours ago, Jimbodiah said:

I already have core size adjustments on my COS storage containers

Sadly I still run into the problems with those parts related to the integrated rails/handguards --  I really want to have  a tank type part that can use those textures, but I'm not going to allow it to have giant-sized handrails when scaled up.  Perhaps in the future if/when I rework the fuel tank models.

[Jimbodiah]

OK. I was more referring to the same diameter but the different lengths (st-core-medium etc).

My cos modules are for the most part 2.5m or 1.25m and two smaller 0.625 units (probecore and sample return unit). The only issue I run into when switching the core lengths is that surface attachments goes really funky (attachway way out from the surface, needing the offset tool to bring them back to the surface. Other than that my handrails all get smaller. The only 3.75m parts I made are actually never used. The 1.25m and 2.5m sizes seems optimal for station parts or anything I tend to use.



Off-topic:  I know WBI has a part that can simulate weight, cq change the mass in-game. Does anyone know any mods that has an electrical load that you can set in-game that does not produce heat?   Would such parts be of any interest with SSTU for testing rockets/stations?

[Iso-Polaris]

I found a rather serious problem with the lastest 1.3.1 compatible SSTU release，

combined with RO，the modular SRB GEM\RSRM\UA cannot work properly

I cannot place them anywhere to my center stage, and they seems to lose their Z-axis (up and down) mesh

[blowfish]

4 minutes ago, Iso-Polaris said:

I found a rather serious problem with the lastest 1.3.1 compatible SSTU release，

combined with RO，the modular SRB GEM\RSRM\UA cannot work properly

I cannot place them anywhere to my center stage, and they seems to lose their Z-axis (up and down) mesh

The Modular SRB RO configs have been broken forever, they're on RO's side.  I don't think anyone's maintaining them at this point.  If you want to use them, the best course of action would be to figure out how to fix them and submit a pull request to RO

[Iso-Polaris]

I'm trying to make SSTU to work with RF so I can play with SSTU in a 10X resclaed system.

The only problem is the engines clusters are way too heavy.

I don't feel like getting RO installed, so I tried to make a simple mass tweak patch like this:

@PART[SSTU*]:HAS[@MODULE[SSTUModularEngineCluster]:FINAL
	{
	@mass *= 0.4
	}

However it shows error on startup and never works.

Can someone help me with this?

[Shadowmage]

1 hour ago, Iso-Polaris said:

However it shows error on startup and never works.

What is the error that is showing up in the log?

(although, likely this is related to RF -- does the mass patch work in the absence of RF)

(I do not support use of RF or RO, so if the problem is related to either, there is not much I can do)

[Jimbodiah]

2 hours ago, Iso-Polaris said:

I'm trying to make SSTU to work with RF so I can play with SSTU in a 10X resclaed system.

The only problem is the engines clusters are way too heavy.

I don't feel like getting RO installed, so I tried to make a simple mass tweak patch like this:

@PART[SSTU*]:HAS[@MODULE[SSTUModularEngineCluster]:FINAL
	{
	@mass *= 0.4
	}

However it shows error on startup and never works.

Can someone help me with this?

If you don't want to use RO (and I don't either), just use my patch. No need messing with weights and rescaling of parts. Not sure why you want RF if you are not using RO though, as SSTU does not support either.

[Starwaster]

16 minutes ago, Jimbodiah said:

If you don't want to use RO (and I don't either), just use my patch. No need messing with weights and rescaling of parts. Not sure why you want RF if you are not using RO though, as SSTU does not support either.

You don't have to use RO in order for RF to be beneficial

In fact RF predates RO by years. It even predates Real Solar System.

But also note that he said he was using a scaled up star system. Isn't that enough of a reason to use RF?

Edited May 17, 2018 by Starwaster

[Jimbodiah]

Yep, I know RF can be used on it's own, by why use realistic fuels when you are not using any other realism mods?

And no, you don't need RF at all to fly RSS or a 10x Kerbol.

[Shadowmage]

For reference -- if RF is the problem, it is not with any of its actual fuel related functions.  The technical issue is (and always has been) with ModuleEngineConfigs;  two entirely separate part-modules, both trying to manipulate part-mass (and thrust, isp, cost...etc).  If you use RF for only the fuel tanks, and don't include or use any of the engine-manipulation modules, there shouldn't be any problems with the engine parts.