[1.2 - 1.4] Lithobrake Exploration Technologies 0.4 (2016-10-12)

[NecroBones]

Lithobrake Exploration Technologies

A parts pack that is focused on exploring other worlds, and returning safely to Kerbin. The emphasis is on surface exploration, particularly with large rockets and large landers.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• This is still considered a "work in progress" and "wide alpha", meaning that ship-breaking changes can still happen. I'll try to minimize this, of course. The highest likelihood of this happening is in removing or redesigning parts, in a way that makes your vehicle either not function as originally planned, or the vehicle can be "deleted" if the part is missing or unloadable.
• The pods don't currently have custom IVAs. This will come later.

 

This pack includes: (as of 0.2)

• 3-Man Lander Can
• 4-Man Capsule
• Several sets of large landing legs (the "medium" set will handle Mainsails, and the "large" works with Mammoths).
• Large radial and stackable parachutes
• Long static ladders
• Very long deployable ladders
• Service bays / rover garages.

Part of the NecroBones suite of mods, that work nicely together:

• Modular Rocket Systems (stock-alike parts pack, NASA-like alternatives, and filling the gaps)
• SpaceY Heavy Lifters Parts Pack (stock-balanced large rocket parts, 5m parts, large SRBs)
• Color Coded Canisters (replacement models/textures for stock fuel tanks: prettier, cleaner, and diameter color-coding for the tank end-caps)
• Fuel Tanks Plus (collection of large stock-like tanks with Color Coded Canister style)
• ColorFuel Lines (color-selctable fuel lines)
• Lithobrake Exploration Technologies (lander parts, large chutes/legs/ladders/etc)

Images:

 

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ksp.necrobones.com

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Change History:

0.4 (2016-10-12) - KSP 1.2 Update.
 - Updated categories for many parts.
 - Added KSP 1.2 sound effects and additional variables for landing legs.
 - Added transmitter modules to command pods.

0.3.6 (2016-07-12) - Tweaks.
 - Added an optional experimental config for RealChute integration (for the radial chute only). 
    - To enable, rename "GameData/LETech/Patches/LETech_RealChute.txt" to have "cfg" instead of "txt".
 - Removed references to "drogue" in the parachute tags.
 - Added parachute deployment sound effects, as per KSP 1.1.3.

0.3.5 (2016-04-22) - Transparency fix.
 - Fixed the "always transparent" problem for bays in the VAB.
 - Adjusted the "expanded" 2.5m bay to use transparency only on the doors.

0.3.4 (2016-04-17) - Tweaks.
 - Tweaked leg settings.
 - Moved leg wheel colliders to allow for more accurate aerodynamic occlusion.
 - Legs reduced in mass quite a bit.

0.3.3 (2016-04-01) - KSP 1.1 Hotfix
 - Landing leg suspension systems working again. Known issue: Feet float slightly.
 - Added search tags to parts.

0.3.2 (2016-03-29) - KSP 1.1 Hotfix
 - Landing legs updated to not be 100% deadly. Suspension still doesn't work, legs are rigid for now.
 - Moved MM configs to "Patches" folder.

0.3.1 (2016-01-11) - Tweaks.
 - X3 lander can mass increased.
 - Mass, fuel capacity, and cost increased for the "large" variant of the lander cargo bay.

0.3 (2015-11-11) - KSP 1.0.5 update.
 - Switched the 4-man capsule's "generic" IVA over to use the Mk3 shuttle's IVA instead, so that all 4 Kerbals are EVA/IVA selectable.
 - Moved "CHANGELOG" to the mod's directory.
 - Updated bays to use current cargo bay thermal stats and allow door deployment limit.
 - Parachutes now use new contract constraints.
 - Command pods use new maxTemp and skinMaxTemp values.
 - 4-man capsule uses new buoyancy settings.

0.2.1 (2015-08-05) - Alpha fixes.
 - Fixed a texture problem that resulted in the 1m and 2m fixed ladders not loading textures.
 - Fixed a scaling error with the "large" octagonal bay's doors, causing it to leave gaps when closed.
 - Radial parachute's storage case reduced in size by 15%.
 - Increased deployed-drag multiplier on all parachutes.
 - Added Connected Living Space support.
 - Added TweakScale support.

0.2 (2015-08-03) - Wide Alpha
 - Added 3 large parachutes: 1.25m & 2.5m stackable nose cones, and a large radial chute.
 - Added 4-man, 2.5m capsule-style command pod.
 - Added landing lights to the landing legs.
 - Fixed a collider issue with the Expanded 2.5m service bay that prevented use of the floor's attachment node.

0.1 (2015-07-08) - Initial Alpha
 - First release. 

 

Media:

Kottabos review of version 0.2:

 

 

Edited March 12, 2018 by NecroBones

[rasta013]

OH NICE! Been following along the dev thread on this one so I'm glad to see you go to release with it! Great job as always and is getting added right now to go along side MRS and SpaceY!

[MoeKitsune]

Another insta-download.

[Nori]

Looks awesome. And can I just say thanks for not making your landing can insanely overweight like the stock one is! 2t for 3 people sound perfect.

[cantab]

Holy Moly. Now those are landing legs

[damerell]

A new NecroBones parts mod? You are the wind beneath my wings. :-)

[NecroBones]

Thanks everyone! I'm glad you're as excited as I am. There's still more to do in this mod, but it finally had enough of a selection to get the "core" parts of it going.

One of the big incentives to make this was seeing people's Eve landers built around the large airplane landing gear, since none of the legs were long enough for the bigger engines. But as always, there is room for part-count reduction (bigger parachutes), and of course we needed ladders long enough to reach down alongside those legs. So why not also make more lander parts? And it just went from there.

[Vahal]

Do you plan to import some parts of MRS pack like the long landing gears? Those are VERY, VERY nice. I like them especially cause they give a nice wide (as hell) base to your craft so you can safely land even on slope, something that usually isn't that simple and they are at the limit to land a Rhino engine even easily with some little tweaks. the very big landing legs well, they are big wich is nice but they weight so much (I know mass comes along with size but when I saw 2.5t for the biggest I fell of my chair )

An idea I had when looked at the octogonal can and octogonal bay... Octogonal fuel tank (perhaps for Fuel Tank Plus?) to fit with the rest of the parts design (no mention the help to symetry)

[ev0]

That 4 crew capacity command pod and 3 crew lander can are looking pretty awesome! Can't wait for custom IVAs!

[NecroBones]

Do you plan to import some parts of MRS pack like the long landing gears? Those are VERY, VERY nice. I like them especially cause they give a nice wide (as hell) base to your craft so you can safely land even on slope, something that usually isn't that simple and they are at the limit to land a Rhino engine even easily with some little tweaks. the very big landing legs well, they are big wich is nice but they weight so much (I know mass comes along with size but when I saw 2.5t for the biggest I fell of my chair )

Yeah, I'll make something in between the current legs, and the larger stock legs, so it'll probably be similar to the long legs in MRS. I may wait for the Unity 5 update though, since that will probably break landing legs altogether, and the modding community is going to have to scramble to catch up.

But yeah, I made those big legs pretty heavy since they're huge, and quite strong. I can always play with the mass in future updates. But for now I wanted them to be extremely non-cheaty.

[NecroBones]

FYI, Kottabos reviewed version 0.2:

Awesome.

Of course I'm already spotting some things in the video that I think need tweaking. No mod is ever really finished. There's always something to fix! Especially this early on in its development.

[NecroBones]

I found the texture problem with the shorter fixed-ladders. The next update will have this fixed, instead of showing up white.

[l_d_johnson]

Very interested in this mod after viewing Kottabos' vid this morning myself. What of his suggestion for loading ramps added to the rover garages? Personally, I think that'd be an almost necessary addition.

[l_d_johnson]

Also, CKAN support anytime soon? (I know it just launched, but it never hurts to ask these things).

[Red Iron Crown]

Also, CKAN support anytime soon? (I know it just launched, but it never hurts to ask these things).

Such questions belong in the CKAN thread.

[NecroBones]

Very interested in this mod after viewing Kottabos' vid this morning myself. What of his suggestion for loading ramps added to the rover garages? Personally, I think that'd be an almost necessary addition.

Some ideas were discussed in the previous thread. I think the most promising idea is to design it like a landing leg, so that it telescopes with some spring to it. I just haven't had a chance to experiment with it yet. But yes, I still have that in mind.

Also, CKAN support anytime soon? (I know it just launched, but it never hurts to ask these things).

That's up to CKAN. On KerbalStuff, there's a checkbox for automatically submitting to CKAN, but it's a manual process on the CKAN side I think.

[E.Nygma]

Hi Necrobones,

Congrats to the release! Regarding ramps for the rover bays: Maybe you could take a look at the Mark IV Spaceplane parts, there is an extending ramp in it...

Cheers

[NecroBones]

Congrats to the release! Regarding ramps for the rover bays: Maybe you could take a look at the Mark IV Spaceplane parts, there is an extending ramp in it...

Yep, that one looks like it's a simple animated part. I can certainly do that, it's just that it's hard to guess a good deployment height that will work well for most people. Which is why the springy landing-leg telescoping idea came to mind. Telescoping pistons are how the existing suspension systems work, otherwise you have a static animation that can lift the lander off the ground.

[E.Nygma]

Ah, I see, that would be quite an achievement if you could get it to work!

[More Boosters]

I'm a little spooked by the save-breaking possibility... Anybody had it happen yet?

[cantab]

On landing leg mass, I think a good reference from a gameplay standpoint would be the mass needed to do the same thing with girders or i-beams. If the landing legs are significantly heavier than that then they become suboptimal to use at all.

[Starbuckminsterfullerton]

Congratulations on a release Bones! Do you still have any plans for ramps or the like for the rover bay? I know that was something you were trying to figure out.

[eddiew]

I'm a little spooked by the save-breaking possibility... Anybody had it happen yet?

I would take a guess that Necro means 'ship breaking' if he decides to take away a part, or even just give it a new identifier in the code. Can't figure out any reason why a parts pack would kill an entire save...?

That aside, interesting mod indeed - I have oft felt disappointed at my options for multi-kerbal landers, what with the 3-man orbiter pod being excessively heavy. Hopefully this pack will give some more variety ^^

[juanml82]

I don't know if part ideas/requests are desired, but something I miss in the game, but it's probably not worth starting until the game is ported to Unity 5, are retractable rover wheels.

Rovers are supposed to be low and wide - the opposite of the tall and slim aerodynamic shape of the rockets designed to put them in orbit. So, trying to store a rover that isn't a miniature in a cargo bay results with the wheels protruding through the cargo bay because a stable rover is supposed to be wider than a cargo bay. As a result, deploying rovers is a challenge. The ability to retract wheels, like the landing gear and landing legs do, however, would make rovers easy to store.

Also, square fuel tanks or structural parts, so it doesn't feel weird to put wheels on cylindrical tanks when making a rover that doubles as a lander.

[l_d_johnson]

Such questions belong in the CKAN thread.

My apologies, sir. Still new here, learning the ropes as it were. Guess I better read through the rules, lest my noob ass gets banned, eh?

Edited August 5, 2015 by l_d_johnson