Parts mods or UbioWeld? What's your style?

[seanth]

I recently needed to make a longish, complicated truss part with a central beam and three exterior beams for a craft I had in mind. It would have ended up being something like 15 parts to make what I had in mind. To save on part counts, I was going to use Ubioweld to weld it all into one part, but then went looking for a parts pack that had what I wanted, and the hex tress pack was just what I wanted.

It got me thinking: I don't hesitate to install mods that change how the game works, but normally avoid parts packs and try to stick with Squad parts. What's your style?

[Yukon0009]

I'd prefer Welding.

[klesh]

Never tried part welding. Is it hard to do?

[Pecan]

Most mods push my install past memory limits anyway, parts mods aren't even to be considered! Welding, on the other hand, by reducing the part-count makes things work better. When it works.

[Hotblack Desiato]

I usually go with the near future truss segments, which can contain various tanks and so, and one is even hollow for accepting other parts.

then I weld that structure, so it becomes one big tank for everything, probecore and SAS. a hitchhiker turns it even into a manned system with 4 places, and mechjeb adds nice options too.

[Goddess Bhavani]

I would like to try welding as I build craft with excessive amounts of tiny parts and fittings but -

- Is there a welding mod for 1.0.4?

- How does welding parts affect craft sharing? Do I have to zip/email/convey by pony express the welded part cfgs?

[Wintersdark]

I had no idea the welding plugin was updated!

I don't mind parts packs, but I find most include a lot of stuff I don't want for the one part I do. Also, I'm very choosy about balance - many PP's have simply better stuff, and I don't like that either.

I really love the welding plugin, though - or did back in the day - because it just ensured my structure was rigid and kept the part count down without balance shenanigans.

[problemecium]

I usually go with "creative use of stock" but if that fails and I feel like modding, I prefer mod parts. Then at least I get to see and try out some new stuff.

[SAI Peregrinus]

>90% of the mods I use are non-parts.

Procedural Parts (and fairings, and B9 Procedural Wings), and then prune every stock part that gets replaced. That frees up memory for the whole USI catalog, since I have only 1 fuel tank, 1 probe core, etc. There's also no need for welding, since there are far fewer parts in the craft. I add a few aircraft parts mods and prune much of what they add to fill niches stock doesn't (OPT, KAX, QuizTech). After all, I have procedural wings, I don't need 100s of wing parts to get what I want.

[Pixel of Life]

Mods. Always. The welder mod just feels too hacky for my taste. I wish there was a mod for procedural girders so I could easily build long, non-wobbly structures.

[metl]

>90% of the mods I use are non-parts.

Procedural Parts (and fairings, and B9 Procedural Wings), and then prune every stock part that gets replaced. That frees up memory for the whole USI catalog, since I have only 1 fuel tank, 1 probe core, etc. There's also no need for welding, since there are far fewer parts in the craft. I add a few aircraft parts mods and prune much of what they add to fill niches stock doesn't (OPT, KAX, QuizTech). After all, I have procedural wings, I don't need 100s of wing parts to get what I want.

Instead of Procedural Parts, wouldn't TweakScale accomplish the same thing? I hadn't thought about using either to trim the parts back to save memory. Good idea!

[boxman]

Since I prefer to make things from scratch I would go with the welding plugin always.

I like to make unique ships and contraptions, so making it from scratch allows me to be more creative instead of just using prebuilt.

This is why I am dissapointed that the cargobays was released as a full package instead of just individual parts that you yourself can use the way you want.

I would love to have the hinge for doors as a part instead, so I can make my own cargobays instead and that would allow for you to be creative and use these parts for things they were never designed for. A hinge could have so many uses.

I hope we one day get more stock strucutral panels to build with, as there has really been no new individual building parts like that since ages ago. Another thing I have wanted for ages is a way to change panels to be transparent or have some kind of glass parts, as that would allow me to even make my own pods/cockpits.

[SAI Peregrinus]

Instead of Procedural Parts, wouldn't TweakScale accomplish the same thing? I hadn't thought about using either to trim the parts back to save memory. Good idea!

No, because TweakScale scales in all directions simultaneously. So if I want a 2.5m x 10m tank and a 1.25m x 8m tank and I've got TweakScale, I'm stuck with at least 2 parts (one for each length:diameter ratio). And I still need separate jet fuel only tanks. With PP I can set the diameter, shape, and length independently. Even the radially attached "pill" tanks are easy to make with 1 procedural tank. Likewise for batteries, probe cores, etc.

[metl]

No, because TweakScale scales in all directions simultaneously. So if I want a 2.5m x 10m tank and a 1.25m x 8m tank and I've got TweakScale, I'm stuck with at least 2 parts (one for each length:diameter ratio). And I still need separate jet fuel only tanks. With PP I can set the diameter, shape, and length independently. Even the radially attached "pill" tanks are easy to make with 1 procedural tank. Likewise for batteries, probe cores, etc.

I'm actually working on building your setup now. Anything Squad tanks I should keep or just remove the whole folder?

[Bev7787]

Part mods. I think UbioWeld was not updated last time I checked

[keeper]

Im using mods that add parts, I did try the welding mod back on .90 but it spat a screen of text at me and refused to work. Sadly.

Part count is a priority for payloads. I can't stand the 3 - 5 seconds it takes for 1 second to pass when i arrive wherever I'm going. Every aspect of control is difficult when theres low fps and slowdown

I cant help but build big. I'd always go bigger, but my computer regularly says no.

[SAI Peregrinus]

I'm actually working on building your setup now. Anything Squad tanks I should keep or just remove the whole folder?

I use Auto Pruner, that way I can easily restore things if needed (and they still don't load & waste memory). With B9 Pwings, Procedural Parts, and Adjustable Landing Gear, my Prunelist is here: http://pastebin.com/xGwJzRKM

If you use any mods that need stock textures present, then don't prune the parts they reference.

[Jett_Quasar]

IMHO there's a place for both.

JR