Convair NEXUS - super heavy Historical Launch Vehicle

[keyco smaug]

Hey i downloaded this nexus mod but i cant get most of the engines to lift off unless i hack gravity! Is it supposed to be like that?

[TiktaalikDreaming]

25 minutes ago, keyco smaug said:

Hey i downloaded this nexus mod but i cant get most of the engines to lift off unless i hack gravity! Is it supposed to be like that?

How is the craft arranged?  Also, be aware that lift off is marginal using stock fuels.  It's usually best to use the ED engine and about 6 control rockets on a Nexus-1 sized tank when using stock fuel.  The design was very much aimed at liquid H2, which is very light. 

If you have Community Resource Pack and module manager, it should switch to using LH2 and LOX, be much lighter, and have less trouble getting off the launch pad.

[captinjoehenry]

Any chance you can give us a real scale Nexus?  Just full size using human feet.  It would be amazing for any sort of real scale system play through

[TiktaalikDreaming]

37 minutes ago, captinjoehenry said:

Any chance you can give us a real scale Nexus?  Just full size using human feet.  It would be amazing for any sort of real scale system play through

there's a RSS/RO config in test.

It's big.

[captinjoehenry]

Just now, TiktaalikDreaming said:

there's a RSS/RO config in test.

It's big.

Huzzah!  Full sized Nexus!  Is there a download somewhere about?

[TiktaalikDreaming]

22 minutes ago, captinjoehenry said:

Huzzah!  Full sized Nexus!  Is there a download somewhere about?

I'll have to check.  It's been a while.  Pretty sure the MM config isn't complete.  I was aiming for rereleasing with better textures etc.  But spacedock now has a dev section.  So I'll pop it there and link to here in a bit.  

Had the file,

https://dev.spacedock.info/TiktaalikDreaming/Nexus/src/master/Parts

Just grab that RealismConfigs.cfg file and drop into the nexus mod somewhere.  It's all tagged as :NEEDS[RealismOverhual] though, so you'll have to have an RO install.

I can do up a rescale config for stock, but that will take some time.

Edited May 13, 2017 by TiktaalikDreaming

[TiktaalikDreaming]

Tested, and this "works" in 1.3.  Without Kerbal Joint Reinforcement, it's a bit of a laugh though.  And I need to update manufacturers on all my mods.  None are showing.

[TiktaalikDreaming]

I'd also like to finish a couple of half done re-texture/re-mesh parts I've been working on and make a proper go at an update before updating for 1.3.  In the meantime, it works, apart from the manufacturer not showing in the VAB/SPH UI.  And the aforementioned note that it's pretty tricky launching these without several hundred tonnes of struts or the KJR mod.

[TiktaalikDreaming]

OK, I've updated to 1.2.6, which is a 1.3 compatible version, and it includes the first few part remesh/retextures.  So far, just the tank, the flaps and the main engine (plug and ED).  The intention is to better match stock look and feel, without making them totally stockalike.  And (so far anyway) drop texture ram use by being a bit smarter about textures and UV unwrapping.

 

[GERALD]

Hi love the mod Is there an issue with the file on spacedock as I can not get it to unzip or save corectly. thanks Gerald

[TiktaalikDreaming]

2 hours ago, GERALD said:

Hi love the mod Is there an issue with the file on spacedock as I can not get it to unzip or save corectly. thanks Gerald

I've been messing about with zip formats.  Sorry.  I'll see about re-uploading shortly.  I assume you mean manually unzip?  Not CKAN? 

Uploading now, but I can't wait for it.  Need to go to work.  And my Internets are semi-rural Australian grade

Here's why I've been playing with zip formats;

I know people (and ckan) have trouble with LZMA, but I checked ckan's code, and the zip library they use specifically says it handles bzip, so....  It doesn't of course promise Windows will handle it.

 

Edited June 5, 2017 by TiktaalikDreaming

[GERALD]

Yes manualy  or just dragging it over or using ckan  I am unable to copy the data from the zip file .

I have manualy downloaded it from space dock  and tried the one from ckan the error is the same. it says the following windows cannot complete the extraction the destination file could not be created.

I was able to retrive and install it via ckan   Thanks for updateing it Gerald

 

Edited June 5, 2017 by GERALD

[TiktaalikDreaming]

9 hours ago, GERALD said:

Yes manualy  or just dragging it over or using ckan  I am unable to copy the data from the zip file .

I have manualy downloaded it from space dock  and tried the one from ckan the error is the same. it says the following windows cannot complete the extraction the destination file could not be created.

I was able to retrive and install it via ckan   Thanks for updateing it Gerald

 

Glad to know windows can handle zip files from the 70s at least. Oh well. Back to deflate(not deflate 64). When I went to bzip I thought "yay, ckan uses a library that can handle this" without thinking of the underlying OS. Bzip is everywhere but windows.

I'll just use base zip from now on, but, people should have 7zip if on Windows. Not related to ksp or anything, but it handles pretty much all archive formats. It's usually one of my first installs on a new windows system. I feel I should clarify further. I'm not saying "you need to download blah, wah, why do I need to change my zip compression?". I accidentally thought bzip would be generically compatible. I always aim for maximum compatibility.  I'm just also suggesting 7zip as an awesome, useful program for Windows users. Like I'd recommend notepad++. Etc.

[TiktaalikDreaming]

Speaking of which, attempting to migrate to an SSD has caused me to have a clean fresh Windows install, and 7Zip did get added.  And Notepad++, and forgot a PDF reader.  Finding all the GiMP plugins was fun.  Unity was easier than I remembered.  I probably don't have all the Blender addons I used yet, but I have enough.

I WAS going to be adding the final pieces of part revamp to the base Nexus this weekend, but I haven't got anywhere near it.

[Maffif]

Hi, 

First, I know this is a bit of a post necro, but you're still active and I wanted to tell you,  this is a beautiful mod.  I really enjoy the niche historic/hypothetical part packs you do, and for what it is, this doesn't seem particularly unbalanced.  Is this one over and done with? It'd be cool to see what you had in mind with the various NTRs, but I know you are very busy

More importantly (but not game breaking by any stretch), if you unload the UF4 in the gas core engines, you end up with a negative part cost of around -500,000

I can probably fix that in a cfg if it helps 

[TiktaalikDreaming]

6 hours ago, Maffif said:

Hi, 

First, I know this is a bit of a post necro, but you're still active and I wanted to tell you,  this is a beautiful mod.  I really enjoy the niche historic/hypothetical part packs you do, and for what it is, this doesn't seem particularly unbalanced.  Is this one over and done with? It'd be cool to see what you had in mind with the various NTRs, but I know you are very busy

More importantly (but not game breaking by any stretch), if you unload the UF4 in the gas core engines, you end up with a negative part cost of around -500,000

I can probably fix that in a cfg if it helps 

Ha, guess who tests these things mostly in sandpit.

I'm mostly busy with real life crap.  This mod is probably next in line for a revamp after I get the Mars stuff fixed up.  But things that I used to be able to do in a week are taking me months because I just don't have the spare time at the moment.  I blame (rolls dice, consults chart) the Commonwealth games.

[TiktaalikDreaming]

https://github.com/TiktaalikDreaming/Nexus/releases/tag/1.3.1

I fixed the pricing up (I think).  It's a bit of a mess as there is stock config that doesn't have the included tankage for UF4 and W.  And then the resources are added with MM code IFF community resource pack is installed, and there was no cost change associated with that.  There is now.

That's the 3 regeneratively cooled GCRs and the Helium cooled one.  (I really want to do a multimode engine and drop the variants, coming soon, geologically)

[Maffif]

On 4/8/2018 at 4:10 AM, TiktaalikDreaming said:

(coming soon, geologically)

Thanks for the update!  "Soon" made me chuckle.

I'm just getting into partmaking with blender, and it has given me a newfound appreciation for models like yours

[TiktaalikDreaming]

6 hours ago, Maffif said:

Thanks for the update!  "Soon" made me chuckle.

I'm just getting into partmaking with blender, and it has given me a newfound appreciation for models like yours

Thanks, but to be honest the actual modelling gets massively easier with practice, although the uv unwrapping and texturing only slightly so. If you want to look at some really good stuff, check out nertea, cobaltwolf, Beale, etc. Their stuff is magic.

Oh, and get taniwha's mu blender plugin if you haven't already.  There's a lot to be learnt taking apart someone else's parts.

[Maffif]

17 hours ago, TiktaalikDreaming said:

Thanks, but to be honest the actual modelling gets massively easier with practice, although the uv unwrapping and texturing only slightly so. If you want to look at some really good stuff, check out nertea, cobaltwolf, Beale, etc. Their stuff is magic.

Oh, and get taniwha's mu blender plugin if you haven't already.  There's a lot to be learnt taking apart someone else's parts.

I'm already noticing.  The first week of learning blender was immensely frustrating, and now I'm churning out (simple) models.  Unity is another story.

Thanks, I'll check that out.

[TiktaalikDreaming]

On 4/25/2018 at 2:48 PM, Maffif said:

I'm already noticing.  The first week of learning blender was immensely frustrating, and now I'm churning out (simple) models.  Unity is another story.

Thanks, I'll check that out.

Unity for me is just a way of importing and exporting blender models.  I don't really do any Unity things.

Blender learning curve;
Week 1: Dammit, how does this work? Can't I just write some code to output .obj files, it'd be easier I'm sure
Week 2: Oh, I think I'm getting it.
Week 4: hmmm, what if I just do this?
Month 4: (thinking shapes into blender) it should look a bit like this, but the texturing will take a while...

[TiktaalikDreaming]

I've had a bit of time recently to go back and revisit the Gas Core rocket.

As suggested, this will be a multimode beast this time around.  High or low temp, low or high thrust, high or low ISP.

So far, I've managed the hydrogen turbines and pumps and the various bits of LH plumbing.  It needs a Liquid Helium system with plumbing and both a Uranium Hexafluoride feed system (the fuel) and a powdered tungsten feed (used to make the LH opaque).  So there's more plumbing to come.  But H2 makes up 99% of the exhaust by mass, so the plumbing requirements on the other systems will be much much lower (except LHe, it's for cooling and none goes out the exhaust).

[rohanguard1]

Can you make a version of this mod that's balanced for SMURFF? (Real stats but default fuel.)

[TiktaalikDreaming]

It's been a while.  I've been putting off going back and doing an art pass on this mod as I also want to resize it.  When I started modding, I did things at 50% scale, which I've discovered is basically not going to match anyone else's stuff.  So I'll be aiming at redoing this in 62.5%.  The Gas Core NTR above is still heading this way, and I've started on redoing some other parts.

Some (untextured) progress on the control rocket cluster,

And some more developed work on the first stage tankage,

On 10/14/2018 at 7:45 AM, rohanguard1 said:

Can you make a version of this mod that's balanced for SMURFF? (Real stats but default fuel.)

Wow, not sure how I missed this.

Short answer is no.  The Nexus is a very Hydrogen design.  I'm actually going to remove the stock fuel variants and just include a stockish liquid hydrogen resource for people without CRP in the upcoming revamp.  The whole structure, design, proportions of the thing are directly resulting from the joys and tribulations of dealing with liquid hydrogen.  It just doesn't make sense with a denser fuel like the stock kerosene or hydrozine analogue.  AKA I don't think it's suitable for SMURFF unless there's an established way of dealing with hydrogen craft for SMURFF.  I will be honest and say I have no idea how/if smurff deals with "real stats" + "stock fuel" + "liquid Hydrogen irl".  

 

[TiktaalikDreaming]

I decided to go back and make the control rocket nozzles look more like slightly truncated J-2 nozzles.  Most of the plumbing has of course moved to the centre between nozzles, so they'll never really look like a J-2, but I figured I could at least copy the bell that shows.

I'll be using normals for horizontal ribbing in the top section, and for cooling pipes between the bands in the lower section.  The other obvious visual difference is I took out the gas generator exhaust from getting piped into the nozzle.  Even though it's a feature of everything Saturn, it doesn't make a lot of sense for a cluster, or for rockets that are providing assist to a main engine.  It adds a couple of percent for a massive increase in complexity (which would be even worse in a cluster) and I think it's telling that it's not a feature that's turned up on many other rockets.  If you have truck loads of money, and you want all the performance, sure.  But you're better off chasing closed cycle, which isn't even that awful with LH2.