[1.1.2]NSS/OctoSat-SOAR S3-A300 (Modular Satellites, Reusable launchers)[0.72- 11Jun16]

[MaverickSawyer]

Bit of a nitpick for the side-mounted reaction wheels... they're an odd weight, compared with the rest of the parts. Unless you're willing to run two reaction wheels (which, when flying just the satellite, is WAY overkill), it leads to an off-balance craft, which is understandably an issue. If you were to bump up the mass to 0.06, it'd balance well with the battery, and there's still be more than enough torque for most satellites.

[kurtu5]

A couple of questions. First, nice. Really nice.

But now about career mode. I think the multi-science part might be a bit tricky with a career tech tree, you normally don't get all the science parts at the same time. Also, there are mods with additional science parts. Could you perhaps figure out a way to make a service bay as well?

Perhaps stick 2 or 3 of the wedges together for a bigger bay? Even better would be multiple bays. 1 wedge wide, 2 wedges, 3 wedges... 1wideX2tall, 2X2, 3X2. That way one could place science parts or whatever in the bays. If you made them so you could fit radiators in them, you wouldn't need an extra part with builtin radiators. You could then use vanilla oscar fuel tanks, xenon fuel, batteries, rtgs, solar panels, reaction wheels, remotetech antennas in them. That would make your platform very flexible and the go to solution for all satellite needs. Of course one might ask, why have wedges with built-in rtgs, fuel, solar panels, batteries, reaction wheels, antennas if you could user service bays and put the parts in yourself? I guess a few basic ones with built-ins that are lighter than the equivalent service bay+strut+part would be a reasonable answer.

Lastly I don't understand the need for a core with a texture on top and another part core with a texture on the bottom. Couldn't you just flip the first one over and have the same part for top and bottom textures?

Just my two cents. I think you have a star mod here and look forward to using it. Edited November 16, 2015 by kurtu5

[Nookos]

[quote name='MaverickSawyer']Bit of a nitpick for the side-mounted reaction wheels... they're an odd weight, compared with the rest of the parts. Unless you're willing to run two reaction wheels (which, when flying just the satellite, is WAY overkill), it leads to an off-balance craft, which is understandably an issue. If you were to bump up the mass to 0.06, it'd balance well with the battery, and there's still be more than enough torque for most satellites.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for pointing that out. I just changed it. And went over all the values for mass. I found and fixed many inconsistencies. Especially with the structural parts, now they become handy to fill gaps which was the intention.

[quote name='kurtu5']A couple of questions. First, nice. Really nice.

But now about career mode. I think the multi-science part might be a bit tricky with a career tech tree, you normally don't get all the science parts at the same time. Also, there are mods with additional science parts. Could you perhaps figure out a way to make a service bay as well?

Perhaps stick 2 or 3 of the wedges together for a bigger bay? Even better would be multiple bays. 1 wedge wide, 2 wedges, 3 wedges... 1wideX2tall, 2X2, 3X2. That way one could place science parts or whatever in the bays. If you made them so you could fit radiators in them, you wouldn't need an extra part with builtin radiators. You could then use vanilla oscar fuel tanks, xenon fuel, batteries, rtgs, solar panels, reaction wheels, remotetech antennas in them. That would make your platform very flexible and the go to solution for all satellite needs. Of course one might ask, why have wedges with built-in rtgs, fuel, solar panels, batteries, reaction wheels, antennas if you could user service bays and put the parts in yourself? I guess a few basic ones with built-ins that are lighter than the equivalent service bay+strut+part would be a reasonable answer.

Lastly I don't understand the need for a core with a texture on top and another part core with a texture on the bottom. Couldn't you just flip the first one over and have the same part for top and bottom textures?

Just my two cents. I think you have a star mod here and look forward to using it.[/QUOTE]

- The science bundle module ( as well as all other parts except RTG) are in the Advanced Unmanned slot. That means all those experiments are already unlocked by the time you get there. Apart from gravioli which is in a parallel slot.
- Service bays are already planned (see to do list/road map on first page). Due to the way KSP deals with node and my lack of programming skill, there won't be all those sizes. I can do one node size, half level including core and full level. I need to verify but I am pretty sure it would be problematic with obstructed free nodes.
- Half bottom and half top module don't cost anything as they use the same mesh and the same texture space. So AFAIK they shouldn't be a problem memory-wise and so are included free of charge to avoid users to deal with orientation. If I'm wrong about that I'll happily remove them.
Thanks for the input.

I did a first survey scanner animation draft with bones and skin. Good news is that it works in ksp \o/ I'm not very happy with the telescopic arm and will try a variant before finalizing this part.
[IMG]http://lacroixdidier.com/temp/KSP_M900_Mk1.gif[/IMG] Edited November 16, 2015 by Nookos

[CobaltWolf]

That is WAY too cool Nook. The unfolding is perfect!

[Mecripp]

That looks great :)

[MaverickSawyer]

[quote name='Nookos']Thanks for pointing that out. I just changed it. And went over all the values for mass. I found and fixed many inconsistencies. Especially with the structural parts, now they become handy to fill gaps which was the intention.[/quote]
Cool. Glad to know it wasn't just me who was weirded out by that.
[quote]I did a first survey scanner animation draft with bones and skin. Good news is that it works in ksp \o/ I'm not very happy with the telescopic arm and will try a variant before finalizing this part.
[url]http://lacroixdidier.com/temp/KSP_M900_Mk1.gif[/url][/QUOTE]

*drools* WANT.

[CyberPope]

Love this mod for the career aspect. Only issue I have is the science modules do not register with the contracts for completion.

[Nookos]

Thanks. I did a variant for the arm and deployment but before I could even render it I lost access to my data hard drives :( Stupid me. I kept getting windows' sound for connecting/disconnecting hardware. So I tried to fix it by installing new drivers. I saw there was a new bios at the same time so I updated that too. And I lost my hdd's setup. I have 2 hdd in RAID 0 for Windows and softwares and 2 hdd ( non RAID) for data. Since the bios update I can only get one or the other :( And I don't remember how I did it before so all of them work.. Losing a lot of time on this stupid update and the initial problem is not even fixed :D I still get that stupid noise!! ( I guess my mouse is faulty) Anyway trying to solve that before I can move on.

[quote name='CyberPope']Love this mod for the career aspect. Only issue I have is the science modules do not register with the contracts for completion.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for pointing that out. I completely forgot to test it and it's very important. So I had a look this evening and the only workaround I could find is to replace the part ID in contracts.cfg . And it's not a good fix. It means the stock part won't be able to complete those contracts anymore. I'm looking for a clean fix but in the meantime:
[spoiler=Temporary (and not ideal) fix]
[U]This fix means that every single satellite contract will require the new part ID ( OctoSat parts in this case)[/U]. Somehow it doesn't seem to accept having multiple part ID. When I do that it doesn't offer those contracts anymore. [B]But I repeat that this means every satellite contract will need the OctoSat part to fulfill those science requirements ( the stock experiment won't fulfill the contract) if that modification is applied[/B]. [B]Make sure to backup your contracts.cfg before, so you can revert easily if you change your mind. And this will only work for new contracts offered after the modification.[/B]
Here are the lines to modify in GameData/Squad/Contracts/Contracts.cfg ( text to replace in green)
[code]
Line 708 Part =[COLOR=#008000] OctoSat_Sc_Goo[/COLOR] // A part ID that triggers this request
Line 738 Part = [COLOR=#008000]OctoSat_Sc_Science[/COLOR] // A part ID that triggers this request
Line 768 Part = [COLOR=#008000]OctoSat_Sc_Science[/COLOR] // A part ID that triggers this request
Line 798 Part = [COLOR=#008000]OctoSat_Sc_MaterialBay[/COLOR] // A part ID that triggers this request
Line 828 Part = [COLOR=#008000]OctoSat_Sc_Science[/COLOR] // A part ID that triggers this request
[/code]
In case you modified it without a backup this is what those lines are in stock:
[code]
Line 708 Part = GooExperiment // A part ID that triggers this request
Line 738 Part = sensorThermometer // A part ID that triggers this request
Line 768 Part = sensorGravimeter // A part ID that triggers this request
Line 798 Part = science_module // A part ID that triggers this request
Line 828 Part = sensorAccelerometer // A part ID that triggers this request
[/code]
Of course any ideas on a clean fix is welcome. I'm not sure if this contracts.cfg can be patched with MM. I will try this weekend. And will try to modify the requirement to a module rather than a part ID. No clue if I can do that.
[/spoiler]

[B]EDIT: Discard the above spoiler. Here is a [URL="http://lacroixdidier.com/temp/NSS_MM_ContractsSatelliteScience.cfg"]MM patch that does it[/URL]. To be placed anywhere in GameData. And removed to come back to stock.[/B] Edited November 19, 2015 by Nookos

[Dr. Jet]

Nice! But would be even more awesome (and useful) with RemoteTech support and more antenna parts.

[Nookos]

[quote name='Dr. Jet']Nice! But would be even more awesome (and useful) with RemoteTech support and more antenna parts.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. It has very basic RemoteTech support right now and indeed not very useful yet. But I'm getting there. Next update will have tweaks on the existing probes/ antennas (probes with passive omnis with 300km range) and one high gain antenna will be added. So probes will have launching capability and there will be 4 antennas total ( small omni, medium omni, medium dish, and large dish) This should cover the basics I think but I m still learning RT so I m not sure.

[Kerbal01]

That scanner looks amazing!

[Nookos]

Thanks.
Just added a poll because I can't make up my mind on the deployment. [URL="http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/138825-WIP-Parts-1-0-5-NSS-OctoSat-SOAR-S3-A300-%28Modular-Satellites-Reusable-launchers%29-0-5-12-Nov-15?p=2284795&viewfull=1#post2284795"]See first page.[/URL]

[CyberPope]

[quote name='Nookos']Thanks.
Just added a poll because I can't make up my mind on the deployment. [URL="http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/138825-WIP-Parts-1-0-5-NSS-OctoSat-SOAR-S3-A300-%28Modular-Satellites-Reusable-launchers%29-0-5-12-Nov-15?p=2284795&viewfull=1#post2284795"]See first page.[/URL][/QUOTE]
Not able to vote for some reason but option C looks the most solid. The sliding motion as compared to the unfolding motion is the aspect I like the most. The location of the dish look good either way.

Also thank you for the contract fix! I had put a satellite in perfect polar orbit for a contract and was a little flustered when I realized these new awesome parts didn't meet the requirements. Keep up the awesome work!

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

I like this. This is a really neat mod.

[KaptnKiwi]

Hullo! This looks amazeballs :D Any chance of getting this supported in realism overhaul? I needs it <3

[Nookos]

[quote name='CyberPope']Not able to vote for some reason but option C looks the most solid. The sliding motion as compared to the unfolding motion is the aspect I like the most. The location of the dish look good either way.

Also thank you for the contract fix! I had put a satellite in perfect polar orbit for a contract and was a little flustered when I realized these new awesome parts didn't meet the requirements. Keep up the awesome work![/QUOTE]

Thanks for your opinion and thanks again for pointing out the contract problem. Still haven't found a way to keep stock parts valid as well and I didn't get answers in the plugin development part of the forum about it. So I m going to post a suggestion that Squad make it possible to add alternative part to fulfill contract. I remember I had the same problem with great mods adding space station and outpost parts that didn't register for contracts.

[quote name='ThatGuyWithALongUsername']I like this. This is a really neat mod.[/QUOTE]

Thanks and I m looking forward to your planet pack and huge launchers.

[quote name='KaptnKiwi']Hullo! This looks amazeballs :D Any chance of getting this supported in realism overhaul? I needs it <3[/QUOTE]

I have absolutely no knowledge of realism overhaul. And from what I've seen there is a lot to learn before I can even estimate how much work is involved to make a patch. I'm adding this to my list but I will only look into this once I have version 1.0 out. If someone wants to work on that, feel free to do so.


I'm working on two dishes right now. A 3m one that is stackeable ( top or bottom) and compatible with engines ( even the nuclear one when placed on top). And a 1.5m one in a side module that will be compatible with the 3m one. Hopefully they'll both be ready for an update alongside the survey scanner next weekend. I also have to reorganise and optimize the textures to fit all of this new stuff.
[IMG]http://lacroixdidier.com/temp/KSP_AntennaStack_Mk3.jpg[/IMG] Edited November 24, 2015 by Nookos

[hieywiey]

How close is the SOAR to completion? The modeling is gorgeous, the only suggestion I have is maybe change that cursive-y font to something like Futura or Helvetica that fits a little better with the rest. Also, a service bay part would be nice. I am extremely fond of sending ion-powered OctoSats to pretty much everywhere except Eeloo, but the instruments (some of them are just random parts stuck together that are "instruments" for aesthetic purposes) I add lose the low profile aspect of the OctoSat which is the main reason why I use them (they fit well in extra space), but I can't afford to compromise on the science aspect. Anyway, I love this mod. It is the closest thing to a common spacecraft bus KSP has ever seen.

[Nookos]

SOAR needs landing gears, airbrakes (rudder will split in two), a proper engine model, a cargo decoupler and last but not least, textures. Regarding the font, it is the one provided by Swiss Space Systems and I want to be accurate. Maybe they will change it one day and I will too. And if they are fine with it I ll make a fictitious orbital version of it that won't have the text.
Service bay(s) for OctoSat is(are) on my list. I m not sure about the sizes yet but completely agree that without them and with extra instrument the purpose of the mod is defeated. What are the instruments you use? I m not sure what the most commonly used instruments are and how big they are. So I m not sure either what service bay size could be useful. I think I could make a one node side module, half level and full level if useful. Thanks for the feedback.

[Hexicube]

Got a few minor issues and suggestions:

1. Symmetry doesn't work, I expected it to use 8x symmetry for easier placement of parts around the core piece. I can explain how to add it in via PM if you want.
2. There's no shroud piece(s) for putting side-mounted parts inside an octagonal frame, similar to the Mk1 Structural Fuselage. This would be very useful considering the decouplers visually assume you have side pieces.
3. The structural converter to Mk1 piece has clipping issues with some stock parts (such as the kickback SRB), so it could do with being a little taller on the bottom half.
4. The converter piece doesn't work properly with the texture switching, it shows the button but not the current colour and doesn't actually change the colour when pressing the buttons.
5. There's no converter piece that looks nice without an octo decoupler/separator, as the piece assumes you're going to use one directly above it. Would be useful if you wanted to attach a 1.25m engine for a small escape stage.
6. An octagonal cargo bay would be pretty cool. Preferably add double height bays too, but I think a regular bay with no top/bottom plate or horizontal bar would also work well too.

[Nookos]

On 4/12/2015 10:39:30, Hexicube said:

Got a few minor issues and suggestions:

1. Symmetry doesn't work, I expected it to use 8x symmetry for easier placement of parts around the core piece. I can explain how to add it in via PM if you want.
2. There's no shroud piece(s) for putting side-mounted parts inside an octagonal frame, similar to the Mk1 Structural Fuselage. This would be very useful considering the decouplers visually assume you have side pieces.
3. The structural converter to Mk1 piece has clipping issues with some stock parts (such as the kickback SRB), so it could do with being a little taller on the bottom half.
4. The converter piece doesn't work properly with the texture switching, it shows the button but not the current colour and doesn't actually change the colour when pressing the buttons.
5. There's no converter piece that looks nice without an octo decoupler/separator, as the piece assumes you're going to use one directly above it. Would be useful if you wanted to attach a 1.25m engine for a small escape stage.
6. An octagonal cargo bay would be pretty cool. Preferably add double height bays too, but I think a regular bay with no top/bottom plate or horizontal bar would also work well too.

Thanks for the feedback

1. I'd appreciate the explanation to allow symmetry. I don't know any other way apart from allowing surface attach which I disabled as it might be confusing and not everybody knows that holding ALT forces it to snap to nodes.
2. I'm not sure I understand this. Do you mean that the core parts ( the center cylindrical parts) should have shrouds in case the side nodes are not used? That would require writing a plugin I think. And I don't have the skills. Again not sure I understand. There is structural parts to fill the gaps though. 
3. Indeed the Octo to mk1 adapter is very bad sorry. It is in my to do list to redo it from scratch. It is ugly and indeed there is clipping. I can fix the clipping while it is not redesigned though. I will include that in the following update.
4. I was unaware of this. Will check this after work tonight. Thanks for mentionning.
5. I will check that tonight also. It was designed to have a decoupler/separator on top indeed. Will have a look at how it looks with the satellite right on top and will consider this when I redesign it.
6. Cargo bays are definitely on my list. It seems important for users so I'll move it up my road map so I work on this sooner. I'll consider the no top/bottom plate option so I understand how that would work. Thanks for the suggestion.

Next update is on its way. I m done with the survey scanner and I made a stackeable, shrouded, 4.6m dish (15ft) with extra tanks. I m working on a side dish ( about 1.5m) and will update it when that one is done.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Nookos

[Hexicube]

14 hours ago, Nookos said:

Thanks for the feedback

1. I'd appreciate the explanation to allow symmetry. I don't know any other way apart from allowing surface attach which I disabled as it might be confusing and not everybody knows that holding ALT forces it to snap to nodes.
2. I'm not sure I understand this. Do you mean that the core parts ( the center cylindrical parts) should have shrouds in case the side nodes are not used? That would require writing a plugin I think. And I don't have the skills. Again not sure I understand. There is structural parts to fill the gaps though. 
3. Indeed the Octo to mk1 adapter is very bad sorry. It is in my to do list to redo it from scratch. It is ugly and indeed there is clipping. I can fix the clipping while it is not redesigned though. I will include that in the following update.
4. I was unaware of this. Will check this after work tonight. Thanks for mentionning.
5. I will check that tonight also. It was designed to have a decoupler/separator on top indeed. Will have a look at how it looks with the satellite right on top and will consider this when I redesign it.
6. Cargo bays are definitely on my list. It seems important for users so I'll move it up my road map so I work on this sooner. I'll consider the no top/bottom plate option so I understand how that would work. Thanks for the suggestion.

1. Sent a PM.
2. I'd like to see a part that is just the outer edge of the structural pieces, with a much lower mass. Basically the equivalent of what the mk1 fuselage is compared to the fl-800 fuel tank. Basically some way to have parts not from your mod mesh well with a probe made of your parts, at least from the outside.

[Nookos]

Updated to version 0.6

• Added M900 survey scanner
• Added Large stackeable dish 4.6m (15ft)
• Gimbal Animation fixed
• Heat settings reworked for Engines
• Values tweaked ( mass, RW,..)
• More remote tech support ( passive omnis on probes, refined settings)
• MM patch for science experiment on a satellite contracts ( optional)
• Added stacksymmetry to core parts ( thanks to @Hexicube)
• Fixed texture switch on adapter
• Added Cargo doors and top/bottom plate for service bay

I wasn't able to complete the side antenna as planned for this update. I didn't even get close to that. But instead I added cargo bay structural parts. So road map has changed.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Nookos

[RaendyLeBeau]

wow ! totally cool, it have just seen on kerbalstuff - awesome, download in progress

[Jimbodiah]

Cool additions!!!!

Just one note on the dish, once you transmit, you can not unfold it again as it keeps saying "clamped". Is there any way to keep it open, just because it looks cool.

Also the Dusk engine will not allow anything to go on top of it.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Jimbodiah

[Nookos]

14 hours ago, RaendyLeBeau said:

wow ! totally cool, it have just seen on kerbalstuff - awesome, download in progress

Danke schön! I hope you enjoy it.

9 hours ago, Jimbodiah said:

Cool additions!!!!

Just one note on the dish, once you transmit, you can not unfold it again as it keeps saying "clamped". Is there any way to keep it open, just because it looks cool.

Also the Dusk engine will not allow anything to go on top of it.

Regarding the dish it is like the stock antennae, you need to assign the toggle antenna command to an action group. This way you can extend it using that action group, even after transmitting something. I don't know any other way around this.

And I didn't notice the stacking problem. Thanks for pointing that out. I just did some test and it turns out it is related to the way I create the 8 nodes on the sides. So basically if you try to place a top half core module on top of a bottom half core it snaps but doesn't validate the stacking. The easy solution is to build downwards. Start with the top module.

I'm going to try creating those side nodes an other way to see if it fixes it. Thanks again for mentionning it.

Edit: Just did it, and it doesn't matter how I create the nodes. It seems to be a problem of ?proximity?  But then it is strange that it works when stacking downwards.. I m puzzled..

Edited December 7, 2015 by Nookos