[1.0.5][WIP] Frozen Technologies: 1.25m Expansion v0.3

[SmashingKirby148]

Hey everyone! So, I'm working on a new parts pack called 1.25m Expansion which is an expansion for the 1.25m parts, and so far, I have 3 parts done.

 

Want to be an alpha tester for my mod? Well... just get it now (if you'd like) before the next few updates come out.

https://kerbalstuff.com/mod/1287/Frozen%20Technologies:%201.25m%20Expansion

 Frozen Technologies: 1.25m Expansion is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Edited December 12, 2015 by SmashingKirby148

[Ciaran]

Sounds cool :) Edited November 22, 2015 by Ciaran

[SmashingKirby148]

[quote name='Ciaran']Sound cool :)[/QUOTE]

Thank you! :D

[strykersm]

Very nice! I saw you on the need help texturing post ahahah, i needed help myself with my damn IVA's xD
Glad to see you managed! Looks great my friend :) I'l be watching you closely!

[RoverDude]

Congrats and welcome to modding :)

[CobaltWolf]

Best of luck! Looking good so far - you say you have ideas for other 1.25m parts. Anything in particular?

[SmashingKirby148]

[quote name='strykersm']Very nice! I saw you on the need help texturing post ahahah, i needed help myself with my damn IVA's xD
Glad to see you managed! Looks great my friend :) I'l be watching you closely![/QUOTE]

Thank you! Yeah, unfortuantly this command pod has no custom IVA because I don't know how they work yet. :/ But it's pretty similar to the Mk1 Command Pod, so I just used it's IVA. :P

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[quote name='RoverDude']Congrats and welcome to modding :)[/QUOTE]

Well, I have made another mod, the EnginesPlus mod. And I've made two planet packs (both outdated. If anyone likes to take over they can) so I'm not new to modding, but thank you anyway! :D

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[quote name='CobaltWolf']Best of luck! Looking good so far - you say you have ideas for other 1.25m parts. Anything in particular?[/QUOTE]
Well, the Private engine from EnginesPlus is gonna migrate to this mod instead. :) Having problems with it though, and it's most likely the nozzle of the engine. :/

[hieywiey]

Could you add some built in translational RCS thrusters?

[SmashingKirby148]

[quote name='hieywiey']Could you add some built in translational RCS thrusters?[/QUOTE]

Great suggestion! I'll try that after I get my engine working.

[SmashingKirby148]

New engine out, everyone!

[sashan]

Nice engine, only I'd recommend removing gas generator exhaust. Maybe add smal helium bottle in its place? Orbital engines never use gas generators - they decrease Isp.

[SmashingKirby148]

[quote name='sashan']Nice engine, only I'd recommend removing gas generator exhaust. Maybe add smal helium bottle in its place? Orbital engines never use gas generators - they decrease Isp.[/QUOTE]

I'm sorry, but I honestly don't know what either of those are. ^^;

[sashan]

[quote name='SmashingKirby148']I'm sorry, but I honestly don't know what either of those are. ^^;[/QUOTE]

That small exhaust pipe on the side. Helium bottle - just a tank that looks similar to monopropellannt ones.

[SmashingKirby148]

On ‎27‎/‎11‎/‎2015‎ ‎08‎:‎10‎:‎06, sashan said:

[quote name='SmashingKirby148']I'm sorry, but I honestly don't know what either of those are. ^^;

That small exhaust pipe on the side. Helium bottle - just a tank that looks similar to monopropellannt ones.

Oh, right.

[SmashingKirby148]

On ‎26‎/‎11‎/‎2015‎ ‎21‎:‎50‎:‎57, sashan said:

Nice engine, only I'd recommend removing gas generator exhaust. Maybe add smal helium bottle in its place? Orbital engines never use gas generators - they decrease Isp.

Honestly though, I don't even know if this is an orbital engine. It's in between a heavy lift engine and an orbital engine, so I guess it's both?

[sashan]

 

17 hours ago, SmashingKirby148 said:

Honestly though, I don't even know if this is an orbital engine. It's in between a heavy lift engine and an orbital engine, so I guess it's both?

Judging by low ASL Isp and high one in vacuum it's definetely an orbital engine.

[SmashingKirby148]

Don't worry everyone, this project has not been abandoned! My computer got the "Temporary Profile" sickness, so I couldn't get into my account. But it's fixed now! And I now know what I want to add to this mod! The blueprints are below, and it may seem like not a lot, but I'm making a 0.625m Expansions as well, and a 2.5m Expansion, and even a 3.75m Expansion, so the idea is they are all 1 big pack. But that's all from me for now.

[CobaltWolf]

14 minutes ago, SmashingKirby148 said:

Don't worry everyone, this project has not been abandoned! My computer got the "Temporary Profile" sickness, so I couldn't get into my account. But it's fixed now! And I now know what I want to add to this mod! The blueprints are below, and it may seem like not a lot, but I'm making a 0.625m Expansions as well, and a 2.5m Expansion, and even a 3.75m Expansion, so the idea is they are all 1 big pack. But that's all from me for now.

That doodle is adorable. I vote you make a Doodle pack that is in that art style.

What roles do the three engines serve? Remember the various things to balance engines around: Thrust is the obvious one, but you also have ISP and weight. There is room in the stock balance for, example, a less efficient but lighter 1.25m orbital engine. When dealing with small amounts of fuel, lowering the weight of the overall system can count for more than the ISP of the engine. That's why the Spark is often better than the Terrier.

Overall the parts look good. Make sure to take a look over in the Texturing and UV Mapping megathread for advice on texturing. Your models look good, but the textures could use work. The biggest things I see is there isn't enough variation. KSP parts have lots of scuff marks, scratches in the paint where bare metal is exposed. When I texture, I have several layers I work with to combat this.
One, I have a 'Light Edges' layer where I lay in scratches and scuff marks along the edges that would be exposed to wear. Edges in KSP are, as a rule of thumb, always lighter than the surrounding parts. They are only darker when two big panels come together and you want to show there is a small gap. I usually work with this layer inside a layer folder of the same name. There is an 'outer glow' effect on the folder, with the noise set at 1 or 2. Having the effect apply to the folder, and not the layer, means I can create multiple 'Light Edges' layers for when I don't want to worry about messing one or the other up.
Two, I have an 'Edge Smudges' layer. Around the inside perimeter of every panel, just past the light edges, I run a 3% opacity, soft black brush once or twice around, very quickly/sloppily. This helps further add variation, because you have the panel's most extreme light and dark next to each other. This layer often has to have extra blurring applied, and if I get too zealous, lower the opacity. This layer works best when it's hardly noticeable. It should be something felt, not seen.
Three, I have a 'Smudges' layer. This is pretty much what it sounds like. Take a big, soft, 3% opacity brush and run it across the canvas somewhat randomly a couple times. One or two of the passes can be tinted brown for faint fuel stains or rust. Because you have to be mindful of your UV layout with this, it can be helpful to use selection boxes to work on one section of the texture at a time. This layer is purely to add light / dark variation to your texture. Never leave something a solid color. Break it up with some smudges.

Sorry for the wall of text. I started off simple then wound up writing the whole megathread post I've been meaning to make. Oops.

[SmashingKirby148]

12 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

That doodle is adorable. I vote you make a Doodle pack that is in that art style.

What roles do the three engines serve? Remember the various things to balance engines around: Thrust is the obvious one, but you also have ISP and weight. There is room in the stock balance for, example, a less efficient but lighter 1.25m orbital engine. When dealing with small amounts of fuel, lowering the weight of the overall system can count for more than the ISP of the engine. That's why the Spark is often better than the Terrier.

Overall the parts look good. Make sure to take a look over in the Texturing and UV Mapping megathread for advice on texturing. Your models look good, but the textures could use work. The biggest things I see is there isn't enough variation. KSP parts have lots of scuff marks, scratches in the paint where bare metal is exposed. When I texture, I have several layers I work with to combat this.
One, I have a 'Light Edges' layer where I lay in scratches and scuff marks along the edges that would be exposed to wear. Edges in KSP are, as a rule of thumb, always lighter than the surrounding parts. They are only darker when two big panels come together and you want to show there is a small gap. I usually work with this layer inside a layer folder of the same name. There is an 'outer glow' effect on the folder, with the noise set at 1 or 2. Having the effect apply to the folder, and not the layer, means I can create multiple 'Light Edges' layers for when I don't want to worry about messing one or the other up.
Two, I have an 'Edge Smudges' layer. Around the inside perimeter of every panel, just past the light edges, I run a 3% opacity, soft black brush once or twice around, very quickly/sloppily. This helps further add variation, because you have the panel's most extreme light and dark next to each other. This layer often has to have extra blurring applied, and if I get too zealous, lower the opacity. This layer works best when it's hardly noticeable. It should be something felt, not seen.
Three, I have a 'Smudges' layer. This is pretty much what it sounds like. Take a big, soft, 3% opacity brush and run it across the canvas somewhat randomly a couple times. One or two of the passes can be tinted brown for faint fuel stains or rust. Because you have to be mindful of your UV layout with this, it can be helpful to use selection boxes to work on one section of the texture at a time. This layer is purely to add light / dark variation to your texture. Never leave something a solid color. Break it up with some smudges.

Sorry for the wall of text. I started off simple then wound up writing the whole megathread post I've been meaning to make. Oops.

Thank you for your opinion, and thank you VERY much for that wall of text. I am going to be optimising the Command Pod (to add RCS thrusters) and the Private (to get rid of that exhaust pipe thing and add a helium bottle instead), so thanks for the tips.

[SmashingKirby148]

New Update out! Added the Jolt engine, for your 1.25m probes where the Terrier is too big!

[cy4n]

Kerbalstuff shut down, could you update the download link?

[Table]

SmashingKirby are you still maintaining this mod?

Anyways this modpack looks awesome!

Cheers!

[Andem]

@SmashingKirby148

Is this dead?

If not, 

If it is, 

[SmashingKirby148]

Just now, Andem said:

@SmashingKirby148

Is this dead?

If not, 

If it is, 

Yeah, unfortuantly I don't think part mods are my thing. I appreciate that you like the mod, but honestly I hardly have any time any way. School exams start soon so, I have to study, and modelling, texturing, and coding a part isn't exactly something done within 30mins. (especially if you struggle with EVERYTHING XD )