Radial Booster Pack

[CaptainSlug]

Updated 08/30/11

1. Radial Ullage Booster - For assisting stage separation. Very short firing time.

2. Radial Solid Booster - Angular thrust for directional stability.

3. Radial Spin Booster - Provides rotational thrust to aid in trajectory stabilization.

4. Radial Liquid Booster - Throttle adjustable thrust for directional stability. Must be attached to liquid fuel tank.

5. Radial Large Liquid Booster - Like before, only larger.

6. Radial Retro Booster - For assisting stage separation. Very short firing time.

v1.3 Fixes - No more exploding tanks

v2.0 Fixes - New mesh set, added Large Liquid Booster

v2.1 Fixes - Solid boosters activate even when disconnected

v2.2 Fixes - Added Retro Booster

http://captainslug.com/temp/RadialBoosterPack2.2.zip

[Mystery]

In the ideal world RCS modules would be the only way to turn. But magical turning works well to.

A very neat idea, good work

[Ordosis]

Love it, thanks!

[feanor]

These are awesome. They do, however, seem to provide a bit of thrust - I seem to be fall slower when I have these turning below me. They should, as they are turning a bit downward aswell.

Anyway, as said, These are awesome. What would REALLY make me happy is a variant of these turning straight up, and another variant straight down. Think of the possibilities! Ullage engines! seperation rockets for safer staging! Small satellite deploy rockets! Perhaps with a bit lower burntime...

[edit] or perhaps not straight, but only angled away from the central rocket body, so they provide thrust but dont burn anything and dont induce spin.

gimme gimme gimme!

[CaptainSlug]

These are awesome. They do, however, seem to provide a bit of thrust - I seem to be fall slower when I have these turning below me. They should, as they are turning a bit downward aswell.

Anyway, as said, These are awesome. What would REALLY make me happy is a variant of these turning straight up, and another variant straight down. Think of the possibilities! Ullage engines! seperation rockets for safer staging! Small satellite deploy rockets! Perhaps with a bit lower burntime...

[edit] or perhaps not straight, but only angled away from the central rocket body, so they provide thrust but dont burn anything and dont induce spin.

gimme gimme gimme!

Already working on a full set. Just trying to decide if I want them to look like these do, or more like vernier thrusters with fairings. I'm also trying to fine tune the angle of their output because they're currently causing silent errors about damage when placed near liquid engines.

I've made a liquid-fueled angled booster, and a solid fueled angled booster. The liquid booster works great in sets for Lander maneuvering.

I guess I can add other radial-mount boosters like ullage engines.

[feanor]

Already working on a full set. Just trying to decide if I want them to look like these do, or more like vernier thrusters with fairings. I'm also trying to fine tune the angle of their output because they're currently causing silent errors about damage when placed near liquid engines.

I've made a liquid-fueled angled booster, and a solid fueled angled booster. The liquid booster works great in sets for Lander maneuvering.

I guess I can add other radial-mount boosters like ullage engines.

I'll be eagerly refreshing every second till you release this, this sounds like an AWESOME pack with a great many uses!

[CaptainSlug]

Updated first post with new Booster pack

If you already have the SpinBooster installed either rename its folder to RadialSpinBooster, or delete it prior to installing this pack.

[rdfox]

ULLAGE ENGINES! :hailprobe: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t:

I've desperately needed those since I started building, since I like building big multistage, and I prefer not to lose velocity waiting for the previous stage to fall away. And while the 'fire in the hole' staging works for ICBM derivatives (ever see video of a Titan II staging? The first stage always exploded when the second stage fired), ullage engines for separation are so much more elegant for manned boosters...

(And anything for stabilization on my first stages is a good thing!)

[Galactic Nexus]

Wait... woah, woah, woah wait. Are those angled liquid fuel engines?

FINALLY! I've been needing something like this to get my Space Shuttle recreation to actually fly without falling over due to it's asymmetricality. These will do nicely.

[Andras]

I've been trying a few designs with the angled LF Boosters and they do severe damage to tanks and LFEs nearby.

They will easily knock a LFE off the rocket and break apart LFTs.

I don't know if there is something that can be tweaked in the CFG to reduce collateral damage.

[CaptainSlug]

Well crap. According to the CFG File wiki

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/index.php?title=CFG_File_Documentation

it looks like the variables ThrustCenter and ThrustVector are not actually functioning when used with liquid engines.

It's ignoring those variables in the config file and preventing the part from outputting vectored thrust. This would explain why only the liquid engines are sometimes damaging items placed below them. Because their output is firing straight down.

This problem only seems to be consistently affecting the stock LV-T30 liquid engine due to its unique collision mesh.

I'm going to have to edit the mesh for the Liquid Boosters to reflect that they are not producing angle thrust. Moving them slightly away from the tank has fixed the issue with damaging the items they are attached near to.

I will have an updated set tonight. For those that can't wait, edit the part.cfg for the radial liquid booster to show the following.

// --- general parameters ---
name = RadialLiquidBooster
module = LiquidEngine
author = Captain Slug

// --- asset parameters ---
mesh = radialliquidbooster.dae
scale = 1
texture = radialliquidbooster.png
specPower = 0.1
rimFalloff = 3
alphaCutoff = 0.5

// --- node definitions ---
// definition format is Position X, Position Y, Position Z, Up X, Up Y, Up Z
node_attach = 0.02, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0

// --- FX definitions ---

fx_exhaustFlame_blue = -0.22, -0.7, 0, 0.25, 1, 0, active


// --- Sound FX definition ---

sound_vent_medium = activate
sound_rocket_hard = active
sound_vent_soft = deactivate

// --- editor parameters ---
cost = 450
category = 1
subcategory = 0
title = Radial Liquid Booster
description = Allowing finer control of your total thrust output.

// attachment rules: stack, srfAttach, allowStack, allowSrfAttach, allowCollision
attachRules = 0,1,0,0,0

// --- standard part parameters ---
mass = .9
dragModelType = default
maximum_drag = 0.2
minimum_drag = 0.1
angularDrag = 2
crashTolerance = 7
maxTemp = 3600

// --- liquid engine parameters ---

maxThrust = 40
minThrust = 0
dryMass = 0.1 
heatProduction = 10
fuelConsumption = 3
thrustCenter = -0.22, -0.7, 0
thrustVector = 0, 0.8, 0

// thrustVectoringCapable = True
// gymbalRange = 10

All of that aside, you CAN still place these on a rocket asymmetrically if you are trying to correct for asymmetrical drag caused by other items. The affect just won't be as strong since the output will only be off-center rather than off-center and angled.

[CaptainSlug]

v1.3 added to first post.

[silentdeth]

These spin in the opposite direction of winglet force.

[CaptainSlug]

First post updated with new and improved radial booster pack. Now looks spiffier, and matches the styling of more parts.

Debating whether or not to increase the size of the mesh for the Radial Large Liquid Boosters.

These spin in the opposite direction of winglet force.

Winglets don't have a force direction under the current build. They just aerodynamically resistant changes in angle and rotation. There's really no reason to add spin boosters with winglets.

[Drakomis]

Yes...YES! I've been waiting for this!

Yeah, kinda overreacting, but still. Ever since the failed attempts at the first set I've been hungering for a better, more capable second full set. This is it. Thank you!

[rdfox]

Just as a note, Cap, but you list the large radial booster as having 'more solid thrust,' which miiiight be misconstrued as it being a solid-fuel motor! Nothing critical for now, but something to consider for the next update of the pack.

[CaptainSlug]

Just as a note, Cap, but you list the large radial booster as having 'more solid thrust,' which miiiight be misconstrued as it being a solid-fuel motor! Nothing critical for now, but something to consider for the next update of the pack.

Fixed

[Sean Mirrsen]

Well crap. According to the CFG File wiki

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/index.php?title=CFG_File_Documentation

it looks like the variables ThrustCenter and ThrustVector are not actually functioning when used with liquid engines.

It's ignoring those variables in the config file and preventing the part from outputting vectored thrust. This would explain why only the liquid engines are sometimes damaging items placed below them. Because their output is firing straight down.

This problem only seems to be consistently affecting the stock LV-T30 liquid engine due to its unique collision mesh.

I'm going to have to edit the mesh for the Liquid Boosters to reflect that they are not producing angle thrust. Moving them slightly away from the tank has fixed the issue with damaging the items they are attached near to.

I will have an updated set tonight. For those that can't wait, edit the part.cfg for the radial liquid booster to show the following.

-snip-

All of that aside, you CAN still place these on a rocket asymmetrically if you are trying to correct for asymmetrical drag caused by other items. The affect just won't be as strong since the output will only be off-center rather than off-center and angled.

I'd like to point out that it is, theoretically, possible to make liquid fuel boosters with an angled thrust vector. What you need is a slightly rotated mesh (so that the duse is pointing down on the model), and some tinkering with the 'up' vector definition in the .cfg. Haven't tried that myself though, but it's an idea I wanted to share.

[tziz]

It'd be nice if the next update of this pack could include the ActivatesEvenIfDisconnected tag on the solid boosters as default, I added mine to help with stage seperation of my liquid boosters so I can fling them off without blowing everything up if I need to decouple them while they still have fuel

[CaptainSlug]

It'd be nice if the next update of this pack could include the ActivatesEvenIfDisconnected tag on the solid boosters as default, I added mine to help with stage seperation of my liquid boosters so I can fling them off without blowing everything up if I need to decouple them while they still have fuel

Changes made and uploaded

[Flaser]

Could you make a retro ullulage radial booster? Some parts - like nosecones - can't have anything strapped on them, and with retro boosters you can add them to the stage you're discarding instead the stage you're just launching.

Unlike Sunday Punch's retromodule yours can be strapped onto anything which is a very big plus.

Also, this pack is awesome - it finally allowed me to fly SP's kerosine engines without them tilting over.

[CaptainSlug]

Could you make a retro ullulage radial booster? Some parts - like nosecones - can't have anything strapped on them, and with retro boosters you can add them to the stage you're discarding instead the stage you're just launching.

Will do.

[CaptainSlug]

Retro Booster added to set. Thrust is weak, reversed, and imparts some rotation to stabilize the detached stage. So I would not recommend using it on radially attached stages.