[1.12.x] Kerbal Atomics: fancy nuclear engines! (August 18, 2024)

[Infinity_XT]

I am personally pretty disappointed with the new FX being less vivid and bright. But the textures and models are great as always!

[Eridan]

I'm currently under the assumption that these are the versions of the configs most people use:

https://github.com/KSPSnark/MissingHistory/blob/master/files/PorkjetParts/AtomicAge/KANDL/KANDL.cfg

https://github.com/KSPSnark/MissingHistory/blob/master/files/PorkjetParts/AtomicAge/BKN/BKN.cfg

https://github.com/KSP-RO/RealPlume-StockConfigs/blob/master/GameData/RealPlume-Stock/MissingHistory/nuclearEngineKandl.cfg

https://github.com/KSP-RO/RealPlume-StockConfigs/blob/master/GameData/RealPlume-Stock/MissingHistory/nuclearEngineBKN.cfg

I'm not yet in a position to test the files (out of town, just on a work laptop) but the revised file should look like this:

https://github.com/HSJasperism/KerbalAtomics/blob/master/Extras/KerbalAtomicsLH2NTRModSupport/hydrogenNTRsMissingHistory.cfg

Will push to the dev branch after testing.

[Nertea]

Kerbal Atomics 1.0.3

• Updated B9PartSwitch to 2.8.0
• Updated DynamicBatteryStorage to 2.0.0
  • Complete rebuild
  • Mod now acts as a general power and thermal design tool as well as its previous functions
  • Added toolbar icon to open a Vessel Systems Management window
  • Vessel Systems Management Window
    • Allows player to view relevant Thermal and Electrical summary of the current vessel in VAB or flight
    • Electrical summary:
      • Shows whole-vessel power flows, separated into consumption and generation
      • VAB panel has a tool to simulate distance effects on solar panel efficiency
      • Estimates time to drain or time to charge batteries
      • Can drill down to part categories (eg. Solar Panels, Harvesters, etc)
      • Can drill down to individual parts
      • Handles these module types
        • Stock: ModuleDeployableSolarPanel, ModuleGenerator, ModuleResourceConverter, ModuleActiveRadiator, ModuleResourceHarvester, ModuleCommand, ModuleLight, ModuleDataTransmitter, ModuleEnginesFX, ModuleAlternator
        • NF Suite: ModuleCurvedSolarPanel, FissionGenerator, ModuleRadioisotopeGenerator, ModuleCryoTank, ModuleAntimatterTank, ModuleChargeableEngine, ModuleDeployableCentrifuge, DischargeCapacitor (partial)
        • RealBattery: RealBattery
        • Other: KopernicusSolarPanel
    • Thermal mode:
      • Shows whole-vessel core heat flows, separated into draw and generation
      • Can drill down to part categories (eg. Solar Panels, Harvesters, etc)
      • Can drill down to individual parts
      • NOTE: does not handle non-core heat(eg re-entry, engines, solar)
      • NOTE: does not make a distinction between adjacent-only radiators and full-vessel radiators
      • Handles relevant module types
        • Stock: ModuleCoreHeat (Passive heat only eg RTG), ModuleResourceConverter, ModuleActiveRadiator, ModuleResourceHarvester
        • NF Suite: FissionReactor, ModuleFusionCore
  • Customize settings with DynamicBatteryStorageSettings.cfg
• Updated CryoTanks to 1.1.4
  • Changed LH2/O tank switcher patch to not activate cooling by default as such tanks are on average intended to be uncooled (thanks Zorg)
• Added compatibility patch for EngineLightRelit (courtesy of Nightside)
• Updated Missing History Extras patches for LH2 NTRs, NFE Integration and Decaying RTGs (courtesy of Eridan)

Note the new thread for Dynamic Battery Storage, it is now a more visible part of the mod suite so it gets its own bug reports. If you see problems with the new UI or the timewarp compensation, head there. 

[whitespacekilla]

@Nertea I'm not seeing the updated extras around missing history engines. I had my own customizations similar to Eridan's that I knew I might want to evaluate against the new ones so I compared fairly carefully. it seems like the described update was left out of all of the extras (at least on github, which I generally assume is authoritative). It also appears the last commit to those files was months ago.

[Nertea]

52 minutes ago, whitespacekilla said:

@Nertea I'm not seeing the updated extras around missing history engines. I had my own customizations similar to Eridan's that I knew I might want to evaluate against the new ones so I compared fairly carefully. it seems like the described update was left out of all of the extras (at least on github, which I generally assume is authoritative). It also appears the last commit to those files was months ago.

Eh yeah I wrote it in the changelog but I guess I didn't get a PR yet from Eridan. Just ignore that line then.

[whitespacekilla]

35 minutes ago, Nertea said:

Eh yeah I wrote it in the changelog but I guess I didn't get a PR yet from Eridan. Just ignore that line then.

No harm done to me, I've got working configs. Design question, the largest missing history nuclear engine seems like it should have a fission generator, so I added one, but it was really hard for me to discern how you decided/balanced fission generators on engines. What were your basic criteria? How'd you decide how much power converts to how much energy and which engines wouldn't get one?

[Nertea]

I designed each engine with gameplay roles specifically in mind - some are purely engines, some are multipurpose, some have specific disadvantages. That way I was able to add the generator hardware into the actual part models. For choice...

• Every size class should have access to a type of engine with a generator
• High power engines should not have generators (gas cores)
• Generator hardware adds mass, mass added should be ~ 1/4 the equivalent weight in RTGs
• Generator output should be 'reasonable' for a part that size in stock 

If you're talking about the NFE full hog thing, I can talk more about that. 

 

Edited July 10, 2019 by Nertea

[Wyzard]

On 6/9/2019 at 10:24 AM, KSPrynk said:

I've found a couple of Exception Errors that seem to be a combination of Missing History (v1.7.3), Kerbal Atomics (v1.0.2) and the associated KerbalAtomicsLH2NTRModSupport extra, and Real Plume-Stock (v1.3.1).  I think the MH LH2NTR patch in KA is the culprit.

I've posted a detailed explanation of why this happens in the GitHub issue.  Bottom line: the LH2NTR patch is trying to copy stuff from a config node that RealPlume has deleted.  There are a few ways to resolve it, but there isn't a single obvious "right" solution, so any modders and MM experts interested in this issue might want to weigh in.

Edited July 22, 2019 by Wyzard

[Nertea]

On 7/22/2019 at 12:37 AM, Wyzard said:

I've posted a detailed explanation of why this happens in the GitHub issue.  Bottom line: the LH2NTR patch is trying to copy stuff from a config node that RealPlume has deleted.  There are a few ways to resolve it, but there isn't a single obvious "right" solution, so any modders and MM experts interested in this issue might want to weigh in.

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation and the patch!

[Nertea]

Kerbal Atomics 1.0.4

• Updated B9PartSwitch to 2.8.1
• Updated DynamicBatteryStorage to 2.0.3
• Updated DeployableEngines to 1.1.0
• Updated CryoTanks to 1.2.1
• Actually fixed MissingHistory compatibility this time (thanks Wyzard)

[fulgur]

Hi, sorry to bother you about an undoubtably stupid question:

Where are the .cfg files for the tanks located? Because I am using Lf instead of LH2 and I want to change the really cool tanks to use Lf. But I can't find them in the Parts folder - that only contains the folder NuclearEngines.

Thanks

[Nertea]

GameData/CryoTanks folder in the distribution instead of GameData/KerbalAtomics/

[Athur Dent]

Hello, with this mod installed (and the hydrogenNTRsSQUAD patch) the LV-N "Nerv" behaves weird on my end. I do not get any estimates on burn time for set maneuver nodes anymore, and I need to shut down the reactor after using it because it overheats when the engine doesn't fire, even with 8 small thermal control systems.

 

Does any of this has known reasons, or can you give me a hint what could be causing this?

 

Thx in advance.

[Nertea]

23 minutes ago, Athur Dent said:

Hello, with this mod installed (and the hydrogenNTRsSQUAD patch) the LV-N "Nerv" behaves weird on my end. I do not get any estimates on burn time for set maneuver nodes anymore, and I need to shut down the reactor after using it because it overheats when the engine doesn't fire, even with 8 small thermal control systems.

 

Does any of this has known reasons, or can you give me a hint what could be causing this?

 

Thx in advance.

I guess you are using the NFE integration patch also. Fair warning that this is an advanced patch and may not be to your liking. You should consult the thermal systems panel in the VAB to discover how many radiators you will need to pack if you want to run the reactor without forcing propellant through it, it will be more than 400 kW for sure (8 small TCS). Alternately, set the reactor power to very low (1%) when not running the engine directly, if you can remove that amount of heat with radiators, you do not need to shut it down. 

[Athur Dent]

2 minutes ago, Nertea said:

I guess you are using the NFE integration patch also. Fair warning that this is an advanced patch and may not be to your liking. You should consult the thermal systems panel in the VAB to discover how many radiators you will need to pack if you want to run the reactor without forcing propellant through it, it will be more than 400 kW for sure (8 small TCS). Alternately, set the reactor power to very low (1%) when not running the engine directly, if you can remove that amount of heat with radiators, you do not need to shut it down. 

Thank you for the quick response. I will try this.

Does this explain the missing burn estimates also?

[Nertea]

21 minutes ago, Athur Dent said:

Thank you for the quick response. I will try this.

Does this explain the missing burn estimates also?

I can't confirm that but maybe - if the estimator is keying off the 'off' state of the engine i could be reporting infinity or something. I feel like this used to happen in stock and the solution was to turn the engine on for  a second. 

[Nanahuatzin]

On 8/22/2019 at 5:55 AM, Athur Dent said:

Hello, with this mod installed (and the hydrogenNTRsSQUAD patch) the LV-N "Nerv" behaves weird on my end. I do not get any estimates on burn time for set maneuver nodes anymore, and I need to shut down the reactor after using it because it overheats when the engine doesn't fire, even with 8 small thermal control systems.

 

Does any of this has known reasons, or can you give me a hint what could be causing this?

 

Thx in advance.

Hi, colleague in distress =( I have the same problem. Tell me pls if you will fix it and how, ok?

On 8/22/2019 at 6:25 AM, Nertea said:

I guess you are using the NFE integration patch also. Fair warning that this is an advanced patch and may not be to your liking. You should consult the thermal systems panel in the VAB to discover how many radiators you will need to pack if you want to run the reactor without forcing propellant through it, it will be more than 400 kW for sure (8 small TCS). Alternately, set the reactor power to very low (1%) when not running the engine directly, if you can remove that amount of heat with radiators, you do not need to shut it down. 

Hi. Wanna check this patch when I will go home. I saw many videos in youtube and nobody uses same manipulations. I always make wrong maneuver or burn my atomic cores =( And they just push the button and everything is OK. No radiators, no comlicated actions. I saw a bundle of atomics and youtuber just don't care about it. But thanks for suggestion.

P.S. Sorry for my english.

[Nertea]

I highly recommend you not install the optional patch then. It's optional!

[BlueLineSwinger]

So I'm not sure if this is a bug with the Emancipator, a possible mod conflict, or I'm just not understanding something in the way the engine works.

In the VAB and the PAW window for that engine, the expected vacuum Thrust/ISP of 1540kN/2850s are shown, and the expected dV is calculated off of that (~3800m/s with the typical slight difference between KSP and Kerbal Engineer numbers). However, when engaged in-flight, the engine's output jumps to 2002kN/3705s, and as a result the dV of the craft jumps by a corresponding amount (>4900m/s) as shown both in the stock and Kerbal Engineer displays.

Example images:

Spoiler

Thrust 0%:

 

Thrust 100%:

 

Video (unfortunately downsampled, but it helps show what's going on).

It's not a huge deal, except that it does throw off burn time calculations and can easily lead to an overshoot if one's not careful.

In addition to the base Kerbal Atomics mod, the NF Electronics integration and NTR/LH2 patches are also installed.

Thanks.

 

Edited September 11, 2019 by BlueLineSwinger

[Nertea]

11 hours ago, BlueLineSwinger said:

So I'm not sure if this is a bug with the Emancipator, a possible mod conflict, or I'm just not understanding something in the way the engine works.

In the VAB and the PAW window for that engine, the expected vacuum Thrust/ISP of 1540kN/2850s are shown, and the expected dV is calculated off of that (~3800m/s with the typical slight difference between KSP and Kerbal Engineer numbers). However, when engaged in-flight, the engine's output jumps to 2002kN/3705s, and as a result the dV of the craft jumps by a corresponding amount (>4900m/s) as shown both in the stock and Kerbal Engineer displays.

Example images:

  Hide contents

Thrust 0%:

 

Thrust 100%:

 

Video (unfortunately downsampled, but it helps show what's going on).

It's not a huge deal, except that it does throw off burn time calculations and can easily lead to an overshoot if one's not careful.

In addition to the base Kerbal Atomics mod, the NF Electronics integration and NTR/LH2 patches are also installed.

Thanks.

 

It seems like the temperature curve for the NFE integration is not set up right, it caps off at 7000K, whereas that engine has a max core temp of 18000K. That curve needs to be adjusted. I'll put that in the next release.

[BlueLineSwinger]

2 hours ago, Nertea said:

It seems like the temperature curve for the NFE integration is not set up right, it caps off at 7000K, whereas that engine has a max core temp of 18000K. That curve needs to be adjusted. I'll put that in the next release.

Thanks for the update. I'll keep an eye out for it.

Another question on the Emancipator (+ NFE I believe): Given that it cannot produce electricity for the craft, and is virtually impossible to properly cool via a reasonable number of radiators if the reactor power is set >0 (by design AFAICT), and produces full thrust if set to 0 (though the reactor must still be on), is there a practical use for having the power setting slider in the PAW, and setting it >0?

[Nertea]

17 minutes ago, BlueLineSwinger said:

Thanks for the update. I'll keep an eye out for it.

Another question on the Emancipator (+ NFE I believe): Given that it cannot produce electricity for the craft, and is virtually impossible to properly cool via a reasonable number of radiators if the reactor power is set >0 (by design AFAICT), and produces full thrust if set to 0 (though the reactor must still be on), is there a practical use for having the power setting slider in the PAW, and setting it >0?

When you put it like that, probably not. IIRC you can disable the feature where reactor throttle auto-adjusts to engine throttle though.

KerbalAtomics 1.0.5

• Updated B9PartSwitch to 2.10.0
• Updated DynamicBatteryStorage to 2.0.6
• Updated CryoTanks to 1.3.0
  • Fixed LCH4/Ox tank mass ratio issue
  • Improved end-user documentation for features that are not enabled by default
  • A few under the hood bug fixes/edge cases have been addressed
  • Several under the hood efficiency improvements
  • Some minor UI tweaks and fixes
  • It is now possible to specify different cooling costs per fuel type in configs
• Fixed an issue with the NFE Extras integration for the Emancipator engine (incorrect temperature curve)

 

[KIMCHI]

 I just patched a bunch of mods including this one and now Im being told no Radioactive Engines inside the atmosphere. Did I mess up a CFG?

[TackleMcClean]

I installed this and started having following problems:

- NERV engine calculated dv wrong, sort of saying it had 1000ms delta v left while in reality it only accounted for 400ms.
- NERV engine now has three engines in one (?), you can choose which one to activate. Not sure if intended or not.
- My ksp.log got super hammered with error message:

[EXC 22:23:09.671] NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
    MultiModeEngine.get_normalizedOutput ()
    ModuleAlternator.FixedUpdate ()
[EXC 22:23:09.689] NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
    MultiModeEngine.get_isOperational ()
    FXModuleThrottleEffects.FixedUpdate ()

Not using any of the extra patches.
I removed the kerbalatomics mod from gamedata and it worked fine again. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, maybe a collision with some other mod?

Dump of my gamedata folder structure:

Spoiler

 

000_AT_Utils/			  KronalVesselViewer/
000_ClickThroughBlocker/	  KSPWheel/
000_TexturesUnlimited/		  KSTS/
000_USITools/			  KXAPI/
001_ToolbarControl/		  LETech/
AntennaHelper/			  list.txt
B9PartSwitch/			  MarkIVSystem/
Benjee10_sharedAssets/		  ModularFlightIntegrator/
Benjee10_shuttleOrbiter/	  ModuleManager.4.0.2.dll*
BetterTimeWarp/			  ModuleManager.ConfigCache*
Bluedog_DB/			  ModuleManager.ConfigSHA*
Chatterer/			  ModuleManager.Physics*
CommunityCategoryKit/		  ModuleManager.TechTree*
CommunityResourcePack/		  NavyFish/
ConfigurableContainers/		  NearFutureElectrical/
CraftManager/			  NearFutureLaunchVehicles/
CryoEngines/			  NearFutureProps/
CryoEnginesRestock/		  NearFuturePropulsion/
CryoTanks/			  NearFutureSolar/
CTTP/				  NearFutureSpacecraft/
DeployableEngines/		  PlanetShine/
DiRT/				  PlumeParty/
DistantObject/			  PoodsSkyboxes/
DMagicScienceAnimate/		  PreciseManeuver/
DynamicBatteryStorage/		  RationalResources/
EasyVesselSwitch/		  RCSBuildAid/
EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements/  reDIRECT/
Firespitter/			  ReStock/
FShangarExtender/		  SCANsat/
GroundConstruction/		  scatterer/
HabTech2/			  ShipManifest/
Historian/			  SpaceY-Expanded/
htRobotics/			  SpaceY-Lifters/
JanitorsCloset/			  Squad/
JNSQ/				  StationPartsExpansionRedux/
JX2Antenna/			  StockVisualEnhancements/
KAS/				  SVT/
KerbalEngineer/			  Tantares/
KerbalFoundries/		  TantaresLV/
KerbalJointReinforcement/	  TrackingStationEvolved/
Kerbaltek/			  TriggerTech/
KIS/				  UmbraSpaceIndustries/
Kopernicus/			  UniversalStorage2/

 

[Zorg]

21 minutes ago, TackleMcClean said:

I installed this and started having following problems:

- NERV engine calculated dv wrong, sort of saying it had 1000ms delta v left while in reality it only accounted for 400ms.
- NERV engine now has three engines in one (?), you can choose which one to activate. Not sure if intended or not.
- My ksp.log got super hammered with error message:

[EXC 22:23:09.671] NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
    MultiModeEngine.get_normalizedOutput ()
    ModuleAlternator.FixedUpdate ()
[EXC 22:23:09.689] NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
    MultiModeEngine.get_isOperational ()
    FXModuleThrottleEffects.FixedUpdate ()

Not using any of the extra patches.
I removed the kerbalatomics mod from gamedata and it worked fine again. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, maybe a collision with some other mod?

Dump of my gamedata folder structure:

 

Most likely the culprit is rational resources. The version of RR bundled with JNSQ is quite out of date and it has some clashes with a few mods. JNSQ hasnt had a new release since then but you can grab the updated Rational Resources separately from here. Most of these issues have been resolved in the updated RR.

https://github.com/JadeOfMaar/RationalResources/releases

The problem with Kerbal Atomics was because RR patches the NERV with a CO2 mode which clashes with KA LH2 mode. The CO2 mode has been removed in Rational Resources now.

 

Edited September 13, 2019 by Zorg