[WIP] Coatl Aerospace ProbesPlus Dev Thread [Beta] 10/19/2020 (1.8-1.10)

[akron]

5 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

By update, do you mean a stable release? Or just another dev build.

I like the RPWS design. Its distinct from the DMOS one. I don't think there's a ton of wiggle room for design there.

I meant another stable BETA release I haven't really done what I consider dev builds, which I will do through Github. The next release, the "science update" will mark the beginning of dev builds to Github. I will probably start setting that up once these parts get in-game so you guys can help test. I procrastinated the Github thing for a while now. I am also thinking of uploading the next BETA v0.13 to Spacedock since a lot of folks check there as well.

[Deimos Rast]

A certain Space Wolf sent me - these look mighty fine!

Many thanks.

(I prefer Github to spacedock to be honest. Spacedock also implies, to my mind, "finished" although obviously your "market" is bigger).

[akron]

1 minute ago, Deimos Rast said:

A certain Space Wolf sent me - these look mighty fine!

Many thanks.

(I prefer Github to spacedock to be honest. Spacedock also implies, to my mind, "finished" although obviously your "market" is bigger).

Holy cow, I'm gonna have to name a part after him!

Thank you for checking it out. I agree with you on the Spacedock aspect, I'd like to get the mod noticed more mainly to get more feedback and help to make it better. When I upload to Spacedock I will be sure to emphasize that Probes+ is still in development.

[CobaltWolf]

14 minutes ago, akron said:

Holy cow, I'm gonna have to name a part after him!

Thank you for checking it out. I agree with you on the Spacedock aspect, I'd like to get the mod noticed more mainly to get more feedback and help to make it better. When I upload to Spacedock I will be sure to emphasize that Probes+ is still in development.

@Beale already has one of the BLACKARROW engines named after me I think. It'd be weird to have more than one part.  

 

[sp1989]

I will be following this thread very closely. Bravo so far seriously these parts look wonderful. 

[akron]

19 hours ago, sp1989 said:

I will be following this thread very closely. Bravo so far seriously these parts look wonderful. 

Much appreciated!

I'll have some stuff this weekend. I will setup a Github and start release my dev checkpoints.

~Cheers!

[akron]

Update

Productive night! I worked alongside (at the same time) @CobaltWolf during his stream and got two version of the dust experiment done. The first is based on stardust. This is a dust collector, meaning that it has no way to analyze the data so you must return the sample for full science. The second "telescope" looking one is based on Cassini and it has a built-in spectrometer to partially analyze the results. You still must return the sample for full science, though. No WIP textures, sorry!

I may start doing UV and textures, but I will procrastinate that if I can...

~Cheers

 

[Deimos Rast]

So I finally got to poking and prying at your mod(s) and I have to say, you've nailed it spot on. I'm a huge fan of probes, science equipment and antennas and this pack is lovely. It reminds me a lot of raidernick's work, but more modular.

If you're open to some feedback (mainly a lot of me saying "cool" and "neat") read on; if not, that's fine too! In no real order

• Perfect selection of parts - absolutely nailed it. Maybe an Ion engine? (see NearFuture Propulsion for inspiration if lacking ideas).
  • I really like the size and "feel" of the inline probe cores.
  • Antennas and (especially) the Science equipment are sweet.
• Mod Compatibility: Nuke Engine = Liquid Hydrogen (see Kerbal Atomics by Nertea for example patches) & Remote Tech for Antennas/Dishes
• RTG's are amazing - I wonder how the extending animations affects the thermal mechanics.
• Your stand alone SAS modules are missing a line in the configs in order to work properly I believe. They require "standalone = true" in the SAS module or else they won't work at all.
• This one is mainly subjective, but you use a lot of "space tinfoil" (whatever it's called) which I like, but maybe a bit too much. While it gives your pack a unifying look, it also makes it harder to fit in with stock parts, as a lot of your parts use it. Also, on my screen, it comes across a bit brownish for my taste (might be personal preference). A point of reference here might be raidernick's work with his many US probes.
  • Thinking outloud here...but if you're committed to the "foil for everyone" route, can we make it more "foil-y". Now, I'm not necessarily advocating going the full "Reflection plugin" route for that full shine/glossy look, but maybe some middle ground?
  • Also, anyway to raise up the crinkles at all? I realize doing that for every crease would (probably) be insane, but currently it looks flat and kind of makes one do a double take.

All I got at the moment. Really like this pack. The only thing missing to make a complete probe would be the propulsion system (I understand the Nuke engine was originally a side project).

Cheers (and keep up the good work).

[akron]

1 hour ago, Deimos Rast said:

• Perfect selection of parts - absolutely nailed it. Maybe an Ion engine? (see NearFuture Propulsion for inspiration if lacking ideas).
  • I really like the size and "feel" of the inline probe cores.
  • Antennas and (especially) the Science equipment are sweet.
• Mod Compatibility: Nuke Engine = Liquid Hydrogen (see Kerbal Atomics by Nertea for example patches) & Remote Tech for Antennas/Dishes
• RTG's are amazing - I wonder how the extending animations affects the thermal mechanics.
• Your stand alone SAS modules are missing a line in the configs in order to work properly I believe. They require "standalone = true" in the SAS module or else they won't work at all.
• This one is mainly subjective, but you use a lot of "space tinfoil" (whatever it's called) which I like, but maybe a bit too much. While it gives your pack a unifying look, it also makes it harder to fit in with stock parts, as a lot of your parts use it. Also, on my screen, it comes across a bit brownish for my taste (might be personal preference). A point of reference here might be raidernick's work with his many US probes.
  • Thinking outloud here...but if you're committed to the "foil for everyone" route, can we make it more "foil-y". Now, I'm not necessarily advocating going the full "Reflection plugin" route for that full shine/glossy look, but maybe some middle ground?
  • Also, anyway to raise up the crinkles at all? I realize doing that for every crease would (probably) be insane, but currently it looks flat and kind of makes one do a double take.

Thank you very much. I absolutely welcome feedback. Please. And to all, if something sucks, please tell me. Otherwise, how can I make it not suck? Anyway, to get to your points:

• I have some propulsion parts planned, but no ion engines. I don't want to re-do something another mod has done well unless I have a really good reason. To be honest, NearFuture has those amazing engines and I doubt I have a good design that is not already there on on another mod.
• Yes, thank you. I haven't visited the Nerva HT in a while, I will give it a look
• Thanks again. As far as I know, KSP handles heat as coming from the whole part. I do not think I can accurately simulate this without a plugin. A mod may have done this already, I will look around and see.
• I will check the configs, I had not notice any not working, so I think they are ok.
• When I started working on Probes Plus, I was honesty trying to do stock-alike or Pork-alike. This quickly went out the wayside because they stuff I was making just was not that good so the mod textures ended being in-between. All my color palettes are derived from stock and other popular mods though, so they should fit alright. I love the work that  @raidernick did on his mods. I did try lightening the foil a bit, and @CobaltWolf can attest that my textures are often dark and saturated. However, I, again, did not like the result. One of the reasons it looks strange is the lack of specular rolloff for the shininess you describe, and a lack of a normal map for depth. These are planned in the future when the textures are "done".  I didn't want to do all the work needed to do those two until I was sure I wouldn't have to go back to make changes,

Here, I did a super quick and dirty spec/normal test to show what I mean. Again, this is with ZERO work done to make it look proper (Hence all the texture glitches). The foil will look closer to this when the mod gets closer to completion.

 

EDIT: Specular maps are much easier and faster to do than normal maps, I may start including those, I haven't decided yet.

Edited May 7, 2016 by akron

[CobaltWolf]

12 hours ago, akron said:

• I have some propulsion parts planned, but no ion engines. I don't want to re-do something another mod has done well unless I have a really good reason. To be honest, NearFuture has those amazing engines and I doubt I have a good design that is not already there on on another mod.

Here, I did a super quick and dirty spec/normal test to show what I mean. Again, this is with ZERO work done to make it look proper (Hence all the texture glitches). The foil will look closer to this when the mod gets closer to completion.

EDIT: Specular maps are much easier and faster to do than normal maps, I may start including those, I haven't decided yet.

I have some ion propulsion and RCS thrusters planned.

I think the foil with spec + normals looks waaaay better, especially for a quick and dirty mockup.

[akron]

8 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

I have some ion propulsion and RCS thrusters planned.

I think the foil with spec + normals looks waaaay better, especially for a quick and dirty mockup.

I have some RCS stuff coming up as well.

I really like the look, but I am too picky about getting it just right. I don't see myself releasing at least the normal maps until they're done proper.

Update

So I got my Github Repository setup! Github is also now available as a mirror and a link was added to the OP. This is how Github is going to be used: As parts get finished, I will update the repository and notify you guys here, but will NOT create a download. I am hoping this will ensure that only people who really want to beta test are the only ones downloading the VERY rough WIP releases. When I get close to a final release, I'll start creating release candidate download ZIPs, leading up to an official BETA release; the next of which will also go on Spacedock (0.13 BETA).

Now, I have done a lot of modeling but not many parts are in-game. What is available for testing right now is the Voyager Science Boom, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer, and most of their respective Science Defs. Download the Repo if you want to check those out!

Github Page

~Cheers

[akron]

Update

I am the master of double-posts, it seems. The IR spectrometer is now available for testing at the Github Repo. It is using the new, higher-res, "science experiment" texture and it includes a test Specular map which I will try to include with all the new parts.

If you are willing, test it out and let me know what you think!

~Cheers

 

Edited May 8, 2016 by akron

[SpaceBadger007]

Just making sure but the probes + pack should be ok to test in 1.1.2?

[akron]

1 hour ago, SpaceBadger007 said:

Just making sure but the probes + pack should be ok to test in 1.1.2?

Yes, please! Go ahead, let me know if anything breaks. The mod currently has no Tags for the new KSP 1.1 search system, but they will be done in time for the next release

[Delta_8930]

So far everything looks good

[SpaceBadger007]

Well so far everything looks GREAT! (in sandbox anyway) Will try in science mod in the near future! 

P.S Love the animations especially the rtgs and tv space antenna! 

Edited May 10, 2016 by SpaceBadger007

[Jso]

Took the KLIR on a trip to Duna. Very nice. I really like that Barquetta probe core.

You should probably put a note in the description on the parts that require DMagic. They give the impression of being broken.

 

 

[akron]

1 hour ago, Jso said:

Took the KLIR on a trip to Duna. Very nice. I really like that Barquetta probe core.

You should probably put a note in the description on the parts that require DMagic. They give the impression of being broken.

Thanks! The pictures look very nice!

DMagic is a dependency, and there is a notice on the thread. I can add a note to the parts, but I don't know if it is necessary. If you load up the game without DMagic, it is already too late...

6 hours ago, SpaceBadger007 said:

Well so far everything looks GREAT! (in sandbox anyway) Will try in science mod in the near future! 

P.S Love the animations especially the rtgs and tv space antenna! 

Thank you. I probably over do the animations a bit, but I'm glad you like them!

[rasta013]

@akron This is really great work!!!  I'm definitely grabbing this and following this thread to keep up with what you're doing and to help out with testing.  I noticed in a suggestion above regarding mod compatibility that Remote Tech was of course mentioned (as it should be), but I'd also like to suggest compatibility with Antenna Range.  I've helped CobaltWolf with some of the BDB antennas (need to update my patch though) and would be more than happy to offer my assistance to you for any of your parts that have antenna components and I cover both stock and OPM systems.

Keep up the great work - looking forward to whatever you have coming next!

[akron]

39 minutes ago, rasta013 said:

@akron This is really great work!!!  I'm definitely grabbing this and following this thread to keep up with what you're doing and to help out with testing.  I noticed in a suggestion above regarding mod compatibility that Remote Tech was of course mentioned (as it should be), but I'd also like to suggest compatibility with Antenna Range.  I've helped CobaltWolf with some of the BDB antennas (need to update my patch though) and would be more than happy to offer my assistance to you for any of your parts that have antenna components and I cover both stock and OPM systems.

Keep up the great work - looking forward to whatever you have coming next!

Much appreciated. I welcome any assistance with adding compatibility to other popular mods, specially those I do not normally use so I don't know how they work.

I do not have any new antenna planned for Beta 0.13 so if you have a chance to write configs for the current antenna, it will be up to date.

[rasta013]

2 hours ago, akron said:

Much appreciated. I welcome any assistance with adding compatibility to other popular mods, specially those I do not normally use so I don't know how they work.

I do not have any new antenna planned for Beta 0.13 so if you have a chance to write configs for the current antenna, it will be up to date.

Absolutely, just glad I'm able to help out another amazing mod.  I'll get them pulled together over the next couple of days as I update the BDB sets and post them here for you.

[akron]

3 hours ago, rasta013 said:

Absolutely, just glad I'm able to help out another amazing mod.  I'll get them pulled together over the next couple of days as I update the BDB sets and post them here for you.

This sounds great. If you want, I can include them in the download

[rasta013]

11 hours ago, akron said:

This sounds great. If you want, I can include them in the download

By all means please do!  I just want to provide something for you to enhance you mod with the rest of the community so if you'd like to include it that would be awesome.  Had to do a full balance pass on the BDB antennas tonight but will be on your 7 tomorrow and should have it for you by the end of the day.

[akron]

5 hours ago, rasta013 said:

By all means please do!  I just want to provide something for you to enhance you mod with the rest of the community so if you'd like to include it that would be awesome.  Had to do a full balance pass on the BDB antennas tonight but will be on your 7 tomorrow and should have it for you by the end of the day.

Great. Take your time, no rush. (Which is sad because I am a big Rush fan )

[Dunrana]

Maybe you should convert the textures to.dds rather than .mbm.  That way they would be smaller.

Also if  they were .dds I might try making a alternate texture pack for those who can’t stand the gold foil texture, not that I’m any good with textures.