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

[akron]

1 minute ago, Drakenex said:

Awesome work! pls don't forget about Juno

I won't! It will likely not be on this next update though. I plan to leave little time to add some last minute new parts before BETA 14, but Juno might take too long. I don't know. A new probe bus is a big commitment so it may wait until BETA 15 and get added with Cassini and Vega.

Update

I can stop posting random in-game pics? Maybe. As you can see, a number of parts are in-game! The Tatsujin solar panels kept crashing the game and I still don't know why. Something was screwed up in the cfg and it wouldn't load. I copied the configs from another part and slowly started making changes until I find what broke it. This took a lot of my time and I'm not done  . Other than that the only other hiccups has been some texture issue and some part orientation. 

There is still a lot of parts and textures to fix. All the utility parts need to be re-imported and there are a lot of tweaks. New scienceDefs need to be made for the new micrometeorite detectors. 

This is going to be another tough Friday night as far as my schedule goes. I am aching to get Github updated, so what I will likely do is hang out at The Dev Hole tonight and will open a stream if I have something to show or some one has questions or requests. No official Twitch stream tonight, but you will definitely see something if you hang out with our Friday night crew on Discord. The plan is just to get everything exported, fixed , and working in-game ASAP. The "Express" Solar Panels still need textures, so I might try and finish those tonight. Hopefully some of you guys can drop by.

If there is anything you really want to see in this next update that I can quickly ninja in it, this is likely be the last chance to request it.

~Cheers

[Drakenex]

Fair enough! Excellent work!! I wish I could have more time these days. Thanks for listening to your "Fans".

[Bombaatu]

49 minutes ago, akron said:

If there is anything you really want to see in this next update that I can quickly ninja in it, this is likely be the last chance to request it.

Just to confirm, the contract fixes are in that were mentioned in this post?

Looking forward to it! This mod has quickly become one of my favorites!

[akron]

19 minutes ago, Bombaatu said:

Just to confirm, the contract fixes are in that were mentioned in this post?

Looking forward to it! This mod has quickly become one of my favorites!

Thank you! Yes, that patch is in. I tested it  and it applies correctly but in my short amount of time playing, none of those contracts have come up so that I haven't confirmed functionality

[akron]

Update

I still have more parts to tweak and fixes or what not, but the mod is back on track. I'd like to plan a release for next weekend-ish, so if anyone is available, please test it out and give me feedback as soon as you can so I have time to fix issues!

The Github Repository has been updated. If you can test it, please feel free to download the repository. I am particularly looking for bugs reports, balancing issues, and feedback on the alternate textures on the probe cores. You can peek in the Issues section of the Github page to see what I am working on. I will update files as I get to them, so check back to make sure you have the latest version. I will try to let people know when big updates happen. If you find an issue, let me know here, or you can open a Github Issue report.

Here is a preliminary change list:

Spoiler

Beta 0.14RC

New Parts!
    ==Probe Cores==
    *CA-Q04-M 'Tatsujin' Advanced QBE (Inspired by MAVEN and Venus/Mars Express)

    ==Antenna==
    *CA-A200 Quetzal Dish (Inspired by Pioneer 10, re-design)
    *CA-A500 Tatsujin Dish (Inspired by MAVEN)

    ==Electrical==
    *CA-E400MG 1x2 Solar Panels (Inspired by MAVEN)
    *CA-E320/340 Solar Panels (Inspired by Venus/Mars Express)

    ==Propulsion parts==
    *3 Small RCS systems (RS01, RS04, RST)
    *3 Medium RCS system (RM01, RM03, RM04)
    *CAE-LV35 "Linkor" Service Module (Inspired by Fregat)
    
    ==Utility and Control==
    *CA-RW2 Dual Reaction Wheels

Updated Texture and/or models:
    *All previous probe cores
    *Quetzal ESM
    *All electrical parts (Solar panels, rtgs, batteries)
    *All Antenna (some received VERY minor changes)
    *All Reaction wheels, and Stability Systems

Updates:

-Added Firespitter as a dependency (included)
-NEW: Firespitter texture switching for all probe cores and the Quetzal Service Module
-Removed Legacy support for the original magnetometer
-Moved the "RS" RCS to Specialized Ctrl
-Moved the "Startrack" to Specialized Ctrl
-Increased RW1 torque to 1, tweaked stats
-Increased RW1a torque to 1.4, tweaked stats
-Increased RW3 torque to 4, tweaked stats
-Increased AACS SAS level to 3, cost and weight
-Balanced Solar panel stats
-Added Small Reaction Wheels to the E100-SPV Solar Panels to simulate active Solar Pressure Vanes 
-Fixed attachment node on the CA-ROTFL telescope
-Fixed the jumpy animation on the Torekka RTG
-Fixed attachment node angle on the Torekka RTG. NOTE: You need to attach it from the side for it to work (Thanks komodo!)
-Fixed DMagic contract support (Thanks komodo!)
-Added part search tags for the real-life inspiration mission to some parts

-CA-A200 Antenna weight slightly reduced and cost slightly increased to balance new functionality (Added RCS)

-Updated RT and AR configs
-Added Coatl Aerokosmicheskogo Vostok flag

By the way, the Express Solar Panels are done. Let me know what you think of them and all new/updated part after you check them out in-game. I appreciate all the compliments and support! It really does keep me going. Sorry that the propulsion and Russian stuff took a backseat. They will definitely be a focus on the next update along with HTV and the few lander parts that will be included in ProbesPlus. They will be used for me to figure out how I will make the rest of the GroundOps lander pack. I will be working on lander parts along ProbesPlus so you'll start seeing those very soon.

~Cheers

Tatsujin Express? More pics here

[Bombaatu]

You had mentioned previously that this version would be craft-breaking; is that still the case or were you able to do "legacy" parts?

[akron]

2 hours ago, Bombaatu said:

You had mentioned previously that this version would be craft-breaking; is that still the case or were you able to do "legacy" parts?

Well, I am semi-retiring the old A200 antenna, so I moved it to a legacy folder. The old original magnetometer has been removed since it had one update cycle in "legacy" mode. My biggest concern is that some parts have been re-oriented and had their sizes tweaked so they may show up strangely in current active mission crafts. If that is the case, let me know and I will try and add them to the legacy folder.

The A200 antenna will return, probably next update actually, but it will be larger and taller so I don't want people using it just yet

[akron]

I am trying to squeeze in some more stuff for you guys on this next update. Here is an internal-mount MP fuel tank and monoprop engine I am working on. There will be an option to mount the tank in a stack too.

[VenomousRequiem]

2 minutes ago, akron said:

I am trying to squeeze in some more stuff for you guys on this next update. Here is an internal-mount MP fuel tank and monoprop engine I am working on. There will be an option to mount the tank in a stack too.

Ping me when that's in game. I'm thinking unsolicited RP configs.

[akron]

Liquid fuel/Ox tank WIP. For an upcoming engine

Edited August 21, 2016 by akron

[komodo]

Oh good, it's only reactivity 3. Not so bad.

might as well toss an "OX" in the bottom diamond, haha. Looks really cool, though!

[akron]

4 hours ago, komodo said:

Oh good, it's only reactivity 3. Not so bad.

might as well toss an "OX" in the bottom diamond, haha. Looks really cool, though!

You made me realize that I re-used the NFPA tag I made for monopropellant without thinking about it.

 

Also, just to check. Does anyone have any thoughts about the new alternate textures?

[Stone Blue]

34 minutes ago, akron said:

Does anyone have any thoughts about the new alternate textures?

Uhhh??... I wish I could pay you for texturing classes?... lol

[akron]

20 minutes ago, Stone Blue said:

Uhhh??... I wish I could pay you for texturing classes?... lol

Lol. You can, but I'll also help out for free. Just let me know if there is something I can help with. What do you think about the new alternates? Do they fit other mods and stock a little better?

EDIT: I ask because I am trying to finalize what's going to be in the next patch and what will not. It would be nice to give you guys a couple of days to test it before this weekend

Edited August 22, 2016 by akron

[Siege]

4 hours ago, akron said:

You made me realize that I re-used the NFPA tag I made for monopropellant without thinking about it.

 

Also, just to check. Does anyone have any thoughts about the new alternate textures?

Textures look great from here!

[Jimbodiah]

Re textures: The new Q04 texture is bigger than that of the other probe cores, i.e. zoomed in/less resolution. The other ones look great.

[Jso]

10 hours ago, akron said:

You made me realize that I re-used the NFPA tag I made for monopropellant without thinking about it.

 

Also, just to check. Does anyone have any thoughts about the new alternate textures?

Love 'em!

[akron]

44 minutes ago, Jimbodiah said:

Re textures: The new Q04 texture is bigger than that of the other probe cores, i.e. zoomed in/less resolution. The other ones look great.

I think this was due to the carbon fiber textures not lining properly when enlarged. Let me see if I can do anything about it.

[Bombaatu]

I've gotten the latest beta from github but can't find where to switch the textures. I have Firespitter Core installed; do I need the full package?

[akron]

15 minutes ago, Bombaatu said:

I've gotten the latest beta from github but can't find where to switch the textures. I have Firespitter Core installed; do I need the full package?

You should not need the full package. The texture switch is in the probe's right-click menu. Have you tried the bundled version of Firespitter instead?

[akron]

Here, I think I finished tweaking and modeling the two new propulsion pieces. I changed the materials diamonds to what I think would be in this case, Monomethyl Hydrazine oxidized with Nitric Oxide (Reverse side). Anyway TMI: LFO on the left, Monoprop on the right:

I'll try and get them in-game tomorrow. Gotta figure out multi-nozzle engines and remember what I forgot about them since I did Linkor/Fregat.

~Cheers

[akron]

Github updated

Quick little heads up. The new engines are in but I didn't get configs written for the fuel tanks yet. I ran into some issues with the engines and got bummed out after all the steps to fix them. Will try and do those soon. Let me know what you have found out during your testing. Feel free to drop any feedback on part weights, cost, weird texture glitches... anything you notice. Thank you so much!

~Cheers

[komodo]

Tanks are looking good, I like them a lot. I would go check your PR on github though, *COUGHCOUGH*

Someone who is running stock should check the balance though; i'm on a 6.4x rescale with SMURFF, so it is difficult to say what is 'fair'. About how capable ought such a engine/tank + (which?) probe be? Either 'real' wise, or gameplay wise? Any thoughts, peanut gallery?

EDIT: That is also to say, I completely eyeballed the mass and/or tank volume, although the volume was hinted by the model names. @Jso, what was the ratio you guys came up with/determined for dry tank mass? (Or volume/model scale, for that matter.) It entirely eludes me at the moment  

Edited August 25, 2016 by komodo

[Jso]

2 hours ago, komodo said:

Tanks are looking good, I like them a lot. I would go check your PR on github though, *COUGHCOUGH*

Someone who is running stock should check the balance though; i'm on a 6.4x rescale with SMURFF, so it is difficult to say what is 'fair'. About how capable ought such a engine/tank + (which?) probe be? Either 'real' wise, or gameplay wise? Any thoughts, peanut gallery?

EDIT: That is also to say, I completely eyeballed the mass and/or tank volume, although the volume was hinted by the model names. @Jso, what was the ratio you guys came up with/determined for dry tank mass? (Or volume/model scale, for that matter.) It entirely eludes me at the moment  

For lfo tanks volume is 5 liters per unit, utilization is about 87%, and dry mass is 1/8 fuel mass. Going from memory here but I think that's right. I'll edit when I get home in a few hours if not.

[komodo]

23 minutes ago, Jso said:

For lfo tanks volume is 5 liters per unit, utilization is about 87%, and dry mass is 1/8 fuel mass. Going from memory here but I think that's right. I'll edit when I get home in a few hours if not.

Sounds about right; i'll adjust the numbers tomorrow night if no one has gotten to them by then. Thanks much.