[1.1.2] Phoenix Industries MAV-Like Ascent Vehicle (v.2.1)

[-ctn-]

1 minute ago, Capt. Hunt said:

cool, I read through the OP, but I must have missed that.

No problem, enjoy the mod and please leave any feedback you may have!

[Zachman]

How do i get the mod

[-ctn-]

23 minutes ago, Zachman said:

How do i get the mod

The same way as any mod, download it from the link in the first post and install it into the GameData directory..

[endomen]

Nice mod!
Will use it for my Duna colony and ship.

Will this be updated for 1.2?

[Mondoshawan]

Hello

Just wanna say I do like this mod alot. I tried it out in KSP v1.2.2. It worked, but there are some issues With the attachment nodes. I experienced the attachment node on the RCS stage just disappeared and I couldn't attach the main stage onto it. Are you going to make this mod work with v1.2.2?

[smotheredrun]

On 04/17/2017 at 5:18 AM, Mondoshawan said:

Hello

Just wanna say I do like this mod alot. I tried it out in KSP v1.2.2. It worked, but there are some issues With the attachment nodes. I experienced the attachment node on the RCS stage just disappeared and I couldn't attach the main stage onto it. Are you going to make this mod work with v1.2.2?

Can you post a screenshot?

[Wolf Baginski]

On 17/04/2017 at 11:18 AM, Mondoshawan said:

Hello

Just wanna say I do like this mod alot. I tried it out in KSP v1.2.2. It worked, but there are some issues With the attachment nodes. I experienced the attachment node on the RCS stage just disappeared and I couldn't attach the main stage onto it. Are you going to make this mod work with v1.2.2?

I did a little testing with 1.22 and that node didn't disappear, but the multiple engines are still awkward to fit. Camera position while assembling this is rather critical. One thing to watch is that you may have engines set as multiple stages, all mounted on the same tank-component. So you're looking at the ascent stage and wondering how come, with six engines fitted, the TWR  is so low. And then you realise it's been split into three logical stages, and the staging needs manually setting up. It's a little like, with stock components, having to put the SRBs in the same stage as the core engine.

[smotheredrun]

If I get time this weekend I'll have a look at it in my stock save, just to see if I can replicate @Mondoshawan's issue.  Although without screenshots, it will be difficult to track down.

Unfortunately it's a big if though.....

[Mondoshawan]

Hello everyone!

Thank you for Your feedback. I have just tested the mod some more. It looks like the pre-made Craft in this mod has a glitch. If I take the main stage off together With the stack seperator, the middle Connection node on the RCS stage is gone and I won't be able to Connect the main stage back on again.

I use the tweak scale mod, and it seems that some of the engines will not Connect to the Outer nodes. However they will Connect to the middle node. Even when I scale it Down it still won't Connect. This behaviour is not consistent for the RCS stage and main stage. If I manage to Connect an engine after scaling it Down, I am not able to highlight just the engine. It will only highlight the entire stage. The solution is that I highlight the engine in the staging area and right-click. Then I can scale up the engine and remove it.

Other than what I mentioned it seems to work OK. 

[smotheredrun]

Great!  Still trying to manufacture time to check this guy out again

[smotheredrun]

On 4/22/2017 at 1:53 PM, Mondoshawan said:

Hello everyone!

Thank you for Your feedback. I have just tested the mod some more. It looks like the pre-made Craft in this mod has a glitch. If I take the main stage off together With the stack seperator, the middle Connection node on the RCS stage is gone and I won't be able to Connect the main stage back on again.

I use the tweak scale mod, and it seems that some of the engines will not Connect to the Outer nodes. However they will Connect to the middle node. Even when I scale it Down it still won't Connect. This behaviour is not consistent for the RCS stage and main stage. If I manage to Connect an engine after scaling it Down, I am not able to highlight just the engine. It will only highlight the entire stage. The solution is that I highlight the engine in the staging area and right-click. Then I can scale up the engine and remove it.

Other than what I mentioned it seems to work OK. 

In a clean install (only this mod installed - no others) I cannot replicate this error.   In fact, I have not found anything yet that will not make it work in 1.2.2.

I was fooling around with it for about 30 mins in the the VAB, doing different things with both the individual parts, and with the craft file, and no issues whatsoever.  One thing:  You'll need to attach the engines individually, no grouping (2/4/6 engines) is possible on any of the stages.

BUT when building it from scratch, it seemed that the parts went together easier if you have the command pod dragged up at least 3/4 of the way to the VAB ceiling.

 

Oh, and I am now adding this to my current save!!

Edited April 24, 2017 by smotheredrun

[Bottle Rocketeer 500]

@-ctn- How do your models not appear sideways in the game?

Thanks, Bottle Rocketeer 500

[Wolf Baginski]

This still seems to work pretty well in KSP v1.3.1 and I am not sure whether I am getting better at fitting engines or KSP is getting a few more bugs worked out. Without Community Resource Pack installed, the Base unit does stall the game loading process. That's the only glitch I saw.

Setting up decouplers and staging still needs careful attention. It's sub-orbital from Kerbin, just gets into space with stock engines.

There are one or two things that I might try editing, but there is nothing that really needs changing. The Command-pod/interstage combo would be useful for Kerbal-orbit. but you could get some of the same with stock parts. It looks good. There is a mod to build decouplers into the top of fuel-tanks, and I shall try it, see how it works on the main tank

Later

I have tested it with this Mod: Integrated Stack Decouplers and it's a good combination. though you need to be careful about staging, you can't rely on the automatic set-up. The mod also creates more decouplers than you are ever likely to need in your fuel tanks. It's tempting to manually add the decoupler code to the specific parts, and remove the decouple module from the capsule, as just using the global module manager files feels way too complicated to work with for my tastes. Remember to include the dll in your Gamedata

Edited November 1, 2017 by Wolf Baginski
More Test results

[Wolf Baginski]

I don't think I shall be using this for a while, but this sums up the situation.

1: The mod works with v1.3.1

2. Fitting the engines is still a bit of a pain. Some stock engines fit pretty easily, other engines don't.

3. The textures are in .mbm format rather than .dds and I am not sure which is better. But a lot of people are using .dds

4. Possible changes: An extra fuel tank, essentially the interstage part containing just fuel/oxidiser would allow a bit of flexibility. So would using a separate heatshield rather than building it into the command pod. Remove the decoupler function from the pod, and switch the interstage and MAV to Integrated Stack Decouplers. I am not sure about the best option for the base,

4a: I am going to work on a Module Manager patch to handle the decoupler changes. 

5. There is a lot of choice for 1.125m engines, and you don't have to go for the exotic non-stock types. 6 engines are probably too many, but that's what the movie used. On the other hand, the Interstage uses 0.625m, and it may be a bit underpowered with only 4. The 0.625m in Modular Rocket Systems helps.

Functionally, this is little different from stock parts, once you figure out the equivalent of the base unit, but it is a good-looking Mod. It's set up for Duna, but I am wondering if a few things have changed enough to need tweaks. It'll be a while before I am doing any Duna operations/

 

[xD-FireStriker]

Whats going on with this mod?

[Wolf Baginski]

Running a check with v1.5.1 You can still find it on Spacedock but it is getting old. See my comments above. It's tricky to fit engines and there's some fiddling to set up decouplers and staging, but it works as well as it ever did.

Integrated Stack Decouplers is available for v1.5.1 and I think I should have installed it. But even without the extra delta-V from the interstage, I got sub-orbital. No sign of problems with the graphics or models.

 

 

[Wolf Baginski]

Just did a quick check with KSP 1.7.0 and there seem to be no real changes, still sub-orbital from the KSC, still needs some fiddling to assemble, still a bit tricky with setting up decouplers and staging. I see there is a v1.6.1 of Integrated Stack Decouplers, and if you like the looks, give it a try.

Will I bother using it? I don't know. But it's still there.

[Wolf Baginski]

Did some further testing, and it's marginal for orbital performance, depending on the ISP of the engines used. The Decouple situation seems weird. If the decouple modules are in the parts provided staging, and crossfeed goes crazy. The Integrated Stack Decouplers did seem to work, but I only got predictable function when I used a separate decoupler part. after removing the ModuleDecouple from the provided parts.  Also messed up the delta-V display provided in KSP, and I have a suspicion that KSP 1.7.0 was getting mixed up over what was what.

I think I may have discovered what is messing up the behaviour.  Look at this set of attachment nodes:

	node_stack_top = 0.0, 0.42, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 1
	node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.42, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 2
	node_stack_bottom = 0.76, -0.2, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 1
	node_stack_bottom = -0.76, -0.2, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 1
	node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.2, -0.76, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 1
	node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.2, 0.76, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 1

That's for the usual top and bottom nodes, and four engines on the bottom. But I checked a multi-engine adaptor from the SpaceY set, and saw this:

node_stack_bottom1 = 0.625, -0.3, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 1
node_stack_bottom2 = -0.625, -0.3, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 1
node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -4.3, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 2
node_stack_top = 0.0, 0.2, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2

The node locations are different, they might not be a problem in building, but I would be unsurprised if odd things happened in flight. I shall have to try it out.

[Starboost88]

@-ctn-, do you have any plans to update the mod? It's mostly update-proof, but there are some issues in the newer versions of KSP.

[Wolf Baginski]

I just did a test flight with the latest KSP 1.8.0 and it works, no real changes in behaviour, still seems to depend on Community Resource Pack for the Base section to complete loading. And it can still be found on SpaceDock at Phoenix Industries Ascent Vehicle As you can see above, I suggested a few changes to the config files and the node naming for the multiple engine mounts. I'd tested a couple of other old mods and it looks that anything that doesn't use an add-on .dll for some function is likely to work.

[Wolf Baginski]

I have not tried this with 1.9.x versions of KSP, I have had a few distractions. But the Spacedock link still works. I think I shall wait for @-ctn- to do something,

Would a visually-compatible fuel-tank extension for the MAV stage be worthwhile? You can bung in a 2.5m tank, but it looks wrong.

[Dhruv]

On 5/10/2020 at 5:58 PM, Wolf Baginski said:

I have not tried this with 1.9.x versions of KSP, I have had a few distractions. But the Spacedock link still works. I think I shall wait for @-ctn- to do something,

Would a visually-compatible fuel-tank extension for the MAV stage be worthwhile? You can bung in a 2.5m tank, but it looks wrong.

1.9x tested and it works

and does anyone know if HERMES mod works or not??

Edited September 4, 2020 by Dhruv