[1.11.x] Endurance (from Interstellar) Continued... (V1.13) 20th Feb 2021

[shaboi]

I tried to build the lander just now and I cant get the lift engines to attach directly under the "legs" of the lander.  Basically what's happening is for the attachment point of the engine itself is not on the physical engine but floating next to it. 

 

edit: It would probably be important to let people know I am using 1.1.  I assume the problems could just be coming from that. 

Edited April 5, 2016 by shaboi
adding more information

[JPLRepo]

Are you trying to use this mod in the Pre-release 1.1 version? If so, It is not supported.

 

Update: Sorry everyone bit swamped with real work and a bunch of mods to update. I know about the VTOL lander attach point problem. If people have a chance to try the existing version on the pre-release and help me to gather the bugs you find on GitHub. Please check all the existing issues, including this one before posting a new issue. That will speed the process up.

Edited April 5, 2016 by JPLRepo

[thomash]

I loaded the Throttle Control Avionics mod a week or so ago.  It's a game changer for flying and landing the Rangers and Landers.  It takes complete control of the ship, flies along a route of waypoints that you set, and lands softly on the one you designate, on a dime.  It has a somewhat steep learning curve, but there is a manual.  Also, I have had a couple of misadventures where I had to take over manual control, but otherwise it's as if TARS is right there flying the thing for you.  Granted, some might consider this a cheat, but I'm not in this to become the excellent VTOL pilot.  I'm in it for the exploration, science, and habitat building.

Edited April 11, 2016 by thomash

[Table]

Hmm, JPLRepo, I know you have integrated RPM in this, but can you perhaps integrate ASET Avionics into this? It's totally your choice.

[JPLRepo]

21 minutes ago, Table said:

Hmm, JPLRepo, I know you have integrated RPM in this, but can you perhaps integrate ASET Avionics into this? It's totally your choice.

No I haven't integrated RPM into this mod. In fact the models have alignment problems big time. IE: the internal models for the Ranger, Lander do not align or size correctly to the exernal models. So in 1.1 they look ridiculous with the new overlay feature. For transparent pods the windows also do not align correctly.It's on my list for 1.1 to just get them sized and aligned correctly, but I haven't got to it yet. As for ASET - that mod is just a set of RPM Props. I have no plans to change the existing props in the internals at this stage.

[thomash]

I was wondering how that worked.  A lot of command modules have problems with IVA.  Ranger and the Lander are better than most.  As much as I tend to be preoccupied with IVAs (especially ASET) the poor visibility out the windows of the Lander and Ranger mean that most of the time I'm in the outside view anyway.

I have two questions.

First, can we get a little better gas mileage out of the Lander and Ranger.  I've been practicing landing at specific points from orbit with the Lander.  Granted, even with TCA I'm not the best, but it seems to me that there is very little room for error.  You have to be right on target on decent, and the same to make it back to Endurance.  There's no time to sight-see, which would be nice.

Second, is there a way to adjust the volume of engine emissions?  The Lander burns a lot of oil.  On landing, the VTOL engines emit so much smoke that the Lander completely disappears just seconds from touch-down.  I don't recall any emissions in the movie.  I have the cfg editor.  I just don't know what numbers to monkey with.    Thanks.

[Kerbl101]

Does the Viper only have one part?

[Table]

On 4/13/2016 at 11:31 AM, JPLRepo said:

4 minutes ago, Kerbl101 said:

Does the Viper only have one part?

 

Yes

[JPLRepo]

On 14/04/2016 at 11:58 AM, thomash said:

I was wondering how that worked.  A lot of command modules have problems with IVA.  Ranger and the Lander are better than most.  As much as I tend to be preoccupied with IVAs (especially ASET) the poor visibility out the windows of the Lander and Ranger mean that most of the time I'm in the outside view anyway.

I have two questions.

First, can we get a little better gas mileage out of the Lander and Ranger.  I've been practicing landing at specific points from orbit with the Lander.  Granted, even with TCA I'm not the best, but it seems to me that there is very little room for error.  You have to be right on target on decent, and the same to make it back to Endurance.  There's no time to sight-see, which would be nice.

Second, is there a way to adjust the volume of engine emissions?  The Lander burns a lot of oil.  On landing, the VTOL engines emit so much smoke that the Lander completely disappears just seconds from touch-down.  I don't recall any emissions in the movie.  I have the cfg editor.  I just don't know what numbers to monkey with.    Thanks.

I have it on the list for 1.1 update to re-visit the Lander and Ranger engine parameters and the smoke trails and engine plumes.
But before I get to that I have to fix all the IVAs. Cases in point (pic spoilers):
 

Spoiler

Yep - Seems the Lander has some futuristic/alien Tardis time technology installed.

I didn't bother uploading the other pictures, as it only gets worse.
Note in the pic above the landing legs need to be fixed as well...

and all this before I get to other things like engine tweaks, etc.

Some small good news, not all are busted.. The Viper is the best of the bunch, it actually fits and aligns. Just needs a new DepthMask mesh for the 1.1 IVA Overlay feature:
 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited April 15, 2016 by JPLRepo

[[MG]Atlas]

It would be cool to have an "slope" shaped object to attach the ranger on (like the two docking things on the Endurance ring) so thta could launch it with a rocket (I know its a VTOL and SSTO so it shouldnt be launched with a rocket but would be cool) Its a cool mod and thank you for doing this.

[benjee10]

On 15 April 2016 at 3:24 AM, JPLRepo said:

I have it on the list for 1.1 update to re-visit the Lander and Ranger engine parameters and the smoke trails and engine plumes.
But before I get to that I have to fix all the IVAs. Cases in point (pic spoilers):
 

  Hide contents

Yep - Seems the Lander has some futuristic/alien Tardis time technology installed.

I didn't bother uploading the other pictures, as it only gets worse.
Note in the pic above the landing legs need to be fixed as well...

and all this before I get to other things like engine tweaks, etc.

Some small good news, not all are busted.. The Viper is the best of the bunch, it actually fits and aligns. Just needs a new DepthMask mesh for the 1.1 IVA Overlay feature:
 

  Hide contents

 

 

Honestly you are probably best off redoing the Lander and Ranger IVAs from the ground up. The scale of the ships vs their interiors changes a fair bit in the movie and I did the modelling of the parts based on the scale of the exteriors, which (particularly in the case of the Lander) is pretty much completely inconsistent with the scale of interiors. AFAIK the 'miniatures' used for exterior filming were less than full scale and that gave an incorrect reference size when they were shown with humans. I believe the Ranger IVA model was made to fit a previous version of the external model so I had to raise the IVA up in the config file to stop the window frames clipping through the IVA. Really I think the Endurance and Lander should be scaled larger in relation to the Ranger. I was planning on doing a total remodel at some point actually and getting everything properly scaled so there's enough space inside the Lander for Kerbals to fit their heads!

Viper depth mask should be pretty easy. Just take the external model, delete the window faces, and give it the depth mask shader. 

Keep up the good work. Nice to see it still being worked on!

[JPLRepo]

So now 1.1 is out, and seeing how it's now against the forum rules to ask. I'll let you all know that I have updating this mod on my list. But I have a lot on my list for KSP and ALL of that comes AFTER my real work. So I can't make any commitments on when I will have this mod ready for 1.1. But stay tuned.

[TheJammyOne]

This mod actually seems to be working alright in KSP 1.1! I love this mod! Keep up the good work! xD

 

I'm having two issues though which I'm assuming will be fixed in the update. These are:

1. The built-in lander legs on the Ranger don't work (As you seemed to be hinting)...
2. The VTOL Engines for the Lander are weird and are offset completely. (I couldn't find anything about that on the forums so I'm assuming that's to do with me running it on KSP 1.1)

Edited April 24, 2016 by TheJammyOne

[JPLRepo]

2 hours ago, TheJammyOne said:

This mod actually seems to be working alright in KSP 1.1! I love this mod! Keep up the good work! xD

 

I'm having two issues though which I'm assuming will be fixed in the update. These are:

1. The built-in lander legs on the Ranger don't work (As you seemed to be hinting)...
2. The VTOL Engines for the Lander are weird and are offset completely. (I couldn't find anything about that on the forums so I'm assuming that's to do with me running it on KSP 1.1)

Those two and a lot of others things. Especially the VTOL engines.
Whatever you do, don't turn on the new stock overlay feature. All the IVAs need to be re-done to align and be the right scale and new depthmask meshes need to be added.
I am currently not supporting this mod in 1.1 until I fix everything. Work is happening, slowly. Please be patient.
 

[Wolfdog]

I'm looking forward to this mod.

[thomash]

Hey JPL-

Regarding the IVAs, it seems that in Interstellar as is the case with a lot of the real command pods we see now, the multi-function screens are actually suspended in front of the pilots, and move with them, as they move their seats.  As a result they are always blocking the forward window.  If it's any easier, you could consider mounting the MFSs so that they are directly in front of the player, and forget about how this might interfere with the windows.  Just cover them up from the inside.  You can't see squat out of them anyway.  Does any of that make sense?

[JPLRepo]

5 hours ago, thomash said:

Hey JPL-

Regarding the IVAs, it seems that in Interstellar as is the case with a lot of the real command pods we see now, the multi-function screens are actually suspended in front of the pilots, and move with them, as they move their seats.  As a result they are always blocking the forward window.  If it's any easier, you could consider mounting the MFSs so that they are directly in front of the player, and forget about how this might interfere with the windows.  Just cover them up from the inside.  You can't see squat out of them anyway.  Does any of that make sense?

I understand. But right now the priority is to just fix all the IVAs etc to work in KSP 1.1.x
You do realise you can click the windows to look out from them? (alternate internal cameras are installed on the front and ceiling windows).
There are also cameras looking backwards at the crew if you double click the front wall in the centre.

[Wolfdog]

I thought it would be worth adding that the Ranger spams Null Reference errors all the time. I'm using version 1.1.2. I appreciate your work. This mod adds a whole new experience to the game.

Edited April 30, 2016 by Wolfdog

[JPLRepo]

Ok just a quick update. I have finally got all my other mods up to date with KSP 1.1+.
So from tomorrow this mod will be getting almost all of my attention (in my spare time of course).
I can't say how long it will be, but the wait hopefully won't be too much longer for fans of this mod.

[Wolfdog]

Another thing I've noticed is that the Endurance when fully built, has an insanely high vertex count. It's so bad that my physics turns yellow (even in deep space), whereas I normally have green physics even with a lot of parts.

Why not make the meshes simpler? Instead of having a very complex shape for each module, why not having a main base (slightly modified cubes) and textures for the details?

There is really no need for such complex shapes.

Edited May 3, 2016 by Wolfdog

[Phers]

Looking forward to be able to use the lander again... this was my go to SSTO for building bases on Mun and Duna. One small question though... whatever happened to the Lazarus Module?

 

 

[JPLRepo]

15 hours ago, Wolfdog said:

Another thing I've noticed is that the Endurance when fully built, has an insanely high vertex count. It's so bad that my physics turns yellow (even in deep space), whereas I normally have green physics even with a lot of parts.

Why not make the meshes simpler? Instead of having a very complex shape for each module, why not having a main base (slightly modified cubes) and textures for the details?

<pic snip>

There is really no need for such complex shapes.

I can't comment on that as I never created them to begin with. Perhaps one day but I doubt I will ever find the time to re-do the models.

3 minutes ago, Phers said:

Looking forward to be able to use the lander again... this was my go to SSTO for building bases on Mun and Duna. One small question though... whatever happened to the Lazarus Module?

There was a Lazarus Module? I only took up with what Benjee10 left me. There was no Lazarus Module in the files he gave me.


Also, for those brave souls trying to run this in 1.1+, there is a lot broken in it. I can't support 1.1+ yet with this mod. I'm still working on it, but there are a number of issues.
Issue of the day today that I have been busting my head over for hours is the Ranger EVA/Docking port keeps coming up as Hatch Blocked and you can't EVA out of it. Trying to figure out what is wrong with the model and what Squad have changed to introduce this behaviour..

Edited May 4, 2016 by JPLRepo

[Phers]

think the lazarus module was wip... https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1DhFQzCfzY4V2RrWDdlZVNpTjQ&usp=drive_web

there is reference to it in Benjee10's google drive under the misc folder..

and here is some early pics.. http://imgur.com/a/TO4X0#4 from one of the testers.

Not that bothered about it just want the lander working again

If i can figure out how to use blender i'll try and get this part working for you to add to the mod. stuff that way to complicated

Got the module working is KSP 1.1.2 - the built in rcs works (some particles come from top and bottom of module)

still needs to test the solar panel

Textures are a bit basic.. maybe someone could make a nicer one  

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2016 by Phers
update

[JPLRepo]

6 hours ago, Phers said:

think the lazarus module was wip... https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1DhFQzCfzY4V2RrWDdlZVNpTjQ&usp=drive_web

there is reference to it in Benjee10's google drive under the misc folder..

and here is some early pics.. http://imgur.com/a/TO4X0#4 from one of the testers.

Not that bothered about it just want the lander working again

If i can figure out how to use blender i'll try and get this part working for you to add to the mod. stuff that way to complicated

Got the module working is KSP 1.1.2 - the built in rcs works (some particles come from top and bottom of module)

still needs to test the solar panel

Textures are a bit basic.. maybe someone could make a nicer one  

 

Ok you're right. I had that but I must have overlooked it as it wasn't part of the distributed parts.
I'll put it on the list after getting the rest working.

[Wolfdog]

How's the mod coming? Any problems encountered so far?