[Old Thread] KRE - Kerbal Reusability Expansion

[EmbersArc]

8 hours ago, Dafni said:

I did not dare to put it into an 1.3 install before it is announced as compatible here.

Matter of fact, this mod is the sole reason I am still on 1.2.2.

Just did a quick test myself. Seems to work fine.

 

8 hours ago, Dafni said:

Great work on the new legs! Your new model looks very very nice indeed! Cant wait to see them in game. And I agree with you on this, they are essential.

Thanks for all your work on this. I am sure many people appreciate it (especially since squad again decided against this arguably obvious addition)

Keep it up!

Thanks! Always happy to to hear that.

[Dafni]

1 hour ago, EmbersArc said:

Just did a quick test myself. Seems to work fine.

 

Thanks! Always happy to to hear that.

You are welcome!

Okay then, I´ll build an 1.3 install and report back.

Any idea when you implement the new leg models?

[EmbersArc]

Experimenting with carbon fiber textures:

Still trying to make it work with the Porkjet style.

 

14 hours ago, Dafni said:

Any idea when you implement the new leg models?

Nope. But good progress, so it won't take very long.

[Dafni]

Wow, that texture looks very nice!

[TheEpicSquared]

1 hour ago, EmbersArc said:

Experimenting with carbon fiber textures:

Still trying to make it work with the Porkjet style.

That looks very good.  

Also, where can I find the 1.2.2 download for this mod? Or will the 1.3 version still work on 1.2.2? 

[EmbersArc]

2 hours ago, TheEpicSquared said:

Also, where can I find the 1.2.2 download for this mod? Or will the 1.3 version still work on 1.2.2? 

It's the same for now. SpaceDock or Curse both let you download older versions of the mod. In the ChangeLog on SpaceDock for example.

[Skylon]

4 hours ago, EmbersArc said:

Experimenting with carbon fiber textures:

Still trying to make it work with the Porkjet style.

 

Nope. But good progress, so it won't take very long.

This was the second mod I installed after KER, and I was extremely excited. You have continued to update this mod with even more exciting content, and I must say this retexture is a prime example. Thanks!

[minepagan]

Just curious, but does the 1.3 version of this mod work in 1.2.2, or not? I have a savegame I'm trying to put together that has a lot of not-yet-updated mods, and I'd love to still be able to use the deployable wings.

[EmbersArc]

1 hour ago, minepagan said:

Just curious, but does the 1.3 version of this mod work in 1.2.2, or not? I have a savegame I'm trying to put together that has a lot of not-yet-updated mods, and I'd love to still be able to use the deployable wings.

Looks like none of the parts are affected by the 1.3 update. So they should stay fully backward compatible.

[EmbersArc]

Update 2.5

• Revamped Falcon 9 legs
• Improvements to Dragon Trunk texture and model
• Adjustments to Firespitter patch

 

[Coolinee Kerman]

I changed the SuperDracos and Dragon fuel tank to hold/use MP, would you mind if I posted it?

[EmbersArc]

11 hours ago, HiThere!2 said:

I changed the SuperDracos and Dragon fuel tank to hold/use MP, would you mind if I posted it?

Sure why not  

[Coolinee Kerman]

2 hours ago, EmbersArc said:

Sure why not  

https://www.dropbox.com/s/35rcevrz3n50n7l/KerbalReusabilityExpansion%2BMPDracos.zip?dl=0 Here it is.

[M4GiC]

Hello, I have a question for the "adjustments to Firespitter patch" thing. I've downloaded the latest version of the firespitter plugin, placed it in the GameData folder of KSP (KRE also installed and placed in the GameData folder, obviously). I launched the game, wanted to change the texture for the revamped Falcon landing legs, but there was no button/option for that. Am I having a problem or there is no black/other texture for the revamped Falcon landing legs? Thanks in advance.

[EmbersArc]

4 hours ago, M4GiC said:

Hello, I have a question for the "adjustments to Firespitter patch" thing. I've downloaded the latest version of the firespitter plugin, placed it in the GameData folder of KSP (KRE also installed and placed in the GameData folder, obviously). I launched the game, wanted to change the texture for the revamped Falcon landing legs, but there was no button/option for that. Am I having a problem or there is no black/other texture for the revamped Falcon landing legs? Thanks in advance.

I changed:

    "SpaceXLegs-*"

to 

    "SpaceXLegs-S|SpaceXLegs-L|SpaceXLegs-XL"

because it stopped working for me and I thought it was because of the wildcard. However it seems to work fine for me either way now. I'm on KSP 1.3 with Firespitter 7.6.0 and KRE 2.5.

What KSP version are you on?

 

[Ryan1854]

I have a question. I have used this mod for a long time, experimenting for the best way to make a Falcon 9. Does anyone know what the best way to make an octaweb or any mods that have an octaweb for the 2.5 meter size?

[EmbersArc]

14 minutes ago, Ryan1854 said:

I have a question. I have used this mod for a long time, experimenting for the best way to make a Falcon 9. Does anyone know what the best way to make an octaweb or any mods that have an octaweb for the 2.5 meter size?

Welcome to the forums!

I've never personally used it but it looks like SpaceY has an octaweb and more:

I don't know if it's 2.5 meter in size. You might have to use tweakscale.

[Ryan1854]

1 minute ago, EmbersArc said:

Welcome to the forums!

I've never personally used it but it looks like SpaceY has an octaweb and more:

I don't know if it's 2.5 meter in size. You might have to use tweakscale.

Thanks! I'll look into SpaceY and see if it has what i'm looking for.

[Skylon]

1 hour ago, Ryan1854 said:

I have a question. I have used this mod for a long time, experimenting for the best way to make a Falcon 9. Does anyone know what the best way to make an octaweb or any mods that have an octaweb for the 2.5 meter size?

Normally I have 8 reliant engines on the outside, with another reliant or a swivel for gimbal and smaller size in the middle. If you want to land on just the centre engine, I suggest a vector. You could also probably tweakscale a vector, but I would say that the vector engine is overpowered in terms of Thrust to Weight/Size Ratio. I guess they were designed for use on a shuttle design, so they needed a lot of thrust and gimbal to increase ease of use

Edited June 8, 2017 by Skylon

[M4GiC]

19 hours ago, EmbersArc said:

I changed:

    "SpaceXLegs-*"

to 

    "SpaceXLegs-S|SpaceXLegs-L|SpaceXLegs-XL"

because it stopped working for me and I thought it was because of the wildcard. However it seems to work fine for me either way now. I'm on KSP 1.3 with Firespitter 7.6.0 and KRE 2.5.

What KSP version are you on?

 

Never mind, I reinstalled all the mods I have, now everything works just fine. Not sure what was the problem though. My KSP version is 1.3. Thanks for answering my question BTW!

[Brigadier]

KSP 1.2.2

I'm having a really difficult time using the grid fins to return a booster to KSC.  I'm using FMRS and Stage Recovery mods in sandbox mode to learn how to handle the return of a simple 2-stage, liquid-fuel rocket with the first stage containing extra fuel, 2 grid fins, a probe core and a battery.

Everything is fine until I separate the booster.  Getting the two fins to deploy is tough because the stage starts to flip and rotate, especially after I get one fin out.  Should I be using 4 instead of 2 fins?  The fins are positioned with the slightly curved surface facing the ground.  Is this correct?  I saw the note in the part description about a small arrow having to face space, but I don't see it.

From about 5km up, the stage becomes stable provided I turn SAS off.  Then as I get close to the ground and attempt to reduce the velocity, the stage becomes even more unstable, especially at low velocities.  I've seen video of some very smooth and stable landings of much larger stages.  I have MecJeb2 but haven't used the attitude controls so far.

I've lost too many boosters to count and I know this is possible.  Any wise guidance on what I might be missing in terms of technique or design?

[Skylon]

26 minutes ago, Brigadier said:

KSP 1.2.2

I'm having a really difficult time using the grid fins to return a booster to KSC.  I'm using FMRS and Stage Recovery mods in sandbox mode to learn how to handle the return of a simple 2-stage, liquid-fuel rocket with the first stage containing extra fuel, 2 grid fins, a probe core and a battery.

Everything is fine until I separate the booster.  Getting the two fins to deploy is tough because the stage starts to flip and rotate, especially after I get one fin out.  Should I be using 4 instead of 2 fins?  The fins are positioned with the slightly curved surface facing the ground.  Is this correct?  I saw the note in the part description about a small arrow having to face space, but I don't see it.

From about 5km up, the stage becomes stable provided I turn SAS off.  Then as I get close to the ground and attempt to reduce the velocity, the stage becomes even more unstable, especially at low velocities.  I've seen video of some very smooth and stable landings of much larger stages.  I have MecJeb2 but haven't used the attitude controls so far.

I've lost too many boosters to count and I know this is possible.  Any wise guidance on what I might be missing in terms of technique or design?

A picture wouldn't hurt here, but do you have fins at the bottom too? Just like how they keep your rocket facing up while going up, they make it face down when going down. As for control at low speeds, gimballing engines, thrusters and reaction wheels (though reaction wheels are far from needed) are useful here. And yes, I think it would work better with 4 fins, or it won't fully stabilise. 3 may work, but I haven't tried it. I don't see why you should need to use less than 4 fins.

Edit: What is your speed above 5km? I think braking deploys the fins, or you could use an action group rather than doing it manually

I'm guessing you are not using mechjeb. Maybe also try suborbital single stage hops first with your first stage to test it out

Edited June 10, 2017 by Skylon

[Brigadier]

10 hours ago, Skylon said:

A picture wouldn't hurt here, but do you have fins at the bottom too? Just like how they keep your rocket facing up while going up, they make it face down when going down. As for control at low speeds, gimballing engines, thrusters and reaction wheels (though reaction wheels are far from needed) are useful here. And yes, I think it would work better with 4 fins, or it won't fully stabilise. 3 may work, but I haven't tried it. I don't see why you should need to use less than 4 fins.

Edit: What is your speed above 5km? I think braking deploys the fins, or you could use an action group rather than doing it manually

I'm guessing you are not using mechjeb. Maybe also try suborbital single stage hops first with your first stage to test it out

Thank you very much for your help.  It's now working but not immediately!

No fins are at the bottom and I kept it this way for learning purposes.  The decent engine is/was a LV-T45 Swivel and initially I had no RCS system, so I added Vernier thrusters, a smaill inline reaction wheel and landing gear (not that landing gear were going to solve my controlability problem).  I use AGX for actions so I created a command to deploy the fins (small issue here, more later).  Above 5km, my max speed was slightly over 250 m/s.  I have MechJeb installed but really would like to learn how to do this manually first.

1st Trial: I launched with the new config, got to separation and controlled the 2nd stage to landing (mostly ).  I went back to the first stage, tried the action group to deploy the fins, which didn't work, and deployed them manually but not until a significant rotation rate built up.  The stage ended up rolling around the longitudinal axis faster and faster, with and without RCS and SAS, with the inevitable result.  Back to the drawing board I went.

2nd Trial:  In the VAB, I re-placed the grid fins to ensure they were on right (I finally found the little arrows) and moved them further up the fuel tank.  I went back into actions and created three groups for the fins (Toggle Fins, Toggle Deploy Fins, and Extend Fins) just to see which one worked as advertised.  Went to the launch pad and discovered that only the first action group worked (I wonder why?).  Relaunched and got to separation.  2nd stage landing was...better.  1st stage grid fins deployed correctly, and the stage was very stable with SAS and RCS on but I didn't see the RCS fire at all.  Safe, slow and effective landing at KSC.  Something to do with fin placement and deployment??

I will continue to experiment with this config until I'm more proficient with my throttle control.

Edit 1:  The rapid longitudinal spinning seems to be caused by my toggling the Grid Fin Deploy action group.  What does this change in the fin's behaviour?  I still don't know why the Extend Fins doesn't work.

Edited June 11, 2017 by Brigadier
Additional testing results

[Skylon]

1 hour ago, Brigadier said:

-snip-

1st Trial: I launched with the new config, got to separation and controlled the 2nd stage to landing (mostly ).  I went back to the first stage, tried the action group to deploy the fins, which didn't work, and deployed them manually but not until a significant rotation rate built up.  The stage ended up rolling around the longitudinal axis faster and faster, with and without RCS and SAS, with the inevitable result.  Back to the drawing board I went.

I will continue to experiment with this config until I'm more proficient with my throttle control.

Edit 1:  The rapid longitudinal spinning seems to be caused by my toggling the Grid Fin Deploy action group.  What does this change in the fin's behaviour?  I still don't know why the Extend Fins doesn't work.

The fins act as a control surface for yaw and pitch by rotating around (you can see this if you try using yaw or pitch on the runway with them deployed). So one of the deploys locks the control surface and will force the rocket to roll. The same things happen on a plane if you deploy the control surfaces with an action group. 

If you have to deploy the fins manually ever, pin them (using the button in the top right of the part window) before stage separation

Most rocket landings should be done manually as you are doing now, mechjeb isn't very efficient with them. I believe kerbal engineer has a suicide burn indicator, and Mech Jeb may have something similar. They aren't completely accurate but can give you a good idea of when to start burning, and you can adjust your throttle later.

[Brigadier]

37 minutes ago, Skylon said:

The fins act as a control surface for yaw and pitch by rotating around (you can see this if you try using yaw or pitch on the runway with them deployed). So one of the deploys locks the control surface and will force the rocket to roll. The same things happen on a plane if you deploy the control surfaces with an action group.

I sorta get what you're saying.  If that's the case, isn't the action misnamed and completely misleading?

39 minutes ago, Skylon said:

If you have to deploy the fins manually ever, pin them (using the button in the top right of the part window) before stage separation

I hadn't thought of that...too much going on for my single brain cell to figure out.  Thanks for the tip.

40 minutes ago, Skylon said:

 I believe kerbal engineer has a suicide burn indicator, and Mech Jeb may have something similar. They aren't completely accurate but can give you a good idea of when to start burning, and you can adjust your throttle later.

KER does have suicide time and distance (altitude?) indicators although I'm not entirely sure what they're telling me (height by which I must apply full throttle, perhaps?).  Again, why didn't I use the info that's right in front of me?!?