[1.1.3] NicheParts v1.4.2 - Real Engine Pack

[MockingBird]

NicheParts

A small'ish parts pack which adds some real life engines and RCS parts.

This pack is recommended for use with Realism Overhaul mod & is not well balanced for the stock game. RealPlume is also a must.

In action:

https://imgur.com/a/DNOd4

The parts:

http://imgur.com/a/8IueS

Spoiler

 

 

Installation: 

Just copy into GameData, Realism Overhaul & RealPlume Configs provided.

The mod is not intended for use in the stock game, however if you do wish to play in stock delete the following folders in the NicheParts mod: 

• RealPume Configs
• Realism Overhaul Configs

Download: SpaceDock

License:

Spoiler

Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

CC BY-NC-SA

If you like this mod, please do check out Zarbizaure's awesome mod which adds even more realistic engines: Forgotten Real Engines.

Edited September 1, 2016 by MockingBird
I seem to have lost the ability to embed albums, links provided for now.

[Randazzo]

These are quite nice! If he doesn't know about them already, @NathanKell has a special place in his bug murdering heart for nice realistic engines.

Naturally, I have a couple questions and a suggestion.

Question: In the zip file there is a _MACOSX folder which appears to contain another copy of the NicheParts folder. Is there actually something specific to Macs in there?
Question2: How does the BE3 engine cover part work? Or rather, how does one attach the engine afterwards? Is it supposed to be larger than the 2.5m parts?

Suggestion: The MM configs for RealismOverhaul are using the FOR node instead of NEEDS, meaning they apply themselves even if you don't have RO installed. If that's intended, I'd suggest sticking them in their own folder outside of the main NicheParts folder or you'll have goobers like me breaking their install.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Randazzo

[NathanKell]

If ever there were a batsignal....

These look awesome @MockingBird!

 

Speaking of batsignals, time to call in some more RO cavalry, @stratochief66 @SirKeplan @Phineas Freak

[MockingBird]

12 hours ago, Randazzo said:

These are quite nice! If he doesn't know about them already, @NathanKell has a special place in his bug murdering heart for nice realistic engines.

Naturally, I have a couple questions and a suggestion.

Question: In the zip file there is a _MACOSX folder which appears to contain another copy of the NicheParts folder. Is there actually something specific to Macs in there?
Question2: How does the BE3 engine cover part work? Or rather, how does one attach the engine afterwards? Is it supposed to be larger than the 2.5m parts?

Suggestion: The MM configs for RealismOverhaul are using the FOR node instead of NEEDS, meaning they apply themselves even if you don't have RO installed. If that's intended, I'd suggest sticking them in their own folder outside of the main NicheParts folder or you'll have goobers like me breaking their install.

Thanks for the suggestion, I have moved the RO and RP configs up a tier in the file structure to avoid bugs for stock players.

Q1 - I have repackaged on my windows PC. This should remove that problem, that _MACOSX folder only appears when i unzipped on windows so must have been a OSX compression thing.

Q2 - The BE3 Engine cover has 2 nodes positioned in the same place, so yes, one has to attach the cover first to the bottom of the tank, then attach the engine. This can be a bit tricky I guess and isn't ideal, if anyone has a better suggestion for this Id be happy to change it.

Q3 - The BE3 cover is intentionally 3metres wide, this seemed to be the most sensible scale for replicating the 'New Shepherd' vehicle, as it is estimated to be between 3 and 3.5m wide. I have used Procedural Parts mod for my tanks for a long while, so admittedly i didn't think about the stock tank sizes, one could use the rescale factor in the config files for the BE3 and Cover to better fit them to stock tanks

Cheers

 

 

 

[Red Iron Crown]

1 hour ago, MockingBird said:

Q2 - The BE3 Engine cover has 2 nodes positioned in the same place, so yes, one has to attach the cover first to the bottom of the tank, then attach the engine. This can be a bit tricky I guess and isn't ideal, if anyone has a better suggestion for this Id be happy to change it.

You could vertically offset the nodes for both the engine and cover by the same amount, which would keep the cover in the same place but keep the nodes on the engine far enough apart to ease assembly.

[Randazzo]

13 hours ago, MockingBird said:

Q2 - The BE3 Engine cover has 2 nodes positioned in the same place, so yes, one has to attach the cover first to the bottom of the tank, then attach the engine. This can be a bit tricky I guess and isn't ideal, if anyone has a better suggestion for this Id be happy to change it

Oh I see now, I didn't realize there was a second attachment node! It actually works alright if you just press alt (or whatever your modifier key is) when attaching the engine to disable surface attachment. You could also look into using ModuleSeeThroughObject, like the service bays use. It does work fine as-is, with the explanation to go with it.

13 hours ago, MockingBird said:

Q3 - The BE3 cover is intentionally 3metres wide, this seemed to be the most sensible scale for replicating the 'New Shepherd' vehicle, as it is estimated to be between 3 and 3.5m wide. I have used Procedural Parts mod for my tanks for a long while, so admittedly i didn't think about the stock tank sizes, one could use the rescale factor in the config files for the BE3 and Cover to better fit them to stock tanks

Cheers

Gotcha, RO and all that.

 

[Phineas Freak]

Love the engines and especially the Aerojet MR series! Almost no part mods provide orbital insertion engines or RCS thrusters tailored for upper stages but these are perfect.

Are you planning to do more engines? Cooperating with @Zarbizaure might help you both on that front.

[Zarbizaure]

Interesting, and nice modelling! As Phineas Freak stated, it looks like we'll have the same goal (we modelled both the Electron engines, with a slight difference in texture style though). I don't know how long I'll be able to model, but maybe we can do something in common.

[MockingBird]

23 hours ago, Phineas Freak said:

Love the engines and especially the Aerojet MR series! Almost no part mods provide orbital insertion engines or RCS thrusters tailored for upper stages but these are perfect.

Are you planning to do more engines? Cooperating with @Zarbizaure might help you both on that front.

Thanks dude! Yeh, I started this just as a few parts which i couldn't find elsewhere, I'm glad you find them as useful as I do! - A note for new users, using physicswarp (ALT >) is pretty much a must for the Apogee engines as they have very low thrust.

As for new engines, there are many great mods out there now modelling real engines I struggle to find parts that haven't already been done! But I'm open to requests and ideas.

16 hours ago, Zarbizaure said:

Interesting, and nice modelling! As Phineas Freak stated, it looks like we'll have the same goal (we modelled both the Electron engines, with a slight difference in texture style though). I don't know how long I'll be able to model, but maybe we can do something in common.

Wow, just checked out your mod, I had no idea it existed!  I actually modelled the Rutherford because I thought it hadn't been done yet, oops! I did have plans to do the FireFly Aerospike but yours looks great! Nice job man. 

[Guest]

I love it!

[Sir_Fanch]

Always on the look-out for more RO engine parts . These look awesome, totally agree this would be perfect to mix with Forgotten Real Engines, only need to decide who has the better Rutherford . Great work on the mod! Will definitely be adding this to my install , love little lightweight insertion engines . Is TestFlight configs all this needs for RP-0?

[Kottabos]

Took a look at your mod on my channel, gotta say it is a pretty nice pack of engines (I especially love the double super draco).  Everything is quite well made and I can't wait to see what you do next with it, keep up the great work my friend.

 

 

[heliobyte]

1 hour ago, Kottabos said:

Took a look at your mod on my channel, gotta say it is a pretty nice pack of engines (I especially love the double super draco).  Everything is quite well made and I can't wait to see what you do next with it, keep up the great work my friend.

 

 

Another nice review. I found it hilarious that you did not figure out how to attach the BE-3 shroud xD You attached it upside down.

[Kottabos]

1 minute ago, heliobyte said:

Another nice review. I found it hilarious that you did not figure out how to attach the BE-3 shroud xD You attached it upside down.

lol ya sadly I didn't realize it until the video posted, someone in the comments pointed it out and I just had to face palm a bit

[Sir_Fanch]

8 hours ago, Kottabos said:

Took a look at your mod on my channel

Love your work

[basila]

Just what I needed in RSS+RO!

[MockingBird]

On 7/26/2016 at 11:01 PM, Kottabos said:

Took a look at your mod on my channel, gotta say it is a pretty nice pack of engines (I especially love the double super draco).  Everything is quite well made and I can't wait to see what you do next with it, keep up the great work my friend.

Thanks for taking the time to review my mod! It was very interesting to see it from a stock players perspective, It made me realise how random the mod must seem!  Alas, the mod is mainly designed for RealismOverhaul. Nice one though, your videos really help get mods out there! 

P.s. Thanks for spotting the Superdraco stats error!

Quote

Is TestFlight configs all this needs for RP-0?

I am looking to incorporate TestFlight and RP-0 into the configs. However I've not actually played with either of them yet so havent really had chance to get my head around the config layout for them. If anyone has any pointers?

Cleaned up the mod, 1.2 with the following changes:

• All parts now have more realistic centre of mass
• Fixed some materials & textures
• Fixed some config errors
• Fixed some node errors
• Removed some repetition in RO configs
• Removed the requirement for rescalefactor for Rutherford & SuperDraco parts
• Various aesthetic improvements to RealPlume configs
• Reduced the mass of Rutherford Parts (30kg seemed a high estimate)
• Fixed the thrust stats for TwinSuperDraco 

Enjoy

Edited July 28, 2016 by MockingBird

[DStaal]

Looking at your configs for RO and RealPlume: It might be a good idea to change those 'FOR' to 'NEEDS' - then the configs will only activate in the presence of RO or RealPlume, instead of activating every RO and RealPume config you may have in any other config file.

[MockingBird]

On 7/20/2016 at 2:44 AM, Randazzo said:

Suggestion: The MM configs for RealismOverhaul are using the FOR node instead of NEEDS, meaning they apply themselves even if you don't have RO installed. If that's intended, I'd suggest sticking them in their own folder outside of the main NicheParts folder or you'll have goobers like me breaking their install.

14 hours ago, DStaal said:

Looking at your configs for RO and RealPlume: It might be a good idea to change those 'FOR' to 'NEEDS' - then the configs will only activate in the presence of RO or RealPlume, instead of activating every RO and RealPume config you may have in any other config file.

Thanks for the advice guys, Re-up with this change. 1.2.1.

[h0yer]

Weee, the 'Generic 1kN thruster' now finally can be put to rest, thanks to your superneat engines

The thruster might still be more efficient and smaller, but its 'genericity' was quite dull

 

Here, the 'Bells'n'Bubbles Lunar Sample Return Lander', I fiddled together just to repurpose those neat engines a bit, about 4.5 tons, now has exaggerated dV surplus due to optimizations on the reentry stage and a too hefty upper/transfer stage^^

The lander stage is powered by four MLEs, the ascend stage is powered by 4 890N 'rockets' and the return stage is powered by four 400N 'rockets'

I cheated a bit by giving it a 'Zond ASAS' for circumventing the odd probe core weight restrictions, but I usually do use them uncheaty.

Reconfiguring the tank textures could turn it into a neat high tech cristmas tree with integrated autonomous autorelocation functionality

 

Awesome engine pack

[Sir_Fanch]

On 28/07/2016 at 4:14 PM, MockingBird said:

I am looking to incorporate TestFlight and RP-0 into the configs. However I've not actually played with either of them yet so havent really had chance to get my head around the config layout for them. If anyone has any pointers?

Wish I could help, but it's a little out of my ballpark. Perhaps @NathanKell could help? Having a limit on burn time is actually surprisingly fun to work around haha.

P.S. Sorry if the tag is bothersome, I'm not particularly familiar with the forum etiquette yet .

[NathanKell]

@Sir_Fanch perfect use of the tag.

 

@MockingBird RP-0 is pretty simple: find the price of the engine and covert to 1965 dollars; then divide by 1000. Do the same for the R&D costs, they become the entry cost. Put it in a year-appropriate tech node (and if hydrolox, in the hydrolox subtree, if staged in the closed cycle subtree).

TestFlight is a bit more complex, but I added MM code to RO to make things simple. You basically just specify starting and ending burn-cycle reliability, starting and ending ignition chance, and rated burn time, and it does the rest. See here for docs.

[Sir_Fanch]

4 hours ago, NathanKell said:

TestFlight is a bit more complex, but I added MM code to RO to make things simple.

I figured there would be something like this, awesome! . There you go @MockingBird, shouldn't be too hard, let me know if you need someone to help do some research and get some values, I'm not the most savvy coder, but I'll help however I can .

[MockingBird]

19 hours ago, NathanKell said:

TestFlight is a bit more complex, but I added MM code to RO to make things simple. You basically just specify starting and ending burn-cycle reliability, starting and ending ignition chance, and rated burn time, and it does the rest. See here for docs.

14 hours ago, Sir_Fanch said:

I figured there would be something like this, awesome! . There you go @MockingBird, shouldn't be too hard, let me know if you need someone to help do some research and get some values, I'm not the most savvy coder, but I'll help however I can .

Cheers for the pointers, looks easy enough. I admit my time is fairly limited at the moment, so this could take a while but i should get there eventually. On the flip side, I have an update pretty much ready for release with some more tiny but funky engines for you.

[Sir_Fanch]

20 hours ago, MockingBird said:

some more tiny but funky engines for you

Awesome! I'm excited, I love little engines haha. If you're not aware of it already (I'm assuming you are but just in case) Astronautix is a great site for looking up engine info .