[1.12.X] Feline Utility Rovers v1.3.4 (28. April 2022)

[Nils277]

@podge1940 Don't worry, you are not the first one asking 

[Raptor9]

@Nils277, another amazing mod you've put together.  I'm amazed at the thoroughness of your work, just like KPBS.  Very stockalike parts, kerbal-style IVA's, KSPedia entries, the whole nine yards.  Well done, downloading now.

[FirroSeranel]

On 1/22/2017 at 7:32 AM, Starslinger999 said:

KJR is not needed with 1.2.2. We have Auto-strut and Rigid.

Yes, but the UI for those features are absolutely appallingly atrocious. The more parts a vehicle has, the more stiffer joints are desperately needed, and unfortunately, the more precise clicks are required to turn it on part by flipping part. I asked during beta testing of 1.2 for a global switch at least for rigid attachment, but got no response. I'm not interested in hundreds or thousands of extra clicks per rocket I build, thank you very much. I have several things wrong with my hands, like Carpal Tunnel and DeQuervain's, plus frankly after dozens and dozens of builds, with thousands of extra clicks per build, these features are a problem for mouse switch longevity...) So, like many others, I'll mostly be interested in this once KJR compatibility is sorted. Though I might just add the parts to KJR's ignore list myself... actually I think I will. XD

In any case, quite aside from the thousand-clicks issue, the stock solutions just aren't rigorous enough. To use a... slightly crude analogy...

A very long rocket in stock is basically made of dildo silicone. I can't imagine why Squad thought metal components should be even remotely that floppy, and to me the game is unplayable like that. For a physics-based game, the blatant way that floppiness ignores basic material science is inexcusable (think plasticity point in metals; there's no metal in existence that could flop around that much and return to normal unless there are literally a complex series of springs and ball-and-socket joints between each part!)

A very long rocket with 1.2-stock Rigid Attachment is made of uncured rubber. -Slightly- less floppy, yes. Slightly. Still violates the laws of physics though. Say... 40% less floppy than old stock. Honestly this should be the default setting for every part, and should have been since the very first alpha test. And it should be stronger. In fact, the old stock setting should never have existed.

A very long rocket with Rigid Attachment and strategically chosen auto-struts is made of partially-cured rubber, or maybe fully cured rubber, depending on whether or not it's a straight-line design, or a design with some dimensionality for the auto-struts to form triangles with. Better, but still floppier than metal can actually possibly be without permanently deforming. Also, the auto-struts introduce many physics krakens that can do things like create perpetual motion machines that eventually result in these new "stiffer" rockets wiggling themselves to pieces as resonant oscillations grow out of control. (Grow!? Yes, grow. As in, violating Newton's Laws)

A very long rocket with KJR is made of metal. It's stiff, barely bends at all, and generally acts like metal, and like a real-world rocket does, with an appropriate and realistic number of struts needed, invisible or otherwise (read: no struts at all. When's the last time you saw a strut on a NASA rocket? Never, that's when.)

I'll stick to the last one, thanks.

 

In any case, fantastic looking mod! I'll grab it and mod KJR to ignore your joint parts myself. Actually... I wonder if it would be possible to do an MM patch and include it in your mod...

Edit: Hrm... adding both the parts and the module that manages the joint flexing to KJR's exemptions didn't work.  

Edited January 24, 2017 by FirroSeranel

[Nils277]

@FirroSeranel Already contacted ferram4 about the ignore list, but got no answer yet. Will make a pull request on GitHub tomorrow if I get no answer.

Must have to look first on how to add parts with a specific module to the list. Any suggestions?

 

Edit: I don't think a MM Patch would work. It seems that each item in the list has a specific number. It would cause trouble if multiple mods add something to the list.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Nils277

[DStaal]

 

[SmashingKirby148]

Oh, my god. 

I can't look. I'm too jealous of your phenomenal skills.

[Spin]

I would like to know if this vehicle has integration with Kerbalism. That happens to me to see the Martian.

Update: I see that is a feature for the future.

 

Edited January 24, 2017 by Spin

[Dr.Wolfram]

Oh that bendy connector is absolutely awesome. It's space-trolleybus time!

[DStaal]

As an idea/part request: An inline airlock/side dock.  They're useful.  (I'll refer you to the Buffalo and the Malmute - both have something in the line.)  Ideally something that mates well with KPBS. 

[LitaAlto]

I didn't have much time last night, but to build one long rover and explore all of the IVAs available.

One of the things I love about Kerbal Planetary Base Systems, is how detailed the IVAs are. It helps make for more immersive play, in my opinion.

Seeing that same level of IVA detail in FUR makes me really happy.

Especially the fuzzy dice, wood paneling, and cup holder in the driver's cab.

It's not just stockalike, it's KERBAL. And that makes me squee.

[BlackHat]

I am here as a result of having seen the review of the mod by Kattabos Games on YouTube.   (I have not installed it yet, as I have been doing lots of Factorio lately)

One thing he mentioned you created a tab in the hanger bay containing the parts. But I could not tell if it was just a generic "Rover" tab, or a specific "Feline-utility-rover" tab.  [My 2 cents are to make it Generic so all the rover mods can put their parts in a rover tab and they all end in the same tab, instead of possibly having 5 different tabs for the various rover models]

 

[Nils277]

1 hour ago, BlackHat said:

I am here as a result of having seen the review of the mod by Kattabos Games on YouTube.   (I have not installed it yet, as I have been doing lots of Factorio lately)

One thing he mentioned you created a tab in the hanger bay containing the parts. But I could not tell if it was just a generic "Rover" tab, or a specific "Feline-utility-rover" tab.  [My 2 cents are to make it Generic so all the rover mods can put their parts in a rover tab and they all end in the same tab, instead of possibly having 5 different tabs for the various rover models]

This is already done. When the Community Category Kit is installed, then this is used to create a new tab for Rovers. (It also has the generic name 'Rovers'). All mods using the CCK and add a 'Rovers' tab will be merged into one tab.

But is is really only the case when another rover mod uses the CCK. I will suggest in the CCK thread to add "Rovers" as a predefined tab category to avoid problems when one mod names the category 'rover' and another 'rovers'

Edited January 25, 2017 by Nils277

[Raptor22]

Beautiful work! I love your PBS mod, and this looks like it will compliment it nicely. Any status on fixing the issue with Kerbal Joint Reinforcement? I would like to have articulated rovers, but I don't want to give up my freedom from strutting everything together.

[Kerbital]

Extremely well done mod, one of the best around, great attention to detail, no bugs and really good looking, great add-on to PBS. Thank you very much!

 

 

 

 

[WuphonsReach]

On 1/22/2017 at 2:25 PM, Cornholio said:

Slightly off-topic, how does KJR compare to the Auto-strut and Rigid setting in regards to strength?

I haven't used KJR at all in my current career (now in Kerbal year 7).  I have space stations where the total number of docked parts is >400.  I do launches with rockets ranging from 10t to 4000t.

The key to using auto-strut is to be very selective with it.  On a 3-stage rocket (tall, slender), the main fuel tank on the top stage will be set to auto-strut (heaviest part), then the main fuel tank on each prior stage gets the same setting.  That's almost always enough to stop all wobble at launch.  Sometimes I'll auto-strut (heaviest part) the fairing or a decoupler if I think it will wiggle.

On large space stations, I turn off all auto-strut, or maybe auto-strut to root.  The "heaviest part" option does not seem to play well when you're constantly docking/undocking vehicles that might change what is the heaviest part.

I've not needed to use the "rigid" setting at all.

[Nils277]

@Kerbital thanks  

2 hours ago, Raptor22 said:

Beautiful work! I love your PBS mod, and this looks like it will compliment it nicely. Any status on fixing the issue with Kerbal Joint Reinforcement? I would like to have articulated rovers, but I don't want to give up my freedom from strutting everything together.

I have no news yet and didn't get an answer from @ferram4 until now. I just saw an github, that the ignore list currently does not seem to work (it blocks the IR parts), which migh explain why @FirroSeranel had no luck adding FUR to the list maunally. Will play around with it tomorrow if i get time.

There is a workaround mentioned on GitHub though, that might work. You have the set 

multiPartAttachNodeReinforcement = 0

in the config.xml of KJR. But this seems to make large crafts more bendy (and probably has other side effects i don't know of yet)

23 hours ago, DStaal said:

As an idea/part request: An inline airlock/side dock.  They're useful.  (I'll refer you to the Buffalo and the Malmute - both have something in the line.)  Ideally something that mates well with KPBS. 

I'll add it to the list of potential new parts  

Edited January 25, 2017 by Nils277

[Nils277]

Good news everyone! (Who else hears the voice of Professor Farnsworth when reading this sentence? ):

The Hitches and Joints will work with the next update of KJR. 

[Merkov]

54 minutes ago, Nils277 said:

Good news everyone! (Who else hears the voice of Professor Farnsworth when reading this sentence? ):

The Hitches and Joints will work with the next update of KJR. 

Thanks for all of the hard work sciencing!

 

[Nils277]

@Merkov Thanks, but the credits for this are due to ferram4. All i did was a bit of asking and poking  

Edited January 26, 2017 by Nils277

[Horus]

Does the flex joint need any additional mod to work?

 

Docking ports to connect several modules on-site would be nice to have.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Horus

[Nils277]

26 minutes ago, Horus said:

Does the flex joint need any additional mod to work?

 

Docking ports to connect several modules on-site would be nice to have.

 

1. The flexible joints works out of the box and do not need any third party mod. If they do not work, check if you have Kerbal Joint Reinforcement installed. Currently it does not work with KJR but this will be fixed with the next update of KJR. You also have to unlock the joints via the right click menu to work once you deployed the rover.
2. There are docking ports already added. One as part of the hitch system and one very flat (called Lynx Docking Port) that can be added on the ends. It is very flat to allow to enter and exit the rear airlock although the docking port is attached to it. The flat docking port can also dock with the Clamp-O-Tron.

 

Edited January 26, 2017 by Nils277

[Horus]

Oh, I totally missed  Lynx Docking Port  part.

Flex joints don't work for me. Looking for a reason.

UPD: found the reason for non working flexible joints - I had another mod installed - 

After removing this mod - everything works like a charm.

 

Would be nice to have a small visual change for Lynx Hitch Docking Adapter - a small graphical marker on its' flat side for Top & Bottom directions. I accidentally placed it wrong & could not dock it again after undocking.

 

Also, a minor texture fix for Lynx Bellowed Joint - the door & "No Exit" are reversed. Not crucial at all. For VAB/SPH only.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Horus
Update

[Nils277]

1 hour ago, Horus said:

Oh, I totally missed  Lynx Docking Port  part.

Flex joints don't work for me. Looking for a reason.

UPD: found the reason for non working flexible joints - I had another mod installed - 

After removing this mod - everything works like a charm.

 

Would be nice to have a small visual change for Lynx Hitch Docking Adapter - a small graphical marker on its' flat side for Top & Bottom directions. I accidentally placed it wrong & could not dock it again after undocking.

 

Also, a minor texture fix for Lynx Bellowed Joint - the door & "No Exit" are reversed. Not crucial at all. For VAB/SPH only.

Why on earth does this mod mess with the joints of other parts?...will have to take a look at this and ask the author.

Update: Just tested with Hot Spot and everything works for me. I saw that it adds it's own module to each and every part, so there might be a confict between the mods. Can you send me a logfile when you have a rover with Hot Spot where the hitch/joint cannot be unlocked? This will help me find the reason for the potential conflict.

 

Hmm. the adapter should dock regardles of its orientaton, as long as the spherical side is inside of the Hitch(Active). Will fix the reversed texture in the next update.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Nils277

[Raptor22]

If you're going to make a docking system then you might need to make an adapter for the PBS. With the Bigfoot legs extended, the Lynx is just a tad bit too tall (that was on eve; probably taller on other planets).

Who knows, you could make a part that uses infernal robotics to raise and lower itself.

[Nils277]

1 hour ago, Raptor22 said:

If you're going to make a docking system then you might need to make an adapter for the PBS. With the Bigfoot legs extended, the Lynx is just a tad bit too tall (that was on eve; probably taller on other planets).

Who knows, you could make a part that uses infernal robotics to raise and lower itself.

Hmm, IR is not officially supporting 1.2 yet. But i will see what can be done. I definitely want the keep the partcount low and an adapter for each system (MKS, KPBS, Pathfinder) will be too much.