[1.0+] CORE Solutions [19JAN16]

[dfscott]

Thanks CapF and Abs, I'll give that a shot. It looks like only the nose cone has the staged separation, right? In any case, I had put the decoupler and the nose cone in the same stage, so maybe that's my problem. I'm planning to use a boosted IV to take me on my first trip to Duna so I'll try it there.

And Gaius, I was thinking the same thing, except using drop tanks...

[CAPFlyer]

Yes, the decoupler and nose cone should be in separate stages with the nose cone staging first.

[dfscott]

Thanks -- that seemed to be the trick. When I put the decoupler first, everything got hung up, but doing nose cone first worked like a charm!

[Unikraken]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but are there plans for manned command pods?

[Absolution]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but are there plans for manned command pods?

As a matter of fact nobody has asked that question before. No, command pods are not planned for Anvil. It is just a heavy lift platform.

Update on my new project:

I tried building a texture using normals to make it pop but it went horribly south and looked absolutely terrible. It did work which is a victory in and of itself but my lack of artistic skill really, REALLY showed. So I dumped that I am simply going back to the tried and true. Unfortunately, that also set me back a week or two but live and learn. I will still be trying out an emissive texture later one but now that I've settled on a "look" for my project I should be able to clock out the remaining work without too many hiccups. Still no ETA and realistically we are probably talking about "weeks". Stay tuned.

[Unikraken]

That's a shame. A command pod made the same aesthetic would be great.

[Absolution]

That's a shame. A command pod made the same aesthetic would be great.

Of course I didn't say that I wouldn't work on some sort of command pod ever. It's just that I want to keep the content of my mods focused on the core intent of a given mod. Anvil is just a lifting platform and that's all it will ever be. A future mod may be a space station or a Munar base and in that case I would give it a different name.

[shadowsutekh]

Of course I didn't say that I wouldn't work on some sort of command pod ever. It's just that I want to keep the content of my mods focused on the core intent of a given mod. Anvil is just a lifting platform and that's all it will ever be. A future mod may be a space station or a Munar base and in that case I would give it a different name.

heh heh you said "core" Sorry to hear about the setback, but any progress is still progress. Will that project fall under CORE? Or will you have a separate thread for the new entity?

[John FX]

Excellent.

Just downloaded it.

The Anvil family is my reliable workhorse for hauling stuff into orbit.

I really like this mod pack.

I also would like to say thanks.

I pretty much always use a CORE main section with double stock orange tank boosters, CORE solid boosters and then stock boosters that all stage one after another. I put a few fuel tanks on the side to extend the time before separation of the first core section and it stages just before Ap. The next CORE section takes over then, circularizes and has enough Dv to escape Kerbin. This has been pretty much every launch for me since I discovered your mod. I can launch anything I can think of with that lifter.

For me also it is my reliable workhorse.

[dfscott]

I pretty much always use a CORE main section with double stock orange tank boosters, CORE solid boosters and then stock boosters that all stage one after another. I put a few fuel tanks on the side to extend the time before separation of the first core section and it stages just before Ap. The next CORE section takes over then, circularizes and has enough Dv to escape Kerbin. This has been pretty much every launch for me since I discovered your mod. I can launch anything I can think of with that lifter.

For me also it is my reliable workhorse.

Nice! I've been playing around with beefing up the base anvil but hadn't considered mixing stock and anvil boosters. Looking forward to trying this -- thanks.

[Absolution]

heh heh you said "core" Sorry to hear about the setback, but any progress is still progress. Will that project fall under CORE? Or will you have a separate thread for the new entity?

I was originally going to make a new post but figured that would be a waste of forum space. Instead, I will post the new project under this existing thread. Any other projects of mine would also show up here. "CORE" is my "Company" and anything I do would be a CORE project regardless of how I choose to display it.

I also appreciate the patience on my progress. It's usually not a good idea to post previews on stuff like this because the project could always fail but at least this way people know I am still here and working on it. I could, theoretically, post pictures and what-not of what I have so far but I've got something more grand in mind for the reveal. I am still tinkering with the models and I have decided to leave them somewhat boring for the initial release and work on their aesthetics later. A lot of nights I sit and look at what I've got and go "BAH!" in disgust. Maybe I am over-working the problem so I am trying to push and get something out there. Maybe it will grow on me in time.

The good news is that I have completed the first of seven planned parts. I still have some tweaking to do but that involves a trivial amount of effort compared to the rest of the SOW. The other 6 parts are in various states of completion and they are getting closer and closer every day. Barring any hiccups or bouts of self-disappointment I think I can mange to complete number 2 tomorrow and maybe even 3 if I get on a roll.

I offer no promises and I offer no hints at a completion date. Sorry.

[Deltac]

We're patiently waiting.

[Absolution]

I think it's about time for an update and this time I have something more substantial to offer... a "release" window.

I prefer to run these projects under the age old "it's done when it's done" mentality because you can never predict when something will go wrong. Say, for example, the guys at Squad completely rewrite the way certain features of the game are handled. That's entirely unpredictable (and realistic given the state of the game) which may force me to lose weeks of development time. However, I feel like I've fallen into the Engineer's conundrum where a project falls into an endless cycle of revision. Yes, it can be better but at some point in time you need to put your foot down and release it.

So I am putting my foot down and giving myself a due date: Mid July

I still offer no guarantees. There is always the chance something will come up but I am going to put an honest effort to get SOMETHING out by then.

I recently had an epiphany on this project which really boosted my confidence in the overall design. I've been obsessed with a particular design feature and all other features were being shoe-horned into the project to make them work with it. Well, on a whim I deleted that feature out of the part I was working on and it just came alive. The SRB in my head was lit off and all systems were go. Unfortunately that also means I have to go back and tweak the other parts to match. It's another set-back but its a good one.

Other future plans (in no particular order):

-Revamp the Anvil IV (model, textures and config) taking into account all the feedback I've gotten on it.

-Revamp my properties spreadsheets. Nobody has ever seen them and nobody cares but it's going to really help me quickly assess design properties for the Anvil IV revamp.

-Revamp the SRB models and textures.

-Complete new logo. I've got a concept drawn up and I have some neat ideas I want to try to make it pop. We'll see how successful I am at it.

Good luck and have fun!

[shadowsutekh]

Nice to hear you're still working and that you want to! I've personally gone through the little presentations, and I find them a little hard to follow.

Does the revamp include the Anvil style sepratrons, or are those obsolete?

[Absolution]

Nice to hear you're still working and that you want to! I've personally gone through the little presentations, and I find them a little hard to follow.

Does the revamp include the Anvil style sepratrons, or are those obsolete?

Only the CSBs will be reviewed during the Anvil IV revamp since they are in the most dire need of a face-lift.

If you have any specific feedback about the Anvil Guide I will be happy to make an effort to resolve the issues. I will need to revise the document during the revamp anyway. Of course, all of that will wait until I get the beta release of the new project out the door.

I just spent the last three hours working feverishly to re-build one of my parts and managed to complete the modeling and UV unwrap of it (3000 faces so it's not exactly a simple part). The only thing remaining on that particular part is the paint job. If I can mange to keep up that pace I should have all parts modeled by the weekend. The texturing will go faster since my artistic skills are quite limited and the resulting effort will be rudimentary at best.

[shadowsutekh]

I'll take a look again and see if I can offer more constructive criticism on the pdf files.

[wasmic]

I have to say that these rockets are amazing for getting multi-ton-three-staged-interplanetary-capable HOME modules into orbit. I don't even asparagus, I just use thebiggets SRB's from KW. They burn for almost as long time as the BIIIIG 5m (not 4m!) CSB. I also like how they take off slower, that makes them more realistic

EDIT:

I also would like to say thanks.

I pretty much always use a CORE main section with double stock orange tank boosters, CORE solid boosters and then stock boosters that all stage one after another. I put a few fuel tanks on the side to extend the time before separation of the first core section and it stages just before Ap. The next CORE section takes over then, circularizes and has enough Dv to escape Kerbin. This has been pretty much every launch for me since I discovered your mod. I can launch anything I can think of with that lifter.

For me also it is my reliable workhorse.

When I asparagus the ANVILs, I usually strap three of the "first-stage" 2.5m CSB's together, then use fuel ducts on them. That makes for very effective launching.

Edited June 26, 2013 by wasmic

[MR4Y]

Can these be tweaked to work with FAR?

[wasmic]

I think you have to add the word "fairing" to the names of the fairings. Or the titles. I'm not sure how, but it IS possible.

[etcetc]

For some reason, if I try to load the ANVIL V-L+4 or ANVIL V-L+2 I get the error that the parts CORE.PFC-203-2 and CORE.PFH-203-2 are missing. They are in my directory, and the other ships load just fine. Any ideas?

[Deltac]

For some reason, if I try to load the ANVIL V-L+4 or ANVIL V-L+2 I get the error that the parts CORE.PFC-203-2 and CORE.PFH-203-2 are missing. They are in my directory, and the other ships load just fine. Any ideas?

What did you do? As in did you re-install everything and used old save files? Are the Core.pfc-203-2 and Core.pfh-203.2 showing up in the VAB menu? Did you mess with the configs? Are monkeys trying to launch your rockets? You can't let those monkeys launch your rockets, man. You just can't.

[Gaius]

Are monkeys trying to launch your rockets? You can't let those monkeys launch your rockets, man. You just can't.

Well, you can, but only if you have an infinite number of them...

[Absolution]

For some reason, if I try to load the ANVIL V-L+4 or ANVIL V-L+2 I get the error that the parts CORE.PFC-203-2 and CORE.PFH-203-2 are missing. They are in my directory, and the other ships load just fine. Any ideas?

The sample ships V-L+4 and V-L+2 were removed in the last update so it seems you are using an outdated ship file. I updated the fairings recently which breaks old ship files. Sorry for the inconvenience.

As for FAR I've done some more investigation and it's not as simple as adding the word "fairing" to the configs. I have to add in the FAR module and maybe configure the drag profile as well (I hadn't researched it that far). That isn't a big deal but I need to make sure that by adding FAR functionality I wont be compromising the vanilla experience. It theoretically shouldn't since the vanilla game should ignore any code that it does not understand. However, you can never be sure without tests.

The other problem is that I resist supporting other mods. If that mod changes that may force me to change my mod. That can turn into a full time job all by itself. FAR sounds like a really useful mod so I haven't dismissed the idea. I will play around with this more after I release the next project. We can try some experimental builds on the side and see if a solution can be reached.

[Absolution]

Informal survey time:

What are your thoughts on the latest SRB designs? I was trying to make them stand out from the crowd by not doing the classic "cone on top of a cylinder" shape and thus came up with the sci-fi inspired "nacelle" shape. I know they are a little bland at the moment so I plan on putting more effort into them but then I began to doubt the direction I have taken.

So... should I stick with the current design and improve it or should I just go back to a classic SRB shape?

Regardless of feedback, which I always value, I may go against public opinion. I am not sure how I want to proceed overall and wanted to see where the community was at and maybe you can help influence the direction I take.

[ShroomOfDoom]

I have to say i like the look of the boosters,so imo there is no change necessary.