KSP Interstellar Extended Continued Development Thread

[X40c]

I used fusion rectors to power the thermal engines and the moment I went above 30-50% thrust they started to overheat and explode very quickly. I have used such setups before and they worked fine, so I don't think I overworked the engines or if I did the bar I feel is way too low, making them rather useless in any more advanced configuration.

I have my self felt as well that the ISRU is somewhat incompatible with other mods. I tried to use New Horizons with the mod, but the resource extractors for KSPI didn't work. Even though atmospheric compositions where defined, the atmospheric scoops only returned errors and the refineries didn't care for uranite, metal etc. deposits either. Maybe it would be worth a second look on how to make KSPI compatible with some of the more simplistic resource systems out there?

Btw, thanks for the response and great work on continuing KSPI, great mod.

[tmbomber]

Quick update on super collider experimentation.

Only biomes available now are "in space near" and "in space high over".

Only bodies available are Kerbin, Mun, Minmus, Eve, Gilly, Duna, Ike, & the Sun.

Is there a reason the other planets and moons aren't available?

I'm running OPM, so I have some more planets and moons farther out there.

If limiting the collider to only 8 bodies was unintentional, would it be possible to cover non-stock bodies?

I'll be starting to play with the magnetic nozzle next. I'll let you know what I find

[ABZB]

Quick update on super collider experimentation.

Only biomes available now are "in space near" and "in space high over".

Only bodies available are Kerbin, Mun, Minmus, Eve, Gilly, Duna, Ike, & the Sun.

Is there a reason the other planets and moons aren't available?

I'm running OPM, so I have some more planets and moons farther out there.

If limiting the collider to only 8 bodies was unintentional, would it be possible to cover non-stock bodies?

I'll be starting to play with the magnetic nozzle next. I'll let you know what I find

IIRC, the KSP I resources can be added to any non stock planet, they just need their own configs. It's doable.

Would be nice to have a randomized auto-generated thing though.

- - - Updated - - -

I think I'll put one together for new horizons, I am using that right now anyway

[ss8913]

Some other things I've noticed:

1. Magnetic nozzles gobble fuel very very very fast. I hadn't used them much up until this patch though, so maybe that's normal? Anyway, I also heard in a patch note that chargedparticles would be "converted to fuel" ...? How does that work? I didn't observe such behavior.

2. Warp drives - got a test ship up into LKO with a 3.75m drive attached.. took it out at 0.10c, no problem. 1.0c no problem. 5.0c no problem. Pushed it to 20c, engaged the drive, and the whole ship exploded in a blaze of glory. F3 window said "exploded due to overheating". Wasteheat was 0 at the moment of warp activation.

3. Warp drives - the entire craft has to be laterally within the ring now, correct? I remember reading something about that but I want to verify before I try debugging my spaceplane carrier if the attached planes explode

4. Even the 3.75m thermal engines are pretty much useless to lift anything significant now definitely producing too much heat, but I'm not sure which parameters to tune - I've tried a few, but I'm clearly doing it wrong since it didn't help much/at all/got worse/etc.

[SciMan]

All thermal engines (including the thermal turbojet) suffering EXTREME overheating when using nearly any propellant. The only thing that doesn't cause them to overheat is running the thermal turbojet in Atmosphere mode, which seems to peg its temperature to 4.7k or something near that.

With a 5m antimatter reactor connected to a 5m thermal turbojet running Hydrogen, it's possible to make the engine overheat in under half a second of full thrust (Z key for instant full throttle, less than 500ms, BOOM).

Since I remember that these engines are supposed to be able to dump heat to the exhaust while in use (therefore overall cooling the ship), The atmosphere propellant works, so the other ones must have a wrong sign on a number in the code for heat calculation somewhere.

Not sure about the other bugs mentioned in the post directly above this one.

No thermal engines means no microwave thermal propulsion of any sort, and thermal engines are a core part of this mod.

As such, I'd rate fixing this bug as top priority.

At this point thermal engines are UN USABLE and I have deactivated all thermal propulsion systems on my craft until such time as the defect can be found and rectified.

I tried messing with the heatProduction parameter in the engine module of the thermal nozzles, but I didn't detect any change no matter what I changed it to.

Question: Why do these engines even have the ability to overheat in the stock system? It seems entirely redundant when the mod they are contained in also creates its own heat management system. I mean, if they had the ability to overload the ship's radiators by generating huge amounts of WasteHeat that would be one thing, but they shouldn't be able to overheat with the stock system unless you're trying to use them as a heatshield on a very steep re-entry (or skimming the atmosphere of Eve or Jool).

[noparse]TL:DR[/noparse] The (stock) heat output of these thermal engines is too dang high!

Edited September 2, 2015 by SciMan

[FreeThinker]

Some other things I've noticed:

1. Magnetic nozzles gobble fuel very very very fast. I hadn't used them much up until this patch though, so maybe that's normal? Anyway, I also heard in a patch note that chargedparticles would be "converted to fuel" ...? How does that work? I didn't observe such behavior.

2. Warp drives - got a test ship up into LKO with a 3.75m drive attached.. took it out at 0.10c, no problem. 1.0c no problem. 5.0c no problem. Pushed it to 20c, engaged the drive, and the whole ship exploded in a blaze of glory. F3 window said "exploded due to overheating". Wasteheat was 0 at the moment of warp activation.

3. Warp drives - the entire craft has to be laterally within the ring now, correct? I remember reading something about that but I want to verify before I try debugging my spaceplane carrier if the attached planes explode

4. Even the 3.75m thermal engines are pretty much useless to lift anything significant now definitely producing too much heat, but I'm not sure which parameters to tune - I've tried a few, but I'm clearly doing it wrong since it didn't help much/at all/got worse/etc.

Magnetic Noozle use fuel very fast? either you confused the engine with something else or you use antimatter reactor which could cause it to be significantly more powerfull and therefore use more propellant. Notice that if you lower the throtle, it's isp will increase. If your vessel accelation is low enough , you can use the magnetic nozzle during time acceration to speed your vessel up to 1% of light speed. It's a good thing Ksp universe is clear of dust

Edited September 2, 2015 by FreeThinker

[ss8913]

yeah the using fuel very fast on the mag nozzle was my fault, had a lot less fuel than I thought. The real major issue that I and most seem to be having is the heat generation on the thermal engines though.. really would like to have those functional again. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

[bos]

Magnetic Noozle use fuel very fast? either you confused the engine with something else or you use antimatter reactor which could cause it to be significantly more powerfull and therefore use more propellant. Notice that if you lower the throtle, it's isp will increase. If your vessel accelation is low enough , you can use the magnetic nozzle during time acceration to speed your vessel up to 1% of light speed. It's a good thing Ksp universe is clear of dust

BTW, this was quite useful for doing the gravitational lens experiment. Got the telescope out to 550 AU (and completed braking into orbit) in just a couple years with a fusion powered vessel, running the boron reaction.

[FreeThinker]

BTW, this was quite useful for doing the gravitational lens experiment. Got the telescope out to 550 AU (and completed braking into orbit) in just a couple years with a fusion powered vessel, running the boron reaction.

Yes, the magnetic nozzle is truely powerfull once you learn how to use it correctly. It allows you to perform experiments and travel to anywhere in the solar system in months rather than years without excessive fuel requirments. The biggest problem will be that it can be tricky to use it correctly. It's like traveling with a solar sail on steroids. That's why I hope to integrate it with solar sail navigator, which is specificly designed for low thrust acceleration

Edited September 2, 2015 by FreeThinker

[Bishop149]

After forgetting to redeploy my solar panels following an aerobrake not once but TWICE in the same play session on the same ruddy ship (The first I sent an Kerbal to fix, the second I reloaded a quicksave!) might I repeat my request to add the radiator automation to solar panels? Personally I'd find it extremely useful.

I honestly think it would make an awesome mod in its own right and a very nice addition to KSP-I.

If you're worried people might not like their panels developing a life of their own just default the automation to "off".

Also I find that the more complicated KSP-I parts cause quite a bit of lag on load (either placing them in the VAB/SPH, or on entering physics range), obviously for things like reactors and ISRU modules this is unavoidable but do the new RCS thrusters need quite so many options on the parts? I missed the whole discussion on this but is there a way I could just make them like them just like the stock RCS with the fuel switch option and get rid of the umpteen other options? I'd rather avoid another laggy part if possible.

Edit: Oh and is there a reason the new RCS thruster won't run on water?

Edited September 2, 2015 by Bishop149

[Nansuchao]

There is a specific mod for solar panel automation, I don't remember the name, but you can easily find it on Google.

[FreeThinker]

There is a specific mod for solar panel automation, I don't remember the name, but you can easily find it on Google.

MM, I couldn't find it but I'm sure someone made such simple mod. But KSPI should limit itself to High powered Interstellar technology. Once you start solving low tech stock part issues you open pandora's box. But perhaps I could include the solar panel automation mod in the KSPI download package, similary to the FuelCrossFeed is included, which fixes another often required stock issue.

Edited September 2, 2015 by FreeThinker

[Nansuchao]

Here you have: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/125277-Solar-Panel-Action-Group%21?p=2015469#post2015469

[Bishop149]

Well it took me a while but I eventually found this:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/119559-1-0-2-Automatic-Landing-Gear-Leg-Solar-Panel-Alpha%280-0-4d%29

Will give it a go.

Just liked Freethinker's version because for the radiators at least I know it works flawlessly.

[FreeThinker]

Well it took me a while but I eventually found this:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/119559-1-0-2-Automatic-Landing-Gear-Leg-Solar-Panel-Alpha%280-0-4d%29

Will give it a go.

Just liked Freethinker's version because for the radiators at least I know it works flawlessly.

Intresting little mod which deserves more attention. But should I add it to the KSPI download package? A better location might be the Stock Fix thread. Also some people might like it when they have to micromanage their solar panels . One solution might be to add it as feature to the Artificial Inteligence. It would take over automation task, including unfolding solar panels and radiators, which fuel mods and shut down reactor when backup is avaialbe. But what fun would be left for the player to do. It would only make him lazy

Edited September 2, 2015 by FreeThinker

[tetrapack]

I've noticed a little issue with Interstellar's RCS thrusters: If you have multiple valid RCS propellants on your ship the thrusters switch to the default propellant (closest to liquid hydrogen in the list) whenever you load the ship. It's not game ruining but still somewhat annoying if your craft has a lot of them.

Also I noticed mechjeb seems to have problems calculating the delta V of magnetic nozzles. I set the thrust limiter and dive full throttle, mechjeb recalculates the delta V for that thrust but it's prediction for the ship's remaining delta V seems to drop quicker than the remaining delta V for the manoeuvre node. Does anyone know if Kerbal Engineer is doing a better job with this?

And by the way I've also read that patch note about charged particles being converted to propellant. How exactly does that work? I can't run my magnetic nozzle on charged particles alone nor does the plasma reactor seem to fill up my hydrogen tank.

Storry time!

Magnetic nozzles are powerful indeed. I got to Duna in about 100 days (not very fast by today's standards but I performed the transfer bur.... plasma ejection? when magnetic nozzles could not thrust at warp time) only to realize that there is no chance in hell I'm aerobraking with over 4,000 m/s with my 109 t mothership. I guess the best way to do this is to accelerate half of the way and decelerate the other half but that is rather hard to do with the manoeuvre node system...

Lesson learned: Always bring a secondary engine for capture and ejection burns.

[ABZB]

I've noticed a little issue with Interstellar's RCS thrusters: If you have multiple valid RCS propellants on your ship the thrusters switch to the default propellant (closest to liquid hydrogen in the list) whenever you load the ship. It's not game ruining but still somewhat annoying if your craft has a lot of them.

Also I noticed mechjeb seems to have problems calculating the delta V of magnetic nozzles. I set the thrust limiter and dive full throttle, mechjeb recalculates the delta V for that thrust but it's prediction for the ship's remaining delta V seems to drop quicker than the remaining delta V for the manoeuvre node. Does anyone know if Kerbal Engineer is doing a better job with this?

And by the way I've also read that patch note about charged particles being converted to propellant. How exactly does that work? I can't run my magnetic nozzle on charged particles alone nor does the plasma reactor seem to fill up my hydrogen tank.

Storry time!

Magnetic nozzles are powerful indeed. I got to Duna in about 100 days (not very fast by today's standards but I performed the transfer bur.... plasma ejection? when magnetic nozzles could not thrust at warp time) only to realize that there is no chance in hell I'm aerobraking with over 4,000 m/s with my 109 t mothership. I guess the best way to do this is to accelerate half of the way and decelerate the other half but that is rather hard to do with the manoeuvre node system...

Lesson learned: Always bring a secondary engine for capture and ejection burns.

I have both mechjeb and KER in my current game, i'll let you know when i get to that tech node. the half'n'half is the fastest way!

well, except for the usual lithobraking/pyrobreaking

[Nansuchao]

Mechjeb and KER too aren't perfect for Interstellar engines, but I see, using KER, that most of times his prediction are correct.

In theory you can brake near Duna with more than 4.000 Delta/V. Your problem maybe is coming back to Kerbin.

EDIT: ninja'd :-)

[FreeThinker]

And by the way I've also read that patch note about charged particles being converted to propellant. How exactly does that work? I can't run my magnetic nozzle on charged particles alone nor does the plasma reactor seem to fill up my hydrogen tank.

It's not the charged particle that a being converted, its the nuclear products. The amount if products(in mass) is always less than the amount that is used for propulsion. If you don't use the magnetic noozle, these products will accumulate in your storage tanks. Sometimes these products are quite usefull (like Helium3 from Deteurium-Deteurium Fusion)

- - - Updated - - -

Storry time!

Magnetic nozzles are powerful indeed. I got to Duna in about 100 days (not very fast by today's standards but I performed the transfer bur.... plasma ejection? when magnetic nozzles could not thrust at warp time) only to realize that there is no chance in hell I'm aerobraking with over 4,000 m/s with my 109 t mothership. I guess the best way to do this is to accelerate half of the way and decelerate the other half but that is rather hard to do with the manoeuvre node system...

Lesson learned: Always bring a secondary engine for capture and ejection burns.

Slowing down is indeed a tricky business. This is especially important when traveling to distant solar system. You need to plan ahead years in advance otherwise you will shoot past the solar system. Notice that even if you miss your capture, it's not a big deal, eventually if you keep going in the right direction, you catch up and you can retry again from the other side. The maneuver kind of looks like when you park a car backward.

Edited September 2, 2015 by FreeThinker

[tetrapack]

The half'n'half is the fastest way! well, except for the usual lithobraking/pyrobreaking

Pyrobraking? Do you mean exploding a part of your ship to slow down or do you mean just burning a rocket engine?

Also I would actually really love to build a ship that can successfully lithobrake at 4 km/s

[ABZB]

Pyrobraking? Do you mean exploding a part of your ship to slow down or do you mean just burning a rocket engine?

Also I would actually really love to build a ship that can successfully lithobrake at 4 km/s

I intended slowing down by virtue of the drag incurred by being transformed into a cloud of small-massed particles while traveling through an atmosphere.

[ss8913]

any updates on the thermal engines, Freethinker? Anything I can tweak in the part config in the meantime to alleviate the problem while waiting on a fix?

Also I'm working on Mk2/Mk3 fuel tanks that use InterstellarFuelSwitch... are you already doing that or would you like my configs once I've finished with them?

[FreeThinker]

Woking on a fix

[ABZB]

ss8913 said:

any updates on the thermal engines, Freethinker? Anything I can tweak in the part config in the meantime to alleviate the problem while waiting on a fix?

Also I'm working on Mk2/Mk3 fuel tanks that use InterstellarFuelSwitch... are you already doing that or would you like my configs once I've finished with them?

I did. one of the patches in this pack does that: [Moderator removed defunct website link]

EDIT:

FreeThinker: I notice that the planetary resource cfg files have the OPM planets entered into them - but they are lacking the grayscale maps. I madegrayscale maps from OPM's texture files using XnConvert. Could they be added to the main build? For brevity, I would change the reference filenames in the cfg so there is only 1 resourcemap png per planet, and tweak the scale per resourcetype to compensate... I'll do that through github if that sounds good to you.

Edited August 28, 2022 by James Kerman
link removed

[FreeThinker]

Version 1.4.9 for Kerbal Space Program 1.0.4

Released on 2015-09-02

• Re-balanced Warp Engine. It now has fixed charge cost which depend on vessel mass and warp drive strength, and maximum travel speed during warp depends on power produced by reactors. Warp Direction and throttle can now also be adjusted during warp
• Re-balanced Overheating Thermal Nozzle, overheating issues should be fixed now

- - - Updated - - -

ABZB said:

I did. one of the patches in this pack does that: [Moderator removed defunct website link]

EDIT:

FreeThinker: I notice that the planetary resource cfg files have the OPM planets entered into them - but they are lacking the grayscale maps. I madegrayscale maps from OPM's texture files using XnConvert. Could they be added to the main build? For brevity, I would change the reference filenames in the cfg so there is only 1 resourcemap png per planet, and tweak the scale per resourcetype to compensate... I'll do that through github if that sounds good to you.

Sounds good

Edited August 28, 2022 by James Kerman
link removed