[0.17] Fuel Transfer Mod V 0.2.2

[TheCardinal]

I just noticed a bug in version 2.0.

The fuel tanker has 4 tanks, all equally filled. Select a source tank and select an amount of fuel to transfer. Press transfer and the result is that the selected tank loses NO fuel, while the other three tanks (each) lose a third of the selected amount.

Then a request. At this moment the mod is unable to extract fuel from 'debris'. It would be VERY usefull if the mod could also collect fuel tanks that are considered debris but still contain some fuel.

P.s. I've just landed a fueltanker on Minmus and refilled the tanks of a craft. On a scale from 1 to 10 your mod scores 11.

Edited September 9, 2012 by TheCardinal

[younata]

I just noticed a bug in version 2.0.

The fuel tanker has 4 tanks, all equally filled. Select a source tank and select an amount of fuel to transfer. Press transfer and the result is that the selected tank loses NO fuel, while the other three tanks (each) lose a third of the selected amount.

Then a request. At this moment the mod is unable to extract fuel from 'debris'. It would be VERY usefull if the mod could also collect fuel tanks that are considered debris but still contain some fuel.

P.s. I've just landed a fueltanker on Minmus and refilled the tanks of a craft. On a scale from 1 to 10 your mod scores 11.

I actually JUST noticed that bug earlier. I know what causes it, too, and it'll get fixed soon. (Fun fact: This bug can be exploited to have infinite fuel!)

the debris one might take a bit longer to get implemented, but I agree with you that it's a good idea.

[younata]

I actually JUST noticed that bug earlier. I know what causes it, too, and it'll get fixed soon. (Fun fact: This bug can be exploited to have infinite fuel!)

the debris one might take a bit longer to get implemented, but I agree with you that it's a good idea.

Took not long to implement.

Anyway! Release 0.2.1!

sha1sum: 6066d50049134631d21443d437699c92b957b161

md5sum: ddde52e5adb1874d9ee9cd78db0991db

http://rachelbrindle.com/ksp/FuelTransferModule.zip

http://rachelbrindle.com/ksp/FuelTransferModule-0.2.1.zip

Changes:

* Fixed the IFuelSource interface so that it auto-works with other plugins that implement it.

* Fixed bug in getting fuel from regular fuel tanks.

* You can now grab fuel from debris.

[tinmeless]

what i would love to see is a config file, so i could change the fuel transfer distance, im not good enough to get 2 ships within 1000m of each other yet

[anaximander]

I could see this mod being HIGHLY useful when paired with the orbital construction mod, and mechjeb for stationkeeping.

Launch a spacedock on a SSTO, that way it reaches LKO or it's destination with lots of empty fuel tanks attached.

Then you can siphon fuel from an incoming cargo ship to refuel the station, or delibrately eject fuel tanks from the station to draw fuel out of whenever it runs low.

Not only can you refuel passing craft in that manner, but then the spacedock itself also remains fully fuelled in case you need to move it- such as raising it to a higher orbit to reduce clutter or even sending it off to other planets after it is heavily loaded with supplies.

Having been using this mod with the orbital construction mod for some time, I can confirm that it is enormously useful. I have a combination spacedock/refueling station in orbit, and I've used it to get some great interplanetary ships up and flying. Another thing I'm trying out is to use the empty command pod mod to have your orbitally-constructed ships start uncrewed, so you have to EVA crew to them from the station, and then send up crew transfer ships, for added realism.

[younata]

what i would love to see is a config file, so i could change the fuel transfer distance, im not good enough to get 2 ships within 1000m of each other yet

It's all hardcoded, sorry. It's not a high priority to change that.

Personally, I use mechjeb to get the orbits and such just right. Tell the ascent autopilot to time the launch with a ship you want to rendezvous with, once you're up there, you'll be within 20km of said ship. Do a light push (the smallest amount of thrust you can manage with the main engine, for at most 5 seconds) towards that ship, timewarp a bit, when it's within 2km, do your fuel transfer, then leave.

[KospY]

It's possible to "hide" the fuel transfert UI ? (Like the mechjeb, kethane mod or ISA map sat tab)

This mod is really great and the only thing missing is that for me. With this it will be awesome !

[TheCardinal]

...

I've just landed a fueltanker on Minmus and refilled the tanks of a craft. On a scale from 1 to 10 your mod scores 11.

I've just done the same thing with version 0.2.1. Younata, you've really improved the mod. The option to recover fuel from debris is an incredibly useful tool for cosmic bases. If the orbital construction mod would reclaim parts as your mod does fuel the possibilities would expand exponentially.

Oh, sorry but i have to retract the score of 11. Make it 12.

[younata]

So, uh, work on this is going even further on the backburner for me.

I started work on a calculator for interplanetary travel. This may, or may not turn into a full-on autopilot. Dunno, I'd like to integrate with the mechjeb folks, but I'll see how it goes after I get that working...

You can follow my work on this at github: https://github.com/younata/InterPlanetaryTravelCalculator Currently, it's just a python script which assumes a perfect orbit, and a bunch of other things. I'm going to port that to C#, and integrate with the sdk so that it grabs all the necessary data...

Edited September 18, 2012 by younata
github link!

[WoodenBiplane]

Does this work in .17?

[TheCardinal]

Does this work in .17?

Try it and you'll know.

[WoodenBiplane]

That's not very nice.

[TheCardinal]

That's not very nice.

The remark wasn't meant to be nice or rude, just literal.

[Eldorwanabe]

Is the Download link broken for anyone else?

[TheCardinal]

It is working for me, Eldorwanabe.

[Excalibur]

Anyone put this mod to good use and used it for interplanetary missions yet? I've been struggling to make a stock single-launch Eve return mission but I'm beginning to think it just isn't possible (for me at least). I think I'm about to give up on that and I think this mod will enable an Eve return!

[Eldorwanabe]

So I have downloaded the plug-in and have it installed on both ships that are orbiting Kerbin about 150m from each other. However when I select a source and destination tank and hit "transfer now" nothing happens. Well the most that happens is a tank fuel bar appears on the left side of the screen in the staging area but no fuel transfers. I like to think that I'm not totally inept... I've installed the plugin in the plugins folder, am I missing something?

[Amilianus]

Did you set the transfer rate?

[Eldorwanabe]

Ah I see now. Its a sliding bar. Thanks for the help

Edited September 23, 2012 by Eldorwanabe

[Wolfius]

Anyone put this mod to good use and used it for interplanetary missions yet? I've been struggling to make a stock single-launch Eve return mission but I'm beginning to think it just isn't possible (for me at least). I think I'm about to give up on that and I think this mod will enable an Eve return!

Um. That was kinda actually my first 0.17 mission. The successor, Space Quest II, is currently in Jool orbit; not sure if it'll get home or not without a refueling mission yet.

Unless you mean manned landing and return. I've made do with expendible unmanned probes so far. Pretty sure it's been done stock, tho I've been trying to avoid spoilers for the most part.

[TheSiward]

[deleted] somehow posted this in wrong thread

Edited September 24, 2012 by TheSiward

[Excalibur]

Um. That was kinda actually my first 0.17 mission. The successor, Space Quest II, is currently in Jool orbit; not sure if it'll get home or not without a refueling mission yet.

Unless you mean manned landing and return. I've made do with expendible unmanned probes so far. Pretty sure it's been done stock, tho I've been trying to avoid spoilers for the most part.

As far as I can tell any kind of Eve landing and return mission is impossible with a single launch and stock parts. I've created a modified install of KSP where all parts have 1.7x the mass and 5x the drag so I can simulate Eve lift-offs from Kerbin. With just a Mk1 pod, T400 fuel tank and an T45 engine you can only reach 2.4km!

Looks like this mod will be the way to go!

[naloxone]

I keep getting a mbm error when i try to extract the archive. :/

[alexanderpas]

No problems here with extracting, however, there are several .DS_Store in the archive, and a backup version of a cfg.

[kellven]

Appears this is incompatible with:

MajiirKerbalLib 0.1.3

Looked at his code, and he's ...erm... modifying the stock classes directly, which I didn't think was possible, but it's causing a problem when your mod goes to check for a stock fuel/rcs tank.

The skinny:

(in FuelTransferCore)

-You're using ".GetType() == typeof(FuelTank)" which compares the runtime type of the part against the unmodified runtime type of the stock FuelTank class.

-He's modifying the runtime type of the stock parts, including the tanks.

-Result is you find no tanks, and the list for transfer is empty.

I had to exclude the MuMech roboparts for a plugin I did, and found "part.ClassName" is set to the name of the class the part uses, and is just a string; bypassing typing, and multi-plugin dependencies. So I changed your stock tank checks(3 sets?) to:

.ClassName == "FuelTank"

and

.ClassName == "RCSFuelTank"

recompiled, and it all seems to work out in game.

Here's the modified .cs file:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74137297/FuelTransferModule.cs