[1.4.1] Kerbal Launch Vehicles v1.1.4 (23/03/2018)

[jCoiley]

Kerbal Launch Vehicles

My motivation for creating this mod?

As much as I enjoy creating entire vessels from scratch for every mission, it feels a little silly. In real life, space agencies use a relatively small number of launch vehicles (often with variations) to deliver a wide variety of payloads to their destinations. Think of SpaceX's Falcon 9 (and now Falcon Heavy!), the Delta rocket family and the Ariane program.

The important part of this is that any particular launch vehicle essentially has the capability to lift a certain mass of payload to a certain orbit - for example the Falcon 9 in its current state can deliver up to 22.8t to Low Earth Orbit or up to 8.3t to Geostationary Transfer Orbit.

I liked the idea of being able to create a payload for a mission and then, with a single click, attach to it a launch vehicle capable of delivering it to its destination. That's what KLV aims to do.

Now released! Report any bugs in this thread, but please remember that I need a detailed description of the error and how to reproduce it as well as the full output log from KSP. If I don't have these, I won't be able to fix it!

What does the mod do?

KLV is a small mod which has three interfaces:

• KSC window which allows you to manage your vehicle families and launch destinations (Low Kerbin Orbit, Munar Intercept etc.). It also has a settings tab.
• Editor vehicle window which allows you to name you vehicle, add it to a family and define the payload masses it can deliver to different destinations. 
• Editor suggestion window which keeps track of the mass of your current craft and makes suggestions of what launch vehicles you have in your catalog that are capable of delivering it to orbit, ordered by launch mass.

Development

• Fix staging

Possible Ideas

• Automatically calculate payload capacity based on delta-v (would like to integrate with Mechjeb / Kerbal Engineer to do this)
• More in-depth realism system for maintaining and upgrading launch vehicles. Possibly discounts or science bonuses for continued use of the same launch family? Some mechanism for decommissioning old launch systems?
• Contracts - Expand vehicle family contracts? Upgrade existing launch vehicle contracts? Decommission old vehicle contracts?

Known Issues

• Launch vehicle's staging sometimes not loading correctly - this appears to be an issue with the stock subassembly loader, needs more investigation.

This currently a working prototype to see whether the idea was workable and useful. After getting it to this stage I immediately added it to my current install because it made completing similar contracts and building modular space stations so much quicker! I also really like the realism it adds and how it allows you to maintain and expand you launch fleet as the game progresses.

This is my first attempt at a KSP mod so any (within reason) suggestions or criticism is very welcome. The possible ideas section is just things coming out of my brain as I think them - they are probably beyond the scope of what I'm doing here and may not end up in the final mod.

Source and Development Downloads - These are work in progress, so I cannot guarantee that  they won't mess up your install. Please make sure your saves are backed up before using KLV. New versions may make a lot of changes so may not work with old saves/configs.

License

Development Log

Imgur Album

Edited April 25, 2018 by jCoiley
Version 1.1.4 and Falcon Heavy!

[wasml]

Great idea!

One suggestion - add a version or "last updated" date (or both) to the header - will make it easier for followers to know when you have a new version out.

Thanks for sharing this - I look forward to seeing where you go with this.

[drtedastro]

nice idea.  been looking for something like this.

uh, the 'download' seems to be broken.. 404'd.

will try again later.

cheers, and good luck.

[jCoiley]

Download fixed.

If there's one (of many) thing I don't understand, it's how to use GitHub.

[jCoiley]

Updated to v0.1.1

• Some minor UI tidying
• Vehicle editor now notifies if root part is not a decoupler - this makes sure the subassembly is easy to attach to a payload when selected, but is not compulsory.

I've been sitting on this idea for a while and nearly gave up on it, but finally uploading it here and the initial positive feedback has given me new enthusiasm for the project!

Thank you!

[evileye.x]

Pics for clicks?

[jCoiley]

More updates - Launch vehicles can now have a description/notes. Useful for reminding yourself particular features of the vehicle eg. Does the upper stage deorbit after payload insertion? Does the vehicle require a particularly steep launch profile?

And as requested, photos of KLV in its current form

Imgur Album

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by jCoiley
Fixed imgur link

[jCoiley]

Release 0.1.3 - 

• Dropdowns now looking better and working the way they should be
• General tidying of the UI

I've also created an example config and subassembly for those who want to try KLV out with some real data - bear in mind only the Delta IV Heavy has a subassembly, so trying to load any of the others will do nothing.

Next stops:

• Hover tooltips for Vehicle Suggestions to display info
• More tidying!

[jCoiley]

Release 0.1.4 -

• Selecting a suggested vehicle now displays its full information in a pane to the right with a button to load the vehicle into the editor.
• Font size option - not yet persistent

I'm thinking that in its current form KLV nearly has all the features it needs to be a useful mod, so I think I will release it soon and continue to work on more features for future updates.

New info panel!

 

[jCoiley]

Update v0.1.5 - 

• Saving and loading mod settings from config
• Window positions and font size now persistent

Still need to track down why the staging sometimes doesn't load correctly

[evileye.x]

I like what you've got!

 I'm definitely will try your mod because I use launch vehicles sub-assemblies anyway like

"Titan (family name) 2 (model name) A (modification name) 10 (10x100kg = 1ton) 7000 (dV for given payload).

And sometimes similar for upper stages

I don't see dV mention in your screenshots.

[jCoiley]

On 7/20/2017 at 9:48 AM, evileye.x said:

I don't see dV mention in your screenshots.

The idea is that when you define a lunch configuration for a vehicle, you're saying is has the dV to carry a payload with X to the given destination eg. "payload 5t to LKO" essentially means "Has dV of ~3500m/s with 5t of payload". You can set up the destinations however you like though, so instead of orbit descriptions (LKO, KTO etc) you could use dV targets - totally up to you!

I would like to integrate with mechjeb/kerbal engineer at some point so this would all be defined automatically!

Quote

And sometimes similar for upper stages

The beauty of KLV is that it allows you to add launch vehicles in a modular fashion, for example - 

1. Create your payload vessel (1t)
2. Attach 'My Little Transfer Stage' that has 'payload 1t  "LKO to Munar Intercept"'
3. New vessel mass = 10t, so click Update Suggestions
4. Attach 'My Big First Stage' that has 'payload 10t to "LKO"'
5. Launch and Profit (crash into the sea)

I might think about setting up launch configs in a 'START to END' fashion (ie Launchpad to LKO; LKO to Munar intercept), but I want to keep the process as streamlined as possible.

I hope that all makes sense, it's not too easy trying to write out launch configurations!

Thanks for the enthusiasm!

Edited July 21, 2017 by jCoiley
Spelling

[jCoiley]

Release 0.1.6

• Vehicle Family names now fully editable
• Config and vehicle files created on startup for new saves
• Subassembly paths saved so names can be edited

[evileye.x]

I've noticed you have very strict weight limit on launchers suggestions, but sometime it is needed to put heavier payload, assuming payload can compensate lack of launcher dV

[jCoiley]

10 hours ago, evileye.x said:

but sometime it is needed to put heavier payload

That's a good point, I think I'll add an option to ignore vessel mass and display the full list of launch vehicles, thanks for the suggestion!

Edited July 22, 2017 by jCoiley

[jCoiley]

Update 0.1.7:

• Can now choose to ignore the vessel mass as the payload which displays all available launch vehicles. Thanks @evileye.x for the suggestion!
• More UI design (does it ever end?)

Edited July 24, 2017 by jCoiley
Corrected version

[Probus]

@jCoiley, Can you recompile this mod for 1.2.2 so that we can use it in Realism Overhaul.  It seems to be not letting me save vehicles.

[harrisjosh2711]

This seems interesting!

[jCoiley]

@Probus, absolutely!

I've recompiled for KSP 1.2 and created a version that works with 1.1 as well. They both now appear to be working correctly in my testing.

Would you like me to release the mod official before you use it or are you happy it staying on the development thread for the time being?

[Probus]

 Thank you so very much for the recompile(s)! I will try them with RO right now.

I am happy staying in the dev thread. When you release make sure you show a lot of pictures. And, of course, list links to the different versions.

Thanks again! 

 

[Probus]

Notes on the 1.2 version:

• Destinations I add do not show up in the drop down box on the settings screen.
• The Please Select dropdown box is empty in the VAB screen when trying to add a new rocket. (error: Getting control 0's position in a group with only 0 controls when doing Repaint Aborting)
• Add Launch Config works just fine.
• Select family is yellow and doesn't do anything. (No error message)
• Can't save my rockets.

I did set up destinations and I set up rocket families.

I hope this helps.  Keep up the good work.

 

 

 

[jCoiley]

@Probus thanks for the feedback. I've just done a fresh install of ksp 1.2.2 and KLV and I can't manage to replicate those issues.

Just for my sanity, can I check you're using the download KLV1_2 here?

All those issues sound like the same problem - saving or loading of the configs not working correctly. Could you check what the Config path box says on the 'Settings' tab of the Space Centre window and confirm that the file 'klvConfig.cfg' is at the location?

Edited July 31, 2017 by jCoiley
Updated link

[Probus]

Definitely got the 1.2.2 version.  Tried starting a new game in RO and I have the same problems.

my config path is "saves/default/Subassemblies" and it is called klvConfig.cfg

 

 

[jCoiley]

Hm. Ok could you try putting this into 'klvConfig.cfg' :

LAUNCHDESTINATIONS
{
	DESTINATION
	{
		ID = 0
		NAME = LEO
	}
}
LAUNCHFAMILIES
{
	FAMILY
	{
		NAME = MyFamily
	}
}

Then go to the Settings tab of the Space Centre window and hit 'Load Configurations' and see what the debug output is for that? 

Edited July 31, 2017 by jCoiley

[jCoiley]

@Probus, out of interest, have you tried the mod on KSP 1.3? Does it work for you on that?