kopernicus [WIP] Hioffpo Planetary System [Version 0.1]

[adsii1970]

This system is a work in progress. When I first began this star system, it began with an idea to make it Mayan. And as you can tell from the date of the original OP and to now, that's what the system's names for the star and planets consisted of. But along the way to now, I felt that it would be better to repackage it and give everything names that sound a bit more Kerbal.

This project began as an attempt to teach myself how to create a planet pack. But I also wanted to do something neat with it to make it different. One of the television shows of the  late 1970s and early 1980s that led to my fascination with astronomy was the show Cosmos with Dr. Carl Sagan. One particular episode was about the life cycles of stars - and how as a star dies, one of two things could happen - the star could go supernova OR the star could expand, shed its photosphere, then collapse back on its core and form a white dwarf.

This project picks up the stellar saga after the ejection of the photosphere. Hioffpo was believed once to be a yellow star, much like Kerbol. As it aged, it became a red super giant, consuming the inner four rocky worlds. Its photosphere collapsed and parts of it was ejected into space in an orbit around the newly emerging blue-white dwarf (an intermediate stage before becoming a white dwarf). Some of the ejected solar matter coalesced into a tidally locked small rocky world (the above image). Remaining matter didn't form a planet but is rumored to have formed a series of rings intermingled with a few moderately sized asteroids.

Current mod development progress and release notes

0.1	27/08/2017	Initial release. Nohochacyum only
0.1.1	03/09/2017	Added various light curves.
0.1.2	01/06/2022	Revived and initial re-release of the mod with assistance of @AtomicTech.  Star and planet names changed to be more "Kerbal" sounding.  New planets added.

To Install: Copy the entire folder (adsii1970/Hioffpo) into your GameData folder. Do not remove any folder contents or rename the folders.

Working download:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9bz92533tm0xt06/AADd29GxVQckJae8G5bbQtCOa?dl=0

Required mods:            Kopernicus
Recommended mods:

• Outer Planets Mod
• Distant Object Enhancement

Compatible with other planetary packs I use:

• ExtraSolar (Valentine System) by @AndrewDrawsPrettyPictures

Known issues with this mod pack (by version of KSP):

Note: This planet pack is a work in progress. Use with caution.

Plans for this mod pack:

Thanks to co-contributors to this mod:

@AtomicTech

 

Special thanks to the following forum members for their advice and encouragement:

@SamBelanger - providing tutorial videos that helped me get this mod started.

@AndrewDrawsPrettyPictures - allowing me to dissect his ExtraSolar mod and understanding what works under the hood, so to speak.

@JadeOfMaar - Providing ongoing answers to my never-ending questions about modding in KSP.

@JustJim - being a good friend, allowing me to bounce frustrations, ideas, and everything else towards him. 

@OhioBob - being paitent with me and actually redoing my messed up calculations dealing with my light curve issues.

 

[SamBelanger]

Good Mod

Edited August 28, 2017 by SamBelanger
GGGGGG

[adsii1970]

5 minutes ago, SamBelanger said:

Good Mod

Thank you. I still have a long way to go before I get it in a "finished" state, but at least now I have the star! Je vous remercie pour votre aide et conseils!

 

[SamBelanger]

13 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

Thank you. I still have a long way to go before I get it in a "finished" state, but at least now I have the star! Je vous remercie pour votre aide et conseils!

 

you're welcome, de rien

@adsii1970 BUG???

 

Edited August 28, 2017 by SamBelanger
...

[Angelo Kerman]

Now I'm gonna have to schedule a DSEV update that has interstellar spacecraft components... Looks great!

[adsii1970]

2 hours ago, SamBelanger said:

BUG???

[Edited by adsii1970]

Good catch!

Um, that could be causes by not having two mods, such as scatterer AND SVE. Maybe I need to add that to the OP.

Also, the radius does seem a little small. I will go in and look at that over the week and include the fix in the next update on Saturday evening (2017-09-02). Since this is my first mod, don't worry about hurting my feelings as I am eager to learn and get this right.

51 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Now I'm gonna have to schedule a DSEV update that has interstellar spacecraft components... Looks great!

Oh, yes... so, does this qualify as abusing a mod maker? If so, I'm guilty as charged! I love using your mods and they add a lot to how I play the game.

I'm working on the rings this week and am hoping to have the second release by Saturday night. Right now, I am using a texture I have borrowed from OPM to understand how the ring texture works. I don't want to release the next update until I've created my own ring texture for this particular mod. But I already have the script written for the ring... so as a teaser image... here's the ring, the remnant of the "super-Kerbin" exoplanet, Xamaniqinqu...

Edited August 28, 2017 by adsii1970

[Benjamin Kerman]

Congratulations on the WIP! 

Lookin good!

[Andi K.]

Interested to see where this goes...

[SamBelanger]

15 hours ago, AndrewDrawsPrettyPictures said:

Interested to see where this goes...

@AndrewDrawsPrettyPictures It's super nice

[adsii1970]

I have a question - for those playing in 1.3, there are more things I will need to do "under the hood" of this star to get it to work right with the new version of Kopernicus. Do you think I should offer two versions - one that works in 1.2 and the other, 1.3?

[SamBelanger]

40 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

I have a question - for those playing in 1.3, there are more things I will need to do "under the hood" of this star to get it to work right with the new version of Kopernicus. Do you think I should offer two versions - one that works in 1.2 and the other, 1.3?

Mmmm ... I think it's better that you stay in 1.3.0 

[Angelo Kerman]

44 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

I have a question - for those playing in 1.3, there are more things I will need to do "under the hood" of this star to get it to work right with the new version of Kopernicus. Do you think I should offer two versions - one that works in 1.2 and the other, 1.3?

My experience with modding is that maintaining multiple versions of a mod is tedious and time consuming for a low rate of return. Best to keep up to date with the latest KSP and point users to older versions of the mod if they play an older version of KSP.

[adsii1970]

@SamBelanger

Ok, the next release on Saturday will have the improvements made to it as well as a link to the dependencies and recommended mods in a readme file. So, with that said:

Based on about three hours of intense research and rewriting script, this star is literally living up to its namesake as a destroyer.

• It is still small, but if you look at the ASL temperature, that works out to 5566.85 degrees C (10052.33 F). This star is hotter than our sun ( 5,778 K), and hotter than Kerbol, the Sun's analog. So, with that said, the temperature is about right from what I have researched.
• The rotation period is extremely fast - and proportional to a blue-white dwarf. I actually scaled this star down from the real world ones NASA/JPL/ESA/JSA have studied. It's actually only about 20% the intensity of a real one, but for a game analog, it should be doable.

[Snark]

Lookin' great so far! 

59 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

Do you think I should offer two versions - one that works in 1.2 and the other, 1.3?

I would say, not.  Speaking as a modder:  you only have a finite amount of time available to work on your mod.  So, every hour you spend, you want to maximize the effectiveness of that hour, for example,

• how much fun are you having working on it
• how much will you enjoy the fruits of your labor, when you're done and you can play with your mod
• how many other people are you helping, who will want to use it and download it

Of course you can make your own choices, but in my experience, "maintain a version for an older KSP version" flunks badly on all three criteria.  I find doing reverse-compatibility work to be incredibly tedious, boring, and un-fun.  I will get zero personal benefit at play time, since I always play on the most recent KSP version.  And although it's true that a fair number of people are running older KSP versions for one reason or another... I suspect that the large majority keep up-to-date, which means any work you do for KSP 1.2 is going to have a much smaller (and dwindling) number of users than for KSP 1.3.

So, instead of spending that time trying to make a backwards-compatible 1.2 version, you can plow it into making your 1.3 version even cooler.  I suspect you'll have more fun, and you'll be giving better value to a larger number of users.

Just my two cents, though.  Keep it comin'! 

17 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

My experience with modding is that maintaining multiple versions of a mod is tedious and time consuming for a low rate of return. Best to keep up to date with the latest KSP and point users to older versions of the mod if they play an older version of KSP.

^ Exactly precisely this.

[SamBelanger]

3 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

@SamBelanger

Ok, the next release on Saturday will have the improvements made to it as well as a link to the dependencies and recommended mods in a readme file. So, with that said:

Based on about three hours of intense research and rewriting script, this star is literally living up to its namesake as a destroyer.

• It is still small, but if you look at the ASL temperature, that works out to 5566.85 degrees C (10052.33 F). This star is hotter than our sun ( 5,778 K), and hotter than Kerbol, the Sun's analog. So, with that said, the temperature is about right from what I have researched.
• The rotation period is extremely fast - and proportional to a blue-white dwarf. I actually scaled this star down from the real world ones NASA/JPL/ESA/JSA have studied. It's actually only about 20% the intensity of a real one, but for a game analog, it should be doable.

Beautiful works

[Thomas P.]

1 hour ago, adsii1970 said:

I have a question - for those playing in 1.3, there are more things I will need to do "under the hood" of this star to get it to work right with the new version of Kopernicus. Do you think I should offer two versions - one that works in 1.2 and the other, 1.3?

cough Kopernicus Backports cough

You can use your 1.3.0 config in 1.2.2 without any change, as long as you install the matching Kopernicus mainline and backport versions

[adsii1970]

Just now, Thomas P. said:

cough Kopernicus Backports cough

You can use your 1.3.0 config in 1.2.2 without any change, as long as you install the matching Kopernicus mainline and backport versions

Thank you, I didn't know that! This will help greatly. I know there are many KSP players that are going to stick with 1.2.2 and that's fine, it is their choice. I just wanted to have the option of having this mod playable in either version. Thanks for the information.

[Snark]

1 hour ago, adsii1970 said:

Thank you, I didn't know that! This will help greatly. I know there are many KSP players that are going to stick with 1.2.2 and that's fine, it is their choice. I just wanted to have the option of having this mod playable in either version. Thanks for the information.

Yah, if you can provide that backwards compatibility without having to spend much time on it, then it's a lot more win. 

[adsii1970]

6 minutes ago, Snark said:

Yah, if you can provide that backwards compatibility without having to spend much time on it, then it's a lot more win. 

I believe that was what @Thomas P. was saying. I can continue to develop it in 1.3 and those who want to use it in 1.2 will still have the backwards compatibility. So, this means I can march forward and focus on making it work in 1.3 I am happy!

[adsii1970]

Update - for the last days, I've been trying to get this planet stuff figured out. Now mind you, I am new and still learning all of this stuff... but at least I think I have the terrain map stuff kinda figured out. Now I just need to figure out what I am doing with the rest of it.

But here's what progress I've made on it...

Personally, I think the rings add a menacing appearance to the system and I am very happy how it looks from the planet. Now I just need to figure out the rest of the planet stuff... But I did think you'd like an update.

And as always, I will always take guidance in planet-building, so no, you're not going to hurt my feelings by giving me suggestions...

[adsii1970]

Progress resumes on the planetary system, thanks to @OhioBob and @JadeOfMaar. Made some good progress earlier this week, but won't be ready for an updated release for a while. But here's what's been done:

Inner most planet is the core and inner mantle remnants of the planet, Xamaniqinqu. Once I get the rest of the bodies in the solar system added, this planetoid will have asteroids around it - the remnants of the crust and upper mantle.

The middle planet is the only gas giant of the system, Hapikern. This planet will eventually have three moons, Usukan, Uyitzin, and Yantho. I've not put them into orbit yet... but that will happen soon.

The outer planet is Tepeu, which will have one moon (unnamed, so far). This planet will be a rocky world with a non-oxygen atmosphere.

There's one more planet I intend to add - it will be about the size of Mars and will have an oxygen atmosphere - but will be a rocky world covered in ice with two moons.

There will also be an asteroid belt between Hapikern and Tepeu.

[adsii1970]

Update on progress:

With the newest version of Kopernicus, I'm working on redoing the light curves this week. I am hoping to have an update by the middle of February.

[adsii1970]

Update on progress:

Still working on the light curves for the latest version of Kopernicus. Once light curve updates are complete, I will have an update with two rocky worlds.

[HansonKerman]

Just make sure there's no glass to stab peoples boots (joke).

On 8/27/2017 at 6:39 PM, adsii1970 said:

Nohochacyum

and in your statuses I kept reading "Noochaynom"

[adsii1970]

11 minutes ago, HansonKerman said:

Just make sure there's no glass to stab peoples boots (joke).

and in your statuses I kept reading "Noochaynom"

Very possible. Sometimes my brain out-thinks my fingers. Letters, and sometimes, entire words fall to the wayside.

Oh, and if you look at my fan-fic, Kerny's Journal, I use Lucida Sans Unicode throughout the story...  

AND:

I'm about ready to push an update. The light curves are done (I think) and I've roughed in the planets. Over the next few months, I plan to finish a planet a month, then add the moons into orbit around them. Should be fun and crazy, to say the least...