Realer Explosions! (or make them moddable at least)

[RatchetinSpace]

KSP is all about trial and error, and many rocket explosions in the process of building a successful mission. I'd like to see the explosions from rockets enhanced a bit because at the moment they are far to small and quick. There is no magnificent fireball like a real rocket failure, and given this is such a core element of the game I think it could do with some more detail, and add spice to an otherwise disappointing design failure.

We know the game (and most computers) can handle better effects because they are used when KSC facilities are destroyed.

Anyway, if the devs don't want to dedicate time to this, or they don't think all computers could handle it, I think it'd be nice if they were able to enable modding of the particle effects. Currently (as far as I can tell) the explosion particles cannot be changed/modified to reflect their real-world counterparts.

This is what I think failures should look like:

 

[DrLicor]

There is a mod that tweaks the explosions a bit, and also one which add some plumes to damaged parts:

 

 

This should give some better efffects, but still won't give you the big LOX fireball

 

[RatchetinSpace]

48 minutes ago, DrLicor said:

There is a mod that tweaks the explosions a bit, and also one which add some plumes to damaged parts:

 

 

This should give some better efffects, but still won't give you the big LOX fireball

 

Yes I have seen these mods, and I'm grateful to the mod makers for creating them, but they just don't capture the essence of a rocket explosion as you mentioned. I've tried modifying the BAM config files to make bigger explosions but the problem is the animation has a fixed timing so it disappears just as quickly.

[DrLicor]

Yep indeed, I think it has partly to do that a rocket in real life, one big tank, so making a mod with real life explosions, it should take account for all the fuel of all the parts, reacting to one explosion, without collisioning to much with each other. 
With part mods like SSTU, this could be pretty good possible, but still a pretty hard job to get those real, long effects in the game. Which will also have some impact performance-wise I think..

[Spricigo]

6 hours ago, RatchetinSpace said:

Yes I have seen these mods, and I'm grateful to the mod makers for creating them, but they just don't capture the essence of a rocket explosion as you mentioned.

Ok, I'd  like to have better effects too.

But, for me at least, the "essence of a rocket explosion" is something like "there was a rocket and a moment after there there was no rocket"

 

[Greenfire32]

OP must be one of those men that just want to watch the world burn

[RatchetinSpace]

9 hours ago, Spricigo said:

Ok, I'd  like to have better effects too.

But, for me at least, the "essence of a rocket explosion" is something like "there was a rocket and a moment after there there was no rocket"

Haha, okay, maybe, but a key part of that is the rocket being replaced by an enormous fireball.