KSP Interstellar Extended Support Thread

[Mandella]

So I'd like to move the Thermal Thruster down from the Experimental Rocketry node to Precision Propulsion. Now obviously I could directly edit the cfg for the Thruster, but that's a bad practice.

Could I trouble someone to provide an example of code that I could drop into my own cfg that would make the change and not require editing the original cfgs?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for being such a code noob here.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Mandella
Corrected Node

[Electrocutor]

@PART[<PartName>]:Final
{
	@TechRequired = <TechNodeName>
}

 

For you, the Tech node name is precisionEngineering, but I'm not sure which thruster you're referring to.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Electrocutor

[TheOrqwithVagrant]

 

 

On 12/15/2017 at 5:02 PM, JebsSecretary said:

Does anyone else have problems with the close cycle gas core engine? Since I updated KSPIE to the latest version, it needs a reactor to run... I thought the whole point of the engine was that it is a crazy type of reactor?

Unless I have a reactor present, I can´t select a propellant in the VAB. If I then add the reactor, it works just fine...

Does this make sense? Am I doing something wrong?

 

On 12/19/2017 at 12:21 AM, Raptoer said:

@FreeThinker 

I'm also getting this. Everything I've read has lead me to believe that I should be able to have a craft which is just the probe, fuel tank, radiator and the closed cycle gas core engine, but when I put that on the pad it complains about no reactors and produces no thrust. I also can't switch propellants on it, which may or may not be related to lack of a reactor.

On 12/19/2017 at 1:56 AM, FreeThinker said:

I should indeed add a message which mention this kind of reactor does not operate in environment with gravity/ acceleration higher than 0.5 g

FreeThinker, that's not it. The closed cycle "nuclear lightbulb" engine now suddenly works like a *thermal nozzle*. You have to put it behind another thermal-power generator reactor to work at all, *even in zero g*. My closed-cycle gas core power ships en-route to interplanetary targets are now crippled in space 

Moreover, the closed-cycle nuclear ligthtbulb is *supposed to work at sea-level in 1G, even on earth*. Why this sudden nerfing?

[FreeThinker]

5 hours ago, TheOrqwithVagrant said:

 

 

FreeThinker, that's not it. The closed cycle "nuclear lightbulb" engine now suddenly works like a *thermal nozzle*. You have to put it behind another thermal-power generator reactor to work at all, *even in zero g*. My closed-cycle gas core power ships en-route to interplanetary targets are now crippled in space 

Moreover, the closed-cycle nuclear ligthtbulb is *supposed to work at sea-level in 1G, even on earth*. Why this sudden nerfing?

2

Sorry, my mistake, I confused the closed cycle gas core reactor with the open cycle gas core reactor.

Now regarding your problem, it can be fixed by simply opening LightBulp.cfg in WarpPlugin\Parts\Engines\LightBulb  and change InterstellarFissionPBDP into  InterstellarFissionPB. If that too difficult, I will release a new beta where it is fixed

Edited December 21, 2017 by FreeThinker

[Mandella]

Still down in the shallow end of the tech tree, is it just me or does the upgrade to the Solid Core Nuclear Engine not do anything? I see no difference in the output, no new engine label, definitely no option to enable an "afterburner" effect that would allow the consumption of hydrolox.

Using 1.16.1.

[Majikthyze]

Hello,

I was hoping to get some help in how to put together something similar to a Magneto hydrodynamic drive using electrical power like seen in Hunt for Red October.  This is for a submersible vessel that I would like able to use the ambient ocean water as a propellant just like an airbreathing turbine engine in the atmosphere.

Any suggestions how to use KSP-IE to accomplish would be very appreciated.

Edited December 22, 2017 by Majikthyze

[Raptoer]

@FreeThinker Thanks for the quick fixes.

My friends and I are also having a problem with the solid core nuclear engine. Below a certain fuel level the engine just stops propelling the craft. The tooltip says it's producing thrust, but the craft just won't budge. This particular craft has 3 CryoX XL tanks with LH2, as soon as all 3 get to 10k/24k LH2 the engine stops propelling the craft. If I use hyper-edit to put more LH2 in then voila it starts thrusting again.

Perhaps some interaction between KSPIE and the CryoX things? Is there any particular type of fuel tank that I should be using instead?

Thanks

[FreeThinker]

1 hour ago, Raptoer said:

@FreeThinker Thanks for the quick fixes.

My friends and I are also having a problem with the solid core nuclear engine. Below a certain fuel level the engine just stops propelling the craft. The tooltip says it's producing thrust, but the craft just won't budge. This particular craft has 3 CryoX XL tanks with LH2, as soon as all 3 get to 10k/24k LH2 the engine stops propelling the craft. If I use hyper-edit to put more LH2 in then voila it starts thrusting again.

Perhaps some interaction between KSPIE and the CryoX things? Is there any particular type of fuel tank that I should be using instead?

2

This problem is usually an indication of having a part on your vessel with a negative mass, this is usually caused by a  partmodule that return too large mass correction. Any container partmodule like cryogenic are most likely to cause this behaviour, therefore the CryoX XL tanks sound suspicious

Edited December 22, 2017 by FreeThinker

[raxo2222]

Moved bug reports here:

Spoiler

On 11.12.2017 at 2:25 PM, raxo2222 said:

Lets see if any of bugs below in spoiler were fixed...

All static bugs are still here (first 5), lag spikes with magnetis scoop happens only if I rightclick or move it.

Bug 6 on list was fixed.

Edit: It wasn't fixed for EM drive, Magneto Plasma Dynamic Thruster,  Atilla, and electric RCS.

Using no max temperature and free electricity cheats

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

Bug 7. still is present, and now magnetic scoop is overheating when active.....

There is nice test craft, eitther use KRASH for simulation, or hyperedit it when pauzed to orbit.

Upscale magnetic scoop and blanker receivers to trigger FAR bug.

What is with locsometging buggy name of one part and litervolume resource that is present on some tanks?

https://imgur.com/a/QqVjS

There is bug in IFS/patchmanager by the way. Error location is in screenshot in this spoiler.

  Reveal hidden contents

There is bug with titanum radiators: their max temperature is limited by atmosphere...

  Reveal hidden contents

There are still multiple bugs (using latest beta version):
1. Blanket receivers cause extreme lag with FAR present when upscaled and deployed to largest sizes - I had to restart computer as FAR ate all my RAM and gave hard time to my poor old hard drive.
2. There are lag spikes caused by FAR when magnetic scoop is present in VAB/SPH even without scaling - it has to do with voxelization.
3. There is scale description mismatch for TORY Ramjet - its size says is 5m part, while it fits nicely with 2.5m part.
When downscaled to 1.25m part it fits 0.625m part.

  Reveal hidden contents

 
4. There is bug with Interstellar Thermal Mechanic Helper and Magnetized Target Fusion Reactor and Plasma Jet Internal Magnetic Fusion Reactor: Thermal Helper shows 1000x less power(Total Heat Production)  than actual power rating of reactor.

  Reveal hidden contents

 
5. Infinite Propellant cheat doesn't work for ISRU (would be useful for testing)

  Reveal hidden contents

 
6. Power requested depends on propellant efficiency for electrical engines (using infinite electricity, no max temp and infinite propellant to remove these factors)

  Reveal hidden contents

 
7. Solar/Interstellar material gathering rate doesn't change if I turn ionization in magnetic scoop on/off.
 

  Reveal hidden contents

Are these bugs fixed yet?

 

 

There is still bug with thermal helper display when it comes to two fusion thermal only reactors, there are FAR lagspikes with magnetic scoop and nuclear ramjet engine has mismatched size - size should be of connector point.

https://imgur.com/a/amabZ

Edited December 22, 2017 by raxo2222

[Mandella]

15 hours ago, Mandella said:

Still down in the shallow end of the tech tree, is it just me or does the upgrade to the Solid Core Nuclear Engine not do anything? I see no difference in the output, no new engine label, definitely no option to enable an "afterburner" effect that would allow the consumption of hydrolox.

Using 1.16.1.

Sorry to quote myself but....

Looking at the cfg for the Solid Core (Labeled NERVA) I'm not seeing any information detailing any change in fuel type on upgrade. Same with the Timberwind and Vista. Could be I just don't know what I'm doing (always possible), but I think something got left out.

Later I might try to hack in some values, but I'm still not really familiar with the modding syntax here so it'll take me a while to figure it out.

[fritobandito]

Having an issue with beamed 'network efficiency'. AFAIK, the efficiency factors are: spot size < than receiver size, absorption, and receiver efficiency. Is this correct? In my case, I have all factors equal between two receivers, but one receiver is at 16%, and a different one is at 84% efficiency. The only difference is the receiver size, which in both cases is still greater than the spot size (4.5m and 32m respectively). Side by side comparison below, showing how all other factors are equal. 

What is causing the ~70% network efficiency gap between the two receivers? Shouldn't they both be equal?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2017 by fritobandito

[Mandella]

I think I have it figured out. The fuel selection type is set by a cfg in the Resources folder, and LiquidFuel/Oxidizer is not opened until the High-Performance Fuels node. Editing it to Advanced Nuclear Rocketry (or whatever, can't see the node from here) gives me the option like I wanted.

Is this a bug or am I just editing in things I like? As far as I can see there is no reference to needing High-Performance Fuels to unlock the LiquidFuel/Oxidizer option in the Solid Core Upgrade flavor text, so I'm thinking it's just an error and the wrong node is specified in Resources.

[danielboro]

@FreeThinker you did something funny to closed cycle gas core reactor

i scaled it up by +1 and after the update to 1.16.3.2 the Thrust is at 125000KN

it is better then 0 in 1.16.1/2/3 but it was a resnebel 1500KN before the updates

[FreeThinker]

16 hours ago, fritobandito said:

Having an issue with beamed 'network efficiency'. AFAIK, the efficiency factors are: spot size < than receiver size, absorption, and receiver efficiency. Is this correct? In my case, I have all factors equal between two receivers, but one receiver is at 16%, and a different one is at 84% efficiency. The only difference is the receiver size, which in both cases is still greater than the spot size (4.5m and 32m respectively). Side by side comparison below, showing how all other factors are equal. 

What is causing the ~70% network efficiency gap between the two receivers? Shouldn't they both be equal?

The most likely explanation is that the Blanked Rectenna Receiver was able to pivot itself to face the beamed power beam while the Inline Phased Transceiver received the beamed power at a less then ideal angle . The Inline Transceiver has a blind spots situated directly above and below the inline the transceiver. There is an inter-medium angle at which  the transceiver only receives a part of signal, this would explain the lower efficiency

Edited December 24, 2017 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

2 hours ago, danielboro said:

@FreeThinker you did something funny to closed cycle gas core reactor

i scaled it up by +1 and after the update to 1.16.3.2 the Thrust is at 125000KN

it is better then 0 in 1.16.1/2/3 but it was a resnebel 1500KN before the updates

Thanks, it appears a MM power scaling was missing, it will be fixed in next release

[FreeThinker]

A new release 1.16.4 is available and can be downloaded from here

Changelog

* Added Heliosphere Simulation, solar wind now stops at Helio Pause creating a Hydrogen Wall and wave into interstellar medium

* Added Exosphere Simulation making it possible to scoop up resources to the edge of the magnetosphere

* Added acceleration effects suppression to Bussard ramjet and Fusion engines

* Added Improved Relay info in Beamed Power Receiver Window

* Balancing Large Increase of Drag Bussard Ramjet Magnetic scoop

* Balancing Increased Isp, Trust and Power consumption Daedalus by a factor of 4

* Balancing Increased Trust and Power consumption Bussard Fusion Engine by factor 4

* Balance: Increased Maximum light speed limitation at higher altitudes above a gravity well

* Balance: Increased overall Drag Bussard Ramjet Magnetic scoop

* Fixed Module Manager 1.3.1 Error messages in combination with Bug Mk2 Expansion

* Fixed Resource consumption Thermal Anti Matter Reactor

* Fixed scooping resources with magnetic scoop above 1000 KM

* Fixed Timberwind and Nuclear Lightbulb missing reactor

* Fixed power scaling Lightbulb / Timberwind in NF mode

* Fixed power requirement Bussard Ramjet in NF mode

* Fixed offline resource collection at interstellar space with Bussard Magnetic Scoop

* Fixed some Chinese translations

[raxo2222]

Just randomly floating using magnetic scoop on minimal power without ionizing.

It seems like atmospheric drag is set wayyyy too high - how it is possible to float something weighting around 500 tons in air using 26 KW power?

 

Edited December 25, 2017 by raxo2222

[danielboro]

On יום שני 25 דצמבר 2017 at 12:14 AM, FreeThinker said:

A new release 1.16.4 is available and can be downloaded from here

Changelog

* Added Heliosphere Simulation, solar wind now stops at Helio Pause creating a Hydrogen Wall and wave into interstellar medium

* Added Exosphere Simulation making it possible to scoop up resources to the edge of the magnetosphere

* Added acceleration effects suppression to Bussard ramjet and Fusion engines

* Added Improved Relay info in Beamed Power Receiver Window

* Balancing Large Increase of Drag Bussard Ramjet Magnetic scoop

* Balancing Increased Isp, Trust and Power consumption Daedalus by a factor of 4

* Balancing Increased Trust and Power consumption Bussard Fusion Engine by factor 4

* Balance: Increased Maximum light speed limitation at higher altitudes above a gravity well

* Balance: Increased overall Drag Bussard Ramjet Magnetic scoop

* Fixed Module Manager 1.3.1 Error messages in combination with Bug Mk2 Expansion

* Fixed Resource consumption Thermal Anti Matter Reactor

* Fixed scooping resources with magnetic scoop above 1000 KM

* Fixed Timberwind and Nuclear Lightbulb missing reactor

* Fixed power scaling Lightbulb / Timberwind in NF mode

* Fixed power requirement Bussard Ramjet in NF mode

* Fixed offline resource collection at interstellar space with Bussard Magnetic Scoop

* Fixed some Chinese translations

i installed 1.16.4

now i have 130000 KN

[FreeThinker]

18 hours ago, raxo2222 said:

Just randomly floating using magnetic scoop on minimal power without ionizing.

It seems like atmospheric drag is set wayyyy too high - how it is possible to float something weighting around 500 tons in air using 26 KW power?

 

The ionosphere isn't implemented for low altitudes yet. Currently it assumes 1/1000 of atmosphere, which was a temporary value to test it. I intend to correct this next release

Edited December 26, 2017 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

A new release 1.16.5  is available from here

Changelog

* Added new slider named Collection which allows reduce power cost at the cost of increased drag

* Added wasteheat production for Magnetic scoop

* Added improved power management stability

* Balance increase Magnetic scoop magnet power cost

* Fixed Lightbulb, Gascore and Timberwind thrust output in NF

* Fixed Ionosphere Drag

* Fixed Exception with Static Radiators at startup

[danielboro]

10 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

A new release 1.16.5  is available from here

Changelog

* Added new slider named Collection which allows reduce power cost at the cost of increased drag

* Added wasteheat production for Magnetic scoop

* Added improved power management stability

* Balance increase Magnetic scoop magnet power cost

* Fixed Lightbulb, Gascore and Timberwind thrust output in NF

* Fixed Ionosphere Drag

* Fixed Exception with Static Radiators at startup

new set of problems

if i shutdown Lightbulb it writs max thrust as 1500 but wen i turn it on it writs 600

second problem in ker all lines for thrust and DV are gone (i had them right before the update)

edit: wrong ver number in the pics

1.16.5  not4

pic from 1.16.3

and an old pic from 1.15

Edited December 27, 2017 by danielboro

[raxo2222]

You still can get 100 g deceleration just above atmosphere height (200 - 300 km) when activating magnetic scoop on full power with ionizing and collection rate set to 0.

[FreeThinker]

On 27-12-2017 at 10:45 AM, raxo2222 said:

You still can get 100 g deceleration just above atmosphere height (200 - 300 km) when activating magnetic scoop on full power with ionizing and collection rate set to 0.

At minimum collection rate, drag will be maximized.  Even at 0.33% power, it will create the drag equivalent to a 4 square kilometre parachute. Perhaps you were expecting something different? What do you think should happen? Perhaps there should be a maximum force tolerance which when broken will rip your magnetic scoop apart.

The Drag generated by the magnetic scoop is perhaps it's most powerful asset as it can effectively slice the delta-V requirements in half, even without a proton-proton fusion engine. For example, an interstellar beam core antimatter vessel could first speed up to 70% speed of light and then use the scoop to slow down and use electric engines to navigate in the target system, without a beamed core antimatter vessel speed would be limited to 35% speed of light, effectively doubling travelling time

Edited December 28, 2017 by FreeThinker

[raxo2222]

I excepted it to not be able to float in atmosphere at all - that is terminal velocity would be higher than 1 m/s even at maximum drag.

It seems like easily we could have floating cities on Mars or Jupiter poles with magnetic scoops like that.

Also there wouldn't be need for reentry.

 

Edit: here are 40m parts:

https://imgur.com/a/Y30MD

 

Drag is so big with ionizing on, max power and min collection are, that even at 800 km my speed is falling at 1 m/s

Edited December 27, 2017 by raxo2222

[FreeThinker]

9 hours ago, raxo2222 said:

I excepted it to not be able to float in atmosphere at all - that is terminal velocity would be higher than 1 m/s even at maximum drag.

It seems like easily we could have floating cities on Mars or Jupiter poles with magnetic scoops like that.

Also there wouldn't be need for reentry.

 

Edit: here are 40m parts:

https://imgur.com/a/Y30MD

 

Drag is so big with ionizing on, max power and min collection are, that even at 800 km my speed is falling at 1 m/s

 

Well I think part of the problem is the fact that Ionization is currently in a 360 arc, which of cource makes no sense as you would only ionize the gasses in the direct orbital path.  Fixing this should also fix the floating down issue

Edited December 27, 2017 by FreeThinker