KSP Interstellar Extended Support Thread

[Kwisatz]

Thank's a lot. Finally i can build my power network.

[FoundMystic]

1 hour ago, FreeThinker said:

Try again with 1.19.6 and overwrite everything when asked

Yeah that worked! Thanks!

[FreeThinker]

a new Version 1.19.7 for Kerbal Space Program 1.4.5 is available from here

Released on 2018-09-02

• compiled against KSP 1.4.5
• restored persistent thrust capability of Gas core engines and Plasma nozzle
• hotfix: fixed deletion of a vessel after loading a vessel with an activated VISTA engine

Edited September 2, 2018 by FreeThinker

[ss8913]

@FreeThinker I just found a large discrepancy in the CDT2504 tanks... if you fill them with LFO, you get 2880 LF, 3520 OX.  If you put them to LF mode, you get *32000* units of LF, which adds about 150t to the mass of the tank... this seems like a typo or something in the part config?  I haven't checked the other CDT series, but the 2504 is definitely experiencing this.

EDIT: Also found some tech tree node issues - namely that upgrades to many technologies are on the same line as the technologies themselves, and come BEFORE.  ie, you can get the closed cycle gas core engine upgrade 2 or 3 tiers before the closed cycle gas core engine itself.  This is of course with community tech tree.  I haven't played full science mode in a while so I hadn't previously noticed; no idea how long this has been broken for (or if I'm doing something wrong?  is KSPIE no longer compatible with CTT?  I do have CTT and everything else upgraded fully).

Edited September 3, 2018 by ss8913
added thing about CTT

[FreeThinker]

6 hours ago, ss8913 said:

@FreeThinker I just found a large discrepancy in the CDT2504 tanks... if you fill them with LFO, you get 2880 LF, 3520 OX.  If you put them to LF mode, you get *32000* units of LF, which adds about 150t to the mass of the tank... this seems like a typo or something in the part config?  I haven't checked the other CDT series, but the 2504 is definitely experiencing this.

1

It appears to apply to all Cryogenic Dual Tanks, good find!

Edit: I fixed it.

Edited September 3, 2018 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

6 hours ago, ss8913 said:

@FreeThinker

EDIT: Also found some tech tree node issues - namely that upgrades to many technologies are on the same line as the technologies themselves, and come BEFORE.  ie, you can get the closed cycle gas core engine upgrade 2 or 3 tiers before the closed cycle gas core engine itself.  This is of course with community tech tree.  I haven't played full science mode in a while so I hadn't previously noticed; no idea how long this has been broken for (or if I'm doing something wrong?  is KSPIE no longer compatible with CTT?  I do have CTT and everything else upgraded fully).

1

Well in the case of Closed Cycle Engine this is intentional. The idea is that you have a synergy between the nuclear power and nuclear propulsion. It allows a player to focus on nuclear propulsion, unlocking the closed gas core reactor faster at the expense of lower initial power output and isp.

Edited September 3, 2018 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

@ss8913 At second tough, I think you do have a point, the upgrade tech requirement is too low for it  popularity, so I'm going to increase it.

[ss8913]

it's not .. the problem is that the closed cycle gas core reactor is dependent upon the node that upgrades it.  they're not on parallel tracks, but in-line with each other.

[singlet]

@FreeThinker, it seems that VAB part descriptions for the thermal ramjet nozzle and the thermal rocket nozzle (Krusader) are incorrect. They say that the parts must be attached directly to a reactor in order to achieve any thrust, but the nozzles actually give (reduced) thrust even when they are not directly connected to a reactor.

Also, a QoL suggestion: currently KSPIE parts tend to present a lot of information in the GUI window, sometimes so much that the window does not fit within my little screen (1280x800). And it becomes hard to interact with those oversized windows. Could you please add a toggle button like "KSPIE part info" which would show/hide the KSPIE-related information?

[FreeThinker]

1 minute ago, singlet said:

@FreeThinkerAlso, a QoL suggestion: currently KSPIE parts tend to present a lot of information in the GUI window, sometimes so much that the window does not fit within my little screen (1280x800). And it becomes hard to interact with those oversized windows. Could you please add a toggle button like "KSPIE part info" which would show/hide the KSPIE-related information?

2

Could you make a list of part you think have too much info?

[FreeThinker]

9 hours ago, ss8913 said:

it's not .. the problem is that the closed cycle gas core reactor is dependent upon the node that upgrades it.  they're not on parallel tracks, but in-line with each other.

Weird, exactly in what tech node if the (non green) Light Bulb unlocked, an in which tech nodes do you see (green) upgrade of the Lighbulb engine?

Here is what is should look like

Edit: Notice if it an old save, it might be a remnant from a time when the lightbulb was upgraded it is now unlocked in.

Edited September 4, 2018 by FreeThinker

[singlet]

21 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

Could you make a list of part you think have too much info?

@FreeThinker Do you mean a complete list of such parts, or a partial one would suffice? It will take some time to make a complete list because, as you know, there are a lot of parts in KSPIE. But I can give you a partial list.

• CANDLE
• LANTR
• Timberwind Nuclear Particle Bed Engine
• Open Cycle Gas Core Rocket
• Closed Cycle Gas Core Engine
• TORY Nuclear Ramjet Engine
• Direct Cycle Nuclear Turbojet
• Bussard Fusion Engine
• Daedalus
• Airospike Z-Pinch Fusion Engine (in VAB)
• Magneto Inertial Fusion Engine

As you see, they are mostly engines with included reactors and/or generators. They present radiator / reactor / generator / nozzle information all in a single window, and usually the combined amount of information is too much for my screen.

[secretly_asian]

There seems to be a problem with the thrust of the thermal turbojet nozzle when attached to the positron reactor, if there is a pair of these turbojet/positron engines, one engine will spool up faster than the other causing asymmetric thrust, i've tried re-installing and rebooting the game but the problem persists.

[FreeThinker]

A new Version 1.19.8 for Kerbal Space Program 1.4.5 van be downloaded from here

Released on 2018-09-04

• Compiled against KSP 1.4.5
• Added Persistent thrust for early nuclear engines
• Added alternative unlocking path specialized fusion though exotic nuclear propulsion
• Reduced amount of visible fields in Thermal engines
• Balance: increased tech upgrade requirements for Lightbulb
• Fixed to High Core Temperature for early nuclear reactors combined with fully upgraded heat control tech nodes
• Fixed loss of Power Management after Docking or undocking vessels

[ss8913]

5 hours ago, secretly_asian said:

There seems to be a problem with the thrust of the thermal turbojet nozzle when attached to the positron reactor, if there is a pair of these turbojet/positron engines, one engine will spool up faster than the other causing asymmetric thrust, i've tried re-installing and rebooting the game but the problem persists.

this is the same issue I previously reported as well.  I have found no workaround as of yet.

 

[mbaryu]

If you're interested, Wakefield research: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/awake-achieves-first-ever-acceleration-electrons-plasma-welsch/

Edited September 4, 2018 by mbaryu
typo

[singlet]

@FreeThinker Thank you for your prompt reaction, but unfortunately that change does not fully resolve my problem of too much info on a smaller screen. The screen recording below shows what happens in case of the Timberwind Engine.

Album 3Gi8OLC will appear when post is submitted

1) The window is still too long for my screen, so I still need to drag the window up or down whenever I want to use the fields not displayed in the screen.

2) The window does not react very well to my dragging it; it jitters up and down instead. I need to be extra careful in dragging it, or drag it multiple times until I can see the field I want.

I think that reducing the amount of information displayed is not a good solution for this problem. The "Warp Thrust" field, for example, seems to have been removed in this version, but I definitely want to see the field when I actually run the engine during time warp.

EDIT: Imgur album link does not seem to work well; please click the link if the image is not shown.

Edited September 5, 2018 by singlet
Album link not working

[whitespacekilla]

@singlet have you tried Part Commander?

I can see making that menu work on smaller screens being out of the realm of possibility.

After updating to the most recent version (I hadn't played in a couple weeks so it looks like there might have been multiple increments) I'm getting tiny amounts of phantom thrust (only really apparent when the orbit is highly elliptical) on an existing craft with a LANTR. I'm going to try new craft and rolling back to the last known working version to narrow the problem a bit but given that persistent thrust was added to these engines, and it stops in warp, my suspicion is that a bug was introduced with that change.

[FreeThinker]

5 hours ago, whitespacekilla said:

@singlet have you tried Part Commander?

I can see making that menu work on smaller screens being out of the realm of possibility.

After updating to the most recent version (I hadn't played in a couple weeks so it looks like there might have been multiple increments) I'm getting tiny amounts of phantom thrust (only really apparent when the orbit is highly elliptical) on an existing craft with a LANTR. I'm going to try new craft and rolling back to the last known working version to narrow the problem a bit but given that persistent thrust was added to these engines, and it stops in warp, my suspicion is that a bug was introduced with that change.

2

 

The Nerva has a long cooldown period and makes use of the stock spool down mechanic also used for jet engines. The advantage is that it allows other tools to accurately calculate its thrust. The disadvantage is that it can take quite some time before it is fully stopped. If you would time warp during this time it would probably apply this same thrust during warp, causing significant ghost thrust

I will try to address this issue in the next release.

Edited September 6, 2018 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

On 9/4/2018 at 1:45 PM, secretly_asian said:

There seems to be a problem with the thrust of the thermal turbojet nozzle when attached to the positron reactor, if there is a pair of these turbojet/positron engines, one engine will spool up faster than the other causing asymmetric thrust, i've tried re-installing and rebooting the game but the problem persists.

Considering the positron antimatter reactor functions by injecting positron into the propellant to generate power, I think we minimise spool up time.

On 9/4/2018 at 7:02 PM, ss8913 said:

this is the same issue I previously reported as well.  I have found no workaround as of yet.

 

Have you tried increasing the reactorSpeedMult property in the Reactors partmodule? It currently set to 2, increase it to 20 and see if it solves the issue.

Edited September 6, 2018 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

23 hours ago, singlet said:

@FreeThinker Thank you for your prompt reaction, but unfortunately that change does not fully resolve my problem of too much info on a smaller screen. The screen recording below shows what happens in case of the Timberwind Engine.

Album 3Gi8OLC will appear when post is submitted

1) The window is still too long for my screen, so I still need to drag the window up or down whenever I want to use the fields not displayed in the screen.

2) The window does not react very well to my dragging it; it jitters up and down instead. I need to be extra careful in dragging it, or drag it multiple times until I can see the field I want.

I think that reducing the amount of information displayed is not a good solution for this problem. The "Warp Thrust" field, for example, seems to have been removed in this version, but I definitely want to see the field when I actually run the engine during time warp.

EDIT: Imgur album link does not seem to work well; please click the link if the image is not shown.

I'm afraid the Jittering is a stock issue. But to be frank, the stock context menu gives me continual headaches. One thing I could do it replace buttons for switch UI. For instance, for thermal engines the next, previous and current propellant could be converted into a single propellant switch. Another option is to give partmodules its own context menu. For instance, the electric generator would greatly benefit from its own context menu. This would replace multiple fields with a single button and offer much more detailed information to be displayed.

Edited September 6, 2018 by FreeThinker

[ss8913]

I'll try the reactorSpeedMult thing and see how it goes.

One other kind of... small thing that improves my quality of life on really large spacecraft.. I've taken to modifying the tweakscale values for the RCS resistojets to allow them to tweakscale to 2.5m.  Seems odd to need RCS that big, right?  but with 30,000-40,000+ ton craft... yeah you kinda need that or you need 16+ of the 1.25m to turn it, and this is a way to save on part count.

[samooo2]

Looks like the TORY ramjet built-in air intake is messed up somehow. It's always showing intake exposure 0 and is not getting any air by itself.

[TheOrqwithVagrant]

On 9/4/2018 at 3:02 PM, mbaryu said:

If you're interested, Wakefield research: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/awake-achieves-first-ever-acceleration-electrons-plasma-welsch/

Do we need to add Rubidium as a propellant now?

 

[whitespacekilla]

12 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

The Nerva has a long cooldown period and makes use of the stock spool down mechanic also used for jet engines. The advantage is that it allows other tools to accurately calculate its thrust. The disadvantage is that it can take quite some time before it is fully stopped. If you would time warp during this time it would probably apply this same thrust during warp, causing significant ghost thrust

I will try to address this issue in the next release.

Yes, I knew this and I even created a custom MM config to tweak `reactorSpeedMult` such that all engines with a long spin up and cool down are slightly more responsive (I much prefer a long range probe that doesn't depend on solar and has a little extra thrust even if it's a little more expensive, but, I don't think careful maneuvers of complex engines adds much to gameplay when applied to every long range probe, I think it's a very interesting trade off for a more important vessel like a mothership or some kind of grand tour vessel). If I need to cheese a very precise maneuver, I will just disable the engine entirely. This problem is different in a couple of ways from that:

• It's present for, as far as I can tell, an infinite time period
• It stops during warp but resumes out of warp
• It's only affecting the apoapsis of the orbit, not inclination or periapsis
• The effect is constant whether the ship is oriented orbital prograde or retrograde
• disabling the engine has no effect

My custom mm config for reactor speed mult, btw, is:

@PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE[InterstellarFissionNTR]]:FOR[WarpPlugin]
{
    @MODULE[InterstellarFissionNTR]:HAS[#reactorSpeedMult[<1]]
    {
        improvement = 1
        @improvement -= #$reactorSpeedMult$
        @improvement *= .5
        @reactorSpeedMult += #$improvement$
    }
}

@PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE[InterstellarPebbleBedFissionEngine]]:FOR[WarpPlugin]
{
    @MODULE[InterstellarPebbleBedFissionEngine]:HAS[#reactorSpeedMult[<1]]
    {
        improvement = 1
        @improvement -= #$reactorSpeedMult$
        @improvement *= .5
        @reactorSpeedMult += #$improvement$
    }
}

@PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE[InterstellarTokamakFusionReactor]]:FOR[WarpPlugin]
{
    @MODULE[InterstellarTokamakFusionReactor]:HAS[#reactorSpeedMult[<1]]
    {
        improvement = 1
        @improvement -= #$reactorSpeedMult$
        @improvement *= .5
        @reactorSpeedMult += #$improvement$
    }
}

@PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE[InterstellarMoltenSaltReactor]]:FOR[WarpPlugin]
{
    @MODULE[InterstellarMoltenSaltReactor]:HAS[#reactorSpeedMult[<1]]
    {
        improvement = 1
        @improvement -= #$reactorSpeedMult$
        @improvement *= .5
        @reactorSpeedMult += #$improvement$
    }
}

@PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE[InterstellarFissionMSRGC]]:FOR[WarpPlugin]
{
    @MODULE[InterstellarFissionMSRGC]:HAS[#reactorSpeedMult[<1]]
    {
        improvement = 1
        @improvement -= #$reactorSpeedMult$
        @improvement *= .5
        @reactorSpeedMult += #$improvement$
    }
}

That should find all the engines with multipliers lower than 1 I knew of at the time and improve them "half the distance to 1" but I wouldn't claim my MM syntax mastery to be perfect. I believe those configs worked without issue at some point. It was a little inconvenient that MM doesn't know anything about the inheritance of the modules it modifies, but this is certainly not your problem or something I think MM can easily address.

Related question, would it be possible for technology upgrades to improve reactor speed multipliers? This could be an interesting mechanic since not only do the engines become more "powerful" they also get easier to use.

Edited September 6, 2018 by whitespacekilla