[1.8.1-1.12.x] Modular Launch Pads v2.8.0: Launch clamps evolved: Real-style launch bases and towers [24 December 2024]

[AlphaMensae]

25 minutes ago, OrbitalManeuvers said:

OK, no pressure but your latest Titan stuff is probably your best stuff to date. Like the whole experience with it, the looks, the functionality, it's very polished. You've set the bar pretty high, just sayin.   Seriously looking forward to this one!

It will probably end up sharing a lot of the visual look of the Titan III stand.  I got the general shape to be pretty similar, but the details will be more of my making than the actual ones. The hold-down bolts and umbilical masts will be fully adjustable, so they will have the same functionality of the Titan III Stand's bolts.

It also may be just one color, as I might have to make a custom texture for it if I can't fit the main structural parts into the Launch Stands series of textures. May have to chop the UV Maps into a lot of small sections, which means using what I call "ribs" and "nubs" to hide seams and provide detail, lots of which are on the Titan III stand.  

[AlphaMensae]

Very early rough WIP look (not textured or even UV mapped yet), currently in the fitting layout, right now getting the umbilical masts' shape and position right...very close, just some fine tuning to do.

Ignore the clamp stuff, that's from the Titan III stand I used as a template  

I think those pairs of small dark holes in the lower tanks are the connectors for the umbilicals; they're certainly in the right spots.

[AlphaMensae]

With thanks to Zorg for moving (and remaking) the Delta IV tank umbilical ports, I was able to get the positioning of the umbilical masts set (at least for the BDB Delta IV), and put the umbilicals themselves in, since I reused existing umb pipe meshes   Also put the outer pairs in as well

Next will be some more structural details and the hold-down bolts.

[gilflo]

Hello

That's a great mod to improve realism!

Any chance to tweak scale launch platform to use with larger engine with RSS?

[Gordon Dry]

For dummies:

How do I use a launch rail with for example the RN Aerobee? The nodes don't attach. Even with pressing ALT/MOD key.

[AlphaMensae]

58 minutes ago, Gordon Dry said:

For dummies:

How do I use a launch rail with for example the RN Aerobee? The nodes don't attach. Even with pressing ALT/MOD key.

The rails surface attach to the rocket (or vice versa), which would have to have that enabled. The botttom node you see is for mounting the rail on a launch stand or base (or anything, really).

On 10/31/2021 at 12:53 PM, gilflo said:

Hello

That's a great mod to improve realism!

Any chance to tweak scale launch platform to use with larger engine with RSS?

RO already resizes the MLP parts by 1.61x.  I don't use Tweakscale so I'm not making any configs for it.

[Gordon Dry]

I recognized that the node below the rail only works when I rotate the rail 180° to show downwards.

And I was not able to surface attach it to the RN Aerobee.

Edit:

Okay, I got it, but for real, what a fiddling that is? Like putting the cart before the horse.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Gordon Dry

[AlphaMensae]

22 minutes ago, Gordon Dry said:

I recognized that the node below the rail only works when I rotate the rail 180° to show downwards.

And I was not ableto surface attach it to the RN Aerobee.

That node is for mounting the whole thing onto a launch base.  The rail portion surface attaches (and decouples the same way) to a rocket, so I'd guess the RN Aerobee doesn't have surface-attach enabled in the .cfg, which being a Raidernick mod isn't surprising.   An MM patch can fix that, just change the attachRules to 1,1,1,1,0, or at least the 2nd and 4th digits, which is enable surface attach (attaching the rocket body/tank to something) and allow surface attach (letting other parts attach to the rocket) respectively.

Edited November 2, 2021 by AlphaMensae

[Gordon Dry]

For the part in question - rn_aerobee100_mb - it already is attachRules = 1,1,1,1,0

[Astrionix]

I'm having an issue where the Saturn Launch Base doesn't decouple after staging it, the same for the access arms. I've also noticed that the arms don't have the disable/enable staging option.

[AlphaMensae]

6 hours ago, Astrion said:

I'm having an issue where the Saturn Launch Base doesn't decouple after staging it, the same for the access arms. I've also noticed that the arms don't have the disable/enable staging option.

Don't have the launch base as the root part, or nothing will work. 

Make sure Staged Animation is installed.

[Astrionix]

34 minutes ago, AlphaMensae said:

Don't have the launch base as the root part, or nothing will work.

I found out that's what was going on and it's staging now. Thanks!

[flart]

General Swing Arm (Small) makes exception in the editor

Spoiler

[ERR 23:19:33.991] [ERROR] [Part AM.MLP.GeneralTowerSwingArm] [ModuleB9AssignUiGroups] Exception when setting up UI group for MODULE

[EXC 23:19:33.993] Exception: Could not find matching module
	B9PartSwitch.ModuleMatcher.FindModule (Part part) (at <2aacd5f344de4b4cbd0690767697fdd6>:0)
	B9PartSwitch.ModuleB9AssignUiGroups+ModuleInfo.Apply (Part part) (at <2aacd5f344de4b4cbd0690767697fdd6>:0)
	B9PartSwitch.ModuleB9AssignUiGroups.OnStart (PartModule+StartState state) (at <2aacd5f344de4b4cbd0690767697fdd6>:0)
	UnityEngine.DebugLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
	ModuleManager.UnityLogHandle.InterceptLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
	UnityEngine.Debug:LogException(Exception)
	B9PartSwitch.ModuleB9AssignUiGroups:OnStart(StartState)
	Part:ModulesOnStart()
	<Start>d__323:MoveNext()
	UnityEngine.SetupCoroutine:InvokeMoveNext(IEnumerator, IntPtr)

 

ksp.log - https://1drv.ms/u/s!Alncj27YxKc-iABdI1A_ikb4ZD1D 

UPD. also in the log

[ERR 22:37:24.546] ModuleStagedAnimation: Cannot find fx group decouple

 

Edited November 13, 2021 by flart

[AlphaMensae]

On 11/13/2021 at 2:24 PM, flart said:

General Swing Arm (Small) makes exception in the editor

  Reveal hidden contents

[ERR 23:19:33.991] [ERROR] [Part AM.MLP.GeneralTowerSwingArm] [ModuleB9AssignUiGroups] Exception when setting up UI group for MODULE

[EXC 23:19:33.993] Exception: Could not find matching module
	B9PartSwitch.ModuleMatcher.FindModule (Part part) (at <2aacd5f344de4b4cbd0690767697fdd6>:0)
	B9PartSwitch.ModuleB9AssignUiGroups+ModuleInfo.Apply (Part part) (at <2aacd5f344de4b4cbd0690767697fdd6>:0)
	B9PartSwitch.ModuleB9AssignUiGroups.OnStart (PartModule+StartState state) (at <2aacd5f344de4b4cbd0690767697fdd6>:0)
	UnityEngine.DebugLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
	ModuleManager.UnityLogHandle.InterceptLogHandler:LogException(Exception, Object)
	UnityEngine.Debug:LogException(Exception)
	B9PartSwitch.ModuleB9AssignUiGroups:OnStart(StartState)
	Part:ModulesOnStart()
	<Start>d__323:MoveNext()
	UnityEngine.SetupCoroutine:InvokeMoveNext(IEnumerator, IntPtr)

 

ksp.log - https://1drv.ms/u/s!Alncj27YxKc-iABdI1A_ikb4ZD1D 

UPD. also in the log

[ERR 22:37:24.546] ModuleStagedAnimation: Cannot find fx group decouple

 

Thanks, that was due to not having ModuleAnimateGenericExtra in two of the B9PS UI Group definitions. Another minor update will be coming.

The fx group thing just means there is no fx defined for the parts that use Staged Animation, a holdover from its Animated Decouplers origin. It's harmless, KSP just expects a decoupler module to have the stock puff FX (or something).

[AlphaMensae]

v2.2.3 is now on Spacedock and the GitHub.

It just has the Small General Swing Arm fix for the UI groups.

[ksp player]

I can't seem to move the saturn launcher base close enough to the saturn v.

[biohazard15]

16 minutes ago, ksp player said:

I can't seem to move the saturn launcher base close enough to the saturn v.

(I assume we're talking about BDB Saturn V or a similarly sized Saturn V)

You mean you can't snap it to S-IC engine base MLP node? Due to its size, Saturn V can be kinda hard to build in VAB. I recommend to place it as high as you can (Apollo scrapes VAB ceiling), then remove part of it (S-IC tank is usually enough), place launcher base, and then reassemble it back.

[AlphaMensae]

1 hour ago, ksp player said:

I can't seem to move the saturn launcher base close enough to the saturn v.

What biohazard15 said. I'd push the Saturn V up through the roof of the VAB to get enough clearance underneath.

Likewise when adding stuff to the top of the tower, push the whole thing down through the floor.

The correct height for the launcher base is when the base's elevator pad is sitting on the VAB floor, or slightly under it, as the collider is a thin one at the very top of the pad.

[ksp player]

10 hours ago, biohazard15 said:

place launcher base, and then reassemble it back.

Where do I place the launcher base?

[biohazard15]

6 hours ago, ksp player said:

Where do I place the launcher base?

At the specially added node on the bottom of S-IC engine plate. You may need to use the Move tool to fine-tune its placement. If the node isn't there, it's likely because a) you've installed something incorrectly, or b) you use Saturn V that is not supported by MLP.

[ksp player]

1 hour ago, biohazard15 said:

At the specially added node on the bottom of S-IC engine plate. You may need to use the Move tool to fine-tune its placement. If the node isn't there, it's likely because a) you've installed something incorrectly, or b) you use Saturn V that is not supported by MLP.

1. So do I remove the S-IC or do I remove everything BUT the S-IC?

2. I use the Saturn V for Bluedog Design Bureau

[AlphaMensae]

3 hours ago, ksp player said:

1. So do I remove the S-IC or do I remove everything BUT the S-IC?

2. I use the Saturn V for Bluedog Design Bureau

No need to remove the S-IC, just push the whole stack upward. 

The launcher base attaches to a size 5 node that appears below the engines, it's actually added to the engine mount.

[Adam-Kerman]

Request Idea: could there be just the backweight of the Apollo Crane like in this pic?

like for Launch Pad Shot Accuracy? 

(from Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasakennedy/14851808775/ )

 

 

 

[AlphaMensae]

12 hours ago, Adam-Kerman said:

Request Idea: could there be just the backweight of the Apollo Crane like in this pic?

like for Launch Pad Shot Accuracy? 

(from Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasakennedy/14851808775/ )

Yeah, I can do that. Have to cut the mesh into two parts and do a B9PS switcher.

[marioq70]

Iam having an issue with the Soyuz launch base.

At the moment of  staging the launch from Soyuz base, the camera goes to a blank map view, pressing the map key twice return to the world view. What is happening?