Real Plume Solution

[HereComesTheBoom]

(CREDIT GIVEN TO WHOMEVER MADE THIS SCREEN SHOT. IT IS NOT MINE AND I CLAIM NO RIGHTS TO IT)

We've all seen this amazing CG screen shot of a rocket traveling upwards through its gravity turn on the RealPlume thread on this website. But, why is it that no one has found a way to make that a reality yet? Sure... More densely packed smoke particles coming out of the back of your rockets looks great! But what is the purpose if the smoke doesn't hang around for as long as smoke normally would in a real-world rocket launch? 

I say we work towards that goal. RealPlume is a great mod, but it can be made better. 

My first idea (and only idea, really) is to task someone, who knows KSP well enough, to find the settings, or the code, that controls how long smoke sticks around for before it fades out. All it would take is simply modifying this number from, say, 10 seconds, to 3 or 4 minutes.

If anyone else has any other ideas please feel free to post them here! 

Go forth and create!!!

Edited February 15, 2019 by HereComesTheBoom

[MechBFP]

They don’t do it for numerous technical reasons. Primary reason is it would destroy performance, secondary reason is that the game engine won’t render the effects anyway once you zoom out.

[HereComesTheBoom]

19 minutes ago, MechBFP said:

They don’t do it for numerous technical reasons. Primary reason is it would destroy performance, secondary reason is that the game engine won’t render the effects anyway once you zoom out.

Well, I've never seen anyone do it. That's not to say no one has had that idea before... But the best way to never improve is to talk yourself out of trying. I'd at least like to see the performance hit, rather than talk my self out of trying based on fear of failure.

[Tyko]

3 hours ago, HereComesTheBoom said:

Well, I've never seen anyone do it. That's not to say no one has had that idea before... But the best way to never improve is to talk yourself out of trying. I'd at least like to see the performance hit, rather than talk my self out of trying based on fear of failure.

You sound really motivated to improve this. I suggest the "someone" you refer to in your OP should be you...if your heart is behind this concept it would be a great motivator to learn how to make mods    

The best way to never learn to mod is to talk yourself out of trying.

Edited February 15, 2019 by Tyko

[Snark]

Moving to Add-on Discussions.

[Nightside]

@HereComesTheBoom, you might be interested the effects of this mod, which have a MUCH longer trail. They still do not persist for minutes, but it might be helpful for figuring out how to make a bigger trail.

 

[Drew Kerman]

 

[HereComesTheBoom]

19 hours ago, Drew Kerman said:

 

Nice. To be honest, I'm just happy that someone was actually able to look into this idea and came up with some promising results. Half the reason I didn't try looking for the solution myself is because I'm running on a stock Dell laptop meant for college, Lol. Good to know we've found a way to help other people with more powerful PCs make their game look that much better!