Shuttle Orbiter Construction Kit - Dev Thread

[PocketBrotector]

Is it possible that those thermal tiles look better than they do in real life?

[iplayksp]

17 hours ago, benjee10 said:

Spent the last couple of days working on the shuttle's aerodynamics and landing gear, and pleased to say that I have both of those (mostly) working as intended! Also made a lot of quality of life changes in terms of ease of construction, and finally all the parts have proper colliders. Landing gear are still textureless and aerodynamics aren't really something I can show off well in a screenshot, so here's a bunch of eye candy from a test mission I ran in my properly modded 2.5x save:

You can use the deploy limit slider to choose whether the front payload bay radiator panels actuate outwards fully or remain latched, though for the time being this is purely cosmetic. 

Going away for a few days over Easter so it will be a little while before I get back to this. There is still a lot of work to be done and I don't plan on releasing it into the wild until it's properly polished, including at the very least a basic IVA with stock props. 

That looks great!

[Dnaha]

Wow this looks amazing! Can't wait to try it out when it gets released. Good work OP

[space_powder]

I'm assuming this won't have Buran part variants like Cormorant Aeronology? Still, I'm looking forward to flying this bad boy!

[Gunslinger1]

ANTICIPATION INCREASES!

[linuxgurugamer]

Following with anticipation

[benjee10]

Well, I'm back from a little Easter break - not a huge amount to report, but I do have emissives for the cockpit and texturing for the landing gear is well on its way:

Also given the ability to toggle the various airlock hatches on the orbiter on and off in order to set your desired exit point. This means that you can set the 'EVA' button to take you out of the rear (payload bay) airlock, the side hatch, or to (mostly) safely yeet your brave crew out of the top window escape hatch in an emergency. 

[iplayksp]

10 minutes ago, benjee10 said:

Well, I'm back from a little Easter break - not a huge amount to report, but I do have emissives for the cockpit and texturing for the landing gear is well on its way:

Also given the ability to toggle the various airlock hatches on the orbiter on and off in order to set your desired exit point. This means that you can set the 'EVA' button to take you out of the rear (payload bay) airlock, the side hatch, or to (mostly) safely yeet your brave crew out of the top window escape hatch in an emergency. 

Landing Gear looks nice, and I can't wait to Yeet Jeb and his friends out of a shuttle going Mach 3.2.

[bennie]

wow,can't wait to fly the shuttle!

[iplayksp]

Quick Question how long until this should be ready for a release

 

[Cheesecake]

13 hours ago, iplayksp said:

Quick Question how long until this should be ready for a release

 

 

On 4/12/2019 at 11:58 PM, benjee10 said:

This is by no means going to be an easy or quick task, so I wouldn't expect a release any time soon. 

@iplaykspWe all are waiting eager but give nenjee his time.

Edited April 28, 2019 by Cheesecake

[iplayksp]

5 hours ago, Cheesecake said:

 

@iplaykspWe all are waiting eager but give nenjee his time.

Yeah, I wasn't expecting a release anytime soon so take your time Benjee. 

[benjee10]

Some blocking out of the IVA:

Texturing is almost complete on the outside of the orbiter, with the main things left to do in that regard being relatively hidden parts (e.g. inside of gear wells, where the different pieces connect together etc). We are also zeroing in on an aerodynamic profile that feels appropriate - more forgiving than the real shuttle but certainly not one for aerial acrobatics. She is quite fun to fly I must say. 

[iplayksp]

10 minutes ago, benjee10 said:

Some blocking out of the IVA:

Texturing is almost complete on the outside of the orbiter, with the main things left to do in that regard being relatively hidden parts (e.g. inside of gear wells, where the different pieces connect together etc). We are also zeroing in on an aerodynamic profile that feels appropriate - more forgiving than the real shuttle but certainly not one for aerial acrobatics. She is quite fun to fly I must say. 

Looking Good! Also, how is reentry? shuttles in the past have always flipped out of control.

Edited April 28, 2019 by iplayksp

[Dnaha]

Love the frequent updates in the thread. Shuttle looking very nice

[komodo]

This is looking very sharp! Don’t worry about the huddled masses, take your time and do it til you’re happy!

two questions: how are you thinking of handling RCS? Shifting payloads always can be tricky.

Q2: any chance of a mesh switch on the aft engine plate for a flat version? Being KSP, i’m always thinking of ways to bash parts together in unconventional ways. A Buran-ish type can be done if so, with alternate launch stacks. 

(I guess this goes as a extra one: integrated OMS pods?)

[benjee10]

On 4/29/2019 at 12:06 AM, iplayksp said:

Looking Good! Also, how is reentry? shuttles in the past have always flipped out of control.

Seems fine so far - aero balance is probably the biggest challenge here so there’s still a lot of fine tuning to be done, but it seems fairly stable.

On 4/29/2019 at 10:30 AM, komodo said:

This is looking very sharp! Don’t worry about the huddled masses, take your time and do it til you’re happy!

two questions: how are you thinking of handling RCS? Shifting payloads always can be tricky.

Q2: any chance of a mesh switch on the aft engine plate for a flat version? Being KSP, i’m always thinking of ways to bash parts together in unconventional ways. A Buran-ish type can be done if so, with alternate launch stacks. 

(I guess this goes as a extra one: integrated OMS pods?)

The RCS is integrated into the forward fuselage and aft fuselage, but the different axes are separated out into separate part modules, meaning you get individual actuation toggles/thrust limiters for each axis of control. You can use this to fine tune the RCS balance, and flying with fine control on gives fairly stable attitude and translational adjustment regardless of payload mass.

The OMS pods are indeed integrated into the aft fuselage and it would be a bit of a nightmare texturing wise to detach them, or to create a flat ended version. 

[komodo]

12 hours ago, benjee10 said:

Stuff

Cool, sounds good to me! Thanks!

[iplayksp]

Looks Great! How is reentry though? Shuttles in the past have spun out crashed.

[Cheesecake]

1 hour ago, iplayksp said:

Looks Great! How is reentry though? Shuttles in the past have spun out crashed.

Look at your own question:

On 4/29/2019 at 1:06 AM, iplayksp said:

Looking Good! Also, how is reentry? shuttles in the past have always flipped out of control.

And benjees answer:

On 4/30/2019 at 1:01 PM, benjee10 said:

Seems fine so far - aero balance is probably the biggest challenge here so there’s still a lot of fine tuning to be done, but it seems fairly stable.

 

[iplayksp]

1 hour ago, Cheesecake said:

Look at your own question:

And benjees answer:

 

Oh he answered! Guess I didn’t see it. Oops.

[rogerwang86]

That look awesome, can't wait for this shuttle. Would you make iva for Orion ,too?

[benjee10]

Hi guys,

Unfortunately, due to some sad family news I am probably going to have to put all my non-IRL stuff on hold for a little while. I may do some bits here and there as KSP modding is somewhat therapeutic for me, but for the time being you should consider all my KSP stuff to be 'on hold' until further notice. 

I know lots of you are eager to play with this, which is why I'm sharing a (very) pre-alpha build on my GitHub.

DOWNLOAD LINK

I'd appreciate it if this link, along with any screenshots of what you may build/fly with the mod, isn't shared beyond this thread, as the mod in it's current state is not fit for a wider release and I don't want people who may not be aware of the development status of the project getting the wrong idea (and subsequently having a sub-standard experience with it). Hope you understand. 

The current release is for testing purposes only and I'd advise you not to use it in your main career game, as there will be potentially game-breaking changes down the line. I'd be very grateful if you could post any feedback you have on the mod - especially with regard to aero balance and usability/ease of construction - in this thread, which I will review when I have a chance to get back to it. You should also be aware that the mod bundles a MM patch to reduce the mass of the stock Vector and reDIRECT SSME to 1.2t, which allows for more sensible aerodynamic balancing, so this will affect existing stock or reDIRECT craft. You may also have problems with reDIRECT as it stands as I have moved the KJ10 engine to sharedAssets rather than being internal to reDIRECT, and the public reDIRECT release has not yet been updated. If you play with reDIRECT, you can delete the GameData/reDIRECT/Phase2/Orion/DIRECT_KJ10.cfg.

Please lend me your feedback and thoughts. I'll be dropping in here from time to time and possibly making some minor updates, but I'm not sure when normal service will resume. 

Many thanks for your understanding,

Ben

[iplayksp]

Sorry to hear about the family news that sucks man.

[komodo]

RL is always critical. Best of luck to you in whatever capacity you may need it.