totm apr 2024 [1.12.x] Shuttle Orbiter Construction Kit | Stockalike Space Shuttle Orbiter! | (Tubes!) | v1.1.8

[benjee10]

18 minutes ago, Emilius73 said:

I just realized that htRobotics is now gone from the Github page. Is it deprecated, in the main parts folder now, or getting replaced by HT2? @benjee10

It now has it's own separate GitHub repo since it will be bundled with HabTech2 in the next update. You'll see it features a couple of new parts now...

[AZZlyTheAZZome]

@Benjee10 Thank you so much for these great mods and your support of this community! I'm having so much fun with the Buran parts. (Even if their somewhat unfinished)

https://imgur.com/a/aUxtfyi

Let's hope everything will work well for SOCK-2!

[Ultim32]

Hi,

I noticed that the SpaceHab parts have a lower number of inventory slots, despite being larger than the SpaceLab parts. Was this intended for the SpaceHab parts?

[Kurld]

I'm getting a lot of spam in the log about 

Material doesn't have a texture property '_BumpMap'

right after the line 

PartLoader: Compiling Part 'Benjee10_shuttleOrbiter/Parts/OV_deltaWing/benjee10_shuttle_deltaWing'

 

[Kurld]

Also getting a warning about 

DragCubeSystem: Part 'benjee10.shuttle.forwardFuselage' has more than two IMultipleDragCube part modules. You should consider procedural drag cubes.

I'm getting some weird behavior in a 2.5x rescaled Kerbin orbit where I'm experiencing drag above the atmosphere and the orbit (~100km) is slowly degrading.  Other vessels do not have this issue.

EDIT:   I reloaded the game and put the shuttle into orbit with hyperedit and it maintained a stable orbit...  not sure what might have been going on.   Maybe just a fluke?

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Kurld
more info

[hugoraider]

Hey, so I decided to make Buran textures for SOCK, and here's how it looks so far:

https://imgur.com/Q7KawB8https://imgur.com/Q7KawB8https://imgur.com/Q7KawB8

Wheels, bottom fuselage and wings are done and I'm pretty satisfied with the result. Though I have a question: is it possible to change normal maps textures via B9 Parts Switch?

 

[DJ Reonic]

Has anyone discovered the optimal rescale values for the Cormorant payload assets to fit in the SOCK payload bay?

[DeadJohn]

6 hours ago, Kurld said:

I'm getting some weird behavior in a 2.5x rescaled Kerbin orbit where I'm experiencing drag above the atmosphere and the orbit (~100km) is slowly degrading.  Other vessels do not have this issue.

It might be phantom forces or orbital math roundoff rather than actual KSP drag. If it happens again, turn on the aero display in the alt-f12 debug window to check if KSP thinks there's actually any drag.

EVA construction is a frequent source of phantom forces.

[Kurld]

I did look at that.  It did show some very small blue and red tick marks, but I'm not sure that indicated anything.  Do they show up when no force is present?

I was testing a new configuration (2.5x game) and launched into orbit.  Some phantom force kept dragging down my AP and PE.  In a ~115k orbit it was losing 20 or 30 m per orbit.

All that being said, like I say, when I reloaded it all seemed to go away and act normal.  About once a session I literally throw up my fists and growl "THIS GAME."

@benjee10 I noticed the new PMA parts with the nodes to attach the PDGFs.  It will be very helpful to have a proper 45deg. angle when trying to grab them with the Kerbo-arm.  And they look awesome, with lots of greebly detail.  Excellent.

[hugoraider]

Progress so far on top wing tiles:

[DeadJohn]

2 hours ago, Kurld said:

I did look at that.  It did show some very small blue and red tick marks, but I'm not sure that indicated anything.  Do they show up when no force is present?

The f12 arrows can sometimes show as tiny marks in space. I meant press alt-f12 to load the debug window, then click aero on the left side of the debug window, and turn on the aero display GUI to show the drag number. I'd expect total drag to be zero in space but, to be honest, I've never looked at drag numbers in vacuum.

If you find total drag > 0 in space, you can then start right-clicking individual parts to see the drag of each part. Maybe one part is bugged and creating drag in space, or some type of general bug is causing drag on all parts.

Regardless, I'm pretty certain your problem is something other than drag. Some combinations of KSP mods and planet packs can give unstable orbits. The most frustrating for me is doing an aerobraking pass and inexplicably finding my periapsis leap above the atmosphere where it becomes impossible to do a 2nd aerobraking pass.

[Kurld]

Yeah, that's what I did.  There must be something I missed there, or else I just got hyper focused on the little tick marks.

MJ was indicating some drag is why I got obsessed with that idea.  But it was like... attometers per second squared.  I had to go look that up 10 to the negative 18..   so I don't believe that could possibly be enough to make that big of a difference..  It varied and did weird things like going negative, etc.  Nothing else in the MJ tool indicated any atmosphere.

I did my game folder and got rid of all the visual eye candy and non-essential mods and stuff I could find and it started behaving normally. Thought I was onto something there, but reloading the original install also cleared the issue, so...

Hopefully it won't do it again here in a bit when I put up Node 1.

[Kurld]

Seems to get into orbit with no issues.  Now I'm having some trouble with the Kraken when going on EVA through the airlock.  Poor Bill goes flying towards the Mun. Hasn't been an issue before.  One thing if not another.

[DaveyJ576]

12 hours ago, Kurld said:

All that being said, like I say, when I reloaded it all seemed to go away and act normal.  About once a session I literally throw up my fists and growl "THIS GAME.”

I feel your pain. I have the same reaction often, most of the time related to MechJeb and Infernal Robotics. Then, after I take a deep breath, I remind myself how sophisticated KSP and the mods are, and of the fact that the modders all work for free. I then shut up and continue the mission.   

[Kurld]

Yah, no kidding! When I look at the hours I've gotten back on the $30-ish dollars I've spent, I feel like I've gotten away with grand-larceny.

I say "this game" a lot but more times than I care to admit the Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair.

 

[strangespinosaurus]

dose anyone know if this mod works on real rss

[Entr8899]

3 hours ago, strangespinosaurus said:

dose anyone know if this mod works on real rss

No it does not.

[Jim123]

@benjee10Made one final video in KSP with your shuttle (and HabTech2)! Thank you for all the nice quality and hard work you put into it, it means a lot! It is by far my favorite mod along with KW rocketry very much looking forward to KSP-2 with your next Shuttle mod!!! 

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Jim123
Fixed link

[Kurld]

@Jim123 That video was freaking awesome! Love the tribute stuff all over Columbia.  I realize now I need to go ahead and install MLP.  Your station looks really cool and I dig the amount of thought you put into it.  Did you build it all in space?  I started a "KSS" build and got as far as STS-102 before deciding to start over in a 2.5x rescale.  So far I'm only back up to having docked Progress M1-3.  But I did Unity/Zarya with the shuttle and kerboarm this time, so that felt rewarding.

What do you use for the plume on the SRBs?  Mine still look really vanilla. (I use the ones from Proton Corp.)

Also: nice landing!  So far I can barely manage to arrive within 100km of the KSC. Maybe it won't take me 200 flights to get good at it.

I will give one piece of unsolicited advice: I loved the video, up until it started panning around the station, at which point I nearly hurled. Too much movement, too chaotic, too fast.  I'm on the sensitive end of such things, so take that feedback with a grain of salt, or in my case, some pepto.  Without some way to cue the viewer as to which way the camera is going to turn next, the pace around 4:00 is about as much movement as you should ever want/need.  Also, when you're whipping around so fast like that, there's not enough time to really see (absorb) what you're trying to show off.  The "closer" you are, the more you need to slow down.

My opinion. I'm not trained in anything, so again, take it with some salt, I'm just sensitive to this kind of thing.  The video was really cool and I appreciate your taking time to create and share it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim123]

11 hours ago, Kurld said:

@Jim123 That video was freaking awesome! Love the tribute stuff all over Columbia.  I realize now I need to go ahead and install MLP.  Your station looks really cool and I dig the amount of thought you put into it.  Did you build it all in space?  I started a "KSS" build and got as far as STS-102 before deciding to start over in a 2.5x rescale.  So far I'm only back up to having docked Progress M1-3.  But I did Unity/Zarya with the shuttle and kerboarm this time, so that felt rewarding.

What do you use for the plume on the SRBs?  Mine still look really vanilla. (I use the ones from Proton Corp.)

Also: nice landing!  So far I can barely manage to arrive within 100km of the KSC. Maybe it won't take me 200 flights to get good at it.

I will give one piece of unsolicited advice: I loved the video, up until it started panning around the station, at which point I nearly hurled. Too much movement, too chaotic, too fast.  I'm on the sensitive end of such things, so take that feedback with a grain of salt, or in my case, some pepto.  Without some way to cue the viewer as to which way the camera is going to turn next, the pace around 4:00 is about as much movement as you should ever want/need.  Also, when you're whipping around so fast like that, there's not enough time to really see (absorb) what you're trying to show off.  The "closer" you are, the more you need to slow down.

My opinion. I'm not trained in anything, so again, take it with some salt, I'm just sensitive to this kind of thing.  The video was really cool and I appreciate your taking time to create and share it.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much, Yes I did build it all in space using shuttles and 3 rockets for the main three modules that were to bug for Shuttle. I would be interested in seeing some pictures of your new ISS in my opinion the original Unity, Zarya, Zvezda setup looks best to me. How did you get it to work with Kerbo arm? I just have the arm for looks and use tugs to assemble everything. I use the Photon corp SRBs myself also I have SRB Waterfall SWE for Shuttle and If I am not mistaken somewhere on this thread or on the Shuttle adventures thread I got the "RS-25" engine plumes. Thank you it took me a long time to learn to land the Benjee shuttle in JNSQ like in the video I have over 199 flights with it I use trajectories and start with a 25 pitch and adjust for the most part unless necessary between 15-35 degrees of the pitch using mecjeb and make sure the trajectories X is on or a little over the KSC the whole time and usually start after my retro burn with it decently further ahead of the KSC. Ya and for me it only took around 30-40 I remember correctly and it should take you less with some extra info here I hope helps you. Sorry about the fast-moving parts at the station the main reason for that is the in-game time FPS was around 5-15 FPS or less so I speed up the footage also the camera tools path said If I remember correctly would take around a minute so it was a bit fast and I do agree I think it is to fast myself also. The main reason I made it go so fast was that I do not want people to get bored waiting forever for a clip to end. If and when I do make another video with a station of sorts I will make it a longer bit of a tour and not fast I appreciate the feedback it is helpful!  Thank you and you are welcome I'm happy you like it (I re-uploaded it a couple of hours ago because I messed up the credits area and 2 small errors in the video). If you need any more help landing the shuttle let me know and I will see what I can do in terms of sharing information. 

[Kurld]

The only way I've gotten the arm to be remotely useful is to figure out the "end pose" for each step and then program the transitions into the KAL-1000 controller and then let it move about as fast as it does in real life, which is barely at all...   Figuring out the angles to get the arm to line up became a lot easier once I realized I needed to try to keep things at 30 and 45 and 60 and 90 degree angles as much as possible.  If I can manage to get it close, like the end effector is lined up and within 10 cm of touching down on the PDGF I'll put up the essential bits of what I'm trying to hook up into a distant orbit around the sun; Like way out past the last planet..  this is to minimize the effect of rotational motion.  Then I loosen the torque on all the motors to 0 or 1% and fiddle with the coupling forces to try and get stuff to "connect itself" as they will often kind of settle into "more comfortable" positions all by themselves.  Then I tweak the values in the KAL controller with the new ones and try it again..  Usually after 2 or 3 (or 17) iterations and I can get the arm dead on the money so that when things connect and disconnect the station does not become Kraken food.  When I'm happy that the motions are going to be relatively stable and will actually work to connect things, I'll send up a mission "for real."

IRL, most of the station got assembled by the Canadarm 2 and that robot that slides back and forth along the truss.  I guess I'm hoping Benjee10 gets us some more robot toys to play with in HabTech2 because otherwise, I'll be back to using tugs to build out most of it.

As far as landing: I'm slowly homing in on deorbiting and arriving where I need to be to get to the KSC.  I take notes and try to adjust.  Last time I really just barely missed it.  I might have actually been able to do a big bank and land like they do in real life, but I have barely any seat time landing the thing so I chickened out and decided just to coast on down and land and because I have that part of it down pretty well.  I probably just need to spend a day or two reloading from a save in orbit and doing it over and over until I get it down.
 

[hugoraider]

@benjee10 I just noticed a small issue on Buran OMS: there's a hole in the model

Nvm, I just realised it was covered by the wing

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by hugoraider

[Kurld]

@benjee10 I wasn't sure whether to post this here or habtech2 thread, but I started working on STS-92 (Z1 truss) and noticed the SGANT boom and dish were kind of huge, especially when I tried to put the thing in the orbiter's payload bay. I'm using the beta parts as of last week sometime, I think, so if this is old news, forgive me.  

FWIW, I updated my config so that the dish is scaled to 0.9 in the model node, and the boom is scaled to 0.8.   This makes it more or less resemble a photo I found of the thing being prepared for orbit at the SSPF  (see https://g.co/arts/GCs5uoz8HfBwq9CF7).

[benjee10]

13 minutes ago, Kurld said:

@benjee10 I wasn't sure whether to post this here or habtech2 thread, but I started working on STS-92 (Z1 truss) and noticed the SGANT boom and dish were kind of huge, especially when I tried to put the thing in the orbiter's payload bay. I'm using the beta parts as of last week sometime, I think, so if this is old news, forgive me.  

FWIW, I updated my config so that the dish is scaled to 0.9 in the model node, and the boom is scaled to 0.8.   This makes it more or less resemble a photo I found of the thing being prepared for orbit at the SSPF  (see https://g.co/arts/GCs5uoz8HfBwq9CF7).

Not sure what you mean - they should be in scale. Do you have a screenshot to show the issue? 

[Kurld]

I'll get one up here in a bit.  The dish is probably closer to being correct than 0.9.  The boom hangs out way longer than it should when it is in "travel" position.