Hello Everyone! How does one control a universe (make a planet pack)?

[R3dst0ne_Warri0r]

Hello Everyone! R3dst0ne_ here. I just set up an account because I have a dream to make a planet pack. There's one thing stopping this:
 

None of the tutorials are up to date.

 

And while there's probably a deep web kopernicus guide that is, the ones that aren't sketchy are all YEARS old. Aand... I'm too lazy to look for them. Which is why I came here in the first place.

But despite my pointless babbling, I'm posting here to try and make a planet pack. and a halfway decent one at that.

 

My idea is rather complicated, too. the name will be "Dawn." 

Dawn will take place earlier in the history of the universe's history.

(and don't worry, when I do learn how to make the mod, I'll reconfigure this post for download)

I have a few ideas for planets already, most of which are being modeled from rocks or marbles.

 

The home planet will be a dying world, covered in a thick layer of ice. The HP will be a trojan of the Gas Giant, orbiting behind it but on about the same orbit and same orbital period. It'll have a thin atmosphere, breathable only a few kilometers above Sea level. It will have water underneath the ice, perhaps also a few large holes on the equator where a craft can explore the depths of the frozen seas. It will have two moons orbiting on the other side of the planet from the other.

Moon one will be scarred and set ablaze, with lava oceans and bounties of riches for mining. (great refueling depot for long distance travel.)

 Moon two will be a rather flat and whitish in tint, would be good for racing and putting a rover on for science purposes.

 

The stars in the middle will be a binary system- one a HUGE red giant, the other a sun-sized planet. The sun-sized planet will orbit the other from quite a distance away, and may have a few small planets.

 

Gas Giants will be rare. I only plan on having 1 in the core system. This may change as time goes on. The Gas Giant will at most have 3 moons (an asteroid, a Tylo-like, and a Vall with an atmosphere), probably no ring, and likely a light blue or orange.

 

Belt Planets, however, will orbit outside of the gas giant and will all be rather numerous. there will be an asteroid belt there, may also hold some comets (because why not?)

BP1: (Yes I'm going to call them BP  for Belt Planet until I name them.) Will be covered in impact craters. asteroids will be orbiting it closely, and it will have a debris ring. No atmosphere.

BP2: a super flat planet with no atmosphere. It's also the largest 

(Neat thing, though, I'm not sure if I want any atmosphere at all for BP2, so YOU will have the choice to decide this!)

BP3: red stained, irregular, and tiny. about twice/ three times the size of a  giant comet in 1.10.

PB4: Definitely atmospheric, though the atmosphere will be really thin; it will be on the outer side of the ring. Speakin' of rings, this planet will have two! also a moon, smaller than Gilly, acting as a shepherd for the inner ring. This will be a bit outside of the ring, though. It just kind of fits here.

 

Inner Planets! Seems I skipped this part. There will be two, another really fiery one (like moon 1 of the Home Planet), and another which is burned dark, but no lava. Perhaps it has cooled since it was formed?

 

Outer Planets will also be a thing, outside of the belt. I only plan on having 2. A gas giant could be a third and then bring another ring system in, idk.

OP1: A Chloric and super toxic planet with a very thick atmosphere and a moon just like it. Have fun, it's the final challenge of the star system.

OP2: Far away, pluto/eeloo like planet with two moons, an asteroid and a similar-sized moon, making it the only true binary system in the entire star system.

POP3: gas giant of the opposite color of the other, perhaps red even, with a dark ring. One moon, laythe-like. Perhaps you could land on it?

 

And remember, this is all just extremely early thinking. It all depends if I ever learn how to create planet packs in KSP. But hey, any suggestions are wonderful and breathes life into the community. 

Edited January 30, 2021 by R3dst0ne_Warri0r
change of idea

[Vanamonde]

This discussion of add-ons has been moved to Add-on Discussions, and welcome to the forum.

[R3dst0ne_Warri0r]

1 hour ago, Vanamonde said:

This discussion of add-ons has been moved to Add-on Discussions, and welcome to the forum.

Thanks! I realized what I did as soon as I did it. lol

[Maple Kerman]

Here are some very useful resources that you can use to start making planets.

Kopernicus Wiki: Has everything you need in order to make configs.

Poodmund's Texture Repository: Lots of resources and tutorials on the creation of heightmaps and texturemaps, among other things.

OhioBob's Atmosphere Calculator: A way to automatically calculate the pressure and temperature curves of your planet, with instructions on how to use the calculator.

OhioBob's Atmosphere Modeling Guide: In-depth explanation and analysis on how to create realistic atmospheres. Note: Very mathematically rigorous.

TWG's Kopernicus Basics: Slightly dated, but still very helpful for learning how to create basic configs, with pretty good explanations for beginners.

Official Kopernicus Discord: A nice Discord server where you can ask for help with creating your mod. It's also a good place to show off your progress before releases.
 

I hope this helps!

Edited November 6, 2020 by Maple Kerman

[R3dst0ne_Warri0r]

4 hours ago, Maple Kerman said:

Here are some very useful sources for becoming a good planet modder.

Kopernicus Wiki: Has everything you need in order to make configs.

Poodmund's Texture Repository: Lots of resources and tutorials on the creation of heightmaps and texturemaps, among other things.

OhioBob's Atmosphere Calculator: A way to automatically calculate the pressure and temperature curves of your planet, with instructions on how to use the calculator.

OhioBob's Atmosphere Modeling Guide: In-depth explanation and analysis on how to create realistic atmospheres. Note: Very mathematically rigorous.

TWG's Kopernicus Basics: Slightly dated, but still very helpful for learning how to create basic configs, with pretty good explanations for beginners.

Official Kopernicus Discord: A nice Discord server where you can ask for help with creating your mod. It's also a good place to show off your progress before releases.
 

I hope this helps!

Oh my yes! Thank you SO much for this! I'll get to it right away!

[Maple Kerman]

@R3dst0ne_Warri0r You're welcome!

[Snark]

On 11/3/2020 at 12:53 PM, R3dst0ne_Warri0r said:

It will have water underneath the ice, perhaps also a few large holes on the equator where a craft can explore the depths of the frozen seas.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable on this topic can correct me if I'm wrong, but... I don't think this is actually possible, given the way KSP is implemented.

I believe the way it works is that planets are basically height maps-- meaning, you can give the terrain whatever elevation changes you want, but you can't have overhangs or "ceilings".

So, you can't have a solid surface (i.e. ice) that has anything "underneath" it.  If you have an ice sheet, fine-- but as far as the game engine is concerned, it's not a "sheet", it's just a flat ice-colored surface that's solid all the way to the core of the planet.  If you want to have a water-filled "hole" in it, you can... but it would have to be just be a deep pit with solid vertical sides.

 

Other thant his, AFAICT everything else you describe in your OP sounds technically doable to me.  Just wanted to give you a heads-up about this.

[wpetula]

On 1/30/2021 at 11:18 AM, Snark said:

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable on this topic can correct me if I'm wrong, but... I don't think this is actually possible, given the way KSP is implemented.

I believe the way it works is that planets are basically height maps-- meaning, you can give the terrain whatever elevation changes you want, but you can't have overhangs or "ceilings".

So, you can't have a solid surface (i.e. ice) that has anything "underneath" it.  If you have an ice sheet, fine-- but as far as the game engine is concerned, it's not a "sheet", it's just a flat ice-colored surface that's solid all the way to the core of the planet.  If you want to have a water-filled "hole" in it, you can... but it would have to be just be a deep pit with solid vertical sides.

 

Other thant his, AFAICT everything else you describe in your OP sounds technically doable to me.  Just wanted to give you a heads-up about this.

I'm not sure if this would work, but terrain scatters might be a solution to this problem. Create a really big, flat terrain scatter in Blender, then have it generate just above sea level.  If all goes well, you should have a large ice sheet floating over the ocean with a few holes for your ship to get through.  There are probably mods that enable terrain scatter collision. Terrain scatter render distance and frame rate might be an issue.

[R3dst0ne_Warri0r]

About 7 months later, I've totally forgotten about this thread. I'm sorry to inform everyone that I have no plans to continue this. 

Sorry all,

R3d