[1.12.*] KerBalloons Reinflated - Real Science?

[linuxgurugamer]

This mod originally written by @JoePatrick1, original thread here:https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/107432-13-kerballoons-v042-balloons-for-ksp/

Was taken over by @Fengist, original thread here:https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/177671-14x-kerballoons-v044-real-science/

Now I've adopted it.

 

Delete any previous installs of KerBalloons before installing this version!

Designed to gather scientific data without the expense of a sounding rocket, Kerballoons are small, light and can easily be sent with your probes to any planet with an atmosphere gather that all important scientific data.

 

Major change since the last version is that all balloons have been condensed into a single part.

This is a BETA, please report any issues with detailed steps on  how to replicate the errors

Availability

• Source: https://github.com/linuxgurugamer/KerballoonsReinflated
• Download: https://github.com/linuxgurugamer/KerballoonsReinflated/releases
• License:  MIT

 

Dependencies

• Click Through Blocker
• ToolbarController
• SpaceTuxLibrary
• B9 Part Switch

Notes

• The balloon part only shows up when you use the balloon category.  You can see it in the following image, it's the bottom button on the category list

Changelog

• Replaced www code to load icons from disk with ToolbarControl.LoadImageFromFile
• Fixed all attachment nodes in all parts
• Added in 4.4 specific code from the 4.4 release downloaded from CurseForge
• Changed icon_on color from grey to green
• In GetInfo, removed hard-coded gravity settings, now updates ggravity from FlightGlobals
• Converted mdm to dds
• Created module which uses B9PartSwitcher to be able to change the size of a single balloon
• Created window to allow destination planet and payload to be selected.
• Added InstallChecker
• Added AssemblyVersion.tt
• New dependencies
  • ClickThroughBlocker
  • ToolbarController
  • B9PartSwitch
  • SpaceTuxLibrary

Edited January 11, 2023 by linuxgurugamer

[vardicd]

Ignore me, I'm dumb. If a mod happens to see this post and wants to delete for me, go right ahead, don't see any way for me to do it myself.

Edited January 6, 2021 by vardicd

[ValiZockt]

Uuuh, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t this already pickup shortly before this?  I think you both missed each other by only 6 hours 

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by ValiZockt

[vardicd]

5 minutes ago, ValiZockt said:

Uuuh, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t this already pickup shortly before this? 

 

yeah looks like they both independently decided to adopt and update the mod, I saw Linuxgurugamer announce his intent to do so, back in early Dec, but cmet24's came out of no where. I'm honestly surprised something like this hasn't happened before. I don't really see it as an issue, both adopters can maintain, or improve it in their own way, and we users can choose which version we like all on our own. Unless there's some forum rule that says otherwise? 

[linuxgurugamer]

8 hours ago, ValiZockt said:

Uuuh, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t this already pickup shortly before this? 

 

Yuck!  This is why I announced it, to avoid issues like this.

But, my version reduces all those balloons down to one, to save space, time and confusion

Oh well. will just continue this.

I took a look at his release, he only did a recompile, hasn't done anything else.  I don't mind if he continues it, but my version removes 47 models from the mod (all the balloons) and has only a single part, which can be configured for any of the balloon types. This reduces the part count in the editor, and IMHO is more flexible;  when I first tested this, the 48 balloon parts was confusing and took time to find the right one.

Just an FYI, the guy who did this is also the author of the Kerbal Weather Project

Edited January 6, 2021 by linuxgurugamer

[Beetlecat]

Yeah, I was confused for a moment when the KWP page went up -- "wasn't LGG doing that update?"

Your tweaks sound far more compelling than a simple recompile. Reinflate away!

[Minmus Taster]

The return of the king...

[cmet24]

7 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Yuck!  This is why I announced it, to avoid issues like this.

But, my version reduces all those balloons down to one, to save space, time and confusion

Oh well. will just continue this.

I took a look at his release, he only did a recompile, hasn't done anything else.  I don't mind if he continues it, but my version removes 47 models from the mod (all the balloons) and has only a single part, which can be configured for any of the balloon types. This reduces the part count in the editor, and IMHO is more flexible;  when I first tested this, the 48 balloon parts was confusing and took time to find the right one.

Just an FYI, the guy who did this is also the author of the Kerbal Weather Project

@linuxgurugamer my sincere apologizes. I didn't do my homework to check to see if someone had taken up KerBalloons. I've since followed you so I won't miss future updates and make the same mistake again! By the way, I've updated my original post for KerBalloons to point towards this forum page. Your work is a significant improvement over previous iterations of the mod and should be the go to release for users looking to add balloons to KSP. 

[linuxgurugamer]

New beta, 0.5.0.1

• Removed  3 .mu files, now having B9 do the rescaling

[CAPFlyer]

Just a question, not a request (unless you want it to be) but can this be adapted for inflatable satellites?  There were several inflatable satellites that were basically just big weather balloons flown in the early days of the space race and I think they have a use in KSP as well since they can be used as "cheap" relay satellites, especially with CommNet.

Thanks for taking on all these addons and bringing them up to date!

[linuxgurugamer]

48 minutes ago, CAPFlyer said:

Just a question, not a request (unless you want it to be) but can this be adapted for inflatable satellites?  There were several inflatable satellites that were basically just big weather balloons flown in the early days of the space race and I think they have a use in KSP as well since they can be used as "cheap" relay satellites, especially with CommNet.

Thanks for taking on all these addons and bringing them up to date!

Good question,  but no, I don’t think it can be adapted

Edited January 10, 2021 by linuxgurugamer

[CAPFlyer]

Okay.  Thanks!

[flart]

• the max payload field in the VAB is 194t, but the balloon is unable to lift off the ground 100t mass.
• the original version was showing range of mass for a stable ballooning (max mass for lift off  and min mass for not blowing up in the atmosphere)  kottabos
• in the flight it shows infinity tonns.
• do I understand correctly, that you are using your own implementation of categories inside spacetuxlibrary instead of the CommunityCategoryKit ?

player.log
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Alncj27YxKc-hl4Dgys0GeLQtgGP?e=Y1BSgG

pics

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by flart

[linuxgurugamer]

26 minutes ago, flart said:

the max payload field in the VAB is 194t, but the balloon is unable to lift off the ground 100t mass

Something for me to check out.  But, what size balloon were you using?  I'm wondering if you saw that value in the parts list or on the part itself, makes a difference

27 minutes ago, flart said:

the original version was showing range of mass for a stable ballooning (max mass for lift off  and min mass for not blowing up in the atmosphere)  kottabos

I don't understand what you are referring to

28 minutes ago, flart said:

do I understand correctly, that you are using your own implementation of categories inside spacetuxlibrary instead of the CommunityCategoryKit ?

Huh?  What gave you that idea?

[flart]

40 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

But, what size balloon were you using?  I'm wondering if you saw that value in the parts list or on the part itself, makes a difference

It's 2.5m. The value is in the GUI, that shows up by clicking part's PAW balloon configure button. The GUI in the pics on previous post. 

40 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

I don't understand what you are referring to

The original version was showing max pressure mass and min pressure mass (they something like a range of mass for a stable ballooning)

 

40 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

What gave you that (your own implementation of categories) idea?

I haven't find any patches for the CCK but parts in the Kerballoon category

Edited January 12, 2021 by flart

[linuxgurugamer]

27 minutes ago, flart said:

I haven't find any patches for the CCK but parts in the Kerballoon category

Oh, that's done in code, in the mod.  It was probably done that way because it originally had 36 different balloon parts, now compressed into 1

1 hour ago, flart said:

the original version was showing range of mass for a stable ballooning (max mass for lift off  and min mass for not blowing up in the atmosphere)  kottabos

I just watched that video, that is a very old version of the mod.  I can only go by what the previous was doing (the one I'm adopting), the parts are very different

[linuxgurugamer]

New beta release, 0.5.0.2

• Fixed calculations of max lift
• Added the min lift at max altitude

[linuxgurugamer]

New Beta, 0.5.0.3

• Fixed missing rope when returning to vessel  (using AirPark)

[flart]

the max pressure number is showed instead of the min pressure.

Spoiler

Also some problem with the config window, everything is unclickable

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xf4qhr7lepwmtml/20210113-200703.321.mp4?dl=0

player.log
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Alncj27YxKc-hl8v6jDXUidoPx-z?e=l9gLTO

[linuxgurugamer]

19 hours ago, flart said:

the max pressure number is showed instead of the min pressure

Easy to fix

19 hours ago, flart said:

Also some problem with the config window, everything is unclickable

Was this in a career game?

[flart]

43 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Was this in a career game?

yes.

I believe symmetry modes (or even just several kerballons) makes troubles, though problem in the video could be unrelated.
Other problems that I encountered:
configure GUI on a Kerbaloon starting with second (except the first) doesn't have the type (heavy, normal, highAltitude) radiobuttons
On the launch after toggling 3 of 4 kerballoons  inflate without the rope

Edited January 14, 2021 by flart

[linuxgurugamer]

9 hours ago, flart said:

yes.

I believe symmetry modes (or even just several kerballons) makes troubles, though problem in the video could be unrelated.
Other problems that I encountered:
configure GUI on a Kerbaloon starting with second (except the first) doesn't have the type (heavy, normal, highAltitude) radiobuttons
On the launch after toggling 3 of 4 kerballoons  inflate without the rope

All your problems are caused by Symmetry mode.  I don't have a solution yet, could you please test not using symmetry for now?

I'll work on the symmetry problem over the next few days.

[Beetlecat]

Somebody asked somewhere (I love sentences that start that way...) about the possibility of using balloons as makeshift CommNet relays --- could AirPark facilitate that? Do "parked" vessels still count as part of the network simulation?

Oh, heh. It was CAPFlyer further up this same page.

Edited January 15, 2021 by Beetlecat

[linuxgurugamer]

New beta release,  0.5.0.4

• Fixed issue with symmetric parts config window 
•  Fixed issue with showing config window for multiple parts
   

2 hours ago, Beetlecat said:

Somebody asked somewhere (I love sentences that start that way...) about the possibility of using balloons as makeshift CommNet relays --- could AirPark facilitate that? Do "parked" vessels still count as part of the network simulation?

Oh, heh. It was CAPFlyer further up this same page.

Pretty sure it would work

[flart]

15 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said:

I'll work on the symmetry problem over the next few days.
New beta release,  0.5.0.4

Yes, looks all is working without the symmetry.
btw, coping in the editor using the Alt key have the same problems with the rope.

You probably forgot about showing the max pressure number instead of the min pressure.

Also It is not shoots into the sky if the payload is very small as in the old kottabos video, and the module have maxSpeed = 5
I have not tried yet to set the value to 1000, but I believe the mod could have checkbox in the setting to disable the  maxSpeed limitation for a realism and the most useful payload skyrocketing for the future orbiting.