[wip, unreleased] Xingniao Aerospace, a mod for Chinese LVs and crewed spacecraft

[Norange]

Xingniao Aerospace

What is it?

Xingniao* Aerospace is a mod intended to introduce parts for the Chinese space program, primarily focusing on launch vehicles, crewed spacecraft, and their space station program, ranging from the earliest satellite launchers of the 1970s to present. Stylistically, it's intended to be a blend of a stockalike and Tantares (which has been a huge inspiration/help with this project in general, go check it out) with a nice "lego-able" design that can be mixed and matched. These parts are being balanced against a 2.5x Kerbol system, so they may be overpowered in a stock-size game!

*pronounced "shing-niao"

What'll it have?

Currently, my plans are to include parts to build:

-CZ1/1D

-CZ-2, its variants, and the upper stages to convert it to a CZ-3/4

-Shenzhou

-Tiangong/Tianzhou

-Tianhe and associated laboratory modules

What're your standards of accuracy?

I'm trying to have these parts capture the feel/essence of the original rockets, while still retaining a stylized quality to help it fit in better with stock parts and those from other mods. Additionally, a somewhat simplified representation of some of these may be somewhat necessary for the sake of unwrapping and texturing in any reasonable amount of time.

Another important note on this is that, as someone in the US, there's a degree of difficulty in accessing image references and technical specifications for missile/rocket systems developed in 1970s China. As such, there's a good possibility that artistic liberties will be taken with some parts to fill the gaps in concrete knowledge. That said, if you do have suggestions for improvements and photo references to accompany them, I'd be glad to look into implementing them!

Do these parts even exist yet, and what do they look like?

Many of them do! Some of them have been put in-game in some fashion or another, and others are still-untextured blender models that're in the process of being worked on, but here are some samples of what I've got!

ETA on release?

No idea! Progress depends heavily on a lot of factors, like things going on in my outside life, mental health, school, etc.

I've been working on this project for about a year or so now and I'm excited to finally be getting to a point where I have something worth sharing on the forums! Let me know what you think of this, if you have any questions/comments, etc.! I'd love to hear! I'll also be posting occasional updates here before moving to a release thread at some point, so feel free to stay tuned!

[DeltaDizzy]

Chinese stuff is one of the most under-represented areas in KSP Modding so it'll be great to have a high-quality Long March mod!

[EStreetRockets]

This is going to be a great mod! Great to see a stockalike Long March Mod!

[Invaderchaos]

I've been looking forward to this! Can't wait to play around w/ these parts!

[Angelo Kerman]

Very cool! I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

[Starhelperdude]

nice! 

[Kaleu]

Looking Foward for more.  Great models btw.

[rettter3]

Finally, the great brother of Soyuz is coming

[septemberWaves]

Oh, this is good to see, I look forward to seeing how it develops. I take it parts are likely to be scaled according to Tantares standard diameters? Also, will there be Simple Adjustable Fairings integration for the mod?

[Norange]

7 hours ago, septemberWaves said:

Oh, this is good to see, I look forward to seeing how it develops. I take it parts are likely to be scaled according to Tantares standard diameters? Also, will there be Simple Adjustable Fairings integration for the mod?

Loosely, yep! I forget the exact scale ratio but Shenzhou is definitely scaled relative to Tantares. The capsule/service module parts are 1.5m and the Tiangong crew module/CZ-2 core are both 1.875m. CZ-1 is 1.25m.

As far as simple adjustable fairings, I'm not sure! I'll look into that!

[Maple Kerman]

Sweet, Chinese space program parts!

[Norange]

Hey, so, quick poll to gauge opinions-

Which would you all rather see in a first release- parts to build Shenzhou, or parts to build a Long March 1 w/ the Dongfanghong probe? As it stands now both options are in the works and pretty far along, but I'll be able to get something usable out much more quickly if I'm able to get a sense of which people would rather see worked on to play with, rather than splitting my time between them both simultaneously.

[Starhelperdude]

2 hours ago, Norange said:

Hey, so, quick poll to gauge opinions-

Which would you all rather see in a first release- parts to build Shenzhou, or parts to build a Long March 1 w/ the Dongfanghong probe? As it stands now both options are in the works and pretty far along, but I'll be able to get something usable out much more quickly if I'm able to get a sense of which people would rather see worked on to play with, rather than splitting my time between them both simultaneously.

lol I thought Shenzhou was the same as LM 1, I would opt for Long march 1 w Dongfanghong

[Norange]

I've been reworking some stuff with the models, particularly the first stage engine. I'm also redoing the second stage engine to be simpler to model/unwrap/texture. Overall though I'm really excited for the direction this is going rn!

Sorry about the huge gaps between preview updates, mental health has been really really shaky lately so getting much done with it has been difficult to stay on top of. That said, I'm starting to find some motivation for it again, so hopefully more to come soon!

Edited March 17, 2021 by Norange
added note about mental health/update infrequency

[CosmicSpiral]

I'm really excited for this mod, I haven't been able to find any up-to-date Chinese rocket mods so its cool that someone is making a new one!

 

[NateDaBeast]

Sorry to bother, but I haven't heard any updates recently(a few months I believe) and I'm just wondering if it is still being worked on. Hope you are well!

[Norange]

On 6/20/2021 at 12:15 AM, NateDaBeast said:

Sorry to bother, but I haven't heard any updates recently(a few months I believe) and I'm just wondering if it is still being worked on. Hope you are well!

Off and on, yeah. Been navigating all sorts of stuff, being busy, mental health struggles. That kinda thing. Still keeping on keeping on with it, though! Some shenzhou rework for ya-

[rhZhao]

Great Work! Thank you for sharing

[Norange]

Just a brief update- switching workflow around so that I'm just working on getting one part in-game at a time. I'm gonna be starting off with the Shenzhou crew module, so keep your eyes peeled for that being more fleshed out in the near future.

[Norange]

Working more from references, have a lil update- almost back to where I was previously

[Beccab]

On 8/24/2021 at 3:21 AM, Norange said:

Working more from references, have a lil update- almost back to where I was previously

Looking great! Is Waterfall support planned?

[CosmicSpiral]

Are you planning on adding Tianhe / other Tiangong space station parts? 

[Norange]

On 8/26/2021 at 5:24 AM, CosmicSpiral said:

Are you planning on adding Tianhe / other Tiangong space station parts? 

Absolutely, yes!

On 8/25/2021 at 1:07 AM, Beccab said:

Looking great! Is Waterfall support planned?

Possibly! We'll see how things go, but if I have the time/bandwidth for it, yes.

[Dev_135]

Good day! Is there plans to make a trello/discord group for updates on the mod, user feedback, and suggestions? 

[lnchenxiyan]

Very looking forward to the final release!!!