[Min KSP 1.12.X] Sandcastle: 3D printing for parts and vessels

[Rakete]

22 hours ago, Mr. Kerbin said:

https://github.com/Angel-125/Sandcastle

Nope, it seems the source code has all this added. However, it is not in full release. I can finally make my Minmus base! (maybe also a hotel and casino if you know what I mean..)

No, this is actually in release. A pre-release mind you, but still a release!

https://github.com/Angel-125/Sandcastle/releases/tag/v1.2.0

Any how-to or short video somewhere available how this works? I am currently about to return to ksp.... (as soon as RL lets me :-) )

 

 

And... I know about the Minmus casino by matt lowne. 

Edited September 24, 2024 by Rakete

[Angelo Kerman]

On 9/23/2024 at 1:55 PM, JadeOfMaar said:

The latter. Unless I mis-read, Angelo said when the vessel is finished printing, then it presents this bounding box with the movement gizmo.

I'm interested in what the offset limits are and what they're decided from.

At present when spawning a vessel on the ground, there are no offset limits for where you move the  bounding box. Right now I'm just trying to make sure that the thing works.

The pre-release is indeed available, but expect to find bugs. I'm trying to sort out the fundamentals before diving into the next major planned release.

5 hours ago, Rakete said:

Any how-to or short video somewhere available how this works? I am currently about to return to ksp.... (as soon as RL lets me :-) )

 

 

And... I know about the Minmus casino by matt lowne. 

I've found over the years that too many don't bother to read the directions or tutorials for me to make them. What I suggest is you download the latest, turn on Debug mode, and use that to play with spawning vessels in-game. Then try the normal route where you have to spend time printing the vessel from Ore (or go nuts and create module manager configs to turn on part requirements if you're in the mood for Kerbal Satisfactory).

[tokamak_tinkerer]

there seems to be a problem with defining custom materials for the printer. my MaterialList.cfg looks like this

MATERIALS_LIST
{
    name = Default
    RESOURCE
    {
          name = MaterialKits 
          rate = 0.5
    }
    RESOURCE
    {
          name = SpecializedParts
          rate = 0.25
    }
}

and it does make the printers require materialkits and specialisedparts, but it also still demands ore (so it needs 3 rescources instead of 2 i specified). Am i doing something wrong, or is this a bug?

[Angelo Kerman]

5 hours ago, tokamak_tinkerer said:

there seems to be a problem with defining custom materials for the printer. my MaterialList.cfg looks like this

MATERIALS_LIST
{
    name = Default
    RESOURCE
    {
          name = MaterialKits 
          rate = 0.5
    }
    RESOURCE
    {
          name = SpecializedParts
          rate = 0.25
    }
}

and it does make the printers require materialkits and specialisedparts, but it also still demands ore (so it needs 3 rescources instead of 2 i specified). Am i doing something wrong, or is this a bug?

From the looks of it, your ratios don't add up to 1.0. It looks like 50% MaterialKits and 25% Specialized parts. The remaining 25% will automatically be Ore. Sandcastle automatically adds Ore to ensure that the ratio of all the resources adds up to 1.0. If you increase your ratios to add up to 1.0 then you should be good to go.

[JadeOfMaar]

5 hours ago, tokamak_tinkerer said:

there seems to be a problem with defining custom materials for the printer. my MaterialList.cfg looks like this

MATERIALS_LIST
{
    name = Default
    RESOURCE
    {
          name = MaterialKits 
          rate = 0.5
    }
    RESOURCE
    {
          name = SpecializedParts
          rate = 0.25
    }
}

and it does make the printers require materialkits and specialisedparts, but it also still demands ore (so it needs 3 rescources instead of 2 i specified). Am i doing something wrong, or is this a bug?

In addition to @Angelo Kerman's answer, if you're creating a new MATERIALS_LIST node and not editing the one that already exists, then it's possible that you're causing two default recipes to exist and that Sandcastle is merging them. And indeed, if your ratios don't add up to one, Ore will appear and fill in the remainder.

[Angelo Kerman]

Finally figured out why the Shipbreaker was stalling while trying to recycle a vessel: if a part's mass was negative due to the way it's mass was calculated without resources (sometimes part definitions are wrong), or if the part's variant mass makes the mass go negative (*cough* B2 Saddle Tank *cough*), then the recycler will fail. The shipbreaker would also stall if it tried to drain the resources out of a part and it had no storage capacity for the resources. Now that I have that straightened out, I can investigate why the part recycling list isn't being updated properly.

I have another major issue to tackle as well: when on the ground, for some reason, the recycler isn't properly coupling the vessel being recycled. Meaning that the recycler doesn't treat itself and the vessel being recycled as a single craft...

[woeller]

I have installed EPL and Sandastle to test the new functions of the Sandcaster.
In the MaterialsList.cfg I defined RocketParts as a resource.
The EPL menu can still be opened via the Sandcaster, I was able to select a craft but could not start building it, even though all resources are available.
I was able to start and complete the build via the SC menu.
However, the craft does not spawn inside the bounding box but above the sandcaster. Moving the bounding box also had no effect. The spawn point remained the same for every test.
All tests took place in orbit and not on Kerbin.

[Angelo Kerman]

On 9/28/2024 at 11:46 PM, woeller said:

I have installed EPL and Sandastle to test the new functions of the Sandcaster.
In the MaterialsList.cfg I defined RocketParts as a resource.
The EPL menu can still be opened via the Sandcaster, I was able to select a craft but could not start building it, even though all resources are available.
I was able to start and complete the build via the SC menu.
However, the craft does not spawn inside the bounding box but above the sandcaster. Moving the bounding box also had no effect. The spawn point remained the same for every test.
All tests took place in orbit and not on Kerbin.

The bounding box is appearing while in orbit? Hm, that's not supposed to happen. What should happen is that in orbit, the vessel should be lined up with the printer and coupled to the printing vessel. I should have another pre-release update this week given the progress I made.

[Rakete]

Does one still have to have Extraplanetary Launchoads installed in order to use the new sandcaster things?

[Mr. Kerbin]

15 minutes ago, Rakete said:

Does one still have to have Extraplanetary Launchoads installed in order to use the new sandcaster things?

No.

[KspNoobUsernameTaken]

If you have EPL installed, does it lock out Sandcastle's built in vessel construction system?

[JadeOfMaar]

16 hours ago, KspNoobUsernameTaken said:

If you have EPL installed, does it lock out Sandcastle's built in vessel construction system?

No. That would be quite a backwards thing to do (to make Sandcastle dump its own modules). I've only seen additive effects in Sandcastle's EL configs except where it's commented in the printer arm that a part can't be both a Sandcastle recycler and an EL recycler at the same time. The part is set to never serve as an EL recycler.

[KspNoobUsernameTaken]

Just now, JadeOfMaar said:

No. That would be quite a backwards thing to do (to make Sandcastle dump its own modules). I've only seen additive effects in Sandcastle's EL configs except where it's commented in the printer arm that a part can't be both a Sandcastle recycler and an EL recycler at the same time. The part is set to never serve as an EL recycler.

Ah. For some reason I assumed the vessel printer and EPL modules were incompatible on the same part

Obviously not 

[Angelo Kerman]

Although I've had a bad case of work and Satisfactory, I have been working on several bugs found in Sandcastle. I've updated the pre-release with the latest set of fixes, listed below:

Bug Fixes
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker would get stuck if it had no storage capacity for a resource that it was trying to drain from the part being recycled.
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker would get stuck if the recycled part's dry mass or variant mass is negative. On a totally unrelated note, I need to update Buffalo 2...
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker wasn't emptying the inventory of stored parts from the ship being recycled.
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker would store recycled parts in the vessel that it was recycling.
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker's UI wasn't reflecting the parts that had been recycled.
- Fixed issue with duplicated parts being added to the Shipbreaker's recycling queue.

There's still more to do, but it's getting there. One thing I'm not sure how to handle is how to reflect the way that the Shipbreaker recycles parts. It is working by design but how I'm showing the list make it look buggy. The Shipbreaker works by adding all the parts that don't have children into the queue ahead of those that do. The UI shows the list of parts that are being worked on, and the list of parts that have child-parts that need to be removed before they can be worked on. As a result, the UI can look like it pulls parts from the bottom of the list when a part with child-parts has had its last child-part removed. I'm not sure how to represent the parts waiting to be recycled- maybe a different color? The same goes for the root part. It is the last part that will be recycled.

[Infinite Aerospace]

Does this play well with Kerbalism might I ask?

[JadeOfMaar]

51 minutes ago, Infinite Aerospace said:

Does this play well with Kerbalism might I ask?

The "No" is pretty strong. Confirmed by someone I regularly throw ideas (and sometimes parts) at and who uses Kerbalism.

[Infinite Aerospace]

55 minutes ago, JadeOfMaar said:

The "No" is pretty strong. Confirmed by someone I regularly throw ideas (and sometimes parts) at and who uses Kerbalism.

Can't claim to be surprised, doesn't play well with a fair few mods to be honest (Kerbalism).

[Drew Kerman]

[deleted]

Realized this should have been a github issue submission

Edited December 23, 2024 by Drew Kerman

[linuxgurugamer]

On 10/7/2024 at 5:18 PM, Angelo Kerman said:

Although I've had a bad case of work and Satisfactory, I have been working on several bugs found in Sandcastle. I've updated the pre-release with the latest set of fixes, listed below:

Bug Fixes
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker would get stuck if it had no storage capacity for a resource that it was trying to drain from the part being recycled.
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker would get stuck if the recycled part's dry mass or variant mass is negative. On a totally unrelated note, I need to update Buffalo 2...
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker wasn't emptying the inventory of stored parts from the ship being recycled.
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker would store recycled parts in the vessel that it was recycling.
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker's UI wasn't reflecting the parts that had been recycled.
- Fixed issue with duplicated parts being added to the Shipbreaker's recycling queue.

There's still more to do, but it's getting there. One thing I'm not sure how to handle is how to reflect the way that the Shipbreaker recycles parts. It is working by design but how I'm showing the list make it look buggy. The Shipbreaker works by adding all the parts that don't have children into the queue ahead of those that do. The UI shows the list of parts that are being worked on, and the list of parts that have child-parts that need to be removed before they can be worked on. As a result, the UI can look like it pulls parts from the bottom of the list when a part with child-parts has had its last child-part removed. I'm not sure how to represent the parts waiting to be recycled- maybe a different color? The same goes for the root part. It is the last part that will be recycled.

@Angelo Kerman It seems that you may have (for now) stopped work, or at least have a hiatas.  Do you think you could update the prerlease to a full release?

I also just submitted a small PR to fix a typo in a file

Edited January 5 by linuxgurugamer

[Angelo Kerman]

On 1/5/2025 at 2:40 PM, linuxgurugamer said:

@Angelo Kerman It seems that you may have (for now) stopped work, or at least have a hiatas.  Do you think you could update the prerlease to a full release?

I also just submitted a small PR to fix a typo in a file

Thank you for the typo fix.

Development is on hiatus as I struggle through the last major piece of functionality for the current release: printing vessels on the ground. I'm finding that the craft are oriented wrong- NOT sharing the same orientation as the printer vessel- and that causes the craft to collide into the ground and explode. It happens with EPL too, and it's VERY frustrating. It's so frustrating that I've stopped working on the problem for now, and by extension, stopped playing KSP since I need that functionality in my own game. Anyway:

Sandcastle 1.2.6 is now available:

Changes

IN DEVELOPMENT

IMPORTANT NOTE: Currently, printing vessels on the ground is resulting in their orientations NOT matching the orientation of the printer, and result in the spawned vessel crashing into the ground.
You won't likely see this at the space center, but it definitely happens on other planets. This is a source of major frustration for me right now.

- The Sandcaster's printers will now only be available when the printer arm has been deployed.
- Upon completion of printing, if a vessel is printed on the ground, then the printers will draw a movable box depicting where the vessel will spawn.
Simply use the movement arrows to place the box in the desired position before pressing the Finalize Printing button.
- The MATERIALS_LIST and TECH_NODE_MATERIALS config nodes now allow you to add REQUIRED_COMPONENT config nodes that specify what parts are required to complete parts in the part category and/or tech node, respectively.
- You can now specify a MATERIALS_LIST for a Community Category.
NOTE: For a part to make use of a Community Category materials list, the part's "category" field must be set to "none" and you must properly define a Community Category in the part's "tag" field.
NOTE: The FIRST Community Category found in the part's config will be used as the part's category for the purposes of determining its MATERIALS_LIST.
- Added Sandcastle support to the Mk1 Drydock and Mk3-75 Drydock from the Mark One Laboratory Extensions mod.
NOTE: If you see the drydock parts in the MOLE category tab, DO NOT USE THEM! They will have "Deprecated" in their title. Use the drydock parts found under the Sandcastle category tab instead.
- SCShipwright have new configurable fields:

        // Alternate transforms- these are used in place of spawnTransformName to help orient vessels properly.
        spawnTransformVABName = VesselSpawnPointVAB
        spawnTransformSPHName = VesselSpawnPointSPH

        // Maximum possible craft size that can be printed: Height (X) Width (Y) Length (Z). E.G. 5,5,5
        // Leave commented out for unlimited printing dimensions.
        maxCraftDimensions = 11,11,20

        // Flag to indicate if the printer should offset the printed vessel to avoid colliding with the printer upon spawning. Recommended to set to FALSE for printers with enclosed printing spaces.
        repositionCraftBeforeSpawning = false

- WBIPrintShop has new configurable fields:

        // Maximum possible craft size that can be printed: Height (X) Width (Y) Length (Z). E.G. 5,5,5
        // Leave commented out for unlimited printing dimensions.
        maxCraftDimensions = 11,11,20

        // Flag to indicate if the printer should offset the printed vessel to avoid colliding with the printer upon spawning. Recommended to set to FALSE for printers with enclosed printing spaces.
        repositionCraftBeforeSpawning = false

Bug Fixes
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker would get stuck if it had no storage capacity for a resource that it was trying to drain from the part being recycled.
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker would get stuck if the recycled part's dry mass or variant mass is negative.
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker wasn't emptying the inventory of stored parts from the ship being recycled.
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker would store recycled parts in the vessel that it was recycling.
- Fixed issue where Shipbreaker's UI wasn't reflecting the parts that had been recycled.
- Fixed issue with duplicated parts being added to the Shipbreaker's recycling queue.