Buffalo 2 Modular Space Exploration Vehicle

[Angelo Kerman]

More progress today: I unwrapped the body, added a retractable flagpole, added side decals, and added air intake funnels:

[Horizons Aerospace]

On 11/25/2022 at 4:52 PM, Angel-125 said:

Can you tell me which parts are having that issue? I'd like to finish up the mod ASAP.

It seems to be all the b2 parts with integrated ballast vents.

[JadeOfMaar]

On 11/25/2022 at 9:11 PM, Angel-125 said:

air intake funnels

Hot and cold water faucets for the bath tub is what I see here. You can't pull the wool over my eyes, cowboy part maker feller.

The sail is looking mighty fine, of course. gg

[chaos113]

1 hour ago, JadeOfMaar said:

Hot and cold water faucets for the bath tub is what I see here. You can't pull the wool over my eyes, cowboy part maker feller.

The sail is looking mighty fine, of course. gg

You have separate nozzles for that?

[planeticegaming]

On 11/26/2022 at 11:41 AM, Angel-125 said:

More progress today: I unwrapped the body, added a retractable flagpole, added side decals, and added air intake funnels:

very nice looking bathtub 

Edited November 29, 2022 by planeticegaming

[Rutabaga22]

What's this? It's titled "pictureframeimages"

[Angelo Kerman]

1 hour ago, Rutabaga22 said:

What's this? It's titled "pictureframeimages"

Exactly that. They're picture frame images for the picture frames in the B2 Stateroom and other parts. If you put pictures in that folder then you can select them in the picture frame IVA props.

[TOMMY (JEB 2.0)]

how sub? i cant drive one at all without it ether launching 10m in air or smashing into the sea floor or both at same time

Edited November 29, 2022 by TOMMY (JEB 2.0)
early enter key

[Angelo Kerman]

3 hours ago, TOMMY (JEB 2.0) said:

how sub? i cant drive one at all without it ether launching 10m in air or smashing into the sea floor or both at same time

Sub carefully.   Set at least one tank in the front as the forward trim tank and one in the back as the aft trim tank. Use the diving computer to maintain depth and auto-trim. Each boat is unique so use the controls to adjust how sensitive the pitch controls are, and how fast to control the trim tanks. Use the SunkWorks Sonar Ranger to beep when you are near the shore and/or near the bottom. When the ping starts, pull up!

Today I made more progress on the sail. Now you can reverse the left and right decals on the body, and I plan to add that ability to the flagpole flag as well. Here's a look:

That yellow stripe is a nod to Subnautica, which has been a big influence on the mod.

[chaos113]

10 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Sub carefully.   Set at least one tank in the front as the forward trim tank and one in the back as the aft trim tank. Use the diving computer to maintain depth and auto-trim. Each boat is unique so use the controls to adjust how sensitive the pitch controls are, and how fast to control the trim tanks. Use the SunkWorks Sonar Ranger to beep when you are near the shore and/or near the bottom. When the ping starts, pull up!

Today I made more progress on the sail. Now you can reverse the left and right decals on the body, and I plan to add that ability to the flagpole flag as well. Here's a look:

That yellow stripe is a nod to Subnautica, which has been a big influence on the mod.

Does the sail have a dive computer, if not then it should 

[DeadJohn]

"Kommodore Sea 64". I'm old enough to get that reference.

 

[Angelo Kerman]

2 hours ago, chaos113 said:

Does the sail have a dive computer, if not then it should 

The sail is equivalent to SunkWorks' Sonar Range Finder:

The Guppy Submarine Module has a built-in Kommodore Sea 64.

1 hour ago, DeadJohn said:

"Kommodore Sea 64". I'm old enough to get that reference.

 

My dad and I were more into Apple ][ (and later, IBM), but I got to play with the Commodore when I was a kid. I still remember when I took my dad to a computer museum a few years back, and he could practically give the tour since he worked on many of them. It was a bit disconcerting seeing thinks like Apple ][, Apple ][+, Apple ][c (I got to play with a prototype), and the like in the museum, along with things like 8" floppy disks. But technology marches on. Heck, I'm working on building a modern PC to replace this aging one, and the new computer won't have a DVD for it! No more "cup holder" for my system...

[DeadJohn]

42 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

My dad and I were more into Apple ][ (and later, IBM), but I got to play with the Commodore when I was a kid. I still remember when I took my dad to a computer museum a few years back, and he could practically give the tour since he worked on many of them.

Tangent Alert! My high school got into computers early and I was a paid programmer while still in school.  We wrote apps to manage report cards, schedule each semester's classes, etc. The school district had Commodore Pets in student labs, but Apple II started to get used for administration and then crept into the classroom. I also worked with 2 lesser known Apple products:

• Apple III was supposed to be an improved II. It was horribly unreliable and got canceled.
• Apple Lisa. This came out a year before the Macintosh, with a similar interface. The $10k USD price (in 1983!) killed Lisa.

At home, my progression was Atari 800, Commodore C-64, an early all-in-one B&W screen Macintosh, then PC-compatible for decades.

[RobFalcon]

I have a couple more images to pass along.  Development of my Buffalo herd continues!

First off, here is the Munar Buffalo, Mk.2.

This version utilizes a ten TR-2L wheel setup to give better protection to the front of the vehicle's chassis, though this necessitated moving the entrance doors amidships.  I've also included several reaciton wheels within the underframe to assisting in keeping the vehicle wheel-side-down when an errant hill sends one on an unexpected flight.

In addition, a set of landing gear allows the Mk.2 to remain stationary when on sloped terrain, taming a noticeable stubborn tendency to slide at 0.1 m/s.

This image is from when I temporarily removed Parallax during long-range driving.  While Parallax's rocks are fake by default, the very real rocks of Breaking Ground love to hide within them.  I kinda lost track of the number of times my chassis vanished and I was yeeted across the surface.    I'm using Bon Voyage for more of my transits now, so Parallax has been reinstalled.

In addition, the first Buffalo is now riding across the surface of Minmus!

She had a bit of an argument with her landing frame, which resulted in the loss of her light bar, but beyond that she's running fine.  I've learned that I can't go nearly as fast on Minmus, primarily because low gravity means very little traction.  I expect Gilly to be... exciting. 

Been busy of late, so nothing to report in the last couple days.  More developments as I have them!

[Rutabaga22]

23 minutes ago, RobFalcon said:

I expect Gilly to be... exciting

You could use the Beta engine to have an gilly orbital transport.

[RobFalcon]

1 minute ago, Rutabaga22 said:

You could use the Beta engine to have an gilly orbital transport.

Good idea.  I'm not far enough yet through the tech tree to try that out  Though I'm about to return a whole lotta science from the Mun, and Minmus exploration is in progress, so we'll see when I can start practicing with it. 

[TOMMY (JEB 2.0)]

22 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Sub carefully.   Set at least one tank in the front as the forward trim tank and one in the back as the aft trim tank. Use the diving computer to maintain depth and auto-trim. Each boat is unique so use the controls to adjust how sensitive the pitch controls are, and how fast to control the trim tanks. Use the SunkWorks Sonar Ranger to beep when you are near the shore and/or near the bottom. When the ping starts, pull up!

Today I made more progress on the sail. Now you can reverse the left and right decals on the body, and I plan to add that ability to the flagpole flag as well. Here's a look:

That yellow stripe is a nod to Subnautica, which has been a big influence on the mod.

why isnt there a way to set a depth in the controller and have it target that depth? is it a engine prob or just not implemented, reason i ask is the maintain depth sets the sub to rocket to the top

[Angelo Kerman]

13 hours ago, TOMMY (JEB 2.0) said:

why isnt there a way to set a depth in the controller and have it target that depth? is it a engine prob or just not implemented, reason i ask is the maintain depth sets the sub to rocket to the top

It's not trivial to set up a numeric slider that can handle varying planets' depths and account for the submarine's collapse depth (which varies based on density of the water). It's much easier to have the player level off at the desired depth and turn on the autopilot to maintain whatever that depth is. If it's something that you really want to do though, I suggest investigating a mod like kOS. The SWDiveComputer part module has actions for maintaining depth, auto-trim, diving, surfacing, and emergency surfacing, and all the trigger and pitch controls are exposed as KSPFields, so it'll integrate with kOS pretty well. In fact, the Guppy, Buffalo, and AUXeN all have support for kOS already. kOS is pretty robust and it can easily and gently tap on the flight controls to adjust things like roll and pitch. I have no doubt that you can create a script to specify a desired depth, calculate collapse depth based on the density of the fluid, and more. Here's the forum link in case you're interested:

Your sub rocketing to the surface sounds like you need to adjust the rate at which ballast is added and removed (#6 on the Kommodore Sea 64 ballast control card). I don't have the issues that you're reporting. What I tend to do is turn on SAS, level the boat via the navball, then turn on Auto-Trim and Maintain Depth Control.  I also have to adjust the pitch angle trigger and the flood/vent rate for ballast to keep it from oscillating. One trick I found is to dive the boat, come to a full stop, turn on Auto-trim and Maintain Depth until the boat is neutrally buoyant and level, turn off Auto-Trim and Maintain Depth for maneuvering (they automatically turn off when you maneuver, otherwise your boat will go crazy), and then just drive around. I can drive all over the place, stop, and the boat will just hover in the water.

The dive computer isn't perfect- again, kOS might help with that- and some boat designs are harder to control than others. For instance, this one doesn't stay level and tends to nose over when the engines are running:

but I have no trouble keeping these level and at depth:

So, be sure to:
 - have fore and aft ballast tanks and unlock their Intake Liquid ballast resource.
 - have fore and aft trim tanks and unlock their ballast resource. You c an designate a tank as a trim tank in the VAB/SPH.
 - Adjust the dive computer's pitch trigger and flood rates to avoid porpoising.
 - For a more sophisticated dive control, consider augmenting the dive computer with a custom kOS script.
 - Given the highly modular design of KSP, expect to conduct many sea trials to find the right design and dive settings.

I hope that helps.

[adsii1970]

1 hour ago, Angel-125 said:

For instance, this one doesn't stay level and tends to nose over when the engines are running:

Add extra ballast to the end of the sub. Or lessen the weight of the fore end of the sub.

For some reason, the aerodynamics of KSP is performing in the concreto-sea of Kerbin!

[Angelo Kerman]

Today I finished up the B2 Submarine Sail. You can have separate decals for the body of the sail and for the retractable flag:

Service people may cringe at this...

... when you select a flag. But fear not, you can reverse the right-side flagpole's decal:

You can also reverse the decals on the sail body.

With the part done at last, I can focus on fixing the funky UV maps on the parts with integrated ballast control valves. After that, Buffalo 2 will be done! I expect to be finished by the end of the weekend.

[Ooglak Kerman]

@RobFalcon you've likely had the opportunity to have a taste of tasty delicious D-I water.  Tell @JadeOfMaar your thoughts?

Edited December 1, 2022 by Ooglak Kerman

[Rutabaga22]

8 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

With the part done at last, I can focus on fixing the funky UV maps on the parts with integrated ballast control valves. After that, Buffalo 2 will be done! I expect to be finished by the end of the weekend.

Can't believe B2 is almost done. I've been following since you started on the IVAs and this mod has become one of my favorites.

[Angelo Kerman]

8 hours ago, Rutabaga22 said:

Can't believe B2 is almost done. I've been following since you started on the IVAs and this mod has become one of my favorites.

Me neither! I fixed the texturing/normals on the vent meshes, now they all look as they should:

I'm doing final checks now, and scrubbing the sample craft of parts and part modules that others might not have. The BuffaSub is one of the sample craft.

[Angelo Kerman]

Buffalo 2 v1.5: Sunken Treasures is now available:

Changes

- Buffed the resource inputs and outputs on the Power Support Unit.

New Parts

- B2 Aquarium Module*: This module catches Fish.
NOTE: With Snacks installed, the B2 Galley can turn Fish into Snacks. With Snacks Stress enabled, the Aquarium adds the Fishing activity, which will reduce Stress.
- B2 Bioreactor: This module converts Fish into Liquid Fuel, and Intake Air into Oxidizer.
- B2 Fish Tank: This part literally holds Fish.
- B2 Fuel Cell Module: This part produces Electric Charge from Liquid Fuel and Oxidizer, and Electric Charge from Liquid Fuel and Intake Air.
- B2 Fuel Tank Module: What this part lacks in crew capacity it makes up for in resource storage capacity.
- B2 Fuel Tank Module (Short): What this part lacks in crew capacity it makes up for in resource storage capacity.
- B2 Submarine Sail*: This part provides sonar capabilities for your submarines and has an extendable flagpole as well as extra air intakes. There's even a small service bay on top that's large enough to fit a single external command chair or some small science experiments.
- Guppy Submarine Module: This command pod is specially designed for underwater adventures.

* Requires SunkWorks

And with that, I am delighted to say that Buffalo 2 is now feature complete! When I started this project in January 2022, I originally planned to take 3-4 months tops. Famous last words! Nearly a year of nights and weekends later, Buffalo 2 has blossomed into a complete mod that replaces the original and surpasses it in several ways. With Buffalo 2, you can make rovers, stations, bases, submarines, and even superstructures for boats. It not only replaces the OG Buffalo, but it is also a soft replacement for MOLE’s hab, lab, and greenhouse modules.

I want to thank everyone for your interest in the development of Buffalo 2 and for your invaluable feedback. Your input helped shape the mod and helped make it the best it can be. I did the heavy lifting, but because of your input, Buffalo 2 was a collaborative effort. Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy the final product!

[Angelo Kerman]

Moved to Addon Releases.