Caerfinon's Kerbin Side Development [WIP]

[Caerfinon]

Let This Be My Opus... 

As KSP2 looms I have decided to consolidate the various KSP1 projects I've been currently working on. I'm coming into some free time and working on something like this is a good hobby to fill it with. Sort of like a large model train setup without taking up every square foot of the basement. This will just occupy some space on my hard disk (and I will avoid the spouse aggro).

Current projects that will be rolled in are: 

• The Call of Kerthulhu 
  • A story based contract pack. Mostly complete but inclusion in this will expand it's scope and reusability.  
• The Grand Kerbin Side Hotel
  • A different take on Tourism
• Panocean Canal 
  • allows naval circumnavigation of stock Kerbin

It will also include a reimagining of my GAP and Life Aquatic mods as well. 

 I have put together map showing the proposed KK sites I'll be building bellow. (Click to see larger version)

• Sites will be composed of airports and ports, but will also contain housing for barracks and some businesses and research facilities as well. 
• All stock runways, launch sites, and anomalies will be left untouched, with the exception that ground station locations that do not have a visible dish will have one deployed.
•  Sites deployed below sea level will be no deeper than 400 meters to respect the use of in-game pressure settings.  
• Sites will be designed to be compatible with an installation of Parallax2, so that large scatter is removed, and statics are raised high enough above persistent ground cover so that it is not visible.   

To date I have built three new sites; 

• Atacama - A regional airport and sea port
• Osealis -  A regional airport and small marina
• Aleutia - An outpost in the southern hemisphere with a helipad and a ground station facility. 

This forum is to discuss the project. I welcome the community's input. 

Edited January 11, 2023 by Caerfinon

[Rutabaga22]

OOOOoooooo I love me some kerbin-side and contract packs. Would you consider adding minor space ports?  They don't need to be full space centers, but some "Space ports" with a launch pad and a runway might be cool.

Oh, and maybe "Kountries" for some of the contracts. It might be cool to have a little map of kountries and they will give contracts and stuff.

[Caerfinon]

1 hour ago, Rutabaga22 said:

Would you consider adding minor space ports?

There are space ports planned for areas that are not served by the stock discoverable launch sites. Currently the  Foldrenview, Makhosica, and Quingchang sites on the map are scheduled as launchpad sites

1 hour ago, Rutabaga22 said:

Oh, and maybe "Kountries"

 I haven't specifically thought of countries, but there are 23 defined cultural zones that could be used for such a purpose. I will give it a think and see how it might best fit.

Edited January 12, 2023 by Caerfinon

[Manul]

Maybe this will be interesting for you.

I turned Nimitz hull, bridge and radar tower into KK statics. Aircraft lifts, deflectors and ordnance lifts are still functional, and the flight deck is illuminated at night time. But for some reasons KK doesn't recognize mu file if it's not at the same folder as cfg file so the statics cfg should be put into CVX folder.

I have plans to make KK statics with naval vessels from some other mods. Because KK statics doesn't summon Kraken as huge parts do.

Edited January 12, 2023 by Manul

[Caerfinon]

2 hours ago, Manul said:

Maybe this will be interesting for you.

Adding KK vessels to the various ports would be pretty cool. A very interesting idea. 

[Caerfinon]

Aleutia Ground Station

• Located in the southern hemisphere on Aleutia Island it provides additional CommNet coverage for polar orbits.
• Comes equipped with living quarters, radio tower, and a helicopter pad with landing lights.
• Parked to the side of the Barracks is a fuel truck if you need to top up the tank, (Not shown) 

[Stone Blue]

4 hours ago, Manul said:

But for some reasons KK doesn't recognize mu file if it's not at the same folder as cfg file so the statics cfg should be put into CVX folder.

Is the model defined with a "mesh =" key in the cfg, rather than with a "MODEL{ }" node?
Thats what it sounds like anyway... could try updatig to a MODEL node... vOv

[Manul]

Just now, Stone Blue said:

Is the model defined with a "mesh =" key in the cfg, rather than with a "MODEL{ }" node?

mesh = Eskandare_Heavy_Industries/Carrier_Vessel_Expansion/Parts/Nimitz/nimitz.mu didn't work.
mesh = nimitz.mu does. That's strange.

[Stone Blue]

Try:
 
MODEL
{
         model = Eskandare_Heavy_Industries/Carrier_Vessel_Expansion/Parts/Nimitz/nimitz
}

instead of the mesh = line

the mesh = key has actually been soft deprecated... whwnever updating anything, should *always* be updated to MODEL {} node...
it has much moar builtin flexibility & function... like, being able to texture switch right in the MODEL{}, for one

 

9 minutes ago, Manul said:

mesh = Eskandare_Heavy_Industries/Carrier_Vessel_Expansion/Parts/Nimitz/nimitz.mu didn't work.
mesh = nimitz.mu does. That's strange.

yeah.. thats because "mesh =" is limited to specifically only being able to grab the model (and textures), from the *same* folder its reading the cfg from.. thats why just defining t he filename alone works. it already knows the *exact* folder to look for the matching model, based on where the .cfg is.

MODEL{}, uses the whole file URL... thats what makes it possible to grab models *outside* the folder, where the cfg is. Note that the *textures* still need to be inside the same folder as the model. **UNLESS**, you do a texture switch line in the MODEL{} node... altho you still need a basic, single color, 4x4 pixel "placeholder" texture in with the model.

model =, has no idea how to deal with a full folder URL

Edited January 12, 2023 by Stone Blue

[Caerfinon]

Atacama Airport and Port

Regional Airport

• Two runways but launch pad is located in the terminal area. On launch, aircraft must taxi to their runways for take off (saves having to define 2 launch points for each runway).
• Regional airports have size restrictions of 18 tons and runways are 1700 meters.
• Facilities for Hangar (18 ton limit) and refueling
   

Port

• The port provides a surface water launch pad
• Facilities include a barracks and a business in the town portion of the site. Tanks on the docks can be used to refuel naval vessels. 
• The airport is to the east just over the hill.  

[Stone Blue]

@Caerfinon even tho Eskandare says the models need updating, I belive they still finction pretty well... but it would be awesome if you included his old Oceania static(s)...

[Caerfinon]

4 minutes ago, Stone Blue said:

his old Oceania static(s)

They would be awesome, however I have not been able to locate a copy of Oceania 
He was working on some related stuff for an upcoming KSR release, but no status of late. 

[Manul]

18 minutes ago, Stone Blue said:

even tho Eskandare says the models need updating, I belive they still finction pretty well

There used to be a problem with colliders for huge parts (I don't know if KK statics was affected too) between KSP v1.3 and 1.8 But all colliders that were broken in 1.4 became unbroken in 1.8

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by Manul

[Caerfinon]

Osealis Airport and Marina 

A small fishing settlement located on an island east of KSC

Regional Airport

• One runway
• Facilities refueling and hangar

Marina

• Water launch
• Facilities include refueling for ships

[Rutabaga22]

Maybe you could do really small airfields in some areas kinda like the island airfield.

[Caerfinon]

16 minutes ago, Rutabaga22 said:

Maybe you could do really small airfields

There are several small outposts on the list to create.

They will be a little more involved than  the airstrips I made for KSR, but no where near as large as the regional airports.  

Edited January 12, 2023 by Caerfinon

[Caerfinon]

Foldrenview International Airport and Satellite Launch Site

Foldrenview is to the north west of the KSC and serves as an airport hub for the region around the Sekap Sea. 

Airport

• Two 2500 Meter runways
• Facilities: Refueling, Hangar, Science Research and Barracks (in the town)  

Launchpad

•  Primary role is for the launching of satellites into polar orbit. 
• One launchpad

[theonegalen]

Fantastic! I will download and use just about anything you make, @Caerfinon - it's always top quality and fits in with my style of KSP.

[Caerfinon]

7 hours ago, theonegalen said:

it's always top quality and fits in with my style of KSP

I appreciate that.  I'm working through the International Airports first as they are the more complex ones. I will then do the regionals and the outposts. 

At some point I'll post a pre-release  so people can test things out if they want.  

Edited January 18, 2023 by Caerfinon

[Caerfinon]

Test flights around Laeston International Airport

[theonegalen]

That bridge is cool!

[Caerfinon]

6 minutes ago, theonegalen said:

That bridge is cool

It seemed to fit... and now you can do stunts flying under it 

[Caerfinon]

Laestron International Airport and Port

A major financial center and trade hub 

Airport

• Two 2500 meter runways. with ODALS landing lights and PAPI landing guidance 
• Facilities: Hangar, Refueling

Port

• Large harbour facilities, light house and boat launch. Water Launchpad located near central pier. 
• Facilities: Refueling, Business, Barracks  

[Caerfinon]

So a little fly in the ointment... 

It seems that the KSR 2500 meter runway statics have sides that you can  drive right through. 

    

This is not the case with the 1700 meter runway sections, which seem to have "solidity" all around. 

The workaround is to have taxiways on both sides of the 2500 meter runways and some filler piece at each end. I'm experimenting with the right design.  Avoid driving quickly towards one of the sides of these  things, as explosive disassembly is the result (this includes the use of Vessel Mover at low altitude to move Kerbals around the site... Sorry Bill)    

 

[theonegalen]

whoops!

I can't believe I never noticed that about the 2500m runways.

Edited January 23, 2023 by theonegalen