Firespitter propeller plane and helicopter parts v7.1 (May 5th) for KSP 1.0

[Naten]

...however KSP does it.

I think it simply keeps running the gravity algorithm even when it's underwater, but since I think it can't handle negative altitudes, it just tries to pull the ship to 0 meters, at which I think is the "gravitational level" of the planets.

[123nick]

I think i have found a bug, when i have a firespitter part on my craft in the VAB or SPH, it will look invisible or glitched. do you know how to fix this bug? also it makes other parts look invisible too, im not sure whats happening,

[Dilin]

Secret Firespitter Parts Plans Leaked!

snip

The unnamed spy was later found dead in a shady alley!

Autosteady or something! Or Vertical Take off and Landing parts as the detailed plane looks like an AV-8B Harrier. Either of those.

[Snjo]

Secret Firespitter Parts Plans Leaked!

...

The unnamed spy was later found dead in a shady alley!

Hey! Those plans are my Intellectual Property, and were not released to you for redistribution. You will be hearing from my lawyers about this!

How would you like it if I revealed that you are working on InfiniteDice's Cake Parts: The Tale of a Kerbal Pastry Shop? I know you put a lot of work into your moistness formulas, and would hate for someone to get wind of it.

[hoodedarche0]

Hey! Those plans are my Intellectual Property, and were not released to you for redistribution. You will be hearing from my lawyers about this!

How would you like it if I revealed that you are working on InfiniteDice's Cake Parts: The Tale of a Kerbal Pastry Shop? I know you put a lot of work into your moistness formulas, and would hate for someone to get wind of it.

Hey don't go throwing around our plans of Interplanetary domination thru the use of homemade baked goods!!! If you do Sy*** might catch wind and attempt to use it for their own means!!!

[Snjo]

I think i have found a bug, when i have a firespitter part on my craft in the VAB or SPH, it will look invisible or glitched. do you know how to fix this bug? also it makes other parts look invisible too, im not sure whats happening,

It's not a bug I have seen before. Bugs like that are typically because you didn't put stuff in the right folder (GameData) Check the guide for install instructions.

If you have other mods installed that interfere with parts on a broad scale, I can't help with that. If the problem persists after doing a clean install, post the output_log to pastebin and link it here.

Edited August 28, 2013 by Snjo

[fenderzilla]

since the propellors use intake air and liquid fuel, wouldn't these only work on kerbin and laythe? you can't get intake air on eve or duna.

[Snjo]

there's an option in air intakes to not require oxygen, just any kind of atmosphere. I took that option

If you managed to get to Eve, who am I to punish you with a defective motor?

[Tanya Sapien]

I'm not sure if this has been asked before in this thread, but 59 pages is a lot to sift through for a maybe, I have a potential bug to report.

The parts work fine, they're great and I love them, but I have a problem with some of your cockpits. Certain cockpits which contain the Firespitter OS guidance aid cause an extreme framerate drop on my computer any time they're loaded into the game. I'm sure it's not the mesh itself because there's no framerate drop in the hangar nor in the time it's preparing on the runway, it's only after the physics load in that it has the issue.

Additionally, any time I encounter this framerate drop, the OS in the cockpit takes an inordinate amount of time to fetch the memory, taking upwards of 45 seconds to boot.

I have MechJeb2, B9 Aerospace, ISA Mapsat, Kethane, and Extraplanetary Launchpads installed. However, the issue persists even if no parts from the other mods are currently loaded in.

If this is something I've done wrong I'd like to know what I did so I can fix it. Otherwise this can be considered the lamentations of an underpowered computer

[Char0093]

Hey there! Love the mod,been having alot of fun with it.And by "Fun" I mean "Failing at making helicopters".But I've run into a bit of a bug. My Propellers aren't Rotating,at all.They still provide thrust and all,but looking at the screenshots in some of these posts it seems the propellers are rotating.As a side note,my Helicopter Blades are rotating,but Painfully slow.

[Snjo]

Tanya Sapien - Does the lag start before or after you go into IVA view? All the code to update the displays only runs when you are in IVA, so if it starts before. something else is up...

Char0093 - Make sure you put everything in the GameData folder (Check Scott's video linked in the guide), or rotation and such won't work. It's extremely odd that the rotors would rotate in that case though...

If you get propeller engine sounds, it should indicate that things are in the right place.

(Forum is bugged, so I can't link or quote)

edit: BTW I updated the f-86 wings leading edge code to check for atmospheric pressure, and reduced it's drag and lift a bit, cause it was acting almost like a parachute. It's in the pre-release file on the first page.

Edited September 1, 2013 by Snjo

[Tanya Sapien]

Does the lag start before or after you go into IVA view? All the code to update the displays only runs when you are in IVA, so if it starts before. something else is up...

I installed the newest FS build then booted up the game to do some diagnostics, and this is what I've gathered:

The bug occurs immediately upon the vehicle being visible on the runway, before physics has been loaded in. It occurs even on a fresh game with the cockpit being the only vehicle component. The framerate drops come in chunks, causing the game to run smoothly for about 0.3 seconds, then lock up for about 0.3, cycling between the two. Going into IVA does not change the issue in any way, however looking at the screens shows that they update the memory fetching by exactly 8KB with every cycle of locking and playing smoothly.

Affected cockpits:

FS20C Attack Helicopter Cockpit

MK2 Cockpit (From B9 Aerospace, features Firespitter OS v4.0)

I had the debug toolbar open while testing this, and got no errors while on the runway, however when reverting to the hangar, I get a mass of messages like this:

[Log]: [mecanim]: BindSkeleton: cannot find Transform 'Lower_Assembly'
[Log]: [mecanim]: BindSkeleton: cannot find Transform 'Satellite_Dish'
[Log]: [mecanim]: BindSkeleton: cannot find Transform 'satellite_dish_props1'
[Log]: [mecanim]: BindSkeleton: cannot find Transform 'satellite_dish_props2'
[Log]: [mecanim]: BindSkeleton: cannot find Transform 'lower_assembly_props_hvac'
[Log]: [mecanim]: BindSkeleton: cannot find Transform 'lower_assembly_props_pipes'
[Log]: [mecanim]: BindSkeleton: cannot find Transform 'Component_281_1'
[Log]: [mecanim]: BindSkeleton: cannot find Transform 'Group1'

The 'group' error messages went all the way from 'Group1' to 'Group39'

I don't think it's the firespitter OS itself that's causing the issue, as I tested the 'S2 Cockpit' from B9 Aerospace, which also features your guidance system and it runs smooth as silk for me.

[BigFatStupidHead]

Unfortunately, everyone gets that mass of messages in your code box, even in stock games. It is suspected to be the source of the long scene changes that some people are suffering.

[MUSTANG]

I've having a problem with the water launch part. It starts me half way over the shoreline just past the runway at the main KSC, and about 200 meters up. I haven't been able to launch anything because I keep smashing into the beach. I've tried adding some parachutes, but they just shear off.

[Tanya Sapien]

I've having a problem with the water launch part. It starts me half way over the shoreline just past the runway at the main KSC, and about 200 meters up. I haven't been able to launch anything because I keep smashing into the beach. I've tried adding some parachutes, but they just shear off.

Try using the coordinate logger function. Put the module on a vehicle capable of reaching the ocean by itself, then launch it with the water launch option deactivated. get the vehicle to a nice spot in the water, park it, then right click the module and tell it to save the coordinates. Unless I misunderstand how the module works, it should store those as your new launch coordinates. (Don't forget to move the scout before launching anything!)

[Capt.Joseph Kerbertson]

Hey don't go throwing around our plans of Interplanetary domination thru the use of homemade baked goods!!! If you do Sy*** might catch wind and attempt to use it for their own means!!!

Whhhooop! Collaboration time is over... gloves off.

[GrizzlyJones]

Is it cheating to use the FS airtanks on my SSTO spaceplanes to keep the jet engines running a bit longer when I reach the limits of intakes? I sure hope not, Because it's the main reason I finally got a SSTO into orbit, and now got one to dock with my Spacestation!!!

And on another not I've made a nice version of a F4U Corsair Navy Fighter, you know the sweet Blue ones with those lowered curved wings (sorry to lazy to grab my own Screenshotright now)

http://texasbestgrok.mu.nu/images/F4u.corsair.750pix.jpg

So im still having fun procrastinating from discovering the final frontier to make awesome prop planes!!!

[Snjo]

It's a pity wings with a bend in them are almost impossible to make as a single part using the KSP symmetry rules, cause it's an awesome looking plane.

Air tanks are pretty heavy, so it's not like you are getting a free ride, you are just carrying air just like a rocket engine does with its oxidizer except you get to not bring that extra heavy engine along.

[GrizzlyJones]

Yea, and it looks pretty good in KSP, now I just need to cover that drab grey with a nice blue!!! I think they got a box of that blue painters tape in the KSC janitor closet, and get Jeb to wrap the whole thing up should do!

[Mekan1k]

Snjo- Will you be willing to add a suggestion to your plugin?

Slye_Fox is developing a part that would be an Ion Ramscoop (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/47350-Ion-Ramscoops?p=638372&viewfull=1#post638372), and I was wondering if you could add a part to your plugin that allows for ram-scoop-esque behavior (when activated can play animation, inputs a small thrust in the opposite direction as the intake, intake amount increases with speed but never really reaches zero, creates resource, etc.)

I want to help his mod get finished, and, well, you have one of the most flexible plugins out there.

[Snjo]

I actually already made an animated air intake module, but never used it ( https://github.com/snjo/Firespitter/blob/master/Firespitter/animation/FSanimatedAirIntake.cs ).

It moves an object in the part between two locations based on the flow of the intake. In your case I guess it should use an actual animation instead to handle multiple rotating objects, but it's a starting point.

With the thrust in the opposite direction, do you mean it creates drag? cause for a non wing part, you can simply increase the drag of the part, which is the same as adding force in the opposite of your velocity direction.

All the rest of the functions are already handled by the stock intake module: resource production, minimum flow when standing still, atmospheric checks.

edit: Oh, I see it should work when there is NO atmosphere. OK, that would require a new module from scratch.

Edited September 8, 2013 by Snjo

[BubbaWilkins]

Grizzly:

can't view your screenshot, but was inspired to make one of my own....which lead to making several other craft.

Two words: Spruce Kerbal.

Snjo:

I've noticed something that seems to be consistently hitting me. The radial engine is prone to spontaneous destruction when a craft with them is in physics range, but not the actual active craft. I was trying to set up a screenshot with all the different craft I was playing with this weekend and after 4-5 planes were placed, the radial props would explode violently on the parked craft when an active one approached. I was arranging them on the tarmac in front of the SPH, so I don't know if it's a craft problem or a world problem. Seems to occur around the point where my active craft gets within say 500-1000 meters.

[Snjo]

So only the engine explodes? That's weird!

Could you send me the craft files you use to get those explosions?

pointless edit:

Edited September 9, 2013 by Snjo

[BubbaWilkins]

Here's some K4-U Korsair footage with bonus radial engine spontaneous combustion.

When physics kicks in on the non-active craft, every one of the radial engines give a "engine collided with structural engine pod" (paraphrased). I've had it happen on every craft with the radial style engine equipped. The other prop style doesn't seem to have the issue. Not sure about the electric one which I think uses the same model as the radial.

And here's the Spruce Kerbal taking off...

Edited September 10, 2013 by BubbaWilkins

[Snjo]

I'll have to do some testing on that explosion stuff tomorrow. If there were any messages in the flight or error log that gives the cause for the explosion, let me know.