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

[Snjo]

After some tweaking, my recreation of the Beechraft Starship flies well enough that it's one of the new example craft.

Well, it's a recreation of the principles, not so much the cosmetics

[Mekan1k]

... Please upload that neat little plane's craft file?

[Snjo]

... Please upload that neat little plane's craft file?

It's in the pre-release file as always

[BigNose]

Brilliant mod Snjo, thank you very much for your hard work!

I just have a question: Could it be that the "FS1LGB Bi-plane Landing Gear" and the "FS1TG Fighter Tail Gear" are not properly scaled?

It seems to me, judging by their mass and relative size to the other wheels of the mod, that they are about 1.5 to 2 times bigger than they should be.

I scaled the "FS1TG Tail Gear" down to 0.5 times the size, and it looks much more like it should now. Before the wheel was even bigger the the "FS1LG2 Fighter Landing Gear".

EDIT: I also noticed the "rescaleFactor" of the tail gear is set to 2.0. Maybe by accident?

[Snjo]

Brilliant mod Snjo, thank you very much for your hard work!

I just have a question: Could it be that the "FS1LGB Bi-plane Landing Gear" and the "FS1TG Fighter Tail Gear" are not properly scaled?

It seems to me, judging by their mass and relative size to the other wheels of the mod, that they are about 1.5 to 2 times bigger than they should be.

I scaled the "FS1TG Tail Gear" down to 0.5 times the size, and it looks much more like it should now. Before the wheel was even bigger the the "FS1LG2 Fighter Landing Gear".

EDIT: I also noticed the "rescaleFactor" of the tail gear is set to 2.0. Maybe by accident?

I think I had some problems a while back with the precision of the tail gear, beause the wheelCollider was too small, so I scaled it up a bit, and made the actual visual part almost as big. (wheelColliders are invisible physics objects that do the actual rolling and friction work)

I don't remember if it used to be another size, but it might perform badly in some situations if it's too small.

If re-scaling works for you, that's good news, but just to be safe, I think I should keep it at the current size.

The main thing for me is that it's short, so it makes tail draggers possible, or other places where the stock gear is too long.

Now the bi-plane gears were originally made as a joke, end then tweaked a bit to actually work, so I admit I didn't put a lot of though into their size. If you guys have any feedback on it, it's very welcome. (Not just visually, but for what kinds of plane setups you can build, or can't with its current configuration)

It does spawn into the hangar at an odd angle, but I don't think I can do anything about that. It was the only way I could get it to perform correctly in symmetry.

[Galacticruler]

Snjo, the water launch system seems broken to me.

(More detailed in a PM)

[Snjo]

In some cases if the game takes too long to launch your vessel, the move to water code may fail. If that's consistently the case, try to increase the time it attempts to move you by altering the timer value in the cfg file:

File: Parts\utility\FS_moveCraftGadget.cfg

MODULE

{

name = FSmoveCraftAtLaunch

moveAtLaunch = True

launchPosition = -2033.4, -29.9, -3071.4

timer = 4.0 // in seconds

}

Since it's annoying having to wait for the craft to be released, I can't just throw it to 10, but I might increase it a tad, cause I saw this issue after 0.22 for the first time on my machine, so it might be that the load is sometimes slower now...

(It didn't occur on a revert to launch, when the assets were already loaded)

[Sergey Golovko]

Help! For me the k-17 bomber cockpit seems to have shrunk as well as the oblong liquid fuel tank. This happened when I re-installed firespitter when i saw there was a new version.

[Snjo]

Help! For me the k-17 bomber cockpit seems to have shrunk as well as the oblong liquid fuel tank. This happened when I re-installed firespitter when i saw there was a new version.

That's very weird. It doesn't do that for me. The difference between those part is that the cockpit has no set rescaleFactor so it should default to 1.25, but in your case it looks like something is overriding it to 1.0.

Try going into Parts\Command\FS_bomberCockpit\part.cfg and adding the line:

rescaleFactor = 1.25

[bs1110101]

Does anyone know what is making the propellers not spin? I think some other plugin might be causing it.

[Snjo]

Does anyone know what is making the propellers not spin? I think some other plugin might be causing it.

Either you didn't actually start the engines (usually just press space), or you don't have the plugin installed. There isn't really anything another plugin can do to stop it from spinning its children, short of removing the module by force, or make the whole plugin fail. That would typically produce some red error messages in the alt+f2 log that can be analyzed by sharing your output log file. (KSP_win\KSP_Data\output_log.txt)

If you for some reason have duplicates of firespitter.dll, remove the ones not in GameData\Firespitter\Plugins.

[bs1110101]

The firespitter.dll is in the right place, and it's the only one.

Edit: there is no way to screenshot the console! Crap!

[Snjo]

Well, in that case, I'd try moving the other mods out for a test, and do a vanilla+FS test. If that works you can see where the conflict arises when you move the others back in.

If vanilla+FS fails, you are doing something out of the ordinary. Make sure both KSP and FS are at the latest version (try the pre-release), and follow the guide or

[bs1110101]

Ok, i'll do that soon, also i reinstalled firespitter before posting this.

Something unrelated: Why not make propellers like rover wheels, so they snap if they hit the ground, and can be fixed on EVA?

[Snjo]

Hmmm, blades flying off at high speed, hitting other parts, stuff exploding!

[wasmic]

Hmmm, blades flying off at high speed, hitting other parts, stuff exploding!

Sounds awesome.

[Oicani]

Snjo, I'm a big fan of planes and of your modpack. Is there any chance you'll do a different version of the textures? I'm not extremely fond of the white-and-red color scheme

(Alternatively, contact me if you'd like me to make an alternative color scheme. I can do texturing, would be fun!)

[BigNose]

Something unrelated: Why not make propellers like rover wheels, so they snap if they hit the ground, and can be fixed on EVA?

That's an awesome idea man!

[Patupi]

Edit: there is no way to screenshot the console! Crap!

Um, have you tried 'Print Screen' to send the image to the clipboard? Just go into an art package (MS paint will do in a pinch) and hit paste

[Senshi]

I always vote for more explosions.

Regarding the "propellers don't switch to blur texture when running" issue, I did encounter that as well in my 0.21 setup. I do seem to recall that I found a related report somewhere here on the forum, but I cannot remember where exactly, sorry. It was however found out that this indeed was caused by a plugin interference. Again, sadly I do not know which plugins were the culprits exactly, but I guess it was either Kethane or KAS.

However, I run all those mods (and a bunch more) concurrently now in 0.22 with their newest respective versions, and the propellers blur just fine now. Maybe try and update your mods?

On an unrelated note, I love the (not so) new Lancaster engines. Allow some fun new stuff to do:

Inspired by the original Zveno Project.

While I use planes frequently for Kerbin exploration (especially now that we have science), I usually use high-altitude, long-range and supersonic crafts to get there. As I also use FAR, those crafts are usually heavy and not maneuverable, especially if I bring some science lab stuff along. I always wanted some small mobile units in the deployment zone. While rovers are nice to have, sometimes a small and sleek plane would be more fitting to climb some mountains, for example.

Solution is simple: Strap some small planes on a big plane and just bring them along! The above craft uses Firespitter for the crafts and KAS to winch and strut it together.

Detachment can either be done in-flight by letting the child plane drop away or on ground again.

The planes can be attached infinite times: When the mothership is landed, the child plane pilot just has to drive under it, attach to the winch, lock in place and then link the strut points so it's more sturdy in flight. Currently it only is stable if either none or two children are attached, I'd need more yaw control to counteract the misbalance if only one plane is attached.

One of the rear main fuselage sections of the mothership contains a cargo bay that includes a small "science basestation" to be used in the target area.

And if I want to get somewhere fast, I just replace the two Avro engines with some jet engines. The combination is robust enough for up to Mach ~3.5 (didn't test any faster yet).

[Snjo]

Snjo, I'm a big fan of planes and of your modpack. Is there any chance you'll do a different version of the textures? I'm not extremely fond of the white-and-red color scheme

(Alternatively, contact me if you'd like me to make an alternative color scheme. I can do texturing, would be fun!)

As you can probably tell, texturing is not my passion, but what I have done is make it easy-ish to improve upon them.

First, I have all my textures in the png format so that it's easy to create new ones, or add to the existing ones. For most of them there isn't a separate image to show you the UV mapping of the faces, but if you need one, just let me know and I can send you the ones I have in the source folder.

The second thing is the texture switcher module, which allows you to have several textures on a part. You can use the standard light skin to go with the other parts, or maybe you want a green military scheme to go with another plane. Using the module, it's no either or, you can have both side by side without creating duplicate parts. (Look at the oblung fuel tank or bomber cockpits for examples.

The reason I don't already make duplicates for each part (aside from the work it takes), is that for memory reasons, I can't put two or three textures on every part in the pack, since they will all be loaded, and crash the game for people with several mods.

So why don't I just make one set of actually good textures you say? Because I like mine. I like simple flat colours and red stuff, and so do at least a few other people.

The solution of course is that I could do an addon pack that would replace or add textures for people who want them, just like there are low res packs for other stuff. If anyone wants to supply some alternate textures for such a thing I will happily bundle them up or allow you to do so yourself.

In some cases the parts in question are just very old, and could do with an overhaul (mesh and tex) while maintaining the same style as the other parts. The helicopter rotors for instance are due for some work.

On a related note, to save you from part spam and memory issues, I'm thinking of bundling up new parts in separate packs. For instance, I want to create some Lancaster and maybe more Spitfire or bi-plane stuff. I would release each as a complete set instead of adding it to the existing packs. What do you guys think? Is that more of a hassle, or would it actually save you from manually trimming stuff out? (I am never offended when people tell me they delete all except X, it just means you really like X)

[Senshi]

Hm. Both have their merits. Personally, I prefer full packages: I put them all in, then play for some hours/days, then figure out which parts are never used because they don't appeal to me at all, are redundant due to other mods or whatever reason, and only then trim them out.

Having multiple packages is OK for thematic really different things, but if there's too many tiny packages, it simply is annoying for players that want the full package and have to download&extract them all. Having two/three packages for Firespitter would be OK, I guess (bomber, fighter, helicopters?).

[Mihara]

On a related note, to save you from part spam and memory issues, I'm thinking of bundling up new parts in separate packs. For instance, I want to create some Lancaster and maybe more Spitfire or bi-plane stuff. I would release each as a complete set instead of adding it to the existing packs. What do you guys think? Is that more of a hassle, or would it actually save you from manually trimming stuff out? (I am never offended when people tell me they delete all except X, it just means you really like X)

Even though I typically delete almost everything in Firespitter except the electric propellers (which are completely indispensable with airships -- I like the other parts too, but I just don't fly on Kerbin all that much and they all require oxygen) and certain cockpits (there just aren't any other 2-kerbal 1.25m caliber plane cockpits at all -- as a side note, how does making one specifically meant for a two seat spaceplane sound?) deleting parts from one pack would be less of a hassle than tracking updates of multiple packs, no matter how they get split.

It might help if you organize them differently though -- instead of following the stock hierarchy (Parts/Aero,Electric...) split them thematically -- Parts/Helicopters, Parts/Lancaster, Parts/Wings, Parts/Utility... That will make it easier to trim out things you don't use.

[Snjo]

Even though I typically delete almost everything in Firespitter except the electric propellers (which are completely indispensable with airships -- I like the other parts too, but I just don't fly on Kerbin all that much and they all require oxygen) and certain cockpits (there just aren't any other 2-kerbal 1.25m caliber plane cockpits at all -- as a side note, how does making one specifically meant for a two seat spaceplane sound?) deleting parts from one pack would be less of a hassle than tracking updates of multiple packs, no matter how they get split.

It might help if you organize them differently though -- instead of following the stock hierarchy (Parts/Aero,Electric...) split them thematically -- Parts/Helicopters, Parts/Lancaster, Parts/Wings, Parts/Utility... That will make it easier to trim out things you don't use.

Yeah, something like that would make sense. I'd have to have a warning to remove the old parts for the version where I actually renamed or moved stuff around of course so people wouldn't get duplicates.

Regardless, it's a good idea for future parts to put themed parts in a separate folder. Now I just have to actually make them

[rkfnql322]

Hi Snjo, Thanks for great mod&plugins, But however, My WLS won't work.

I searched all the threads and tried changing coordinate and timer. However, Changing coordinate worked but though i changed the timer, it seemed nothing changed and the real problem is that, When i launch at sea, It just put back me to the runway and often occurs BIG explosion. I want another solutions. plz help me.