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

[Honeybadga]

Hey Snjo, I love your mod. It opens up some great new possibilities to play the game. I have a suggestion to make tho:

I know your mod mainly revolves around propeller engines, but could you add either a jet/rocket VTOL engine or just the VTOL part without anything attached to it, but with nodes on both sides so we can attach jet engines/air intakes or rocket engines ourselves? Building VTOL engines with the DR rotatron delivers only somewhat flimsy results and your VTOL engine approach is much more elegant with all those action group options.

Obviously this VTOL part should come with the option to connect fuel lines to it from the main body, especially if you want to attach it to wing tips. Would be really awesome if we could build customized VTOL engines with a jet turbine or an aerospike rocket engine.

[Snjo]

Hey Snjo, I love your mod. It opens up some great new possibilities to play the game. I have a suggestion to make tho:

I know your mod mainly revolves around propeller engines, but could you add either a jet/rocket VTOL engine or just the VTOL part without anything attached to it, but with nodes on both sides so we can attach jet engines/air intakes or rocket engines ourselves? Building VTOL engines with the DR rotatron delivers only somewhat flimsy results and your VTOL engine approach is much more elegant with all those action group options.

Obviously this VTOL part should come with the option to connect fuel lines to it from the main body, especially if you want to attach it to wing tips. Would be really awesome if we could build customized VTOL engines with a jet turbine or an aerospike rocket engine.

You know, I 'd like that too. Making a similar jet or rocket engine is easy. Making a holder body for another engine is a bit more tricky, since rotating the part doesn't rotate the attach point of the engine connected to it.

That's what is so good about DR, he figured out how to solve that. I'll have to look into how he did that one of these days, and hopefully not have my brain explode.

[Honeybadga]

You know, I 'd like that too. Making a similar jet or rocket engine is easy. Making a holder body for another engine is a bit more tricky, since rotating the part doesn't rotate the attach point of the engine connected to it.

That's what is so good about DR, he figured out how to solve that. I'll have to look into how he did that one of these days, and hopefully not have my brain explode.

Pleased to hear that you like the idea.

[Taverius]

You know, I 'd like that too. Making a similar jet or rocket engine is easy. Making a holder body for another engine is a bit more tricky, since rotating the part doesn't rotate the attach point of the engine connected to it.

That's what is so good about DR, he figured out how to solve that. I'll have to look into how he did that one of these days, and hopefully not have my brain explode.

To quote r4m0n about the DR code: "Beware, therein lies madness". 0.20 also broke it utterly

[pandabreads]

Ok, I fond the bug and uploaded v5.1.1

This was the error

[KSPField(guiActive = false, guiName = "partDistance", isPersistant = true)]

//private float partDistanceFromVessel = 0;

I had commented out a variable, but not the KSPField value!

gah! Hard to find.

Thank you! Just installed the patched version and all is well. Thanks for the support and creating this excellent mod!

[Ireh_Muete]

I am having a problem. After I install the files and everything, I run the game, and it gets stuck loading. It normally gets stuck loading on the folder dockPortLateral, which is a vanilla file. I've tried removing this folder and running the game, but it gets stuck on a different folder. None of the folders that it's getting stuck on are part of the mod, so I don't know what is going on. The game was working fine before I installed the mod. Please help.

[Snjo]

I am having a problem. After I install the files and everything, I run the game, and it gets stuck loading. It normally gets stuck loading on the folder dockPortLateral, which is a vanilla file. I've tried removing this folder and running the game, but it gets stuck on a different folder. None of the folders that it's getting stuck on are part of the mod, so I don't know what is going on. The game was working fine before I installed the mod. Please help.

The part you see in the error log is probably the last part to load successfully before the bad part loads.

The most probable cause is that you have some necessary part of the mod in the wrong place. It all goes in KSP_win\GameData\Firespitter.

Check the parts guide linked on the first page for instructions.

If that doesn't help, upload you KSP_data\output_log.txt to pastebin.com and put a link here or in a PM to me, and I can see which part is bugging out.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Snjo

[Paulisawesome123]

I have a problem

when i install the mod none of the helicopter parts work (The three propellers) when i place it the part doesn't place and i can't save, launch, load or exit

i am not sure i am the only person that has this problem but please help.

[Duecez]

I have a problem

when i install the mod none of the helicopter parts work (The three propellers) when i place it the part doesn't place and i can't save, launch, load or exit

i am not sure i am the only person that has this problem but please help.

Snjo released a patch to fix it. I had the exact same problem in the last version. Just download the update and it should work.

[Ireh_Muete]

The guide tells me to unzip the .zip to my KSP_win folder, so that they'll be in the Gamedata catalog. And then the guide doesn't say anything else. Do I need to take all of the different files from each folder and put them in their respective folder in KSP_win? Because that's what I did the first time.

[Ireh_Muete]

Here's the options.txt: http://pastebin.com/4ypHV0KG

[Konraden]

The guide tells me to unzip the .zip to my KSP_win folder, so that they'll be in the Gamedata catalog. And then the guide doesn't say anything else. Do I need to take all of the different files from each folder and put them in their respective folder in KSP_win? Because that's what I did the first time.

NO. The new .20 file system lets you put the entire "Firespitter" directory into GameData folder. In fact, if you just copy and paste the GameData folder in the zip file into your KSP_Win directory, it'll install the mod.

But alas, it goes like so.

KSP_Win > GameData > FireSpitter > (Parts, Plugin, Sounds, etc)

Squad has all of the stock parts under GameData > Squad. Any Mods should ahve their _own_ folder under GameData.

[Snjo]

No manual labor, just drop them in:

[Snjo]

Here's the options.txt: http://pastebin.com/4ypHV0KG

I dunno, it stops at the airBrake, so try removing that, but it never gives a problem normally.

If you are using 0.20.1, I haven't tested that yet, but there were rumors of some texture loading problems.

Also: "G:/torrents/KSP_win/KSP_Data\../Parts\advSasModule\part.cfg", I hope you bought the game, if not, do so.

[KhaosCorp]

After many hours of testing I have come to one very solid conclusion.......

Biplanes are stupid! (but not really)

Ive tried about 100 different wing positions. just wants to do backflips, im using such little throttle too..

meh, at least it looks good, just need a set of Vickers on the nose lol

[colmo]

After many hours of testing I have come to one very solid conclusion.......

Biplanes are stupid! (but not really)

Ive tried about 100 different wing positions. just wants to do backflips, im using such little throttle too..

meh, at least it looks good, just need a set of Vickers on the nose lol

Your CoL is in front of your CoM. Try adding tail winglets that give more lift. Properly built, biplanes are the easiest planes to fly, especially at low speeds because they have so much lift.

[KhaosCorp]

center of lift should be just over center of mass yes?

I can build ok rockets, but im still rather bad at planes

[Snjo]

center of lift should be just over center of mass yes?

I can build ok rockets, but im still rather bad at planes

It all depends on the handling you want.

There's a saying that goes

"If your Center of Lift is behind your Center of Mass, your plane will fly badly.

If your Center of Lift is ahead of your Center of Mass, your plane will fly once."

Having the CoL ahead can give a very nimble plane, right up until you do a crazy move, at which point it will become an uncontrollable flip fest.

The CoL can be below or above the CoM, but you will usually have to do some trim adjustment at various speeds to compensate for drag inconsistencies.

The same goes for having the Center of Thrust above of below your wings. It will a bit of trim work at different throttle states.

I try to have my CoL slightly behind the CoM, but I know some people get good result with other set ups, possibly by creating some more drag at the tail.

Well positioned drag elements can save a bad plane at the cost of speed.

A well built plane can take many, many relaunches to balance correctly. Don't give up.

[KhaosCorp]

thank you, that helped.

had the wings to high, as well as a bit forward in the pic...

my last flight was...flyable. not as agile as a bi-plane should be, but I could fly and land it, so a huge step in the right direction =P

[colmo]

Back in 0.15, I built this beauty - there were no CoL, M or T indicators, so it was trial and error. I'd nudge the top front wing and tail wings forward or back until I nailed the handling. I aimed for 1/3 throttle take off and flying straight...without touching the controls. Since that design, I used small control surfaces on the inside of the wings (top and bottom) to reduce roll authority, as it was a little too spritely as shown!

Edited May 30, 2013 by colmo

[KhaosCorp]

it looks like the 2 sets of wings on that are staggered a bit... for some reason i got it in my head they should be even...i need to google some biplane images now lol

your ksc2 heli looks awesome colmo =P

[RoboRay]

Staggered wings are quite common in biplanes.

Edited May 30, 2013 by RoboRay

[colmo]

it looks like the 2 sets of wings on that are staggered a bit... for some reason i got it in my head they should be even...i need to google some biplane images now lol

your ksc2 heli looks awesome colmo =P

Thanks - for helis, I now advocate not using any wing parts at all, btw.

The wings are staggered - I was moving the top one back and forth by tiny increments to get the handling I wanted. Lining them up as well would have made a really difficult job impossible.

[Astronut25]

I can't get the VTOLs to work, whenever I try to use it I get the debug messages, and the editor crashes.

[Log]: FSVTOLengine(Clone) added to ship - part count: 150
[Log]: stage count is: 0
[Exception]: InvalidCastException: Cannot cast from source type to destination type.
[Log]: icons sorted: 7 elements in 1 groups. Last stage is 0, current stage is 0
[Log]: deleting part FSVTOLengine(Clone)
[Log]: BLAH
[Exception]: NullReferenceException
[Exception]: NullReferenceException
[Exception]: NullReferenceException
...

Edited May 30, 2013 by Astronut25

[Snjo]

The VTOLs work just fine here. I'm using KSP 0.20.0 still.

Are you?