[WIP] THSS - Tri-Hexagonal Structural Strut

[Bluegobln]

I've been working on making a few parts to expand the THSS list a bit. Here is what I have so far!

DL link: Goblin Industries parts for THSS

[Tallinu]

Semni, the problem with the probe part is very simple and easy to fix (I just solved the 'anchoring' and blanked-out orbital information window for myself).

You have in the part.cft two MechJeb modules: MechJebCore (good!) and MechJebAR202 (Not good!) Remove the second one. Your part doesn't have the AR202 features, and the AR202 module apparently breaks things when applied to such a part.

Also, on the nano-probe, you've left out the electrical consumption rate. I'm not sure if you meant to leave MechJeb off of that one, but it's not there either.

Regarding your post earlier on this page, the existing fuel tanks seem well balanced to me - the stock 1.25m tanks of the same length have the same amount of fuel, so I don't see a reason to change that.

And one more thing: On the parts where you have panels, the panels only cover the wide sides, not the narrow sides... This is sad because those narrow sides would be perfect for mounting RCS thrusters and caseless solar panels and the like, but placing them there makes them appear to be floating, disconnected. Just a thought.

Blue Goblin, that 2-1 adapter and the open bays look awesome! I have now added those two to my collection.

Edited May 16, 2013 by Tallinu

[Tommygun]

Those parts look really good.

The other day I was trying to mount two nuclear engines to the truss and couldn't really do it right with existing parts.

That adapter will work for the 1 meter engines, but most of the nuclear engines are two meters.

I'm trying to push this at higher speeds. It's 212 tons and it would be great if I could mount two 2 meter engines on it.

[Litterball]

Sorry if this has already been asked, but is the THSS-3DS finned tristrut a functional docking port? I've tried some docking maneuvers with two of these and they did pull together beautifully but never quite docked. The part description in the Vehicle Assembly Building doesn't actually mention docking, so I may have been making assumptions.

[Britich]

Sorry but I cant say anything other than:

About this mod.

[Guest]

Gotta ask what pack did those legs come from? I like em

Anyone know what that engine is?

Both components do indeed come from the NovaPunch pack. Nearly all of my landers use the aerospike as a descent engine, and I love the wide stance of the legs.

[kerry519]

I have found that if you remove the following lines in the part config it fixes the quantum anchoring problem.

 MODULE
{
	name = MechJebAR202
} 

[mushroomman]

The engine seemed a bit too underpowered to me, and as it stood it seemed pretty useless. So I bumped the vacuum ISP up to 600. Other then that, I really like these parts!

[Semni]

I love the look of that "TriStrutMiniTank" part you posted the screenshot of. But is it just the angle, or are the tanks 'floating' inside it, only connected by their fuel lines?

Yes, it's a bit of a flaw in the model that I need to address. Thanks for pointing it out though.

Semni, the problem with the probe part is very simple and easy to fix...

I have found that if you remove the following lines in the part config ...

Thanks guys and other who suggested fixes, that's really helped.

Sorry if this has already been asked, but is the THSS-3DS finned tristrut a functional docking port?

Yes it is, I havn't done all the descriptions and such properly yet, it's on the great big To Do pile.

Those parts look really good.

The other day I was trying to mount two nuclear engines to the truss and couldn't really do it right with existing parts.

Sweet jezus that is huge. I kind of have a solution for that in the works but meanwhile I do have some stuff I havn't shown off that is in the next release:

And to everyone else who has commented, thanks for your support, you guys really have helped me and motivate me to continue developing this mod.

[shadowsutekh]

Happy to be of service!

[lyndonguitar]

Thanks, I am currently building a big station using this pack, I have one request. Can you make a battery?

[smunisto]

Hey, I was building an interplanetary ship for the past 2 weeks when I encountered your mod. I scappred the whole thing and designed a completely different one based around your mod. This is how much of a difference it makes to the game big ship and station building!

I have a few requests, if possible. I guess you have plans to introduce more inline parts for the octagonal truss, but here's a few suggestions which will really help in my opinion, if you don't have them planned already:

1. Bi-, Tri-, Quad-, Penta-, Hexa- adapters, which will allow 1.25m engine mounting(NERVAs hooray!)

2. Bi- adapter, which will allow 2m engine mounting (I doubt more than 2 2m engines can fit on it, but who knows)

3. Octa-monoprop tank, Xenon tank

4. Different end for the Octagonal adaptor - maybe end in a triangle, so that it is inline with the rest of the trusses and allows more seamless transitiion to the stock circle game formats.

The squarely shape it ends in doesn't really fit well with anything(or did i miss some strange adapter, the cube ones don't look properly on it)

5. Cube, containing only tri-truss mounts(no 1.25 circles).

6. Octagonal and Triangle parts able to carry kerbals.

7. Textures, but dark ones, industrial-ish (mostly unneeded,the parts are pretty good as they are)

Sorry if these have been already suggested.

Keep up the good work.

[Wesmark]

My kerbals request 2, 3, and 4 meter parts for their destined ship. Can you add that to this already wonderful mod?

[Bluegobln]

2m

2, 3, and 4 meter parts

IIRC the sizes for KSP are normally 0.5m, 1.25m, 2.5m, and other packs have introduced 2.18m, 3m, 3.75m and 5m as well (just from some packs I have seen). Technically, parts models can be any size you want though, it's just a matter of whether it matches or looks good and such.

As far as different sized parts, you can adjust the parts sizes by modifying the CFG files if you like. Right now THSS uses 2.57 part scaling which is because they're modeled in inches I think, if you double that to 5.14 all your tri-hex parts will go from 1.25m to 2.5m.

I'll do the math for scaling numbers in the CFG for y'all. (Untested)

For larger Tri-Hex pieces:

- To make the 2.5m adapter into 3m you change your rescale factor to 3.084, which will make the Tri-Hex inscribed circle about 1.5m

- To make the 2.5m adapter into 5m you change your rescale factor to 5.14, which will make the Tri-Hex inscribed circle about 2.5m (side effect, the 1.25m adapter becomes a 2.5m adapter, this is probably the most ideal)

For smaller Tri-Hex pieces:

- To make the 3.75m adapter into 2.5m you change your rescale factor to 1.71333~, which will make the Tri-Hex inscribed circle about 83cm

- To make the 2.5m adapter into 1.25m you change your rescale factor to 1.285, which makes the Tri-Hex inscribed circle (and the 1.25m adapter) about 62.5cm

So those three will give you Tri-Hex pieces of inscribed circle sizes 1.5m, 2.5m, 0.83m, and 0.625m (standard is ~1.25m). Since you're only really doing this to resize the Tri-Hex shape, its better to make the adapters line up with other sizes rather than the Tri-Hexs line up to other sizes.

It's not too hard to do the math for other sizes if you want to. Personally, I like the size they already are, though I might like some smaller stuff for making more fine details.

Also note: If you decide to do a rescale on the parts, you can create duplicate copies of the parts folders and rename them so you have the original sized parts still, but I am pretty sure you also have to rename the part inside the CFG file as well (which you'll be editing anyway so no problem). The one that matters is at the top of the CFG, but you can also edit the one further down which identifies the part to the player in-game (and change description, fuel amount, etc).

[Bluegobln]

1. Bi-, Tri-, Quad-, Penta-, Hexa- adapters, which will allow 1.25m engine mounting(NERVAs hooray!)

Are you talking about a Tri-Hex -> 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 mount? That's not too tough to do, but with the current style of parts the poly count on the 6 mount for example is going to be immense. I'm thinking to do that the actual mounting nodes would need to be made simple plates rather than the typical Tri-Hex strut type pieces. Honest question: why not just use a Tri-Hex adapter connected with a 2-6 adapter from a normal 2.5m or 1.25m set? It's only one extra part.

2. Bi- adapter, which will allow 2m engine mounting (I doubt more than 2 2m engines can fit on it, but who knows)

Do you mean like the adapter I made (2.5m into 2x Tri-Hex) but spaced wider so two 2.5m can connect? Again, that's going from 2.5m, to Tri-Hex, back to 2.5m again. Better to skip the Tri-Hex pieces in the center and place the adapters at the other end of the line.

3. Octa-monoprop tank, Xenon tank

Easy to mod off of other tank parts (when he releases them) for the Octa pieces. I'm pretty sure there's a model of that very thing on this page!

4. Different end for the Octagonal adaptor - maybe end in a triangle, so that it is inline with the rest of the trusses and allows more seamless transitiion to the stock circle game formats.

The squarely shape it ends in doesn't really fit well with anything(or did i miss some strange adapter, the cube ones don't look properly on it)

This one I totally agree with. I can see room for Octa -> 2.5m, Tri-Hex, 2x 2.5m (engine mount basically), and 2-6 1.25m (again engine mounts most likely). It's a large piece, after all, you'd probably want to mount engines right to it.

5. Cube, containing only tri-truss mounts(no 1.25 circles).

I agree with this too. There is also room for 4x circle adapter with Tri-Hex top and bottom connections, I think (as a station hub piece). The real purpose of either of these, though, is just saving part counts: we have the Tri-Hex to 1.25m adapter already which can be used to get almost identical effect to both, albeit with additional parts.

6. Octagonal and Triangle parts able to carry kerbals.

Pretty sure he's working on this already. I'd like to make a command pod myself that is designed to look awesome on the end of a Tri-Strut stack. I'm a ways off on that though.

7. Textures, but dark ones, industrial-ish (mostly unneeded,the parts are pretty good as they are)

You mean like slightly tarnished or roughed up looking textures, mostly along edges for example, kinda like the B9 pack parts? Or you want a dark colored version of the parts as an optional different color palette? Personally I can see textures but only for non-strut parts, like maybe fuel tanks, crew modules, or engines. The struts are quite complex and would be very time consuming to texture (though perhaps it would look even better with enough work). These are just my opinions though, not Semni's... I'm just hanging around lol.

[cxg2827]

awesome parts!

Definitely going to use these for my manned interplanetary ships.

[smunisto]

1.Are you talking about a Tri-Hex -> 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 mount? That's not too tough to do, but with the current style of parts the poly count on the 6 mount for example is going to be immense. I'm thinking to do that the actual mounting nodes would need to be made simple plates rather than the typical Tri-Hex strut type pieces. Honest question: why not just use a Tri-Hex adapter connected with a 2-6 adapter from a normal 2.5m or 1.25m set? It's only one extra part.

No, i was talking about adapters to the octagonal cargo and truss sets. Something like this(forgive the very simple illustration) - https://www.dropbox.com/s/24kbw3nnagz8g05/Untitled.png

2. Do you mean like the adapter I made (2.5m into 2x Tri-Hex) but spaced wider so two 2.5m can connect? Again, that's going from 2.5m, to Tri-Hex, back to 2.5m again. Better to skip the Tri-Hex pieces in the center and place the adapters at the other end of the line.

Same as 1, except something like this(with bonus 1.25 nodes on the sides). - https://www.dropbox.com/s/2tv0o4jm5gyoyvx/Untitled1.png

Both of these parts would allow for simple multi-engine mounting at the end of the octagonal parts and number 2. would allow for more seemless transition between octagonal sections of interplanetary ships/stations connected with inline 2.5m docking ports from this pack, or standart 1.25m docking ports.

Right now this is the most seamless/inline way possible to attach 2 tanks/engines at the back of an octagonal cargo bay. As you can see it takes 5 parts(3 without the adapters tri-2.5m) to get from the single node to a splitter for 2x 2.5m parts.

Easy to mod off of other tank parts (when he releases them) for the Octa pieces. I'm pretty sure there's a model of that very thing on this page!

Yes, i saw it. I wonder if the parts can be opened in Wings3D and how? Yes, I know it's old school, but I haven't modeled in years.

This one I totally agree with. I can see room for Octa -> 2.5m, Tri-Hex, 2x 2.5m (engine mount basically), and 2-6 1.25m (again engine mounts most likely). It's a large piece, after all, you'd probably want to mount engines right to it.

Exactly, you got my idea

I agree with this too. There is also room for 4x circle adapter with Tri-Hex top and bottom connections, I think (as a station hub piece). The real purpose of either of these, though, is just saving part counts: we have the Tri-Hex to 1.25m adapter already which can be used to get almost identical effect to both, albeit with additional parts.

A large station or an interplanetary ship can have quite many parts. Each one spared is important, because of KSP's limitations on hardware. For instance check the part count of my interplanetary ship above. And it still has 2 miner platforms and a sky-crane to be attached.

Pretty sure he's working on this already. I'd like to make a command pod myself that is designed to look awesome on the end of a Tri-Strut stack. I'm a ways off on that though.

Yes, an IVA is too much to ask, since it's not the purpose of the pack. I personally would be content to see octagonal crew compartment, since it's the most likely place where kerbals can live during a long-year interplanetary voyage. Easily configurable too I guess, just by using the cargo bays from the current iteration, but needs windows

You mean like slightly tarnished or roughed up looking textures, mostly along edges for example, kinda like the B9 pack parts? Or you want a dark colored version of the parts as an optional different color palette? Personally I can see textures but only for non-strut parts, like maybe fuel tanks, crew modules, or engines. The struts are quite complex and would be very time consuming to texture (though perhaps it would look even better with enough work). These are just my opinions though, not Semni's... I'm just hanging around lol.

Yes, roughed up, industrialized textures, signs of usage or decay, for example an EvE Online Orca -

[Bluegobln]

Semni you sly devil you...

Is it by chance a coincidence that your Octo parts look like the main structural section of the Icarus 2 from Sunshine?

[WhatsThisButtonDo]

Thank you Semni for the great parts, I'm using them for making ships to send out to orbit the planets:

Edited May 20, 2013 by WhatsThisButtonDo

[Bluegobln]

I like that design WTBD, I might borrow a few things from it aye? *salute*

[lyndonguitar]

Nice I can't wait to use those new parts you showed us! I'll probably hold my space station construction for a bit

[Greys]

So's long story long, I was dicking around building a PoS little drone seeing how high I could make it fly by abusing intakes, and Tristruts are basically my favorite parts, I make all sorts of crap out of them. So anyways I was making this plane, and the thing was so light that it would just spiral upwards until it ran out of air, while tinkering around I flipped the hexcan I was using for fuel inside the tristrut, I wanted a longer strut and there's no just-fuel tristrut that I have; and this happened

After a bit more tinkering it turns out the large hexcans aren't just a perfect fit for the corners, three of them precisely fit within, occupying most of the space; and the normal hexcans do the same to the small tristrut

album of it http://imgur.com/a/9oHXt

It even extends just past the tristrut's collision box so you can still easily grab it and put things on it, it's great!

[JeBuSBrian]

Wow, looks like a match made in heaven! Maybe these two guys should put their heads together.

[Greys]

Mine would make a resounding clonk

[Bluegobln]

Fascinating. I'm impressed, and now adding that to my .20 parts list...