[WIP] THSS - Tri-Hexagonal Structural Strut

[Bluegobln]

For the bay, that is because the attach node is an attach bottom one, so the game thinks its the bottom of the whole part. It's able to cross feed into the part you've got connected, but not elsewhere. I think it also affects the other node at the bottom which is an attach top node.

Is there a way to make the attach nodes so they're not considered part of the main stack? I don't know the answer.

Also I like the tetrahedron idea. It's odd, but sounds useful.

[DMagic]

I noticed that both the full sized and the small octagonal cargo parts (JARFR_OctoStrutCargo and JARFR_OctoStrutMiniCargo) have the same mass, 6 tons. I assume the mini should be 2 tons, as it looks like it is 1/3 the size of the larger part; 2 tons is also the dry mass of the mid sized octagonal fuel tank.

[viperwolf]

This is a good mod, i just wish you had smaller parts that match the stock size. Its hard to build a crane on a rover with them so big.

[taniwha]

I've found them to be a good size. The tri-hex parts are basically 1.25m, and there is a logic to the lengths (1/2, 1, 3). I haven't played with the octagonal trusses yet, so I can't comment on them.

As for building a crane: maybe you're trying to build too small a crane for the parts. That said, 0.625m parts would be easy enough: just make rescaled versions of the 1.25m structural parts.

[Semni]

I havn't handled smaller truss parts because there are already a bunch of usefull small stock trusses for exactly that purpose. I'd rather concentrate on a more ... uh, limited selection. Though at almost 50 parts the suggestion that my mod is limited is kind of laughable.

Additionally, the absence of fuel lines in the cube-struts is deliberate, cube-struts without crew tunnels in them are not supposed to transport fuel.

Also, thanks for catching the weight mistake, I'll see about fixing that.

[viperwolf]

the stock trusses are very limited, the idea of how this mod is set up is better. the crane is for small rovers or modified mk2. I complimented your mod and said " I Wish " There was no mention of something limited to that extinct. i made a suggestion like every is suppose to do. but i see i made a mistake in the reference. Sorry for the suggestion

taniwha thank you for the re scale idea, but i never tried doing this before. Ill search and see if there is a how to or something

Edited June 10, 2013 by viperwolf

[PringleMan]

I complimented your mod and said " I Wish " There was no mention of something limited to that extinct. i made a suggestion like every is suppose to do. but i see i made a mistake in the reference. Sorry for the suggestion

This is a overreaction. You did make a good suggestion, and he responded why he was not going to do that. There was no negative tone in either post. Relax mate.

taniwha thank you for the re scale idea, but i never tried doing this before. Ill search and see if there is a how to or something

Basically to do this, make a copy of the part and rename it something else. Then open the config file for the part and change the following things:

name = (whatever you named the new part)

rescaleFactor = (value for the new size of part)

Title = (again whatever you named the new part)

mass = (whatever you want the dry mass of the part to be)

So for example for the plain Octo Strut I would change those lines from:

name = OctoStrut

rescaleFactor = 2.57

title = Octagonal Structural Strut

mass = 4.0

To something more along the lines of:

name = OctoStrutSmall

rescaleFactor = 1

title = Small Octagonal Structural Strut

mass = 0.5

I have no idea if that would be an appropriate rescale factor, you just gotta play with it.

[taniwha]

PringleMan: that's the old way (though the new is similar). Now, instead of copying the part directory, you copy the part.cfg within the directory (eg, part2.cfg though anything.cfg will work). Otherwise, it's the same. This way, only one model and one texture (set) is loaded for multiple parts.

[Semni]

Simply rescaling the parts is a good idea and I have to admit that I have been tempted to do a smaller lineup and I may still but at the moment I have a lot of parts, and a lot of things to do like properly UV mapping and texturing the existing parts. As tempting as it is to start whole new lines of parts I do need to prioritize right now, I only have so much time I can put into developing this mod.

[Semni]

Now that I'm aware of the awesome that is sketchfab I've decided to give it a shot with one of the tristruts. The one I have gone ahead and made a proper UV mapping for.

[Scotius]

Very cool Question: would it be possible to upload entire ship to this site/application? And animate it somehow? This way we could check if landing gear reach the ground, engines have enough clearance, nothing is clipping etc.

[Semni]

Unfortunately it processes direct 3d files, it cannot handle the KSP file structure, you'd need a seperate tool to put parts together into a single 3d model file.

[viperwolf]

Unfortunately it processes direct 3d files, it cannot handle the KSP file structure, you'd need a seperate tool to put parts together into a single 3d model file.

Very cool model

[Chaosratt]

How are you guys getting anything from this mod into orbit? I've got a large orange octostrut ship I tried to make, but I've learned by experimenting that it's held together with duct tape. Anything, and I mean *ANYTHING* I attach to it falls off before even launching. It's a comical shower of parts. Solar panels and RCS thrusters flying in every direction. Can't even keep wheels attached while vertical on the launchpad.

I've tried to replicate This and This with zero success.

[MythicalXeon]

How are you guys getting anything from this mod into orbit? I've got a large orange octostrut ship I tried to make, but I've learned by experimenting that it's held together with duct tape. Anything, and I mean *ANYTHING* I attach to it falls off before even launching. It's a comical shower of parts. Solar panels and RCS thrusters flying in every direction. Can't even keep wheels attached while vertical on the launchpad.

I've tried to replicate This and This with zero success.

With my ship I used quite a number of struts and various seperators to get it into orbit. I can provide th ship file if you want, (and I can work out how) though those were made a while ago and I'm waiting for their tours to be over before I work on the redesigns I have in mind (like including the GE-200 somewhere) thought they did take a bit of work to get into orbit (plus the KSPX pack for extra engines iirc). Keep persevering though and i'm sure you'll get there. (I must admit to not having played a while after finding my minecraft launch icon again

Edit: I have uploaded the craft files for the MX-THSS Cruiser. This upload includes both MK01 (Stock nuclear engins) and the MK02 (uses the LLL nuclear engines). It also includes a config file that I made for a fuel crossfeed enabled stack seperator (which I needed for my launch system.)

Edited June 19, 2013 by MythicalXeon
added upload note

[Frederoo]

I have to admit when I first built a construction using octoStruts I also had problems using the MainSail engine attached just below the part - I eventually came to the conclusion that I can only go to 2/3 throttle without a catastrophic linkage failure... Or you can change the part and add "breakingForce = 600" and "breakingTorque = 600" to the offending part, that works like a charm. See here for more clues: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/CFG_File_Documentation

[Semni]

I do have to admit that THSS is fairly lacking in the playtesting department, mainly because my current computer is a little weedy for KSP. I'm continuing to take your feedback and implement it.

Many thanks for that guys.

[Kochean]

Semni, first off I would like to thank you for making such an simple but awesome mod.

Secondly I have been trying to make an orbital dock using your trusses. unfortunately i hit a few spots where I'm having a bit of difficulty. I threw together a quick visual of my idea.

Only difference is I want to place trusses between the hoops at the hubs on the port and starboard side.

My hurtle is that on the hoop at the octostrut connections i cant get a decoupler to mount on the side of a standard one section octostrut. There is also the issue of not having a decoupler for the octostrut. which if i wanted to i could use the octo to round truss and place a decoupler there.

But if there was a octostrut hub (see below) the same width as the tri-strut hub that would help.

[LTClaydohman]

I've noticed when I use the parts from this mod, it taxes my computer. I'll go from 60-80 fps to 10-20 fps. I'm not sure why, but it saddens me because I use your mod parts for just about every ship I make ever

[Scotius]

Maybe it would improve the performance if parts were re-coded to share textures?

[King Jareth]

I'm guessing they have a pretty high poly count (the textures are small and plain colours). Some of the detailing could probably be replaced by texturing and mapping but it'd be a bunch of work to do now they're already made.

[Greys]

Doing transparent textures doesn't really work right and there are no other ways to get this done, either you model the actual structure or you have transparent regions to indicate holes; but KSP doesn't render through transparent textures, you just get a hole in your part with no back. Even if you have a double mesh to render the inside; plus KSP won't do any shading on anything seen through the part. It just doesn't work good. For something as large as this, the way it is is the best way. But also the way it is is miniscule. Even a mediocre computer can handle a visible model with thousands of polygons just fine, it's only visual. What needs to be kept low is Collider models which are involved with the physics engine.

[King Jareth]

I was more thinking of the really small 'I' section beams and the black 'bumper' sections at the end of the parts.

[Garoad]

This mod is flipping awesome, one of the coolest looking mods I've seen, but I think there's something missing I'm having a hard time with--RCS thrusters. I see the tanks, but I haven't been able to find a good type of thruster which looks decent on these structures. What does everyone do for RCS?

[Semni]

Kochean: I see what you mean there. I'll see what I can do, the reason why not much has been released lately is because I'm smack-bang in the middle of UV-mapping and optimizing the models and without any textures there isn't much to show for it ( except that now pipes have their own colours ), eventually all tristruts will share a common texture, as well as the pipes and tanks and such. Which should reduce loading times and improve performance. I'll also be looking into issues with collision meshes, some do get a bit complex.

I'm choosing to do a fair bit of 'detail' with polys simply because I am a terrible painter and am no good at making fancy textures.