[0.22] B9 Aerospace Pack / R4.0c / New pods, IVAs, engines, fuselages & structures

[longhornchris]

It's polite to go through the last couple pages before asking a question like that. Because, yes. And you're not the first to ask and you're not the first to be answered.

My apologies, I was keeping up with the thread but lost track of the conversation.

[Guest]

- Maybe a downwards facing cargo bay. Sending rovers to atmosphere planets with FAR is quite a challenge without that (egg shaped capsule with proc fairings can do it, but it's not as pretty as a nice cargo SSTO delivering the rover directly to the surface..)

Have you thought about inverting a normal cargo bay?

[Coldie]

Not sure if there is one, but is there a 4m part for the S2 Cargo body?

[Imca]

Ummm, what about some decouplers that are flush with the various space plane fuselages.

I know the MAIN use of them is for SSTO, but there have been sevral times where a decoupler would have been of use to me to shed dead weight after well, traveling interplanetary distances. or even an abort stage, since KSP does not have ejector seats, and an abort system is something I include on every craft.

[Surefoot]

@Taverius: why not the batteries ? We have a whole set of stock inline batteries for all diameters, but just not shaped for B9 SSTO fuselages. That means using unwieldy adapters and so on.. oh well. As for the docking port, i see your point for S2, it's big enough so it doesnt compromise too much the aerodynamics, but on MK2 it's protruding quite a bit. For the attach nodes on quad 1.25 S2 wide adapter i had the problem of outer objects overlapping whatever i wanted to put in the center node, usually using a 2.5m adapter. I know you can put a tail there without any problem but other stuff is overlapping the outer 1.25m attached objects.

@Dragon01: yeah but it disrupt the whole looks, see what i mean

Another idea for the cargo bay: a new part which would be a docking port mounted on a rotating arm. Could be a fuselage section. This would save a lot of hassle trying to get stuff in and out.

Edited October 19, 2013 by Surefoot

[Guest]

Ah, I forgotten that normal S2 sections have a heat shield undernath. You could try widebody, which, IIRC, doesn't have it.

[Surefoot]

Widebody is the same (grey upper part, heatshield lower part)

[TheMycenaean]

Just delete all the copies and re-download...

Also, since you're using the SpacePort mirror, you can try the Mediafire instead... SpacePort tends to derp-out every once in awhile...

Okay thanks, I'll try that

[SkipSpikowski]

Surefoot, are you going into the atmosphere itself? If not, I have been using a retro, invert, dump, pro back into orbit with my SSTO/Shuttles.

[Surefoot]

I am going to surface indeed (of Laythe, Duna or Eve), i want to deliver the rover there with a SSTO. Using FAR, so attaching the rover to the end of a rocket without any protection is out. Only solutions are huge set of fairings (it looks like a flying saucer in the end), or a cargo bay...

[wasmic]

I've also been wanting an S2 cargo bay that faces downward (as in the black side opens, not the gray). I'm not making SSTO's, I'm making bombing planes with Lazor missiles

[Hector_919]

In order to deploy Rovers and Base parts to other planets I tried to use the HL Cargo bay system, but came across the problem that the Hl Tail section cargo ramps don't allow to deploy 2.5m Parts because the upper end of the Cargo ramp door is too low. Would it be possible to raise the upper part of the Cargo door, similar to the Cargo ramp of the C-130, like in these pictures?

If bac9's reaction to 'drop bays' (as I'm gonna call the upside-down cargo bay concept now) is comparable to the devil's reaction to Holy water, this might be a compromise. S2 tail section cargo ramps wouldn't hurt either.

If you really need something to deploy the rover out of the crago bay, why not use some pistons to move the floor of the cargo bay down, like an elevator? aside from avoiding damage through falling down, it would probably look quite cool...

greetings

Hector

[bac9]

B9 Aerospace Pack R4.0 released!

___________________________

Changelog:

â–¼ R3.5

* 0.22 compatibility update.
* Updated ExsurgentEngineering.dll, Firespitter.dll, KineTechAnimation.dll, ResGen.dll

* All textures converted to the uncompressed TGA format and will remain in it from this version onwards (previously, the PNG was used). Memory footprint in the game is unchanged. The benefits include sliced by approximately half, the compressed archive size being slightly smaller, and mip maps being generated properly by the engine.

* All parts are hooked into the tech tree. Parts aren't dumped to a single node, unlock gradually and, as possible, are arranged in a way that provides enough parts for you to build usable crafts at all stages of the tech tree progression. No SABREs at tier 3, no bizjets at tier 8, no shuttle control surfaces without shuttle wings and fuselages. All parts should also be compatible with the modded tech trees, as they usually preserve the original node names our configs are linked to.

* Added new landing gear parts that blend into the parent parts and fit a huge variety of aircraft. Choose between twin-wheeled and single-wheeled configuration, two different clearances and two different colors (allowing them to blend perfectly with all-purpose gray or plated black pieces). All landing gears are equipped with togglable electric motors and can be steered.

* Added new solid rocket separation boosters to replace the awkward stock one.

* Added the shielded variety of A1 light. It is mostly intended for use as the landing light, as new gear models, in contrast with stock ones, have no light sources to avoid breaking through per-pixel light limits and improve performance. Comes in two colors, same as the landing gear set.

* Added the 1.25m (MK1) aerodynamic junction part. Useful for nice transitions to radial engines, fancy boosters on rockets, and stylish UAV glider noses.

* Added new struts to finally retire the stock ones from every single craft. First variety is functionally identical to the stock one, just a bit more sturdy 	* and quite better looking. Second variety is where it gets interesting: it's a strut part with an invisible middle piece. Exceptionally useful when you 	* want a clean design without all the messy cables: basically, you just place two very suble blocks and imagine how structural integrity was improved somewhere inside the craft. Clean and performance-friendly. Oh, those new parts have no shadow casting, - that might help with FPS on heavy crafts which typically use hundreds of struts.

* Added MK2 cargoholds. Not very roomy, but they can still hold some useful payloads like 0.625m satellites or science modules, finally making the MK2 fuselage system useful for useful SSTO designs (!).

* Added the smaller 5-port omnidirectional RCS blocks in line with already existing linear and 12-port varieties. Added dark-colored versions of RCS parts to allow them to blend with the shielded areas of the fuselages.

* Added three new winglet sizes (2.3x1.6m, 3x2.2m, 3.2mx2.75m) and two new stabilator sizes (2.3x1.6m, 3x2.2m) to completely phase out any use of stock control surfaces from the crafts (2.3x1.6m is equivalent to the stock winglet in size). By the way, all 12 non-modular wing parts (stabilators, wingtips and winglets) in the mod are still using one single texture and maintain perfectly even texel density. No stretching, no duplicates, no distorted proportions.

* Added new SH wing module (1x4m) to close the last remaining gap in the system. Added the static trailing edge parts that can be added to the backside of SH modular wings, for the first time in history making control surfaces look passable without forcing you to cover all trailing edges with them. Seriously, those a very nice looking. Oh, and control surfaces no longer have a weird orange cross sections on the side.

* As separate ASAS/avionics parts became unnecessary since 0.21, all parts related to them (inline/radial/nosecones) are moved to the role of probe cores or sensor packages for the science system. Only exception is the plain MK2 nosecone, which is now decorative.

*  Added few small parts, in particular: a green omnidirectional light (crafts can finally have proper colored pair of navlights on their wings), large radial DSI intake that's close in performance to the RBM intake, large air brake with roughly 3 times the surface area of the old one, 

* All sample crafts completely updated to make use of new struts, lights, landing gears, wing pieces and other parts. Some were significantly redesigned. New crafts added, including a lightweight MK2 SSTO, three maneuverable UAVs and a subsonic glider. Full list:

	* D-175 Strugatsky: Long-range, short-takeoff subsonic cargo transport.
	* BRV-4 Heinlein: High-performance heavy SSTO, trading off cargo transport capability for the generous fuel reserves.
	* I8-L Bradbury: High speed atmospheric crew transport.
	* SCDV Vonnegut: Advanced SSTO with the cargo transport capability.
	* TR7 van Vogt:  Light and fast MK2 SSTO with the cargo transport capability.
	* UAS-1 Barnard's Star: Extremely maneuverable lightweight UAV with thrust vectoring.
	* UAS-2 Polaris: Stable lightweight UAV.
	* UAS-3 Centauri: Extremely maneuverable MK2 UAV employing RCS and thrust vectoring instead of traditional control surfaces.
	* UL-1 Kornbluth: Subsonic personal transport with generous lift and convenient landing gear configuration.
	* VX-1 Vance: VTOL and RCS technology demonstrator, highly maneuverable and incredibly stable for it's class.
	* YF-28 Haldeman: Four-engine thrust vectoring fighter jet with extreme pitch and roll authority.

* Increased connection forces of the laggers and railings, fixed the crash tolerances.
* Added the specular maps to a few parts that lacked them.
* Revised the descriptions of multiple parts to be more informative and less so kerbal (RCS, radial control parts, etc.)
* Hypersonic mode on S3 cockpit returns and works as intended again.
* Balance changes to the SABRE Engines: Slightly less efficient air-breathing mode performance with greater thrust, slightly more efficient LFO mode with decreased thrust. Makes the engines less viable for prolonged gliding in the atmoshpere and more useful for space stuff different from barely circularizing in the LKO.
* Air consumption of the turbojet engine is increased.
* Action names on S2 crew part revised to fit into the fields.
* R1A air-powered RCS linear port ISP tweaked.
* VTOL engines rotation and steering inverted, enabled the velocity curve on VA1 and disabled the gimbal on it.
* Air brakes connection strength values added.
* Thrust vectoring engines are no longer trying to participate in roll control when they don't have a symmetrical counterpart.

Version R4.0. Mediafire.com mirror

Inspiration album:

Album with new parts:

Edited October 20, 2013 by bac9

[BNG]

Hnnnggg yessss! Gonna try this out right now. Thanks for all your hard work!

[rasheed]

Agh, i was on my no mod diet plan and u just had to ruin it D:<

Anyway nice update.

[MAKC]

We are killing Spaceport.

[Overlord]

What happens to the tech tree if I use both this and interstellar mods, are they compatible?

[astropapi1]

Aw yis. motha-focken bac9. You're awesome!

[nismobg]

TY B9 , its like christmas here !

[a__gun]

Game seems to crash when loading the B9 crafts :/

Tried both in the SPH and straight to the runway.

Before anyone asks its a clean install, old version totally deleted beforehand (including extra plugins FS etc)

Edited October 20, 2013 by a__gun

[nismobg]

Oh just noticed , almost 600MB .....

[bac9]

Game seems to crash when loading stock crafts :/

Tried both in the SPH and straight to the runway.

Before anyone asks its a clean install, old version totally deleted beforehand (including extra plugins FS etc)

It could be an issue with KSP texture loader which is probably keeping every single source file in the memory until the loading is completed instead of removing them from memory on per-file basis once .dds version is generated.

We're looking into PNG memory usage right now (if it's better, there will be an alternative download that loads slower but has lower initial memory footprint), and we'll be releasing an optional download with lower resoltution textures that will probably load for anyone no matter how unoptimized texture loading system is.

Oh just noticed , almost 600MB .....

As I've said in the changelog, the unpacked size has zero effect on video memory footprint as the game is using DDS textures, not TGA or PNG or MBM, which are generated on loading. Unpacked filesize was around 70mb before, with PNG, but PNG is no longer used due to slow loader component that won't be fixed until 0.23.

Ideally it should not have any effect on memory requirements, but if the loader is not removing the source files in an efficient manner, the memory usage can potentially peak too high. Investigating.

Edited October 20, 2013 by bac9

[PlasmaDynamics]

It could be an issue with KSP texture loader which is probably keeping every single source file in the memory until the loading is completed instead of removing them from memory on per-file basis once .dds version is generated.

We're looking into PNG memory usage right now (if it's better, there will be an alternative download that loads slower but has lower initial memory footprint), and we'll be releasing an optional download with lower resoltution textures that will probably load for anyone no matter how unoptimized texture loading system is.

As I've said in the changelog, the unpacked size has zero effect on video memory footprint as the game is using DDS textures, not TGA or PNG or MBM, which are generated on loading. Unpacked filesize was around 70mb before, with PNG, but PNG is no longer used due to slow loader component that won't be fixed until 0.23.

Ideally it should not have any effect on memory requirements, but if the loader is not removing the source files in an efficient manner, the memory usage can potentially peak too high. Investigating.

I think there might be an issue because I now get memory crashes on start up from trying to load B9 with other mods. Crashes did not happen until I updated.

[moxzot]

wow that was faster then i expected the release bac9 and traverius you guys are awesome

[sharpspoonful]

Question: I honestly only use the lights and some of the structural elements and the info drive. What files do I need to keep to use the info file? I usually end up purging most of the aeronautical parts and the last time I did that, I lost the ability to use the info drive's functionality.