[0.23.5] Hollow Structures & Hulls (Updated: 2014-04-09)

[cttw]

This ship was my first attempt with your new parts. I know it's not much of a looker but it had a cargo bay at the back which was my design goal. Now that the lag was mentioned, I too notice it and I think it is a big part of what makes flying these parts difficult. All my designs had a cargo bay, so I never even made the connection. Anyway, here's the ship:

[cttw]

One more thing, I agree with ahappydude, you are being too hard on yourself, what you have already done is amazing work and of course it is an ongoing learning process. KSP itself is alpha.

[ahappydude]

You are using alot of nav addons i see, is that beacuse the vessel is superheavy? Its sexy, and look dangerous but very well done! Like a spaceplane year 3500 hehe

[cttw]

It flies with SAS only. Mechjeb is just to navigate in space and the firespitter airbrakes gives it a shorter landing and help slow down before the ground in Duna.

[Phocks]

I tried the SQUID structural panels http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/squid-paramagnetic-force-system/, and kerbals will stick to them in orbit; however the problem remains that they won't walk on them. I hyperedited a command pod with a SQUID panel into geosynchronous orbit, then edited the save to change it's Landed state to True (with no Landed at value), but when you do that, it counts as moving across the surface, and the game can't be saved, and for some reason I couldn't EVA the kerbal or access any of the controls.

I then hyperedited up another kerbal, and had him EVA pack over to the SQUID panel, but the second he touched it, the whole thing exploded.

I think I may be in over my head.

[not-a-cylon]

LEAKED: photos from Darkstar Shipyards Carrier program! After playing this mod a week straight, I've finally designed a FULLY functional IVA carrier (carrying an HSH Eve capable spaceplane) using custom resized 8 meter parts. Stay tuned for the full story/album!

[ahappydude]

Notacylon that look stunning!

[ahappydude]

I tried the SQUID structural panels http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/squid-paramagnetic-force-system/, and kerbals will stick to them in orbit; however the problem remains that they won't walk on them. I hyperedited a command pod with a SQUID panel into geosynchronous orbit, then edited the save to change it's Landed state to True (with no Landed at value), but when you do that, it counts as moving across the surface, and the game can't be saved, and for some reason I couldn't EVA the kerbal or access any of the controls.

I then hyperedited up another kerbal, and had him EVA pack over to the SQUID panel, but the second he touched it, the whole thing exploded.

I think I may be in over my head.

Squid either push away with force or pulls, so while you can have lets say kerbals magnetic locked to ceilings or floors they need more to be able to moonwalk, but i think alskari is on something after looking at that and seasickness cure

And i dont say that to stress you about making it in a hurry, if its possible we will test it further along =)

[Alskari]

Alskari your first version had that big rund deck looking hulls, with that you could make layers or levels. I think its possible I even might try my hand in making an hollow example of an inspired starcitiezen vessel.. A small first just to try it.

Anywho i think this plugin and part sets desevere mod of the month if we had that feature here (Y) Big thumbs up

Seeing not-a-cylon's ******ic carrier has inspired me to go ahead and brush up the 8m parts that I have sitting around. While none of them quite match the uh.... 'charm' of my very first parts, they are reminiscent. Also the 'OctoStarter' .blend file in the Custom Hulls download should make it easy to make sure your parts can mate with existing HSH stuff.

Thanks for the flattery! And I do plan on whoring around pictures of this mod when I'm satisfied with it in an attempt to get a mod spotlight.

This ship was my first attempt with your new parts. I know it's not much of a looker but it had a cargo bay at the back which was my design goal. Now that the lag was mentioned, I too notice it and I think it is a big part of what makes flying these parts difficult. All my designs had a cargo bay, so I never even made the connection. Anyway, here's the ship:

Nice ship! I already have new ideas to make things work better. The cargo bay lag I thought was only associated with the first animation cycle, although I could be wrong. FAR + a bazillion surfaces also causes lag so that might also be an issue.

I tried the SQUID structural panels http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/squid-paramagnetic-force-system/, and kerbals will stick to them in orbit; however the problem remains that they won't walk on them. I hyperedited a command pod with a SQUID panel into geosynchronous orbit, then edited the save to change it's Landed state to True (with no Landed at value), but when you do that, it counts as moving across the surface, and the game can't be saved, and for some reason I couldn't EVA the kerbal or access any of the controls.

I then hyperedited up another kerbal, and had him EVA pack over to the SQUID panel, but the second he touched it, the whole thing exploded.

I think I may be in over my head.

I appreciate your experimentation and the reporting of results. I am glad to hear you had the same effect my attempts did. For now I think we're going to go to the mag boot method, as if we can't get kerbals to walk... as you see nothing else matters. I don't have a lot of faith in my ability to do that though.

LEAKED: photos from Darkstar Shipyards Carrier program! After playing this mod a week straight, I've finally designed a FULLY functional IVA carrier (carrying an HSH Eve capable spaceplane) using custom resized 8 meter parts. Stay tuned for the full story/album!

Wow these are amazing, I like the lighting as well. I eagerly await the full album.

Also guys I'm not torn up about this mod, I'm just not satisfied yet. But I do like feeling awesome...

EDIT: (org)apparently is a naughty word(asm)

Edited April 8, 2014 by Alskari

[ahappydude]

I have a simple bot and belt modell lieing around somewhere on the hdd i could make a test later on today hehe.

Also i just remembered, from you know seasickness plugin, somwwhere in the sourcecode and ingame the kerbal went to swimming state when in use sometimes, like an bugg from the plugin. If you could find that, then we could controll the kerbal even without using their built in rc. Hmm, ill report back after the dasboot and belt experiments hahaha. Cheers

[not-a-cylon]

without further adieu... your journey to the carrier Dawn Runner.

mouse over for the story!

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view on imgur

Edited April 9, 2014 by not-a-cylon
formatting

[colmo]

Shaping up nicely. Might I suggest you consider what people might use hollow parts for?

- Command centre - I liked the one in the original pack, apart from the holes in the floors, lack of ladders and difficulty getting things inside because it was one-piece. I envision something similar with working RasterPropMonitor workstations you can seat Kerbals at.

- Nuclear reactor room - It's much easier to service a reactor in a pressurised environment, so a chamber with nodes in the centre to attach something pivotal like a reactor would be ideal.

- Cryogenic habitat - Imagine a room with rows or circles of pods containing sleeping Kerbals (the Eterno Rest 2000 coffin mod is an ideal stand-in).

[Alskari]

without further adieu... your journey to the carrier Dawn Runner.

view on imgur

Awesome album, the story was a great touch. I hope to see more from you as time goes by. (Loved Vessel View in the Talon IVA) You've already inspired a few new parts. I've been modeling a bit and have a few new pieces, and you've cemented in my mind the need for a 2m pod/command center.

Shaping up nicely. Might I suggest you consider what people might use hollow parts for?

- Command centre - I liked the one in the original pack, apart from the holes in the floors, lack of ladders and difficulty getting things inside because it was one-piece. I envision something similar with working RasterPropMonitor workstations you can seat Kerbals at.

- Nuclear reactor room - It's much easier to service a reactor in a pressurised environment, so a chamber with nodes in the centre to attach something pivotal like a reactor would be ideal.

- Cryogenic habitat - Imagine a room with rows or circles of pods containing sleeping Kerbals (the Eterno Rest 2000 coffin mod is an ideal stand-in).

In order:

- I have some segmented parts coming soon which should replicate the original to a fair degree. Also I think radial mounted command stations are more flexible, so I will be making those as soon as I resolve the last of the IVA rotation issues. (With radial you could configure a command area to your liking)

- I am looking into this (especially after how good not-a-cylon's makeshift one looked) but I have concerns with how the NearFuture and Interstellar apply radiation. I am curious if shielding is a compelling concept or not.

- I love the EternoRest 2000 as it inspired the 'Crash Couch' which could use a bit more detail. (I noticed the UV lines show up crooked, drives me nuts)

Okay, on to my own stuff. I have decided that a weight rebalancing is in order. Things do need to get lighter. I have gotten distracted with lots of lofty coding ideas, and realized I need to refocus on getting everything I have to an acceptable point, make models/parts still missing, and figure out the IVA issues. Once that is done I'll be moving on to other things (like Extraplanetary Launchpad models and GravBoots).

I've updated the album linked in the OP with a few pictures which include some of the new parts. Lastly I was going to make a flag last night from one of the screenshots, got derailed and then somehow made this...

Which I feel was fairly representative of my mental state last night. (No ether though)

[ahappydude]

Hahahaha Great picture, one of my top movies of all time.

I agree the stories you made along the images was a nice touch, hope kraken never visits your hangar =)

[Alskari]

Added a few structural parts I've made. I have a bad habit of building a ship, getting frustrated, then going and modeling the exact part I want. This is how you get an unwieldy mod.

Anyway, pretty minor update, but I thought I'd put it out since the mod is getting some unexpected attention. Mass balance is probably next (if you feel like helping message me), along with the 2m pod. A coding fix for the IVA is going slowly.

[Dr. Death]

i lack words to say because when i think that this mod is just cosmetic and think that the way the rooms are made end up by making the ship look somewhat bad with rough edges, i end up looking at some of the works of people that dont suck (like me) and i realize i was wrong. Yes, landing legs should get an upgrade, but i am more a fan of flat floor. And while i COULD .cfg this, some of these things i cant, and that's just part of the problem. Maybe i just need to see how can i make solar panels look good with a hex-design ship.

Try also making versions of the labs and scientific stuff that sticks up with the design, one of the biggest cosmetic problems was to make a ship that was partially a cylinder and part... well, your parts.

For the record, this may be just MY opinion, but althought i didn't knew this was just a pioneer of your tries (you did it great) the lag i experience with some of you parts (mostly those wich animate) is not... small.... i do have a powerful PC, maybe its just my ATI card, but the FPS problems affect me a lot

[Dr. Death]

without further adieu... your journey to the carrier Dawn Runner.

mouse over for the story!

http://imgur.com/a/Vp6A9

view on imgur

please tell me you have a .craft file....

Edited April 10, 2014 by Dr. Death

[Alskari]

i lack words to say because when i think that this mod is just cosmetic and think that the way the rooms are made end up by making the ship look somewhat bad with rough edges, i end up looking at some of the works of people that dont suck (like me) and i realize i was wrong. Yes, landing legs should get an upgrade, but i am more a fan of flat floor. And while i COULD .cfg this, some of these things i cant, and that's just part of the problem. Maybe i just need to see how can i make solar panels look good with a hex-design ship.

Try also making versions of the labs and scientific stuff that sticks up with the design, one of the biggest cosmetic problems was to make a ship that was partially a cylinder and part... well, your parts.

For the record, this may be just MY opinion, but althought i didn't knew this was just a pioneer of your tries (you did it great) the lag i experience with some of you parts (mostly those wich animate) is not... small.... i do have a powerful PC, maybe its just my ATI card, but the FPS problems affect me a lot

Perhaps something has been lost in translation, but if you don't like the appearance of the parts I can't help you. In a situation like this, if you don't like what is offered you need to create it yourself. Otherwise check back in 3-6 months and see if the mod is more to your liking.

Lag is an unfortunate side effect of so many collision meshes. Until KSP goes 64 bit I don't think there is a solution, except maybe part welding.

[Recognize-Me-]

Just letting you know i got the ultralight series parts and i tried using the hammerhead command module and when i tried to launch it i wasn unable to EVA any of my kerbals. There shoould be pictures in the bottom right corner when i go to launch but there is nothing there. I think the bigger 8 man pod was having the same problem

[The Destroyer]

I tried rescaling 4m parts to 8m. The parts scaled, but the nodes stayed the same. How do I fix this?

EDIT: Change the scale factor, including rescale.

EDIT2: Nope. Strangley, I set the rescale factor to 2 on the 4m parts and copy in the cfg, but they appear as massvie 16m structures.

Edited April 10, 2014 by The Destroyer

[Alskari]

Just letting you know i got the ultralight series parts and i tried using the hammerhead command module and when i tried to launch it i wasn unable to EVA any of my kerbals. There shoould be pictures in the bottom right corner when i go to launch but there is nothing there. I think the bigger 8 man pod was having the same problem

That is the Legacy stuff I believe, not the Ultralight series. Legacy doesn't have IVA of any kind. I think when you say you couldn't EVA your kerbals you mean that you couldn't click on their portrait in the lower right? You can also EVA kerbals by clicking on the hatch for the command pod, and this is what you'll need to do for these parts. When I made those parts the Hitchhiker can didn't have an IVA either so it was more common.

FYI - I'm not planning on doing anything other than .cfg updates to the Legacy series. I lost all the Unity prefabs and have no interest in recreating them.

I tried rescaling 4m parts to 8m. The parts scaled, but the nodes stayed the same. How do I fix this?

EDIT: Change the scale factor, including rescale.

EDIT2: Nope. Strangley, I set the rescale factor to 2 on the 4m parts and copy in the cfg, but they appear as massvie 16m structures.

I was about to point you to the 'Compilation' thread, but I see you posted their earlier. You will need to leave the rescale factor = 1. Otherwise your nodes will be all funky. Then just change the scale = x,y,z. Look at my .cfg files where I use the same model to create multiple sizes as an example. (Not sure if you realized but you can put multiple parts in the same .cfg file)

I've been meaning to do a walkthrough for the Custom Rooms & Hulls stuff but I just can't find the time.

[The Destroyer]

Thanks. Also, it seems in KSP 0.23.5 the more "Advanced parts" (i.e airlocks, doors, 8m things) produce extreme lag in the VAB or SPH. Not sure why.

[Alskari]

Thanks. Also, it seems in KSP 0.23.5 the more "Advanced parts" (i.e airlocks, doors, 8m things) produce extreme lag in the VAB or SPH. Not sure why.

Please check to see if it still occurs after cycling the animation once. Supposedly that helps some people. I'm also wondering if it is a side effect of the AdvancedAnimator plugin.

[The Destroyer]

Please check to see if it still occurs after cycling the animation once. Supposedly that helps some people. I'm also wondering if it is a side effect of the AdvancedAnimator plugin.

Hmm I'll check that when I get back on, thanks.

I think it is because of AdvancedAnimator.

[Alskari]

Hmm I'll check that when I get back on, thanks.

I think it is because of AdvancedAnimator.

That isn't cool. I like the AdvancedAnimator for a number of reasons. I will be sad if it causes problems.

I thought I'd show what I have so far on the 2m pod. The 'Command Desks' and 'Pilot Chair' you see internally (although included as part of this pod) will also be coming along individually as radially attachable command pods. So now you can makeshift an area into a command center.

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