HexCans Standardized Resource Canisters, .20 Ready

[KAO]

for being mining components, the textures lack....grit

I like the model's shape, and the skin is mostly fine, but what gets me is that it lacks kind of that gritty, used look that KSP parts have.

[Greys]

mining components?

Yea, they do look rather fresh off the assembly line, but honestly any more character than this is beyond my abilities; I still find it amazing that the basic hexcan texture looks at all passable let alone half decent.

I'm actually sitting on those three new parts, processed through Unity, some of them cfged, with no clue how to go about texturing them.

If anybody is interested in doing some textures, please, have at thee!

I've also had complaints about the layout of the UV map, the current download should have most of the .blend files so you can adjust it as you see fit. I've got a new package nearly ready to go up that has everything very well organized and even including the unity project.

[Greys]

So I just spent the night revising the models and textures for everything that's not the hexcans themselves, the polys make a lot more sense and several of the UV maps are more representative and easier to work with; I haven't yet done the textures to the new parts but the difference is pretty clear when you look at the turbofan

Original

New

I've also significantly reduced the texture shearing on the hexcan rack, though for some reason that I don't understand, I haven't eliminated it. As well most of the parts got a reduction of polys, though only the rack/decoupler and turbofan had any substantial number of them to begin with.

I've also gotten all of them into the game

I have also found that unfortunately the way I have the hexcans mounting onto the decoupler, when end-devices are used, is prone to making KSP bug out and die, so I'm definitely going to have to change it from the floating node system to a proper side decoupler; which I'm pretty sure will make it less convenient to place cans onto the rack, but I had to restart that plane 4 times because of bugs. So yea.

Edited June 1, 2013 by Greys

[Mekan1k]

Looks both space-age and military-levels-of-minimalism. Keep up the amazing work!

[Greys]

I'm uploading the new packages now, I'm now providing it in Dev and User releases, the dev package is everything, the user package is just the installed content, and it'll still be in .zip and .7z formats

.zip Dev 11.6MB, User 2.1MB

.7z Dev 4.5MB, User 1.3MB

For whatever reason Mediafire refused to upload so I've switched to Dropbox

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ohnr6mbr8ru0jtn/hNuitoeuvk/HexCansDev.7z

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ohnr6mbr8ru0jtn/q3S9gVu4V7/HexCansUser.7z

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ohnr6mbr8ru0jtn/6Cw7oE9hjm/HexCansDev.zip

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ohnr6mbr8ru0jtn/65Dxy6plMw/HexCansUser.zip

The only changes to finished parts are

1. There is now an additional node on all sizes of HexCan, this is on the side and flush to the surface, intended for mounting onto racks but do whatever you want with them.

2. Rack models have been reworked, textures redone, and all nodes changed. This should not impact any existing craft as the nodes are saved in the craft tree, Not reloaded from the part every time.

3. Decoupler forces have been rebalanced so all sizes are now thrown clear of the craft.

4. Liquid Barite tanks were mistakenly using the old hexcan model with the simpler collider; fixed that.

The three new parts are included in the Unfinished Parts folder ONLY IN THE DEV DOWNLOAD. Do be warned, they are not properly balanced yet, and are not textured.

Specifically, the intakes provide well more air than the engines need, so a pair of them is able to run far higher in the atmosphere than they should, and the engine puts out way too much thrust for it's size, allowing for idiotic speeds.

If you wish to use the unfinished parts just copy /Unfinished Parts/ into /KSP_Dir/GameData/HexCans/, and they'll load. If you choose to play around with them you may want to reduce the thrust output and curves to get something less cheaty; I'll be doing that myself later this week (back to the grind tomorrow).

It was not-hot enough here for me to actually play with them a bit today, plus B9 released and it's just so much better than the stock wing set; and I had a blast for a good five hours. Specifically I found that as long as you take some forethought, dumping engine pods in flight is not at all dangerous.

more images

(node the missing engines)

I didn't fly this one for nearly as long, or take any more images, but it also survived dropping the pods, all twelve of them, and I even landed it mostly in tact.

EDIT:

Spaceport Gooooo~ http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/hexcans-standardized-resource-canisters-2/

This is the zip dev package

Edited June 2, 2013 by Greys

[GavinZac]

This looks superb. I especially like the idea of using them as rover 'bodies'.

[Greys]

Just posted the release thread http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/33754-HexCans-Standardized-Resource-Canisters

and got it onto spaceport last night

Uknown issue, in the last set of updates Barite's texture got reset to the generic, and I missed it over when applying the new nodes, easy fixes, I'll apply them in the morning

[Greys]

Working on new maths for the resource levels, I've almost finished the table of stock fuel/volumes.

My old numbers were based solely on the FL-T400 with inferior measurements; which gave me 173.9

The new numbers are clearly all of the tanks except the one I missed measured down to the centimeter so the values are much more substantial in their meaning.

I don't know how I intend to use these numbers to alter what I have, clearly there is no "stock value" but there is a stock range and I'm already in it. By the number I could increase the LF&|O by about 17% and still be inline with the stock range, or I could increase them by 30% and not be too far off, which would make them a bit more gratifying. I'll have to calculate the weight, since the amount of resource is added to the mass of the tank to determine the launchpad weight of the part.

[seekoutguy]

Could you add nodes to all six sides of the cans? I have this Idea for using the smallest ones as probes, and that'd make it easy to keep them neatly clustered. Also, maybe a linear "six pack" holder in case you use the probe/sas/asas/monoprop/etc. in it to save space? Actually, moving the nodes off from the surface a little bit would make them clip a bit less if you tried to do part clusters.

[Greys]

It's a bit difficult to locate nodes along the angled faces given that they have to face the correct direction and be lined up just right, but it's something I definitely plan on, I was intending to do it with the change to gameObject based node definitions at the same time as I moved to unified models, but currently gameObject nodes are bugged in a lot of key ways, namely for this part set they ignore rescale factor so only the Normal size cans would function. Hopefully a 20.x patch comes out soon that addresses the problem.

The nodes need to be addressed anyways as the small can is scarcely visible under it's nodes, and I'm not one to wait for updates to fix problems I can fix myself, so I'll see what I can do.

I do worry though, at any node the small can is just too small for 6 radial nodes to be easily used. If only bilateral nodes and triradial nodes weren't exclusive.

[Greys]

Progress kinda~

Fiddled with the RamHex intake texture, it sucks but there's potential. I keep forgetting how I made the texture of the black elements and they look very different at the moment.

Finally got around to making the HexPod exist in game, though it's not yet cfged properly (still thinks it's a probe)

The TurboHex engine is now in a state of resembling balanced, currently they produce 40 thrust and are most powerful between 400 and 1500m/s and completely worthless at 2600. plus one large hexcan of fuel will run one turbohex engine for about two hours, the curves make it difficult to say exactly how long.

Changed things in the unity set up a bunch and set up the models for the unified model change

Moved everything onto a Github

https://github.com/Greys0/HexCans

I'm not going to put up a new update till I complete the model changeover, and very little has functionally changed

[dansmithers]

A HexMissle to work with Romfarer would be kick-a.

[croaking frog]

this mod looks really cool well done.

btw ive been wanting to start a mod of my own but don't know whare to start, i have a basic knowlage of programming and ive done some 3d modelling a while ago but ive never really done modding before could you healp me?

[Greys]

It's been WAY TOO FRICKEN HOT here lately, forcing me to leave my computer off much of the time, and entirely prohibiting me from playing any games with a significant amount of graphics or physics, but I finally figured out how I might be able to pull off the HexCan Docking system for swapping out tanks in mission to fit the needs.

The hexcan itself is attached to a docking harness, which is itself attached to a docking receptacle, which is attached to the plane. Due to the complexity of this it won't be super straightforward to assemble but it should work. You will need some means of grabbing onto released cans and putting them somewhere else. I'm a fan of the Romfarer Robot Arms pack

Here you can see them separated

They're very basic right now, the receptacle will get bigger and I intend to add some flair elements to the harness.

The question at the moment is what sizes they should be in. Definitely Large, and probably Normal; but is it worth it to be able to swap Smalls around? I don't think it would be.

You may have also noticed in my signature and on spaceport a new graphic

Made it yesterday for fun...

Edit: PS, It is still way too fricken hot, gonna hit the high eighties today, with 90%+ humidity and likely no wind, so I have no idea when I'll be able to do anything with this.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Greys

[pizzaoverhead]

A quick note on the textures. If you compare the hexcans to the command pod here:

The difference is just a very slight spraycan effect to make the surface less even and make the edges stand out a little more, as if they're worn. It's a tiny change in terms of colour tone, but it tricks the eye into assuming more detail than is there.

[Firenexus13]

i love how almost everything is radial, even the command pods! you should add a manned pod, maybe even call it the HexPod! even though the lander-cans are also hexagons, a smaller one that can still hold 1 Kerbal would be quite useful! and what does/will the liquid barite do:huh::huh:??? and there could also be a Hex Engine, for liquid fuel and Xenon!

Edited July 13, 2013 by Firenexus13
Most of the post

[Greys]

i love how almost everything is radial, even the command pods! you should add a manned pod, maybe even call it the HexPod! even though the lander-cans are also hexagons, a smaller one that can still hold 1 Kerbal would be quite useful! and what does/will the liquid barite do:huh::huh:??? and there could also be a Hex Engine, for liquid fuel and Xenon!

The HexPod is currently stuck in Unfinished Parts due to an incomplete texture, the fact that I haven't bothered to figure out airlocks and ladders yet, and heat preventing me from playtesting to determine it's state of balance

Liquid Barite weighs a lot, that's all it does. It's a transferrable liquid resource with a high mass density allowing for in flight manipulation of the CoM without having to worry that the resource will be consumed and move the CoM

Currently I have a jet engine in Unfinished parts along with a pair of air intakes to match, the engine is pretty close to balanced but the texture is barely existent, the intakes are mostly textured but completely unbalanced.

I intend to add an LFO rocket engine, and maybe solid fuel booster cans later on. Xenon engines aren't out of the question, but the large hexcan is roughly half the size of the stock ion drive, meaning it would have roughly one quarter the accelerator surface; and have an absolutely minute thrust.

In other news, big progress today, I got the docking system to work; it's not as clean cut as I'd like and frequently the cans do not settle into the rack properly, but it works. If only I could make the colliders harder.

[Weltraumpony]

hi,

this looks really usefull. I tested it at different Pods and Tanks. All with the same result .dont work for me.

The Ressources shows exactly what is in the Hexcan but the Engines dont use the Fuel or one of the other Ressources.

What is wrong, How i must use them with Engines ?

thx in advance

[Greys]

hi,

this looks really usefull. I tested it at different Pods and Tanks. All with the same result .dont work for me.

The Ressources shows exactly what is in the Hexcan but the Engines dont use the Fuel or one of the other Ressources.

What is wrong, How i must use them with Engines ?

thx in advance

KSP doesn't allow surface attached things to flow fuel through that attachment, so there's an included small fuel line to connect the cans to your stack.

This isn't necessary with RCS

[Zeroignite]

Dropbox link is down.

[Greys]

oh wow, those links are so old... I only used dropbox for like a day because mediafire stopped working, but mediafire gives me a lot better information and generally I just prefer how it's interface operates, the mediafire links are in the release thread, link in my sig, I'll update the OP ASAP.

[Zeroignite]

Ah, sorry to have poked this --- for some reason google pageranks this higher than the release.

[Greys]

No problem, I still use this thread and those links should have been replaced a long time back

[seekoutguy]

These could use specialized docking ports, if, for instance, you just wanted to get some fuel to an orbital base, and want to keep the can, but don't need the rest of the launch mechanism.

[VaporTrail]

Had a random thought... any idea what it would take to make the small cans grab-and-attach-able with KAS? Perhaps even storable in the KAS containers? Or are they going to be too big?

The thought was "what would it take to build a Hexcan commsat in orbit?"