[0.23.5] Spherical and Toroidal Tank Pack (Updated 05/02/14) (New download link)

[taniwha]

Talisar: you're welcome!

Ooh, I need to check out that toroidal tank! I doubt it would be appropriate for my current freighter, but I'm sure I'd find a use for it.

[Van Disaster]

Talisar: thanks for the new tanks, and nice start on optimising them too.

A suggestion for the next version: you could do all the tanks with only one main texture shared between the lot: the different top/bottom parts can be mapped in different places on the same sheet, and the half tank bottom can be similarily done. The trick will be the stripes - as they're already polys you can map those to a different file completely, which can be overridden in the .cfg - and as it's just a colour, it can be tiny. The memory footprint of the entire mod would be equally tiny

There'd be an extra draw call for the extra material, but KSPs bottlenecks don't currently appear to be graphical.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Van Disaster

[sojourner]

In version 2 why did you not make medium tanks using 2.5m connections? (In fact, medium tanks seem to have gotten only one size of connector). Seems like an odd omission considering the small and large tanks received several connection sizes.

[Gristle]

Will the stockish texture set be available for the new tanks?

[Talisar]

Talisar: thanks for the new tanks, and nice start on optimising them too.

A suggestion for the next version: you could do all the tanks with only one main texture shared between the lot: the different top/bottom parts can be mapped in different places on the same sheet, and the half tank bottom can be similarily done. The trick will be the stripes - as they're already polys you can map those to a different file completely, which can be overridden in the .cfg - and as it's just a colour, it can be tiny. The memory footprint of the entire mod would be equally tiny

There'd be an extra draw call for the extra material, but KSPs bottlenecks don't currently appear to be graphical.

I had considered doing just this, as it would have been pretty easy to set up with the textures I used. However, the reason for my particular texturing "style" is that fact that I'm horribly bad at making any type of texture more detailed than these, so I stuck with the broad patches. I did make up the templates in such a way that someone who is more artistically inclined would be able to improve on my textures though. This led to making a separate texture file for each tank, because I'm not quite skilled enough to make models and unwrap them well enough for a shared texture file with any amount of detail on it to work for all of them. I've been experimenting, but haven't gotten any results that I like yet.

And this leads to :

Will the stockish texture set be available for the new tanks?

My hope is that some kind person with far greater artistic skills will take the templates that I provided with the pack and make some absolutely outstanding stockish textures. If they do this, then provide me with a link, I would definitely add that link to the main post!

In version 2 why did you not make medium tanks using 2.5m connections? (In fact, medium tanks seem to have gotten only one size of connector). Seems like an odd omission considering the small and large tanks received several connection sizes.

The main reason for this is because when I added a 2.5m connector to the medium tank, it wasn't noticeably spherical anymore. It pretty much looked like a band with 2 blunt cones on the end. You can kind of see the same thing happened to the small one with the 1.25m connector, but it was much worse with the medium. I wasn't happy with the look of it. I'm still experimenting with ways to make it work, however.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Talisar

[SnappingTurtle]

What would be really really awesome is a spherical, Discovery style command pod.

http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/images/screenshots/various/fic_2001_Discovery_and_its_pod_1__Cham.jpg

[Talisar]

What would be really really awesome is a spherical, Discovery style command pod.

http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/images/screenshots/various/fic_2001_Discovery_and_its_pod_1__Cham.jpg

If I recall correctly, there is one included in the Deep Space Mission pack (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/7790-0-18), but I definitely like the idea of making a version of my own. I'll take a swing at it, I think.

[AndreyATGB]

Wrong thread..

Edited August 30, 2013 by AndreyATGB

[jfull]

just a question, are the new toroidal tanks supposed to have such low capacity?

for me they have only 241 lf and 295 oxy

Thats lower than the thinnest stock 2.5 m tank

the Kethane version is also very low

[Van Disaster]

I had considered doing just this, as it would have been pretty easy to set up with the textures I used. However, the reason for my particular texturing "style" is that fact that I'm horribly bad at making any type of texture more detailed than these, so I stuck with the broad patches. I did make up the templates in such a way that someone who is more artistically inclined would be able to improve on my textures though. This led to making a separate texture file for each tank, because I'm not quite skilled enough to make models and unwrap them well enough for a shared texture file with any amount of detail on it to work for all of them. I've been experimenting, but haven't gotten any results that I like yet.

The sneaky way would be to build one full tank, unwrap it all making sure the top & bottom parts aren't unwrapped as part of the "sides"; chop the top & bottom off the model & attach the other style top/bottom, then unwrap just the new top & bottom - remember you're still using the same material and UV space, you're not remapping the entire tank - and then finally chop the tank in half and just unwrap the new bottom part. The hemisphere tanks using the same texture resolution as the spheres isn't going to hurt and isn't a bad thing either, it'll mean all the tanks match.

You'll need to leave space for the alternate tops/bottoms when you do the initial unwrap, but that won't be hard - if you're unwrapping hemispheres in quarters there's lots of gaps.

[Zeroignite]

Is there any way to update the tanks in-place without compromising currently active vessels?

[Talisar]

just a question, are the new toroidal tanks supposed to have such low capacity?

for me they have only 241 lf and 295 oxy

Thats lower than the thinnest stock 2.5 m tank

the Kethane version is also very low

I think you're correct. I believe when I did my math I used the radius of the torus instead of the diameter. I'll double check it, but I think the volume should be 4x what is in the cfg files now.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Talisar

[Talisar]

Is there any way to update the tanks in-place without compromising currently active vessels?

No, these are completely different models. they have pretty much the same dimensions, so I suppose you could rename the new ones to match the names of the older ones, but I honestly have no idea if that would work.

[jfull]

4x more seems about right. Though you might want to check all the math and post the correct values.

Its kinda funny how easy it is to make those kinds of mistakes, not matter how good you are at math.

[Talisar]

The sneaky way would be to build one full tank, unwrap it all making sure the top & bottom parts aren't unwrapped as part of the "sides"; chop the top & bottom off the model & attach the other style top/bottom, then unwrap just the new top & bottom - remember you're still using the same material and UV space, you're not remapping the entire tank - and then finally chop the tank in half and just unwrap the new bottom part. The hemisphere tanks using the same texture resolution as the spheres isn't going to hurt and isn't a bad thing either, it'll mean all the tanks match.

You'll need to leave space for the alternate tops/bottoms when you do the initial unwrap, but that won't be hard - if you're unwrapping hemispheres in quarters there's lots of gaps.

This is actually pretty much what I did for the alternate versions of the tanks. I made the one with the smaller endcap first, then after it was complete and unwrapped, I chopped the top off and added the larger endcap, then unwrapped the new parts. I also used this method for the half-tanks of each size. I ended up going with separate textures for each because of the difference between the available space of the sphere between the two differently sized endcaps. A texture made for the one with the smaller endcap would look chopped-off on the version with the larger (a texture more detailed than the one I made, I mean)

I considered doing them with just a single texture like the one that is on them now, which would have made this pack WAY smaller, but my experience from the first pack was that a lot of people really liked having the ability to make custom textures for the parts, and this was the easiest way that I saw to keep that option available. It's also the reason I switched to using .png files instead of .mbm's in the original pack

That being said, I am always trying to learn and improved. I appreciate this and any other tips you may have

[BostLabs]

Oh bugger. I have your original tanks on a couple of my ships in my new save for the next installment of Beagle Flight. I'm sticking with them as they are on my 2 of my major characters ships, but I'm installing the new models as well (please KSP don't melt down on me. ).I'll just add the new tanks to the other ships that are going to appear in the story.I guess that means I like your work.

[JewelShisen]

Can we get a tank for Xenon too? And perhaps ones for EPL?

[Talisar]

Its kinda funny how easy it is to make those kinds of mistakes, not matter how good you are at math.

Lol, too true. I went over these several times just trying to find errors (I made a ton of them when making the first pack and ended up doing several back-to-back updates to fix them). I was hoping to avoid that this time . If this is the only major one, I'll be happily surprised. I'll work out the math and post (what I believe are) the corrected values soon. Then I'll give it a little while for others (looking at you, taniwha )to check my math before I do an official update.

Oh bugger. I have your original tanks on a couple of my ships in my new save for the next installment of Beagle Flight. I'm sticking with them as they are on my 2 of my major characters ships, but I'm installing the new models as well (please KSP don't melt down on me. ).I'll just add the new tanks to the other ships that are going to appear in the story.I guess that means I like your work.

I had a feeling this would be an issue. That's why I made this pack separate instead of just an update to the earlier one, to avoid breaking any current craft. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm glad to hear you like them!

Can we get a tank for Xenon too? And perhaps ones for EPL?

Wouldn't be too hard to make them up. With the file setup I have it's pretty much just a matter of copying one of the resource directories, changing the name of the resource in the filenames of the copies to the new resource, and adjusting the cfgs. Plus coming up with a new color of band for that particular resource's textures. I'll add xenon to the to-do list for the next release, but what is EPL? Is that rocketparts?

What I'll likely do for the additional tanks and the fix to the toroidal tank capacities is make up a patch file that will be downloadable from the main post until I do a major update. I'm going to try to avoid multiple updates like I did last time.

[JewelShisen]

Wouldn't be too hard to make them up. With the file setup I have it's pretty much just a matter of copying one of the resource directories, changing the name of the resource in the filenames of the copies to the new resource, and adjusting the cfgs. Plus coming up with a new color of band for that particular resource's textures. I'll add xenon to the to-do list for the next release, but what is EPL? Is that rocketparts?

EPL is Extraplanitary Launch Pads. It's Ore, Metal, and RocketParts (Which also work with the Orbital Construction Mod).

[Talisar]

Ok, I believe the correct capacities of the toroidal tanks should be as follows:

LFO - 1350/1650

Monopropellant - 2,243

LiquidFuel - 3000

Kethane - 7500

Oxygen - 22350

EPL is Extraplanitary Launch Pads. It's Ore, Metal, and RocketParts (Which also work with the Orbital Construction Mod).

I haven't played with that mod, but I know some people converted some of the tanks to work with it. All that is needed is the resource names, and the amount of each resource per cubic meter. I'll see if I can find the info.

[BostLabs]

I had a feeling this would be an issue. That's why I made this pack separate instead of just an update to the earlier one, to avoid breaking any current craft. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm glad to hear you like them!

Don't be sorry. It just made my decision easier. I forgot a major part of my ship when I first launched it and had made up the part, launched it, docked it in a very tight spot, aligned it just the way I wanted it to be. When I tested it, it shot my ship. . So the update just makes my decision to take it down from orbit much easier after all that work. The craft needs design changes so might as well put the pretty parts on it.

[Murchadh]

May I just say....

I am a BIG fan of designing "elegant" rockets that are still practical and I am having a greaaaat time with these tanks. Not only do they look very cool (and I am not just referring to the brilliant textures) but because of the design I can make pretty huge rockets without bumping into the "too tall" problem. (Working on a +20,000 dV one and all signs point to success!)

Thus ...

Thanks for the mod. I appreciate it a lot.

[oniontrain]

Is there still a version of the older riveted textures? I accidentally deleted mine.

[Talisar]

Is there still a version of the older riveted textures? I accidentally deleted mine.

The older version of the pack (1.6) that uses those textures is still available on spaceport. The link is at the bottom of the first post.

[Railgunner2160]

Any chance of a set of Xenon tanks?? I've got this idea to make a freighter out of the toroidal tanks!!!