Caterpillar Tracks- NOW OPEN SOURCE, ALL FILES OPEN TO PUBLIC

[Tommygun]

I did run into a similar issue recently. When I tried using this with NovaSilisko's Wet Workshop mod I could only turn the treads, but it would not go forward or reverse.

The mod has worked well without the Wet Workshop. Would how you attach the treads cause any issues.

Previously I only made vehicles in the SPH and attach the treads horizontally, but this last vehicle I made in the VAB and attach them vertically.

I wonder if the point of reference for forward and backwards is getting confused?

Edit: Well I just did a quick experiment. I copied the craft file from the VAB to the SPH and it works fine now.

So I guess is was a point of reference issue. I'm hoping I can add a docking port on the top and side of the vehicle to correct the reference point based on how I'm using the vehicle.

Here is the vehicle and how I'm using it:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/36494-Show-Me-Your-CRAZY-Landers?p=460715&viewfull=1#post460715

Edited June 19, 2013 by Tommygun

[Galacticruler]

Well, considering I built mine in the SPH, I don't think it is that.

Actually, I cannot read. Apparently.

Anyway, On mine, I think they are too ridgid, I might try a custom loose hinge from D.R. to fix that though.

[KOCOUR]

MJ shouldnt be an issue, are you starting with the general control mode?

I tried to switch controll modes from the RMB menu, didnt help. Ill try it more as soon as i´ll come home from work.

EDIT: So it seems that those parts just hate the stock kerbal seat. If i use em with normal cocpit (stock or mod), they work as charm. if i use the kerbal seat instead, they doesnt work.

Edited June 21, 2013 by KOCOUR

[7499275]

So if I wanted to change the speed I can travel with the MK 5 tracks what do I need to change in the CFG? Going 1.3 m/s for 24 km will take a long time... :|

[electronicfox]

So if I wanted to change the speed I can travel with the MK 5 tracks what do I need to change in the CFG? Going 1.3 m/s for 24 km will take a long time... :|

The current incarnation of tracks cannot be altered in the CFG files, this will be remedies in the (hopefully) next release.

[7499275]

The current incarnation of tracks cannot be altered in the CFG files, this will be remedies in the (hopefully) next release.

Oh ok, well any suggestions then on moving a 70+ ton vehicle 24 km

[electronicfox]

Rescale some of the smaller sets, their power and speed will also scale with size, so you can get some rather fast sets.

[Pyromaniacal]

Oh ok, well any suggestions then on moving a 70+ ton vehicle 24 km

Moar SRBs.

[Lurven]

Can you add a streched version of the mark (6?) tracks with 6-8 roadwheels instead of 3?

*The ones on the bottom right of the picture.

[orileybomb01]

could you add sounds to it, it is very quiet driving on the poles using this mod

[EndlessWaves]

I'm back, good to see there haven't been any major bugs discovered. I guess the second plugin update solved all of the directional problems?

How do you define the max RPM of the tracks? Is it done in the part.cfg's?

TorqueCurve in the TracksMain module defines motor torque. The highest value there is shown on the tooltip as Max RPM (regardless of the torque value at that RPM, although it seems a good compromise as a simple representation of maximum speed without overly restricting the torque curve).

If you want to adjust the speed you need to change the TorqueCurve values in the config file. Increase the torque and/or increase the RPMs.

And bear in mind this is revolutions per minute - so larger wheels will achieve higher ground speed at the same revolution rate.

Im sure someone allready tried it, but if not : http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/35217-0-20-x-Extraplanetary-Launchpads For relocating on the moon or whenever combined with yours sweet sets of threads

Take a close look at the pictures in the release post of that thread, there's something familiar in them

I've noticed that the Landing Gear-based enabling is really finicky and it's caused some control issues for me. Is there a way to disable this?

Remove the action from the gear category. I'm wondering if it should be not set by default, are people using the disable motor function or just sticking the brakes on?

The brakes are also really wacky for the Mark 6 when on low-gravity bodies

Yeah, one braking value for all situations isn't very satisfactory. I haven't looked at how it should scale with gravity, any suggestions?

could you add sounds to it, it is very quiet driving on the poles using this mod

I can add the ability to play sounds but without source material it's not much use. Can you suggest a sound enthusiast who might be interested in helping or a good source of suitable engine/track sounds?

[Mafiagryphon]

Anyone else getting an issue with the Mark 4 where once you come to a stop the fastest it will go is now 1.0 ms. First they didnt even work so i reinstalled and now they work at first then they become governed at 1ms.

Edit: Ok they still don't even work right except the Mark 5. I can't even get any others to move forward or anything. I can turn with the Q and E keys but that's it as far as movement. I was so looking forward to these for the last month.

Edited July 4, 2013 by Mafiagryphon

[Catullus]

I can add the ability to play sounds but without source material it's not much use. Can you suggest a sound enthusiast who might be interested in helping or a good source of suitable engine/track sounds?

Try the World of Tanks forums - http://forums.worldoftanks.com. You'll have to make a game account to post but they're free.

[OopsThatNotWork]

Wait so Im lost, can we adjust the speed of the tracks now? I only want to change the Mk 5.

[allmappedout]

Hey, I've got an issue with the caterpillar tracks (the trapezoid shaped ones) - I have a really simple design (octo lander can attached to them, with a couple of batteries, solar panels and a RNG), which works fine on kerbin, however when I land the rover on the Mun, the craft doesn't work?

I have tried changing the mode of running, and on General I can get the ship to spin, but I suspect this is just the lander can's torque. I have mapped rover controls to IJKL, and I have no trouble with other rovers using the same control system.

Any advice at all for this? If you need me to post anything, please drop me a PM, or reply on this thread.

Cheers.

[NGTOne]

OK, first off: love the mod, especially the giant MkV set (I like building BIG things, but the stock wheels, even the big ones, are so fragile that landing them is almost impossible, especially in high-grav places like Eve).

My only problem is what happens when I put more than one MkV on my vehicle. Because each MkV tries to steer completely independently, they all end up pulling the vehicle apart as soon as I try to turn it. The same thing happens when the different modules don't have the same level of grip on the ground - the vehicle gets pulled apart by the incredible torque of 2 or 3 of them not working in proper concert with the others. This vehicle (WARNING: IMAGE HEAVY) suffers from the issue I've just described. It uses 4 MkVs, placed in pairs fore and aft, and when I try to steer it or drive over anything resembling uneven ground, it shreds itself because of the differential torque, regardless of how well-strutted it is (I conducted extensive ground-testing on Kerbin, but could never resolve the issue). Anything I can do about this (apart from using just one MkV, because then the vehicle would look really stupid)?

[EndlessWaves]

Edit: Ok they still don't even work right except the Mark 5. I can't even get any others to move forward or anything. I can turn with the Q and E keys but that's it as far as movement. I was so looking forward to these for the last month.

Sounds like you've got to set them use the general control system, try increasing the throttle and see if they move forward.

Otherwise if they're still not working can you provide an example craft file?

Wait so Im lost, can we adjust the speed of the tracks now? I only want to change the Mk 5.

Yes, change:

TorqueCurve
    	{
    		key = -20 0
    		key = -10 0.5
    		key = 0 15
    		key = 10 0.5
    		key = 40 0
    	}

They're points that define the torque curve, just like a car has. The first value is RPM (of the wheels rather than an engine) and the second value is the torque at that rpm.

I generally set them up to have lots of torque at low speeds (lots of pulling power) and torque that reduces as the speed climbs (so they don't go on accelerating for ages and the top speed is relatively low).

You may need to play about with the values a bit as you need very high torque at low speeds for turning on the spot (tracks don't like being dragged sideways) but you want to reduce it rapidly or they'll shoot out from underneath the load they're carrying. As a first stab try something like:

TorqueCurve
    	{
    		key = -80 0
    		key = -40 0.5
    		key = 0 15
    		key = 40 3
    		key = 320 0
    	}

Hey, I've got an issue with the caterpillar tracks (the trapezoid shaped ones) - I have a really simple design (octo lander can attached to them, with a couple of batteries, solar panels and a RNG), which works fine on kerbin, however when I land the rover on the Mun, the craft doesn't work?

It shouldn't be your remapped keys, the plugin gets the value from the in-game variables labled rover controls. It may be they're detecting the forward direction incorrectly, can you post or send me the craft file please?

Because each MkV tries to steer completely independently, they all end up pulling the vehicle apart as soon as I try to turn it.

The downsides of a modular system, I'm afraid. Having each part look at each other part to work out what it should be doing means the workload grows exponentially with the number of parts, instead of linearly as it would with central control. It is on my TODO list though, so hopefully I can come up with a decent solution that doesn't require too much knowledge of the other track units on a vehicle.

[TouhouTorpedo]

The downsides of a modular system, I'm afraid. Having each part look at each other part to work out what it should be doing means the workload grows exponentially with the number of parts, instead of linearly as it would with central control. It is on my TODO list though, so hopefully I can come up with a decent solution that doesn't require too much knowledge of the other track units on a vehicle.

If you like, open up Multiwheels source code and trawl through how each wheel is finding their direction and location. The way I did it is check the parts forward vector compared to the forward/up of the vessel, and for choosing which way steering goes check where it is relative to that and the CoM, and if its infront or behind it. Or something. I wrote that ages ago. In your case, just knowing if you're on the Left or Right of the CoM should be enough to be able to tell it which way to turn the track. If the left and right are seperable in some way, (set two modules to drive the MK5) then you could have them run without any knowledge of each other, so long as they know they are offset from the part center.

[KhaosCorp]

I can add the ability to play sounds but without source material it's not much use. Can you suggest a sound enthusiast who might be interested in helping or a good source of suitable engine/track sounds?

Some fella just posted in Addon Development forum offering his skills as a sound engineer to mod makers, maybe drop him a PM....ill dig the link up in a min.

edit: well, nevermind...seems like you found the guy i was talkin about lol

[EndlessWaves]

I wrote that ages ago.

ditto, that's all done.

The difficulty is that tracks don't rotate so turning generally involves much higher forces as you're dragging stuff sideways. I haven't really thought about what the exact problem is, but there does seem to be an issue where better results would sometimes be achieved if some tracks modified their output depending on other tracks.

[HoY]

Also want to report the tracks not working ever again after the brakes were applied. lots of power, just no propulsion was realy happy with the little skid steer type rover I made using the rollkage frame but as soon as I got it to Duna it barely made it 2m away from the lander lol.

Nice work so far regardless

Edited July 14, 2013 by HoY

[OopsThatNotWork]

Also want to report the tracks not working ever again after the brakes were applied. lots of power, just no propulsion was realy happy with the little skid steer type rover I made using the rollkage frame but as soon as I got it to Duna it barely made it 2m away from the lander lol.

Nice work so far regardless

Are you sure that you have the motors engaged? Toggle the gear button and make sure the brakes are off. And/or restart the game, I have had this issue before. I dont know the exact combination or whatever, but doing one or all of the things i mentioned should fix it.

[HoY]

There's no toggle for the motors, unless its invisible and toggles with tht G button. I've tried restarting 6 times with no effect ill try G

edit: yeah the G key fixed it. Odd, I didnt assign it and read through every page of the thread and your the first person to mention it..

Edited July 14, 2013 by HoY

[ArkaelDren]

You "REALLY" need to give an update with cfg's that we can modify the suspension spring and dampening rates.... PLEASE.

The tiny tracks and the version 3 I believe, NEED more suspension travel. I played with the small version for an hour just running it over the Runway on and off watching the travel. So PLEASE, give me a way to adjust these settings and add a bit more throw to the other 2 versions.

Great Mod....but needs what I recommend.

edit: One last thing, what are the chances of getting a reverse drive direction in the gui? Thx and loving the suspension travel.....need more

Edited July 15, 2013 by ArkaelDren

[EndlessWaves]

edit: yeah the G key fixed it. Odd, I didnt assign it and read through every page of the thread and your the first person to mention it..

It toggles the motor, I thought setting that up to the landing gear key by default would be fairly intuitive but I've heard a couple of comments on it so I might remove the default assignment for the next version.

You "REALLY" need to give an update with cfg's that we can modify the suspension spring and dampening rates.... PLEASE.

All that sort of thing is still wide open, so if you think they should be stiffer/slower they can quite easily be changed for the main release.

The tiny tracks and the version 3 I believe, NEED more suspension travel. I played with the small version for an hour just running it over the Runway on and off watching the travel. So PLEASE, give me a way to adjust these settings and add a bit more throw to the other 2 versions.

I carefully set them up to get the maximum suspension travel out of the model, any further and the suspension pistons would come out of their sockets or the wheels collide with parts of the frame. There's no point providing adjustable suspension travel in the config files, although most of the stuff is in place for in-game suspension height adjustment to make docking and similar easier.

edit: One last thing, what are the chances of getting a reverse drive direction in the gui?

Short of a clunky custom GUI there's no obvious place to put such indicators now stuff generally has been moved off the staging bar so I'll probably wait until squad re-add the functionality. All of the action groups have on/off status anyway, they just lack indicators at the moment, so if anyone makes a general mod to show action group status it should work fine with this.