[0.22] Extraplanetary Launchpads Legacy Thread

[Jivaii]

How can I swap the scanner model that comes with EL to say, the one that comes with Kethane or one of the stock comm dishes?

[taniwha]

Nothing is animated at this stage. You have to check the resources to see if they're working. If you are in an ore hex, the auger will work (if not, what are your EL and Kethane versions). If you have power and ore and storage for metal, the smelter will work (again, if not, versions). If you have power and metal and storage for rocket parts, the workshop will work (again, versions). The workshop is the weird control "pod" that's a platform with a gas welder and a tall tower.

Actually, I expect you to create your own images }:>

[Jivaii]

Oh, I'm not bothered by the lack of animation, I just don't like how the current ore scanners look. Might see about swapping out other models if I can figure out how to successfully swap the scanner models.

[RageCookie]

Hi is there a way to get the Launch Pads to work in Orbit ?

Tried to built an Orbital Construction site but seems like the build menue doesnt work unless touched down.

Another thing is , is seems like for some reason the launch pad doesnt care if there are ressources availlible, I can built anything full filled up etc. on my Mun base.

Awesome mod by the way.

[taniwha]

RageCookie: re resources: remove the debug line from the pad's part.cfg (the next version will). re orbital construction: not yet, but it's on my todo list.

[fenderzilla]

been scanning for ore; are the orange deposits richer than the yellow ones?

[Mihara]

been scanning for ore; are the orange deposits richer than the yellow ones?

Hovering your mouse over a deposit will give you the exact amount of resource in it -- actually, all the Kethane supported resources in it at once.

[1SGHERO]

The root part always explodes, no matter what part i pick, when building/loading a craft from the launch pad. Doesn't matter whether or not i have clamp on it.

[taniwha]

1SGHERO: dunno about "root part exploding", but...

All: I have completed testing on all my changes and I've packaged up and releasedversion 3.2. I've also sent skykooler a pull request (acts as a detailed changelog ). As per skykooler's release, this is covered by the GNU GPL v3.

Main features

• better handling of Landed (fewer explosions). Unfortunately, VanDisaster was still having issues with his pad
  
• autodetect kethane for control of debug (option is now removed from the config files)
  
• smaller smelter and auger. Just rescales, but they're both 1/2 the mass/capacity of the larger versions.
  
• new recycler (range based is gone, now uses a trigger collider). Two sizes of recycling bin included. Dumpster diving may be dangerous. Recycling is much more fun now
  
• non-pumpable/no-flow resources use rocket parts when building and are not reclaimable when recycling. This means SolidFuel, AblativeShielding etc.
  

Edited September 24, 2013 by taniwha
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[Mihara]

To prevent accidents, I recommend that the recycler would automatically deactivate at the moment something got recycled.

[taniwha]

While that is good for safety, it would be terrible for batch recycling (drive around collecting debris, click recycle many times).

Btw, Mihara, your cranes should work now without the need for clamps or being wider than the pad. My crane that exploded on spawn back when we were poking at it last time now spawns without any problems. The only time I have trouble now is when I have the throttle up a little (no engines on my base, so...) and the game fails to switch to the new vessel: explosions and my base loses all resources... ouch.

[Mihara]

Btw, Mihara, your cranes should work now without the need for clamps or being wider than the pad..

In the interest of saving on the long-term number of parts in the vicinity and easier positioning, I no longer use any cranes, I use detachable wheels.

Which your recycling changes make a great pain to use, I might add. I'm going to have to make a rover-on-a-cable with a rescaled trash bin to get anywhere now.

[BigNose]

1SGHERO: dunno about "root part exploding", but...

All: I have completed testing on all my changes and I've packaged up and releasedversion 3.2. I've also sent skykooler a pull request (acts as a detailed changelog ).

Main features

• better handling of Landed (fewer explosions). Unfortunately, VanDisaster was still having issues with his pad
  
• autodetect kethane for control of debug (option is now removed from the config files)
  
• smaller smelter and auger. Just rescales, but they're both 1/2 the mass/capacity of the larger versions.
  
• new recycler (range based is gone, now uses a trigger collider). Two sizes of recycling bin included. Dumpster diving may be dangerous. Recycling is much more fun now
  
• non-pumpable/no-flow resources use rocket parts when building and are not reclaimable when recycling. This means SolidFuel, AblativeShielding etc.
  

Great update taniwha, I just wanted to report:

The big and small recycling bins are the same size. You forgot to change the rescaleFactor in the config of the smaller one.

[knapplace]

why are the ore,metal, and parts cans prefilled? and is there a way to change this?

[taniwha]

BigNose: The big bin is not just a rescale of the small bin. The small bin is square, the big is rectangular. They're actually different models (but share the same texture), even though both models are indeed in the same directory and part.cfg even.

Mihara: The changes were encouraged by Majiir (didn't take much convincing, though). As for the parts count story, yeah: my base was okish (still small then), until I spawned a crane... ouch. However, I'm inclined to blame IR for that as my understanding of how it works says it's... less than efficient.

[KhaosCorp]

Just thought Id share a little something that imo makes this mod more fun, and if your handy with configs only takes about 5min to set up...

First go into EPLP resource folder and add 'CrudeOil' , 'Ethylene', and 'Plastic' as resources and make CrudeOil scanable.

Add process to smelter to turn crudeoil into ethylene. Add process to either parts factory or Kethane converter to turn ethylene into plastics.

Add to 'RocketParts' process to make it require Metal and Plastics to make RocketParts.

Not only is it a set in the realism direction but its a great reason to build even larger and more complex mining operations =)

[taniwha]

KhaosCorp: That would indeed make it more fun, but there's a slight problem (Laythe, Duna and Eve, on the other hand...).

[Crater]

Trying to word this as feedback, rather than a whine.

The changes to recycling are definitely more realistic, but, for me, they move it from a useful way to tidy up the base (and kick Kessler into touch), to being a function that I will probably never use. Most of the recycling I've done has been to clean up so that I could make bases without excessive effort, rather than out of a need for RocketParts. Now.... well I'll give it a try, but I suspect that the fun per unit effort coefficient is going to be too low now.

(Definitely updating, btw - the work you are doing to this mod is awesome, thank you!)

Just personal opinion, not asking you to change it back, but feedback is important in any mod.

[BigNose]

BigNose: The big bin is not just a rescale of the small bin. The small bin is square, the big is rectangular. They're actually different models (but share the same texture), even though both models are indeed in the same directory and part.cfg even.

But why are both my bins rectangular and the same size? I just redownloaded and it's the same thing. Can anybody confirm this?

A screenshot of a large and a small bin attached bottom to bottom:

They are exactly the same shape and size, but the larger one is heavier.

Edited September 17, 2013 by BigNose

[KhaosCorp]

KhaosCorp: That would indeed make it more fun, but there's a slight problem (Laythe, Duna and Eve, on the other hand...).

I dont think there is much Iron ore or Methane gas on the Moon either....but the Mun has Ore and Kethane...so some oil is not to far off. And I also have deposits of Oil drasticaly reduced on most moons in my current save, while atmosphered planets have the largest deposits.

[taniwha]

BigNose: hmm, yup, there's a problem. I'd failed to notice that both were using the same model. Worse, I'd gotten the .mu names backwards in the part.cfg . I guess for now fix the naming mixup (move the "-large" from the mesh line in the smaller bin section to the mesh line in the larger bin section), split the part.cfg into two files and maybe move one set into a second directory (copying the texture). I'll get it working properly and post an update.

Crater: I play-tested the recycler at my base that had an accident while the seed metal was being dropped off. MJ was trying to kill horizontal velocity while the ship was too low (my fault). Since my base is sitting on a decent sized deposit, I don't actually need the parts (other than the fuel, but it turned out I was sitting on a kethane deposit). I actually rather enjoyed running around with a little KAS+IR equipped recycling truck. Also, because the recycling "zone" extends above the top of the bins, and even if it didn't, the bins are relatively wide mouthed, using them to clean up in orbit should be quite doable: just get close enough such that part of the target vessel enters the bin.

[skykooler]

I dont think there is much Iron ore or Methane gas on the Moon either....but the Mun has Ore and Kethane...so some oil is not to far off. And I also have deposits of Oil drasticaly reduced on most moons in my current save, while atmosphered planets have the largest deposits.

The lunar regolith is actually fairly rich in metals, I remember that from when I was researching how much ore to put on each planet.

[taniwha]

Ok, I have the recycling bins working properly in my install. However, the fix will require a bit of a change to the distribution structure (very minor and not save-breaking). The change is to rename "GameData/Extraplanetary Launchpads" to "GameData/ExtraplanetaryLaunchpads" (ie, remove the space from the name), and then (for unmodified RecycleBin/part.cfg)...

At line 6:

-    mesh = recyclebin-large.mu
+    MODEL {
+        model = ExtraplanetaryLaunchpads/Parts/RecycleBin/recyclebin
+        position        =       0.0, 0.0, 0.0
+        rotation        =       0.0, 0.0, 0.0
+        scale           =       1.0, 1.0, 1.0
+    }

At line 47 (new, 42 in the old file)

-    mesh = recyclebin.mu
+    MODEL {
+        model = ExtraplanetaryLaunchpads/Parts/RecycleBin/recyclebin-large
+        position        =       0.0, 0.0, 0.0
+        rotation        =       0.0, 0.0, 0.0
+        scale           =       1.0, 1.0, 1.0
+    }

- means to delete the line, + means to add the line. And yes, I got the model names backwards when I created the part.cfg file.

I will create a patch release later tonight.

PS. you probably can get away without renaming the directory, but then you'd have to put a space in the model lines, and that's just icky (assuming it works).

[Zeroignite]

What's the status of building/recycling non-pumpable resources? Looking forward to that build.

[BigNose]

Just tested updating the configs of the recycle bins with spaces in the directory names. It works.