GNE Industries - Animating Space

[Devo]

Tried this, the model doesn't quite look right. It looks like some of the sections are smoothed without edge splitting so they come off very "Goraud" shading like. Other than that cool, I hoped the sphere would animate like an Iris but we cant have everything we want I guess:)

[Benie]

Fixed the issue with the sphere not closing. I simply moved the pod to the other side of the cubic strut.

One request. Could you make it where the sphere doesn't wobble around when I try to put my rover on it? I tried putting struts, but they aren't helping.

Thanks for the ramp, by the way. This is exactly what I need. And it's the exact size that I need.

[Farnsworth]

Tried this, the model doesn't quite look right. It looks like some of the sections are smoothed without edge splitting so they come off very "Goraud" shading like. Other than that cool, I hoped the sphere would animate like an Iris but we cant have everything we want I guess:)

Yeah, the texturing is not final on this and there is no bump map applied yet. This was just a placeholder I made in the beginning. It is my first part so I am still learning the ins and outs.

An iris animation would be sweet, although would have to be a new model. Thanks for the feedback.

Fixed the issue with the sphere not closing. I simply moved the pod to the other side of the cubic strut.

One request. Could you make it where the sphere doesn't wobble around when I try to put my rover on it? I tried putting struts, but they aren't helping.

Thanks for the ramp, by the way. This is exactly what I need. And it's the exact size that I need.

I will look at texturing the sphere to have an indicator. I also need to figure out how to get the sphere to save it's state when you switch ships. As for the wobble, you may need to surface attach some girders and connect them to your base. They will clip when the sphere opens, but it is much more stable. If it is the same base as your pic, I would go for something a little more stable.

Also, do you guys like the animations for the ramp, or would it be better if it just folded out more "realistically"?

[The Space Man]

I seem to be having a problem, for some reason when i click to load my ship nothing appears on the launchpad, so far i've only managed to load the prometheus solar rover.

I also use the launchpads from this mod - http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/hl-portable-runways-and-landing-pads/ - and my ships load fine on those.

Anyone know why this is happening?

[The Space Man]

Double Post

Edited July 8, 2013 by The Space Man
Double post

[Benie]

It to fold realistically would be nice, if possible. Also, I cannot connect a KAS connector to a KAS Radial Connector Port that's attached to the sphere. There's like, no option. What am I doing wrong?

Obviously that's not where I'm supposed to put them. I'd like to know where.

Nevermind the Quantum Struts. They're needed to hold the sphere steady because of the weight of 4 Large RocketParts canisters.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Benie

[Farnsworth]

I seem to be having a problem, for some reason when i click to load my ship nothing appears on the launchpad, so far i've only managed to load the prometheus solar rover.

I also use the launchpads from this mod - http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/hl-portable-runways-and-landing-pads/ - and my ships load fine on those.

Anyone know why this is happening?

Which size are you using (not that it should matter), and do you have all of the required materials to build the ship available? I have never had an issue with ships spawning, unless my materials were too low.

Also, I cannot connect a KAS connector to a KAS Radial Connector Port that's attached to the sphere. There's like, no option. What am I doing wrong?

Obviously that's not where I'm supposed to put them. I'd like to know where.

To answer your question, I have not tried surface attaching a radial port directly to the sphere, I usually just stick them on the base girders or fuel tanks.

Your base is very, very small, maybe as small as possible. Check my image below (apologies, only shot of a base I have up right now), and take note of how my base is more of a platform for the sphere to sit on. Due to to the fuel constraint of the mod, I usually attach 4 fuel tanks to the girders as well, but this was just for making rovers.

I attach the sphere to a rockomax hub, then girders out in all 4 directions with ground supports, docking ports, etc. Your design could vary wildly however, this was just a quick test that happens to hold up pretty well.

Try to build a bigger base for it, and you should have an easier time attaching everything. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[Benie]

I tried to do something similar to what you showed in that picture, and got to build one of the landers, with 19.5% fuel.

But what concerns me, are two things. 1. I have to have launch clamps for my landers, because the lander will get stuck to the launchpad without them (even with Landing Gear it gets stuck), which worries me of spawning another ship that would destroy it because of the clamps still being there.

Perhaps a "Clear Launchpad" option?

I haven't tried this on Duna. This is just sitting ontop of the launchpad on Kerbin.

And 2. "sphereLaunchPadMedum was damaged by engine exhaust". Is this going to be a problem?

Edited July 8, 2013 by Benie

[The Space Man]

How do i disable the need for materials?

I never use the material collecting on the default Extraplanetary Launchpads.

[Benie]

I can answer that one for you. The author of EL has debug mode off by accident. Even if you tried to switch it back on, it won't work. The next version, whenever it gets released, it'll be back on.

The debug mode is so you'll have unlimited resources.

I unfortunately can't find an earlier version of EL that has debug mode working. And since this mod requires EL to work, we're out of luck until the next version.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Benie

[Farnsworth]

I tried to do something similar to what you showed in that picture, and got to build one of the landers, with 19.5% fuel.

But what concerns me, are two things. 1. I have to have launch clamps for my landers, because the lander will get stuck to the launchpad without them (even with Landing Gear it gets stuck), which worries me of spawning another ship that would destroy it because of the clamps still being there.

Perhaps a "Clear Launchpad" option?

I haven't tried this on Duna. This is just sitting ontop of the launchpad on Kerbin.

And 2. "sphereLaunchPadMedum was damaged by engine exhaust". Is this going to be a problem?

A "Clear Launchpad" option would be up to Skykooler, as he wrote the plugin. One thing you can do is select them manually with "[" and "]" and then select "end flight". I have never had a ship get stuck to the launchpad though.

I believe it is always damaged by exhaust, but have yet to blow one up through this damage. If it does get destroyed, there are values in the cfg that can be changed to strengthen it.

[Benie]

Alright. Want to report another issue. When you have a sphere opened, go to the Space Center, go back to the sphere, the sphere will be closed up, yet still be considered "opened". If you tell it to close, it will suddenly go to the Opened animation, then close up.

This is bad if there is a ship spawned on it that hasn't been launched yet.

As I did (trying to get my Kerbals homes setup on Duna by using the launchpad as a "teleporter") There was Kerbals already in (needed to be empty). Tried to use Crew Manifest to get them out but it apparently doesn't work on other planets except Kerbin. So I kicked their green butts out by EVA and aborting. Then I had to get to the Tracking Station to terminate them to get them off the planet, then went back to the sphere and the habitation module was inside the sphere. I tried to fix this by activating the ramp, and it caused the sphere to spaz out and spin.

A work-around, don't go to the Space Center with the sphere opened. But this needs to be fixed.

One last thing. A GUI to set the height of the rover ramp. The way you had it and I copied it, my rovers are too low to go on the ramp to access my landers. And I don't feel I should put everything under the sun (rockets, RCS Thrusters) to just get the rover up there. It's bad enough for my rovers to veer off when I'm trying to approach the ramp. And when trying to put RCS Thrusters on, it makes the rover heavier for some reason.

Some kind of control is needed here. I'm going to try to "mod" the stock RCS Port and see if I can't make it more powerful.

I even tried to use a winch on another rover, to pull a 4x4 plate that I spawned using the sphere. It didn't want to act as a ramp to cover the gap.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Benie

[Farnsworth]

Alright. Want to report another issue. When you have a sphere opened, go to the Space Center, go back to the sphere, the sphere will be closed up, yet still be considered "opened". If you tell it to close, it will suddenly go to the Opened animation, then close up.

This is bad if there is a ship spawned on it that hasn't been launched yet.

As I did (trying to get my Kerbals homes setup on Duna by using the launchpad as a "teleporter") There was Kerbals already in (needed to be empty). Tried to use Crew Manifest to get them out but it apparently doesn't work on other planets except Kerbin. So I kicked their green butts out by EVA and aborting. I tried to fix this by activating the ramp, and it caused the sphere to spaz out and spin.

A work-around, don't go to the Space Center with the sphere opened. But this needs to be fixed.

One last thing. A GUI to set the height of the rover ramp. The way you had it and I copied it, my rovers are too low to go on the ramp to access my landers. And I don't feel I should put everything under the sun (rockets, RCS Thrusters) to just get the rover up there. It's bad enough for my rovers to veer off when I'm trying to approach the ramp. And when trying to put RCS Thrusters on, it makes the rover heavier for some reason.

Some kind of control is needed here. I'm going to try to "mod" the stock RCS Port and see if I can't make it more powerful.

I even tried to use a winch on another rover, to pull a 4x4 plate that I spawned using the sphere. It didn't want to act as a ramp to cover the gap.

Yeah, I am not sure why the sphere reverts back to it's closed animation. I will probably release one where the ramp comes down automatically, which should fix it for now. Workaround for now is to close the sphere and ramp before exiting scene.

I do not have the plugin skills to make a configurable height ramp, but you could use some of the new infernal robotics parts to adjust your base height.

[Benie]

Sorry, but there's one more thing I see. It's more of an animation glitch, but with what I've told you about ships on the launchpad with it "closed", can be a problem.

So, say the ramp is down and the sphere is "opened". The ramp will be seen sticking through the top of the sphere, and also under it. Attempting to retract the ramp will cause the sphere to spaz out.

What I have to do is close the sphere which starts its closing animation. Then I raise the ramp. This stops the animation of the sphere closing, but the animation of the ramp folding up remains.

Opening the sphere resets the animation to "closed", then starts its opening process. If I lowered the ramp before it completes, the sphere stops its animation, but again the ramp doesn't.

Hope that makes sense. Still love your mod, even despite its modest bugs. Your pad is the only one as of now that has a ramp for rovers, which is exactly what I need for my Duna base.

[Farnsworth]

Sorry, but there's one more thing I see. It's more of an animation glitch, but with what I've told you about ships on the launchpad with it "closed", can be a problem.

So, say the ramp is down and the sphere is "opened". The ramp will be seen sticking through the top of the sphere, and also under it. Attempting to retract the ramp will cause the sphere to spaz out.

What I have to do is close the sphere which starts its closing animation. Then I raise the ramp. This stops the animation of the sphere closing, but the animation of the ramp folding up remains.

Opening the sphere resets the animation to "closed", then starts its opening process. If I lowered the ramp before it completes, the sphere stops its animation, but again the ramp doesn't.

Hope that makes sense. Still love your mod, even despite its modest bugs. Your pad is the only one as of now that has a ramp for rovers, which is exactly what I need for my Duna base.

No worries, I appreciate the feedback and am glad you enjoy it.

Please re-download from the link in the first post. This will make the ramp open automatically when the sphere is opened, which will fix the bizarre resetting when exiting the scene. I will look at changing the ramp animation as an altered version, as I enjoy the floating placement.

[Benie]

Got the download. Going to try it out. (yes I made sure I removed the old version)

Yep, it works. And it stays in its Opened state after leaving and re-entering.

Thank you very much, Farnsworth.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Benie

[Benie]

Hey. There's another problem. I haven't used my Duna Base in awhile, ok. Now I want to use it. The Sphere is still open. I'm able to spawn what I need.

But a problem. When flipping to another craft, what has been spawned, disappears if it doesn't move from where it was. It's just... gone. Doesn't show up in Tracking Station.

Can you fix this, please? I got an important mission to do, and this is jeopardizing it.

[hydran101]

When I read this mod page I expected a "good news everyone!" at the beginning of this.

[Farnsworth]

Hey. There's another problem. I haven't used my Duna Base in awhile, ok. Now I want to use it. The Sphere is still open. I'm able to spawn what I need.

But a problem. When flipping to another craft, what has been spawned, disappears if it doesn't move from where it was. It's just... gone. Doesn't show up in Tracking Station.

Can you fix this, please? I got an important mission to do, and this is jeopardizing it.

So, when you build a craft, but don't launch it, exit scene, and return, the craft is gone? Are the resources gone as well? I will admit I have never tried leaving a craft on the launchpad. Does it work with other launchpads?

When I read this mod page I expected a "good news everyone!" at the beginning of this.

"GNE" Industries lol

[Benie]

So, when you build a craft, but don't launch it, exit scene, and return, the craft is gone? Are the resources gone as well? I will admit I have never tried leaving a craft on the launchpad. Does it work with other launchpads?

Woops. Didn't realize I had sent this. I found the problem (though it's odd). I had HyperEdited a rover back to Duna because for some reason, my modded RCS Ports weren't working to lift my rover up. And they still wheren't. When I had switched to the craft still on the launchpad, somehow it rips up and part of it shoots away for miles, then crashes into the surface.

The bug was because, there was a piece of this craft on the planet surface. I removed it, and that stopped the bug. My craft doesn't disappear anymore.

So, I'd like to report another one. I've seen this happen on Kerbin with all of my crafts that lift off the launchpad, and had reported this before and thought Launch Clamps would help it. Apparently this happens on Duna as well.

I had finally got my rover under my lander, attached it and launched it, and it spins out of control on launch, as if the docking clamps weren't there. ASAS doesn't help.

The issue I had reported, rockets get "stuck" to the pad surface.

This is what the launchpad (and Duna Base) looks like. I wanted to make the base of the launchpad similar to what you did. I know you said I could use Damned Robotics to lower the launchpad so rovers can get up the ramp, but I don't know how I'll be able to;

Edited July 17, 2013 by Benie

[Farnsworth]

Woops. Didn't realize I had sent this. I found the problem (though it's odd). I had HyperEdited a rover back to Duna because for some reason, my modded RCS Ports weren't working to lift my rover up. And they still wheren't. When I had switched to the craft still on the launchpad, somehow it rips up and part of it shoots away for miles, then crashes into the surface.

The bug was because, there was a piece of this craft on the planet surface. I removed it, and that stopped the bug. My craft doesn't disappear anymore.

So, I'd like to report another one. I've seen this happen on Kerbin with all of my crafts that lift off the launchpad, and had reported this before and thought Launch Clamps would help it. Apparently this happens on Duna as well.

I had finally got my rover under my lander, attached it and launched it, and it spins out of control on launch, as if the docking clamps weren't there. ASAS doesn't help.

The issue I had reported, rockets get "stuck" to the pad surface.

This is what the launchpad (and Duna Base) looks like. I wanted to make the base of the launchpad similar to what you did. I know you said I could use Damned Robotics to lower the launchpad so rovers can get up the ramp, but I don't know how I'll be able to;

~snip~

Hmmm, have never had anything "stick" to the launchpad. One rocket went out of control because I only had fuel for 2 of the engines, but that was my fault.

Haven't played in a bit, but I'll see if I can recreate this. Try hydraulic cylinders on your base's legs to lift and lower the launchpad.

[Benie]

Could you possibly show how these cylinders work? They seem to only want to connect to the cubic struts used for legs.

Also, they noclip through Kerbin's launchpad.

[Benie]

Hey, Farnsworth. Not sure if you know, but 0.21.1 got released about a week ago. EL is possibly to be updated by tonight, and switch Debug Mode back on. Is this going to updated as well?

Just wondering. No pressure.

[wasmic]

I'm quite sure it doesn't need to be updated - the launchpad by hooliganlabs did not have to. This is just a part, and parts mods mostly didn't need to be updated to 0.21.

[likke_A_boss]

Well, this may be dead, but... Does it work?