How can I make rover wheels that never break?

[Benie]

I'm looking into the part.cfg files of the rover wheels, trying to figure out how I can increase the tolerance so the wheels won't blow or rip off.

Unfortunately, It looks very confusing to me. There's two "crashTollerance" figures here and I don't know which to set. There's also impactTollerance.

I know I can have a Kerbal fix a wheel. But say it happens on Eve and I come in too fast on my landing, and all my probe rovers tires pop. And since Eve has a killer atmosphere, it would be suicide to send a Kerbal down to fix the wheels.

Note that I've never gotten on Eve (just heard what I've heard in Youtube videos of how to land and take off on Eve). I've been close enough to it to have an Eve Encounter, but at the time, I didn't know how to do the capture burn. That noob moment is history now.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Benie
Answered (and happy)! Now if I can just make them not flip out when I go high speed. :P

[aaraujo]

Change one... see if it works like you want, if it doesn't change it back and change the other one, if that doesn't work, change them both, if that doesn't work. I don't know.

That's the scientific method!

[stupid_chris]

Go into the part cfg file and scroll down until you get to the wheel module, the code should read like this:

MODULE
{
	name = ModuleWheel
	hasMotor = true
	resourceName = ElectricCharge
    	resourceConsumptionRate = 2
	canSteer = true
	controlAxisType = Forward
	steeringModeType = TankSteer
	tankSteeringTorque = 0.5
	brakeTorque = 200
	brakeSpeed = 1.2
	[U]impactTolerance = 800[/U]
	overSpeedDamage = 30

You want to change the value of the underlined line above, the higher you set it, the more it will take for the wheels to break and need repair from a Kerbal. So set this to a ridiculous value and your wheels should survive pretty much everything, unless you come in so fast the wheel literally explodes.

[austin4050]

Go into the part cfg file and scroll down until you get to the wheel module, the code should read like this:

MODULE
{
	name = ModuleWheel
	hasMotor = true
	resourceName = ElectricCharge
    	resourceConsumptionRate = 2
	canSteer = true
	controlAxisType = Forward
	steeringModeType = TankSteer
	tankSteeringTorque = 0.5
	brakeTorque = 200
	brakeSpeed = 1.2
	[U]impactTolerance = 800[/U]
	overSpeedDamage = 30

You want to change the value of the underlined line above, the higher you set it, the more it will take for the wheels to break and need repair from a Kerbal. So set this to a ridiculous value and your wheels should survive pretty much everything, unless you come in so fast the wheel literally explodes.

Sorry that does not always work, I have tried the exact thing and made it to 1500 and it broke just as easy as before, I found it strange really. Also shouldn't you bump up the overspeed damage?

[Benie]

Nevermind. I didn't see the post above me when I made this reply.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Benie

[stupid_chris]

Sorry that does not always work, I have tried the exact thing and made it to 1500 and it broke just as easy as before, I found it strange really. Also shouldn't you bump up the overspeed damage?

You haven't got it high enough. What is breaking exactly? Are the wheels breaking off from the rover? If that's the case, you have to change the crash tolerance value. And if you mean the wheels still break under weight or stress, well your value still isn't high enough. I made a rover that weighted 250t and I had to support it with four of the biggest wheels, and I had to bum the value to 4000 to make it work properly. It depends on what you are carrying, but it is the value to change to prevent the wheels from breaking and needing repair. It always work if you set it high enough.

And the overspeed damage is at what rolling speed will your wheels break. Falling or stress has no effect on it, it only takes into account what speed your wheels are rolling at.

So Benie, just bump that value to a really ridiculous value, like 10000, and your wheels shouldn't need repair anymore. And if they explode or fall of the rover, try changing the breakingForce and crashTolerance values to higher values.

[Benie]

Mmmk. I think "9999999999" is a ridiculously high enough value. I just hope it doesn't cause a rip in time and space.

Thanks much. I'll test this out with my speed rover.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Benie

[Whirligig Girl]

I'm looking into the part.cfg files of the rover wheels, trying to figure out how I can increase the tolerance so the wheels won't blow or rip off.

Unfortunately, It looks very confusing to me. There's two "crashTollerance" figures here and I don't know which to set. There's also impactTollerance.

I know I can have a Kerbal fix a wheel. But say it happens on Eve and I come in too fast on my landing, and all my probe rovers tires pop. And since Eve has a killer atmosphere, it would be suicide to send a Kerbal down to fix the wheels.

Note that I've never gotten on Eve. I've been close to it but at the time, didn't know how to do the capture burn. That noob moment is history now.

Capture burn in simple. When at the edge of Eve's SOI, lower the Eve's periapsis inside the atmosphere. Alternativley, you could lower the periapsis outside of the atmosphere and point retrograde at periapsis and burn.

[Benie]

Yeah, at the time I didn't know how to do that. I do now. Watching KSP tutorials on Youtube helps.

[stupid_chris]

Mmmk. I think "9999999999" is a ridiculously high enough value. I just hope it doesn't cause a rip in time and space.

Thanks much. I'll test this out with my speed rover.

Watch out, if you go faster than whatever speed your rovers are made to go to, they will explode anway. You might want to change the "overSpeedDamage = " to a higher value then.

[Benie]

Right. Got you. I'll find out when I test. I was having some issues with getting the parts to show up modded, but that's all sorted out now.

EDIT: They work great! I managed to get my speed rover up to 153m/s on Kerbin with that aerospike rocket (Jeb would love it), before I lost control.

And the wheels didn't pop!

Edited July 11, 2013 by Benie

[Spire]

Now, will someone care to go through how to do this on the KSP 1.1 pre-release or will I just have to tinker till I break the game?  And sorry for the bump.

Edited April 7, 2016 by HawkedUpSpace