Kerbin Mini Shuttle

[DisarmingBaton5]

Helldiver has also suggested that the symbol used is dependent on the current flight mode, so that, for example, the inverted V symbol is used when ILS is enabled.

I completely forgot about that post. Thanks! And again, this looks amazing and I can't wait until release!

[SkyHook]

I think that this mod will make IVA-only operations viable, which is very exciting!

[Marscommander]

Now all you need is the antonov 225 to carry the thing like it carried the Buran so many years ago! can't wait!

[ZRM]

I now have looped horizontal tape scales and dynamically numbered vertical tape scales working. My number renderer currently only supports non-negative integers.

So here is the in-game version of the mock-up PFD with a compass and a rudimentary altimeter:

It can easily be changed to use an interval other than 1.

Edit: The compass also needs a needle/marker, but that is quite simple to add, and not a high priority right now.

Here is the latest config file used to generate that PFD:

size: [512, 512]
instruments:
  - ADI:
      # [x, y, width, height]
      coords: [74, 77, 316, 362]
      horizon:
        # [r, g, b] or [r, g, b, a]
        line_colour: [1, 1, 1]
        sky_colour: [0.0863, 0.8314, 1]
        ground_colour: [0.7843, 0.5686, 0]
        line_thickness: 2
      pitch_scale:
        tex: pitch_scale
        mask_tex: pitch_mask
        # specified in pixels per degree
        increment: 6.33333333
      bank_indicator:
        scale_tex: bank_scale
        scale_tex_centre: [157, 180]
        scale_radius: 159
        marker_tex: bank_marker
      central_marker:
        tex: marker_1
        tex_centre: [103, 4]
  - heading_tape:
      top_left: [0, 450]
      background_tex: heading_bg
      tape_tex: heading_scale
      mask_tex: heading_mask
      needle_tip: [200, 0]
  - altimeter_tape:
      top_left: [440, 0]
      background_tex: altimeter_tape_bg
      tape_tex: altimeter_tape
      mask_tex: altimeter_tape_mask
      digit_tex: myriad_num_16pt
      number_colour: [1, 1, 1]
      tape_number_top_left: [4, 8]
      needle_tip: [72, 256]

Edited August 13, 2013 by ZRM

[helldiver]

Here's an update. Cockpit art is about 75% finished. Got to do an edge highlight thing and some more details around the back panels and such.

Lights turned down.

Looking towards the PIC

Looking back from the pilot in command location

If you don't want to break the illusion, don't view this image.

http://i.imgur.com/pIBNl1f.jpg

Kind of meh that the lettering is blurry, but not on anything usable, just the non-usable stuff. Although if you zoom out in-game you should be able to make out what everything says. Functional gauges use their own texture, so rest assured.

Adding the artwork of an actual FMC is easy and something we could do in the future, as well as replacing the flight director with the status tapes NASA uses (for things like O2, RCS Fuel, etc). The layout is flipped and uses panel managers instead. Otherwise it follows a dissimilar setup to Atlantis based on what images and info I could find. I'm moving along to finish this, I'm not going back in to make it 100% accurate to Buran, Atlantis, or whom ever's favorite spacecraft.

[Edit]The blank gauge you see on the control panel is where the Navball goes.

Edited August 13, 2013 by helldiver

[mrrpamplemousse]

will you use the firespitter control panel?

[Guest]

Really good. Looks like something the Shuttle would use.

[ZRM]

Here's an update. Cockpit art is about 75% finished. Got to do an edge highlight thing and some more details around the back panels and such.

Lights turned down.

Looking towards the PIC

Looking back from the pilot in command location

If you don't want to break the illusion, don't view this image.

http://i.imgur.com/pIBNl1f.jpg

Kind of meh that the lettering is blurry, but not on anything usable, just the non-usable stuff. Although if you zoom out in-game you should be able to make out what everything says. Functional gauges use their own texture, so rest assured.

Adding the artwork of an actual FMC is easy and something we could do in the future, as well as replacing the flight director with the status tapes NASA uses (for things like O2, RCS Fuel, etc). The layout is flipped and uses panel managers instead. Otherwise it follows a dissimilar setup to Atlantis based on what images and info I could find. I'm moving along to finish this, I'm not going back in to make it 100% accurate to Buran, Atlantis, or whom ever's favorite spacecraft.

[Edit]The blank gauge you see on the control panel is where the Navball goes.

That is seriously awesome. And the rate at which you are working is phenomenal. I hope I have at least a mostly functional PFD ready in time for when you are ready to set up and test the shuttle. Getting the game balance and aerodynamics right is probably not going to be very easy.

Also, I have been thinking about the orbital display. Ideally it will need user input so that you can, for example, zoom in on the area of interest. This could possibly be done using a touch screen interface if there are no adequate controls to put button colliders on.

[Guest]

Here's an update. Cockpit art is about 75% finished. Got to do an edge highlight thing and some more details around the back panels and such. ~SNIP~

Just... WOW. Incredibly fine work!

[Gristle]

Here's an update. Cockpit art is about 75% finished. Got to do an edge highlight thing and some more details around the back panels and such. ...

This is the most amazing looking mod yet. Has this been tested in game to see if the game engine will handle it?

[ZRM]

This is the most amazing looking mod yet. Has this been tested in game to see if the game engine will handle it?

No, not yet. That's where I come in. Helldiver doesn't like working with Unity.

[helldiver]

No, not yet. That's where I come in. Helldiver doesn't like working with Unity.

^^^^ This

-I've done contract work in the past as well as been involved in game development (as well as my own game). I have a very clear notion of what the limits are to some degree. Right now the budgets are sitting at:

-2048x2048 (Diff, Spec, Norm, Emissive, Opacity) single texture sheet for the entire cockpit, minus the gauges and MFDs.

-2048x2048 (Diff, Spec, Norm, Emissive) single texture sheet for the KSO

-512x512 (Diff, Spec, Norm, Emissive) for the Guages.

-1024x1024 (Diff, Spec, Norm, Emissive, Opacity) for the MFDs.

-1024x1024 (Diff, Spec, Norm) for the engines (both the Thrustmax and the Omnimax use the same texture sheet.

-1024x1024 (Diff, Spec, Norm) for the Docking Module. The IVA of the Docking module might end up using the same sheet. The IVA for the Docking module is not part of the first phase of the project.

The KSO sits at 7800 polys (including engines and accessories), its cockpit sits at 17,000 polys (17200 if you include the accessories such as gauges and MFDs).

So, from a technical or engine standpoint, Unity can more than handle this with a lot of room to spare.

[DisarmingBaton5]

Here's an update. Cockpit art is about 75% finished. Got to do an edge highlight thing and some more details around the back panels and such.

Lights turned down.

~snip~

WOW. Even after looking at the illusion-breaker, WOW.

[helldiver]

will you use the firespitter control panel?

Currently no, not that I know of. If ZRM is able to program the ADI, NAV mode (for orbital flight), and any other monitor we need, then no. Otherwise I'd be glad to ask for his permission. Unfortunately at this point I don't think the art style would match and I would have to be able to edit the display to match the KSO's glass cockpit. So odds are that it would be a no.

That sounds fine, actually great for atmospheric flight, but there will be a need for 'navball' display for non-atmospheric flight as well. This will be especially true for docking and such.

All fine and good, and very fancy and nice, but I just happen to like the navball. Just a simple question, will it still be available or not? Same with the question I asker earlier, 20 or 30 posts ago, regarding the craft display marker being either a --v-- or /\ or both. That is all I am asking.

That's a no to your first question. Although there will be a navball on the control panel (just above the altimeter and inbetween the center and pilot MFDs) we are not spending any time or effort working on it. Although I'm placing it at the best location so you are able to zoom out a window while still having it in view. That being said, the NAV mode of the MFD will eventually have all of the information you need to do orbital maneuvers with the KSO without resorting to the Navball.

Don't confuse the ADI display (which ZRM and I have been throwing around) with NAV display (which we haven't really developed yet). A few pages back ZRM and I discussed NAV mode, and we settled on something similar to ADI but with additional information for orbital work.

-You will have to learn the new NAV mode which may require some minor getting used to. However, I think in the end you will appreciate it much more than the cluttered up Navball. All of the information you need will be in NAV mode in an intuitive and clutter free method. We'll test it extensively before you download this mod and start playing. If we find that it doesn't work, then we'll bring it closer to the Navball. As I said earlier, the standard KSP Navball will still be there (two of them infact), in case we are still testing and developing the NAV mode of the MFD.

May I suggest a separate navball screen on the MFD (A screen that integrates the compass and pitch-thingy)? Using the ADI alone looks like it will be a bit confusing.

You won't be using the ADI for Orbital navigation. The MFD can be switched to NAV mode (see earlier screenshot of the MFD), which has all the info you need for orbital maneuvering.

So what will be interactable in the IVA? Will it be like the firespitter apache IVA where there are toggle switches for most of the actions?

-The MFDs have switches to change the mode the MFD is in (ADI, NAV and ILS for first release, Additional cameras, and docking cams, later)

-The overhead panel has switches to turn on the cabin lights, panel backlight, and so on.

-The Flight Director has push buttons for RCS, SAS, etc so you can activate them.

-Throttle control.

Currently that is all I have planned. Perhaps once we get everything in game we may discover additional things we can add.

[drtedastro]

Sounds very interesting. It will be a lot clearer when able to see it, touch it and crash it.....

Good luck in pressing on to get a alpha, beta or whatever version out.

If you need an extra tester, I have been know to be able to break anything.... Not on purpose, just in how I go at things from all different directions. And my testing rates are cheap. I supply my own nacho's and beer.....

And I create pretty good post mission write-ups....

looking forward to this mod..

[Marscommander]

MY GOD MAN! THAT IVA IS AMAZING! (sorry for the caps...) You have out done yourself and you haven't even finished it! Wow. I will use this mod for the rest of my KSP days. I am going to send it to Duna and land there!

[astropapi1]

That cockpit looks very TF2-ish.

Awesome work as always.

[TouhouTorpedo]

Fantastic work. Great textures and models, and the IVA displays are looking really promising for what they could add to gameplay. So these engines run on the Pitch Vector plugin? Pretty neat if so. I hadn't even released any information on how to make them yet, but then they are fairly basic to construct so I wouldn't be surprised if you have them running and tested (more so with what seems like a skilled plugin maker on your side to decifer the Unity structure from the source!)

Just some feedback on how I see your mod developing so far :

- Personally I'd have not split the wings that way. It restricts to using just those wings, with just that cargo bay (in both directions, since other mod wings wouldn't look right with the cargo bay). The fuselage shapes are fine since someone will be able to blend into those if they try somehow or another. but I think one of the most fun things about KSP is getting creative with your designs, and aside from the payload and booster, there is limitations here. Though I also understand you had your vision of how you wanted to do this, and you're way into development here anyway with the exterior more or less finished.

- Since the crafts parts are split this way, I'd recommend releasing some of the interface surfaces in a dev kit. A flat mesh minimum of where certain parts align, such as the cargo bay ends, wing attachments and especially the cockpit end so other modders can create interfaces with these parts. - taking the mod further. I did this with MK4 Fuselage, which ended up with an adapter in B9 Aerospace to fit. Snjo also has an adapter standard file available, which I'm tempted to make use of in the future. I'm sure a lot of people would love just to reuse this cockpit alone things even.

- Even though it would seem simple enough to build the shuttle, ensure you provide a craft file. Some people really are quite bad at using the games editors or working these things out, and wouldn't really be able to built it. The Bobcat IV rover was a great example of this.

Just to be clear though I love what you're doing. Just adding my thoughts though. If you need to know anything about Pitch Vector Engine plugin, or have any feedback for that, I'm all ears.

This does look fantastic and can't wait to try it out.

[ZRM]

Another bit of progress on the PFD:

Other than the new vertical speed indicator (VSI), you may notice that everything is now much sharper. The overall blurriness previously was due to Unity not correcting properly for half-texel offsets under DirectX 9. The current workaround is not perfect - there is still residual texture wrapping bleed you can notice next to the VSI. This would take a bit more work to properly fix, and I will do that at a later date. There was also blurriness caused by rendering moving tapes at fractional pixel offsets. I have now added integer rounding to the calculations to fix this. The most noticeable effect of this is that text appears much sharper.

Here is the above image again, side by side with an old screenshot, for comparison:

[helldiver]

Another bit of progress on the PFD:

Looking fantastic. On the MFD I'm going to put a small black border around it, just a few pixels wide. You don't have to make any changes since the border is part of the MFD mesh part not the instrument pane. Looking forward to the NAV and ENG screens.

So these engines run on the Pitch Vector plugin?

Currently no, but I definitely want them to eventually. Hopefully we can figure it out, if not when the time comes I'd definitely appreciate your help and guidance on how to get that working. More like ZRM to be honest since I deplore Unity.

- Personally I'd have not split the wings that way. It restricts to using just those wings, with just that cargo bay (in both directions, since other mod wings wouldn't look right with the cargo bay). The fuselage shapes are fine since someone will be able to blend into those if they try somehow or another. but I think one of the most fun things about KSP is getting creative with your designs, and aside from the payload and booster, there is limitations here. Though I also understand you had your vision of how you wanted to do this, and you're way into development here anyway with the exterior more or less finished.

I covered this in a previous project summary, but I don't expect everyone to go back and read every thread (I myself don't have the time to do such a thing).

As I explained earlier the KSO was never intended to be separate parts. The reason it ended up being separate parts was because I didn't/don't know how KSP handles components. When I proposed the project (this thread) most of the responses and advice leaned towards the "parts" idea. Originally the KSO fuselage was going to be a single piece, with the vertical planes, landing gear, avionics, and docking component separate. Since learning that it didn't have to be separate parts, I've welded some sections permanently (i.e. the SAS and Cockpit segments for example).

I specifically made the wing base so that it would snap to the cargo bay in that fashion. Again keep in mind that I originally never planned for the wings to be separate parts. The other issue (the more important one) is the one of aesthetics; I don't want a disjointed look. I intentionally designed the KSO to be sleek and aerodynamic and "chibby" like the original pics that inspired me to make it. To get proper edge flow, loops, and later sub-division of surfaces, meant that the wing-to-fuselage join as well as other locations wouldn't be flush if I split them.

I could have made it very geometric, but then we wouldn't have ended up with the aerodynamic look I wanted. I'm not making an angular looking craft, there are plenty of parts pack on the Space port for that.

- Since the crafts parts are split this way, I'd recommend releasing some of the interface surfaces in a dev kit. A flat mesh minimum of where certain parts align, such as the cargo bay ends, wing attachments and especially the cockpit end so other modders can create interfaces with these parts. - taking the mod further. I did this with MK4 Fuselage, which ended up with an adapter in B9 Aerospace to fit. Snjo also has an adapter standard file available, which I'm tempted to make use of in the future. I'm sure a lot of people would love just to reuse this cockpit alone things even.

Possibly in the future. Again, it's still up in the air if I'll end up welding more of it together. The cargo bay attachment points have plenty of spots to attach things to of different sizes, unless you're trying to add something that is specifically the exact size as one of the attachment pads.

- Even though it would seem simple enough to build the shuttle, ensure you provide a craft file. Some people really are quite bad at using the games editors or working these things out, and wouldn't really be able to built it. The Bobcat IV rover was a great example of this.

Definitely going to include a it and include it in the mod, it will have all the action groups and such as well.

If you need to know anything about Pitch Vector Engine plugin, or have any feedback for that, I'm all ears.

We definitely will! When we start adding the engines, I'm sure we'll have a ton of questions. You'll see a labeled pic of the whole thing, and I'll probably be asking what to name what part or what needs a collision mesh and so on. Not now however, I'm trying to keep at the right pace. I'd like to tackle one problem at a time.

And thank you so much for the awesome support!

[Marscommander]

Another bit of progress on the PFD:

Other than the new vertical speed indicator (VSI), you may notice that everything is now much sharper. The overall blurriness previously was due to Unity not correcting properly for half-texel offsets under DirectX 9. The current workaround is not perfect - there is still residual texture wrapping bleed you can notice next to the VSI. This would take a bit more work to properly fix, and I will do that at a later date. There was also blurriness caused by rendering moving tapes at fractional pixel offsets. I have now added integer rounding to the calculations to fix this. The most noticeable effect of this is that text appears much sharper.

Here is the above image again, side by side with an old screenshot, for comparison:

This is going to be the most thought-out and well-developed mod of all time. Your names will forever be remembered in KSP history. but that is if you succeed. if you fail you will be laughed at forever for wasting this much time... (JK I believe the first situation will be the outcome anyway ) OUTSTANDING JOB GUYS!

[M.Wolfy]

Dat IVA , seriously i can't wait for the release of this shuttle!

[ZRM]

Anybody have an idea about some of these instruments on the Space Shuttle PFD? I'm just wondering whether there's a really useful one we're missing out:

What is the instrument marked alpha? Is that the pitch angle? It looks like the Altimeter and VSI are on the right hand side, with the airspeed on the left. What about the three scales (one horizontal, two vertical) all marked from 5K to 5K, and the scale at the top of the navball? The G-meter also looks like a useful addition.

[helldiver]

Semi final, forgot to do the window and MFD glass (they are separate pieces). Also need to detach the throttles and any other parts that will be movable. I'll post a diagram with collision labels so you can clue me in on what needs collisions in preparation for export.

What your view would look like if you went to the PIC position camera and didn't move it or Zoom it (you can zoom in and out in KSP in case you guys didn't know)

Finished the highlighting. I'm keeping things clean and simple to loosely match the KSP style. I didn't want to clutter the already clean look, so I didn't put additional status panels on the d-pylon bulkhead behind the pilot's seat. I left it clear except for a single access panel, nothing fancy. That area is also at an angle it seems, so putting a panel and buttons there would cause them to be slightly blurry. I don't know, if you guys think it looks to sparse I can add more. But I think I like the clean simple look. As they say, less is more.

Looking towards the rear.

Future Docking camera locations (on the other size)

The seats are under-scaled with plenty of room to make them larger or move them. Their shadow is also temporarily baked and can easily be moved and redone, same with the pedals and control column. Once in game I'll judge it by viewing the Kerbal and going from there. I may put together a measuring rig so we can set a Kerbal against it and get measurements.

[Guest]

Alpha would be the angle of attack. Dunno about the others.