[1.0.2] NovaPunch 2.09. - May 6th - 1.0 Compatibility Update

[Tiberion]

Hello,

With the addition of drag and engine/thrust changes to parts (Squad Parts Only I believe), these changes do not reflect into MODS...this is my opinion...in that Modders now have to add these capabilities into their own parts.

I also think some of these changes are in Unity as well; I could be wrong here but is all this being taken into account?

I cant use Modded engines or probly even parts because of overheating, drag...does Squad puch drag onto all parts; I may as well ask here as anywhere...there is an 'hsp' factor; what is this and does it affect engines; is it a one value that can be altered to mach proper ratios for drag and thrust?

Seems like engine MODS gonna really get affected...I know this has probly been asked but there are so many posts...

My memory got 200 megs larger and I dont have this MOD and my Outer Planets in yet...I am at 3 gigs practically; before I was at 2.5 with everything...

Cmdr Zeta

I...

...

...yes?

Right.

---------------------

Still no luck on the parachutes, working on the other stuff for now.

[Tiberion]

Okay, lots of progress today. Finally got parachutes working! Also did most of the chore list we've compiled so far.

Here's the list:

Parachutes. - fixed

Odin heatshield attachment - fixed (mostly)

Yawmaster SM attachment - done

More smoke! -done

added gimbal range - needs testing!

fixed mini-decoupler gap

engine flameout sound: stock bug with non ModuleEnginesFX-based engines

removed ModuleSAS from reactionwheels, pods, added sizenodes where appropriate

Bearcat 3x thrust 2400 -> 2500 - done

Heavy Struts - fixed?

Add Abblator - done

Freyja re-entry orientation

Odin heatshield not using ablator

Nerf LFBooster massively

Radial chute wobblyness

No idea why the odin shield isn't heating up at all, have to investigate that one more. And that Big liquid booster is just silly, gonna nerf it down to at least 3k thrust instead of 4, we'll see how that works.

As for overall balance.. I dunno. Most engines you have to keep at half throttle through 10 or 15k to keep them from hitting the mach barrier and flipping or breaking. That doesn't feel terrible when you play it though, and otherwise its pretty reasonable payloadwise

Make some hard recommendations about what you'd like to see and I'll push another test version tomorrow evening which should hopefully be the last one before a release.

[biohazard15]

As for overall balance.. I dunno. Most engines you have to keep at half throttle through 10 or 15k to keep them from hitting the mach barrier and flipping or breaking. That doesn't feel terrible when you play it though, and otherwise its pretty reasonable payloadwise

Make some hard recommendations about what you'd like to see and I'll push another test version tomorrow evening which should hopefully be the last one before a release.

As I said earlier, you do not use Saturn V to launch CubeSats. Of course, nothing stops you from doing so, but be ready for consequences In other words - every engine has its intended uses. If you stick Bearcat 5x under a small 5m tank - you're obviously doing it wrong. And if you can't find use for it because your payloads are too light - maybe it's time to go bigger?

I would also suggest balancing the costs - especially entry costs. Stock entry costs are 2x-3x regular costs; it's vice versa in NP. Regular costs also need to be raised in some cases - Bearcat 5x is priced at 39500, while stock KS-25x4 is at 39000.

Anyway, Energia-like rocket with 60-ton NRAP.

I should note first that if you intend to fly a shuttle with such rocket, be sure that you have some sepratrons on these boosters. In a typical belly-up ascent that most shuttles use, these boosters would collide with your wings.

The rocket itself is pretty powerful (although it does not want to flip during the ascent). It cannot achieve orbit (not enough fuel), but it can put your upper stage to your desired Ap. Can be tricky to fly in "true" Energia fashion, with payload strapped to its side (but such flights always were tricky )

EDIT

LF-A30 aerospike is bugged - it starts at 246 kN thrust, then as the rocket ascends, it fall to 184 (at about 2km altitude), and then it starts to rise again. Looks like atmosphere curve values are wrong.

EDIT2

Soyuz boosters - they're simply too powerful for such light part.

Edited May 4, 2015 by biohazard15

[biohazard15]

Sometimes you feel the urge to orbit a 200-ton slug. Because of reasons.

Also, a bug - these are 5m "fairings". Strangely enough, aerodynamics doesn't seem to be affected.

[frizzank]

The new "Features" were nice but really bit me hard, the rockets fly completely differently and just about every part needed a re-balance. I am sure Tiberion is going though the same thing. It will take some time and a few revisions to get it feeling nice again so just be patient and all will be well....

[Eddie Rod]

So excited but so sad at the same time because my birthday is/was Dec. 17th! :-) A lot of mods were updated that day and it felt like a huge birthday present! Anyways cant wait for everything to be worked out I've made a ton of vids with your mod!

[Immashift]

The new "Features" were nice but really bit me hard, the rockets fly completely differently and just about every part needed a re-balance. I am sure Tiberion is going though the same thing. It will take some time and a few revisions to get it feeling nice again so just be patient and all will be well....

I get that feeling too. You get sort of comfortable flying things around a certain way, like the way I did my gravity turns, and then the game goes and changes it and makes me think all my rockets fly like crap. But instead it was me doing bad habits.

As I said earlier, you do not use Saturn V to launch CubeSats.

I could definitely spend time making a sleek looking thing that goes up on minimal fuel for minimal cost and gets the job done in the most efficient way possible.

Or............ I could slap something stupidly powerful on the butt end of my payload and send it up in 30 seconds, being somewhat careful with the throttle, as building things like this is sort of like attempting to waterski behind a missile:

I know, it's making your eye twitch, isn't it?

Anyway... just passing time patiently waiting for my favorite mods Already have half of them updated so that's great. It's actually rather impressive how quickly you guys can roll out updates considering how much things get broken by some updates to the game.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Immashift

[Tiberion]

So, today was a bit of a mess. Seems like I'd solve one thing (or find that I couldn't due to a stock issue) and would discover two more.

Re Aerospike thrust, typo in the config; key = 0.8 300 was set too 200, so the curve went from 280 down to 200, and then from 200 back to 320. Whoops.

Trying the big LF Booster @ 2500 thrust, also lowered drymass from 11 to 10

Soyuz I dropped down to 800

There's probably more that need it, so if you find anything else wonky post it up. I'm also not terribly worried about balance in the end since I imagine more drag changes will come eventually, so lets not aim for perfection for now.

Freyja heatshield isn't going to use ablation; stock issue with heatsinks means that any part with fuel in it is extremely hard to heat up, so the heatshield won't pass the 500degree threshold to use ablation. it maxes out at about 350 on a decently fast re-entry, but it also gets that hot in space from radiative heat, so I can't lower the threshold. So.. no ablation for now.

Freyja seems to re-enter properly for me. Can you take a screenshot of the vessel when its trying to flip?

Working on that I found that the pod floats below the waterline, and due to another bug (or something) I can't raise it. Thankfully you can use reactionwheels to flip it sideways enough to get the door exposed, and then use SAS to hold it in place if you need to eva into the water for some reason.

Also ran into another parachute issue.. solving that tomorrow. Sorry about the delayed test update, but I think (and hope) we're getting closer at least.

[biohazard15]

So, today was a bit of a mess. Seems like I'd solve one thing (or find that I couldn't due to a stock issue) and would discover two more.

Re Aerospike thrust, typo in the config; key = 0.8 300 was set too 200, so the curve went from 280 down to 200, and then from 200 back to 320. Whoops.

Trying the big LF Booster @ 2500 thrust, also lowered drymass from 11 to 10

Soyuz I dropped down to 800

There's probably more that need it, so if you find anything else wonky post it up. I'm also not terribly worried about balance in the end since I imagine more drag changes will come eventually, so lets not aim for perfection for now.

Freyja heatshield isn't going to use ablation; stock issue with heatsinks means that any part with fuel in it is extremely hard to heat up, so the heatshield won't pass the 500degree threshold to use ablation. it maxes out at about 350 on a decently fast re-entry, but it also gets that hot in space from radiative heat, so I can't lower the threshold. So.. no ablation for now.

Freyja seems to re-enter properly for me. Can you take a screenshot of the vessel when its trying to flip?

Working on that I found that the pod floats below the waterline, and due to another bug (or something) I can't raise it. Thankfully you can use reactionwheels to flip it sideways enough to get the door exposed, and then use SAS to hold it in place if you need to eva into the water for some reason.

Also ran into another parachute issue.. solving that tomorrow. Sorry about the delayed test update, but I think (and hope) we're getting closer at least.

WRT radial boosters and new aero in general:

- New aero and Isp systems clearly do not like Soyuz-type rockets. Soyuz from Tantares ran into the same problem - if you give it sane thrust ASL, it would be underpowered when you drop the boosters. Try to correct that by fiddling with thrust - and you risk to get an insane power while in low atmo, which is obviously not good.

- New aero also does not like long, thin objects like 1.25m "telegraph pole" rockets. None of my old 1.25m designs is able to perform successfully - while they flew well in both pre-1.0 stock and FAR(!!!) aeros. Oh, and they weren't equipped with any fins and used only gimbals and reaction wheels for maneuvering. And they were completely fine until 1.0 hit.

Freyja and ablation: you meant Odin, I presume?

WRT Freyja re-entry:

800km Ap.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Mind that I am used to DRE+FAR re-entries - which is simply "point your heat shield to retrograde and watch the show". I'm still figuring out new aero (aren't we all?), so this might be inaccurate.

Edited May 5, 2015 by biohazard15

[smjjames]

Mind that I am used to DRE+FAR re-entries - which is simply "point your heat shield to retrograde and watch the show". I'm still figuring out new aero (aren't we all?), so this might be inaccurate.

Pointing your shield to retrograde and watching the show still works in the new aero, for the most part anyway since you may have to apply SAS.

[biohazard15]

Pointing your shield to retrograde and watching the show still works in the new aero, for the most part anyway since you may have to apply SAS.

Thing is, in DRE+FAR you didn't need any SAS.

[Tiberion]

That is exactly the same ship I am using to try it out and I can't get it to flip, very weird. I changed the CoM of the part later after testing, so I guess we'll see if it still happens when I push the next release.

biohazard15 you said you had converted everything to DDS already, is everything loading up properly? If so can you zip them up so I can drop them in? No use doing the work again. You should just be able to search+Delete all non .dds files in the Parts folder and then zip it and drop it on dropbox. I'd appreciate it, and you're definitely going in the credits for that and all the testing you do.

[Tiberion]

Yeah after a couple more flights I can make it happen now, though sometimes you can get the heatshield turned around and it'll stay stable. I tried adjusting some stuff and it didn't help at all, much like the floating thing. Possibly related for all I know; for now it looks like we'll make due with SAS-aided entry.

Here's the 2nd test version finally; https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46506740/NovaPunch_Test2_for1_0_2.zip

You MUST delete PartDatabase.cfg from the main KSP folder to upgrade. You should just be able to overwrite the actual mod in Gamedata, no new files just updated versions. Some saved craft might have some connection node issues afterwards though.

Minus some more balancing of engines I think its pretty close to final. I still have to rebuild some example craft. Also maybe DDS textures.

The only major balance tweak since I listed posted them is to the 2.5m bearcat 'single' - I reduced its thrust to 900 and adjusted Isp and mass accordingly; it was overlapping with the M50 a bit and now it adds a nice 2nd-stage engines (Skipper-like) while still working as radial booster engines.

Here's the full rolling list of what has been worked on or looked at so far, let me know if I missed something;

Parachutes. - fixed

Odin heatshield attachment - fixed (mostly)

Yawmaster SM attachment - done

More smoke! -done

added gimbal range - needs testing!

fixed mini-decoupler gap

engine flameout sound: stock bug with non ModuleEnginesFX-based engines

removed ModuleSAS from reactionwheels, pods, added sizenodes where appropriate

Bearcat 3x thrust 2400 -> 2500 - done

2.5m Bearcat single thrust dropped from 1400 to 900, ISP and drymass adjusted (now suitable for 2nd stage lifting, like a more poweful Skipper)

Heavy Struts - fixed?

Add Ablator - done

Freyja re-entry orientation - Bug confirmed, not sure how to fix

Freyja floating level - cannot fix

Odin heatshield not using ablator - cannot fix

Nerf LFBooster massively - done

Radial chute wobblyness - done

[biohazard15]

biohazard15 you said you had converted everything to DDS already, is everything loading up properly? If so can you zip them up so I can drop them in? No use doing the work again. You should just be able to search+Delete all non .dds files in the Parts folder and then zip it and drop it on dropbox. I'd appreciate it, and you're definitely going in the credits for that and all the testing you do.

I've used this tool: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/98672-WIN-KSP-to-DDS-texture-converter

Everything seems to be fine, no white parts, glitchy textures and such. Used it since 0.90 and DDS Loader.

[biohazard15]

Freyja ablator: 1000? I meant something about 300... Thing can easily survive interplanetary speeds (did a test with 82000 km AP, and it used only about 300 of 1000).

Single Bearcat: It was used as 2nd stage engine in this 0.22 design. Still flies nicely, although a bit slower. All in all, I like the changes.

Booster gimbals: they help... I think. I routinely strap some reaction wheels anyway, so I would suggest taking this to someone who is more realism-oriented (flying without extremely powerful reaction wheels blocks and such).

Odin heatshield: it still has some problems with attachment, but I guess that simply cannot be fixed (I suppose it has something to do with node placement - central node might become obscured by landing legs' nodes, which causes editor to go mad). Rotate the camera 45 degrees left or right, so your cursor is pointing at the engine nozzles - that helps to attach it.

[Tiberion]

Yeah I started out with 1800 on the freyja ablator, thats how much the stock 3.75m shield has. Lowered it to 1000 later but it still never uses nearly all of it. Lowered it to 500 now.

Here's test 3: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46506740/NovaPunch_Test3_for1_0_2.zip

You'll need to delete NovaPunch2 from your gamedata folder this time before installing because I converted the textures to DDS, so the old ones must go. The partdatabase.cfg should be fine this time.

It's important that people try this one out to make sure the textures are loading properly on a variety of setups. Please and thank you. Note: download size is down 30mb and ingame usage should be much better.

The only other change is a small config tweak on the 5m stockFairing clone.

Re: Odin shield - yeah its an issue with all the nodes, the editor does not like it. Not sure I can get it any better; spinning the camera a bit does help.

If we don't find anymore issues hopefully I can get some craft built and get everything ready to publish later this evening. Finally

[biohazard15]

DDS: Loads fine for me, in both DirectX and OpenGL modes. nVidia graphics.

5m "fairing" is still buggy for me. I suggest removing them and telling people to use Procedural Fairings mod instead of this stock abomination if they want 5m fairings (or, better to say, if they want REAL fairings! Yeah, I'm a stock "fairing" hater)

After a quick looking over the configs, I've noticed that some entry costs is still off-balance. Part costs can be balanced only after some career mode play, which I haven't done yet.

WRT costs, I play with a custom MM patch (made that myself) which brings NP prices in balance with stock and KW prices. It's most likely outdated for now, but I'll check it once KW gets updated (should be mid-May) and post it.

EDIT: Found another bug - nosecones doesn't have their bottom nodes fixed (I mean "x.xx meter nosecones"). Found that bug in TV1, but I was sure that someone reported it...

Edited May 6, 2015 by biohazard15

[Tiberion]

KSP 2.09 is now available on KerbalStuff

Thanks to everyone who submitted feedback. It's by no means "finished" but I think its in a pretty good place. I decided not to mess with the costs for now, we can do a deeper dive on career after getting all the technicals re-polished.

Fixed a few more things from Test#3:

The conical soyuz booser had 8000 thrust instead of 800.

I think I fixed the 5m fairing - I know they aren't perfect but they are what we have right now.

I fixed the fairing nosecones that didn't get their bottom nodes tweaked, so they'll attach now.

The craft files are rebuilt - I edited the old ones and flew them up to space, they seem to be working fine, but let me know if there are issues. Subassemblies included.

Dropbox mirror incoming in a few minutes, will be on front page (along with the full changelog)

Enjoy! Leave feedback!

I need a nap.

[smjjames]

You deserve a nap

Awesome that it's now fully compatible with 1.0.

[Papa_Joe]

Thanks so much for the update. I'm definitely aware that it is no small feat.

As you are "well aware", this is a "must have" mod.

[biohazard15]

Hooray, now I can finally play career!

Well, sort of... there are several mods that either not updated (KW and RLA) or are in development (SCANSat)...

[Toyotawolf]

Hooray, now I can finally play career!

Well, sort of... there are several mods that either not updated (KW and RLA) or are in development (SCANSat)...

I was so sad about how much the Orbital Berthas 2.5m power was nerfed....*crys*....Tiberion i think the engine has lost it's right to wear a trucker hat, it is no longer powerful enough

[severedsolo]

Yeah! Thanks for all your hard work, I can only imagine how much time you spent on this one update.

[biohazard15]

I was so sad about how much the Orbital Berthas 2.5m power was nerfed....*crys*....Tiberion i think the engine has lost it's right to wear a trucker hat, it is no longer powerful enough

Nerfed? Where? Sure, it has its vacuum Isp decreased from 405 to 345, but that's not a killing blow.

[Toyotawolf]

Nerfed? Where? Sure, it has its vacuum Isp decreased from 405 to 345, but that's not a killing blow.

Well before i used to build my landers with 1 orbital bertha 2.5m on top of a 2.5m x i think 9m or 6m NP tank cant remember which and then i could lift of from kerbins pad with just that(was how i test my landers to see if they can land on Kerbin without parachutes) and it used to, now when i do the same test it just sits there blasting away not moving, like it doesn't have enough get up and go, plus on landing, if its in atmo, it is almost like it cant fight the gravity and you end up plowing into the ground spectacularly.