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

[wasmic]

Is there any chance of getting the 5*2.5 m engine mount back, but with the new model from the 5*Bearcat 2? I really need to make a cluster with the biggest KW 2.5m engines.

[Guest]

Also, any chance of a 4-nozzle 5m engine and a single nozzle 3m one? NP is lacking in that, and I'd like to make a Saturn V replica (I had to use Procedural Fairings for my current one).

[nhnifong]

Well, we'd be talking things made in early July of 2011, and there are still parts from then in NovaPunch, in some form.

Examples: SundayPunch made the Yawmaster pod in a very early version because the pod torque was low and some rockets needed more turning power (this was way before gimbals and RCS, so it was pod torque and winglets to control things) - You can see that Sundaypunch started his thread on July 8th: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/59 Note that it was the 59th thread ever on the forum. So thats pretty early. We split the yawmaster model up into 3 pieces and re-purposed it for NovaPunch, but the original underlying mesh is still there.

Nova also made parts, though he didn't publicly post them til the end of July. Not sure when he first made them, but they're virtually the same age as Sunday's parts; http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/946 -- Almost 900 threads from July 8th to the 23rd; so you can see that things started off pretty fast when the game went public.

Another author with parts in Novapunch is Captain slug, and his 1st part is still in the pack virtually unchanged. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/822 That thread has the large landing leg and the landing peg, and another thread on the same day has the radial parachute, which I updated to the new .Mu format, but is otherwise unchanged.

I wasn't around until September, so I don't know for sure. I know Harv's bother Moach also made a Launch Escape tower around that time, and Deusoverkill also made a new pod (he of course went on to make more things later before retiring)

There was also the Retro pack: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/485 which is pretty darned early.

There may have been some single-part mods before Wobbly rockets, but I don't recall them. Someone like Harv of Skunky might be able to give a definitive answer.

Thanks for the history. I vaguely remember some of those pictures. thank goodness they were hosted on imgur, so they're still around.

Novapunch has become a legacy.

[Blaylock1988]

I have a strange problem. With this mod pack installed my game crashes every time I click Continue Saved Game. When I remove the pack, it works just fine. Could it be from having too many mods installed and no more memory? lol

[Keome]

If you have too many mods, you're going to crash, yes. There are a number of threads discussing how to trim parts to reduce the memory use.

Assuming you're using NovaPunch + KW Rocketry + B9 which is a common set of mods:

Trim all of the excess fuel tanks. Aside from their appearance, they are all nearly identical.

Remove all of the fairings and use Procedural Fairings instead. That alone removes 31 parts.

Trim down the number of engines. Some of them are identical or nearly identical to stock engines. Also, NovaPunch and KW have the 3.5 and 5 meter engines and some can be removed.

I have a large number of mods, NovaPunch, Ioncross, Fustek, and so on. My mods only take up less than 400mb of hard drive space, compared to 700mb for the stock parts, but the mods give me twice the parts that stock does. I also have a full set of parts for just about anything I could ever want to make, and I don't have memory issues and things load fast.

[Blaylock1988]

I have already trimmed my mods. I was running the exact same install with KW first and it was running perfectly fine. I deleted KW and installed NovaPunch and the game stopped working. Removing NovaPunch fixed it. KW was just annoying me because every part seemed too weak.

[smunisto]

Novapunch has much more parts than KW.You could have been running near the memory limit, so the additional parts from Novapunch could have caused your game to run out of memory.Depends which KW you are using - the optimized pack(unofficial one) or the official one?The original one is a huge memory hog, the optimized a little better. In any case Nova has more parts and probably a larger memory footprint. Remove the parts you don't want from Nova and try again. For example I removed all the adapter plates, all the "flange" parts, the large amount of radial solid boosters and some other engines that are using old textures and have doubles from stock/other mod packs I use. Removed the 1.25m tanks too - they hold less fuel than the stock ones.

[Tiberion]

Definitely a bigger memory footprint, we downsized some engine and tank textures, and that is about it so far. Will do some more for the next release (which is not underway yet)

[Mokmo]

Btw the example ships in the zip files... they need an update! Mostly since the SAS revamp.

[HeadHunter67]

I tried using the Captain Morgan last night - with the default staging as it comes out of the box... and when I got into orbit and jettisoned the fairings, I found myself in a junkyard of scrap, with the lander floating free and the command module possessing no RCS - sure, the Odin module has the nose thruster pack... but no monopropellant on the CSM at all. Making it impossible to do an Apollo-style mission with the most arguable Apollo-style craft I've yet seen.

[NoMrBond]

Definitely a bigger memory footprint, we downsized some engine and tank textures, and that is about it so far. Will do some more for the next release (which is not underway yet)

Are there plans to use part instancing (is that the right terminology?) with the next release to save on memory footprint

i.e. all the Reaction Wheels/Radial Aero Decouplers/Stack Decouplers use one model/texture with multiple part.cfgs (with appropriate rescaleFactor/mass etc for each size etc) calling it?

[HeadHunter67]

I hope so - that seems the best way to go for mods and it really makes a difference in how much space a mod uses.

[Tiberion]

Yes, will be part-combining where possible.

Headhunter: mono-propellant is in the trunk part with the engine (thats the "SM" part of the CSM construct)

[HeadHunter67]

Headhunter: mono-propellant is in the trunk part with the engine (thats the "SM" part of the CSM construct)

Indeed - but that part is not present on the Captain Morgan craft.

Also, when I try to build an Odin CSM (with the pack and trunk), RCS Build Aid shows me that the built-in thrusters are extremely unbalanced, causing a lot of unnecessary torque. Any solution for this?

Edited September 7, 2013 by HeadHunter67

[Tiberion]

No, there's a new pod planned to replace all of that. Its ancient at this point, made well before there was modularization.

The game's built-in RCS handler seems to manage it okay though, you just need to be in precision mode when using translation controls (Caps Lock)

[HeadHunter67]

Thanks. I'll see if I can figure out how to rework the craft in the meantime. From my understanding of the trunk text, it seems like it's got its own propulsion and doesn't need an engine on it?

[Tiberion]

yeah its got 4 thruster sets on the bottom and the fuel is packed in (along with monoprop) and then the trunk has one RCS group on the bottom half of the vessel and the 'Flight Pack' has a matching set on the top.

The "Odin Orbital Transport Vehicle" craft file should have it by itself with no launcher attached and the action groups set up to activate/deactivate the engines and such.

[EKS21]

I got a new laptop, looking foward to playing with actual graphics!

[Galacticruler]

I got a new laptop, looking foward to playing with actual graphics!

Prepair for nicly cooked, golden brown, crispy human legs. or far over-cooked desk. that is on fire. Laptops are not a good idea for gaming. but go ahead, my opinions are not yours.

[viperwolf]

I think that depends on the laptop, I had to get one and start playing all my games on it. I had to leave my overpowered desktop for now. I can run everything maxed so far. I have noticed it runs hotter when playing KSP over Arma3,BF3, or racing games. make note, i said i CAN run maxed out, however i use custom settings for everything. KSP is maxed, but Arma and bf are between High and unltra.

[HeadHunter67]

The "Odin Orbital Transport Vehicle" craft file should have it by itself with no launcher attached and the action groups set up to activate/deactivate the engines and such.

OK, now I just have to integrate it with the Captain Morgan launcher without compromising the payload structure.

Edited September 7, 2013 by HeadHunter67

[SeventhArchitect]

I would only get this for Aesthetics of being able to make ships (notice I didn't say rockets...) that have a tier 4 cylinder in it's body.Tier 3's just don't cut it sometimes, can't make real big ships...

But I'm satisfied with what I got, anyway, so why complain?

[wasmic]

Is there any chance of a 1.25m nuclear engine in NovaPunch? Hopefully something with tons of complicated piping.

[Kerbal01]

There is a NTR, last time I checked it was 1.25 m.

[Tiberion]

The current NTR in NP is 2.5m (its the original NERVA engine, way older than the actual stock NTR)

I know frizzank made some more nuke engines for the next release, if you go back to page 176 you'll see some screens of them. We'll see what happens.