[0.25]KSP Interstellar (Magnetic Nozzles, ISRU Revamp) Version 0.13

[WaveFunctionP]

If you have the latest version of Active Texture Manager (v3.1) there is a Tool bar button fix for Interstellar v0.11.

Change the contents of the WarpPlugin Active Texture Management config to this to avoid a tiny tool bar button. In the folder GameData\BoulderCo\ActiveTextureManagerConfigs there is a WarpPlugin config, copy and paste the following over what is there:

ACTIVE_TEXTURE_MANAGER_CONFIG

{

folder = WarpPlugin

enabled = true

OVERRIDES

{

WarpPlugin/[^/]*

{

compress = true

mipmaps = false

scale = 1

max_size = 0

make_not_readable = false

}

WarpPlugin/PlanetResourceData/.*

{

compress = false

mipmaps = false

scale = 1

max_size = 0

make_not_readable = false

}

WarpPlugin/megajoule_click2

{

compress = false

mipmaps = false

scale = 1

max_size = 0

make_not_readable = false

}

WarpPlugin/thermal_click

{

compress = false

mipmaps = false

scale = 1

max_size = 0

make_not_readable = false

}

}

}

Don't have Interstellar currently installed on my personal install so if someone can verify this works please...

I haven't noticed an issue. The button sizes should be well below the size that atm modifies.

[g00bd0g]

When launching I am getting this error but I don't understand?

"fusion reactor plasma heating cannot be guaranteed"

Additionally my DT reactor only goes to approx 20% no matter big the generator or plasma engines are?

Please pardon my newbness ;p

[Green Skull]

I haven't noticed an issue. The button sizes should be well below the size that atm modifies.

Not all ways the case as on the aggressive version of ATM the reduction in scale of textures is 2 by default so textures are half the size (obviously) and the buttons have a habit of becoming tiny. A small problem but no less annoying.

[NeoAcario]

So for those of you who want to build an AM Power Station at Jool I have some numbers for you.

At optimal orbit you can get 573ish AM per collector per day. If you shoot for about 59% efficiency on the generator with everything upgraded you can average about 141MW of power per AM Collector.

In order to run the reactor constantly you will need....

63 Collectors for an upgraded 1.25m AM Reactor

501 Collectors for an upgraded 2.5m AM Reactor

1692 Collectors for an upgraded 3.75m AM Reactor

The only good news for the larger reactors is once you set it up you never have to go back to the lagmonster(craft) again.

Now that receivers actually throttle themselves... I may just do this. Gonna be a crap ton of Heat Sinks. But! I'll be able to power every single station I have in the Kerbolar System. Well... since I only use transmitted power for that... and never for plasma thrusters or for any ship systems.

I'll have to set up a lot more relays...

~Steve

EDIT

Relays only receive heat equal to 15% of the power they're relaying.. right? Because of the transceiver efficiency of 85%? Or am I mistaken on that?

Edited April 7, 2014 by NeoAcario

[Temeriki]

Just do what I do... I have a folder inside my downloads folder marked 'KSP Mods'. It's always there... taunting me... holding all of my mod downloads. It comes in handy now and then when I want to check for updates (I know what version I have already) and for whenever I reinstall KSP.

~Steve

EDIT

Well that... and I keep a lot of the personal stuff I've gone and edited in my dropbox.

I deleted the folder that my mod backups and ksp installs were in.. By the time I realized what I did and ran recuva most of the sectors were already overwritten. This is what happens when you decide you need to free up harddrive space at 4am. My 5tbs were 75% full, Im used to 75% full meaning its time to clean so 4am brain panicked and said to clean the things... My brain still remembers the horrors of the days of mb sized hdds, its like people who lived through he depression are hoarders. I thought I was only deleting duplicate files when I realized I was in c:blah/blah/blah/desktop/KSP and not f:blah/blah/blah/cdrive backup from 5 years ago/desktop

[Hremsfeld]

So, now that cumulative radiation exposure has been added on what appears to be a per-mission basis: Is there anything that we as players can do to limit exposure? The cupola and Station Science's science lab seem to be far and away the best choice, as both have a rad hardness of 33.75, compared to, say, the Interstellar Science Laboratory with a Rad Hardness of 9.38

Could we perhaps use asteroids as rad-shelters? They're certainly not lacking for mass...

[WaveFunctionP]

So, now that cumulative radiation exposure has been added on what appears to be a per-mission basis: Is there anything that we as players can do to limit exposure? The cupola and Station Science's science lab seem to be far and away the best choice, as both have a rad hardness of 33.75, compared to, say, the Interstellar Science Laboratory with a Rad Hardness of 9.38

Could we perhaps use asteroids as rad-shelters? They're certainly not lacking for mass...

It's not balanced right now, and only visual. There are no consequences yet.

[AndreyATGB]

If someone actually manages to build a craft with enough collectors to run a 3.75m AM reactor I'll be impressed. The collectors have a mass of 4t right? That makes the mass of the collectors alone 6768t. I honestly doubt the game can handle that many parts.

[WaveFunctionP]

If someone actually manages to build a craft with enough collectors to run a 3.75m AM reactor I'll be impressed. The collectors have a mass of 4t right? That makes the mass of the collectors alone 6768t. I honestly doubt the game can handle that many parts.

The game also does not need that amount of power. Plus it's much easier to put a bunch of fusion reactors in orbit.

[merendel]

Relays only receive heat equal to 15% of the power they're relaying.. right? Because of the transceiver efficiency of 85%? Or am I mistaken on that?

Unless somethign changed in this update that I missed relay mode does not give the craft any waste heat nor would it partciularly mater if it did as WH isnt tracked off focus.

[NeoAcario]

The game also does not need that amount of power. Plus it's much easier to put a bunch of fusion reactors in orbit.

I prefer my coast based fusion station that I'm in the middle of designing/building. Park it literally barely enough off the coast to float.. spin it's own deuterium and deliver lithium by truck and KAS. Double it as a tritium breeder. 3.75m fusion reactors still breed more than they use, no? I haven't even checked since the new KSPI update. I probably should.

~Steve

[WaveFunctionP]

I prefer my coast based fusion station that I'm in the middle of designing/building. Park it literally barely enough off the coast to float.. spin it's own deuterium and deliver lithium by truck and KAS. Double it as a tritium breeder. 3.75m fusion reactors still breed more than they use, no? I haven't even checked since the new KSPI update. I probably should.

~Steve

Might want to put an extractor on there to extract lithium from the water. The extraction rate is awful though, but I guess with enough of them you might break even. Or edit the abundance in kerbins ocean. Lithium extraction rates is so low that it might as well not be a feature in the current version. Not something that I wouldn't mind modifying personally, as the current rates just aren't fun.

And afaik, fusion reactors still breed ever so slightly more than they use.

Edited April 7, 2014 by WaveFunctionP

[WaveFunctionP]

Unless somethign changed in this update that I missed relay mode does not give the craft any waste heat nor would it partciularly mater if it did as WH isnt tracked off focus.

^^

Often times my relays consist of an array, probe core, and 4 stock deployable solar panels.

[TMS]

Has anybody written any guidance for this mod (other than the wiki which, unfortunately, isn't very helpful)?

Like, something simple that says "start here by doing this..." which teaches you the basics.

Second time I've tried this.

[Tristavius]

Unless somethign changed in this update that I missed relay mode does not give the craft any waste heat nor would it partciularly mater if it did as WH isnt tracked off focus.

Even more importantly, unless something has changed in this update, I don't believe relays actually relay Power, just line-of-sight.

For example during Jool's closest approach to Kerbin, one of the large fold-out receivers is able to pick up about 30% of the power I'm outputting around Kerbin where as the mid-sized hexagonal one has dropped off to only around 1-2%. Now what I originally expected to happen was that a relay that's capable of receiving 30% would then relay that power to other craft in orbit of Jool but that is not the case. Three craft in orbit of Jool and blocked from Kerbin each with a different size of receiver show that the small antenna was picking up totally negligible power, the mid-sized hexagon was getting 2% or so and the large was getting 30%, despite all of them being connected to the relay.

Make sense?

Has anyone else been able to confirm this? Has there been any change?

[Tristavius]

Also: Bu Report

The new 'throttle' on receivers is great, but I've immediately noticed that engines are still able to draw the full theoretical 100% power, even if I'm throttling it down much lower. While rather useful for the player it is of course also a little unbalanced.

This behaviors was observed on a ship consisting of a 1.25m Plasma Thruster running on Quantum Vacuum with 3 of the smallest receivers (only 1 active).

[WaveFunctionP]

OK, so I could use some help with my power reception code. I've finally gotten it to a point where it seems fairly reliable at finding and setting the correct maximum reception cap. Atleast for the cases I've tested so far (electric engines). The problem is that I want reception to scale with the power draw of the engines, not simply use maximum. So, I tied to throttle, and I've even mess around with using some of the thrust calculation code from the electricenginemodule, but no matter how I do it, I the scaling isn't perfect. True, the cap will reduce as a function of throttle, but not at the same rate as the power draw for the engines. The engines appear to draw power non-linearly in some way, and I've been unable reproduce the function that replicates that behavior.

Here's the current version of the code I'm using:

// dynamicly configure power reception
                List<Part> parts = vessel.parts;  // lets find the maxPower in those part configs for each engine
                float eEnginePower = 0; //we'll save total electric engine power here
                foreach (Part part in parts)
                {
                    foreach (PartModule partModules in part.Modules) //search part modules
                    {
                        var eEngine = partModules as ElectricEngineController;

                        if (eEngine != null) // is it an electric engine?
                        {
                            var engine = eEngine.part.Modules["ModuleEngines"] as ModuleEngines;

                            if (engine.isOperational) // is it activated?
                            {
                                // add each engine's power that we've found
                                eEnginePower += eEngine.maxPower; 
                            }
                        }
                    }

                }

                minDemand = getCurrentResourceDemand("Megajoules") + getCurrentResourceDemand("ElectricCharge");// fallback for minimum demand
                maxDemand = eEnginePower * FlightGlobals.ActiveVessel.ctrlState.mainThrottle; // save the maximum demand scaled to the current throttle

                //if throttled up, recieve the maximum of demand up to the maximum available power (ie. atmo, dist, angle, total supply)
                if (FlightGlobals.ActiveVessel.ctrlState.mainThrottle > 0.0f) powerInputMegajoules = Math.Min(maxDemand, total_power / 1000.0 * GameConstants.microwave_dish_efficiency * atmosphericefficiency);
                // else only recieve the minimum demand (just enough to keep the lights running) again, if enough available power
                else powerInputMegajoules = Math.Min(minDemand, total_power / 1000.0 * GameConstants.microwave_dish_efficiency * atmosphericefficiency);

And help would be greatly appreciated. I know it works pretty good, but I'd like to keep utilization at 100% at all times, not just 0 and 100% throttle. Call me a perfectionist, but it's driving me batty. If anyone else has a better understanding of the electric engines power draw function, please let me know what it is. I've look at the code for the engines, but it's very hard for me to understand.

Edited April 7, 2014 by WaveFunctionP

[Donziboy2]

Instead of basing it on throttle why not set it to give 101% of utilized power?

Making things complicated for something like this is not worth the trouble.

[WaveFunctionP]

Instead of basing it on throttle why not set it to give 101% of utilized power?

Making things complicated for something like this is not worth the trouble.

Say you start at 0 MJ, or even 1MJ current draw. Now try and get off the launch pad multiplying that by 1.01 each frame. Trust me, I started simple.

First, using current demand. (had to use a lot hacks to get it off the lanch pad)

Second, using a roving cap optimization routine that tried to match with current demand and scale it up or down under certain conditions. (less hacks, but cap response could be alternatively sluggish or unpredictable)

Third, making discrete states and saving either minimum or maximum values. (wouldn't find the true maximum draw, has issues with throttle control)

And now this.

All of those with lots of iterations and tweaks between and fixing compatibility problems with other mods like mechjeb.

Edited April 7, 2014 by WaveFunctionP

[Donziboy2]

Say you start at 0 MJ, or even 1MJ current draw. Now try and get off the launch pad multiplying that by 1.01 each frame. Trust me, I started simple.

First, using current demand. (had to use a lot hacks to get it off the lanch pad)

Second, using a roving cap optimization routine that tried to match with current demand and scale it up or down under certain conditions. (less hacks, but cap response could be alternatively sluggish or unpredictable)

Third, making discrete states and saving either minimum or maximum values. (wouldn't find the true maximum draw, has issues with throttle control)

And now this.

All of those with lots of iterations and tweaks between and fixing compatibility problems with other mods like mechjeb.

Have you tried basing it on the current MJ resources?

Set it to give 100% network power if your at or below 50% and scale linearly from 50% to 100% MJ resources.

Edit....

New Module Manager 2.0.1!!!!

*LINK*

Edited April 7, 2014 by Donziboy2

[db48x]

Does anyone know what the units are for the resources for KSPI? I've looked all over the plugin folders and can't find a resource config to check, but I'm assuming it's all in liters/kg. Was trying to set up some configs to link TACLS with KSPI and wanted to find the correct numbers.

Antimatter is in milligrams (mg).

[Grunf911]

Does any of you get a bunch of NaNs with 0.11

I do have a lot of mods though, not sure if it is interstellar.

Happens if i load older craft that uses i.e. fusion etc

[WaveFunctionP]

Does any of you get a bunch of NaNs with 0.11

I do have a lot of mods though, not sure if it is interstellar.

Happens if i load older craft that uses i.e. fusion etc

You may need to update your tree and research the new fusion node.

[Arrowmaster]

Is there still an issue with antimatter crossing docking ports? Is it collector to tank, tank to reactor, or both that has the problem?

[Hremsfeld]

It's not balanced right now, and only visual. There are no consequences yet.

Okay. I thought I'd see Fractal mention it at least, like with waste heat being introduced as a non-consequential thing one version before it became important. It'd be nice to be able to start planning my ships around how likely the kerbals inside are to glow in the dark.

Interestingly, the exposure seems to be on a per-mission basis. Battrey there was freshly back from a solo High Solar Orbit goo/materials/crew/EVA report mission, where he got a few microSieverts, but his cumulative exposure was about the same as his other two shipmates here.