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

[MaLuS]

@Fractal_UK

just a small request the definition of "lqdwater" could you possibly change this to just "water" in order for it to be more compatible with other mods like TAC LS and universal storage for example, I have done the change myself on my own version with no problems and now can use the refineries to gather "water" which i can use in TAC LS and universal storage to make hydrogen and oxygen for fuel cells and such but i can also use the universal storage to make LFO with this as well so if you could possibly change the next version to have the definition "water" to keep this compatibility i would be very grateful

Edited November 14, 2014 by MaLuS

[ABZB]

Kerbin, 900km, 0deg. According to the little tab on the collector I should be pulling roughly 4mg per day x2 collectors.

in warpplugin/resources/resourcesnuclear.cfg - check if in the antimatter resource node the following is the case:

flowMode = ALL_VESSEL

transfer = PUMP

[undercoveryankee]

in warpplugin/resources/resourcesnuclear.cfg - check if in the antimatter resource node the following is the case:

flowMode = ALL_VESSEL

transfer = PUMP

Some people prefer to leave the flow mode on Antimatter set to STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH, the way it is in Fractal's package, so it flows the same as liquid fuel and oxidizer. If you're using STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH, some configs will need fuel lines (from the tank to the collector, as if the collector were an engine; parts that produce resources do so by calling the "consume" function with a negative number), but erring on the side of "not connected" is sometimes what you want.

There were some reports with Interstellar 0.10.3 and 0.11 that Antimatter with the stock STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH flow mode wouldn't cross docking ports even when LFO would, so make sure you have a tank in the same module as the collector.

[Bolter]

How do you get the Fusion Engine to work? I have the liquid fuel, tritium and deuterium. I have a 3.75m Fusion reactor and a 3.75 Electric Generator. Everything is powered up. However, when I throttle up my fusion engine nothing happens, and according to my thrust It should be lifting. Help?

The fusion reactors are broken because there is no more "Deuterium" resource in 0.13, only "LqdDeutirium."

Thus the Vista engine which runs on "LqdDeuterium" works, but the fusion engines run on solid Deuterium pellets, so you can't fuel them anymore. I even grabbed the [RESOURCE] section off a fusion reactor from a 0.12 save file and copied it into my 0.13 save file. The "Lithium" was gone, the Tritium was there OK, but the Deuterium had disappeared, so I figured that Fractal removed solid deuterium pellets from the DLL as you can no longer add it through save file editing.

Just stick with the Vista until this release gets updated.

I hope that helps,

Bolter

[undercoveryankee]

The fusion reactors are broken because there is no more "Deuterium" resource in 0.13, only "LqdDeutirium."

Thus the Vista engine which runs on "LqdDeuterium" works, but the fusion engines run on solid Deuterium pellets, so you can't fuel them anymore. I even grabbed the [RESOURCE] section off a fusion reactor from a 0.12 save file and copied it into my 0.13 save file. The "Lithium" was gone, the Tritium was there OK, but the Deuterium had disappeared, so I figured that Fractal removed solid deuterium pellets from the DLL as you can no longer add it through save file editing.

Just stick with the Vista until this release gets updated.

I hope that helps,

Bolter

If you have a clean install of Interstellar 0.13, all of those issues with the deuterium rename have already been fixed, and all fusion reactors will run on LqdDeuterium. You may have stale or conflicting files somewhere, or you may have discovered the hard way that the 2.5m and 3.75m tokamak fusion reactors no longer store any fuel in the reactor itself. If you want to use those reactors, you'll have to have tankage for their fuels (the deuterium cryostat on the propulsion tab) somewhere they can draw from.

[Northstar1989]

NorthStar made a good point about a universal specific impulse cap for all propellants not being as elegant as properly accounting for the temperature of different elements a couple of pages back and I certainly will take that into account in future changes.

@Fractal_UK

I made a good point! Awesome!

Now I just wish I could hear something back about the Nitrogen fuel-mode for the plasma thrusters... I feel like I'm just talking to a wall every time I suggest this, but I *did not* suggest those just out of features-bloat type thinking. I have a serious use in mind for them (Propulsive Fluid Accumulators) that absolutely would not work without them, so long as I can only scoop atmospheres *below* the Karman Line... (70 km in KSP)

Nitrogen plasma thrusters also provide a useful middle-ground in the TWR/ISP relationship based on molecular mass- N2 (diatomic molecular mass = 28) is lighter than Argon (molecular mass 39.948) and Xenon (molecular mass 131.293) despite being a diatomic molecule, but heavier than Lithium (molecular mass 6.941) and Hydrogen (diatomic molecular mass = 2), and is far more abundant/common than any of those- it is present in the atmospheres of Earth (78.1%), Mars (1.9% - compared to 2.1% for Argon), and Titan (between 4.9% in the troposphere and 98.4% in the stratosphere: I'm assuming Laythe is a Titan analogue, as there's really no better direct parallels in the real solar system).

As I've pointed out before, the ability to harvest atmospheric nitrogen would also be *incredibly* useful for ISRU production of Ammonia (though... the Haber Process still seems to be missing from KSP-Interstellar 0.13?), as it would allow a player to, say, scoop Nitrogen from the edge of Laythe's atmosphere, and combine it with Hydrogen (LiquidFuel for those not using RealFuels) scooped from Jool, without having to actually land on either body or carry the refinery equipment into Laythe's atmosphere...

Regards,

Northstar

P.S. I've still got my fingers crossed for a Karbonite-style ability in KSP-Interstellar to scoop atmospheres from ABOVE the Karman Line, at low concentrations while in time-warp, by the way...

Edited November 13, 2014 by Northstar1989

[Bolter]

If you have a clean install of Interstellar 0.13, all of those issues with the deuterium rename have already been fixed, and all fusion reactors will run on LqdDeuterium. You may have stale or conflicting files somewhere, or you may have discovered the hard way that the 2.5m and 3.75m tokamak fusion reactors no longer store any fuel in the reactor itself. If you want to use those reactors, you'll have to have tankage for their fuels (the deuterium cryostat on the propulsion tab) somewhere they can draw from.

It must be a mod conflict then, as I was aware of the no fuel in the reactor situation, so I was adding Tritium and Deuterium to the craft. I just can't get my fusion reactors to consume liquid Deuterium at all. And yes, I have plenty of MJ to run the lasers on the Tokomak.

Thanks for the head's up. I still have several mods from 0.23.5 that seemed to still work with 0.25. Perhaps one or more are causing a problem.

[sp1989]

I've been looking through the pages and I am confused about how to get the tech tree manager to work properly. I understand a litte about what needs to be done but its not clearly defined on any of the past pages yet. I might be missing it, but if its not too much trouble could someone please explain to me the fix for the tech tree manager. Thank You.

[WaveFunctionP]

Now I just wish I could hear something back about the Nitrogen fuel-mode for the plasma thrusters...

Just add an entry for nitrogen to electricenginespropellants.cfg and a resource definition and make some tanks for the nitrogen.

[DivisionByZero]

Tokamaks don't use lasers, except in diagnostic systems. It's the inertial fusion reactors that use the lasers for heating.

[Atrius129]

Do one of you guys have the fix to get zzz's foldable warp drives working?

[Yaivenov]

So I think I narrowed down my problem with the AM collectors. I launched a bunch of test vehicles with different configurations. It seems that when you have a collector nested with another part (like say, a small reactor and generator due to your space plane being size constricted) it borks whatever code. The AM collectors appear to be working, but no AM gets deposited. Alternately I've had radiators and/or reactors that were part clipped also ceased functioning seemingly randomly.

Having the AM collect enmeshed in the Mk-2 space plane body did not seem to interfere with function, only when you had other active parts nested together with the collectors.

Do one of you guys have the fix to get zzz's foldable warp drives working?

I just added the technode line of code to their files pulled from the other warp engines. It's probably rather kludge but it seems to work for the time being. It would be outstanding if whatever issues were worked out and the folding drives were included in Interstellar. Basically a must-have if you want an FTL space plane that doesn't look like a guppy.

[cicatrix]

I have an issue with the warp drive visual effects. I don't have pics at the moment, but the 'warp trail' is simply black (no textures apparently). I have texture reduction pack installed. Might this be the cause?

[xfrankie]

I have an issue with the warp drive visual effects. I don't have pics at the moment, but the 'warp trail' is simply black (no textures apparently). I have texture reduction pack installed. Might this be the cause?

Either that or it may be caused by Active Texture Management (assuming you have it). My trail disappeared too after installing ATM, but hey, it's just aesthetics...

[cicatrix]

Ehm, is there any way to fix it (aside from uninstalling ATM)?

[Rabada]

So my Large Flat Radiators are very red. Are they supposed to look like this? It seems like a bit much to me. Does anyone know of anything that can cause this? I don't use those parts much, so I can live without them, but they can be useful.

[undercoveryankee]

Ehm, is there any way to fix it (aside from uninstalling ATM)?

You need to modify the ATM config for the "WarpPlugin" folder so the textures used by the warp trail have scale=1 and are readable. I don't have their names in front of me, but they're hard to miss in the WarpPlugin folder. Refer to the ATM thread and documentation for details on editing its configs.

[teepee2345]

there is something wrong with the 0.625m fission reactor. it needs 3 huge radiators to get its heat generation in yellow. also the inline refinerys wont extract anything other than uranium and thorium.

[LayTzz_swe]

Magnetic Nozzles are broken they don't drain fuel, they don't use any fuel, and they have weird attachment nodes

[Yaivenov]

there is something wrong with the 0.625m fission reactor. it needs 3 huge radiators to get its heat generation in yellow. also the inline refinerys wont extract anything other than uranium and thorium.

I've noticed the thermal helper does not account for upgraded heat sinks. It'll show you the improved heat production values for upgraded reactors, but then when it goes to see how much heat dissipation you have it only uses the stock numbers for those.

[undercoveryankee]

Magnetic Nozzles are broken they don't drain fuel, they don't use any fuel, and they have weird attachment nodes

The node locations are as intended. The models display smaller than they should because of the model-scaling fixes in 0.25; does anyone have a link to the post with the fix for that handy?

As far as using fuel, two questions: Are they producing thrust? And what kind of reactor are you attaching them to? They are designed to require a direct connection to a reactor that produces ChargedParticles, LiquidFuel available in the stack, and Megajoules available. If any requirement is missing, the effect is zero thrust and zero fuel usage.

[Dante Montana]

Are you looking for this Edit: to fix nodes? Edit:

@PART[KSPIMagneticNozzle1]:Final
{
    @node_stack_top = 0.0, 0.401, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 1
    @node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.21, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 1
}
@PART[KSPIMagneticNozzle2]:Final
{
    @node_stack_top = 0.0, 0.80, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2
    @node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.50, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2
}
@PART[KSPIMagneticNozzle3]:Final
{
    @node_stack_top = 0.0, 1.205, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 3
    @node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.75, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 3
}

Edited November 13, 2014 by Dante Montana

[teepee2345]

I've noticed the thermal helper does not account for upgraded heat sinks. It'll show you the improved heat production values for upgraded reactors, but then when it goes to see how much heat dissipation you have it only uses the stock numbers for those.

by huge radiators i meant the big black satic radiators

[Coga19000]

By far the godliest mod of all time. If only I had enough memory to use it..

I do have a small objection, though ; the way current Alcubierre Drives work in your mod is very different to how they should in terms of size. The toroidal warp bubble the proposed drive used meant that it had to be with at least as big a. radius as the rest of the ship, and some more, so it could actually be contained within the torus bounds. In many Interstellar so designs, it's not uncommon to see huge ships with a measly ring at a corner, and it really doesn't make sense. If you don't want to add a crapload of parts just for the different sizes, you could use a procedural approach, like the Procedural Fairings mod. Also, integration to the tech tree would mean that, even if they reached that far into the tree, they would need to advance further for their success to be able to accommodate something practically (or unpractically- where the problem is most obvious ) large in them.

Also, an Alcubierre drive requires at least two warp rings, almost at the edges of the ship -once again, because of its own nature. However, I'm willing to gloss over them, for they may be way too tedious to both add and use.

Overall, your mod is smack -dab on the list of unrealistic (but also scientifically plausible) stuff I want in KSP, plus quite a lot of the realistic ones (though I can assure you that a Capacitor part or two could really help those who actually can play with this mod) I have nothing more to say, other than keep just at that pace

[Atrius129]

-Snip

(though I can assure you that a Capacitor part or two could really help those who actually can play with this mod)

I had this issue and and went ahead and made a Kapacitor part for Procedural Parts:

PART
{
    // --- general parameters ---
    name = proceduralKapacitor
    module = Part
    author = Swamp Ig (Modded by Atrius129)

    // --- asset parameters ---
    MODEL
    {
        model = ProceduralParts/Parts/cylinderTank
        scale = 1,1,1
    }
    scale = 1
    rescaleFactor = 1

    // --- node definitions ---
    node_stack_top=0,0.5,0,0,1,0,1
    node_stack_bottom=0,-0.5,0,0,-1,0,1
    node_attach=0,0,0.5,0,0,-1,1

    // --- editor parameters ---
    TechRequired = scienceTech
    entryCost = 8200
    cost = 0 // 880
    category = Utility
    subcategory = 0
    title = Procedural Kapacitor
    manufacturer = Kerbchem Industries
    description = With further refinements to procedural tech, we were able to fill a viscoelastic nanopolymer shell with electroactive particles. This gives you a Kapacitor able to be 

adapted to many shapes.

    // attachment rules: stack, srfAttach, allowStack, allowSrfAttach, allowCollision
    attachRules = 1,1,1,1,0

    // --- standard part parameters ---
    mass = 0.05
    dragModelType = default
    maximum_drag = 0.2
    minimum_drag = 0.2
    angularDrag = 1
    crashTolerance = 8
    maxTemp = 3200

    MODULE
    {
        name = ProceduralPart
        textureSet = Atlas

        diameterMin = 0.01
        lengthMin = 0.01
        volumeMin = 0.001

        TECHLIMIT {
            // Z-100 Charge = 100. 
            name = scienceTech
            diameterMax = 0.5
            lengthMax = 1.0
            // Volume max 0.04 would limit charge to 150, but that's a bit limiting with cyl shapes
            // Push it up just a bit.
            volumeMax = 0.05
        }
        TECHLIMIT {
            // Z-200 Charge = 200. 
            name = electrics
            diameterMax = 1.0
            lengthMax = 1.0

            // Volume max is to limit charge to 300
            volumeMax = 0.08
        }
        TECHLIMIT {
            // Z-400 Charge = 400. Surface mount battery back, but will enable 1.25m banks.
            // They will end up pretty thin, but that's OK.
            name = advElectrics
            diameterMax = 1.75
            lengthMax = 0.75
            // Volume max is to limit charge to 600
            volumeMax = 0.16
        }
        TECHLIMIT {
            // Z-1k Charge = 1000. 1.25m banks.
            name = largeElectrics
            // Volume max is to limit charge to 2400
            volumeMax = 0.64
        }
        TECHLIMIT {
            // Z-4k Charge = 4000. Enables 2.5m batteries.
            name = specializedElectrics
            diameterMax = 3.0
            lengthMax = 1.5
            // Volume max is to limit charge to 4800
            volumeMax = 1.28
        }


        TECHLIMIT {
            // Make everything unlimited for metaMaterials
            name = metaMaterials
            diameterMin = 0.01
            diameterMax = Infinity
            lengthMin = 0.01
            lengthMax = Infinity
            volumeMin = 0.001
            volumeMax = Infinity
        }
    }
    MODULE
    {
        name = ProceduralShapeCylinder
        displayName = Cylinder

        length = 0.375
        diameter = 0.375
    }
    MODULE 
    {
        name = ProceduralShapeCone
        displayName = Cone
        techRequired = electrics

        length = 0.375
        topDiameter = 0.375
        bottomDiameter = 0.625
    }
    MODULE 
    {
        name = ProceduralShapePill
        displayName = Fillet Cylinder
        techRequired = advElectrics

        diameter = 0.5
        length = 0.875
        fillet = 0.375
    }
    MODULE 
    {
        name = ProceduralShapeBezierCone
        displayName = Smooth Cone
        techRequired = largeElectrics

        selectedShape = Round #1
        length = 0.625
        topDiameter = 0.625
        bottomDiameter = 1.25
    }
    MODULE
    {
        name = TankContentSwitcher
        useVolume = true

        TANK_TYPE_OPTION 
        {
            name = Electric
            // Dry density for the battery banks for Z-200 and Z-4k is 0.163, 
            // and the Z-1k is 0.184. We want to keep this to some 'roundish'
            // number so the max volumes don't end up as weird fractions of 
            // pi, so will round it a bit.
            dryDensity = 0.1875
            RESOURCE 
            {
                name = Megajoules
                // All stock parts are the same. This translates to 3500 U / kL
                unitsPerT = 20
            }
        }
    }

}

The unitsPerT on the included PP battery was 20,000 so I reduced that by a factor of 1000 to get 20 unitsPerT. The result is, you get only about 170 Mj (170,000 EC) from a procedural cap that is roughly the size of a 3.5 Fusion reactor. Now, 170 Mj is not much in this mod, and shows quite a discrepancy of energy densities between stock and Interstellar parts. Now I realize that batteries rely on an electrochemical reaction whereas capacitors store charge between plates. If any of you can determine a value that would be more inline with Interstellar's needs, I would be very open to suggestion.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Atrius129