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

[Fractal_UK]

Hi Fractal, i have some strange problems:

My Motherships refused to produce electric charge around jool with the normal nuclear reactor + generator combo. But the same combo on my rover at laythe works.

Here is the save and the KSP Log: KSP_save_log.7z

If you need other information to hunt this down, please tell me.

Good news, I've figured out this problem and fixed it. It seems to be a result of load up a craft in Jool's SOI - it seems that the ambient temperature of Jool can fall to absolute zero, which causes problems for radiators and generators (the radiators emit nothing at 0K). Capping the radiators at an absolute minimum of 2.7K allows the radiators to start up correctly and then the generators and radiators can adapt to the spacecraft's actual power/heat situation.

I'll get this fix out soon.

[Donziboy2]

Having issues with solar panels and transmitter, sitting at 1Gm from sun.

EDIT... Adding batteries increased it to 400ish KW but that's still way less then it should be

Stock large panels.

NFPP Large panels, 4x the output of stock. But same Transmitter output....

Have not downloaded the monsters from Kosmos yet.

Edited November 28, 2013 by Donziboy2

[Fractal_UK]

Well, you've certainly discovered a bug, the power output there is totally wrong, it should be much higher. Looks like the transmitters are still suffering from the inverse square bug that I fixed a while back for the panels themselves. I'm guessing the panels are just appearing to perform the same because most of the power output is being divided away. This one is also now fixed.

The panels are certainly detecting as different for WasteHeat purposes and the transmitter code is definitely checking this output properly so the above problem seems the likely candidate.

[Donziboy2]

Yep I just ran the same sats in LKO and was getting the exact same output from the transmitter. So I was seeing about 1/120 of what I should see where I was orbiting the sun.

Im thinking of rebuilding my massive Kosmos solar sat network I was using to power DT Vista's a few versions ago:)

[Fractal_UK]

Yep I just ran the same sats in LKO and was getting the exact same output from the transmitter. So I was seeing about 1/120 of what I should see where I was orbiting the sun.

Im thinking of rebuilding my massive Kosmos solar sat network I was using to power DT Vista's a few versions ago:)

Still the same for both types of panel in LKO?

Edited November 28, 2013 by Fractal_UK

[Donziboy2]

Still the same for both types of panel in LKO?

The transmitted power is the same for both locations, its only different based on the size of the panels.

Stock large panels do 18/s (8x18 = 144kW), the NFPP's do 72/s (6x72 = 432kW). Transmitter output does not seem to change with craft location. To test that I put the craft in Eeloo orbit and was still transmitting the same amount of power as if I was in LKO, or low sun orbit. But the panels were only getting 1/s, instead of the normal 72/s.

Edited November 28, 2013 by Donziboy2

[Fractal_UK]

The transmitted power is the same for both locations, its only different based on the size of the panels.

Stock large panels do 18/s (8x18 = 144kW), the NFPP's do 72/s (6x72 = 432kW). Transmitter output does not seem to change with craft location. To test that I put the craft in Eeloo orbit and was still transmitting the same amount of power as if I was in LKO, or low sun orbit. But the panels were only getting 1/s, instead of the normal 72/s.

Alright, that's okay. I think the problem is mainly a cosmetic one now that I look at it in more detail. In order to handle passive generation smoothly, all solar panel power satellite data is recorded in the data files as if the panel is in orbit of Kerbin, regardless of the satellite's actual position - the saved power output is then adjusted for the satellite's actual position. That way, even when the power satellite's power output changes due it being in an elliptical orbit and not the active vessel, for example, the power should be detected properly.

At the moment, the display code is using this adjusted to Kerbin value for power output rather than displaying the actual power that it's currently transmitting. If you set up a receiver to get power from that Kerbol station, you will get more power than the transmitter is telling you about. It looks like it's a GUI problem only.

[Donziboy2]

Alright, that's okay. I think the problem is mainly a cosmetic one now that I look at it in more detail. In order to handle passive generation smoothly, all solar panel power satellite data is recorded in the data files as if the panel is in orbit of Kerbin, regardless of the satellite's actual position - the saved power output is then adjusted for the satellite's actual position. That way, even when the power satellite's power output changes due it being in an elliptical orbit and not the active vessel, for example, the power should be detected properly.

At the moment, the display code is using this adjusted to Kerbin value for power output rather than displaying the actual power that it's currently transmitting. If you set up a receiver to get power from that Kerbol station, you will get more power than the transmitter is telling you about. It looks like it's a GUI problem only.

Yep, it seems to be working, the receiver eff is way off(always stuck at 85%), but it is receiving, and the KW amount varies with distance.

[Tommygun]

Fractal_UK, I have been recording the radiation levels displayed in the command pod menu and noticed that the radiation peeks at around 850,000 to 950,000 meters with about 77mSv/hr.

Is that about where you placed the Van Allen Belt and is there an inner and outer radiation belt?

It also goes to zero at around three million meters and stays zero up to at least nine million meters. I haven't gone much farther out yet.

I would like to make a small radiation detector part for unmanned probes based on your plugin and was wondering if there is a parts module text I can added to a part's cfg file to do this?

This is just for personal use and not for distribution.

[Lightwarrior]

And again those timewarp problems. They make game totally unplayable. Some screenshots:

1. Ship just launched from kerbin. No timewarp used. Everething works ok, antimatter reactor is disabled and tiny nuclear reactor is working at 30% still generating enough power:

2. I hit maximum timewarp. I tried to increase speed slowly - it changes nothing, so i just hit maximum here. Megajoules and termal power are instantly depleted, and timewarp is reduced to 50x because of unpowered antimatter tank:

3. Turned off timewarp and nuclear reactor is now working at 100% still not providing enough power. And thats it, if i turn on antimatter reactor now it will go to 100%, generator will show maximum power and it will not help:

And yes, i have TAC life support installed here, but i tried without it, everething is the same.

Also it does not happen on launchpad...

And if i remove antimatter tank/reactor and use nuclear instead everything is the same, except timewarp is not interrupted (or is interrupted by life support because electric charge is depleted if it is installed).

Edited November 28, 2013 by Lightwarrior

[Fractal_UK]

And again those timewarp problems. They make game totally unplayable. Some screenshots:

1. Ship just launched from kerbin. No timewarp used. Everething works ok, antimatter reactor is disabled and tiny nuclear reactor is working at 30% still generating enough power:

2. I hit maximum timewarp. I tried to increase speed slowly - it changes nothing, so i just hit maximum here. Megajoules and termal power are instantly depleted, and timewarp is reduced to 50x because of unpowered antimatter tank:

3. Turned off timewarp and nuclear reactor is now working at 100% still not providing enough power. And thats it, if i turn on antimatter reactor now it will go to 100%, generator will show maximum power and it will not help:

And yes, i have TAC life support installed here, but i tried without it, everething is the same.

Also it does not happen on launchpad...

And if i remove antimatter tank/reactor and use nuclear instead everything is the same, except timewarp is not interrupted (or is interrupted by life support because electric charge is depleted if it is installed).

I did just fix a bug with the handling of ElectricCharge in the Megajoule resource manager, I wonder if this is responsible.

Are you having similar troubles with the larger reactors/generators out of interest? In some of my Jool-bug testing, I just spent over 500 days of max-timewarping on an antimatter powered ship and never had any trouble with it. I was using a 2.5m antimatter reactor/generator though.

Some more testing with a Warp Spaceplane using a 1.25m generator but this was done after my EC fix - as you can see ElectricCharge is full, as are Megajoules and ThermalPower:

[Patupi]

OK, Fractal? If I've missed it is there a bug report page? This thread moves so fast with so many people posting I'm wondering if you missed the post I made a few pages back. Here's a link Shifting Resources, ghost ships and exploding science labs It's at the bottom of the page (for my thread layout anyway)

Edited November 28, 2013 by Patupi

[Fractal_UK]

OK, Fractal? If I've missed it is there a bug report page? This thread moves so fast with so many people posting I'm wondering if you missed the post I made a few pages back. Here's a link Shifting Resources, ghost ships and exploding science labs It's at the bottom of the page (for my thread layout anyway)

You can correct the shifting resources bug by disabling and re-enabling the map view, I haven't had chance to work on it extensively but the game doesn't always seem to be reporting correct scaled space transforms just after SOI transitions - which is when the resource marker positions are updated. If you refresh the markers by turning the display on and off, they should always be rendered correctly. I'll see what I can do about this.

As for the science labs, it doesn't look there are any errors, as far as I can tell from that log file, you have a cupola module that is overheating and exploding. All the other explosions in that list follow the cupola modules explosion, the cupola explodes and apparently sets off the science lab. The science lab appears not to be the culprit, merely the victim of an exploding cupola.

[PlanetariumCamera]: Focus: Science Crawler1
mapView is not enabled.
[B][00:00:00]: PPD-12 Cupola Module exploded due to overheating.[/B]
cupola (Science Crawler1) Exploded!! - blast awesomeness: 0.5
[fuelLine]: Deactivated
[cupola (Science Crawler1)]: Deactivated
[00:00:00]: Chadney Kerman was killed.
[B][00:00:00]: Science Laboratory exploded due to overheating.[/B]

[wooaa]

anyone know how to get rid of Actinides? they are really cloging up my reactors. I set my lab to repurpose fuel and i have extra fuel tanks but no luck.

Edited November 28, 2013 by wooaa

[Patupi]

You can correct the shifting resources bug by disabling and re-enabling the map view, I haven't had chance to work on it extensively but the game doesn't always seem to be reporting correct scaled space transforms just after SOI transitions - which is when the resource marker positions are updated. If you refresh the markers by turning the display on and off, they should always be rendered correctly. I'll see what I can do about this.

As for the science labs, it doesn't look there are any errors, as far as I can tell from that log file, you have a cupola module that is overheating and exploding. All the other explosions in that list follow the cupola modules explosion, the cupola explodes and apparently sets off the science lab. The science lab appears not to be the culprit, merely the victim of an exploding cupola.

[PlanetariumCamera]: Focus: Science Crawler1
mapView is not enabled.
[B][00:00:00]: PPD-12 Cupola Module exploded due to overheating.[/B]
cupola (Science Crawler1) Exploded!! - blast awesomeness: 0.5
[fuelLine]: Deactivated
[cupola (Science Crawler1)]: Deactivated
[00:00:00]: Chadney Kerman was killed.
[B][00:00:00]: Science Laboratory exploded due to overheating.[/B]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure the other science rover that did this also had a cupola... I don't know why that would be a problem, but I'll try with other control systems. However it wasn't consistent (I visited that rover about three times before one time when it did explode), and I've never had a cupola explode on me without KSPI... Though maybe it's some kind of conflict between rover wheels and cupola? That combo rarely happens.

[power5000]

Hello, Loving the mod but I have a few problems. 1. I can't seem to collect science with the magnetometer and 2. the .65 m and the 2.5m reactors or wrongly sized is that only my install?

[Lightwarrior]

...

Are you having similar troubles with the larger reactors/generators out of interest? In some of my Jool-bug testing, I just spent over 500 days of max-timewarping on an antimatter powered ship and never had any trouble with it. I was using a 2.5m antimatter reactor/generator though.

...

I used ship with large nuclear reactor and large generator to power DT Vista engine before i got antimatter reactors, it had the same problem. But there was a workaround - few stock RTG-s or solar panels fixed this.

[JSArrakis]

Fractal,

Im actually going to be making some station ring and strut mod myself, and I noticed that some of your parts (like the antimatter tanks and antimatter reactors) have a lot of details on them.

The question I had was when modelling these parts, did you have to take into account polygon counts? I really like the railing system you have on the antimatter tanks and would love to put that level of detail into some of my struts. I noticed the modeller for the antimatter tanks was named "zzz", is there any way I can get into contact with him/her to ask a few question about modelling in general?

[Donziboy2]

Fractal_UK,

I was doing some testing with some NFPP engines and noticed it was taking alot more MJ then should have to power the engines. I built a ship with 54 engines that each need 90ec/s at full thrust(4860ec/s total), I noticed that my total MJ output was 97MJ. I was under the impression that 1MJ=1000EC, I can understand some losses, but its a little high.

I also tested the engines separately and they do in fact require 90ec/s to run.

[Fractal_UK]

Hello, Loving the mod but I have a few problems. 1. I can't seem to collect science with the magnetometer and 2. the .65 m and the 2.5m reactors or wrongly sized is that only my install?

If you updated from 0.8 -> 0.8.1 you needed to delete your WarpPlugin folder before updating.

As for the magnetometer, you need to be in orbit to make use of it, could that be the problem?

I was doing some testing with some NFPP engines and noticed it was taking alot more MJ then should have to power the engines. I built a ship with 54 engines that each need 90ec/s at full thrust(4860ec/s total), I noticed that my total MJ output was 97MJ. I was under the impression that 1MJ=1000EC, I can understand some losses, but its a little high.

I also tested the engines separately and they do in fact require 90ec/s to run.

I discovered a bug with the handling of stock ElectricCharge this morning and fixed it, this should solve the problem. Detection of EC demand is never going to be as accurate as detection of MJ demand but it should at least be close.

[Lightwarrior]

Are there any plans on when this fixes will be released? Just curious...

And thanks for replies BTW.

[ExEvolution]

Will there be compatibility for Kerbal Engineer Redux ever? I would like to be able to calculate TWR and delta-v when building with plasma and thermal designs

[Fractal_UK]

Are there any plans on when this fixes will be released? Just curious...

And thanks for replies BTW.

Hopefully soon, I don't want to release it too quickly though, I'd like to make sure the issues I know about are dealt with and properly tested. That should avoid me having to do another one too quickly.

Will there be compatibility for Kerbal Engineer Redux ever? I would like to be able to calculate TWR and delta-v when building with plasma and thermal designs

I've been thinking about some ideas for supporting the mechjeb delta-v viewer and, if I can do that, I think Engineer should work too. It's really difficult because the engines are way more complicated than I could ever simulate in the VAB but I might be able to provide a best-case estimate.

[power5000]

I am in Orbit. I had one in a 121KM polar orbit (I just slapped it on since I'm running with mission controller and I hadn't done science with it until then so it was a 2 for 1 deal. and my second is in a 100KM 0 inclination orbit since I thought that the inclination might be the cause. When I right click I only have the option to extend not get any science from it.

[skygunner58203]

So, I downloaded this. However my antimatter collector doesn't collect and my fusion reactors don't power on. The only mods I'm using are MechJeb, the ALCOR pod and the ANVIL Core mod. Is there something I'm missing with this?