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

[SkyHook]

I just updated the mod earlier today for 0.23, hope you enjoy!

Woo thanks! Take care, and great job so far.

[Sakata]

Hey Fractal. I am not sure if this is possible or not, but could the resources be made to work with BioMass (the 'extra science' one on github)?

I noticed you now have a water resource, and a few other resources that I think would be really cool to be cross-compatible, perhaps usable by both mods.

[inferno4200]

Fractal you're awesome. I tried playing stock .23 and I'm bored in less than two hours. I come to check the mods to see if any have been updated and here you are with NEW FEATURES! And awesome features at that! Great job, thank you so much. This has risen to the top of my favorite mod list.

[Eadrom]

Fractal,

Could I in theory change all instances of "LqdWater" to "Water" in the KSPI files to make these the same resource for both TACLS and Interstellar? Or vice versa with Water and LqdWater in TACLS .cfg's?

If I did that, would I run into an issue that TACLS and KSPI would both be defining the same resource or would it just go with whoever was loaded last?

Might be easier for me to change KSPI's resource definition as it looks like there are only 6 places to change it.

EnginePropellants.cfg

OceanResourceDefinitions.cfg

PlanetaryResourceDefinitions.cfg

ResourcesNuclear.cfg

water storage tank's .cfg

refinery's .cfg

TACLS would have something like 12-18 files to change. Anywho, what are your thoughts?

Edit->>>>

Trying this out. Was a quick enough change. I did also update KSPI's definition of water to match the density of TACLS's water resource. Will this have any repercussions? Perhaps in mono-prop production?

Edited December 18, 2013 by Eadrom

[ada221]

so.... i landed a probe with the liquid cromograph on Eve and was really suprised at its ocean's compisition (not going to outright say it because of spoilers) does anyone else find it strange?

[Fractal_UK]

Fractal,

Could I in theory change all instances of "LqdWater" to "Water" in the KSPI files to make these the same resource for both TACLS and Interstellar? Or vice versa with Water and LqdWater in TACLS .cfg's?

If I did that, would I run into an issue that TACLS and KSPI would both be defining the same resource or would it just go with whoever was loaded last?

Might be easier for me to change KSPI's resource definition as it looks like there are only 6 places to change it.

EnginePropellants.cfg

OceanResourceDefinitions.cfg

PlanetaryResourceDefinitions.cfg

ResourcesNuclear.cfg

water storage tank's .cfg

refinery's .cfg

TACLS would have something like 12-18 files to change. Anywho, what are your thoughts?

Edit->>>>

Trying this out. Was a quick enough change. I did also update KSPI's definition of water to match the density of TACLS's water resource. Will this have any repercussions? Perhaps in mono-prop production?

Yes, it's designed for this to be possible.

You should leave the definition in ResourcesNuclear.cfg as it is (because multiple RESOURCE_DEFINITION{} nodes are bad) and ideally change all of the others with Module Manager. You will also need to change the "WaterResourceName = LqdWater" definition in WarpPluginSettings.cfg (again you can do this with MM) - this is critical because this is the one that all the refinery's internal plugin code looks at.

If you change the density of water, you should increase or decrease the quantity of water so that the mass amounts remaining the same.

It's better to do it with ModuleManager though because then you can save the configs, give them to other people who want them and, critically, not have to do this all over again next time I update.

[RadHazard]

Fractal, would you consider unifying your resources with what we have come up with in the Unified Resource Guidlines thread? I believe we've finally come up with an agreement on how to standardize resources. I know that some of your resources (e.g. UF4 and ThF4) require specific flow modes and may not fit with the standard, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't standardize water and other simple resources like that.

The spreadsheet linked on the first post contains a catalog of all the resources we've come up with so far. There's a unified resource name column and an in-game densities column, so that's all the data you'd need to keep to the standard.

It's all your choice whether or not to do so, of course.

[Eadrom]

You should leave the definition in ResourcesNuclear.cfg as it is (because multiple RESOURCE_DEFINITION{} nodes are bad)

Done.

You will also need to change the "WaterResourceName = LqdWater" definition in WarpPluginSettings.cfg

Done.

If you change the density of water, you should increase or decrease the quantity of water so that the mass amounts remaining the same.

Done.

It's better to do it with ModuleManager though because then you can save the configs, give them to other people who want them and, critically, not have to do this all over again next time I update.

This is my end goal. I wanted to test it out with regular .cfg edits for proof of concept before learning how to make module manager configs. I have to go to bed now to be up early for an interview, so that will be something I'll tackle tomorrow afternoon. As far as testing tonight, it looks the water splitter in TACLS is able to use the resource, the water in the KSPI tanks are valid for TACLS, and the Refinery will collect water when splashed down in the ocean by KSC. I did not get the Ammonia+Water -> H2Peroxide reaction to work after making the above changes. I tried transferring in some water and ammonia to the actual refinery to see if that made a difference and it still wanted water. I don't have any more time to fiddle around with this tonight, but I'll tackle this tomorrow. It's not a big concern for me at the moment since my primary goal was to be able to use the same water resource and use the refinery to collect water.

[Lightwarrior]

Tritium breeding does not work. Trying to start it does nothing. Lithium and D/T tanks are attached directly to reactor...

Edited December 18, 2013 by Lightwarrior

[arsenic87]

Update: It appears that this may be a stock bug, apparently it is also happening to TAC life support parts that have more than four resources defined. Removing one of the resource definitions will stop it doing that in the VAB - from some quick testing, this doesn't seem to stop the parts actually working, so I'm inclined to hold off on doing anything about this and hope the devs release a fix.

Figured out that the bug appears on all parts that has more than two resources, and doesn't have a descriptive module attached.

Why exactly it happens like this I have no idea. Strange KSP code for the tooltips.

Anyway, added a fix for this bug, and integrated it into ModuleManager (best place for it since many mods use it). It searches all the loaded parts after loading screen, and adds a "Dummy description" to the parts that need it. Somehow fixes it.

-removed link-

Edited December 19, 2013 by arsenic87
removed link

[Myrten]

Attaching reactors seems to be freezing VAB like crazy in 0.9, can be reproduced in a simple way:

1)Place 1.25m pod + quad coupler

2)Select reactor (fusion seems to be lagging the most) and set it's symmetry to 4x

3)Try to put it to one of coupler's nodes - VAB will freeze for few seconds.

[Fractal_UK]

Figured out that the bug appears on all parts that has more than two resources, and doesn't have a descriptive module attached.

Why exactly it happens like this I have no idea. Strange KSP code for the tooltips.

Anyway, added a fix for this bug, and integrated it into ModuleManager (best place for it since many mods use it). It searches all the loaded parts after loading screen, and adds a "Dummy description" to the parts that need it. Somehow fixes it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/unqr7kyli8m6auy/ModuleManager_1_5.zip

Cheers, I've just added a description to my resource extraction module which fixes the problem.

Attaching reactors seems to be freezing VAB like crazy in 0.9, can be reproduced in a simple way:

1)Place 1.25m pod + quad coupler

2)Select reactor (fusion seems to be lagging the most) and set it's symmetry to 4x

3)Try to put it to one of coupler's nodes - VAB will freeze for few seconds.

Just tried that out, it worked perfectly normally, no slowdown at all.

[sarbian]

Anyway, added a fix for this bug, and integrated it into ModuleManager

Wut ? You integrated it where ?

[arsenic87]

Wut ? You integrated it where ?

I forked your github repository. Changes are located there

[Fractal_UK]

Tritium breeding does not work. Trying to start it does nothing. Lithium and D/T tanks are attached directly to reactor...

After some investigation this looks to be another problem with stock KSP. My code is correctly requesting the amount of Lithium to burn but the stock method simply returns 0, meaning it is not giving me any Lithium despite a connected supply being available. By time accelerating so that the amount I am requesting becomes larger, the method begins to work properly. Only thing I can do to fix this is to disable the code that turns off Tritium breeding if you have no Lithium - this won't fix the problem at low timewarp speeds - you'll still get nothing but it will, at least, allow non-focused ships and ships at high timewarp to generate Lithium.

[DJFergy]

Done.

Can you perhaps post the .cfg files so a certain crowd of people can use it? =P

[Romby]

As my game started i choose the Stock tech tree and not Interstellar. Will this be a problem?

[Fractal_UK]

As my game started i choose the Stock tech tree and not Interstellar. Will this be a problem?

Yes - some of the parts will not be available and you will never get any of the part upgrades. Fortunately, it's very very easy to fix. All you need to do is go into your save file folder: [KSPInstallDirectory]/saves/[your game name] and delete the "tree.cfg" file. You will get the option to choose again next time you start the game.

[Romby]

Yes - some of the parts will not be available and you will never get any of the part upgrades. Fortunately, it's very very easy to fix. All you need to do is go into your save file folder: [KSPInstallDirectory]/saves/[your game name] and delete the "tree.cfg" file. You will get the option to choose again next time you start the game.

Thx a lot

[Kass]

Hey Fractal, awesome update. I can't wait to sink my teeth into this and use all the new tools you've given us, thank you. This is one of those must have mods that makes KSP the game it is.

Just a FYI but I found a slight oversight maybe? Not sure about it yet so just thought I'd throw it your way but the cargo bay doors in the B9 pack are only half working regarding your awesome idea of allowing the doors to act as radiators. The HL cargobay is working and showing up information in the game, but the S2 normal and the S2 wide cargobays are not. Not sure if it's just the information in the VAB missing or if they are plain not working? I'm running 4.0C before it's been updated to 0.23 compatibility but even so one would expect them all to show the same info. I've taken some screenshots for you to check out. (below, although I suppose the massive picture makes this redundant).

Like I said just a FYI

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[Myrten]

Just tried that out, it worked perfectly normally, no slowdown at all.

I've investigated it further and it looks that something got bugged in my save as when I removed other mods and save was cleared from their content this problem ceased to exist, even when I put the mods back...

[Eadrom]

Can you perhaps post the .cfg files so a certain crowd of people can use it? =P

As soon as I figure out how to get the refinery to use TACLS water and Interstellar ammonia to make hydrogen peroxide and thus mono-propellant, I will make a module manager config for distribution. Everything else seems to be working correctly thus far. Just now realized I also need to test using TACLS water as fuel for thermal nozzles. Hope to have this done sometime between now and this weekend.

[Fractal_UK]

As soon as I figure out how to get the refinery to use TACLS water and Interstellar ammonia to make hydrogen peroxide and thus mono-propellant, I will make a module manager config for distribution. Everything else seems to be working correctly thus far. Just now realized I also need to test using TACLS water as fuel for thermal nozzles. Hope to have this done sometime between now and this weekend.

You should only need water to make Hydrogen Peroxide, you only need Ammonia and Hydrogen Peroxide for the final monopropellant production step. Check the water electrolysis option at the refinery, that uses the same water definition as the other refinery options.

Also, be aware of fuel flow options, I don't know what the definitions for TAC water are but check that the refinery is getting access to the resources it needs.

[Lightwarrior]

After some investigation this looks to be another problem with stock KSP. My code is correctly requesting the amount of Lithium to burn but the stock method simply returns 0, meaning it is not giving me any Lithium despite a connected supply being available. By time accelerating so that the amount I am requesting becomes larger, the method begins to work properly. Only thing I can do to fix this is to disable the code that turns off Tritium breeding if you have no Lithium - this won't fix the problem at low timewarp speeds - you'll still get nothing but it will, at least, allow non-focused ships and ships at high timewarp to generate Lithium.

I think it will be fine, most of ingame time is spent at high timewarps, and considering those fusion reactor changes a lot of people will do this on non-focused ships...

BTW tritium in fusion reactor is not decaying to He-3, but if i transfer it from reactor to external tank it does. Also fusion reactor cannot use fuel from external tank, only internal storage. Is this intended behavior?

[Eadrom]

You should only need water to make Hydrogen Peroxide, you only need Ammonia and Hydrogen Peroxide for the final monopropellant production step. Check the water electrolysis option at the refinery, that uses the same water definition as the other refinery options.

Also, be aware of fuel flow options, I don't know what the definitions for TAC water are but check that the refinery is getting access to the resources it needs.

I've triple checked my config files, including the warp settings config, and I'm not sure what else to change. The only reference to "LqdWater" over "Water" remains in the ResourcesNuclear.cfg file. I have water transferred into the refinery and space for the hydrogen peroxide. The refinery will happily collect water from the ocean. It does not want to convert it to H2O2 however. TACLS's water is also defined as all_vessel for flow. No reason that I can see why the refinery shouldn't be getting water except that it's still looking for LqdWater and not Water

The error message I'm getting from the refinery is that the refinery requires "water". Does an unmodded Interstellar install give the same message but with "lqdwater"?

Also, my refinery part only has modules for collecting resources. I don't have any modules for any of the other stuff that the refinery does. Are these "production" modules defined in a different file? I feel like I might be looking so hard for this that it's right in front of my eyes and I'm not seeing it. lol

Edit:

Oh derp, I understand why I should try electrolysis now. Booting up KSP now to test that.

Edit:

Water electrolysis is also not working with the custom water definition. This module is also missing from the refinery part config. Well, it's kinda working. The refinery goes into water electrolysis mode and is consuming 40/40 MW, but no LOF is being produced. I've experimented with fuel lines and just straight on attaching a half-filled fuel tank to the refinery. No joy.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Eadrom