[WIP] R.E.L Skylon C2. Alpha Released. FAR config broken. (08 Dec 2014)

[CaptainKipard]

Some progress.

One wing, intake(with animation), precooler and Sabre engine imported. Of course the configs are very rough right now.

Unfortunately even with KJR the wings droop a little, and jerk around visibly when engine mode is switched, or the throttle is cut and throttled up. True to reality the engine overheats in about one second at full throttle in rocket mode. It really does need a working precooler.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[MightyDarkStar]

Must-Have-Now...........!

[Virtualgenius]

I think the interstellar mod had working pre coolers maybe see if they can help

[CaptainKipard]

What do people think of plugin dependency. I saw some opinions already. I'm in a bit of a difficult situation, because there are already so many plugins that I need to make this work:

Interstellar - precooler

Firespitter - landing gear

KineTechAnimation - intake animation

RPM (probably) - personnel module

KJR - because it's so big

[Virtualgenius]

Thats fine KSO and B9 have the same issue and if your running any of those mods you already have the plugins

[nli2work]

3 out of those 5 are already bundled with B9. I don't think you'll have a problem with mod dependency preventing people from using this. Kinetech can help drive the exhaust jets as well if you prefer using geometry instead of particles. I think if you share the same mod dependency as B9 you'd be perferctly fine.

[CaptainKipard]

Here's a video showing the wobble between the stack nodes of the wing and the precooler. The odd thing is it used to wobble at the wing root before, but now those joints are steady as a rock. I'm using KJR and I've added an invisible collision-less mesh at all the relevant nodes hoping that KJR will take them into account when deciding on the joint strength but now only the precoolers wobble.

Also the wing and aileron problem has been solved.

[Night Lone]

Announcement

If there are any modders who wouldn't mind eventually testing a closed alpha of this mod, please make yourself known in this thread.

If you need someone to endlessly test, crash, and probably break anything and everything (while only being in game) I might be available if you have a position open that is. I'm on a Mac, and I can test it with FAR, Stock, with tons of mods, or without. Is there any way I can help?

[nli2work]

Here's a video showing the wobble between the stack nodes of the wing and the precooler. The odd thing is it used to wobble at the wing root before, but now those joints are steady as a rock. I'm using KJR and I've added an invisible collision-less mesh at all the relevant nodes hoping that KJR will take them into account when deciding on the joint strength but now only the precoolers wobble.

Also the wing and aileron problem has been solved.

so invisible mesh increases KJR joint strength?

[CaptainKipard]

If you need someone to endlessly test, crash, and probably break anything and everything (while only being in game) I might be available if you have a position open that is. I'm on a Mac, and I can test it with FAR, Stock, with tons of mods, or without. Is there any way I can help?

I don't see any mods in your signature. The reason I asked for modders specifically is because they are able to provide more constructive criticism. A regular player can only tell me so much.

so invisible mesh increases KJR joint strength?

I don't know. It's something I tried knowing that joint strength with KJR is calculated from the cross section of a part, but the results I got neither confirm nor deny this. It should have all been steady, because I placed those meshes on the cargo bay, the wings and the precooler, but rather than a completely steady nacelle, the wobbliness shifted from the wing root to the precooler. It's not consistent with anything that I can think of.

Edited October 31, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[nli2work]

I don't see any mods in your signature. The reason I asked for modders specifically is because they are able to provide more constructive criticism. A regular player can only tell me so much.

I don't know. It's something I tried knowing that joint strength with KJR is calculated from the cross section of a part, but the results I got neither confirm nor deny this. It should have all been steady, because I placed those meshes on the cargo bay, the wings and the precooler, but rather than a completely steady nacelle, the wobbliness shifted from the wing root to the precooler. It's not consistent with anything that I can think of.

Everything is stack nodes? or are the engines surface attached? from what I remember, KJR stack nodes are quite strong, increasing node size will make them stronger. Surface nodes are not great though, increasing node size beyond 2 seem to make them weaker.

Edited October 31, 2014 by nli2work

[CaptainKipard]

Yes it's all stack nodes. All size 3.

Now for some reason, the whole left wing wobbles, but only the right precooler wobbles, with the right wing not moving. This makes no sense.

edit

And now the entire right nacelle is steady, and the left wing wobbles. On top of that the right engine isn't overheating, but the left one is. What am I supposed to do? This is insane.

The only thing I'm changing is rebuilding the craft in the SPH.

Edited October 31, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[lo-fi]

The only way to tackle something like this is to go code diving sometimes, though I appreciate that may not be the easiest thing if you're not a coder. I'll cast an eye over KJR over the weekend and see if I can get a handle on how it's actually working its magic under the hood, so to speak.

[CaptainKipard]

Thanks.

It's as if the order in which you attach the parts in the SPH determines what ends up wobbling. This is the only consistent thing I've been able to notice.

[nli2work]

Thanks.

It's as if the order in which you attach the parts in the SPH determines what ends up wobbling. This is the only consistent thing I've been able to notice.

Might have something to do with the long standing KSP bug where one side flexes more than the other in symmetry

[Night Lone]

I don't see any mods in your signature. The reason I asked for modders specifically is because they are able to provide more constructive criticism. A regular player can only tell me so much.

The reason why there are no mods in my sig, is because I'm a computer developer. Not just a regular ol' player. Though, unless you're making a plugin, I'm not sure why you'd need someone who knows how to make mods in the first place. And even with a plugin, the best thing you can hope for is the .log file, a description on how to repeat the bug, and perhaps a .craft file, and hope it's your code and not squad's or unity's that caused the problem Other than the alt-f12 menu I see no other way to really debug anything.

[Virtualgenius]

Its looking really good I hope you can work the bugs out hell I would fly it even with bugs keep up the good work and loving the updates

[CaptainKipard]

The reason why there are no mods in my sig, is because I'm a computer developer. Not just a regular ol' player.

You develop computers?

Its looking really good I hope you can work the bugs out hell I would fly it even with bugs keep up the good work and loving the updates

Thanks. We'll get there sooner or later.

[Night Lone]

I develop programs for computers, though I'm sure you knew what I meant.

[CaptainKipard]

Not exactly. Just say what you mean. For all I know developing computers is a thing.

I guess I can't think of a good reason not to give you the mod to play with, but if you knew at least how configs work you could tweak things yourself and retest. A knowledge of the mods I'll be using would also help with that. All I could think of while writing this reply was

.

[Night Lone]

Not exactly. Just say what you mean. For all I know developing computers is a thing.

I guess I can't think of a good reason not to give you the mod to play with, but if you knew at least how configs work you could tweak things yourself and retest. A knowledge of the mods I'll be using would also help with that. All I could think of while writing this reply was

.

well, theres building computers, I guess in a way thats "developing" maybe...depends on how you twist the word... and editing configs? pft, thats easy. Making a collision library...not so easy >.< (current job, can't really discuss much more)

What Mods are you using? (sorry if I missed the list)

[CaptainKipard]

What Mods are you using? (sorry if I missed the list)

Here is the current list.

Another little update:

Thanks to a neat discovery by artwhaley I made a part with an animated "control from here" vector for changing between engines. It would be great if there were a way of disabling the default "control from here" for a probe, then I could have just one part for controlling everything, but at the moment the best I can do is two "control from here" buttons on a single part. One of them for the animated docking node and one for the default part direction.

Edited November 1, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[Night Lone]

What do people think of plugin dependency. I saw some opinions already. I'm in a bit of a difficult situation, because there are already so many plugins that I need to make this work:

Interstellar - precooler

Firespitter - landing gear

KineTechAnimation - intake animation

RPM (probably) - personnel module

KJR - because it's so big

Well, personally, other than Firespitter, I am slightly against having other mods for dependencies, but since I have all those mods, minus Interstellar (but of course, if I'm helping you, I should get it ) RPM is one that I'm really enjoying though, so I usually have no problem against it. KineTechAnimation is usually downloaded for another mod, so no worries about that. I had KJR before Squad strengthened everything, never used it since.

As a player: Firespitter, RPM, and Kine are all good; KJR I probably wouldn't even notice if I downloaded the release mod. Might question about Interstellar.

As a tester: you da boss! I'll download, play, and fiddle around!

As a Developer: I'd like to keep dependencies down, but would easily download the most common ones if I couldn't/don't want to do it myself.

But my guess, you're only interested in the tester opinion

[nli2work]

htis reminds me... KineTech doesn't seem to play well with stock animation modules. Been experimenting a little with mesh based exhaust jets using KineTech modules, stock animation modules appear to override whatever KineTech does. I'll get better idea after some more experimenting.

[CaptainKipard]

I'm using FSAnimateGeneric, but the nose gear is still using stock modules, so I'll switch to FS.

Also the invisible meshes I tried to use for nodes are casting shadows, so they have to go.