[WIP] Nert's Dev Thread - Current: various updates

[Wolfox]

That would be cool, but I recall there being some sort of issue with multiple animations on a part? Not sure if that's still a thing. I would imagine, though, that if Nertea does go with an IR-style ramp, you could then attach an actual IR rail to it and put some plates on the rail to form the telescoping ramp you describe.

True, but you have to watch out about placing, so parts do not collide into each other when retracted. Nobody want to invite kraken into his cargo bay The thing is, I can´t imagine how to make part stop moving upon hitting the ground if it would be propeled by motor when opening, so you would either have to go with fixed ramp opening angle (very inflexible), or adjustable height (better, but you would still need to do some testing on the runway, SPH won´t show you how the plane will sit down when thrown into the world with physics)

EDIT: But maybe there is a way to tell the animation to stop upon hitting collision mesh, I do not know this, unfortunately.

Edited July 9, 2015 by Wolfox

[Starbuckminsterfullerton]

I'm expecting a test release tomorrow, then I have to take a break and fix NFP/NFE.

Hot diggity, that's soon! And I for one actually like the hollow crew tank, I would never need as many karbonauts as a full one would fit, and now the space can be used in other ways.

I thought Porkjet's intakes retained the mkII endcap texture on the back, and it was only the nacelles and such that got the turbine?

[Angelo Kerman]

The revised artwork looks stunning, Nert.

[Raptor9]

...

But I would rather have the option of a double deck monster of a crew cabin with doors all over the place and all the bells, whistles, and nuclear scramjets (Jeb insisted on the last one) for all my 'oh god, that's a huge station' recrewing convenience. I mean, what would I put down under that, anyway? If I need cargo space, I'll grab a dedicated cargo section...snip...

I can think of plenty of uses for it. Example: say u want to carry a large base module down to Laythe, along with a small rover and some passengers. Throw the rover under the pax section, and the module in a pure cargo bay section aft of that, and then the tail ramp. That way you dont waste large cargo bay space on a small rover.

Or maybe someone wants to keep some KIS containers down there, who knows. Point being that KSP players have all sorts of play and design styles and techniques. There are lots of players that will find it useful.

[Captain Sierra]

I can think of plenty of uses for it. Example: say u want to carry a large base module down to Laythe, along with a small rover and some passengers. Throw the rover under the pax section, and the module in a pure cargo bay section aft of that, and then the tail ramp. That way you dont waste large cargo bay space on a small rover.

Or maybe someone wants to keep some KIS containers down there, who knows. Point being that KSP players have all sorts of play and design styles and techniques. There are lots of players that will find it useful.

Its also more than large enough to fit one of my crawlers for base construction, maybe two depending on how if there's overhead to double-pack. With me going for horizontal modules more and more (partly thanks to the addition of the Stockalike Base Modules pack), I fully intend to work on Mun-capable SSTOs (okay fine, SST-LKO, refuel, then to Mun).

[TrainEngie]

http://nertea.the3rdage.net/ksp/engineFX.jpg

Just beautiful. Do they use stock sounds or do they use custom sounds?

Those engines... a 2 engine XB-70 is cooking up in my head...

[Nothalogh]

Just beautiful. Do they use stock sounds or do they use custom sounds?

Those engines... a 2 engine XB-70 is cooking up in my head...

That would be an F-108 Rapier

[Nertea]

Well here we go. Here is a test release!

Here are also some notes:

Things that are probably done (so any problems here are bugs):

• All the engines
  
• Various intakes and nacelle parts
  

Things that aren't done or are bugs and I know about:

• No cabin lights yet
  
• Texture colour matching needs to be done still (particularly for the adapters, tails and the cockpit)
  
• Most Mk4 crossection parts lack specular maps
  
• A couple fuselage parts have unwelded seams (if you see any let me know)
  
• Cargo tail part isn't textured or anything
  
• Cargo tail ramp can't alter its angle in the VAB yet
  
• Cargo tail ramp snaps back to horizontal without animating when it is closed
  
• IVAs are really nowhere (cockpit needs reinstrumentation, crew cabin needs textures, finished model and stuff)
  
• Hatches and ladders are kinda buggered at the moment.
  

Things that could use looking at:

• Curves and performance of the engines
  
• Masses and costs of various parts (should match mk3 reasonably well)
  
• Ensuring cargo bays properly occlude
  
• Testing cargo ramp's functionality for loading cargo and stuff
  
• How things work with FAR?
  

Bundles InterstellarFuelSwitch, BDAnimationModules. License is CC-BY-NC-4.0.

Generally, how do things work? And if you build anything cool... Let me know .

Edited July 11, 2015 by Nertea

[Jafar_Ironclad]

Mk4 Crew cabin part causes the game to stop loading (no crash, just hangs trying to load the part)

[nalfz]

Mk4 Crew cabin part causes the game to stop loading (no crash, just hangs trying to load the part)

I'm having this problem too

I was going to assume this was because I'm trying to coax ksp into running with 112 other mods but since someone else is having the same issue I might as well post

[Jafar_Ironclad]

Now I just have to figure out how to get this thing to orbit...

[K.Yeon]

Who says screenshot doesnt equal artwork?! The turbofan have one of the best engine FX i've ever seen!

Bug: the loading also stops for me at the crew part; One of the long fuselage had a duplicate mesh?

All the new 2.5m engines are a must for every spaceplane builders

[smurphy34]

Mk4 Crew cabin part causes the game to stop loading (no crash, just hangs trying to load the part)

Happening for me to, here's more info, This is from a mod'ed install of KSP 1.04 Win32.

From output.log;

"PartLoader: Compiling Part 'MarkIVSystem/Parts/Pods/mk4crewcabin-1/mk4crewcabin-1/mk4crewcabin-1'

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

at PartLoader.ReplaceTextures (UnityEngine.GameObject model, System.Collections.Generic.List`1 textureNames, System.Collections.Generic.List`1 newTextures) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

at PartLoader.CompileModel (.UrlConfig cfg, .ConfigNode partCfg, Single scaleFactor, .AvailablePart partInfo) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

at PartLoader.ParsePart (.UrlConfig urlConfig, .ConfigNode node) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

at PartLoader+.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

(Filename: Line: -1)"

Happening on a non mod'ed install also;

From output.log;

PartLoader: Compiling Part 'MarkIVSystem/Parts/Pods/mk4crewcabin-1/mk4crewcabin-1/mk4crewcabin-1'

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 56)

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

at PartLoader.ReplaceTextures (UnityEngine.GameObject model, System.Collections.Generic.List`1 textureNames, System.Collections.Generic.List`1 newTextures) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

at PartLoader.CompileModel (.UrlConfig cfg, .ConfigNode partCfg, Single scaleFactor, .AvailablePart partInfo) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

at PartLoader.ParsePart (.UrlConfig urlConfig, .ConfigNode node) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

at PartLoader+.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

(Filename: Line: -1)

Love all your mods, thanks for letting me play with them, you rock!

[Nertea]

Model had a weird mesh referencing a missing texture which I had cleaned up because I thought it wasn't needed. I corrected this and reuploaded it (same link).

Who says screenshot doesnt equal artwork?! The turbofan have one of the best engine FX i've ever seen!

http://i.imgur.com/6SJFSHj.png

Bug: the loading also stops for me at the crew part; One of the long fuselage had a duplicate mesh?

All the new 2.5m engines are a must for every spaceplane builders

Thanks dude!

Edited July 11, 2015 by Nertea

[Captain Sierra]

Hold on, lemme actually sterilize my 1.0.4 from testing stuff and set it up for real gameplay (been holding on to 1.0.2 for fear I'll have to drop NFP/NFE from my lineup due to stock heating royally f'ing Nertea over).

Cryo engines, SSPP, dis sexiness, and my suite of convenience mods. Stand by for awesome screenies later.

[Nertea]

Heads up, found another bug... the cargo bay "cap" colliders for occlusion are being allowed for part placement when they shouldn't be.

[Captain Sierra]

Heads up, found another bug... the cargo bay "cap" colliders for occlusion are being allowed for part placement when they shouldn't be.

Another thing, the node directions on the service module appear to be backwards, at least for me. Can anyone else confirm?

EDIT: belay that. Its the rear node on the crew cabin that appears to be backwards.

EDIT 2: Changing the following line to include the emboldened minus sign should fix the problem. node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -1.723765, 0.00, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 3

- - - Updated - - -

THe above fix does correct that problem.

Some other general things I've noticed from just dking around in the SPH so far:

surface attach points are off on some parts (notably the service bay and crew cabin).

There's a bit of wierdness about how the snoopy nosecone now meshes with the cockpit.

The node on the aerodynamic shoulder is off a bit.

The node on the Arcadia is also off a tiny bit (this one is hardly noticeable and should be low priority).

The stock large wings are garbage on these things visually. Larger wings might want to get bumped up the to-do list.

The BROADSWORD's description is great. It looks like it could support a stack behind it and giving it a rear node may not be a bad idea (you're discretion).

Will update following flight testing.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Captain Sierra

[Nertea]

Confirmed and fixed most of these. I'll have a new build uploaded once I work out how to fix the cargo bay endcap thingy.

I've decided I don't want to do wings anytime soon though. Roadmap:

2.0: Re-release, no parts that are not in the prerelease beyond drop bays

2.1: Cargo update, nose cargo bay and inline cockpit plus some miscellany

2.2: Engine update, a few more engines and related parts plus a atmo-focused cockpit

2.3: Wings maybe.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Nertea

[Captain Sierra]

Confirmed and fixed most of these. I'll have a new build uploaded once I work out how to fix the cargo bay endcap thingy.

You're on fire. Got two more I found in flight.

The large shock intake does not visually reopen (though the closing animation is really cool).

The precooler and engine nacelles do not have intake modules (those fans are not purely aesthetic on the stock ones).

[MINOR]While sorted in the default aero tab, the aerodynamic shoulder does not appear under nosecones with FilterExtensions.

Also the engine balancing is . . . strong, very strong. I won't say overpowered since there's hardly an in-game baseline to compare to, but I do wanna run some balancing tests myself.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Captain Sierra

[Donziboy2]

I am seeing an issue with engines attached to the MK4 Tail Cargo Bay, the engines are being flagged as inside the bay, the only way to get around it is to open the bay then activate the engines then close the bay again.

Edit...

Seems to affect control surfaces attached to it also.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Donziboy2

[Captain Sierra]

I am seeing an issue with engines attached to the MK4 Tail Cargo Bay, the engines are being flagged as inside the bay, the only way to get around it is to open the bay then activate the engines then close the bay again.

Edit...

Seems to affect control surfaces attached to it also.

Didnt someone finally make a plugin to remove the occlusion checking for engines? I thought that was finally a thing. If not, drat, because its friggin dumb.

In an attempt to persuade to the contrary on wings, this is the current absurdity . . .

The mk 1 version here is using 8 wheasleys. the mk 2 is gonna run 2 of Nert's engines for comparison. Still figuring out how I'm gonna get the necessary ground clearance to hang 2.5m+ nacelles underwing.

[Donziboy2]

Found another bug, this time the Armadillo.... It starts off much hotter then the rest of the craft and heats up pretty fast. BTW 3 SCIMITAR's can get that 72T monster in the air, its really slow climb, i got to about 7km and 220m/s before the Armadillo blew up lol.

[Captain Sierra]

A similar bug is documented over here. It is a known, albeit rare, issue with the stock game. Its possible this, combined with the part serving as the heatsink for three strong engines, is the root of your issue.

[Donziboy2]

I had not started the engines in the first photo.....

[Nertea]

Found another bug, this time the Armadillo.... It starts off much hotter then the rest of the craft and heats up pretty fast. BTW 3 SCIMITAR's can get that 72T monster in the air, its really slow climb, i got to about 7km and 220m/s before the Armadillo blew up lol.

http://i.imgur.com/8m4WbAT.png

http://i.imgur.com/IyE9uDS.png

This isn't the bug you think it is (heh). The runaway heating is a stock bug with parts that are low mass. The actual bug is that the fuel switch properties of the two tail pieces are incorrect, causing 0 mass when tweaked to contain nothing, which you did there. So, low mass piece -> heating. Good catch.

I am seeing an issue with engines attached to the MK4 Tail Cargo Bay, the engines are being flagged as inside the bay, the only way to get around it is to open the bay then activate the engines then close the bay again.

Edit...

Seems to affect control surfaces attached to it also.

Meh, not sure what to do here. Will probably need to fine tune a lot.

You're on fire. Got two more I found in flight.

The large shock intake does not visually reopen (though the closing animation is really cool).

The precooler and engine nacelles do not have intake modules (those fans are not purely aesthetic on the stock ones).

[MINOR]While sorted in the default aero tab, the aerodynamic shoulder does not appear under nosecones with FilterExtensions.

Also the engine balancing is . . . strong, very strong. I won't say overpowered since there's hardly an in-game baseline to compare to, but I do wanna run some balancing tests myself.

Engines are generally supposed to be about 5% better than 4 stock engines of the same type, with about 90% of the mass.