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


Nertea

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7 minutes ago, helaeon said:

I'd like to have FFT back for 1.3 with what was there for 1.2. New concepts and parts are great but would be nice to be able to use what is there already in the mean time if it doesn't cause you headaches later.
If it does, then wait.

Well the issue is always continuity... if you're cool with understanding that things in this thread are seriously in dev, and that I'm even less inclined than usual to preserve ship useability, balance, etc between releases, then it doesn't cause me headaches.

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My view is that everything is in dev with no warranty (mods generally) and something the author puts out as a dev version is really extra experimental. If saves and craft files must be edited between releases then so-be-it. 
You don't have to make any of this and certainly don't have to share it. Not a fan of biting the hand that feeds. Here to help or keep my mouth shut. :)

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I like it!

So this is one of the things i have to finish before the 1.3 release. This is the first pass at the new scanning system. The idea is that the two atmospheric/exoatmospheric resource surveying parts are replaced with profilers. They cast out from the "lens" of the device (so manual pointing is needed) and give you a visual profile of the field of view in the form of a graph of relative abundances. In this image there's a spectrometer on the front of the cupola which is sampling the atmosphere and noting the increasing density of Argon as you get close to the surface. It is presented in a popup window.

Same goes for exo resources, they get plotted up as well. So you could aim your probe around to hunt down the elusive antimatter belt.

UI obviously needs some work, but this adds a bit of interest and makes it less tedious to look for antimatter, gases and the like.

yaGitCt.png

 

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On 6/28/2017 at 4:43 PM, Nertea said:

I like it!

So this is one of the things i have to finish before the 1.3 release. This is the first pass at the new scanning system. The idea is that the two atmospheric/exoatmospheric resource surveying parts are replaced with profilers. They cast out from the "lens" of the device (so manual pointing is needed) and give you a visual profile of the field of view in the form of a graph of relative abundances. In this image there's a spectrometer on the front of the cupola which is sampling the atmosphere and noting the increasing density of Argon as you get close to the surface. It is presented in a popup window.

Same goes for exo resources, they get plotted up as well. So you could aim your probe around to hunt down the elusive antimatter belt.

UI obviously needs some work, but this adds a bit of interest and makes it less tedious to look for antimatter, gases and the like.

 

Neeto!! So on the UI the distances are from the sensor?

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On 7/5/2017 at 5:09 PM, Anduin1357 said:

KSP-AVC directs the download to an invalid forum thread and OP dropbox link is of v0.11 and not v0.2

Neatea, please update the link.

Nah, there is no 1.2. Really there should be no AVC yet, oh well.

So I've more or less decided to add more content before another release (sorry @helaeon). However there will be a lot of nice improvements so it's not a complete loss:

1. Profiling System

The profiling system is getting some more upgrades. Now, there is... noise! The idea is that you can specify a tweakable that indicates how far away your detector will scan. However, the further you look from the sensor, the more random noise will be added into the measurement. Therefore, you can easily enter a system and do very long profiles, but you might miss something if it is far from the detector. You'll have to lower your orbit and get a little closer, setting the scan range lower to reduce noise, to get an easier measurement. 

This all requires some more code work to be

2. Chargeable engines 

I plan to have the Chargeable Engine system fully implemented. This creates engines that take some time to charge up at a high energy consumption rate, then once activated, require only a small trickle of charge to keep operating. This will include the two Z-pinch engines, the AIM and ACMF engines, and all fusion engines.

3. Multi-length engines

Both the antimatter beam core engine and the mirror-cell fusion engine benefit from much longer reaction chambers. However, it's sometimes impractical to loft large reaction chambers. A new system is being implemented to let you vary the length of the reaction chamber. In the AM engine's case, it will be able to be set from about 1/3 the current length to about 2x the current length, with the current performance being equal to the longest model. Lower reaction chamber lengths will result in reduced thrust and specific impulse.

4. Thermal Fusion engines

I'll be trying to deploy the fusion engine roadmap for this update. This means two new parts - the tokamak fusion engine an the mirror-cell fusion engine. The tokamak is a simple entry level fusion engine that heats liquid hydrogen using a fusion reaction. The mirror cell engine is the advanced model, that has great performance but is quite large. It will take advantage of the multi-length reaction chambers mentioned above. These are both specced as 2.5m engines. 

Here's a render of the tokamak engine (left) and two lengths of the unfinished mirror-cell engine (right).

NN4WBzE.png

In addition, new fusion fuel tanks in 2.5 and 3.5m sizes will be constructed. So that's 4 new parts. Shouldn't take *too* long. 

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1 hour ago, MaverickSawyer said:

So, the multi-length engines... can they be "updated" in flight by adding new sections, or are they fixed once they're launched?

Unfortunately no, though that would be cool.

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5 hours ago, Nertea said:

So I've more or less decided to add more content before another release

I love more content, even if I have to wait for it. I'm a patient man. This may not resonate with everyone else, but that's my two cents :)

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12 hours ago, GabeD416 said:

Any plans to make 3.75 meter nuclear salt water tanks?

I'm afraid not.

So I've completed the multi-length engine system which works well. Lengths from 5-30m for the beam-core engine and the gasdynamic mirror engine. Essentially mass, power use and thrust grow linearly and specific impulse geometrically. 

Also finished the model, unwrap and configs (texture next) for the large fusion fuel tanks: 2.5m:

yUOMu8x.png

and 3.75m. 

6vicg6m.png

 

Model for the tokamak and the actual mirror engine are also done, need unwrapping and such.

 

 

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13 minutes ago, Starslinger999 said:

My game is asking me to "Update Far Future Technology" yet, I never downloaded this. I just have Near Future Tech installed. 

Uh... looks like there is a typo/miscopy in the AVC file for NFLV. It's trying to tell you that there is an update for that mod, the label is just wrong.

Edited by Nertea
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On 7/13/2017 at 2:37 PM, MaverickSawyer said:

I think I'm gonna need a bigger LV... :cool:

There's a reason I made NFLVs...

So, new progress! Profiling scanner code is complete (at least to a first approximation). Chargeable engine stuff is looking good. Tokamak engine and the new tanks are done and ingame, mirror cell engine needs its texture finished but is otherwise ready. 

Was also working on updating MkIV... got frustrated and started working on the ICF parts. 

This is the magnetic-nozzle one (ie low thrust high impulse). Everybody and their dog seems to make the VISTA engine, which is cool, but also seem to forget that the VISTA engine is about 150m wide. I don't want to go off by quite that factor, so a new design is needed. Luckily the Hyde design for an ICF engine is pretty cool. 

FQQyQqb.png

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3 hours ago, Nertea said:

Was also working on updating MkIV... got frustrated and started working on the ICF parts. 

Oh no, please don't abandon MkIV, it's such a great mod! There aren't many balanced wide-body spaceplane mods around, and MkIV is the best. What's the problem with it?

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35 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

Oh no, please don't abandon MkIV, it's such a great mod! There aren't many balanced wide-body spaceplane mods around, and MkIV is the best. What's the problem with it?

  1. I fixed all the custom props, so I have to go back and adjust all the IVAs to fix their locations
  2. I changed plugins to run the rotors, this is great for the future but has some teething pains. 

It's just not something that's fun to do on my Saturday off.

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