Modular Fuel System Continued v3.3 (OBSOLETE)

[NathanKell]

Correct. I fell asleep at the (modding) wheel last night. :]

[123nick]

what does syntin do? just wondering.

[Starwaster]

what does syntin do? just wondering.

It's rocket fuel. It's a Russian synthetic.

(I was going to make a sarcastic reply about how you stick it in the rocket, light the fuse and run.... or maybe about how it makes things go up....)

[sephirotic]

Sephirotic: The NTRs already have modular engines, they're just done with the Hyrbid module (which means the same syntax for configs, but you can switch configs in flight). Look _below_ the Alternator module.

Starwaster is working on revamping the NTRs; that'll be in the next MFS.

Yeah, I made it work finally, I have just some basic notions of programming language, i should have added those lines at the end of the .cfg or used the :FINAL parameter.

Either way I managed to have now different fuel types for the NTRs, and most important, the LOX Augmented layout! While researching at the subject, looks like LOX Augmentation while slightly decreasing the Vacuum ISP, (witch is strange since the exhaust velocity is higher, I wonder if there is unburnt oxygen expelling out in the process, that's why) on the other hand have improved Atmospheric ISP! Since with the extra exhaust velocity, there is more pressure to fight against the Atmosphere. A LOX augmented NTR could get Atmospheric ISP almost as high as 700. with 3 times the thurst! (getting close to 50:1 TWR) SSTO may in fact be attainable with such technology!

Still on the topic: Looks like the LOX Augmented mode can be actually switched on and off inflight on most of this NTR designs. Which is amazing, specially for the massive GAS CORE engines witch have very high ISP for interplanetary travel. So, I tried to copy-paste the B9's engine switch-mode configuration, the "hydramodule" and put it in one of the NTR engines. I changed the thurst, fuel types and everything accordingly and turns out, the game loaded, the part was showing the correct stats however when I launched the engine, the right-click menu actually SHOWED the correct thrust i configured but there was no exhaust sprites and the engine wasn´t actually producing any thrust at all, with is strange.

EDIT:

Forget my noobishness, I figured out the problem, you have also to change the " thrustVectorTransformName = " to "thrustTransform" instead of the "nozzle" parameter.

Edited November 26, 2013 by sephirotic

[Starwaster]

:Final matters more than order. Never rely on order.

[andqui]

How do you change the type of tank? I want to try to use balloon tanks for Atlas-style staging. I'm asking here rather than the stretchy tanks thread because I can't see any mention of it there. All I can do in the "action group" options is change the type of fuel, not the type of tank structure.

Thanks

[Fractal_UK]

Players using RealFuels and Interstellar should download this new compatibility patch MFS-RealFuels2.zip. The old compatibility file is no longer valid and will not function.

This new patch is far more comprehensive and includes features like electrolysis of water into LiquidH2 and LiquidOxygen, atmospheric scooping of these resources and the aluminium hybrid rocket also properly uses LiquidOxygen and Aluminium fuel.

[BrickedKeyboard]

Nathan : do you need help fixing the tech tree integration? I noticed the source code is right there in the plugin folder. What the mod needs is a config file that defines which tech tree nodes unlock which engine tech levels, and the highest tech level unlocked should be used by an engine unless a player has adjusted it via the GUI. (I'm thinking that pressing a tech level select button in the GUI in the action group menu in the VAB would set a flag that would tell the engine to remain at the selected tech level).

There's no advanced math here, it's just straightforward and simple programming.

[Guest]

I have a request. Right now, when a tank cannot hold all the fuels needed for an engine, the autoconfig option is disabled. Could you change it so the autoconfig option configures the tank for fuels it can hold, then displays a warning message stating which fuels are missing? For example, if you have a Kerolox engine and a tank can only hold RP-1 but not LOX, an autoconfig option for this engine would fill the tank with RP-1 and display a message "WARNING: The selected tank cannot hold LiquidOxygen. [###] units of it need to be added in another tank." This should be capable of handling multiple fuels in case of triprop engines and such.

[NathanKell]

BrickedKeyboard: Thanks for the offer! I have the code mostly written though, just have to debug (I was getting some NREs). Should be done this weekend. And yes, I was planning to use a config file to specify both TL unlocks and fuel unlocks.

Dragon01: Why not just click "add tank" by RP-1, then? Exact same behavior. I see the need for triprop though. But honestly, when will you be hitting a fuel tank that _won't_ hold all the resources?

[NathanKell]

MM Patch for MFS, for anyone who is using both (Fractal's work, converted to ModuleManager format). Put this in your ModularFuelTanks/RealFuels folder; it will be stock as of 3.4 but I don't have that quite ready yet.

Let me know if anything doesn't work right, I think I have it correct.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u10orkb0peh8dbo/KSPI_MFS.cfg

[Dante80]

Players using RealFuels and Interstellar should download this new compatibility patch MFS-RealFuels2.zip. The old compatibility file is no longer valid and will not function.

MM Patch for MFS, for anyone who is using both (Fractal's work, converted to ModuleManager format).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u10orkb0peh8dbo/KSPI_MFS.cfg

Both, either/or?

[Fractal_UK]

Both, either/or?

Nathan's Module Manager patch is better now that he has finished it - mine was a temporary solution. The advantage of Nathan's patch is that no changes are made to Interstellar files themselves, so as I release updates to Interstellar, you won't have to keep patching your installation.

Both of them also require version 0.8.1 of Interstellar as I changed some of the file formats for compatibility purposes.

[Dante80]

Thanks for the prompt answer, will put in Nathans' patch. Its awesome that modders of Fractal_UKs and NKs caliber work together for mod integration, keep the goodness coming guys...C:

ps: And for the love of Kerbol, NathanKell put a donation link up already...

Edited November 28, 2013 by Dante80

[jrandom]

Newbie here -- I've been reading through zillions of posts but haven't seen an answer to this: is there an easy way to default all engines to tech level 7? I'm a strictly sandbox player and I can see it getting a bit time-consuming to always manually update the tech level of every engine I place.

(If not, do I just need to edit some .cfg files? Which ones?)

[Starwaster]

Newbie here -- I've been reading through zillions of posts but haven't seen an answer to this: is there an easy way to default all engines to tech level 7? I'm a strictly sandbox player and I can see it getting a bit time-consuming to always manually update the tech level of every engine I place.

(If not, do I just need to edit some .cfg files? Which ones?)

Eventually that's going to tie into the tech tree.

If you want to hack on it yourself, you can. Each config file controls a group of engines. Sometimes you can tell from the name. But engines.cfg controls squad, KWR and I forget what else.

[NathanKell]

Open either Engines.cfg in ModularFuelTanks/RealfFuels, or RftsEngines.cfg in RealismOverhaul, and replace all techLevel = X lines (for any X) with techLevel = 7

(I think you can just find/replace "techLevel =" with "techLevel = 7 //" )

I'll see if I can add a default for v4, I've been stumped for a while but just had an idea.

[Saphykitten]

Needs to be updated to use with the current version of TAC Life Support.

[NathanKell]

Check the (last page of the) TACLS thread, IIRC. It's posted there. Since the various LS mods share resource names, generic patches can't be in the main MFS zip.

[cgplover]

Hello, I love the mod. But I've run into a problem. When I press 'g', I can't change the fuel type. Using modular fuels with real fuels, and stretchy srbs, if that helps.

[Dante80]

I think thats expected, when you are using real fuels you should change the fuel types via the action group menu. Just select the tank you want and choose away...C:

[Starwaster]

Hello, I love the mod. But I've run into a problem. When I press 'g', I can't change the fuel type. Using modular fuels with real fuels, and stretchy srbs, if that helps.

Use the action group editor to edit tanks and engines.

[metaphor]

I don't know if this has been asked already, but is it possible to add an "insulation" resource that lowers boiloff rate? It could be something you can add to each tank like a type of fuel, and it would make the tank heavier. It could be something like boiloff (in % per day) = max{A - B*ln(insulation mass), 0}, where A and B are constants chosen to make it realistic. And amount of fuel left in tank = (full tank) * (1-boiloff/100)^(number of days); or if it's linear, fuel left in tank = (full tank) * (1-(boiloff/100*number of days)).

[NathanKell]

Hmm, interesting! Cryo tanks already are insulated, with concomitant low boiloff rates. In v4 I want to try active refrigeration. Although as you implicitly point out, the amount of insulation is not configurable.

[jrandom]

Active refrigeration would be great! It would help with the B9 fuel tanks that don't come in an insulated variety!

Also, I noticed that if I clone a part using realfuels, Liquid H2 on the cloned part reverts back to LiquidFuel, although LiquidOxygen stays. Not sure if that's fixable, but would be less headachey.