[1.12] Extraplanetary Launchpads v6.99.3

[taniwha]

On 5/21/2020 at 9:02 AM, Critter79606 said:

I've yet to figure out the multiple stake thing, as whatever I build is always pointed in the same direction no matter what I do to the stakes.  I've read the docs, but not had any luck.  Using the least number of stakes, how do I point something in a particular direction?  I know it is supposed to point toward the door of the vab/sph, but I just can't figure it out.

For setting direction, two stakes is the minimum: One set as "origin" (bounds or direction does not matter for origin stakes, the other set as one of +X, -X, +Z or -Z "direction" (here, bounds/direction matters very much) I recommend +X for VAB craft as it is probably the easiest direction to identify in the VAB, and +Z for SPH craft (same reason).

[Critter79606]

On 5/24/2020 at 11:25 PM, taniwha said:

For setting direction, two stakes is the minimum: One set as "origin" (bounds or direction does not matter for origin stakes, the other set as one of +X, -X, +Z or -Z "direction" (here, bounds/direction matters very much) I recommend +X for VAB craft as it is probably the easiest direction to identify in the VAB, and +Z for SPH craft (same reason).

Thanks much!

[heuhaufen2]

The El survey station doesnt appear inside the vab or sph I looked inside the parts folder and there wasnt it either. I have reinstalled the mod a few times but it isnt there can you help?

[heuhaufen2]

the survey station doesnt appear for me please help

[Tonka Crash]

2 hours ago, heuhaufen2 said:

The El survey station doesnt appear inside the vab or sph I looked inside the parts folder and there wasnt it either. I have reinstalled the mod a few times but it isnt there can you help?

You only need to ask once,

For anyone to help you, we need a copy of the KSP.log and possilby the ModuleManager.ConfigCache for anyone to have a chance of helping you.  Post them to Google drive, Dropbox or someplace similar and share a link here.

[Tonka Crash]

@taniwha I'm a little confused on how you deal with launch clamps.  I was trying to deploy my first structure using launch clamps as a base.  I'd been using Diamond Grid No launch clamps up to now, but they are too big for the structure I am placing and they did not scale well with TweakScale, so I tried the normal launch clamps.

First up I use ReStock and had issuesl.  I found that restock compatibility is a known problem, so modified my game to keep the stock clamps, but had the same problem as with ReStock.  When I finalize the build I see the craft deploy with the base of the clamps underground and then they pop up to ground level tilting the structure on top of them. 

A little more research showed you clone the launch clamp into a second part ELExtendingLaunchClamp. This one worked like I expected, but what's confusing is it's hidden by EL_MM.cfg. I could only find it by looking through all the surface attach parts.   If this is one that works why isn't it more readily found?  And shouldn't it have a unique name and description in the parts menu since it actually behaves differently?  

[taniwha]

@Tonka Crash: ELExtendingLaunchClamp is not available in the editors because it doesn't need to be: when EL loads the craft file, it searches for the standard launch clamp and replaces it with ELExtendingLaunchClamp (this is a big part of the source of incompatibility with ReStock).

The whole idea of the design is to maintain EL's "build anything, anywhere" with no special parts attached to the built vessel. This is actually a hard requirement after my experience with Orbital Construction [Redux] (long dead mod (I haven't heard anything about it since 2014 or so)).

Anyway, I hope to be able to do my testing soon (I recently got a job again (yay) and so have been busy, because I went camping with family and friends last weekend (nice fairly isolated and quite uncrowded place)). I did manage to get my python implementation of quickhull working yesterday, though (and even optimized a little, but it's still 10-100x slower than the C# implementation in EL, which needs the recent fixes cross-ported again ). If I find I need to modify RELExtendingLaunchClampeStock's launch clamp module, I'll send them a PR.

In summary: the ELExtendingLaunchClamp part is hidden because magic

[Tonka Crash]

2 hours ago, taniwha said:

@Tonka Crash: ELExtendingLaunchClamp is not available in the editors because it doesn't need to be: when EL loads the craft file, it searches for the standard launch clamp and replaces it with ELExtendingLaunchClamp (this is a big part of the source of incompatibility with ReStock).

I think this explains what I ran into, thanks.  I'd created a save just before pressing "Finalize Build".  When the build was screwed up on ReStock clamps I edited my persistence.sfs by cutting out the craft file and pasting in one that used stock launchClamp1.  Since I bypassed the magic launchClamp swap by editing the craft into the save by hand, I didn't get it working until I'd put in the ELExtendingLaunchClamp myself.  I didn't want to tear down the build and start over, since I'd spent two week waiting for it to finish.

[taniwha]

@Tonka Crash: hmm, I suspect you've done my testing for me. but I'll try to get it (and any needed patches) done soon.

[Yiannis]

Hello and thanks for the excellent mod.

Although the mod works wonderfully, I have failed to make the survey system work. I even uninstalled EL, installed simple construction and not so simple construction but I still could not get the stake to show up in the UI. Reinstalled everything with CKAN and still, no survey station. Not that I won't be able to build my way around it but I am really curious as to why the stakes don't work for me. If anyone wants to take a look, here is the link to my ksp.log and modulemanager.configcache.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fdRBg8G36XAxMKfIt7Dayj6SD_HuBY88?usp=sharing
 

[goldenpsp]

1 hour ago, Yiannis said:

Hello and thanks for the excellent mod.

Although the mod works wonderfully, I have failed to make the survey system work. I even uninstalled EL, installed simple construction and not so simple construction but I still could not get the stake to show up in the UI. Reinstalled everything with CKAN and still, no survey station. Not that I won't be able to build my way around it but I am really curious as to why the stakes don't work for me. If anyone wants to take a look, here is the link to my ksp.log and modulemanager.configcache.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fdRBg8G36XAxMKfIt7Dayj6SD_HuBY88?usp=sharing
 

Do you have KIS installed?  The survey stakes require KIS.

[Yiannis]

8 hours ago, goldenpsp said:

Do you have KIS installed?  The survey stakes require KIS.

Yes. As well as KAS. The stakes do appear and I go through all the motions of malleting them and H'ing them. But when I open the UI they just don't show up. I assume that is because I don't have a survey station nor can I find one. 

Never mind. I uninstalled all mods but EL and lo and behold, there was the survey station.

I will go through the process of reinstalling the mods one at a time and report back the conflicting mod.

Edited June 22, 2020 by Yiannis

[taniwha]

@Yiannis is one of your mods ReStock? There's a problem with with the MM patch for the survey station.

In ExtraplanetaryLaunchpads/EL_MM.cfg (line 72)

change:
+PART[crewCabin]:NEEDS[ReStock]:AFTER[zzzzStationParts]
to:
+PART[crewCabin]:NEEDS[ReStock]:AFTER[ReStock]

 

[Yiannis]

2 hours ago, taniwha said:

@Yiannis is one of your mods ReStock? There's a problem with with the MM patch for the survey station.

In ExtraplanetaryLaunchpads/EL_MM.cfg (line 72)

change:
+PART[crewCabin]:NEEDS[ReStock]:AFTER[zzzzStationParts]
to:
+PART[crewCabin]:NEEDS[ReStock]:AFTER[ReStock]

 

Indeed that was one of the mods. Still going through them when possible. I will try your suggestion soonest and will let you know. 

Thank you for taking the time!

[Yiannis]

3 hours ago, taniwha said:

@Yiannis is one of your mods ReStock? There's a problem with with the MM patch for the survey station.

In ExtraplanetaryLaunchpads/EL_MM.cfg (line 72)

change:
+PART[crewCabin]:NEEDS[ReStock]:AFTER[zzzzStationParts]
to:
+PART[crewCabin]:NEEDS[ReStock]:AFTER[ReStock]

 

You were absolutely right. Once i added restock the survey station went away and when I changed the file as you suggested it appeared again. Thank you so very much for the advice!

[taniwha]

57 minutes ago, Yiannis said:

You were absolutely right. Once i added restock the survey station went away and when I changed the file as you suggested it appeared again. Thank you so very much for the advice!

Glad I could help. I happened to find it in my own install, so I guessed it might be your problem. I'm still in the process of testing things before releasing.

[AALF]

Hi there, Sorry to cut in. I haven't played KSP for some time and just started up again and ELP being one of my goto mod (love it!). So I was a bit surprised when I noticed smelters now require LFO to operate, which makes sense to me on a planetary surface where resources are plentiful. Where things don't work for me is using LFO to run a smelter on an orbiting station. Would it not be more realistic to have smelters be electricity powered in orbit? I don't know about other players but I scrap obsolete/damaged vessels in orbit and then do the scrap metal -> metal -> rocket parts cycle and using LFO to power the smelter in orbit is not a practical or cost effective way to operate. So now I just abandon, crash or delete said vessel.

Just my two cents and I'm probably wrong somewhere, sorry.
AALF
PS : Think about it, Orbital Solar Smelter!, now one would have a reason for building HUGE solar arrays with massive battery/capacitor banks!

[taniwha]

@AALF If you look back through the thread (just the last few (1o or so) pages, you should find an MM patch to make the smelter EC-based again.

I did some play-testing with the LFO smelters in orbit and found it to be not too bad (the main problem I had was I found that Kethane deposits were far too small). However, I'm inclined to agree that a (higher techlevel) alternative that uses EC might be a good idea.

@AALF: actually, the EC recipe is already in EL, you just need to patch your smelters to use it: just MM the smeters' (3!) ELConverter module's ConoverterRecipe to ECHeatedSmelter from LFOFiredSmelter (many thanks to @Tonka Crash)

Edited June 26, 2020 by taniwha

[Yiannis]

Oopsies.
I had to cheat although technically, I didn't. 
Set up a nice construction base on Minmus and was thrilled to roll out my first space station to orbit Minmus as per contract. 
Only I couldn't complete the contract because for some magical reason the station was not considered new 

I guess it's the most valid use of alt-F12 I have ever done!

[taniwha]

@Yiannis Did you have any old parts on the station? If even one part is older than the contract, it will block the contract. This one older part can be something placed using KIS, or even a docked vessel.

[Taniwha1234]

kia ora taniwha you stole my real name :P haha cant wait to try the mod 

 

[Virtualgenius]

On 1/23/2014 at 10:34 PM, The Space Man said:

Best folding launchpad ever?

Where does one find this launch pad is it still around

 

[Yiannis]

On 6/29/2020 at 7:47 AM, taniwha said:

@Yiannis Did you have any old parts on the station? If even one part is older than the contract, it will block the contract. This one older part can be something placed using KIS, or even a docked vessel.

Sorry for the delay in responding but I had to wait for a new mission to come up to verify.
As I already reported, there is a minor issue when a ship is built not being recognized as new. I have a bunch of photos showing all stages of construction if you would like to verify.
However, I found that the problem goes away if you don't immediately launch the craft but instead cycle through the crafts in the vicinity using the "[" or "]" keys. When you get back to the ship to be launched it is recognized as new. If you launch immediately the ship does not get the "new" designation. 
Anyway. It is such a minor issue and so easy to circumvent I shouldn't even have reported it. Sorry for taking your time. 

Did I tell you how thankful I am for this mod? After thousands of hours of gameplay this has breathed new life to the game. Thanks so very much for keeping it going.

 

[taniwha]

On 6/30/2020 at 3:12 PM, Yiannis said:

Anyway. It is such a minor issue and so easy to circumvent I shouldn't even have reported it. Sorry for taking your time. 

No, you absolutely should have reported it. Just because there's a simple workaround does not make a bug unworthy of reporting (though it does make actually fixing it less urgent). In fact, I would very much appreciate it if you reported the bug on github.

I've long been scratching my head over another issue that has the same solution (cycle craft): the new vessel doesn't show its IVAs (portraits) when released from the dock.

[Yiannis]

16 hours ago, taniwha said:

No, you absolutely should have reported it. Just because there's a simple workaround does not make a bug unworthy of reporting (though it does make actually fixing it less urgent). In fact, I would very much appreciate it if you reported the bug on github.

I've long been scratching my head over another issue that has the same solution (cycle craft): the new vessel doesn't show its IVAs (portraits) when released from the dock.

I will do as you suggest. Thanks again!