[WIP] MSI's Infernal Robotics - Model Rework (v02 Pre-Release Beta)

[ZodiusInfuser]

Is Porkjet still supposed to brew up textures for these parts? They look alright, but KSP doesn't use a minimalistic art style.

Porkjet is not involved in the project any more, so the current texturing (if you can even call it that) will have to do until either A) I can get someone in to do a texture pass on all the parts, or I learn how to do texturing from scratch (which I don't have time for). If anyone is genuinely interested in doing a texture pass on the parts, please get in touch. There's a lot of parts which are now considered functionally complete so there's no reason they couldn't be getting textures whilst I'm creating new parts for the mod.

Edited June 29, 2015 by ZodiusInfuser

[V8jester]

Porkjet is not involved in the project any more, so the current texturing (if you can even call it that) will have to do until either A) I can get someone in to do a texture pass on all the parts, or I learn how to do texturing from scratch (which I don't have time for). If anyone is genuinely interested in doing a texture pass on the parts, please get in touch. There's a lot of parts which are now considered functionally complete so there's no reason they couldn't be getting textures whilst I'm creating new parts for the mod.

I for one still say the parts look just fine. Even if the textures are just "place holders" Don't worry too much about textures unless someone jumps on board. But if they are changed I would cast my vote for keeping them really close to the way they are now.

[Grumman]

In my own game, I've done two things: added a dedicated 2.5m Rotatron part and added ConnectedLivingSpace support for that part. Basically, it means that if you use both this and CLS, the game treats this station-sized Rotatron as if it has an access corridor through the inside of the bearing, so that Kerbals can still travel between the rotating section and the non-rotating section without going on EVA.

If you'd like to do it yourself (or if the OP wants to integrate it into the official mod), all you need to do is add the two following text files:

..\MagicSmokeIndustries\Parts\Rework_Core\Probe\Robotic\IR_Rotatron_Large\part.cfg

PART
{
// --- General Parameters ---
name = IR_Rotatron_Large
module = Part
author = Zodius (model) | Sirkut (plugin)

// --- Asset Parameters ---
//mesh = model.mu
MODEL
{
	model = MagicSmokeIndustries/Parts/Rework_Core/Probe/Robotic/IR_Rotatron_Basic/model
	texture = IR_Robotic, MagicSmokeIndustries/Parts/Rework_Core/Probe/Robotic/IR_Robotic
	texture = IR_Robotic_e, MagicSmokeIndustries/Parts/Rework_Core/Probe/Robotic/IR_Robotic_e
}

scale = 1
rescaleFactor = 4

// --- Node Definitions ---
node_stack_top = 0.0, 0.2, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 1
node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.1, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 1
node_attach = 0.0, -0.1, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0

// --- Editor Parameters ---
TechRequired = advConstruction
entryCost = 7800
cost = 1250
category = none
subcategory = 0
title = Rotatron - Large
manufacturer = Magic Smoke Industries
description = Now available in Space Station size, the classic Rotatron! This part is able to continuously rotate at 20 deg/s, and can have limits enabled to restrict its movement to any range between -360 and +360 degrees.

// attachment rules: stack, srfAttach, allowStack, allowSrfAttach, allowCollision
attachRules = 1,1,1,1,0

// --- Standard Part Parameters ---
mass = 0.5
dragModelType = default
maximum_drag = 0.2
minimum_drag = 0.2
angularDrag = 2
crashTolerance = 15
maxTemp = 2000
breakingForce = 999
breakingTorque = 999

// --- TweakScale Parameters ---
MODULE
{
	name = TweakScale
	type = Rework_Standard
}

// --- Robotics Parameters ---
MODULE
{
	name = MuMechToggle
	rotateJoint = True
	rotateAxis = 0, 1, 0
	keyRotateSpeed = 20.0
	rotateLimits = False
	limitTweakable = True
	rotateMin = -360.0
	rotateMax = 360.0
	presetPositionsSerialized = -180.0|-90.0|0.0|90.0|180.0
	invertSymmetry = False
	jointSpring = 0
	jointDamping = 0
	fixedMesh = Base
	servoName = Rotatron - Large
	motorSndPath = MagicSmokeIndustries/Sounds/infernalRoboticMotor		// Motor loop sound path
}
}

..\MagicSmokeIndustries\Patches\CLSInfernalRobotics.cfg

@PART[IR_Rotatron_Large]:HAS[!MODULE[ModuleConnectedLivingSpace]] 
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = ModuleConnectedLivingSpace
		passable = true
	}
}

[Jwmflying14]

Does anyone know if 1.0 rework and expansion work with 1.02 ksp?

This is really annoying how quickly KSP went from .90 to 1.0, to 1.02 and now 1.03 or is it .04??

It used to be a decent couple of months between... Not not only can I not keep up, but most of my favorite mods! Such as B9!

[*Aqua*]

I don't understand your complains. 1.0.0 was a major release, 1.0.1 to 1.0.4 were just patches and hotfixes. 1.0.0 came out on 27th of April. 1.0.1 & 1.0.2 both came out on 1st of May. And 1.0.3 came out on 22nd of June, 1.0.4 followed a day after that.

It's not like they are that quick. I still remember a lot of people complaining that 1.0.3 took so long (almost 2 months!).

And yes IR + model rework still works in the current version.

[Goddess Bhavani]

Does anyone know if 1.0 rework and expansion work with 1.02 ksp?

This is really annoying how quickly KSP went from .90 to 1.0, to 1.02 and now 1.03 or is it .04??

It used to be a decent couple of months between... Not not only can I not keep up, but most of my favorite mods! Such as B9!

I can confirm all my helicopters and tilt rotors work just fine in 1.0 and above.

You may have an issue with KSPAPIExtensions causing issues with Procedural parts and other mods but this is easily fixed by removing all outdated copies of KSPAPIExtensions.dll dated May or earlier.

This is if you see any oddities like parts being broken in other mods.

[ZodiusInfuser]

I don't understand your complains. 1.0.0 was a major release, 1.0.1 to 1.0.4 were just patches and hotfixes. 1.0.0 came out on 27th of April. 1.0.1 & 1.0.2 both came out on 1st of May. And 1.0.3 came out on 22nd of June, 1.0.4 followed a day after that.

It's not like they are that quick. I still remember a lot of people complaining that 1.0.3 took so long (almost 2 months!).

And yes IR + model rework still works in the current version.

Wow, was it really that long between 1.0.2 and 1.0.3. I guess there was time for me to update the utility pack after all. Nevermind though

[Grumman]

I don't understand your complains. 1.0.0 was a major release, 1.0.1 to 1.0.4 were just patches and hotfixes. 1.0.0 came out on 27th of April. 1.0.1 & 1.0.2 both came out on 1st of May. And 1.0.3 came out on 22nd of June, 1.0.4 followed a day after that.

It's not like they are that quick. I still remember a lot of people complaining that 1.0.3 took so long (almost 2 months!).

There are two issues at play: that they took too long to release a fix for a memory leak that crashes the game if you do something you have to do on every manned mission; and that they aren't leaving the physics constant long enough for players and modders to get used to them. If a patch is "strictly better" than its predecessor - like removing a memory leak or giving an engine less heat generation - nobody is hurt by its release, but we've had three patches in the past two months that significantly changed how our ships functioned and not always in a good way.

[ZodiusInfuser]

I had a bit of time this weekend to do some modelling, so managed to finish off the planned propeller line-up .

For reference the size of each engine is:

• Large = 2.3m diameter
  
• Medium = 1.8m diameter (should fit in a MK2 cargo bay)
  
• Small = 0.98m x 0.2m
  

I'm still very busy with IRL work so have no idea when I'll get chance to get them in-game, but thought I would tease nonetheless

[V8jester]

Looking good Zodious. Just take your time, your work is always worth the wait. I've been obsessed with dual and quad tilt rotor aircraft the last month or so. So needless to say. Really looking forward to these

edit:

You got me thinking over the weekend so I built this in anticipation Also I finally figured out the symmetry settings on the tilt rotors not being able to stop at 90 degrees in tandem. I'm such a dummy I needed to setup the Rotatrons with there limits prior to attaching the engine nacelles. As the engines would be 90 degrees off of each other if you try to set them up after attaching the engine nacelles.

Edited July 6, 2015 by V8jester

[Maelin]

Hmm, thought: would it be possible to put the Movatrons (which, according to the OP, are working fine) into a different package from the other Utility parts (which apparently need more work), so that CKAN can include the Movatrons without any hassle?

[smjjames]

Did you guys ever figure out what's causing this exception?

ArgumentNullException: Argument cannot be null.

Parameter name: obj
  at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Threading.Monitor:Enter (object)

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon.IsQueueEmpty () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon._processIdResets () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon.ProcessUpdate () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon.Update () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

It's pretty easily reproducible for me, so, I don't see how it wouldn't not also be easy for Ziw and the other coders to reproduce.

[Ziw]

Did you guys ever figure out what's causing this exception?

ArgumentNullException: Argument cannot be null.

Parameter name: obj
  at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Threading.Monitor:Enter (object)

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon.IsQueueEmpty () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon._processIdResets () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon.ProcessUpdate () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon.Update () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

It's pretty easily reproducible for me, so, I don't see how it wouldn't not also be easy for Ziw and the other coders to reproduce.

Could you please describe the steps to reproduce? I'm slowly getting myself back into coding, but I don't have time to read through forum a lot.

[smjjames]

Could you please describe the steps to reproduce? I'm slowly getting myself back into coding, but I don't have time to read through forum a lot.

It's easy.

1. Start up save game.

2. Click launchpad, select whatever stock craft.

3. Launch.

To see it again, you have to completely exit KSP, and repeat those steps. If you don't do those steps exactly, it probably won't appear, or it'll appear later. I believe theres a few other triggers, but that's the most reliable way of reproducing it. It also appears only once per KSP game bootup.

[Goddess Bhavani]

I was just messing around in my old video capture folders and came across this sitting in the hangar for 2 months:

It's the V-44 Quad Tilt Rotor which ZodiusInfuser helped me to optimize and add eye candy to - I didn't know fuel hoses were flexible!

It also has folding rotor blades, thanks to parts from the IR Rework Pre-release pack. In addition to ZodiusInfuser's auto-deploy action group I also added an auto-folding action group which stops the motors, aligns the blades and folds everything in.

I wanted to make this craft into a sort of heli-jet featured in some of the Ender's Saga novels but this proved very impractical: folding the blades of a helicopter in flight is absurdly dangerous for obvious reasons! The craft retains the jet thrust associated with placing a jet engine inline with the rotors, giving the chopper pilot more options in flight control. Proprotor pitch and nacelle tilt is fully functional, plus like my 1.0.x helicopter designs she has rotor trim so no need to mash the W key to keep going forward.

Engineering trivia:

We don't have the fancy torque-vectoring devices required by a real quad tilt rotor, so making this a pure rotor-lift-only craft has problems. Pulling too much collective will cause the thing to spin out of control due to inability to torque-vector! Thus combination jet and rotor thrust was found by me to be a good engineering compromise, providing safe demonstration of the QTR's impressive hover stability and sling-load capacity of up to 30 tons, depending on fuel load. Lessen the fuel, increase the payload. Dry weight is about 30+ tons and flight tested up to 75+ tons takeoff weight, so you do the math!

Coming soon:

There's another craft which I submitted for review as a pure rotor-lift vehicle, it's an electric synchropter.

Edited July 11, 2015 by pandoras kitten

[V8jester]

Hey I made one of those. But I really love the folding rotors, that is really cool! I had a suggestion though. I used a quantum strut gun on each of my 4 rotor nacelles to keep them from wobbling. I assigned them to the abort action group as I didn't need that for anything really. But besides the wobble the design is freaking cool! I had to cheat and modify a FS rotor to have enough lifting power and SAS torque.

[Joshwoo70]

Did you guys ever figure out what's causing this exception?

ArgumentNullException: Argument cannot be null.

Parameter name: obj
  at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Threading.Monitor:Enter (object)

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon.IsQueueEmpty () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon._processIdResets () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon.ProcessUpdate () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ActiveStruts.Addons.ActiveStrutsAddon.Update () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

It's pretty easily reproducible for me, so, I don't see how it wouldn't not also be easy for Ziw and the other coders to reproduce.

Uhhh... active sturts is not updated to 1.0...

Zodiusinfuser update for 1.0.4 OR RIOT.

Pandoras kitten sent me!

[ZodiusInfuser]

There's another craft which I submitted for review as a pure rotor-lift vehicle, it's an electric synchropter.

Yea about that, just had chance to test it and it's certainly an interesting craft to fly . Made a few tweaks to the structure (such as fixing the orientation of some rotatrons) and changed some of the control bindings. It will certainly be added to the mods example craft collection when I get around to releasing it.

Uhhh... active sturts is not updated to 1.0...

Zodiusinfuser update for 1.0.4 OR RIOT.

Pandoras kitten sent me!

Smjjames was one of the luck ones who got a beta release before I went on hiatus. Still no ETA on when I'll do the next IR rework release. I was waiting for Kerbal Foundries to update but it looks like that's got a long while left before it is ready.

[Rathma]

come on.... this is my favorite mod and there's still parts missing on 1.0+

:,(

[smjjames]

Could we have some real VTOL engine mounts? Please? XD

[V8jester]

come on.... this is my favorite mod and there's still parts missing on 1.0+

:,(

Not exactly a good way to get help..... What is missing? We're all happy to help but you need to just ask, not exclaim "COME ON"

Could we have some real VTOL engine mounts? Please? XD

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/smjjames/screenshot54_zpsqht9jyry.png

Page 166

I had a bit of time this weekend to do some modelling, so managed to finish off the planned propeller line-up .

https://www.cubbyusercontent.com/pl/IR_PropellorSet.png/_5559389290744b84b0af08dbbcd55545

For reference the size of each engine is:

• Large = 2.3m diameter
  
• Medium = 1.8m diameter (should fit in a MK2 cargo bay)
  
• Small = 0.98m x 0.2m
  

I'm still very busy with IRL work so have no idea when I'll get chance to get them in-game, but thought I would tease nonetheless

[smjjames]

I meant VTOL bases, but it's probably easier to make a VTOL ducted fan and propellers.

[V8jester]

I meant VTOL bases, but it's probably easier to make a VTOL ducted fan and propellers.

Well a full size Rotatron works pretty well. A trick to make them not wiggle is use a quantum strut gun to hold them in place when you are hovering or flying. I usually assign them to the abort action group (Backspace) So I can toggle them before and after I move the engine nacelles. This osprey is around 60 tons I believe and it flies well, held by two Rotatrons.

[lo-fi]

Loving the tilt rotor goodness!

Maybe a question for the main IR thread, but has anyone messed with setting up projection on the IR joints? My own experience has been very positive - it makes rock solid joints if applied correctly. To the point where it will pull the joints of the parts it's attached to apart rather than shift itself! Granted, it's been a long time since I messed with the IR code, so this may have been tried, or there are reasons it's not possible..

Zodius, if you're waiting, I can do a release without any of the new parts? We're mostly done with the plugin, so there are just a few config updates to get through for existing parts now.

[ZodiusInfuser]

Maybe a question for the main IR thread, but has anyone messed with setting up projection on the IR joints? My own experience has been very positive - it makes rock solid joints if applied correctly. To the point where it will pull the joints of the parts it's attached to apart rather than shift itself! Granted, it's been a long time since I messed with the IR code, so this may have been tried, or there are reasons it's not possible..

I'm not sure what you're meaning in this context, and without knowing the IR code I cannot say if that is done or not.

Zodius, if you're waiting, I can do a release without any of the new parts? We're mostly done with the plugin, so there are just a few config updates to get through for existing parts now.

I am waiting, but haven't really had time to test the newest dll of yours anyway due to IRL. I know the Mecanum wheels work, but I've not had time to configure the other wheels to use KF. Also did you get around to making "Update Steering" occur automatically when a wheel gets rotated on a craft? That was the main thing (after you fixed the orientation issue) that was holding me back from updating my other wheels to use KF over stock.