[0.25] Tweakable Wheels (Adjustable Brakes, Steering, and Torque for Wheels!)

[MAKC]

Maybe you could expand this module (Better Brakes/Wheels?) to improve the way wheels/brakes work in general? It seems to me that KSP wheels have too much forward/backward traction. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit: Would it be possible to make this work with B9 landing gears as well? They use a custom module.

Edited February 8, 2014 by MAKC

[OrbitusII]

Maybe you could expand this module (Better Brakes/Wheels?) to improve the way wheels/brakes work in general? It seems to me that KSP wheels have too much forward/backward traction. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit: Would it be possible to make this work with B9 landing gears as well? They use a custom module.

I have been thinking about adding multiple tweakables to expand the wheel usability options, so adding settings for torque, steering, etc. I probably can get B9 working as well.

[OrbitusII]

New Update and a Name Change!

Changes Made (TW 3.0):

- Added WheelTweaks part module

- Adds ability to tweak wheel torque

- Tweaking wheel torque correctly scales wheel power consumption

- Changed name to TweakableWheels.dll. Make sure to uninstall the original TweakableBrakes!

- Removed original ModuleManager config to make way for the new one (original is still available)

Info for installing the new version:

1. Remove old "OrbitusII" folder from KSP/GameData

2. Add new "OrbitusII" folder to KSP/GameData

This will avoid adding two distinct versions of the plugin and ModuleManager conflicts

Edited February 10, 2014 by OrbitusII

[NQMT]

Two ideas:

Steering: variable maximum steering, changeable handling at both low and high speed.

Suspension: hard or soft springs, lower and raise ride height etc.

[OrbitusII]

Steering: variable maximum steering, changeable handling at both low and high speed.

Can do, I was planning on doing this eventually anyway.

Suspension: hard or soft springs, lower and raise ride height etc.

I don't see any way to directly tweak that in ModuleWheel and I've had issues accessing the variables for WheelColliders in KSP, but I can probably do that.

[OrbitusII]

I feel like I'm working too fast...

Finished tweakable steering and updated the download for it. The only thing that changed in the download is the plugin, so update that and you'll be good to go.

Edited February 10, 2014 by OrbitusII

[NQMT]

Can I use this in a mod pack?

[ngianoplus]

I love the tweakable steering!

Would it be possible to have the torque tweak go up to 1.5 or 2?

[OrbitusII]

Can I use this in a mod pack?

Sure, just make sure to credit me.

I love the tweakable steering!

Would it be possible to have the torque tweak go up to 1.5 or 2?

I'm thinking about that as an option, but I don't want to make this mod capable of overpowering KSP's parts (I am trying to fill in a gap in the stock systems after all).

What I'll probably do is add a configurable option for that and have it show up in the config files for WheelTweaks.

[JeffreyCor]

Would love to have a torque boost, maybe even a trade off extra torque for lower top speed. Something like that would work exceptionally well for large construction vehicles

[OrbitusII]

Would love to have a torque boost, maybe even a trade off extra torque for lower top speed. Something like that would work exceptionally well for large construction vehicles

Yeah, I'll start working on that ASAP.

Uploaded TweakableWheels to the SpacePort!

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/tweakable-wheels/

[ngianoplus]

Would love to have a torque boost, maybe even a trade off extra torque for lower top speed. Something like that would work exceptionally well for large construction vehicles

And hopefully vise versa, I really want to make fast Duna dune buggies

So, if I could trade off torque for a higher top end speed, I would be ecstatic. Also, the extra torque will really help with large exploration vehicles.

[OrbitusII]

And hopefully vise versa, I really want to make fast Duna dune buggies

So, if I could trade off torque for a higher top end speed, I would be ecstatic. Also, the extra torque will really help with large exploration vehicles.

Ah, so maybe a low/high/highest gear tweakable with separate floatCurves for the low and highest gears... Gotcha.

[OrbitusII]

It's been 10 days since I last did an update for this, so here's my quick status update:

Been kinda busy with school and work so I haven't had tons of time to work on this (I also have my own Unity projects I want to work on ) but I should be able to get the different gears working this weekend. What I'm thinking for the gearing setup is two floatCurves in the config files, one for low gear and one for high gear, that use a multiplier to figure out how much torque (relative to the default gear) the wheel gets. It'll just be a universal config for every wheel (so the same low:high:highest ratio) but you'll be able to configure each wheel independently in their configs.

Tweakable suspension may also be a thing by this weekend, but it'll only be tweakable in the VAB/SPH for reasons (IRL you can't switch out springs instantly ) unless I get enough feedback that it should be tweakable everywhere.

[ngianoplus]

How's it coming along?

Can't wait for the different gears!

Also, I just saw my friends Land Rover with on the fly adjustable suspension, so I'm all for tweakable suspension in-flight.

[OrbitusII]

How's it coming along?

Can't wait for the different gears!

Also, I just saw my friends Land Rover with on the fly adjustable suspension, so I'm all for tweakable suspension in-flight.

I've been kinda busy and mostly lazy recently, but the gearing should be fast (hardest part will probably be the shifting thing, I'm unfamiliar with action groups so context menu will have to do for now) and suspension will require some research but should also go by fast. Laziness is partly from me being in my senior year of school and partly from having fun with a new computer upgrade (I just added Windows 7 on an SSD) and all the games I have access to now. I'll start working on it as soon as I can though.

Dynamic adjustable suspension will probably be a thing then, since it's a thing IRL and I can most likely get it to work in KSP.

[MAKC]

Still planning on supporting B9 landing gears?

[OrbitusII]

Still planning on supporting B9 landing gears?

Eventually yes, but my past week was full with work and robotics and this coming week has the regional for said robotics team, so I'm not sure how soon it will be done. That being said, I did get some work started for the gearing system, but it's a tricky little devil.

[Tidus Klein]

You should attempt to make the suspension rate, stiffness and dampening tweak-able..... if you did I would forever love you.

[OrbitusII]

You should attempt to make the suspension rate, stiffness and dampening tweak-able..... if you did I would forever love you.

That is one of my eventual goals for this, but as I said earlier, I am out of town until late tomorrow so I won't have the ability to work on stuff for a few days. It may or may not happen by the next release, so I'll make sure to inform people of what's going on with that.

I also got some modifications from BloodyRain2K that add more tweakable options and setting mirroring during flight, but I have yet to compile and test it to see exactly what he did. Those might be included next release depending on the scope of his adjustments.

One other, somewhat unrelated thing: I am considering resurrecting/revamping my old MonoProbe project, more on that as I get stuff figured out. My robotics season is almost over (one more regional at the beginning of April and then possibly nationals), I almost have my diploma, and a family move is right around the corner, so stuff will be a little crazy for me but I should have a lot of time starting in a couple months.

[OrbitusII]

Messed around with a concept for the MonoProbe that's been in my head for a while. I'll probably make a WIP thread for it sometime if I decide it's worth my time to continue work on it, so for now I'll stop the updates on this thread.

As you can see, I need a stylus with a nice, firm tip for sketching on my iPad. Any recommendations would be welcome.

I have some free time tonight and tomorrow so I'll probably get the gearing system done after I check out BloodyRain's edits. If I get those covered quickly I can probably get the tweakable suspension going.

[OrbitusII]

Update on the status of gearing:

Mostly done, all I need to do is get the wheels tuned so that you don't flip when not in 1st gear (default torques).

Here's what the config menu looks like in flight mode:

It's been a while since I messed with getting info from configs, so I'll run through one of my older plugins to see how I need to do that.

[ngianoplus]

So do we have gears that will allow faster top speeds, but less initial torque?

[OrbitusII]

So do we have gears that will allow faster top speeds, but less initial torque?

As soon as I figure out some good values to use for the high gears, yes there will be faster top speeds. What I have now causes the rover to flip out, but the top speed goes up to 35-ish m/s.

[JeffreyCor]

if first gear is the default torque does that mean there won't be an option for lower speed higher torque gear options?