LN-N Sans Fairings

[XOIIO]

Hello all, this is something that frustrated me for quite a while, I wanted to use three LV-N's side by side, however the fairings would completely destroy one or two, if not all three engines, meaning you had to have a hollow "core" in your rocket, which is doable, but a bit of an annoyance to build with, so I searched, and someone beat me to it, but I decided to make an actual part you could just use.

It's the standard LV-N, without the fairings so that you can mount three or four in a tri or quad coupler (three is recommended, I think four will overheat and explode).

Just extract the archive into your Kerbal Space Program folder, and research the part in the same spot as the LV-N. Here are before and after pictures. You will need struts between the two sections of your ship as LV-N's don't handle a lot of pulling or pushing very w

Download

Original Source (needed a small tweak)

Two steps to make it work.

Add this line under node_stack_bottom:

node_stack_hidden = 0.0, -1.63, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0

and then edit the jettison module:

MODULE

{

name = ModuleJettison

jettisonName = fairingR

bottomNodeName = hidden

isFairing = False

jettisonedObjectMass = 0.1

jettisonForce = 1

jettisonDirection = -1 0 0

}

You are basically changing the node name that activates the fairing, from bottom to hidden. You can't change the name to a node that isn't present, so you needed to add "hidden" to the node list. The node location was changed to y = -1.63 to make it appear slightly above the actual bottom node, so it won't be snapped to. Adjust the height to suit you, you could probably tweak it so that you can select which node you attach to to either have fairing or not.

If you want to clone the engine, then copy and paste part.cfg to create a clone (and rename it) then change the name field at the top of the cfg:

name = nuclearEngine2

And you'll have 2 versions of the LV-N. You might want to edit the description lower down to make it obvious which one is which.

[GavinZac]

This is what ModuleManager was made for. It's much better to make a config than to worry about correcting this on every update.

[XOIIO]

This is what ModuleManager was made for. It's much better to make a config than to worry about correcting this on every update.

That thing seems to be only updated to v 0.20, of course it may work with 0.23, didn't bother to check, but to me changing three lines of code is easier than potentially having to wait a week + for a full blown mod to be updated.

[MR4Y]

This is what ModuleManager was made for. It's much better to make a config than to worry about correcting this on every update.

And given that only a handful of people know how to use it, mainly people that make mods (Which is the same thing that used to happen with ModularFuels/RealFuels), this mod serves it's purpose right.

[GavinZac]

That thing seems to be only updated to v 0.20, of course it may work with 0.23, didn't bother to check, but to me changing three lines of code is easier than potentially having to wait a week + for a full blown mod to be updated.

? Module Manager has always been kept up to date, has worked perfectly with 0.23, is distributed with the majority of mods these days anyway, the config needed is actually smaller than your 'mod', won't affect the game if/when Squad fix the 'Nuclear' Engines burning LFO, and doesn't involve redistributing Squad files. Here it is:

PART[nuclearEngine]
    {
    node_stack_hidden = 0.0, -1.63, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0
    MODULE[ModuleJettison]
    {
        @bottomNodeName = hidden
     }
}

It's really easy to learn, if you can figure out the config files themselves this should not be difficult to learn. It could be summarised as:

WHATITIS[whatI'mLookingFor]{ @WhatImChanging }

[Tiberion]

Not everyone has module manager, and using either method you don't need to redistribute any source files, you're just dropping a config in the same folder as the stock LV-N. Could even be in a new folder as long as you use proper MODEL calls to the assets. The zip/Rar would only need to be 1 CFG file (2, if you want to include a modulemanager file as well)

[XOIIO]

Not everyone has module manager, and using either method you don't need to redistribute any source files, you're just dropping a config in the same folder as the stock LV-N. Could even be in a new folder as long as you use proper MODEL calls to the assets. The zip/Rar would only need to be 1 CFG file (2, if you want to include a modulemanager file as well)

I put it in a separate folder to the original Squad files actually, just to make it a tad easier to remove if needed.

[Tiberion]

Thats a good idea - you can still do it without needing to ship the model and texture files using MODEL{} nodes at the top instead of model = whatever

[sojourner]

You know you can just rotate the engines using shift+wasd when placing the LV-N's to keep the fairings from colliding in this situation? No mod needed.

[Superfluous J]

You know you can just rotate the engines using shift+wasd when placing the LV-N's to keep the fairings from colliding in this situation? No mod needed.

While that MAY work with 3 (though I doubt it since the OP specifically said it didn't work) it would never work with 4.

Regarding Module Manager. The first post Google shows you is the old one. But if you go to the last page you'll see an admin has nicely linked you to the new page.

[sojourner]

It indeed works with 2 or 3 or 4. do a search in the Q&A forum and you'll find numerous threads with examples of it being done. Works for me all the time.

For example, in this thread there is a good image tutorial on how to do it:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/48715-Nuclear-engines-exploderizing-each-other?highlight=LV-n+fairing

Edited February 21, 2014 by sojourner

[XOIIO]

hmm, I've tried fiddling with the angles quite a lot without any luck, I guess I just never found the right one, something always clipped an engine and broke it. Nice to see it can be done stock.