CP Airbags Revived!

[GavinZac]

I did not create CP Airbags, nor am I distributing any part of its configuration or models.

I can't find a thread for these anywhere, but I have found several people on the forum commenting on them, remembering them fondly and lamented their broken-ness, including myself. So I tried to do something about it, perhaps even make a replacement mod! With great enthusiasm I downloaded Blender, and Unity, and opened them up, took a deep breath, and thought "I'm a coder, lets just be lazy".

So here it is, a little Module Manager config that will fix the CP Airbags parts to work with both 0.23 and the new Landing Leg module (so can be configured in the VAB). I adds it to the TechTree under the sensible "Survivability" and if you have KAS installed, it will let you both carry them about in a container and attach and detach them to existing spacecraft.

1. Download and install ModuleManager if you have not already done so, which you probably have.
   
2. Download and install CP_Airbags as you would have to get it working in 0.21. Put "CP_airbags" folder in GameData.
   
3. This is a 0.18 part, and so needs a little editing that ModuleManager cannot do: You need to open /CP_airbags/part.cfg with a text editor like Notepad and write:
   
   • On the first line:

     PART{ 

     
     

   • On the last line:

     }

Has it been a while since some of you guys had to do that? Doesn't time fly?

[*]Download and place this file somewhere in your GameData directory.

No pics, no clicks:

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Here's what's inside the ModuleManager config file:

// Adds to the tech tree under survivability,
// and add the Landing Leg module to it.
// You can try putting the impactTolerance higher, but the shock of
// landing at high speeds still breaks some fragile
// parts that don't necessarily hit the ground.

// Add the KAS Grab module to the files. And allow it 
// to be stored, just in case. They aren't exactly aerodynamic.

@PART[cp_airbag*]{
	%TechRequired = survivability
	%entryCost = 850

	MODULE
	{

	name = ModuleLandingLeg
	animationName = Retract
	wheelColliderName = col
	impactTolerance = 300

	}

	MODULE
    	{

	name = KASModuleGrab
	evaPartPos = (0.0, 0.0, -0.15)
	evaPartDir = (0,0,-1)
	storable = True
	storedSize = 10
	attachOnPart = True
	attachOnEva = False
	attachOnStatic = False

    	}
}

// Why is this here? Well, hypothetically, if ChickenPlucker ever
// released another config file, with three identical parts
// configs except the names of the second and third 
// were changed to, maybe, cp_airbag_small
// and cp_airbag_large, this would make those extra parts
// half the size, and twice the size. But he hasn't. And I haven't.
// 

@PART[cp_airbag_s*]{
	scale = 0.5
}
@PART[cp_airbag_l*]{
	scale = 2
}

Predictably Asked Questions:

• This isn't your mod - that isn't a question.
  
• This isn't even a mod - that isn't a question.
  
• Why do bags inflate in a few seconds, but retract instantly? - Because they're going POP.
  
• If they're going pop, why can I inflate them again moments later? - Those are new bags, they're special bio-bags that are made from bacteria which eat antimatter and produce matter in a perfectly spherical format. See.
  
• My pod crashed, Jeb is dead, u r jerk - Yup.
  
• Wait, we're editing the original file anyway? What's the point of ModuleManager? Why don't you just give us the new part.cfg to replace the old one? - Because that would be distributing other people's stuff, and that's bad. This way, you're making a small change for your personal use as people have been doing ever since the new Parts Database came about, and also happening to use a config file for a different mod that references but does not reuse or redistribute anyone else's work. Well, whoever coded the ModuleLandingLegs....
  
• Can I distribute your stuff? - Sure. This config file is CC-NC-A, which means you can do anything you'd like with it except sell it or say it's yours^{, and you have to swear allegiance to me should the global system collapse and various warlords battle to secure the Earth's resources}.
  
• Does this mean you are maintaining CP_Airbags now? - Absolutely not. It's not my mod. And depending on how the new SpacePort addon repository goes, it might even be unavailable for download at some point. So, uh, download it now.
  
• GavinZac, this is wonderful! Have you made any other old mods work in this way? - Why yes, kind stranger, I have. Why not check out the excellent Deep Space Mission Pack which it just so happens I've made a similar config file for.
  

Example Craft and tips:

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Edited February 22, 2014 by GavinZac

[PringleMan]

Nice solution. It is not particularly hard to make those sorts of changes, but it is still nice to be able to basically copy and paste what needs to be done.

[kiwiak]

Are these baloons really popping?

I thought that some valves were just opened.

[The Destroyer]

I always loved this and was sad when it died! Woohoo!

[montyben101]

What speeds can these survive? I can imagine Danny2462 smashing them into the mun at 7000m/s...

[GavinZac]

What speeds can these survive? I can imagine Danny2462 smashing them into the mun at 7000m/s...

AT 50-60 m/s you stand a good chance of not-dying. At 70m/s, there is a very good chance things will break. What happens is the physics dictate that even if the bags themselves survive, they aren't quite as bouncy as they should be (that would require a new model with 'suspension' points from the "lander leg", i.e. the ball squishing on impact.) As such, things inside still get quite a shock and many things will simply fall or break.

This means you need to provision at least some RCS breaking for larger mun landings, or drogue parachutes on atmospheric parachutes. Obviously there's not much point in using them if you're sticking parachutes on them anyway, unless the atmosphere is really thin, or you're using Deadly Reentry and the parachutes aren't safe. Bottom line: these are useful, but only to a point, and you might kill someone.

Nice solution. It is not particularly hard to make those sorts of changes, but it is still nice to be able to basically copy and paste what needs to be done.

Yeah, this is some changes that took me at most an hour of testing (the hardest part being finding the non-standard wheelcollider in the horribly unreadable .mu model definition file), but the point is that it is out there now. It's not perfect, but it serves me, and might as well help other people. The part is very old, lacks a thread, and most people are probably not aware of its existence.

I'm kind of hoping it provides a proof-of-interest for either Squad or the legends that are stupid_chris and sumghai to make newer, better, bouncier parts.

Edited February 22, 2014 by GavinZac

[RenatsMC]

I was also reading that link that GavinZac mentioned. Hope someone makes new models for airbags.

[NNYGamer]

I used these once with deadly re-entry. They shielded everything nicely. I had to get them to inflate over the engine nozzles but once covered they didn't overheat.

[Derpy_Llama_]

Woohoo! This was one of my favourite mods!

[RenatsMC]

Yea airbags are needed for next update 0.24 because there gona be NASA pack and airbags would be nice and usefull.

[rottielover]

Nice solution. Cp's airbags is also the mod that for many of the same reasons, made me download unity and blender. Then I gave up and modified my own personal copy and called it done

Kudos for being good enough to release a solution for the masses that avoids ... "Imperial Entanglement".

[Camacha]

Cool, I always thought KSP needed more airbags. Even though I am still not to too fond of the undeployed models, they are quite useful in certain cases.

Although I must say my skycrane solutions got a lot better with the advent of kOS

[Boamere]

So wait, to save as a cfg. file you just put it in the name? because for me it is a text document

[Axe08]

thank you so much! this was one of my favorite mods for fooling around! I used this in my kerbal basketball video.

[GavinZac]

So wait, to save as a cfg. file you just put it in the name? because for me it is a text document

It's a .cfg file, but if you ask your browser to open it it will realise it is plain text, using MIME-type logic. Rather than saving it from inside your browser, right click the link it and save it, with it's extension intact.

I'll go set my webserver to serve .cfg as downloadable only.

[EuSouONumero345]

Must have!

[LMA]

My re-entry landing is just over 9ms breaking stuff so this should give me a nicer landing in the water thanks

[tygoo7]

Would there be a way to add one inflation and then you can repair/pack it like a wheel or parachute?

[Ghost13]

Is there any way to change the texture from orange balls to something else? I could not find texture in the mod.

[GavinZac]

Would there be a way to add one inflation and then you can repair/pack it like a wheel or parachute?

Not at this time. It would also need a new model to attack things like suspension to. At that point it becomes a question as to why you are bothering to fix a 0.18 part rather than just making a new one.

Is there any way to change the texture from orange balls to something else? I could not find texture in the mod.

It's packaged in the .mu file I believe. I'll check it out later.

[Sinner_D]

airbags are cheating, funny looking, and i know damn well kerbals would never allow such an easily survivable device anywhere near their space program.

"My pod crashed, Jeb is dead, u r jerk - Yup" <------ROTFLMFAO

[PringleMan]

airbags are cheating

You should probably tell that to the designers of Luna 9, Luna 13, Mars Pathfinder, both Mars Exploration Rover Missions, and if Beagle 2 had landed it would have used airbags as well.

[GavinZac]

You should probably tell that to the designers of Luna 9, Luna 13, Mars Pathfinder, both Mars Exploration Rover Missions, and if Beagle 2 had landed it would have used airbags as well.

I think (hope?) that he's joking. Kind of like how we used to joke about Kerbals inventing the rocket before the wheel.

While this is bumped, I will point out that Lack has made perfectly functional and very awesome airbags in his Stock eXpansion Thingy which do not require messing around with module manager and part.cfg. I thoroughly recommend, if anyone is thinking about trying CP Airbags, to give it a miss and use Lack's instead. I will keep this thread around purely for supporting people who have put these in their save games and are now stuck with them and their many NullReferenceExceptions (like, well, me).