Component Space Shuttle - dev thread [IMG heavy!]

[wasmic]

Just notoiced that this can lift only ~10 tons. Guess I'll have to buff it up for personal use. Was it ~20 tons that the real one could lift into orbit?

[GoldForest]

Just notoiced that this can lift only ~10 tons. Guess I'll have to buff it up for personal use. Was it ~20 tons that the real one could lift into orbit?

LEO - 26.8 tons

GTO - 4.125 tons

Polar Orbit - 14 tons

Landing with a payload - 16 tons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle

[Guest]

Just notoiced that this can lift only ~10 tons. Guess I'll have to buff it up for personal use. Was it ~20 tons that the real one could lift into orbit?

I wasn't sure about the balance, I tried to make it capable of taking about 10-15T into LKO. It might be a bit weak for that, but it's supposed to circularize with the OMS, not SSMEs. I'm reducing mass of the ET in the next update, that should help.

[Dolin]

Hello, glad to hear the CSS is alive after week of silence Might I also suggest adding some insignia on the orbiter, KSP-style, of course

[ZooNamedGames]

@Dolin- Have you considered KSO mod? It's more kerbal than the real world shuttle, but it has an insignia and all. Heck, Nassault630 made his 'Gravoli' movie using it. I use the KSO more because until now.... the CSS mod NEVER worked, not it does (so far, Im gonna use it) so look it up in the mean time.

[Guest]

CSS works pretty well now. Sure, it's a bit rough along the edges, and had quite a history of being broken, but I assure you, it's just as good as BobCat's Buran. The next release will have a new, improved SRB, better separation and a bigger, lighter ET to increase payload capacity. I'm just waiting for a reworked decoupler and a booster model version that wouldn't have 9 thrust transforms, because the smoke bogs KSP down otherwise.

As for insignia, I'm not sure. I'll see about it, but I don't know if the texture layout permits just slapping them on.

[wasmic]

CSS works pretty well now. Sure, it's a bit rough along the edges, and had quite a history of being broken, but I assure you, it's just as good as BobCat's Buran. The next release will have a new, improved SRB, better separation and a bigger, lighter ET to increase payload capacity. I'm just waiting for a reworked decoupler and a booster model version that wouldn't have 9 thrust transforms, because the smoke bogs KSP down otherwise.

As for insignia, I'm not sure. I'll see about it, but I don't know if the texture layout permits just slapping them on.

To stop the smoke from bogging down KSP (assuming that you use SmokeScreen, and that's why you have problems), you can just set collide = false in the .cfg files.

[Guest]

Already done, the cause is somewhere else. Probably in the fact that there are 18 transforms where there should be two.

[wasmic]

Already done, the cause is somewhere else. Probably in the fact that there are 18 transforms where there should be two.

That does sound like it could be a problem, yes.

[Guest]

It is. It's also part of the reason I didn't use this SRB at first, despite it being of higher quality. Piwa said he'll help with that, though. I hope he manages to do this.

[Dolin]

Hello, After quite a bit of testing I'm sharing my launch procedure, i'm totally open to suggestions on improvement

I'm using Mechjeb, as It would be impossible to accurately mantain the ascent profile by hand.

Target altitude : 80 km

Turn Start Altitude : 4 km

Turn End Altutide : 55 km

Turn Shape : about 64 %

corrective steering OFF

Vehicle Mass (Orbiter plus RCS fuel plus docking ports in the cargo bay plus cameras) = 40.539 t

Payload Mass = 12.963 t

This way I end up at MECO with an 80 by about minus 70/80 km and still 170 of dV left in the main tank

I also did a "dry run" without payload, using the same parameters except Turn End Altitude set to 45 km, I obtained an 80 by minus 50/60 km orbit (the reason for setting turn end so low is that you want to gain sufficient tangential velocity BEFORE achieving your target apoapsis, so you can detach the external tank after MECO and keep it realistic whilst not wasting all your OMS fuel on circularising) .

Therefore we should adjust the turn end altitude between 45 and 55 or greater based on payload weight. I still don't know how heavy a load the shuttle can carry, but I guess it could exceed 16/18 tons and still achieve a similar orbit

About the Insignia : I'm aware that KSO is available, and I really love the IVA they built, I wish something like that could be done for the CSS, however I find that shuttle waaaay too small for my needs, it's impossible to fit any ISS module in there.

Regards, and update soon!

Edited March 23, 2014 by Dolin

[ZooNamedGames]

CSS works pretty well now. Sure, it's a bit rough along the edges, and had quite a history of being broken, but I assure you, it's just as good as BobCat's Buran. The next release will have a new, improved SRB, better separation and a bigger, lighter ET to increase payload capacity. I'm just waiting for a reworked decoupler and a booster model version that wouldn't have 9 thrust transforms, because the smoke bogs KSP down otherwise.

As for insignia, I'm not sure. I'll see about it, but I don't know if the texture layout permits just slapping them on.

@Dragon- I have the same problems with your mod as I did with the old one on the OTHER forums. My biggest problems is that I have NO launch clamp capable of holding the shuttle. 2- I have no way to structurally strengthen it because a single strut causes it to shatter. Three- the .craft file is unload able.

Granted I have had mod problems where I'll load a mod, but only 4 or 5 parts FROM that mod even though I have the entire mod and all parts loaded. That might the .craft loading problem, but the fact remains, this shuttle (in comparison to stock made or KSO) is very unreliable, HOWEVER I must note this is a MOD so saying its unreliable and unstable is a redundancy, because the "idea" of a mod immediately brings up the thoughts of the lack of reliability.

If you know or have any thoughts in the above, go ahead. Help I want to use this mod. D: but only if I don't have to go and manually fix everything

[ZooNamedGames]

*also my biggest request (if not NEEDED) is for you to add drought chutes, I'm willing to accept the fact the way your landing gear works ATM is that it has to act as skis, which is understandable and able to be accommodated IF I have two things (I require both if possible, and their not impossible requests) air brakes AND drouge chutes for when you've made touch down (besides it makes it more realistic which is the goal and idea of the mod)

Also for realism, (use whatever needed) have it where the SS has 30-40 after achieving a 1000km (1,000,000m) orbit, as that's where the REAL SSs where capable of.

*one last add- Can you maybe add B9 to the mod pack and make a SS Enterprise for ALT testing?

[Dolin]

*also my biggest request (if not NEEDED) is for you to add drought chutes, I'm willing to accept the fact the way your landing gear works ATM is that it has to act as skis, which is understandable and able to be accommodated IF I have two things (I require both if possible, and their not impossible requests) air brakes AND drouge chutes for when you've made touch down (besides it makes it more realistic which is the goal and idea of the mod)

Also for realism, (use whatever needed) have it where the SS has 30-40 after achieving a 1000km (1,000,000m) orbit, as that's where the REAL SSs where capable of.

*one last add- Can you maybe add B9 to the mod pack and make a SS Enterprise for ALT testing?

if you look closely at the engines section there should be an attach node right between the SSMEs ,?you can download something like RealChutes and attach a 0.625 drogue chute there ( the green one). also as far as I know the landing gear had proper braking and the tail also has the aerobrake function, which you can set via action group

[Jovzin]

Hello.

Do we have some ETA on the new version? Mainly with new SRBs and decoupler. As somehow I am starting to have problems during the SRBs separation. 8 times out of 10 those SRBs hit the SSMEs and result is no more engines for my shuttle in about 12km height. I do not know what happened. I have not touched the configuration files.

I think I will make a video for you to see it. It is starting to **** me off and bcs of this I halted my usage of this mod.

I am not very happy as this mod is great. And you guys are putting great work to this mod.

[Deathsoul097]

Hello.

Do we have some ETA on the new version?

-SNIP-

And back goes the update by a week.

NEVER ask for an ETA. It is just annoying. It'll be released when it's ready, and not a moment sooner.

[Guest]

Hello.

Do we have some ETA on the new version? Mainly with new SRBs and decoupler. As somehow I am starting to have problems during the SRBs separation. 8 times out of 10 those SRBs hit the SSMEs and result is no more engines for my shuttle in about 12km height. I do not know what happened. I have not touched the configuration files.

I think I will make a video for you to see it. It is starting to **** me off and bcs of this I halted my usage of this mod.

I am not very happy as this mod is great. And you guys are putting great work to this mod.

That's OK, I don't mind asking for ETA. Unfortunately, the problems you describe is exactly what is holding the new version up. The new decoupler isn't ready, the SRB still bogs down KSP and the separation still doesn't work like it's supposed to. I wish I knew when it'll be fixed, but my university is sucking up my time. I'd say, on wednesday I'll get back to work on it. I might or might not end up making a release sometime after that.

With the current setup, don't pitchover until the boosters separate, and remember to roll the Shuttle. The new one is still no-go, though I might end up releasing the new decoupling system and particles with the old SRB model from BobCat.

[Dolin]

That's OK, I don't mind asking for ETA. Unfortunately, the problems you describe is exactly what is holding the new version up. The new decoupler isn't ready, the SRB still bogs down KSP and the separation still doesn't work like it's supposed to. I wish I knew when it'll be fixed, but my university is sucking up my time. I'd say, on wednesday I'll get back to work on it. I might or might not end up making a release sometime after that.

With the current setup, don't pitchover until the boosters separate, and remember to roll the Shuttle. The new one is still no-go, though I might end up releasing the new decoupling system and particles with the old SRB model from BobCat.

Along with the SRB and separator, are you also working on fixing everything else listed on the front page? I mean, SRB flame is mainly a cosmetic factor so that's still all right, and I placed a couple of ullage boosters for a smoother separation. But I think what we badly need is solar panels (even non-deployable) and a separate fuel supply for OMS. Although we could maybe add the latter via some CFG editing, I believe there are many things that could be done before devoting too much time to the SRBs.

Many things are listed as WIP, so I would be quite pleased to see them in the next release

(Just a petty, trivial request : I would really love the SSME effects to be more blue/purple tinted and also the white shock diamonds to be bigger)

Edited March 24, 2014 by Dolin

[ZooNamedGames]

if you look closely at the engines section there should be an attach node right between the SSMEs ,?you can download something like RealChutes and attach a 0.625 drogue chute there ( the green one). also as far as I know the landing gear had proper braking and the tail also has the aerobrake function, which you can set via action group

I would prefer NOT to use anything related to real chutes, I've seen videos, it's not safe. It can destroy stuff and is (from I've seen) untrustworthy and difficult to use. However, I do agree, I will find (soon) where the SSs irl has them, and probably link you to a diagram and allow you to evaluate your decision from there.

[Jovzin]

Hello

Sorry for asking the ETA.

Just want to play with this mod again. But bcs of this not very good SRB separation ( hitting the SSME ) I asked the question about ETA. So sorry.

And thank you for the work you are doing. I want to help you badly. Just as I said in welcome thread my Truespace and 3D Studio Max skills are not very great. It just a hobby for me to model some ship or some part in those programs. But last time I touched those programs was, hmm I think it was 1 year ago maybe more...

[ZooNamedGames]

Hello

Sorry for asking the ETA.

Just want to play with this mod again. But bcs of this not very good SRB separation ( hitting the SSME ) I asked the question about ETA. So sorry.

And thank you for the work you are doing. I want to help you badly. Just as I said in welcome thread my Truespace and 3D Studio Max skills are not very great. It just a hobby for me to model some ship or some part in those programs. But last time I touched those programs was, hmm I think it was 1 year ago maybe more...

It's ok Jovzin. Besides, if this mod isn't getting it done for you, go check out the KSO, it's more stable and more complete, but it is more kerbal. So check that out instead if this isn't good enough for you

[Guest]

The only thing KSO will have that is comparable to CSS will be KSO Super 2.5. The normal KSO is much smaller than the CSS. However, you can use BobCat's Buran in the meantime, it flies similarly and is more reliable.

As for fixing the known issues, I haven't heard from Ledenko for quite some time. I've done all I could, those "WIP" fixes were his objectives. He'll be back, they'll get done.

Regarding RealChutes, they'll be integrated someday, but not soon.

And thank you for the work you are doing. I want to help you badly. Just as I said in welcome thread my Truespace and 3D Studio Max skills are not very great. It just a hobby for me to model some ship or some part in those programs. But last time I touched those programs was, hmm I think it was 1 year ago maybe more...

You can start by making a new airlock. Find reference pics on the web, model is as closely as possible, then scale to fix the Shuttle (64% of the real size). You'll need to add a dockport and an EVA hatch.

Edited March 24, 2014 by Guest

[Sochin]

Sent you an message with a link Dragon.

[Miximix]

I'm not sure if it was asked before, but for some reason, my shuttle doesn't want to fly in the atmosphere, it just flips and flies backwards. Looks like it is because of Ferram aerospace plug in. If the problem is in Ferram, will it be fixed in the future updates?

[Guest]

No, the problem is in the CSS. It doesn't work with FAR, simple as that. Compatibility is planned, but don't hold your breath for it. Configuring Buran for FAR has given me enough headaches, and CSS has a similar aerodynamic configuration, so it's likely that it'll face huge problems, too. So don't expect FAR support anytime soon.