[WIP] B9 S2 Crew Tank IVAs

[SmarterThanMe]

Looks really good. If you're looking for ideas on what to put in... Bunks, supply cupboard, experiment cages, etc.?

[NKL]

My 2 cents: I love this idea, and I'd rather put the seat in the same facing direction. You can't handle 10+ G's facing rear ! (moar booster anyone?)

Also, though human (kerbal here) are quite the load for the volume they are, you can't compare that to LFO tanks filled till the maximum limit.

You just have to check the weight after your modification. That's all

[wasmic]

You can't handle 10+ G's facing rear at all!

Fixed that for you.

[falken]

This looks amazing, but I can't seem to use it. I placed the K3 folder in gamedata, and whilst my B9 cockpit shows 4 slots which I can fill with Crewmanifest, the game goes all wonky when I launch a flight. No IVAs, no staging.

[rhoark]

The shuttle launched with crew in the mid-deck, which is why ejection seats were only available on the initial test flights with a 2-man crew.

[K3-Chris]

The shuttle launched with crew in the mid-deck, which is why ejection seats were only available on the initial test flights with a 2-man crew.

Is that why the ejection seats were removed? A bit unfair if only 2 of the crew can eject to safety in an emergency.

Looks really good. If you're looking for ideas on what to put in... Bunks, supply cupboard, experiment cages, etc.?

I could fit bunks but I'm thinking the chairs would just fold flat instead, space equipment by necessity needs to be compact and light, making the chairs pull double duty as chairs and beds makes sense here imo, supplies are a given, experiment cages, you mean with animals inside? Don't know if I have the modeling chops to pull that off, and what animals are there on kerbin to test stuff on?

This looks amazing, but I can't seem to use it. I placed the K3 folder in gamedata, and whilst my B9 cockpit shows 4 slots which I can fill with Crewmanifest, the game goes all wonky when I launch a flight. No IVAs, no staging.

Weird, works for me and for other people, are you using RasterPropMonitor? I'll admit I didn't test the non-RPM version of the IVA.

My 2 cents: I love this idea, and I'd rather put the seat in the same facing direction. You can't handle 10+ G's facing rear ! (moar booster anyone?)

Problem is that I can't control which way people put the part, since it's a stack part it's 9/10 going to be accelerated from the "back" or the "front" (though I'm sure someone will put em in some weird configuration and you'll accelerate the kerbals sideways, or downwards etc) and a symmetrical layout on one axis at least lets 2 seats share a table etc

[asdfCYBER]

Is that why the ejection seats were removed? A bit unfair if only 2 of the crew can eject to safety in an emergency.

safety? in KSP?

[K3-Chris]

safety? in KSP?

No, the NASA shuttle.

[K3-Chris]

Man just realized I've spent a ton of time modeling something in a place no one can see it...

[Konnor]

Man just realized I've spent a ton of time modeling something in a place no one can see it...

I disagree. I do not use S2 crew cabins because they have no internal space. Until now, that is.

[K3-Chris]

No I mean there is no physical way for you to see parts of the insides I've designed XD Kerbals have a 180x180 degree view, and they can't see through stuff, they haven't gotten x-ray vision yet from all that radiation and using the green goo as marmalade.

I'm used to designing maps for FPS games (Unreal mostly) and there you can look behind everything and investigate every nook and cranny, there are only 6 viewpoints in the 2m version, 4 seats, 2 windows, there are a lot of places you can't really see, the stock IVAs and various mod IVAs take this into account, if there is a panel for your controls to rest on it's beweled and nice etc but all the polygons you can't see, like on the back, bellow stuff etc aren't there, and textures aren't mapped properly on the few surfaces that have snuck through on the back of stuff.

Edited March 19, 2014 by K3|Chris

[Rockstar04]

-- Snip --

Sounds like a case of old habits die hard. But since a TON of us skirt with the 32-bit memory limits, if you could trim the extra details back. . .

[K3-Chris]

95% of it is just re-mapping existing B9 textures, the increase in resources used should be minimal, but yeah, I'm editing myself to not add details where they can't be seen.

[K3-Chris]

I realized my previous prefered layout of the crew on the bottom and 4 wardrobe-ish modules on the top floor and a walkway between the doors and a ladder down was good for a game where you had free movement in the environment, but in KSP you can only see what the kerbals can see from their seats, the top floor was basically walled off from the kerbals, meaning it looked like you only occupied the bottom half in pretty cramped fashion, swapped to my next layout idea, seats on the top floor and 1-2 seats on the bottom floor with ladders going along the outside walls, the hole for the ladder doubles as way to see the windows.

Some pictures of my progress:

Top left is a bracket from the M27 that can hold an MFD or similar for the crew to keep in the loop with how the mission is going, outlines of window-frames added and hole punched in the model to allow you to see through them.

Camera moved to kerbal-head location, view should be similar, can see out the window (and I'll obviously make it possible to double-click the window to look straight out of it)

Bottom floor, will perhaps have one more chair, though I think I'll keep the capacity to 4 kerbals, I'll split them between the 2 floors leaving some chairs empty, you'll just have to imagine them all on the top floor during takeoff/landing. Will have a lot of props like storage of various kinds, snacks etc

Quad View

Obviously there is a lot of work left, mostly aligning textures and adding props of various kinds, but the overall shape is pretty solid now I think, the layout is also fairly good at least imo, that window location was always going to be a hassle to work around.

The top floor will also have some storage, plenty of space between the chairs and the walls to store all kind of knickknacks, med-kit, fire-extinguisher (Jeb's driving the plane after all) and well, snacks. Can't go to space without snacks.

While you can't actually use the ladders the opening is more than large enough for a kerbal, and the layout should work well.

[Autochton]

You should keep in mind that the access hatch on the S2 crew tanks are centered atop them (both in the 2m and 6m version). You might add some for of access ladder there.

[K3-Chris]

Yeah I know, not sure how to solve that, it's a pretty inconvenient placement for it, I'm thinking folded up ladder against the ceiling that obviously unfolds to grant access through the hatch or an actual animated version, no promises on animations, I haven' done it before and I'm not entirely sure how it's done, sadly KSP modding is basically undocumented except for snippets here and there, haven't found anything on IVA push:able buttons and animations and linking the 2.

Frankly the layout of these B9 parts are a bit backwards, a hatch especially in emergencies needs to be easy to reach, it being on the top of the fuselage is pretty weird, hatches on the sides would make more sense.

Edited March 20, 2014 by K3|Chris

[Taki117]

I like the progress, keep it up yo!

IDEA! It's space right? So why have ladders at all? I mean you need one tucked away for the roof access, but you don't need one for the side access to the bottom area. You could just Float down there!

Edited March 21, 2014 by Taki117

[DYJ]

Moved as per author request.

[K3-Chris]

Thanks DYJ

Taki117: The reason you need ladders is because it's a space-plane part, it spends time in kerbin's gravity well before takeoff, during atmospheric flight and after decent, and you can use it in regular planes as well if you don't mind the heat-tiles, and the side-windows being in the vertical middle isn't solved by removing the ladders, in fact it means we have even less of an excuse to putting holes in the floor to see out the windows Also even in zero-g ladders/handholds are a good idea because it affords much easier movement than trying to kick-off from walls/floors/ceilings etc.

I've made a lot of progress, I'm learning a lot about how to operate 3d modeling software in a short amount of time, finally figured out how to align stuff properly to avoid gaps and general floaty nonsense, and I've sunk my teeth into manipulating UV maps with good results I think, I'd say the overall mesh is 90% of the way there, the props are 50% or so, the primary parts missing are the shower/toilet cubicle, props for storage, I have alexustas of alcor fame's permission to use his props (I'll obviously credit him for them, along with bac9/tavarius for the b9 assets I use, and some squad assets as well) he's made for his alcor pod, they'll be in the next version of his pod, primary props of his I think would work well in there are these:

Would fit nicely in the corners of the upper floor and in the spare corner on the bottom floor, speaking of which, here is an updated view of it:

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Be sure to look at the pictures full-res, click the cog top right to do so.

Again I stress all those assets are from b9/stock, mostly b9, the angled racks and the dual oxygen tanks on the bottom floor are from the cupola (making them Claira's work I assume) and the fire extinguisher is from the mk1-2 pod only original assets are the ladders, windows (which is why they're not that good looking, yet). Shower/toilet cubicle in the second to last picture is just a rectangular mesh at this point, not entirely sure on where to go with that one yet, find it a bit of a weird oversight in other IVAs, sure we don't know if kerbals excrete and exfoliate but it's pretty safe to assume they do, even if we don't need to put the act and apparatus on display we can at least make space for it and put a WC sign on it.

I've tested putting the assets in unity and then exporting to KSP, it works though there are some details of the process I need to figure out still (lighting primarily, can't figure out why my external volume identical to the S2 fuselage is letting sunlight right through it...).

The part fits 4 kerbals, I'll add the harness/restraints from a stock seat to the top floor chairs and not to the bottom floor one to signify it's not meant to be used during burns/in-atmo flight etc, one of the top seats are unused at all times, you'll have to role-play the kerbal sitting in the chair on the bottom floor moving back up when asked to, basically the 4 chairs up top are where you buckle in when you experience g-forces from either burns or gravity wells, bottom floor allows one kerbal at a time some privacy and to eat, or to use the scientific instruments in the racks. Though I'm considering some kind of folding tray setup for the chairs on the top floor as well.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

Edited March 24, 2014 by K3|Chris

[Mekan1k]

Thought:

I WANT IT.

Suggestion:

Give it to us!

Honestly though- it looks ready. Is it ready? Because I want to play with it.

[Hellbrand]

that's awesome! how many kerbals does it hold still 4? or is it upped to 5 ??

[K3-Chris]

Read what I wrote people

Mekan1k: not quite ready, give me 15h or so and I'll release a preliminary version for feedback missing those alcor props etc, I need to figure out some unity stuff before I can release it in good conscience.

Hellbrand: it's still for 4, read the post, one top seat is empty, idea is that all 4 kerbals are on the top floor during burns, atmospheric flight etc, bottom floor chair is meant to allow one kerbal at a time to eat etc

[smurphy34]

I really like where you are going with this. Your ladder/view port fix seems quite elegant, I LOVE the RPM 's on arms and using assets from the ALCOR will be cool. I've seen your "How do I?" posts and it's inspiring to see what you've accomplished, keep up the awesome work!

Any chance you would do a write up or a vid of all/most/some of the tricks/lessons/pain that you've experienced in making a IVA? As, I'm sure YOU know, the IVA creation documentation is... sparse.

Thanks

[K3-Chris]

Thanks for the encouragement smurphy

Yeah once I'm done with it I'd be happy to write up a more verbose tutorial on it, already taken some notes towards that end.

Making some progress on the WC

Idea is that the section with the sign and handle is a door that opens outwards with the hinge on the left side if that makes sense.

Edited March 24, 2014 by K3|Chris

[Taki117]

I really like it. It's awesome!