[WIP] Universal Storage

[BFGfreak]

While I'm probably going to mod the water tank to look more proper, I wouldn't mind a science variant that has this guy in swimming in it.

[Paul Kingtiger]

Hi! I tried to use an alkaline fuel cell/elektron pair as a "battery on steroids", but I failed to activate the Elektron:

Once I clicked on active, it shut right off. I thought it had to do with the entry in the part description,

Could this be a bug or am I misunderstanding something?

It was a bug that should now be resolved (you'll need to download the latest version of the mod).

Note that the fuel cell needs a small charge to kick it off (this is a limitation in the plugin rather than a design choice, but it makes sense and I quite like it), so fit at least one battery or solar panel to get things started.

[Savvy]

I just discovered your mod and WOW. This has so much potential and you two are very talented people, the models and textures are gorgeous and I love the attention for the details like the wires and pipe, amazing. I'm trying to add as much realism as possible so I can't wait to see the TAC pack and mostly the one for Ippo's Dang It mod, really looking forward the next release!

[Kobymaru]

It was a bug that should now be resolved (you'll need to download the latest version of the mod).

What's "the latest version"? I have 0.75.3 and the bug still occurs.

Note that the fuel cell needs a small charge to kick it off (this is a limitation in the plugin rather than a design choice, but it makes sense and I quite like it), so fit at least one battery or solar panel to get things started.

Let's just say, I have "sufficient" batteries and solar panels installed

[Daishi]

While I'm probably going to mod the water tank to look more proper, I wouldn't mind a science variant that has this guy in swimming in it.

The water tank has been designed to have its internals (be it bubbles, Kraken, or dead floating hamsters) referenced in from a separate file, so if somebody wants to make a science aquarium it will be relatively straight forward to do. I'm shying away from extreme animation (organic creatures and things) because no KSP animation plugin seems capable of full character rigging, and Unity is pretty touchy about large amounts of keyframes anyway before lag rears its head. And the obvious excuse is, of course, it's totally out of the scope of this mod

I just discovered your mod and WOW. This has so much potential and you two are very talented people, the models and textures are gorgeous and I love the attention for the details like the wires and pipe, amazing. I'm trying to add as much realism as possible so I can't wait to see the TAC pack and mostly the one for Ippo's Dang It mod, really looking forward the next release!

+1

What's "the latest version"? I have 0.75.3 and the bug still occurs. Let's just say, I have "sufficient" batteries and solar panels installed

Yeah, 0.75.3 is. Paul's working on it with a few other people, don't worry. In other news, the food wedge is coming along nicely. Have yet to texture, add the liquid food piping, and the labels (which will be totally customizable).

Edited July 31, 2014 by Daishi

[PDelta41]

Awesome mod. Just installed it, building a Minmus mission that uses it.

Also, is there any chance you could add a parachute wedge? Perhaps with Realchutes compatibility?

[Kobymaru]

In other news, the food wedge is coming along nicely. Have yet to texture, add the liquid food piping, and the labels (which will be totally customizable).

http://i.imgur.com/kBmtEzc.gif

Aaand now I'm hyped. GO FOOD WEDGE! GO TAC PACK!

Awesome mod. Just installed it, building a Minmus mission that uses it.

Also, is there any chance you could add a parachute wedge? Perhaps with Realchutes compatibility?

I'm sorry, but you want to do that why exactly? I don't think it makes sense "physically" to put parachutes in wedges.

[PDelta41]

I just thought it'd be a neat alternative to bolting a radial parachute to the side of my fuselage, without adding an entire inline chute stack. It'd have the basically the same functionality, though, as the in-line chutes, just a little more modular.

[CaptainKipard]

GO TAC PACK!

Is that right? TAC is next?

[kiwiak]

Is there surface sample container in plans?

[Savvy]

Is there surface sample container in plans?

+1 Great idea!

[Daishi]

Is that right? TAC is next?

Yep, that's where we're heading

Is there surface sample container in plans?

+1 Great idea!

Maaaybe. Ever since we took the Science Bay out of the KAS pack and put it in Core, it's been very sparse in parts. It might make sense to call it an EVA pack instead, and chuck a sample container in there too. It could work

[Daishi]

Progress on the food wedge, sewing things by hand takes forever. Fabric folds and wrinkles are next.

Puree'd astro-snacks proudly brought to you by Sean's Cannery Inc (or any company you like).

Edited August 3, 2014 by Daishi

[Daishi]

All done! Might do some tweaking, and there's a tiny spot left on the UV map for another label if its needed, but i think its time to move onto the waste containers. It's designed to stack (more or less) seamlessly, so it should look a lot better on space stations and give the appearance of one large bag when placed in a vertical group of cores. The tank labels are customizable too, so its easy enough to change them by swapping in a .png of the same aspect ratio (16:10, or the same dimensions as the Squad flags) into the parts folder, and overwriting the labels that are already there.

Turntable, if you can see it through all the muddy compression. Urgh :|

[CaptainKipard]

Great looking textures. I don't remember if I asked you this before, but do you plan on adding specular shaders to your parts?

[Savvy]

All done! Might do some tweaking, and there's a tiny spot left on the UV map for another label if its needed, but i think its time to move onto the waste containers. It's designed to stack (more or less) seamlessly, so it should look a lot better on space stations and give the appearance of one large bag when placed in a vertical group of cores. The tank labels are customizable too, so its easy enough to change them by swapping in a .png of the same aspect ratio (16:10, or the same dimensions as the Squad flags) into the parts folder, and overwriting the labels that are already there.

Awesome. I love the animation, but there is actually no point to open it right ? I mean are the resources in the wedge used when you are in the pod or is it only used to take on EVAs ?

[Daishi]

Great looking textures. I don't remember if I asked you this before, but do you plan on adding specular shaders to your parts?

Thanks! I will eventually with maps (probably with the release of the HD textures) but in the meantime I've just assigned specular materials with the same texture to naturally shiny parts of the mesh. It probably increases draw calls in Unity, but I have no idea how much of a performance hit it is (if draw calls are calculated per-material or per-mesh). It doesn't seem to cause any slowdown at the moment.

Awesome. I love the animation, but there is actually no point to open it right ? I mean are the resources in the wedge used when you are in the pod or is it only used to take on EVAs ?

Nope, no point at all. Just eyecandy This is designed to fit inside a craft on a quad or octocore, but you can access the resources in the wedge when you're moving them on EVA too.

[Kobymaru]

Food wedge looks awesome! Btw, are there plans for waste containers and some converters in the next release?

[Paul Kingtiger]

Food wedge looks awesome! Btw, are there plans for waste containers and some converters in the next release?

Yes and yes.

We'll have waste and waste water in the TAC pack plus the Elektron, Sabatier reactor and Water purifier systems.

[Tommygun]

Yes and yes.

We'll have waste and waste water in the TAC pack plus the Elektron, Sabatier reactor and Water purifier systems.

A honey bucket wedge?

[Chris_Pi]

Yep, that's where we're heading

Maaaybe. Ever since we took the Science Bay out of the KAS pack and put it in Core, it's been very sparse in parts. It might make sense to call it an EVA pack instead, and chuck a sample container in there too. It could work

Some kind of science sample storage would be very welcome - Storage in manned capsules was a sensible place to start, But having something lighter for what's probably usually a shoebox-sized payload that needs returning makes for easier sample transport/return. It would be nice to be able to send samples/data back to Kerbin without slinging a whole capsule across a solar system.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Chris_Pi
spelling

[Paul Kingtiger]

Some kind of science sample storage would be very welcome - Storage in manned capsules was a sensible place to start, But having something lighter for what's probably usually a shoebox-sized payload that needs returning makes for easier sample transport/return. It would be nice to be able to send samples/data back to Kerbin without slinging a whole capsule across a solar system.

That gives me an idea for a sample return mod, Small science containers designed to fit on top of 1.25m rockets. Something like this:

You'd need a command pod, heatshield, parachute and science container. Not sure if it would work best a seperate parts that built up or as a single part.

Use stock parts to get it to kerbin, then use the sample return part for reentry and delivery of the payload.

[Climberfx]

Very Pretty containers! You have the gift.

[CaptainKipard]

Something like this:

http://hayabusa.seti.org/capsule.jpg

FYI. A Hayabusa re-entry capsule was requested a few times. It would surely be good to reduce the part count. My solution for orbital sample return was a cluster of tiny rockets, each with two of talisars science containers. Two containers would be good to allow you to return full science value of e.g. Minmus soil samples. Anyway, my cluster caused some lag when I docked it to my science station, because it's made of lots small parts.

[Chris_Pi]

I was thinking just a science storage wedge, but a complete return capsule would be a really nice low-partscount solution. A two-part design might make sense. Use a capsule with a heatshield, one (or two, as Cpt. Kipard suggests) sample storage spaces and a small parachute. Add a backshell with a decoupler built into the top, 50-100 M/S RCS fuel/motors and an hour or so of battery power. By itself it could get down from LKO. Pop the backshell off when the parachute opens. Use the backshell for attach points for whatever motors and such are needed to get the capsule back from further out, Remotetech antennas, and whatever else someone might want to stick on. Should be a fairly simple to use system that can be pretty much glued onto an existing vehicle and separated without leaving any parts laying around. It's probably a separate project all by itself, But would be nice to have around.