B9 5.0 pre-release (with download)

[K3-Chris]

What part? I have no idea which part you're talking about, pictures would be helpful or what part specifically you're talking about and what's wrong with it, I can't read your mind, I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Read have Read]

I like the new Mk5 you have here Chris. Those windows conforming to Squad's Mk3 external and subsequent TT Mk3 IVA was really holding it back.

Odd though, This is the second Mk5 redo I have seen today...

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/77894-WIP-D12-Tech-Packs-B9-Aerospace-Expansions?p=1170670&viewfull=1#post1170670

Is Polecat's HL cockpit based on your MK5 Chris? if not, I think someone could save some time, or save RAM by having them share an flight deck IVA.

[Joshwoo70]

What part? I have no idea which part you're talking about, pictures would be helpful or what part specifically you're talking about and what's wrong with it, I can't read your mind, I have no idea what you're talking about.

It is the 6m and 2m crew things

(Not sure what they are called)

[K3-Chris]

Is Polecat's HL cockpit based on your MK5 Chris? if not, I think someone could save some time, or save RAM by having them share an flight deck IVA.

They're both fairly basic modifications of the Mk5 cockpit, though I aim to evolve mine to something more balanced, he doesn't seem interested in IVAs and I don't really like this quantity over quality approach, it would be pretty impossible to make that many IVAs

Updated pictures, still working on the shape but it's getting closer to what I want, might drop the nose a bit, I'm trying to get somewhere between a 737 and the shuttle, I think most people using the Mk5 connect it to the 2m to HL adapter and then a HL fusilage for large cargo planes and large spaceplanes, trying to make it feel more like a plane nose than a rocket nose.

And the more steeply angled wider windows allows much better visibility, considering adding windows to the sides problem is though that those 4 windows describe a circle around the cone, while traditional airplanes tend to have windows describing a curve 90 degrees from that:

We'll see what I come up with, you technically speaking don't need to see straight sideways, and you will be able to double click the windows to shift your view to the side window at need anyway.

It is the 6m and 2m crew things

(Not sure what they are called)

Well it's working for me, did you install the mod properly? no old modulemanager.dll files? delete all but 2.1.4 if you have more than one etc.

[Taverius]

I'm liking the general shape a lot.

Would be awesome if you can make the windows wrap the right way, might be quite a lot of editing though

[K3-Chris]

Some quick pictures of my progress, all WIP, all mockup/block-out quality, would obviously have a lot more polish before release.

Pilots have a 180+ degree horizontal field of view, overall shape of the part is to my linking, just need to tie the window shape/curve into the lengthways lines of the current texture, grey and blue solid colors are for block-out purposes

Edited May 21, 2014 by K3|Chris

[falken]

K3, that is absolutely brilliant. Can't wait to use that sucker.

e: I'm guessing that is 3.75 and not HL type?

[K3-Chris]

It's 2.5m same as the Mk5 it's based on, I got a HL pod in the plans as well.

Edited May 22, 2014 by K3|Chris

[Taverius]

I shudder to think how heavy an HL pod would have to be.

Guess it would be worth it for the stupid amounts of people you could stick inside it.

Mind you don't end up in the final with those RCS vents in the nose's texture

[Joshwoo70]

Sorry my bad. I used the old version on the Curse link.

please update thanks.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Joshwoo69
Derp

[K3-Chris]

Sorry my bad. I used the old version on the Curse link.

please update thanks.

Wow that's weird, I have updated it, curse and curseforge are the same back-end, no idea why curse says 0.4 is the latest one... Still does after I deleted 0.4 and 0.4.1, still says 0.4 is latest though it lists 0.4.1 and 0.5, something is wrong with it, asked them to fix it.

[falken]

Ah, i see (regarding cockpits). Could you possibly give an estimated weight for the HL cockpit as i am going to start designing my shuttle straight away.

[K3-Chris]

Same weight as the MK5+2mtoHL adapter should be appropriate I think? 3.5+1.5 = 5, should have about the same dimensions as well.

[K3-Chris]

0.5.1 released, adds the animated window covers and window lighting emissives back to the S2 crew tanks, fixes a small normal map issue with the 6m S2 crew tank, window covers hides the view in IVA when deployed.

Has a bizarre bug I can't find the cause of, the window covers are solid white but only on the 6m version and only in the editor, 2m is fine in the editor and both are fine in-game, no idea what's going on, anyone else got get the same thing?

Edited May 22, 2014 by K3|Chris

[falken]

Cheers. I would probably make it a tiny bit shorter, the dimensions of the MK5+2mtoHL adapter were very long!

e: Actually, on closer inspection, maybe not? I think it's just the adapter and the cockpit glass being so far forwards that makes it look a bit silly. Here is what I think would be a good base shape.

The black square is the crew hatch. Forgive my terrible artwork!

Edited May 22, 2014 by falken

[K3-Chris]

Cheers. I would probably make it a tiny bit shorter, the dimensions of the MK5+2mtoHL adapter were very long!

e: Actually, on closer inspection, maybe not? I think it's just the adapter and the cockpit glass being so far forwards that makes it look a bit silly. Here is what I think would be a good base shape.

The black square is the crew hatch. Forgive my terrible artwork!

I'm looking for something like that yeah, though I think I'll extend the rear a bit to allow a more conventional 747 ish layout of the flight deck with one or two flight engineers behind the pilots.

Mind you don't end up in the final with those RCS vents in the nose's texture

Because it's squished due to the UV maps being a bit wonky (which I'll fix before release obviously) or because it's there? I think the Mk5 is used by spaceplanes as well, having integrated RCS nozzles like the S2 is probably a good idea imo, would need forward facing ones as well though.

Although using FS texture/model switcher we could have a version with RCS and heat tiles and one without.

[Taverius]

Because its a major pain in the ass to do.

Since its a spaceplane and it has to come in belly-down, it cant have RCS ports on the bottom.

The ones pointing down have to be on the side, like on the S2 (and the shuttle).

Take a good look at the S2 with RCS Build Aid in SPH and remember it has to provide balanced thrust on those axes. I hope you're good at trigonometry and vectors.

Anyway, if you're gonna do it, the constraints are:

• They gotta face all 6 axes.
  
• They cant be on the bottom.
  
• They gotta give balanced forces on those axes.
  
• RCS transforms in unity use the green arrow, not the blue like engines.
  

Be careful though, cause if you start down that road you'll be adding them to every other cockpit too.

I hope you like texturing, because you'll have to add them all in

[K3-Chris]

Heh yeah I'm aware of those issues, though the S2 doesn't provide thrust forwards, the Mk5 wouldn't have to either, you need to pair them with at least one set of the b9 rcs pods on the rear that could provide forwards thrust anyway, or 4 normal 4-way pods.

It's not that hard really, it's about symmetry, your nozzles facing down can be anywhere between 45 degrees (or even more) down and sideways and almost straight down, as long as it's the same on both sides the net force is still "up" if that makes sense, and if your nozzles facing up have the same offset the sideways translation is symmetrical as well.

Only really needs 2 sets of 2 nozzles on each side one set pointing up 45 degrees the other down 45 degrees and then 1 or more above the nose-cone pointing forwards.

All you loose by the higher deflection angle is efficiency.

Initial block-out of the HL pod, going pretty 747 with it.

Edited May 23, 2014 by K3|Chris

[MainSailor]

Would anyone be able to provide any guidance on how to resize these to fit a 3.75m scaled S2 series? I dumped my HL parts a while back in favor of the S2 textures and I have rescaled all those by 1.5x. (Although Chris's proposed HL revamp capsule is making me re-think that decision.)

All the props look great, but the window views are obviously offset.

[K3-Chris]

Some more WIP shots, feedback appreciated (I'm doing the shape/geometry, textures completely stand-in for now).

HL pod: (3.75m)

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Mk5 pod: (2.5m)

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B9 provided some feedback I agree with, I'll try to make it look like it:

Edited May 23, 2014 by K3|Chris

[OldMold]

Looking awesome! Gonna build myself a long range ship like in the Europa Report.

[Joshwoo70]

Looking awesome! Gonna build myself a long range ship like in the Europa Report.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2YyiAXjJq2Q/UdUkurJqYNI/AAAAAAAAAXo/Gkkjelo6hc4/s1600/spacecraft_front_002.jpg

Where did you get the picture?

It looks cool thought

[falken]

Mainsailor, what scales did you use for s2 cockpit and fuselage pieces? If i remember right they are slightly different in scale

K3 the cockpits are looking great! You should make some shoulders to mount rcs and orbital maneuvering systems to the HL fuselage to go with.

Edited May 24, 2014 by falken

[Read have Read]

Some more WIP shots, feedback appreciated (I'm doing the shape/geometry, textures completely stand-in for now).

HL pod: (3.75m)

Mk5 pod: (2.5m)

B9 provided some feedback I agree with, I'll try to make it look like it:

I find Bac9's design annotations and concepts to be fascinating - just masterful.

The HL cockpit looks very 747, but I feel it could use more head room, especially with the tall heads of Kerbals, plus the additional height needed for them to put on a helmet if they so needed to. The nose reminds me a lot of the nose cone in B9, just scaled. It also feels like the flight deck is quite wide, using the most of the space.

I think you could go more 777 for the Mk5, with a Lowered nose point but a gentle curve to the top

Edited May 24, 2014 by Read have Read

[MainSailor]

Mainsailor, what scales did you use for s2 cockpit and fuselage pieces? If i remember right they are slightly different in scale

K3 the cockpits are looking great! You should make some shoulders to mount rcs and orbital maneuvering systems to the HL fuselage to go with.

Falken, I PM'd you back as not to clutter the thread.