B9 5.0 pre-release (with download)

[Umlüx]

nooo! do not hurry!

take your time to make it really awesome thanks!

[petros_a_l]

nooo! do not hurry!

take your time to make it really awesome thanks!

This! A thousand times this!!

[Taverius]

There's still a few blocking issues, but we're wearing them down, little by little ...

[Nsomnia]

Release 5 Checklist
Leonardo Valeri Manera avatarLeonardo Valeri Manera created an issue 2014-06-22
issue #16: Implement FS Switchers: DONE needs playtesting.
issue #28: S2 Crew Tank: DONE
issue #30: Sound FX Check: DONE needs playtesting.
issue #34: Engine FX Tweaks: DONE until next firespitter release (VTOL ModuleEnginesFX support).
issue #40: Fix Mk2 node offsets and CoM. DONE
issue #39: HPD1 model broken. DONE
issue #41: Finalize HX RCS. DONE
issue #43: KM_Gimbal bugs DONE
issue #52: LICENSE files DONE
issue #55: Stock craft conversion DONE
BLOCKING ISSUES
issue #53: SABRE FX pass
issue #54: HPD1 balance
issue #66: Spotlights unable to change colour

[K3-Chris]

Ha this RPM stuff is pretty cool, though the docs are written in neckbeard with no examples.

Quick test of an idea I had:

I simply took the display on the right:

And removed the blue and orange parts in the middle and put a camera as the background.

It needs tweaking obviously, I'd like to have numbers on the arrows like in this picture:

And I'm considering making some of the ladder lines in the middle less opaque, but I think it's pretty sweet already.

[stephm]

I love the PDF instrument c'est superbe !!

Would be great a basic FMC to put some point nav to fly

over kerbin !!

steph

[Alshain]

Ha this RPM stuff is pretty cool, though the docs are written in neckbeard with no examples.

Wow, those are awesome. I bet lots of IVA pilots will enjoy those, they are beautiful!

Edited August 26, 2014 by Alshain

[K3-Chris]

I love the PDF instrument c'est superbe !!

Would be great a basic FMC to put some point nav to fly

over kerbin !!

steph

While I really enjoy flying from IVA and I use real aircraft cockpits and instruments for reference I'm not really up on the lingo, FMC? google isn't being helpful

[stephm]

hi ! (it's Flight management system FMS sorry ! also Flight managementComputer FMC )

FMS

bye !

[jonrd463]

While I really enjoy flying from IVA and I use real aircraft cockpits and instruments for reference I'm not really up on the lingo, FMC? google isn't being helpful

Flight Management Computer. It would be nice for atmospheric flying. Set waypoints or just plot a point A to point B course. Think of it like an airborne version of Mechjeb's rover autopilot.

[Andrew Hansen]

I've downloaded the pre-release and I'm loving it! I've been using NEAR as well for the first time (I used FAR several months ago though). I know I shouldn't be creating all kinds of crafts in the pre-release, knowing anything could change and render my work useless - but I did anyway.

The only thing I wish is that there was a 1.25-meter cockpit to replace the horribly ugly stock one (at least, it's ugly in comparison to B9 parts). You see, I love making VTOL SSTOs, but the VA1 VTOL engines are only good for small crafts. I tried using the Mk2 cockpit, but couldn't get two VA1 VTOL engines to work on it. Thus, my craft is 100% B9 parts besides the cockpit - oh, and the vertical stabilizer.

I know I'm going to have tons of fun making massively gigantic SSTOs out of HX parts. By the way, I tried flying my VTOL through the HX4 parts, but couldn't quite do it - they're smaller than I thought (but seriously, don't make them any bigger)!

Anyway, here's a picture of my spaceplane. I'm very proud of this SSTO, which I call the Bullet, because it is ridiculously balanced - the most balanced craft I've ever made, with 0.00 meters shift from wet COM to dry COM (I used RCS Build Aid to balance it). If you use TAC Fuel Balancer, you can rest assured there will be absolutely no shifting of the COM during flight. It has lights, RTGs, air brakes, and is super maneuverable with its COL relatively close to the COM. The only thing it doesn't have is a ladder, but you can get your Kerbal in and out of the cockpit by lowering the front landing gear. Download the plane by clicking here.

Feel free to modify this and put it in as an example craft if you want. Speaking of example crafts, why do some of them say that they have "locked or invalid parts"? I did a clean B9 install and put all the folders in (I only installed RCS Build Aid and the other mods after first running B9 by itself). I'm using KSP 0.24.2, 32 bit.

I LOVE B9 AEROSPACE! Thank you so much to all of its developers - Reputation for all of you.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Andrew Hansen

[K3-Chris]

hi ! (it's Flight management system FMS sorry ! also Flight managementComputer FMC )

FMS

bye !

Flight Management Computer. It would be nice for atmospheric flying. Set waypoints or just plot a point A to point B course. Think of it like an airborne version of Mechjeb's rover autopilot.

Ah, RPM has a target selection menu already, and that target marker will display on the screen and on the map screen.

The only thing I wish is that there was a 1.25-meter cockpit to replace the horribly ugly stock one (at least, it's ugly in comparison to B9 parts).

Yeah I've mulled over a 1.25m cockpit before, the other 2 seem to have no real interest in flying planes that small but I think it's a worthwhile gap to close in the lineup, we already have plenty of 1m sized parts that could work well for a 1m plane, and we got 1m drone example craft etc, I got it on the back-burner, S3, Mk5 cockpits come first.

Speaking of example crafts, why do some of them say that they have "locked or invalid parts"?

How recently did you download B9 5.0? Tav only recently updated the last stock craft files, they were based on the old parts before then and some of them didn't work at all, try re-installing latest version, we push commits to the repo several times a day.

Edited August 26, 2014 by K3|Chris

[blowfish]

One way to do it would be to remove the colliders on the doors as they open I guess, that's pretty hacky though.

I could have sworn it was the collider on the port itself and not the doors (judging by when in the animation it was happening), but I could be wrong. Anyway, thanks for taking a look at it

[Konnor]

The only thing I wish is that there was a 1.25-meter cockpit

I second that. I'm even trying to make my own, something inspired by the new S3 previews, with angular shapes and all, but it doesn't quite cut it.

[K3-Chris]

I could have sworn it was the collider on the port itself and not the doors (judging by when in the animation it was happening), but I could be wrong. Anyway, thanks for taking a look at it

Actually it's both, or at least the port, yeah we'll fix it, just need to get the source files from bac9 or have him do it, it's an easy fix, either modify the colliders to not intersect or only enable the collider of the port and or doors when they're no longer intersecting.

I second that. I'm even trying to make my own, something inspired by the new S3 previews, with angular shapes and all, but it doesn't quite cut it.

http://i.imgur.com/so53gYt.jpg

The angular shapes of the S3 is to fit with the S2 fuselage system (and boy making a hexagonal shape split open on a hinge etc was a challenge) all B9 and stock 1.25m parts are round though, so at least the rear should be round, mixing round and angular is quite a pain though, so round or at least rounded makes sense.

For those of you who haven't seen the S3 v2:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

And there is a problem with 1.25m pods:

The kerbal almost doesn't fit inside, the stock mk1 cockpit IVA doesn't fit inside the mk1 at all, it's a lot larger,

Here is the internal:

Sadly we don't have a 1:1 kerbal place holder or 1.25m reference, but it's still clear the IVA is larger than the exterior.

And the windows don't match at all, makes me kinda pissed I spend hour upon hour finessing the details of my IVAs to line up 1:1 when squad gets away with blatant mismatching.

Edited August 26, 2014 by K3|Chris

[Alshain]

Would it be possible to combine the two struts into a mesh switching part? That would serve two purposes, 1 less part in the editor, and it would let you switch to quickly find the other end of the invisible strut on more complicated craft. It's not that important if your strapped for time, but just an idea I had.

[scottpaladin]

The only thing I wish is that there was a 1.25-meter cockpit to replace the horribly ugly stock one (at least, it's ugly in comparison to B9 parts). You see, I love making VTOL SSTOs, but the VA1 VTOL engines are only good for small crafts. I tried using the Mk2 cockpit, but couldn't get two VA1 VTOL engines to work on it. Thus, my craft is 100% B9 parts besides the cockpit - oh, and the vertical stabilizer.

I hate to recommend an unfinished mod to you but check out the D12 aerospace parts. They're pretty much what you're looking for.

[K3-Chris]

I hate to recommend an unfinished mod to you but check out the D12 aerospace parts. They're pretty much what you're looking for.

Do those have IVAs yet? I could whip up a 1.25m cockpit right now, several in fact, if I didn't put an IVA inside, but I don't see the point of a non-IVA cockpit.

[scottpaladin]

Do those have IVAs yet? I could whip up a 1.25m cockpit right now, several in fact, if I didn't put an IVA inside, but I don't see the point of a non-IVA cockpit.

Depending on the part, they either reuse the stock Mk1 internal or use the B9 Mk2 internal. A couple have new ones (the helicopter ones) that appear to be modeled but without props.

[K3-Chris]

Depending on the part, they either reuse the stock Mk1 internal or use the B9 Mk2 internal. A couple have new ones (the helicopter ones) that appear to be modeled but without props.

So, no.......

[Andrew Hansen]

And there is a problem with 1.25m pods: The kerbal almost doesn't fit inside, the stock mk1 cockpit IVA doesn't fit inside the mk1 at all, it's a lot larger, [...] And the windows don't match at all, makes me kinda pissed I spend hour upon hour finessing the details of my IVAs to line up 1:1 when squad gets away with blatant mismatching.

Wow... that's pretty stunning, I never realized that before. It's clear that Squad models aren't the most carefully designed at all.

While a 1.25m cockpit would be awesome, the stock one isn't too bad. I'm just really happy that my favorite mod is getting all these awesome new features.

Oh, and I'm sure the invalid parts on the example crafts is just because I had an older version. I'm updating now.

I hate to recommend an unfinished mod to you but check out the D12 aerospace parts. They're pretty much what you're looking for.

Thank you, I'll be sure to take a look into that!

EDIT: Ahh, so they don't have IVAs - that's why there can be 8 new cockpits (a huge number). *raises eyebrows* Nonetheless, it looks interesting.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Andrew Hansen

[scottpaladin]

So, no.......

I did say I hated to recommend unfinished mods.

[Taverius]

Would it be possible to combine the two struts into a mesh switching part? That would serve two purposes, 1 less part in the editor, and it would let you switch to quickly find the other end of the invisible strut on more complicated craft. It's not that important if your strapped for time, but just an idea I had.

Strut models are deeply, deeply strange things that have to comply to lots of legacy stuff dating from before KSP even had the Mun. Been meaning to look into it, but its not nearly as straightforward as you think.

In other news:

Managed to get this into a proper orbit with a 2.5m red tank in the cargo bay, after a few aborts involving 20km altitude, mach 3 deep stalls and unrecoverable flatspins.

Unfortunately once the engines shut off the reaction wheels quickly sucked the battery dry and I spiraled to my death.

Still, its possible!

I'll include it as a craft once I've added enough RTGs, its definitely hard mode SSTO flight.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Taverius

[Konnor]

And there is a problem with 1.25m pods:

True for Squad cockpits, but there is actually enough room for two kerbals within standard 1.25m compartment:

(which came as a surprise, I admit)

The angular shapes of the S3 is to fit with the S2 fuselage system

Beside that it provides an aesthetic of its own, and rather pleasing one.

_{(As for the attachment point  that thing from the previous page has round attachment node)}

Edited August 26, 2014 by Konnor

[sidfu]

man this new b9 dont like 64x. tested it in my test ksp and would crash 9 out of 10 times loading when it get to the b9 cockpits. checking the log the most where random but most common was it saying crashed cause cant find part update and part awake. also dont forget to write a uddated deadly reentry .cfg. the one time i got it to work and actualy got a premade ship to load the engines overheat and blow if u go above 70% thrust