[WIP]D12 Aerotech - A B9 Aerospace Expansion (Beta1)

[PolecatEZ]

Very nice, loving the 3.75/HL cockpits. I wasn't immediately sold on the viewing port windows just fore of the main cockpit glass, but now I kind of like them.

Those are just concepts I'm toying with, there will be another row of side windows forwards of the door and a cargo bay big enough for a 1.25m object comfortably. 3.75 is BIG. The internals alone will be a few hours work. Also not shown is a 2.5m B-52 style cockpit, and probably an HL bomb bay to go with - I did get the engines done for it though (B-52/B-58 style).

Anyways, halfway through the cockpit exports. I'm having issues color matching the grays with the original B9 parts, I'm not sure what alpha shading he used in Unity. Guess the B9 fuel tanks won't match the wings and cockpits exactly, but its close.

[Helix935]

love the designs for these cockpits! can't wait for release

[MAKC]

They are sexy little beasts. I figured out the problem with the design, should anyone attempt to make those wings in real life though. Basically, there's nothing bracing them extending under the wing, the basic geometry of the situation prevents it.

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/quantum-strut/

The strut gun in this mod will let you toggle struts on and off, very handy for swing-wings & securing cargo inside a cargo bay. The laser guides they emit in the editor are also useful for aligning things.

Edit: NVM, misunderstood your post.

Edited May 22, 2014 by MAKC

[Gristle]

A helicopter using several B9_Aerotech parts....

[Tiron]

The heck stabilators are you using there and where do you get them?

[PolecatEZ]

Its part of the pack coming out. One catalog item, about 7 varieties to toggle between. Same for the winglets on the tail, and most of the wings.

[Tiron]

Its part of the pack coming out. One catalog item, about 7 varieties to toggle between. Same for the winglets on the tail, and most of the wings.

Ah. Nice.

I'm having to re-wing my principal (space)plane design (all four variants, whimper) because of a FAR problem with part of my wing arrangement, and the winglets I've got on it don't really match...

Edited May 22, 2014 by Tiron

[PolecatEZ]

For this pack I took about 15 different aircraft and tried to make it so you had enough varieties of everything to make each fairly close, and keep enough modularity so you could mix and match without too much trouble. Wings are done completely, about half the cockpits are in (re-worked them last night so the staggered tandems shared internals), today are intakes (all 3 stock intakes are redone - the air scoop became an A-7 style long belly intake, the hypersonic now has multiple glowing internal and multiple cowling colors to pick, and the basic round black has multiple cowlings and a blade that spins with air speed), B-52 engines are (cheaply) done, drop tanks now have multiple models and optional big explodiness if Romfarer is installed. All that's left is the big job of the 45 degree landing gear, texture asset cleanup, and optional Skillful/ScanSat/MechJeb/Lazor integration if ID and/or Romfarer ever get back to me. The science pods, chopper blade re-works, B-52/HL/3.75m cockpits and bomb bays will need to wait until next version.

[Tiron]

Can't wait to see it. I got a lot of work to do on the planes still. The Delta-Deluxe replacement in the pre-alpha stuff works pretty well with it, the R8 replacement not so much (those being the two the planes were using...with NTBI wings from Taverio's Pizza and Aerospace, it matched pretty good. Not so much with Pwings, especially the B9 Pwings.)

Edited May 23, 2014 by Tiron

[sanity]

Jeb is disappoint...

http://i.imgur.com/Q9jtziF.png

whats the cockpit n cabin from for this one?

[Deadweasel]

whats the cockpit n cabin from for this one?

PorkWorks' SpacePlanePlus.

[PolecatEZ]

I'm stuck on something...and was hoping it would be a little surprise with the beta release but it looks like I'll have to spoiler it.

I've made a system for missiles on pylons that you can configure to your heart's content. About 6000-7000 different ordnance varieties are possible, and you can save your favorite ones as sub-assemblies. Bombs will get the same treatment, but 40 different missile parts in 6 hours was a quite a challenge.

Currently they're powered by Romfarer's .dll, but I'll reconfigure them also for Skillful when he allows this, and probably a stock dumb version when I get around to it.

The issue - Sound and particle effects won't trigger. Missile are dead silent when they fire, and no particle or smoke effects. They zoom around and track and blow up targets like they're supposed to, but no smoke or sounds. I've tried a few of the obvious things, but a few I wouldn't know how to troubleshoot.

1 - I looked at Romfarer's source code, and nothing jumped out that would hardwire sound/FX to his PartMissile type.

2 - I tried linking all kinds of triggers to a single effect, as well as changing out different stock effects, but nothing activated.

3 - Copied identical Unity structure and used directly Romfarer's part.cfg file with no effect. Romfarer's missile on the pylon next to it worked just fine.

4 - Alt-F2 debug just tells me "null reference exception" when I fire...nothing more verbose.

I'm also looking for a coder to help me merge DYJ's rotary cannon code with the just the turret and tracking code from HWLaser. - The sources for both are fairly straight forward (and open license), HWLaser code is very hard-wired in the parameters and those need made "public" values so we don't need to make a new .dll for each weapon.

-------

I'm missing a Unity component somewhere I think, but with no real tutorials or instructions on the subject this project is dead in the water.

Edited May 25, 2014 by PolecatEZ

[Neutrinovore]

Wait, so... I'm confused. Now we're waiting for weapons to be finished before the cockpits are available? Lovely.

[PolecatEZ]

Yes, I was in the middle of the Apache cockpit and I was like...I really need a turreted cannon under that with "look down/shoot down"...and some Hellfires...and these drop tanks could make really sweet bombs...and I got very very carried away.

I spent about 2 days exploring the cannon option - the DYJ's GAU mod does what I want it to ballistically and with various models. I have a few machineguns and rotary cannons in my back stocks now. The HWST laser does exactly what I want with target tracking and turning...but it would require a full recompile and combination of the code. If it lacks exactly what its looking for, it doesn't work, and that includes turret setup and traverse ranges (hardwired), exact file names and locations, can only handle a single weapon per .dll, etc. I'll need a programmer if you want any fast progress on that.

Yesterday I researched and then built missile components, thinking I could just dump them in the game and they would work...and the building system works beautifully. Tiny amount of catalog entries and infinite possibilities (and zero texture bloat). I'll have both ID Skillful and Romfarer versions of the config when its possible.

However, issue still remains with particle FX - which will also impact when I start cracking engines soon also. Why do my missiles act like a Charlie Chaplin movie?

Edited May 26, 2014 by PolecatEZ

[OrbitusII]

Well, if you can't get the weaponry working, I would still like to see some sort of release soon. Maybe send your stuff to Romfarer to see if he can fix it for you, but besides that I'm not sure of any fixes... Check upper/lowercase between the Unity hierarchy and the configs, I guess, since C# is case sensitive.

[PolecatEZ]

I literally used his exact hierarchy as imported from a .mu. Like, took his stuff out of each tree component and put mine in. This was on my 3rd or 4th test case. Same effect.

And you're waiting because I keep figuring out new things which improve quality, so instead of releasing a few half-assed things, I'll release many more 3/4-assed things.

It may be time for the nuclear option. Time to downgrade Unity.

[OrbitusII]

Ok, if you're working on getting the quality levels up then that's cool.

I would try the downgrade, I'm on 4.3.1 (I think) and haven't had issues with parts that I make (although I've only made one runway for Kerbtown ) and if you're on 4.3.3 there might be cross-version issues... Good luck figuring everything out.

[PolecatEZ]

My train of thought is that KSP particle emitter being on a part won't even let it export in the version I'm using...and I can't make any emissive animations period. I'd love to do the signature glowy cockpits but currently can't, and my engines are restricted to those where you can't see the guts. My fear is that downgrading may break something that won't allow me to edit my old scenes so will slow getting this project out the door even more.

[OrbitusII]

KSP's particle emitter system seems simple enough, but I haven't had a lot of luck with it either. It's one of those things that you have to figure out via trial-and-error.

If you send me a sample then I can probably do a simple emissive animation. I'm pretty experienced with Unity so I know how animations work (although they are pretty dang finicky in Unity 4...) and I've done emissive animations for KSP in the past. Is the issue that you don't have access to the textures or just don't know how to do it?

As for downgrading, I would make backups for everything. I don't think downgrading 2 revisions would be too much of a problem, you never know. Maybe compile a scene and its assets as a unitypackage and send it to me to check. If it works, you should be alright but still do backups just in case.

[Gristle]

Will the weapons be optional? I really don't get having weapons in this game.

[Deathsoul097]

Will the weapons be optional? I really don't get having weapons in this game.

It's for RP, fun, and just messing around. Just look at EnterElysium's WorldWar K series on youtube! It's epic!

[PolecatEZ]

Weapons will be in their own folder so you can just delete the folder with no side effects, and most have external dependencies that won't be included for licensing reasons (like Romfarer or Skillful) - which means if you don't have those mods also installed, they won't show up in your game. Cool fighter aircraft just don't look right unless they have an entire salad bar under their wings. Its hard to look bad-ass tooling around with just your science pod shooting peace rays. Go ahead, turn debris cleanup into a fun game instead of a clicky chore.

-----

I got back to work on cockpits. Missiles are as-is, they do the job but without pretty particles until I give it another go with downgraded unity or switch to ID Skillful code later.

I couldn't get the typical B9 cockpit animation working in my Unity version, but I did the next best thing. You can now switch between glowing cockpits (multiple colors to pick) or default lights off.

A few cockpits (like the Mk1) have several versions on a separate toggle to pick from.

Edited May 26, 2014 by PolecatEZ

[Autochton]

Cool fighter aircraft just don't look right unless they have an entire salad bar under their wings.

Go ahead, turn Kessler syndrome into a fun game instead of a clicky chore.

FTFY.

;-)

[PolecatEZ]

Damnit, now I need to make a functional internal weapons bay.

It also looks like K3 Chris is making an identical HL cockpit to the one I have in the to-do bin, so that's one big thing I can scratch off my own list. He also stated that the B9 team is implementing texture switching and mesh switching on the original B9 parts - combine with this and you'll have a very tidy catalog (and mods folder) and a LOT of possibilities.

Edited May 26, 2014 by PolecatEZ

[PolecatEZ]

I was rushing to get something out, and then Snjo does it again with releasing new tricks to implement. Also, Bac9 and Taverius are working to get out a very refined B9 pack sometime very soon. I'm going dark until that happens, as I don't want to release anything that copies their things or breaks when they release their update. This also gives me time to work on more toys, and work some new tricks into the helicopter rotors (we now have configurable props/blades). Cockpits will also be done properly with lights and all as soon as I do the Unity downgrade.

So, patience to everyone...theoretically in the next week or two it will be like Christmas in June. Bac9 and Taverius will be dropping big things under the tree and I'll bring the stocking stuffers. I haven't figured out a role for Snjo in this metaphor, I think he's Rudolph.