[WIP + First Release] Asteroid Resources mod. Adding resources to asteroids.

[JamesOFarrell]

Hey, the last few days I've been playing with the idea of adding resources to asteroids so they are more useful. I toyed with the idea of having a drill to extract the resources, or a new claw (which I modeled really badly) to convert asteroids into resources and got it all working but in the end I decided that the extraction process doesn't really fit so I have stripped it back and created a partless mod that fills loaded asteroids with resources while keeping the same mass like so:

I am looking for some feedback and maybe some discussion around balance. At the moment the asteroid yield can be from 60% > 99% which is a lot of fuel. This was set high for testing but I have left it like that for the initial release to see what people think. The mod will handle any resource that KSP supports you just need to white list it in the config file. By default LiquidFuel, Oxidizer, MonoPropellant, Kethane and Ore are enabled and will show up (Kethane and Ore will only show up if you have the correct mods installed).

To install, just download from here: AsteroidResources_0.0.3.zip and extract to the <KSP>/GameData/ directory.

Warning, this will pertinently add resources to your asteroids the first time they are loaded (sort of...), this can not be reversed by uninstalled the mod. Removing the mod will just stop it happening in future. If you do not want to mess up your 300 hours save file do not use this without a backup!

This is my first mod so there are going to be bugs. Source code download here: AsteroidResources_0.0.1.zip Thanks to Trigger_au who wrote the KSP Plugin Framework that I used for some of this.

EDIT. Link is back. Zipped up the wrong version

Known Issues:

Liquid Fuel and Oxidizer will not flow from asteroids to an engine even with KAS fuel pipes.

Code to work out asteroid yields is dodgy and needs to be re-worked. (Edit: less dodgy now, still not great)

Adding resources to the white list with 0 density will cause asteroids to lose mass.

Maybe an issue detecting and updating asteroids if there is more than one attached to the vessel. (Have not tested)

Balance!

Licence: CC0

Edited May 2, 2014 by JamesOFarrell

[Justin Kerbice]

Hi,

it's surely a great idea but most people would tell you that such refined resources as propellant can't be just pump off a piece of rock (kind of getting ready-to-use gazoline for your car by just mining your backyard soil) and you'd better add basic resource from mining featured mods.

You may also add some randomness in resources, like some asteroids will be very poor on resources (not just a mere size ratio, as a big one could be mere rocks, a small one could be more or less hollow and full of resources) whereas some others might be very rich, making the game of chasing them more interesting.

Mass should also change IMHO as you remove something from the asteroid.

And your assembly in the first pic is impressive, good work.

Not bad for a first plug-in .

[CaptainKipard]

It's a shame that you didn't go for the drilling option. I hated the way the Klaw allows you to transfer resources the minute I heard about it, so this isn't for me.

[JamesOFarrell]

Yeah, not realistic at all but i was hoping to add a use to asteroidds without adding another mining mod with another set of new resources. Set to just generate Ore and Kethane I can see it being useful as both of those require additional hardware. This is how I will use it mostly.

At the moment each asteroid has a chance to get a random number of a random quantity of resources. A percentage is left over (about 1-40% for this first build) of just pure asteroid mass. As you drain those resources out of the asteroid it will get lighter as there is less fuel mass left over. Once it is done there will be just the 30ish% of rock left over.

[JamesOFarrell]

It's a shame that you didn't go for the drilling option. I hated the way the Klaw allows you to transfer resources the minute I heard about it, so this isn't for me.

I still have the working code for the drill, I am not sure I will do anything with it though as these guys over here are working on it already and it looks pretty awesome.

[John FX]

For myself the best option would be that the asteroids contain some kethane (0-150K upper limit depending on size). This would need to be mined with a drill and converted in the normal way. I wouldn`t want to use a mod that just put resources in to be used like a fuel tank though.

I like the mass reduction part.

[JamesOFarrell]

The plan originally was to replace most of the mass of asteroids with a "rock" resource then have a part that can convert rock into other resources. There was going to be a scanner that would reveal the resource and yield of the asteroid. Sounds like people would be more interested in that. I have the code done but I don't really know how to model so I guess I'll have to learn.

[CaptainKipard]

You can always ask for help in the request subforum. Alternatively if this is really similar to Hollow Asteroids then why not simply offer to help them out? And like John FX says it's best to fill the asteroid with Kethane, otherwise you're just taking depth away from the game. There should be something to do other than just docking.

[JamesOFarrell]

Good suggestions, thanks. I'll probably see what i can do first as an excuse to learn, there are a few good blender tutorials out there.

[Justin Kerbice]

It's a shame that you didn't go for the drilling option. I hated the way the Klaw allows you to transfer resources the minute I heard about it, so this isn't for me.

Just because they maybe chose the easiest option to do it and take docking port, perhaps someone can create, if not already done, a docking port extension class as a plug-in to prevent crossfeed and use it on the claw. So "problem solve" if it's just this.

You can also consider resource transfer as a forbidden cheat and never use it.

[JamesOFarrell]

It is really easy to disable the ability to transfer the resources, when you add resources to an object you can set how it is allowed to flow and be transferred.

[Westi29]

So I just dock a claw with a kethane tank to the asteroid and transfer resources? (like I would any other tank to tank transfer?) I don't need a kethane drill or anything?

This works great!

Edited July 8, 2014 by Westi29

[MarcRan17]

Hey there. Great mod, I was looking for exactly this. Not a huge fan of the Kethane system Myself, so I was trying to build my own sort of resources system that would be much smaller scale. Anyways I can't seem to figure out the ins and outs of the config file. I understand the whitelist, but what exactly do the other three list do? How do I use them?

Edited July 24, 2014 by MarcRan17

[MerlinsMaster]

Could you make it so that the asteroids have water? That way you could use the KSPI ISRUs to extract the water and convert it to fuel and oxidizer.

[Gaalidas]

Wait a sec... So I can't just put some dirt from my yard into my car and get gasoline? Wish I'd known about that earlier. Would have saved me a lot of odd discussions with the insurance whacks... Excuse me.. people.

[MerlinsMaster]

Hey there. Great mod, I was looking for exactly this. Not a huge fan of the Kethane system Myself, so I was trying to build my own sort of resources system that would be much smaller scale. Anyways I can't seem to figure out the ins and outs of the config file. I understand the whitelist, but what exactly do the other three list do? How do I use them?

I would also like to know this. I'm going through it, making changes to it to see what it does. But with KSP taking five minutes to start up, trying to figure it out is taking forever.