[DEV HALTED] Simple TAC LS Greenhouse [v1.0] [updated 15.08.2014]

[marce]

See this post (<- Link)

Since Cerebrate is going a much more realistic way than I intended and will also require KSPI I decided to publish my own version.

This is my very first mod so if you want to test it please be patient with me and ready to suffer from strange bugs

My goal was to close the gap in the regeneration circle in TAC LS and also provide a way to renew Food. Nothing else: no biomass, seeds, fuel generation or hardcore realism.

When looking at basic photosynthesis formula you'll see that there isn't actually "Waste" imput required but 12 mol of water of which only 6 come back out.

I simplified the progress and decided to substitute the "lost" Water with my Waste input.

You may consider that unbalanced. You may also don't like the current 100% efficency.

Included in the download is a file where I put my very simple ratio calculations, you can change those values quite freely in the config file.

Currently it'll converts (in electrical lights off mode) 3 units of each Waste, WasteWater and CarbonDioxide into 3 units of Food, Water, Oxygen over 1 day (24 hours) requiring 86400 units of Sunlight and 54000 units EC.

Without sunlight during the 24h the electrical lights would eat up another 432000 EC.

The power consumptions should be managable. If you have problems I recommend the UNSFE reactors from Gaius with an output reduced about 90%:

@PART[goodspeed_zap01]:Final
{
@MODULE[ModuleGenerator]{
@OUTPUT_RESOURCE[ElectricCharge]
{
@rate = 0.5
}
}
}
@PART[goodspeedNuclearReactor1]:Final
{
@MODULE[ModuleGenerator]{
@OUTPUT_RESOURCE[ElectricCharge]
{
@rate = 10
}
}
}
@PART[goodspeedNuclearReactor2]:Final
{
@MODULE[ModuleGenerator]{
@OUTPUT_RESOURCE[ElectricCharge]
{
@rate = 20
}
}
}
@PART[goodspeedNuclearReactor3]:Final
{
@MODULE[ModuleGenerator]{
@OUTPUT_RESOURCE[ElectricCharge]
{
@rate = 40
}
}
}

Features:

ready:

• produces Food, Water and Oxygen from Waste, WasteWater and CarbonDioxide using some electrical power
  
• has electrical lights to substitute sunlight at high electrical costs (KSP style "high")
  
• power consumption of electrical lights is dependant on available sunlight (e.g. 50% sun exposure will only require 50% power from lights if they are active at all)
  
• lights and convertor ("pumps") can be switched on and off individually
  
• panels can be extended and retracted (thanks to the model, not my work)
  

planned:

• I'd like to have it rotate and actually follow the sun like solar panels do, but haven't figured out how yet, still hope it will be possible one day
  
• it would be nice to be able to tweak the light intensity if e.g. only 30% output is needed and not enough power is available
  

I'm using a model from roboto's BioMass (with permission, based on a model from zzz; thanks and all credits to them) since the whole modelling stuff is black magic I don't understand.

If you want to try it and find bugs, please tell me and I'll try to fix them. If it breaks some other mods please tell me and I'll try to work around or at least list them here.

If you know how to get the thing sun tracking I'd really like to know

TAC LS is required of course.

Finally: Download

License:

• roboto's model: like BioMass - This software is released under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/deed.en_US
  
• everything I added (the plugin, cfgs etc.): MIT X11, do what you want. If you need the src please ask me since I haven't made the repo public yet.
  

Edited August 15, 2014 by marce

[SnappingTurtle]

I have an older version of this that I downloaded May 11. Can I update it without breaking my current save? It's in use on some of my ships.

[marce]

Actually I wasn't aware that I released an older version (first upload of the package was on May 18)?

Well, I may be getting old, could you please send me the version you have and I'll check for you to be sure.

[SnappingTurtle]

Oops this is a bit embarrassing I confused this mod for Cerebrate's mod. I might switch to yours though if his gets too complicated.

[marce]

Oops this is a bit embarrassing I confused this mod for Cerebrate's mod. I might switch to yours though if his gets too complicated.

Yeah I suspected that

We started dev at the same day with nearly the same focus, so I can't blame you. I haven't followed his effort since though, don't know was his mod currently does since mine is all I personally wanted/needed.

Again: if anyone wants to try, please tell me about bugs you may find.

[Fuzzwood]

Does this mod work in the same way TAC-LS does? With which I mean it keeps generating food even when the craft isn't active?

[marce]

Does this mod work in the same way TAC-LS does? With which I mean it keeps generating food even when the craft isn't active?

At the time of creating this I wasn't able to do that, so it works like a TAC Converter at the moment, running when active.

But I should be able to create a similar controller TAC-LS has, you are completly right! I have to finish some work for IR, but when it's done I'll update this mod, stay tuned!

[Fuzzwood]

Oh well, if this mod can in fact regen all of the wastes back into food and oxygen in a Kerbal universe sensible way, then I am already happy. And in a way, it doesn't completely remove the difficulty/logistics of LS:

1) The part is LARGE (larger than a rockomax X200-32 fuel tank).

2) It needs a beefy energy supply when the craft is obscured by whatever celestial body which in itself prevents solar panels from working.

You might want to fix clipping though. I was able to put a science lab inside of your part with no issues by accident.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Fuzzwood

[marce]

It should do that, yeah. But without inactive operation I'm afraid the conversion rate is too low: it will convert 3 units per day, so if you have 3 kerbals on board you'd have to stay on this vessel constantly.

I'll definitley try to get unobserved operation added asap, in the meanwhile you may increase the input/output rates in the cfg which should help.

[PeterDolan]

What do you think about following the TAC convention of "no power for more than two hours == kerbal death," with "no power for more than X hours == greenhouse death"?

I imagine that the plants would die if they were left with insufficient light for more than a week, perhaps. This would not really come into play for manned vessels (the kerbals would die first), but it would be important for unmanned vessels, such as a forward operating base or somesuch.

[marce]

What do you think about following the TAC convention of "no power for more than two hours == kerbal death," with "no power for more than X hours == greenhouse death"?

I imagine that the plants would die if they were left with insufficient light for more than a week, perhaps. This would not really come into play for manned vessels (the kerbals would die first), but it would be important for unmanned vessels, such as a forward operating base or somesuch.

It is doable. But I have to admit that my intention was to keep this greenhouse simple. If you want some advanced greenhouse management please look at BioMass (I use their model) who implements a lot of additional features.

At the moment I don't plan to integrate seeds or death (which would also be caused by insufficient water etc.) because tbh I'm already busy with other complications like random failures, RT or and my TAC-LS version with 6h days and 4 times increased consumption rates

[Fuzzwood]

Well I looked at BioMass, and since I couldn't find a downloadlink (curse curse) I branched out my search and found your mod. Safe to say that BioMass doesn't include offline operation as of yet either (nor do I really care for fuel generation, I have interstellar for that).

[marce]

Update: since TaranisElsu is planning to integrate a greenhouse in TAC-LS himself I don't see much reason to continue this project.

Especially since it would require a second plugin for doing the same TAC-lS already does and that won't be ready much sooner than Taranis will update the main mod.

If his solution won't fit my needs I'll pick this up again.

=> development halted until further notice

[marce]

Breaking my own strike: Until Taranis comes up with the real stuff I hacked a brainless and super simple glasshouse for myself. Now I thought I could upload it as well if someone needs such a thingy.

• Uses the TAC converter module which is also used by the default converters => runs when vessel is not focused
  
• Removed sunlight requirement, lights are only cosmetically but use EC (when vessel is active only!)
  
• Currently converts with 100% efficiency, can be easily changed in the cfg
  
• I had to write a tiny plugin to get animation of the three lights and resource usage working together, sorry
  

Model is still the one from the OP made by zzz and roboto. Source of the plugin is in the download (MIT).

Download

I haven't done extensive testing, if anything breaks I'm not liable

EDIT 15.08.2014: updated for TAC-LS 0.9 pre #4

EDIT 29.08.2014: updated for TAC-LS 0.10

Edited August 29, 2014 by marce

[marce]

Download has been updated to contain a license file as required by the new SQUAD rules. Nothing else changed.

[TampaPowers]

http://two66.com/render/render_180.png

As nice as the model is currently, the plants look a bit flat. I am working on some station parts at the moment, thought you might like the greenhouse

[marce]

http://two66.com/render/render_180.png

As nice as the model is currently, the plants look a bit flat. I am working on some station parts at the moment, thought you might like the greenhouse

You should really talk to TaranisElsu who has the real TAC-LS greenhouse in the works. This is only a placeholder I created for myself (and decided to share) until the official greenhouse is released.

[marce]

Again updated for TAC-LS 0.10.

Nothing else changed.

Be aware that the OP download is legacy, use this one.

[Helmut]

Again updated for TAC-LS 0.10.

Nothing else changed.

Be aware that the OP download is legacy, use this one.

No, the first design, with sunlight, was more interesting. Unfortunately, it does not work at KSP 0.90. Really miss beautiful and interesting greenhouses.

If anyone besides me interested in this, I fixed this mod for the KSP 0.90 and TAC 0.10.2. Now everything works.

Unfortunately, I could not make the loss of "stored" light in the dark for more realism. All methods known to me incorrect work during timewarp. So I did not add this feature.

https://cloud.mail.ru/public/115924838fe2/Infinitech_TAC_greenhouse_v0.2.0_fixed.rar