[1.12.X] Tantares - Stockalike Soyuz and MIR [16.1][28.05.2024][Mars Expedition WIP]

[DasSkelett]

6 minutes ago, Beale said:

Many thanks!

I think definitely 1.11 for all - 1.10.1 is compatible for sure, but there are major breaking bugs in the flat 1.10.0 (fairing issues).

So I can be better behaved in future. what is needed in the GitHub release to correctly allow Ckan to parse a version, just a text string (e.g. "1.11.1") anywhere in the release name / description?

CKAN can't read KSP versions from the release description or name, but it can read compatibility information from AVC .version files. If you include one in the release zip, we can tell our bot to look for it and get the compat data out of it.
Here's the official guide on how to write them: https://ksp.cybutek.net/miniavc/Documents/README.htm
And here's the file from @HebaruSan's Astrogator as another example how they can look like: https://github.com/HebaruSan/Astrogator/blob/master/Astrogator.version

A really handy feature are the remote version files. If you point the "URL" to an online copy of the file (e.g. in your GitHub repo) with a matching "VERSION" property, you can update the compatibility of the current release after it's already released. For example, if KSP 1.12 drops and it turns out that your mods still work flawlessly, you can edit that remote version file to say "KSP_VERSION_MAX": "1.12", and CKAN will automatically pick it up and update the metadata accordingly.

They do need a little bit of maintenance of course, since you need to make sure you update the file correctly for a new release. But they definitely simplify maintenance on our end because we don't have to check forum thread/SpaceDock pages/GitHub repos to find out the compatibility whenever a new release drops, and it moves the source of truth to the author.

If you decide to give them a go, feel free to ask me and @HebaruSan for help, we have quite a bit of experience dealing with them. And a bit of a self-promotion, I've written a validation tool for them, which you can integrate into your GitHub repo, and then automatically yells at you when you push a commit or open a PR that breaks them ^^

[Hohmannson]

6 hours ago, Beale said:

B9 Part Switch

B9PS is better than stock variants in any application possible and switching to it will allow a colortint patch to run(will be possible to paint your white variant to some unusual colors without additional textures, Electrocutor made a thread about this). So, yeah, go ahead!

[OrdinaryKerman]

1 minute ago, Hohmannson said:

colortint patch to run(will be possible to paint your white variant to some unusual colors without additional textures, Electrocutor made a thread about this)

that's actually stock part variants, not b9ps. And anyway the generic tint patch can and does produce some (imo) bad results on anything other than tanks, fuselages, and wings. restricting it to certain objects may work for some parts, but not lots of things since most part mods don't separate every little mesh detail into its own object.

Edited March 9, 2021 by OrdinaryKerman

[Hohmannson]

19 minutes ago, OrdinaryKerman said:

that's actually stock part variants

Yes. I mean, if a mod(like switcher of SSPXR, switches white - metal) uses B9PS for its own texture switch, stock variants-based universal tinting patch will apply okish to it, without UI bloat or breaking the part. Porkalike-looking parts mostly look good. There is no point in including it in Tantares, just wanted to say that transition of part switches to B9PS will open some new opportunities.

[Beale]

1 hour ago, DasSkelett said:

CKAN can't read KSP versions from the release description or name, but it can read compatibility information from AVC .version files. If you include one in the release zip, we can tell our bot to look for it and get the compat data out of it.
Here's the official guide on how to write them: https://ksp.cybutek.net/miniavc/Documents/README.htm
And here's the file from @HebaruSan's Astrogator as another example how they can look like: https://github.com/HebaruSan/Astrogator/blob/master/Astrogator.version

A really handy feature are the remote version files. If you point the "URL" to an online copy of the file (e.g. in your GitHub repo) with a matching "VERSION" property, you can update the compatibility of the current release after it's already released. For example, if KSP 1.12 drops and it turns out that your mods still work flawlessly, you can edit that remote version file to say "KSP_VERSION_MAX": "1.12", and CKAN will automatically pick it up and update the metadata accordingly.

They do need a little bit of maintenance of course, since you need to make sure you update the file correctly for a new release. But they definitely simplify maintenance on our end because we don't have to check forum thread/SpaceDock pages/GitHub repos to find out the compatibility whenever a new release drops, and it moves the source of truth to the author.

If you decide to give them a go, feel free to ask me and @HebaruSan for help, we have quite a bit of experience dealing with them. And a bit of a self-promotion, I've written a validation tool for them, which you can integrate into your GitHub repo, and then automatically yells at you when you push a commit or open a PR that breaks them ^^

Excellent! Thank you.

I will make sure to include such a file in all future release ZIPs.

 

 

 

GitHub

https://github.com/Tantares/TantaresSP

Leg

Spoiler

wh-wheel?

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Beale

[Starhelperdude]

1 minute ago, Beale said:

 

is it a scorpion or a 5 legged spider? nice!

[Zorg]

@Beale I know we've talked about various B9PS features before but one neat thing idk if you're aware is that you can link upgrades to subtypes. So for instance you could do multiple upgrades for the Soyuz engines and unlike the basic stock upgrades, the user can still switch back to an older model if they want to build an older rocket.

[Spaceman.Spiff]

24 minutes ago, Beale said:

wh-wheel

It looks like baby WALL-E

[DasSkelett]

So, a follow up on the CKAN topic: We did some cleanup, renaming  and moving around.

For each of the three mods there's now only a single entry showing up in CKAN, named "Tantares", "Tantares LV" and "Tantares SP".
All of them also install their respective craft files. CKAN fetches all three mods from GitHub now.
They currently have hardcoded compatibility with KSP 1.10.1 - 1.11. When new releases that include version files come out, we'll get a notification thanks to infrastructure magic, and can replace the hardcoded range with a reference to the version files.

Hopefully it's less confusing to look at for users now, and they can quickly see that these are indeed the up to date, maintained mods that they likely want to install.

[HebaruSan]

15 hours ago, Beale said:

----------
adding dependencies to Tantares, specifically B9 Part Switch

----------

This is not a vote for or against, just something that might help you make a more fully informed decision.

Currently if you open CKAN for an install of KSP 1.11, there are 24 recently updated mods whose own metadata says they're for KSP 1.11, but which don't show up as compatible because they depend on B9PartSwitch, which has only been marked as compatible up to KSP 1.10.1 (as its forum thread title and GitHub release notes indicate). It's possible to force-install B9PartSwitch, or to configure CKAN to treat all mods for 1.10 as compatible, but this only helps users who know those actions are possible and have reasons to take them; those who are just browsing the list won't discover such mods by accident.

tl;dr: If you wish to appeal to novice CKAN users on the latest game version, a B9PartSwitch dependency may cause complications.

[Beale]

18 hours ago, DasSkelett said:

So, a follow up on the CKAN topic: We did some cleanup, renaming  and moving around.

For each of the three mods there's now only a single entry showing up in CKAN, named "Tantares", "Tantares LV" and "Tantares SP".
All of them also install their respective craft files. CKAN fetches all three mods from GitHub now.
They currently have hardcoded compatibility with KSP 1.10.1 - 1.11. When new releases that include version files come out, we'll get a notification thanks to infrastructure magic, and can replace the hardcoded range with a reference to the version files.

Hopefully it's less confusing to look at for users now, and they can quickly see that these are indeed the up to date, maintained mods that they likely want to install.

You guys are saints! Thank you so much!

This will be really helpful to those folks looking for this

14 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

This is not a vote for or against, just something that might help you make a more fully informed decision.

Currently if you open CKAN for an install of KSP 1.11, there are 24 recently updated mods whose own metadata says they're for KSP 1.11, but which don't show up as compatible because they depend on B9PartSwitch, which has only been marked as compatible up to KSP 1.10.1 (as its forum thread title and GitHub release notes indicate). It's possible to force-install B9PartSwitch, or to configure CKAN to treat all mods for 1.10 as compatible, but this only helps users who know those actions are possible and have reasons to take them; those who are just browsing the list won't discover such mods by accident.

tl;dr: If you wish to appeal to novice CKAN users on the latest game version, a B9PartSwitch dependency may cause complications.

Thanks for raising this, I will have to consider how distribution will go.

[Beale]

This engine was a very particular kind of torture.

It's done now at least, and we have our very own Soviet "Ant". Neat!
Next up, the KDU-417, the descent engine for Luna.

[Spaceman.Spiff]

16 minutes ago, Beale said:

This engine was a very particular kind of torture.

I am a noob at part creation, so I don’t really understand why this is more difficult. 
Can you explain?

[Minmus Taster]

So how will the science capsule work?
I tested it and there was no chute deployment.

[Beale]

32 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

I am a noob at part creation, so I don’t really understand why this is more difficult. 
Can you explain?

Engines are usually just more detailed parts, but this was extra tricky since it is so small - so you do not want to go too detailed, or it looks out place next to other things (I generally keep details to 1cm at the smallest)

3 minutes ago, Minmus Taster said:

So how will the science capsule work?
I tested it and there was no chute deployment.

Chute deployment incoming.  It will have an avionics so that you can switch to it also after deploying.

[Z3R0_0NL1N3]

Speaking of science capsules, any chance to see a Raduga down the road?

[Beale]

16 minutes ago, Z3R0_0NL1N3 said:

Speaking of science capsules, any chance to see a Raduga down the road?

I would need to see a practical mockup of how it would work as a part. I've thought of it in the past, but wrote it off as a bit frustrating to use in KSP terms.

[GuessingEveryDay]

You can make it yourself, by using the experiment storage capsule, heat shield on the bottom, then using Luciole's inline parachute, and then sticking a docking port on top.

[OrdinaryKerman]

1 hour ago, GuessingEveryDay said:

You can make it yourself, by using the experiment storage capsule, heat shield on the bottom, then using Luciole's inline parachute, and then sticking a docking port on top.

That's quite big for a Raduga

[GuessingEveryDay]

1 hour ago, OrdinaryKerman said:

That's quite big for a Raduga

It was only 60 cm wide. That's actually pretty close to the .625 meter size of the experiment storage compartment. It would be a tight fit with the heatshield though...

 

[OrdinaryKerman]

Just now, GuessingEveryDay said:

It was only 60 cm wide. That's actually pretty close to the .625 meter size of the experiment storage compartment. It would be a tight fit with the heatshield though...

KSP parts are roughly .625x scale. So a stock-size Raduga would be closer to the somewhat-ambiguous size 00, 0.3125 to 0.375m

[derega16]

5 hours ago, Beale said:

 

Johnson:  Colonel, you better have a look at this radar.

Colonel: What is it, son?

Johnson: I don't know, sir, but it looks like a giant--

[OrdinaryKerman]

Just now, derega16 said:

Johnson:  Colonel, you better have a look at this radar.

Colonel: What is it, son?

Johnson: I don't know, sir, but it looks like a giant--

Why did you have to do that, now it's stuck in my brain..,

[NiL]

18 hours ago, Beale said:

I would need to see a practical mockup of how it would work as a part.

Challenge accepted
A 0.625m (tweakscaled) science container capsule clipped into the stock docking port (not on the top node of the port itself) doesn't interfiere with it's functionality.  Decoupling is a little tricky - in the example flight it required the help of timewarp, but it's possible to just wobble it out, and with smaller colliders it would just come out. 
Tantares ports, of course, have a spike inside, which, I suggest, could be resolved by a new spikeless variant with a smaller internal collider, or maybe a spike could move out with an animation - ot it could be added to Raduga's decoupler and thrown out on decoupling like a fairing panel.
The capsule itself, may I suggest, could consist of 2 parts - a parachute with built-in decoupler and the capsule itself - and be in 0.625 or 0.312 m form-factor, having a functionality of a science container, probe core and a small supply of electricity, and, perhaps, a barometer and thermometer experiments. Perhaps, with added antennae and some more power it could be used as a drop-probe.

https://imgur.com/gallery/QBo5bYj

Edited March 12, 2021 by NiL

[Kunosheru]

i was sleeping awile aaaand want to give you these 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_3

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_9

I hope you were / will be interested 

Edited March 13, 2021 by Kunosheru