[1.0.x] [V1.9f] Kerbal Foundries wheels, anti-grav repulsors and tracks

[Madrias]

The Repulsors are great electro-kinetic anti-lithobraking devices. I love using them as a safety barrier to take a lot of the thump out of a crapped-up landing.

[lo-fi]

electro-kinetic anti-lithobraking devices.

Hehehe! Videos please!

[Madrias]

I don't do videos, actually. But I've found that the proper positioning of repulsors set at maximum height, with full strength and damping, can absorb 30 m/s downward velocity easily. My record is 60 m/s with that speed-challenge racer I built, but then again, I'm the crazy one.

Repulsors have all sorts of epic uses. Wishing I had more cool parts to put them on. Also wish there was a way to get into the part and config bash a bit. Sure, setting maximum height to 8 is nice, but there are days (and ships) where I'd like 12, or maybe 16, or even 32. I know, I know, I'm insane, and these are supposed to only be a hover unit, not a flight module, but it's something I'd love to be able to play around with. If I could do that, and could find a command pod that was a car (and not the ones from KSO, as fun as they are. I'd like more 'realistic' designs.), I'd be tempted to strap a Flight Repulsor or two underneath, a jet on the back, and find some way to bury a few control surfaces in order to give me steering control.

After all, it's not quite KSP unless Jeb takes off down the runway in a jet car.

[lo-fi]

Couldn't be any more Kerbal

Sure I've seen a Delorean or two around...

MSI afterburner is a great free tool that video grabs video from KSP ready for direct upload to YouTube - it's what all mine are made with. Just in case you fancy having a go

[Mekan1k]

How goes the 1.7 update? I WANT TO HOVER ON THE WATER!!!

[lo-fi]

I broke KerbalStuff trying to do so, gave up and made some small tracks instead, just to see how they would work:

Pretty well, actually This set will have a nice fairing that covers the upper part.

[mike9606]

I broke KerbalStuff trying to do so, gave up and made some small tracks instead, just to see how they would work:

http://i.imgur.com/otTLW5p.png

Pretty well, actually This set will have a nice fairing that covers the upper part.

So 1.7 will be available quite soon? Also, those track look quite nice.

[lo-fi]

Yeah, I've had good feedback, fixed loads of bugs, added a few cool bits (like sounds) and was trying to upload this eve.

Thanks they will be in 1.8, along with landing skids, repulsor wheels and probably some more tracks I have yet to create. Getting quite quick at it now, that only took me an hour or so. I did re-use a lot of bits from the other tracks, though that's easily changed - it's the method that's important.

[Gaalidas]

At least it gets easier after you've reinvented the wheel several times (and quite literally in this case). I've been pumping out new paint templates for KerbPaint like a machine trying to expand support for the latest B9 pack. Used to take me a day, now it takes me an average of an hour for a complicated one. 20 min. for something simple. One of these days I'll see about expanding into your parts.

You've talked about wheel sounds several times now and it never quite sunk in. That's awesome stuff. There has been talk in the Wheel-Sounds mod (or whatever he calls it) about adding sounds to parts that don't use the stock wheel module, and your wheel module came up as a possible breaking issue for that.

[Mekan1k]

... So... we will never get a Repulosor that works on water?

How do the repulsors work? (Code/Concept wise, I mean.)

Because I noticed that, on Kerbin, the Altitude of the Water is 0. Is there way for the repulors to just not be able to drop below 0 altitude + Height?

[loler43214]

... So... we will never get a Repulosor that works on water?

How do the repulsors work? (Code/Concept wise, I mean.)

Because I noticed that, on Kerbin, the Altitude of the Water is 0. Is there way for the repulors to just not be able to drop below 0 altitude + Height?

Well, I guess that there's no solid ground to make it hover.

[Gaalidas]

... So... we will never get a Repulosor that works on water?

How do the repulsors work? (Code/Concept wise, I mean.)

Because I noticed that, on Kerbin, the Altitude of the Water is 0. Is there way for the repulors to just not be able to drop below 0 altitude + Height?

Well, I guess that there's no solid ground to make it hover.

Calm down y'all, it's coming and we've got the working method figured out. So far so good in testing too. Actually, I did extensive testing while lo-fi was on vacation and the first time I repulsed water I didn't even know it was integrated yet. I was about to hit the revert button and realized nothing bad had happened yet. I sat there for about 5 seconds before I got excited and started trying to push the boundaries. I'm still trying to make it break. It just won't break!

[Mekan1k]

Calm down y'all, it's coming and we've got the working method figured out. So far so good in testing too. Actually, I did extensive testing while lo-fi was on vacation and the first time I repulsed water I didn't even know it was integrated yet. I was about to hit the revert button and realized nothing bad had happened yet. I sat there for about 5 seconds before I got excited and started trying to push the boundaries. I'm still trying to make it break. It just won't break!

Which variation is it working on? Can I have a copy?

[lo-fi]

At least it gets easier after you've reinvented the wheel several times (and quite literally in this case). I've been pumping out new paint templates for KerbPaint like a machine trying to expand support for the latest B9 pack. Used to take me a day, now it takes me an average of an hour for a complicated one. 20 min. for something simple. One of these days I'll see about expanding into your parts.

You've talked about wheel sounds several times now and it never quite sunk in. That's awesome stuff. There has been talk in the Wheel-Sounds mod (or whatever he calls it) about adding sounds to parts that don't use the stock wheel module, and your wheel module came up as a possible breaking issue for that.

The effects module makes it ridiculously easy to add sounds, I should have done so before. Still work to do on the wheels; I've got a sound that changes pitch as speed increases, the next step is a motor acceleration sound, then maybe sliding. Making the clips is the hardest part.

I've never actually looked at what kerbpaint actually does - I think I ought to!

Well, I guess that there's no solid ground to make it hover.

Correct. Which is why its been tricky creating some! But it does now appear to work...

I'll try the upload again this morning. Patience, mekan1k

[Madrias]

Those little tracks look like something I could totally use. As for sounds, all I can do is grin.

And yes, I have the Delorean, I've floated the Delorean, and I've found myself somewhat wanting more vehicles to fly around Kerbin.

This mod just keeps getting better.

[Gaalidas]

KerbPaint simply (okay, that's hilarious. How is any of this simple at all?) uses various shaders to apply three layers of tinting. It uses a texture that is not loaded by the game (actually, they're png files with the extension removed so KSP ignores them) that is made up of three colors, plus black for areas that are to remain uncolored. Red is the base, which also corresponds to the primary paint layer. Secondary is green, tertiary is blue. Each colored layer is applied as an "addition" so that as they intersect each other you get purple, yellow, and where all three meet you get white. You can use non-solids of these colors to control how saturated the final paint layer will be. Also, since they are not fully opaque paints layers, the original value of the texture still has some control on the paint visibility. In the end, the plugin uses the paint guide file that is specified for the particular part to define where each layer of paint will go and how it will effect that region of the part as it overlays on top of the original texture. Advanced options include the ability to "deep replace" (which helps in the case of procedural parts and/or parts with many separate objects which use the same texture) and "specific" settings (which let you specify which texture in the part is to be treated as the painted texture when the layer is applied) which help to further control what happens in the game.

It also provides many different shaders to use to apply the paint for different situations. For instance, if the part uses an emissive map, you can use EmissiveBumpSpec as the shader which enables the use of those emissives while being painted. worth noting is that this mod was last updated in September of last year. It still works just as it did way back then and some people are still updating it with new paint maps and MM configs to apply the settings to new parts. The original author has been AWOL for quite a while though.

[lo-fi]

Those little tracks look like something I could totally use. As for sounds, all I can do is grin.

And yes, I have the Delorean, I've floated the Delorean, and I've found myself somewhat wanting more vehicles to fly around Kerbin.

This mod just keeps getting better.

Cheers buddy. Just added the fairing to the small tracks, really happy with how it's looking. The actual sound themselves will need some work - they're just placeholders for something better so I could figure out how the effects module works. They're OK, but not great. Suggestions and submissions very, very welcome. I should have known you'd have a Delorean

KerbPaint simply (okay, that's hilarious. How is any of this simple at all?) uses various shaders to apply three layers of tinting. It uses a texture that is not loaded by the game (actually, they're png files with the extension removed so KSP ignores them) that is made up of three colors, plus black for areas that are to remain uncolored. Red is the base, which also corresponds to the primary paint layer. Secondary is green, tertiary is blue. Each colored layer is applied as an "addition" so that as they intersect each other you get purple, yellow, and where all three meet you get white. You can use non-solids of these colors to control how saturated the final paint layer will be. Also, since they are not fully opaque paints layers, the original value of the texture still has some control on the paint visibility. In the end, the plugin uses the paint guide file that is specified for the particular part to define where each layer of paint will go and how it will effect that region of the part as it overlays on top of the original texture. Advanced options include the ability to "deep replace" (which helps in the case of procedural parts and/or parts with many separate objects which use the same texture) and "specific" settings (which let you specify which texture in the part is to be treated as the painted texture when the layer is applied) which help to further control what happens in the game.

It also provides many different shaders to use to apply the paint for different situations. For instance, if the part uses an emissive map, you can use EmissiveBumpSpec as the shader which enables the use of those emissives while being painted. worth noting is that this mod was last updated in September of last year. It still works just as it did way back then and some people are still updating it with new paint maps and MM configs to apply the settings to new parts. The original author has been AWOL for quite a while though.

Wow, that's quite a piece of work! People are doing some incredible stuff with this game. I know some moan about it sometimes, but I think (having delved into it) that using Unity was a genius idea. There's so much info and existing work to draw upon, it's really easy to get set up and running. Simple? Like anything, it is when you know how

I still can't upload the latest version to KerbalStuff, there seems to be some kind of unspecified error. Put in a support request last night and waiting to hear back.

[johnnyhandsome]

Soooo, does all the stuff in the zip file go into a specific place? It's not clear if they go in the Game Data folder on in the old Plugins folder or what.

[lo-fi]

Yep, unzip into GameData with other mods.

[Madrias]

I'm just doing a nice slow-cruise across some water with the repulsors, then I'll grab the latest of the latest updates. I kinda like the APU, though it's a bit... underwhelming at times. But it's balanced, I think. Might just be me being so used to the KSP Interstellar nuclear reactors and their near-limitless power. Still, I noticed a few things while building my little floating car, and one I'm very eager to try turning up, though I'll need the power plant to try it, if the power consumption increase is something I've seen correctly... Wonder what the maximum altitude is on these repulsors now...

[lo-fi]

Hehehe. Not quite the answer to life the universe and everything... But close Glad you like the APU. Its output/consumption can be fiddled with in the config, either by modifying the engine parameters or the alternator module, so I'm open to suggestions. Small tracks just went into dev, though untextured.

http://i.imgur.com/slDqDQz.png"]

[Gaalidas]

Technically they went into dev yesterday sometime. I fiddled with them until I noticed they didn't have a frame and thus looked out of place floating beside the hull of my rover. I finally got around to trying the other tracks to made. again, the suspension and all that made my jaw drop. It's nice that RBI tracks work, but they'll never quite stand up to your quality.

[lo-fi]

Technically they went into dev yesterday sometime. I fiddled with them until I noticed they didn't have a frame and thus looked out of place floating beside the hull of my rover. I finally got around to trying the other tracks to made. again, the suspension and all that made my jaw drop. It's nice that RBI tracks work, but they'll never quite stand up to your quality.

I think a lifetime spent fiddling with wheels, tracks and the like - be they Lego, RC, full scale or otherwise - kinda helps. Really enjoying creating this stuff, particularly the technical parts. I just wish I was a bit more artistically gifted for the texturing side of things.

I think I might make a wheel sort of RoveMax M1 size next, possibly retracting. Back to part production now the plugin is looking stable!

[Madrias]

Wheels that, perhaps, retract back up into their fenders to be used on amphibious rovers?

And as for what I'm doing... I'm hoping to figure out how to config bash a few parts and make tracks that drive over water.

[Gaalidas]

Technically, since the hypno-drive (or whatever it's called now) can be amphibious, and the module it uses is pretty much the same as the rest of the tracks (correct me if I'm wrong) then making amphibious tracks is as easy as a config tweak. I am unsure how the suspension properties of the newer track models would handle that, however. You'd probably have more luck with the RBI tracks. I'm sure lo-fi will get inspired by what we're talking about and become obsessed for the next few days on how to make a "proper" amphibious track. I've said too much already.