Modding Tutorial Series: Volume 1, Custom Parts

[lo-fi]

Didn't you have a thread going with the models etc. posted (if so, that's the best place)?

I'd suspect missing thrust transform on your model from what you're describing.

[IRnifty]

Copied from PM to me from Ricardo79:

I found the solution... On googles 6th page...

I have never have to click "next" that much.

So the problem was engine needed to add two node.

smokePoint (y up)

thrustTransform (z down)

What doesn't make sense about this is that the config doesn't reference "smokePoint" at all. Maybe this is something that is taken in code without using the config... Either way, if it's working, then great!

[Drakoflame]

Hey, are these effective on .90? And (before I actually watch them) do you go over making science parts? Or is all this tanks, engines, pods, simple parts like that?

[IRnifty]

Hey, are these effective on .90? And (before I actually watch them) do you go over making science parts? Or is all this tanks, engines, pods, simple parts like that?

The changes between 0.23(.5) and 0.90 are minimal, so at the least, 90% of the information found in the videos is relevant. I'm not going to guarantee it'll work 100%, but the information should get you on the right track. As for science parts, it really shouldn't be that hard to implement. My tutorials do cover general part making, but they do touch on how to add a module of any type in, and the method of adding module X is the same as module Y, there are just different things to configure. So the easiest way to figure that out is to look at a preexisting science part. Let's see...

Ah, here we go. Ok so it is a bit more work for science parts in particular, because you not only have to define the part, but you also have to define the experiment. So I'd recommend the following:

1: Look at "GameData/Squad/Parts/Science/GooExperiment/gooExperiment.cfg" for how to set up a ModuleScienceExperiment on your part.

2: Look at "GameData/Squad/Resources/ScienceDefs.cfg" to figure out how to define a science experiment.

3: Define your own science experiment in your own ScienceDefs.cfg file in your own mod folder ("<your mod>/Resources/ScienceDefs.cfg").

3: Make your part and define it in its config file, referencing the experiment ID you made in your science definition.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, k?

[Drakoflame]

Hey thanks! I'll be sure to to a full watch over of your videos! If I do manage to make a working science part (I want to make science that has full return value so they can be used on one-way early game probes) I'll be sure to give you credit for helping me create them!

Also, what modeling program do you use in your tutorials? I have Blender, and I also installed the Unity 4 program so I could use that. The reason I installed both of those is because of an older .23 tutorial that I watched, and the guy in that video used a plugin for Unity to convert the blender model into a model that KSP could use, but now that KSP supports .mu's I don't think that the plugin is in development anymore. So, is there any other modeling program that I should install?

- - - Updated - - -

Oh! one other thing. Do you know anything about CRP (Community Resource Pack)? If you do, I want to add a resource called "Radiation" that is common in space, the majority of it near Kerbol, with EVE being radioactive on the surface, and everything in Jools SOI irradiated to the point that if you don't have a good way of protecting yourself (some sort of shielding build into the command pods) either your kerbals will die if radiation poisoning, or your probe cores will short circuit because of the high radiation.

So, do you think you could help me come up with something like that? We could even make it have special compatibility with Mechanics? To much radiation fry's the alternator? or even shorts out your batteries, causing them to rapidly loose charge!

[IRnifty]

Blender 2.6.x and Unity 4 are still highly recommended. My tutorials cover that particular way of doing it, and as that method, to the best of my knowledge, isn't broken, it's best to stick with it since it is the most documented. I do know of CRP, and you have an interesting idea, but in order to implement it, it's not the CRP you need, as all it is, is a set of resources. Regolith is what you want. That is the framework from which you can define your Radiation resource. From there, I'd say you could then use ModuleManager to apply the resource to all relevant parts as well as a "ModuleRadiationReceiver" module which would actually perform the receiving of the radiation, depending on the location.

And if you'd like to add compatibility with Kerbal Mechanics, have right at it! I'm a bit busy with actually managing it, another mod, and some other projects to help, but I did design it to be easy to add to.

[Enceos]

We all learned modelling for KSP from @IRnifty one way or another. He deserves more likes )