Portable Rover Components. New project from ASET. (up 29/07/14)

[mostlydave]

x64 windows and KAS patch, everything is working for me as expected. I'm able to store the parts, remove assemble and drive as expected. This thing is great, and it's now my default Rover! I hope you do add some extras if you have time, headlights and maybe a small KAS contaner would be great!

[sp1989]

x64 windows and KAS patch, everything is working for me as expected. I'm able to store the parts, remove assemble and drive as expected. This thing is great, and it's now my default Rover! I hope you do add some extras if you have time, headlights and maybe a small KAS contaner would be great!

Yea I retract what i said before. I had to dig around for the patch but its on the thread you just need to find it.

[ozraven]

First round of play..er..testing and so far, it's a great start. Quick assembly - if you keep the container window open and assemble it nearby, you can put it together in 30s or less. The wheels can be a bit fickle to isolate for right-clicking, but with practice it's OK. The frame/platform being a "blank slate" is nice for creativity/customizing. The wheels may need slowed down a bit and use less EC - I found myself running out of power pretty quickly. Rolling/flipping seemed quite easy at speed (on Kerbin) resulting in dead/unresponsive Kerbals and there's a glitch in the frame - see images below.

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[mostlydave]

I've been disabling the rear wheel drive & steering to reduce power usage and prevent rollover. Easily one of the best mods I've played with!

If you're looking for add on recommendations I think an attachable probe core would be great, so the rover doesn't show as debris and can exist without its host ship. Also some lights that would be great!

Would the half scale version come as a unit that just unfolds instead of assembling?

Edited July 30, 2014 by mostlydave

[ozraven]

I've been disabling the rear wheel drive & steering to reduce power usage and prevent rollover.

Yes, this helps immensely - still a fast and maneuverable little buggy. Also, the frame glitch I posted previously was probably just a ID10T error where I retracted the frame mistakenly - I haven't seen it happen since, and looking closer at the picture, it's clearly retracted. Last night I guess it looked like the rear wheel attach nodes glitched.

Great mod - looking forward to the fine tuning. I think I might need larger KAS containers to fit this and RoverDude's PackRat. I'm keeping both!

As for the KAS part sizing - it feels a little over-powered to have a complete one-seat rover in 64 units of space. I love tweaking things in my game so I have a lot of custom KAS-enabled parts - if I were setting up the KAS sizes for this, I'd go with:

Platform: 10

Bumper: 8

Wheel: 9

Seat: 8

Total: 70 (10+2*8+4*9+8)

The folding parts just really make it hard to justify larger numbers - if it fits, it ships.

[alexustas]

...The wheels may need slowed down a bit and use less EC - I found myself running out of power pretty quickly. Rolling/flipping seemed quite easy at speed ...

I recommend turning off motors and steering on the back wheels and turning on fine controls (the CAPS LOCK button) when driving. Front wheels are sufficiently powerful and give enough maneuverability, and this also reduces energy consumption and the chance of tipping over. I didn’t want to make the wheels less powerful because one might want to use them on other, heavier rovers.

… resulting in dead/unresponsive Kerbals ...

This also happens to stock chairs sometimes, and is most likely a bug somewhere in the stock KerbalSeat module.

… and there's a glitch in the frame …

Make sure you have the current version of AdvancedAnimator plugin.

...Would the half scale version come as a unit that just unfolds instead of assembling? ...

If I understand the lore (because there’s far too little documentation) correctly, KSP has problems with parts that have multiple wheel modules, which is why every wheel needs to be a separate part.

...LRV-style high-gain antenna …

Is this what you had in mind?

...and a KAS box...

...an attachable probe core would be great...

...Also some lights that would be great..

Sure, though I won’t promise to do it quickly. I don’t have that much free time right now.

[Boomerang]

My excitement for this was totally justified

Parts look great and I love the concept. As far as suggestions, maybe the option to collapse the frame could be removed from the right-click list once the rover is assembled? Misclicking that and having all the other parts fall off and potentially explode into the terrain would suck.

As far as parts, a large-ish battery pack in the same style as the other parts might be nice and I'd second the idea of a KAS container too.

But even as-is, this is a great kit.

[sharpspoonful]

Hey there. I posted this in the ALCOR thread, but I'll post it here as well for visability purposes; I think there needs to be either more container space in the pod, or the parts need to take up less space. Seeing as the ALCOR for all intents an purposes is a near-future Apollo style lander, it components should be able to fit neatly into its corresponding pod. The lander not only looks pretty hideous with a KAS box slung on the side, but it throws off the CoM. I'm not above making the .cfg edits, but I really believe in my above statement.

[sp1989]

Hey there. I posted this in the ALCOR thread, but I'll post it here as well for visability purposes; I think there needs to be either more container space in the pod, or the parts need to take up less space. Seeing as the ALCOR for all intents an purposes is a near-future Apollo style lander, it components should be able to fit neatly into its corresponding pod. The lander not only looks pretty hideous with a KAS box slung on the side, but it throws off the CoM. I'm not above making the .cfg edits, but I really believe in my above statement.

I agree it needs it's own box. Some worthy of the ASET brand not just the standard KAS box.

[mostlydave]

I love this thing! How about a roll bar that snaps into place & contains battery and lights? That would add the parts seamlessly and prevent roll over death.

[sp1989]

So I I have tried this several times before posting. I have tried it several times and every time I release the platform from the kerbals back on the mun it explodes. I don't know why. I have not had a chance to try this on any other planet except Kerbin where it works perfectly fine. I don't know if this has to do with the new update or KAS not officially being fixed but its very frustrating getting to the mun only to try out the rover only to have it blow up. Am I the only one experiencing this?

[nebuchadnezzar]

So I I have tried this several times before posting. I have tried it several times and every time I release the platform from the kerbals back on the mun it explodes. I don't know why. I have not had a chance to try this on any other planet except Kerbin where it works perfectly fine. I don't know if this has to do with the new update or KAS not officially being fixed but its very frustrating getting to the mun only to try out the rover only to have it blow up. Am I the only one experiencing this?

There's an offical KAS update out. I haven't been having any problems with the community hotfix but it's certainly worth a shot.

[sp1989]

There's an offical KAS update out. I haven't been having any problems with the community hotfix but it's certainly worth a shot.

Yup all fixed!

[Horus]

This. Is. One. More. Awesome. Piece. Of. Art. From Alexustas. Love it from the very first try

[Horus]

Sometimes having weird issues with multiple Command Seats attached to the rover - the interface disappears (like in pure EVA) & glitches when switching to some other craft. Also, an error message is spammed.

UPD: seems that the issue above is a generic for KSP and not related to this mod. The issue is caused by multiple control module on a vehicle & vehicle separation into independent parts. Will try to pinpoint the problem more accurately.

Also, when reaching the speed of 30 m/s and above - the steers locks until the speed drops below the 30 m/s threshold.

If the mod will be improved in the future - would be really nice to have several different parts that could be placed instead of bumpers: unmanned control unit, science rack(possibly with modular science blocks set - like in BoxSat mod), fuels rack, communications rask(proly, with scansat tools), cargo rack, etc. Would be really awesome mobile rover mod.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Horus
update

[TheGamingNoobster]

This has been an AS(s)ET to my space explorations. badum tss.

[Xorth Tanovar]

Nope! That stands for Portable; Radio Communications!

(It's a military joke. Our communications equipment designators always start with A/N PRC-)

PRC's and KWM's everywhere..... Yep, retired military here as well. Though I was mostly involved with TRC-170's at the time.

[Xorth Tanovar]

If the mod will be improved in the future - would be really nice to have several different parts that could be placed instead of bumpers: unmanned control unit, science rack(possibly with modular science blocks set - like in BoxSat mod), fuels rack, communications rask(proly, with scansat tools), cargo rack, etc. Would be really awesome mobile rover mod.

...wonders if the RoveMate (which can be used with KAS) will attach to this. Need to experiment when I get home!

[Pigbear]

Please PLEASE make a jack so you can deploy this on low gravity worlds without it reaching escape velocity, I would love this forever if you did.

[The Space Man]

For some reason this thing lags my game pretty badly once it's assembled in the VAB or outside. Using i7 2600k @4.3, GTX 980.

Any chance of the lag being fixed?

[tygoo7]

For some reason this thing lags my game pretty badly once it's assembled in the VAB or outside. Using i7 2600k @4.3, GTX 980.

Any chance of the lag being fixed?

Do you have any other mods installed?

[The Space Man]

Do you have any other mods installed?

Yeah lots of them.

But i don't get any lag from a 100+ part b9 craft, the fps stays locked at 60, so it's definitely the prc rover or AdvancedAnimator causing the lag.

Installed mods

[Horus]

It's the issue of AdvancedAnimator.

[alexustas]

For some reason this thing lags my game pretty badly once it's assembled in the VAB or outside. Using i7 2600k @4.3, GTX 980.

Any chance of the lag being fixed?

Please check the frame-rate with installed bumper and without it. Is there any difference in performance?

I have plans to abandon the use AdvancedAnimator in next update, all will be ported to the Firespitter plugin.

[tempes156]

Anyone know if this is .25 compatible?