parts [1.12.x] USI Exploration Pack - Small parts, big adventure! [v 0.6.0]

[RoverDude]

@Rover - Not sure if you are aware but in my version AES Structural Outrigger once attached to i.e. AES pod looses any other attachment nodes. this is assuming you use one of the 2 radial attachment nodes not the small extruded one

Will check - log a github issue if you don't mind as I hit those first when going through the mods

[Geschosskopf]

I had a Hell of a time figuring out how to build the PackRat with KAS but I finally managed it. I had never used the "store" 1 part on another before, nor had ever heard of it, so you can imagine how things failed to work for a long time. And I also figured out how at least 1 way to use the Rover Delivery System, too, after some trial and error. I put a central column inside it covered with KAS boxes with enough parts to make 2 rovers. Is that how it's supposed to be?

Anyway, this is a lot of fun, especially when I added the KAS Grab module to the Small Inline Reaction Wheel thing so I could take corners at full speed. Thanks for the cool toy .

I also spent a LOT of time today making this little AES scooter:

It has a docking port, enough SAS torque to walk on the ground, MJ oriented to give a navball for vertical landings, 8 days of supplies, and a probe core to recover the vehicle when supplies run out . I think the tiny, retractable RTGs from SXT go very well with the AES stuff. I suppose I could festoon the thing with all the massless science instruments but mostly it's for putting around for no productive purpose .

I have a couple of suggestions for AES. First off, please make it so we can tweak the thrust of these RCS assemblies. The problem with mounting your thrusters as part of the inline stack is that you can't slide them along the surface to balance the thrust, so they really need tweakable thrust which is the next best thing. Not having this was why it took me about 3 hours to get this thing sorted.

My other suggestion is making a mini-Claw so the thing can moor to an asteroid. Not to push the asteroid, just to camp out and have a picnic .

[Grunf911]

Will check - log a github issue if you don't mind as I hit those first when going through the mods

Issue logged in Github. Also I tried making the "Science lander" as depicted in your when exploring the parts and i am not sure about the balance for the 0.625 Karbonite thruster. Gut feeling says too much thrust, too little ISP, but let me test it a bit more and get back to you

The science lander as you show it as approx 1400dV, which on Kerbin is consumed in approx 30s.

I will test it on Minmus tonight and see how it goes. The positive thing about it is that it can refuel :-)

Also love the exploration pack, although still have to figure on how to use it to a great effect. I am too good in overengineering I am afraid.

I want to use the lander for DMagic surface survey contracts, as my PackRat is doing the drifting dance on Minmus :-)

[goldenpsp]

Issue logged in Github. Also I tried making the "Science lander" as depicted in your when exploring the parts and i am not sure about the balance for the 0.625 Karbonite thruster. Gut feeling says too much thrust, too little ISP, but let me test it a bit more and get back to you

If you follow the karbonite engines from their beginnings (IIRC most were introduced with the karbonite mod) they are supposed to be high thrust low ISP. In many ways it sorta makes sense are you are burning a raw, unrefined fuel. If you want better ISP send a mining vessel with LFO converters.

[Grunf911]

If you follow the karbonite engines from their beginnings (IIRC most were introduced with the karbonite mod) they are supposed to be high thrust low ISP. In many ways it sorta makes sense are you are burning a raw, unrefined fuel. If you want better ISP send a mining vessel with LFO converters.

I was not aware of that. I did not follow them from the beginnings. Makes sense though

Thx for the clarification

I am basically trying to use Exploration pack (with science lander) to create Minmus Biome hopper. Hmm, maybe i will involve PB-ION or NearFuture in the mix as well. Alternative is that Biome hopper gets refueled on every hop. The only thing that I am not sure yet is if i will use hopper to go to Minmus Orbit to re-dock or will i have some other dedicated lander vehicle to go back to Kerbin

[goldenpsp]

I was not aware of that. I did not follow them from the beginnings. Makes sense though

Thx for the clarification

I am basically trying to use Exploration pack (with science lander) to create Minmus Biome hopper. Hmm, maybe i will involve PB-ION or NearFuture in the mix as well. Alternative is that Biome hopper gets refueled on every hop. The only thing that I am not sure yet is if i will use hopper to go to Minmus Orbit to re-dock or will i have some other dedicated lander vehicle to go back to Kerbin

That is effectively what I have done for the Mun/minmus. Although generally not with the nice small exploration parts. By the time I get the science to unlock them I generally have already bounced around both the Mun and Minmus.

But yea, the upside to karbonite engines is you can refill pretty easily on the go. The downside is you have to refuel them constantly.

[Mischief]

Karbonite is good for bigger ships - with small ships, tiny stuff, I find mono prop engines way better. You can easily make a tiny lander with the full science suite and 3k dv that uses mp. Land, get science, return to mother ship, offload, clean with science lab, rinse and repeat.

Karbonite engines rock for Eve landers and bigger ships with heavy loads and long return troops so you can pack just fuel to go there, refuel in situ without a big distiller, go home. You can also hopscotch karbonite hotspots for a long term explorer.

Science landers though? Light enough that I recommend mp.

[RoverDude]

I had a Hell of a time figuring out how to build the PackRat with KAS but I finally managed it. I had never used the "store" 1 part on another before, nor had ever heard of it, so you can imagine how things failed to work for a long time. And I also figured out how at least 1 way to use the Rover Delivery System, too, after some trial and error. I put a central column inside it covered with KAS boxes with enough parts to make 2 rovers. Is that how it's supposed to be?

Anyway, this is a lot of fun, especially when I added the KAS Grab module to the Small Inline Reaction Wheel thing so I could take corners at full speed. Thanks for the cool toy .

I also spent a LOT of time today making this little AES scooter:

http://i.imgur.com/IobSwXf.jpg

It has a docking port, enough SAS torque to walk on the ground, MJ oriented to give a navball for vertical landings, 8 days of supplies, and a probe core to recover the vehicle when supplies run out . I think the tiny, retractable RTGs from SXT go very well with the AES stuff. I suppose I could festoon the thing with all the massless science instruments but mostly it's for putting around for no productive purpose .

I have a couple of suggestions for AES. First off, please make it so we can tweak the thrust of these RCS assemblies. The problem with mounting your thrusters as part of the inline stack is that you can't slide them along the surface to balance the thrust, so they really need tweakable thrust which is the next best thing. Not having this was why it took me about 3 hours to get this thing sorted.

My other suggestion is making a mini-Claw so the thing can moor to an asteroid. Not to push the asteroid, just to camp out and have a picnic .

Very cool! I'll need to see about RCS thrust if someone has a plugin for that already (v. writing from scratch). There's a mini claw coming up in a new expansion...

[Geschosskopf]

Very cool! I'll need to see about RCS thrust if someone has a plugin for that already (v. writing from scratch). There's a mini claw coming up in a new expansion...

Hmmm....

CAVEAT: I know nothing at all about KSP under the hood and just enough about Module Manager to get myself in serious trouble.

But I can't help but notice that the mini-VTOL fans in this very mod function as RCS and your video shows you tweaking their thrust. Plus you can tweak the thrust of mono-burning, non-RCS engines. So perhaps you could set the AES RCS blocks up as mono-burning engines, complete with control via throttle commands, thus allowing tweakable thrust, AND still have them function as RCS like you did with the mini-VTOL fans.

The more I think about this, the more I like it, actually. On ships like mine here with only these RCS jets for propulsion, it's a bit of a pain to continually hold down a translation key, sometimes for a minute or 2 at a time, to perform big maneuvers, land or take off from Minmus, etc. And MJ has no clue how to fly an RCS-only ship so it can't give your finger a break (all it does on my ship here is orient the navball for vertical landings). Besides, if all your ship has is RCS, it makes sense to rig it up to be throttlable.

But as noted above, I have no idea whether this is actually possible. It just seems like it aught to work to an ignoramous who hasn't coded since back when punchcards were cutting edge .

The mini-Claw looks nice! Given the above, I can't claim to be a great mind, but it's nice to know I occasionally think like one .

Edited October 22, 2014 by Geschosskopf

[Mischief]

Very cool! I'll need to see about RCS thrust if someone has a plugin for that already (v. writing from scratch). There's a mini claw coming up in a new expansion...

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

That mini-claw is so awesome I'm going to use it as a hood ornament on all my 5m freight transport ships

[RoverDude]

Hmmm....

CAVEAT: I know nothing at all about KSP under the hood and just enough about Module Manager to get myself in serious trouble.

But I can't help but notice that the mini-VTOL fans in this very mod function as RCS and your video shows you tweaking their thrust. Plus you can tweak the thrust of mono-burning, non-RCS engines. So perhaps you could set the AES RCS blocks up as mono-burning engines, complete with control via throttle commands, thus allowing tweakable thrust, AND still have them function as RCS like you did with the mini-VTOL fans.

The more I think about this, the more I like it, actually. On ships like mine here with only these RCS jets for propulsion, it's a bit of a pain to continually hold down a translation key, sometimes for a minute or 2 at a time, to perform big maneuvers, land or take off from Minmus, etc. And MJ has no clue how to fly an RCS-only ship so it can't give your finger a break (all it does on my ship here is orient the navball for vertical landings). Besides, if all your ship has is RCS, it makes sense to rig it up to be throttlable.

But as noted above, I have no idea whether this is actually possible. It just seems like it aught to work to an ignoramous who hasn't coded since back when punchcards were cutting edge .

The mini-Claw looks nice! Given the above, I can't claim to be a great mind, but it's nice to know I occasionally think like one .

Oh - that limiter is for the engine not for the RCS. The RCS thrust was non-tweakable. So it's plugin territory (engines and rcs work in different ways). So even RCS engines are just... engines. You don't get the RCS translation and rotation bits. Another example being the DERP engine, which has a monoprop engine and RCS combined.

The rub with changing that little RCS block is that I would have to do transforms, and dictate which direction it thrust from as engines (and you only get one). Which would be very bad for about half the folks using it Probably a better bet for you would be to use the built in KSP monoprop engines or a MM'd one, or if you find those to be a bit too beefy, log a github issue for me to make one

[Night Lone]

RoverDude, would it be possible to overlay the RCS and Engine in some way, so that, it's still the same RCS block(s) but also have an engine in it as well, that uses RCS; It'll look the same, but code wise it has both RCS and Engine components. Might need to change the texture though, to indicate the front. Biggest problem would be, where to apply the thrust? downwards or backwards?

Another Solution, ignore the above and add a stock RCS engine to the craft...and carry enough RCS...

[RoverDude]

RoverDude, would it be possible to overlay the RCS and Engine in some way, so that, it's still the same RCS block(s) but also have an engine in it as well, that uses RCS; It'll look the same, but code wise it has both RCS and Engine components. Might need to change the texture though, to indicate the front. Biggest problem would be, where to apply the thrust? downwards or backwards?

Another Solution, ignore the above and add a stock RCS engine to the craft...and carry enough RCS...

The latter is your better solution. Because the RCS block is meant to be an RCS block, not an engine.

[FrancoisH]

Hi there.

I got alerts from missing parts when looking at the debug log in KSP.

Here's what I find :

Could not find part in index: AES.Beam 
(Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d63dfc6385190b60/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 49)


Could not find part in index: AES.Decoupler

(Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d63dfc6385190b60/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 49)


Could not find part in index: AES.MiniSAS

(Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d63dfc6385190b60/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 49)

When looking at these parts cfg files, they're referring to non existant Squad parts... At least parts that are no longer in the .25 version of the game.

Currently, Mini SAS module is looking for this models:

MODEL{
    model = Squad/Parts/Command/asasmodule1-2/model
    position = 0,0,0
    scale = .27,.27,.27
}
MODEL
{
    model = Squad/Parts/Utility/dockingPortLarge/model
    position = 0,-.07,0
    scale = .27,.325,.27
    rotation = 180,0,0
}
MODEL
{
    model = Squad/Parts/Utility/dockingPortLarge/model
    position = 0,.07,0
    scale = .27,.325,.27
}

The Squad do exist in my part list but they do not exist in the Squad parts directory structure of the installed game. Maybe are they somewhere else I don't know, anyway these parts won't load correctly.

Here's my output log.

Any idea?

Could it be released to the fact I upgraded CIT Utils as requested by my mod manager?

Edited October 22, 2014 by FrancoisH

[Geschosskopf]

Oh - that limiter is for the engine not for the RCS. The RCS thrust was non-tweakable. So it's plugin territory (engines and rcs work in different ways). So even RCS engines are just... engines. You don't get the RCS translation and rotation bits. Another example being the DERP engine, which has a monoprop engine and RCS combined.

The rub with changing that little RCS block is that I would have to do transforms, and dictate which direction it thrust from as engines (and you only get one). Which would be very bad for about half the folks using it Probably a better bet for you would be to use the built in KSP monoprop engines or a MM'd one, or if you find those to be a bit too beefy, log a github issue for me to make one

Damn the bad luck.... It's a shame because these little multi-thruster RCS units are so cool, but their inline attachment makes balancing them such a pain that I really don't want to have to go through that again.

Hmm... I just had another idea that probably won't work, either. But I'll run it by you anyway just to make sure it's really as dumb as I suspect it is .

What if you make another version of the RCS part that was surface-mounted? The model would be just the 4 arms and thrusters without the central inline attachment plate. And all the coordinates would be arranged so that when surface-attached to a 0.625m stack, the cenral axis of the thruster arms would coincide with the central axis of the stack so you'd have the arms sticking out on all sides like they do now, but you could slide the whole assembly along the stack to balance the thrust.

I suggest this simply to to make it all be just 1 part and to ensure all the thrusters are lined up properly with each other. But if the above can't be done, what about just making a single arm with its thruster that can be surface-attached? Then you could attach symmetrical copies and slide them around just like regular RCS blocks.

[RoverDude]

Damn the bad luck.... It's a shame because these little multi-thruster RCS units are so cool, but their inline attachment makes balancing them such a pain that I really don't want to have to go through that again.

Hmm... I just had another idea that probably won't work, either. But I'll run it by you anyway just to make sure it's really as dumb as I suspect it is .

What if you make another version of the RCS part that was surface-mounted? The model would be just the 4 arms and thrusters without the central inline attachment plate. And all the coordinates would be arranged so that when surface-attached to a 0.625m stack, the cenral axis of the thruster arms would coincide with the central axis of the stack so you'd have the arms sticking out on all sides like they do now, but you could slide the whole assembly along the stack to balance the thrust.

I suggest this simply to to make it all be just 1 part and to ensure all the thrusters are lined up properly with each other. But if the above can't be done, what about just making a single arm with its thruster that can be surface-attached? Then you could attach symmetrical copies and slide them around just like regular RCS blocks.

The latter is more feasible. Log a Github issue

[Akira_R]

Hi there.

I got alerts from missing parts when looking at the debug log in KSP.

Here's what I find :

Could not find part in index: AES.Beam 
(Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d63dfc6385190b60/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 49)


Could not find part in index: AES.Decoupler

(Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d63dfc6385190b60/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 49)


Could not find part in index: AES.MiniSAS

(Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d63dfc6385190b60/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 49)

When looking at these parts cfg files, they're referring to non existant Squad parts... At least parts that are no longer in the .25 version of the game.

Currently, Mini SAS module is looking for this models:

The Squad do exist in my part list but they do not exist in the Squad parts directory structure of the installed game. Maybe are they somewhere else I don't know, anyway these parts won't load correctly.

Here's my output log.

Any idea?

Could it be released to the fact I upgraded CIT Utils as requested by my mod manager?

Squad reorganized the part folder structure for .25 and these are currently targeting the .24.2 locations of those models, the cfgs just need to be changed to target the new locations in the .25 folders.

I ran into this issue with one of the new FTT parts, I'm still running .24.2 and it was targeting the .25 folder structure.

if you change this:

model = Squad/Parts/Command/asasmodule1-2/model
position = 0,0,0
scale = .27,.27,.27
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Utility/dockingPortLarge/model
position = 0,-.07,0
scale = .27,.325,.27
rotation = 180,0,0
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Utility/dockingPortLarge/model
position = 0,.07,0
scale = .27,.325,.27
}

MODEL{

to this:

model = Squad/Parts/Command/inlineAdvancedStabilizer/model
position = 0,0,0
scale = .27,.27,.27
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Utility/dockingPortSr/model
position = 0,-.07,0
scale = .27,.325,.27
rotation = 180,0,0
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Utility/dockingPortSr/model
position = 0,.07,0
scale = .27,.325,.27
}

MODEL{

that will fix your mini sas, I'm pretty sure that is the right SAS model to target but not 100% positive since I haven't updated to .25 yet.

for the others you just need to open up the part cfgs look at what model they are calling out, then look in your squad directory and find what they changed the folder name to, and then change the name that the part cfg is targeting to match the new .25 folder name.

or you could wait until Rover changes this, it wont cause you any performance issues or anything, those parts just wont be available to you.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Akira_R

[FrancoisH]

@Akira_R: thank you for your reply. This gives me those modifications.

For AES_Beam.cfg

MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Structural/strutCubicOcto/model
position = .45,0,0
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Structural/strutCubicOcto/model
position = .225,0,0
scale = 1.25,.99,.99
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Structural/strutCubicOcto/model
position = 0,0,0
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Structural/strutCubicOcto/model
position = -.225,0,0
scale = 1.25,.99,.99
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Structural/strutCubicOcto/model
position = -.45,0,0
}

// --- asset parameters ---

For AES_Decoupler.cfg

{
model = Squad/Parts/Utility/decouplerRadialHDM/model
scale = .5,.25,.5
}

// --- asset parameters ---MODEL

For AES_MiniSAS.cfg:

{
model = Squad/Parts/Command/advancedSasModuleLarge/model
position = 0,0,0
scale = .27,.27,.27
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Utility/dockingPortSr/model
position = 0,-.07,0
scale = .27,.325,.27
rotation = 180,0,0
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Utility/dockingPortSr/model
position = 0,.07,0
scale = .27,.325,.27
}

// --- asset parameters ---MODEL

For AES_Outrigger.cfg

MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Structural/strutCubicOcto/model
position = .35,0,0
scale = 1,1,1
rotation = 0,0,0
}
MODEL
{
model = Squad/Parts/Structural/strutOcto/model
}

// --- asset parameters ---

Offered changes on github.

Edited October 22, 2014 by FrancoisH

[FrancoisH]

I found an error in my log :

File error:Failed to read past end of stream.
  at System.IO.BinaryReader.ReadByte () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 


  at System.IO.BinaryReader.Read7BitEncodedInt () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 


  at System.IO.BinaryReader.ReadString () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 


  at A..ReadTextures (System.IO.BinaryReader br, UnityEngine.GameObject o) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 


  at A..ReadChild (System.IO.BinaryReader br, UnityEngine.Transform parent) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 


  at A.. (.UrlFile ) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

(Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d63dfc6385190b60/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 49)


Model load error in 'D:\Kerbal Space Program Heavy\GameData\UmbraSpaceIndustries\AES\Spaces\AES_Internal.mu'

Any clue of what's going wrong with this?

[BevoLJ]

@Akira_R: thank you for your reply. This gives me those modifications.

(snip)

Offered changes on github.

Woot! Thank you and Akira so much for this fix. I was very sad to see my new Mun base & rover vanish on updating, but this fix saved it! o/\o

[FrancoisH]

All thanks must go to RoverDude, it's just some things that has been forgotten along the 0.25 update

Akira just sais something I had figured out by myself, but I'm not a mod author nor a KSP specialist as I'm really new to the community. I have the game since the earliest release on steam but never invested time into it, only came back with the latest version of the game (.25). I'm now thinking of helping some projects, maybe I'll be able to... If I find some time to do it because people wait for your updates once you started a thing

[Geschosskopf]

The latter is more feasible. Log a Github issue

Thanks for your blessing, Godfather . That thing you wanted done? Yeah, it's done.

[Kerbil]

I have an incredibly silly question, please forgive me.

What is the part I've circled in blue? It looks neat, but I can't seem to find it with Karbonite or K+ installed. I'm just coming back to the game and mods after quite a while, so I beg for your patience.

[Skyblue]

I've run into a problem using Active Texture Management. Most of the PatRack parts have no texture, but are pure white. Anybody know how to make ATM not affect this mod?

[RoverDude]

I have an incredibly silly question, please forgive me.

What is the part I've circled in blue? It looks neat, but I can't seem to find it with Karbonite or K+ installed. I'm just coming back to the game and mods after quite a while, so I beg for your patience.

http://i.imgur.com/0Tw0jUx.png

Toolbox, not yet used

I've run into a problem using Active Texture Management. Most of the PatRack parts have no texture, but are pure white. Anybody know how to make ATM not affect this mod?

Wait a few days - I have an all-PNG replacement coming out