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

[Kerbal101]

I have almost* succeeded in making the adventure even bigger.

EVA parachutes!!
Using USI ExpPack + KIS

(*I am absolute noob at this, yet thanks to @IgorZ KIS documentation effort - it worked)

Video: https://vid.me/QdjJM

Code (its far from perfect*, but works):
 

@PART[DERP_RadialPara]
{
	%MODULE[ModuleKISItem]:NEEDS[KIS]
	{
        %shortcutKeyAction = equip
        %moveSndPath = KIS/Sounds/itemMove
        %equipable = true
        %equipMode = physic
        %equipSlot = jetpack
        %equipMeshName = jetpack_base01
        %equipBoneName = bn_jetpack01
        %equipPos = (0.06,0.04,-0.09)
        %equipDir = (10,0,0)
	}
} 

 

Edited August 22, 2017 by Kerbal101
Uploaded cleaner version, tested. v1.1

[MrChumley]

Hello!  I've been searching for a perfect high visibility in IVA, low weight, 1 kerbal command pod.  This pack has both the Otter, and the HERP command pods. Exactly what I was looking for!  

I've been using them for awhile, and I thought the HERP needed more in the way of IVA instrumentation (more than just the Nav-ball) so I added (altimeter, VSI,  speedometer, ground radar, etc..) into the internals cfg and made a pull request on github to share with everyone. I hope I did it right.  Forgive my noobness if I'm stepping out of bounds. 

I made them all pretty small so as not to detract from the view. 

Edited September 11, 2017 by MrChumley

[Brigadier]

For some strange reason, AVC is advising me that the old Survivability Pack is installed (and out-of-date, obviously).  CKAN isn't reporting it as installed or Auto-Detected but there is still a SrvPack folder within the GameData\USI directory.  I don't have the Exploration Pack installed and I'd like to replace Survivability with Exploration. 

May I safely manually delete the Survivability Pack and then install Exploration without compromising an ongoing game?

[RoverDude]

Yep, you can delete that old folder - back up your save just in case.

[Brigadier]

15 hours ago, RoverDude said:

Yep, you can delete that old folder - back up your save just in case.

It all worked.  Many thanks.

[Bit Fiddler]

I am trying to make an otter sub, however I cant get it to sink.  I have placed the ventral tanks and the radial tanks on either side of the pod, yet the pod will not sink.  there si just too much buoyancy in the pod itself...  is this a bug or have I got something messed up?

[fatcargo]

I just tried one craft in sandbox : main pod with underside ventral tank  with dive planes on sides + crew cabin + 2x radial tanks each with dive plane + inline impeller. All tanks were filled with ballast 100 units, Intake Lqd/ Lead were left at their default of 1500/250 units. After launch i moved it using Vessel Mover above deep enough slope and let it drop into sea. It sank like a stone, all that ballast overwhelmed rcs,  main engine and pod's reaction wheels.

[Bit Fiddler]

hmm...  I guess I need to start digging in my mod list to find what mod is causing this...

[mpauli]

Hello everyone

I'd like to use the DERP on one of my ships but I seem to be unable to transfer crew from any vessel to the DERP.
After enflating the DERP and using the CLS transfer mod to select the DERP pod as target I always get the message that it is either full or intentionally unusable. What am I doing wrong. I've already tried it with and without hatches and docking ports and yes I've checked that all the objects are passable...

Any idea?

Best regards
Martin

[DStaal]

6 hours ago, mpauli said:

Hello everyone

I'd like to use the DERP on one of my ships but I seem to be unable to transfer crew from any vessel to the DERP.
After enflating the DERP and using the CLS transfer mod to select the DERP pod as target I always get the message that it is either full or intentionally unusable. What am I doing wrong. I've already tried it with and without hatches and docking ports and yes I've checked that all the objects are passable...

Any idea?

Best regards
Martin

DERP pods can't be accessed directly via CLS - their engine is in the way.    Basically, they're a low-tech design, where the escape pod is simply bolted to the outside of the ship - you need to exit the ship to get into the pod.

(If you want escape pods that are accessible via CLS, take a look at REKT.  They are bigger and heavier, but are designed to have a direct-access hatch.)

[mpauli]

5 hours ago, DStaal said:

DERP pods can't be accessed directly via CLS - their engine is in the way.    Basically, they're a low-tech design, where the escape pod is simply bolted to the outside of the ship - you need to exit the ship to get into the pod.

(If you want escape pods that are accessible via CLS, take a look at REKT.  They are bigger and heavier, but are designed to have a direct-access hatch.)

Oh okay, thanks. Too sad. I really like the design and compactness of the DERP as well as all the accessories and hoped it would be a great addition to my bigger ships. I think I'll still add them maybe...thanks again for the quick reply!

[Wyzard]

Out of curiosity, what's the purpose of the "aquatic sample collector" that's included in the sub pack?  It extends and retracts, but doesn't seem to do anything else.  From the name, I'd expect it to be a science experiment, but its .cfg doesn't contain any experiment modules.

[Krakatoa]

1 hour ago, Wyzard said:

Out of curiosity, what's the purpose of the "aquatic sample collector" that's included in the sub pack?  It extends and retracts, but doesn't seem to do anything else.  From the name, I'd expect it to be a science experiment, but its .cfg doesn't contain any experiment modules.

It's an unfinished part. I asked a couple months ago.

[CatastrophicFailure]

Just a stupid question: is 0.7.4.0 the last version update for KSP 1.2.2?

[RoverDude]

7 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Just a stupid question: is 0.7.4.0 the last version update for KSP 1.2.2?

Not sure, but in any download you can look at the version file to see what KSP version it works with.

[agrock]

I would like to ask for adding few additional parts for Otter sub. Specifically I would like them in the yellow profile, there are stock equivalents that do that, but I dont want to mix nice yellow with greyish stock items on same vehicle.

Please consider adding:

• otter service bay (so I can put batteries or SAFER nuclear power generator inside, not exposed to water)
• otter decoupler (for emergency separation)

 

[maja]

6 hours ago, agrock said:

I would like to ask for adding few additional parts for Otter sub. Specifically I would like them in the yellow profile, there are stock equivalents that do that, but I dont want to mix nice yellow with greyish stock items on same vehicle.

Please consider adding:

• otter service bay (so I can put batteries or SAFER nuclear power generator inside, not exposed to water)
• otter decoupler (for emergency separation)

 

Why do you need extra batteries and a reactor? Otter pod has its own reactor and enough batery storage. Only problem is, that there is currently a bug with the reactor cooling. The reactor overheats very quickly and an external radiator panel don't survive pressure under three hundred meters (on Kerbin) if you have pressure limits enabled in the settings.

[agrock]

1 hour ago, maja said:

Why do you need extra batteries and a reactor? Otter pod has its own reactor and enough batery storage. Only problem is, that there is currently a bug with the reactor cooling. The reactor overheats very quickly and an external radiator panel don't survive pressure under three hundred meters (on Kerbin) if you have pressure limits enabled in the settings.

Fair point, I did not notice that on the pod. How about a decoupler then?

[Jason-JT]

 

On 8/8/2017 at 9:08 PM, fatcargo said:

Bug re-report.

Back in KSP 1.2.2 airbags added to any horizontally moving craft caused loss of speed at roughly 50 m/s. That meant any aircraft or SSTO that needs over 50 m/s to take off couldn't launch.

There was a issue placed at github page for Exploration pack that addressed this bug with a solution to check for deploy boolean value inside airbag module and that solved the problem. The airbag module simply removed speed from craft without checking if airbag was deployed or not.

Now this bug has re-appeared and i haven't found a github page for this pack containing actual visual studio project with sources so can't even recompile/fix this myself, let alone re-post the bugfix.

Paging @RoverDude about location of sources for Exploration Pack at github, PLEASE reply !

 

On 8/9/2017 at 6:56 PM, fatcargo said:

Fix for airbags has been sent to github repository, i just installed github desktop - it worked right out of the box !

 

On 8/9/2017 at 9:39 PM, TheRagingIrishman said:

Merged!

I'm not sure if this change never actually fixed this or if there is something else happening but I'm having this problem with KSP 1.3.1, USI Tools 0.10.1.0, ExpPack 0.9.0.0 and no other mods installed, it happens at dampenSpeed  (35m/s with small and medium and 53 with large airbags) I opened https://github.com/UmbraSpaceIndustries/UmbraSpaceIndustries/issues/124 about this. I'm not set up to compile for source to test if its just that this is somehow missing from the released dll

Also Let me know if I did anything wrong in the issue or if I should include anything else.

[fatcargo]

I've seen the post earlier but didn't have enough time to explore it.

After some minor "detective" work, i found that my pull request was approved, its source is present and it is listed as closed PR, as of August 10th . The compiled DLL in release folder containing the air bags module bears the write/upload date October 9th. This is 2 months time difference. The fix should be there. Either there is something broken (again, updates to KSP can mess up the addons) or DLL was never compiled from updated/fixed source (which would mean that fixed source was never synchronized back to machine which compiled the DLL). I'll try and see what went wrong.

 

UPDATE : after finding time to do a test i confirmed that exploration pack from github still has the same Dampen() bug on horizontally launched/moving craft. In test, large airbags cut speed on my test plane just above 50 m/s.

If this issue persists, i'll compile and upload it to somewhere.

Oh and one more oddity : MKS, USI-LS etc are under UmbraSpaceIndustries github page, but ExpPack is under BobPalmer. Same person, but different "organizations" as github calls them. Not very beginner-friendly.

Ah one more thing : I just noticed that issue ticket for this Dampen() bug is posted in USI github repository, but the actual part using this code/module is located under Exploration Pack. This kind of "dependency spread" can really make bug tracking difficult for the repository maintainers, i'd suggest moving KSP repos from BobPalmer to UmbraSpaceIndustries. Bug is present in module available on one page, but the part manifesting it is located on the other page, this can confuse everyone involved.

Edited December 20, 2017 by fatcargo

[fatcargo]

@Jason-JT I can confirm that DLL was not compiled with updated sources. I've retrieved the sources from github and compiled them.

Changes in code did fix airbag behavior. Are you willing to try my fixed DLL ?

[Jason-JT]

Yes, I'd like to try it. Thanks for looking into this. I wonder how much else is missing from the dll in the release.

[RoverDude]

Depends on where the PR was done.... may have been pushed to a deprecated DLL (The Airbags DLL is no longer used, those bits got merged into USITools).

[fatcargo]

Code fix was pushed to USI Tools module. When airbags were first moved from survivability pack to exploration it caught me by surprise so i learned the proper place for them  actually i was lost when i first tried the github PR and was given directions .

Here it is

Please report back how it went.

2 hours ago, RoverDude said:

Depends on where the PR was done.... may have been pushed to a deprecated DLL (The Airbags DLL is no longer used, those bits got merged into USITools).

Hmmm... maybe a notice about deprecated parts can be put along with link to USI page ? At least newcomers would see a proper detour sign

Edited December 21, 2017 by fatcargo

[eberkain]

I was having a problem with my capsule sinking so I was going to use the floats.  They all work great, but making them balanced so the pod doesn't flip over is absurdly hard.  I really wish the inline ones were not so ridiculously fat, I feel like the thickness should be squashed down to be more battery size or even smaller.  Then I noticed that all the different variations were all 0.15 weight.   I think the surface mounted ones should be like 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15, not sure about he inline ones.