[1.1.2] Rovers & Roadsters v0.7.2

[comham]

I do like ground vehicles, about the only thing I don't think anyone's made yet is a generic super heavy crane/flatbed body, but that large trailer seems most of the way there.

[AlphaAsh]

New version 0.3 is up on KerbalStuff. Find the link in the OP. More to come soon.

Changelog:

New Parts

• 1x05 to 125 and 1x05 to 250 radial adapters for making fuel tankers.
  
• Spoiler: An extremely poor SAS for 1x05 based ground vehicles, but it does makes eveything look cooler.
  
• 1x05 'Van-cab' Pod. It's a pod for vans.
  
• Two new 1x05 arches: Sports and Extended Sports.
  
• 1x05 Sports Intake: A sportier intake to put on the nose of 1x05 ground vehicles.
  
• 1x05 Boot: Open-top box, for chucking stuff in.
  
• 1x05 Hood: Use with the Runabout pod to make it look a bit smarter.
  
• Two 1x05 compatible trailers: 2x1m and 2x3m. Plenty of nodes on the bed.
  
• Trailer Riser compatible with the 2x3 trailer. Use as a radial converter or just ends.
  
• Trailer Sides for the 2x3 trailer.
  
• Trailer Sides with Roof for the 2x3 trailer.
  
• Trailer Ramp for the 2x3 trailer.
  

Other Changes

• breakingTorque and breakingForce buffs so parts don't bend and then snap so much.
  
• Crash tolerance nerfs so parts aren't actually invulnerable to impacts.
  
• A few cost tweaks and tech requirement changes.
  
• Minor scale tweaks to placeholder wheels so they fit better with the various arches.
  

[AlphaAsh]

Also taking suggestions on parts for the project.

A few things already planned:

Passenger compartment (for making buses, coaches and so forth).

Open-top sports pod (possibly with retractable roof) that will work like the stock external seat.

Jeep pod, works like the external seat.

Mobile labs of various kinds - geological surveying and weather monitoring are a couple I have in mind.

[AlphaAsh]

... Also, can I recommend that you use pngs or mbms for the textures? KSP tga loader is bugged which means they use something ridiculous like 40 times as much memory or something. May be not that extreme, but they don't get compressed and 0.25 can just sometimes fail to load tgas entirely. Or even .dds and bundle DDSLoader with it, that would save on loading times.

I keep catching mentions of there being something up with TGA loading in 0.25. I haven't tracked back the source of the reports yet as I'm keen to find out where they originate.

I have seen some TGA loading issues with Lack's KSC++ but not with anything else yet. His texture atlases aren't particularly large for that, so I don't think TGA size is a factor. Yet on my install, it's KSC++ that consistently has problems. I've seen no other loading issues. Not that that means the issue is with KSC++ specifically.

Rovers & Roadsters textures are tiny so even if something b0rks it shouldn't mean a significant increase in the memory footprint. OWK, if you actually see a loading issue with R&R's textures, could you grab a screenie for me?

I'm wary of switching to PNGs as they tend to have a slightly bigger footprint than fully compressed TGAs. And I'm unlikely to go with mbms as that makes things difficult for anyone wanting to re-skin my parts. It introduces a step I'd rather they didn't have to bother with.

[BudgetHedgehog]

I have seen some TGA loading issues with Lack's KSC++ but not with anything else yet. His texture atlases aren't particularly large for that, so I don't think TGA size is a factor. Yet on my install, it's KSC++ that consistently has problems. I've seen no other loading issues. Not that that means the issue is with KSC++ specifically.

I'm wary of switching to PNGs as they tend to have a slightly bigger footprint than fully compressed TGAs. And I'm unlikely to go with mbms as that makes things difficult for anyone wanting to re-skin my parts. It introduces a step I'd rather they didn't have to bother with.

https://github.com/NathanKell/RealSolarSystem/wiki/On-MBMs-and-Other-Image-Formats

TGAs are left uncompressed and PNGs sometimes don't get mipmaps generated. ATM fixes both those issues, mind you and I think it's fair to say most players have that installed. I also have KSC++ but haven't noticed anything wrong with those loading. The thing about the 'tgas sometimes not loading at all' is that it's completely random - it's not always the same part and it's not every time either. Just one of them things.. if it happens repeatedly then yeah, I'll let you know.

All in all, really, it doesn't matter what format the textures are in if the goal is to save in-game memory usage. But if you want to speed up loading times, or be sure that the texture actually loads or something, then different formats matter. Entirely up to you.

Anyway, I had my first play with these last night and it took a while to figure out how the bits fit together and what's needed for what part.. still don't fully understand it yet, but I like the cabs and stuff.

[AlphaAsh]

A few pointers:

Most of the pods have a built in khorsepower generator (aka combustion engine) so for the most part you shouldn't need the radial engine. It depends on how much khorsepower the wheels need. The more wheels, the more khorsepower you'll need to generate. The radial engine does make a vehicle look meaner though.

Petrol consumption is very slow so unless you plan to have something on the road for a while, you probably won't need many inline petrol tanks either. All the pods have a small petrol tank too. There's a radial petrol tank available in KAP Pack 1 if you prefer.

The engines do need intake air as well as petrol and the van and truck have an integrated air intake.

The hood is a specialised part best used on anything built with the Runabout if you want to give the front a proper slope.

Shout if you need some other particular pointer.

[Nfeld The Rocketeer]

Mod looks great, but when I try and drive the wheels glitch into the ground

[AlphaAsh]

Mod looks great, but when I try and drive the wheels glitch into the ground

All of KSP's wheels need to be attached with a particular axis pointing up. This isn't a bug in R&R. The top of the 'T' of the placeholder wheels needs to be at the top where it connects.

[Night Lone]

great mod, some of the cabs look a bit funny, but the more you play with it, the more it grows on you. I might decide to make a rover/car mod, and I might be interested in basing the base with your type of base (that rectangular piece) if I may ask, the specs? (WxHxD)

[AlphaAsh]

1m x 0.5m. Depth varies. The standard depths I try and stick to are 0.15m, 0.75m and 1.5m.

EDIT - I let the RescaleFactor default (which is 1.25), so technically they're 125% of that in KSP. If you're a modder, you know what I'm waffling on about anyway

Edited October 30, 2014 by AlphaAsh

[Night Lone]

Yeah, i know what you're waffling about I haven't gotten Unity yet (was thinking I might be lucky in the .mu exporter for blender would at least allow me to make simple stuff with colliders, but I guess I need Unity ) But yeah, I read most, if not all the material needed for basic KSP modding

Right now, all head knowledge, no practical KSP modding abilities yet...need to wait until the 10th due to...internet problems...

Thanks for the sizes btw I'll just model a ton then when I get the internet problems resolved...Expect a Mod!! Maybe...

Edited October 30, 2014 by Night Lone

[AlphaAsh]

Yeah, i know what you're waffling about I haven't gotten Unity yet (was thinking I might be lucky in the .mu exporter for blender would at least allow me to make simple stuff with colliders, but I guess I need Unity ) But yeah, I read most, if not all the material needed for basic KSP modding

Right now, all head knowledge, no practical KSP modding abilities yet...need to wait until the 10th due to...internet problems...

Thanks for the sizes btw I'll just model a ton then when I get the internet problems resolved...Expect a Mod!! Maybe...

I usually don't have a lot of time to guru but if you put in the initial leg-work and survive, I'm always happy to guru then. Also make good use of the Modelling and Texturing Discussion forum. That's where I got help transfering some very old skills to KSP and Unity. nli2work is a particularly awesome guy in there who jumps any chance he gets to help.

[Night Lone]

Awesome; also, just thinking. Have you ever thought of having the cabs placed with a radial attachment? so you could place them anywhere? (or a few other things. When I start making mine, I'll ensure it'll be compatible with yours, but I can't promise that the art will mix )

[Mekan1k]

Out of curiosity, why isn't the fuel 'liquidfuel'?

[Night Lone]

Out of curiosity, why isn't the fuel 'liquidfuel'?

Because who fuels their car with rocket fuel?

I don't know honestly, I have a slight question about the khorsepower...unless khorses are very strong compared to horses...

[mike9606]

Because who fuels their car with rocket fuel?

I don't know honestly, I have a slight question about the khorsepower...unless khorses are very strong compared to horses...

I believe the vehicles store Khorsepower the way they do as the stock rover module simply uses a resource, so only a small amount is stored so you can't drive for a long time without the engine on.

[AlphaAsh]

Because who fuels their car with rocket fuel?

I don't know honestly, I have a slight question about the khorsepower...unless khorses are very strong compared to horses...

1 khorsepower could be the power generated by a 1000 horse-sized khorses. Or one dinosaur-sized khorse. Sup to you. In other words... it doesn't matter.

[Night Lone]

Haha, thats awesome; for the parts I'm planning on making (huge part list) I think I'll learn how to make an MM config, so if it sees your mod, it'll use Petrol and khorsepower; otherwise, it's LF and EC. I'll be posting a thread once I got some of the 3D models made.

I hope my modeling powers don't threaten you (and if it does, you can just ask to borrow them, I wouldn't mind 3D modeling some stuff for ya )

[AlphaAsh]

...I hope my modeling powers don't threaten you (and if it does, you can just ask to borrow them, I wouldn't mind 3D modeling some stuff for ya )

Nah. I am unflustered and unbothered. The only person I compete with is me If anything, you'll just end up having to be the guru. With great power and all that

[Night Lone]

...With great power and all that

With great powers come great responsibility... Did I ever tell you how most of my Kerbals die from Sudden Kinetic Deceleration syndrome? Yup, thats how responsible I am Thankfully SKD Syndrome take's their victims fast

[How2FoldSoup]

Hey Alpha,

First off, this mod is great! Rovers were always my weakness and now I can easily design and make them. I first installed .2 and that worked just fine, however when I upgrade to .3 suddenly all wheels have disappeared from the R&D center and in my parts list(because they aren't showing up in R&D in the first place). I'm positive they are installed correctly in squad inside the wheels subfolder. They worked fine in .2, but once I upgraded they disappeared. I have tried reinstalling the mod and this did not fix the issue.

[Night Lone]

Hey Alpha,

First off, this mod is great! Rovers were always my weakness and now I can easily design and make them. I first installed .2 and that worked just fine, however when I upgrade to .3 suddenly all wheels have disappeared from the R&D center and in my parts list(because they aren't showing up in R&D in the first place). I'm positive they are installed correctly in squad inside the wheels subfolder. They worked fine in .2, but once I upgraded they disappeared. I have tried reinstalling the mod and this did not fix the issue.

Okay, check this:

in the Wheels directory, the two folders that are modified are roverWheelM1, and roverWheelTR-2L

contents of roverWheelM1:

model.mu

model000.mbm

roverWheelM1.cfg

kapdunbuggy.cfg

Contents of roverWheelTR-2L:

kappart2.cfg

kappart3.cfg

kappart4.cfg

kappart5.cfg

model.mu

model000.mbm

model001.mbm

moddel002.mbm

moddel003.mbm

roverWheelTR-2L.cfg

If all of these files are in. Then make sure you're checking the right place (they're in the Control category, not Utilities)

[AlphaAsh]

By popular request... erm, a single PM... here's six prebuilt .craft using only stock and R&R parts.

Click on the big pic to download.

[Night Lone]

Does that docking port actually work well with the big truckers?

[AlphaAsh]

Depends on what you mean by well. At low speeds, it works. At high speeds, it'll bend more and possibly snap and the vehicle will be a lot more difficult to do anything with other than go in a straight line.