SM_Utility 1.2 Rockolight and Rockopanel adaptors NOW available

[Justin Kerbice]

Looks like your node attach are wrongly oriented.

For example, your crazy funny BeamAxleAlpha have

node_attach = 0.0, 0.0, 0.219179, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0

which point on +z

whereas this node attach should be oriented on -z (-1 for the last value).

More parts suffer the same issue.

[Darren9]

Sorry to spam videos from other threads but that axle satisfied my off-road desires in KSP like no other, I had to put it here as well. Thanks

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

Great video loved it, dont worry about the spam:) , As i mentioned i drive offroad in RL and it's the closest i can get to how my real world truck behaves, although i dont have the body roll:P

I'm thinking of stiffening the axle a bit to stabilise the body a bit more and maybe a touch more damping, what d you think?

Thanks for pointing that out Justin , i'm going through all of the parts and many others to rectify these issues, a good reason for letting these out right there, i wouldn't bother as I'm happy to spin them round but i'm probably in the minority and I do like happy customers, cheers chaps

[MightyDarkStar]

Awesome! Looks cool.

[Darren9]

Yeah, the caravan turned out a bit top heavy and suffered for it but it's amusing to see it bounce and roll around. Those IR springs are quite dependent on the mass and CoM of the vehicle though, set them up for your cabs and bodies is probably the best idea. There is one other thing though, I noticed you've done some stuff with Lo-Fi, could you steal his smooth steering for these wheels? For me it's much better than the stock on/off, especially if your going slowly.

[Ringkeeper]

uuuhhh i already love the rockomax lights but now with solar panel? Awsome. Time to exchange parts on spacestation

Now a rockomax with panels AND lights and it would be heaven Or like ObsessedWithKSP suggested.

[colmo]

Maybe bump the solar panel cone piece into the node with solar panels instead? I ended up getting it before deployable solar panels. which felt wrong. The lights piece is perfect for asteroid grabbers.

Still haven't got to the beam axle - looking forward to a lorry axle for heavy haulage.

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

Hi good suggestions all, I like the combining idea and can see a requirement for it , AS you suggest the location in the tree is probably wrong , I've never played any game long enough before breaking it to fully try out the tech tree, I'll change that , although wont moving it now cause you an issue , if you have any active flights with that part on? I know this is all alpha but i still don't want to trash anyone's game over something so simple..

I am working on another set of axles wich will complement the beam axle, which can then assume it's place up front and the new axle will be for rear use, it works fine as front too, although the only place in heavy vehicles you find axles of this design is in the rear position. Piccies and stuff later

[lo-fi]

There is one other thing though, I noticed you've done some stuff with Lo-Fi, could you steal his smooth steering for these wheels? For me it's much better than the stock on/off, especially if your going slowly.

I'll build you a dedicated plugin you can distribute with your mod, Spanner. All I need to do is rename the modules so they don't clash with mine, compile, and job's done

[colmo]

AS you suggest the location in the tree is probably wrong , I've never played any game long enough before breaking it to fully try out the tech tree, I'll change that , although wont moving it now cause you an issue , if you have any active flights with that part on? I know this is all alpha but i still don't want to trash anyone's game over something so simple..

I haven't used it yet - even if it moves on the tree, it'll not remove parts from active flights. It's an alpha mod, we know the risks!

Might I suggest something else for those two adapter pieces? There are ways to have multiple variants of the same part - these could be variants of the original piece. See Firespitter, B12 Aerotech etc. Furthermore, variants can be restricted by unlocking other nodes - e.g. Procedural Parts require certain nodes unlocked to use larger sizes of parts you already have. Finally, it's two less items in the part catalogue to scroll through.

[colmo]

One tiny request, could you increase the TweakScale options for the beam axle? There's a massive gap between Large and Medium. I was trying to use them on the new KSOS lorry (instead of the chassis and currently broken for me wheels), which is in between the two sizes, though closer to medium.

I'd like to see more options for powering axles - Infinite dice and others have made various moves to separate motor from axle. This means the axle could run off a resource called Torque, and a separate engine module generates Torque using electricity, LiquidFuel and IntakeAir, a nuclear reactor or whatever. You could even have driveshafts which 'cross-feed' the Torque.

I've been messing with various cart mods this morning (including the old UAZ and military truck - they work well!), and they're all over the map in terms of how they do things. It actually used to be simpler when everyone used Cart.dll, back in 0.15 days! Perhaps the various rover modders could get their heads together and share resources, a little like how prop engines have defaulted to Firespitter?

Edit: I've had a look at how the KSOS wheels work, and they're actually Firespitter electric wheels powered by a generator in the main vehicle body - never mind Torque, electric charge is a handy enough substitute. The beam axle works the same way ultimately, so all we need is some cool 4x4 cabs with generators and proper throaty engine noises :-)

Edit: I'm tweaking the TweakScale setup - currently the beam axle uses the rotatron scaling profile; note the massive gap between Medium and Large:

SCALETYPE
{
    name = IR_RoboticRotatron
    freeScale = false
    scaleFactors = 0.25, 0.5, 1.25
    scaleNames = Small, Medium, Large
    defaultScale = 1.25
}

I replaced it with this and pointed the axles at it, with extra masses to cover 5, not 3, options (I note setting freeScale to True makes this redundant!):

SCALETYPE
{
    name = IR_RoboticAxles
    freeScale = true
    scaleFactors = 0.25, 0.5, 7.5, 1, 1.25
    scaleNames = Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, XL
    defaultScale = 1.25
}

The result looks well: http://steamcommunity.com/id/colmoni/screenshot/25088485465242678

Currently trying to slow them down a little and tone down the steering at speed. (torqueCurve and steeringCurve settings respectively I think?)

Edited August 22, 2014 by colmo

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

Hiya , adding the tweakscale compatibility , was a test run, as i've had some major troubles in the past with teakscale upsetting things, It's still early days ,I based the tweakscale calibration on a similar scale to the standard IR parts(Infernal Robotics) although there's probably a more open ended setup I could use.

For cool power though the best alternative at present is the Auxiliary power unit I've made and supplied to lofi for the KerbalFoundries repulsors, check it out in his thread , it's very cool if I say so myself.

I'm still trying to keep things as simple as possible , I'm not a great fan of over dependance and complexity, as it tends to introduce a ceiling to the level of users taking up a certain mod. I am however looking for suitable options for sounds and power development, In the meantime there will be the addition of an APU to provide non hacky power generation, it's never a problem in dev as I created the unigens ages ago , slap one of those on and it generates whatever resource I need, but I know it wouldn't be popular because of it's hacky perpetual motion type function..

Re. the aforementioned smooth steering, All the wheels I use myself including the versions of released editions have smoothSteering , anti roll and ackerman control courtesy of of lofi and as soon as the KerbalFoundries plugin is out of alpha it'll be a dependancy of all my wheels, it's a complete reworking of how the steering system works and transforms wheels into something so much better.

@lo-fi thanks for the offer but I'm quite happy waiting for the release of the main plugin, but of course I wouldn't say no to a custom job, it would force me to understand exactly how it works and get into plugins myself, I never promote things I cant fix ( lofi, I'm sure you'll appreciate the reasons for that)

I've still not got this machine fully setup to produce mods, still missing a few of my favourite toys , which Is why I've not pushed the updated parts through to test, hopefully should get it all sorted this weekend and can start pushing stuff out again.

Thanks for all the comments pm's and input, all helps to make it what the customer wants, cheers guys,

Spanner

[colmo]

Hiya , adding the tweakscale compatibility , was a test run, as i've had some major troubles in the past with teakscale upsetting things, It's still early days ,I based the tweakscale calibration on a similar scale to the standard IR parts(Infernal Robotics) although there's probably a more open ended setup I could use.

Probably just the standard surface attached parameters, as used for standard wheels. I just used it on Rollkage wheels, and they work very well.

I look forward to new toys. Ages ago, I used Damned Robotics parts to create a torsion bar suspension for a helicopter which could survive a 100 meter drop; the way you've done the beam axle is similar - it could be applied to e.g. a trailing axle to give a little more suspension for jumps.

I was wondering if you could create a damper that attached like a strut, but can compress and rebound? It would allow the beginnings of real suspension geometry.

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

Thanks for the time you've spent tweaking I'll certainly add that edit to the cfg of the next update , the large jump in sizes bugged me quite a bit also. cheers.

Re the damper, the only thing the damper would do currently is to be eye candy, unless combined with the smoothsteer plugin as that allows damping and rebound adjustment, note however that all the actual movement and suspension is confined to the wheel collider and not the visible dampers. , I've added a damper to many other wheel units but in this instance i wanted simple, as damper placement would, due to the way the axle works require some form of subframe to connect it to the center bracket, the snag here is to stop things colliding I'd have to reduce the axle travel, I can add a damper equipped set in the next update though as a test. The new item will include a damper as it's still in revision.

A trailing axle is a great idea I'll see what can be done.

Edit piccies of new part in action

Edited August 23, 2014 by SpannerMonkey(smce)
added pi of new part

[colmo]

I just added this to the Rollkage parts.cfg, it should work fine for yours too. It avoids editing a config elsewhere in the GameData folder - the snippet I enclosed above was in the IR TweakScale configuration.

MODULE
{
	name = TweakScale
	type = surface
}

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

Yeah cheers I got that:P the little snippet you posted is actually my favoured option also because , the plugin that this lot will become dependant on doesn't play nice with tweakscale and unusual wheel arrangements.

Have had some thoughts on electricity generation thanks to another project i help out with from time to time.

[colmo]

It would be nice to have a big, noisy, vibrating V8 engine part which can fairly chug through the fuel but also generate power. I was trying to mod the KSOS configs into the Rollkage RTG, but I couldn't get it to produce power, though everything else worked.

The downside of using electricity is that the throttle becomes fairly meaningless. To rectify this, we could vastly increase the consumption of the wheels, or reduce the output of the engine, such that the limiting factor is not the wheel top speed, but the rate at which the engine can produce electricity. The wheels would be limited in speed by constant electrical starvation. It may play havoc with control, lights and other things that rely on electricity though. It would mean pressing the W key would be equivalent to letting go of the clutch :-)

(I've just realised this is pretty much how ion engines work.)

I know Infinite dice has been working on proper combustion engines with his ICE mod, I must check it out.

Edited August 23, 2014 by colmo

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

The i intention for power supply is to have the engine directly tied to demand so increasing demand will increasing engine speed as engine drives alternator to maintain battery level, its already been proven as a concept just got to make dieselv8 version now .

Loads of horrible issues with trailing axles , 4 versions all barely satisfactory , further construction and testing continues,

I've seen the ICE stuff but not looked in to how it actually works as yet.

[lo-fi]

Diesel electric? Suits you, sir

I have a work in progress plugin that may actually make trailing axles possible, though it still needs a huge amount of work. Damn that rotational symmetry!

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

Hi all, there was supposed to be an update this weekend, it's actually ready to go except for one minor detail, I've now equipped most of the wheels with the smoothSteer and anti roll provided by KerbalFoundries, due to certain technical issues and to avoid any future conflicts a plugin is being compiled to accompany this addon, the core of the plugin has been in tests for a lot longer than 24.2 was, so very few issues are still present.

As for whats due in this update , 4 new sets of wheels, comprising a twin wheel cantilever axle , and 2 types of twin and single wheel trailing axle , also included but very much a POC is a height adjustable rear landing gear unit.

I've added tweakscale capability to most parts and although it scales well some issues have presented themselves, for some reason only affecting the trailing axles, knock out the IR element if scaled up from standard size. It will scale down fine, but up locks the suspension and removes the height adjustment on both the landing gear poc, and the twin wheel heavy duty type, the normal suspension equipped versions are not affected as they do not feature an IR element.

Following constructive criticism I've redone the small rover chassis to remove the mesh error, and a few other details here and the like node locations etc.

Preview gallery below

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Edited August 25, 2014 by SpannerMonkey(smce)

[colmo]

Nice work. I was actually thinking of a short course truck style trailing axle but this is more useful on most rovers...and bikes?!

I've been wondering if wheels and axles could be separate parts (though that introduces orientation issues) - it does allow building a vehicle with different axle types but mixing, matching and tweakscaling wheels independently of them. I even pictured using KAS to physically change to a spare wheel!

Just a thought, keeping it simple works too, especially in the early stages.

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

Hi, I've been asked before if its possible to do the separate axle and wheel thing, and the only snag is that linking the two parts together may still not give the suspension effect that's present in a one part piece. There are ways to do it but some of them lead to weird things like, driving around on axles without wheels, anyone following the path of wheel dev will rapidly realise that its what you cant see in wheels that's important not the visible parts. However, I think it's be possible to achieve some passable results with the trailing type axle and beam axle , as the suspension movement in the wheel for those is miniscule, 99% of the suspension comes from the IR joint at the base, I could definitely have a bash at a Proof of Concept( henceforth to be known as POC)

The only way I've managed to get a bike to work with any sense( been riding for more years than most of you lot have been alive) is to create a pod with a really strong ASAS fitted so that it's natural inclination is to keep itself upright, that said much fun can be had in trying to make it all work

As for a short course type trailing axle that's probably doable and is hitting right at my offroad obsessions nicely, spent many years building scale competition rock crawlers and sand racers , for people with lotsa cash, so I already have a million sketches of how it can be done. I'm thinking 4 link fully floating would be ideal for deranged behaviors, although it would definitely be a challenge to set up and be a larger part than even the beam axle, as there would be a need for a subframe affair that would carry the link ends and the shock mountings

Sorry if my replies come sometimes delayed, having a tough time physically at present, so if anyone knows where i can get a cloned replacement for this worn out body that I've got to put up with let me know.

Cheers

Spanner

[colmo]

Rest up, we can wait! I've dabbled with RC rock crawlers but you're a pro, so I won't ask granny, or you, to suck eggs.

I'm still dreaming of my strut-dampers, where a stretchy/compressible strut actually performs like a spring-loaded, oil-filled shock absorber - I'll have a play with strut setting to see if they can be made less rigid. Back in the day, we wondered if the pistons of IR (then DR) could be adapted for the job.

I might have a bash at modelling some chassis C-rails. Would be a useful but simple intro to modelling.

[123nick]

hey what are those octogonal base-like parts? the ones in the second,third,and forth picture?

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

I'll check out if it would be possible to make a shock out of an IR ram, i think it's doable because no matter what the actual IR part does the differences between them are minimal,..... a quick look reveals it is possible , now how best to exploit the potential.

The octagonal base parts are from a really old mod called Marvelous Magnetic modules, it was an early swipe at interactive iva's, i've had them for so long perhaps since 0.18ish, of course refitted iva's and constantly upgraded for each edition , one of the many obsolete mods i still have use for. If i can track down the author maybe I can make them available again.