[WIP][PLUGIN + PARTS]Project HLLV: Nuclear Propulsion parts

[Helix935]

Thought id do my weekly'ish update on the status of the plugin. I didnt have too much time to do much modelling or programming. What i got time for was mostly experimenting with some features for the plugins. Namely: a more advanced animation controller(was necessary to get some cool effects with triggering the pusher animation before the pusher is fully reset, implimented rigidbody physx + raycasting for the payload/bomb code. It now detects stuff in the way and detonates at that location(only done once per firing). Finally Getting a bit more comfortable with unity.

Also Doing some more experimenting on art direction for the models. More blocky and structural stuff. Ill save the renders for a more comprehensive preview later. Hoping to be able to release the wip sometime soon but there seems to always be something that looks off.

Yay you're not dead, and good to hear news after a week

[SessoSaidSo]

With 0.25 now out you can emulate environmental damage by causing the whole ksc to blow up if using the orion engine too closely...personally I could see myself loading this into the sea dragon...ignite the orion 20k up or so.

I demand daily updates!

Edited October 18, 2014 by SessoSaidSo
forgot something

[landeTLS]

With 0.25 now out you can emulate environmental damage by causing the whole ksc to blow up if using the orion engine too closely...personally I could see myself loading this into the sea dragon...ignite the orion 20k up or so

that would be fun. Im currently implimenting center faded destruction in the blast radius (vessels and building destruction need to be handled seperatly since building take damage (it seems) from impacts, not force. While vessels also require some special code to determine if they should detonate(maybe also explode only some of the vessels parts) Im also applying force to rigidbodies in a sphere around the propulsion module. The total resulting effect should be kindof cool. Tossing vessels around and exploding buildings

I demand daily updates!

Heheh. Im glad there is interest. Daily updates wouldnt be very informative as im not able to work on it so often. Id rather update when there is something new. Ill try not to stay silent for too long tho.

Edited October 19, 2014 by landeTLS

[SessoSaidSo]

update please

[landeTLS]

Hey. Iwe Been quiet for too long. The forums seem to have gone into some kind of winter hibernation lately too. So i havent really been keeping updated too much. Im a bit upset some of my favorite modders have quit (dtobi, helldiver and the realchute guy) but i guess thats just part of the ebb and flow of ksp modders. Im still interested in modding the game so i wont let that stop me.

Iwe been coding some on the orion plugin. There is a lot of state switching going on and the code was getting messy. So i bit the bullet and started learning about Finite state machines and its been alot less problematic from there. I did have to rewrite almost all of the plugin tho but it became a lot less complex and more flexible.

A few issues still remain. Gees spike a bit too much on a preset thrust curve. Im thinking the system is not dynamic enough and that i need to approximately predict gees and dampen the thrust application from that. The result of this issue is that the finished vehicle needs to be within a very narrow weight range in order to not experience too high gees and still be able to go through the atmosphere. Havent done tests on this yet but it may turn out to be less of an issue than i though.

The second issue is that physics timewarp is screwing up the thrust application. To me it seems that under timewarp the fixedtime is running at the same rate as under regular so the thrust application is spread out over too long time. Making the ship not thrust fast enough to power through the atmosphere. Ill try using a timer that adds timewarp rate to a var each frame to get the "fixedtimewarptime" and see if that helps.

The radiator class (called moduleuniversalradiator. Universal since its basically 4 modules in one: Inline stackable radiator(convective/intake and radiative) and the same as surface mountable. Atm all configs require the part to be childed , same part or parented to the heat source. Modules that are parented and has the isinline flag are an exection as they can be stacked on top of eachother)it is getting most of its required variables(ambient temp, windspeed etc. It has code enabling it to function both as an atmointake or a pivoting panel. It supports multiple transforms of both) and is rotating its minimal cross section(s) away from the sun. but im still testing out different equations of getting a total. Id love some input on how people would like an ideal radiator to function. Im currently toying with having a "component temperature" seperate from the parts temp (but effected by part temp) but im unsure how to impliment it. Im staying away from having the waste heat as a resource. Fsm is implimented here too

My ocd is still telling me that the orion propulsion module needs more work:P so im knocking out more basic shape variants. Making some progress.thankfully im a much better 3dmodeller than i am a programmer.

Edited November 16, 2014 by landeTLS

[landeTLS]

Hey. I thought id update again. Still no renders im ready to show off yet. Dunno if anyone is still following developement but here i go.

Status is that i had to redo a lot of the assets (again) the reasons being twofold. One: i have too much respect for William Black to reference his artwork as closely as the first few concept models did. The other being that a lot of the design of his models would simply not work in ksp due to craft system constraints and due to the fact that his models where not designed with animations in mind. This has caused me to have to coordinate details and design choices closely between assets more as well as come up with original concepts (while keeping the feel and silouette of the original models somewhat decernible ) wont get too much into detail with that but ill say i watched a lot of classic hard sci fi movies (2001/2010, mission to mars ++).

The plugin stuff is also moving ahead but im thinking im going to get the orion partmodule up to shape and push the rest forward in time(this project is quite large and i need to seperate it into as small chunks as possible if im going to make progress) this will mean that the radial thermal rockets for the orion lander will be using the stock moduleenginesfx for now. Also the payload modules will be using 2 stock moduledockingnode(one on the bottom and one on top) tho it will work a bit messily. (I suspect that when i get around to coding the modulemultidockingnode ill need to use some a bit hacky approach to load the managed ports properly from persistance*the major hurdle atm, as well as interfacing with squads fsm implimentation for it*)

Edited December 7, 2014 by landeTLS

[Mekan1k]

Yup. Still following your dev.

[Railgunner2160]

Same here, looking forward to seeing how this goes!!

[nli2work]

Looking forward to seeing more. Developing code and art at the same time is hard work!

[landeTLS]

Thanks guys. Your support is highly appreciated.

[kiwiak]

It certainly looks better that previous orion plugin (with all due respect for its author).. It will be interesting addition to ksp.

Looking forward to see results.

[landeTLS]

It certainly looks better that previous orion plugin (with all due respect for its author).. It will be interesting addition to ksp.

Looking forward to see results.

thanks. btw im sorry for the long pause in updates. Im currently working on creating 3d reference assets + concept art for a small 2d game. But i havent forgotten this project. Its gonna be some time until i get to look at it again but in return ill probably be able to produce a better result after the practice im getting doing the assets for that game. In the mean time if anyone is interested im posting most of my modelling studies and freetime scraps at deviantart(will include some ksp related stuff from time to time). So if anyone is interested check it out here

Edited January 30, 2015 by landeTLS

[Nothalogh]

i know nyranth has made an excellent Project Orion mod already but mine is intended to be more simple and (somewhat)stockalike in function and art style.

>stockalike Orion NPP

Sweet smoky barbecued christ, you are my hero.

Having played with Nyrath's Orion, i'm still learning my way around properly controlling it, that and trying to build an SSTO Heavy Cruiser.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of solar escape velocity before you even clear the Mun.

[Nothalogh]

make launching an Orion powered ship cause a hit to reputation! That'd help balance the fact that Orion drives are strictly superior to chemical propulsion

The beauty of Orion is that it's low tech, but should cost an obscene amount of reputation to unlock in career mode.

If Orion had been pursued earnestly from the beginning, we'd have never built chemical rockets like we did.

No need for fancy ICBMs when you have a fleet of near-torchship dreadnoughts that can schwack half a continent with a fraction of their payload.

When you can put 100,000 tons into orbit like it's nothing, that's like the advent of cavalry, steam power, or the wheel.

[RobotsAndSpaceships]

Wow, this looks amazing, I hope it continues.

[nebuchadnezzar]

I've said it before, but that's a handsome shuttle. Hope we get a chance to play with these parts someday