[1.0.4] ESLD Jump Beacons - [Dev 0.6a]

[Angelo Kerman]

This is a pretty cool mod. Can't wait for this one to hit the release stage. Have you considered some kind of animated antennas that extend out from the beacons?

[TMarkos]

This is a pretty cool mod. Can't wait for this one to hit the release stage. Have you considered some kind of animated antennas that extend out from the beacons?

That would be pretty cool. My modeling skills are nearly nonexistent, though. Emissive animations are one thing, but actually changing part geometry is something I haven't tried yet.

[TMarkos]

I love the thought that has gone into this mod. Would be interesting to see a video if it in action. Just trying to balance it up against the other mods I'm considering to see how it all pieces together. Amazing depth for first mod, though. Bravo.

Didn't see you there on the bottom of the page! Unfortunately, this mod isn't very interesting in video form. You just sort of navigate through the menu, hit a button and... you're there.

[Angelo Kerman]

That would be pretty cool. My modeling skills are nearly nonexistent, though. Emissive animations are one thing, but actually changing part geometry is something I haven't tried yet.

If you know how to make an animation in Blender then you're mostly done. I learned how to animate parts earlier this week, so if I can do it, it can't be too terribly difficult. Perhaps this video will help you:

I recommend using Unity 4.2.2f if you don't already have it: http://unity3d.com/unity/download/archive Edited August 31, 2014 by Angel-125

[TMarkos]

If you know how to make an animation in Blender then you're mostly done. I learned how to animate parts earlier this week, so if I can do it, it can't be too terribly difficult. Perhaps this video will help you:

I recommend using Unity 4.2.2f if you don't already have it: http://unity3d.com/unity/download/archive

Yeah, I've got the right version of Unity - otherwise I couldn't do emissives! Right now I'm concentrating on getting the parts retextured and compressed so they're not a bajillion mb per part, which is going well. I'll look into schmancy folding antennas afterwards. I still have placeholders for tech boxes and fuel tanks, so I've got to prioritize those.

[TMarkos]

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Done with the retexture, so here's 0.3! New beacon models for everything. Folder structure change with this one, so make sure you delete the old mod folder entirely if you're upgrading.

Changelog

2014-09-01 0.3
  -New models and textures for large beacons and IB-1 to match the LB-10.
    -Much lighter memory footprint, better inline fit.
    -Folder structure change.
    -Better utilization of shared assets.

Download

Dropbox

Kerbal Stuff

[Pigbear]

I installed it but I don't have karbondum so I can't warp at all. I am confused.

[TMarkos]

I installed it but I don't have karbondum so I can't warp at all. I am confused.

Due to the cost of Karborundum, the beacons and fuel tanks are empty by default. If you don't have Karbonite, you can tweak the fuel in the VAB and pay for as much as you feel you need.

If you do have Karbonite, you should refine it using the distillers.

[TMarkos]

0.3a up! Only one new feature in, but I'll be glad to have it done with. It took me forever to figure out how to accurately display direction.

Changelog

2014-09-01 0.3a
  -Directional indicators for orbit projections.

Download

Dropbox

Kerbal Stuff

[Pigbear]

Due to the cost of Karborundum, the beacons and fuel tanks are empty by default. If you don't have Karbonite, you can tweak the fuel in the VAB and pay for as much as you feel you need.

If you do have Karbonite, you should refine it using the distillers.

No I mean theres no resource cfg for it.

[Robanada]

This might be a stupid question, but previous versions of the mod had each beacon carrying a small amount of Karborundum, as I recall (I was also not playing with Karbonite installed at the time). Now, all I can see is the electric charge resource tied to each beacon. When you distill karbonite into karborundum...where is that resource stored? As far as I can tell, there are no karborundum tanks, so my distillers run into the problem of there not being a place to put the karborundum, and none is generated. Is there a specific tank that's supposed to be used? Am I supposed to affix a distiller to the beacon and bring it karbonite?

[RoverDude]

New Karborundum drive

ISP is 2500 atmo / 15000 vac

Requires over 500 EC/second at max thrust.

[scottpaladin]

New Karborundum drive

ISP is 2500 atmo / 15000 vac

Requires over 500 EC/second at max thrust.

Love the animation on that engine.

[TMarkos]

This might be a stupid question, but previous versions of the mod had each beacon carrying a small amount of Karborundum, as I recall (I was also not playing with Karbonite installed at the time). Now, all I can see is the electric charge resource tied to each beacon. When you distill karbonite into karborundum...where is that resource stored? As far as I can tell, there are no karborundum tanks, so my distillers run into the problem of there not being a place to put the karborundum, and none is generated. Is there a specific tank that's supposed to be used? Am I supposed to affix a distiller to the beacon and bring it karbonite?

When you have Karbonite, the Karborundum is not tweakable. That means it won't show in the VAB, but will show once launched.

Pigbear: The cfg for Karborundum resides in the Community Resource Pack folder in the CommonResources.cfg file. Make sure you have an up to date version of that file, as there were a few recent versions without it included.

Roverdude: That looks incredible!

[RoverDude]

Thanks I wanted the engine to be really unique.

FYI just updated CRP, there was an issue with the zip file

[TMarkos]

Thanks I wanted the engine to be really unique.

FYI just updated CRP, there was an issue with the zip file

I've got my phone set to ping me when I'm back from work so I can merge it in and upload a new release. I've been including just the CommonResources file and not the other components, will I run into any issues doing that?

[Robanada]

When you have Karbonite, the Karborundum is not tweakable. That means it won't show in the VAB, but will show once launched.

Thanks for the reply. I understand that Karborundum isn't tweakable, but do you have to be attached to a beacon to produce karborundum? When I try to distill karbonite, there's no place to put the karborundum because there's no tanks for that resource except what's on-board the beacon, or are there?

[Draft]

Awesome mod, gonna be fun setting up linked networks.

A suggestion, though. With just ESLD installed, you can tweak Karborundum in the VAB. With Karbonite installed, you have to distill it- but the cost conversion from Karbonite to Karborundum is lossless, and you can tweak Karbonite in the VAB, so it's perfectly feasible and mass-preferable to just cart some full Karbonite tanks and some distillers on the pad and distill all you need before launch.

Would it be possible to make the Karborundum distillation only function in microgravity? It would make the end result of installing Karbonite functionally different than without it, while providing another fun logistical challenge. It even makes sense as I understand things, since crystals form rather differently with gravity than without it, would also explain why the natural deposits are so remote when you add FTT to the mix.

e: Also there are Karborundum tanks, they're just further in the tech tree than the beaons are- so until then they're the only storage for it.

[RoverDude]

I've got my phone set to ping me when I'm back from work so I can merge it in and upload a new release. I've been including just the CommonResources file and not the other components, will I run into any issues doing that?

That's perfectly fine.

Oh... and here are some tanks...

(the tiny red one holds five units of Karborundum, costs 50K funds, and will decouple and explode when it's almost out of fuel... recovery, while technically possible with excruciating micromanagement, is not likely )

[TMarkos]

Awesome mod, gonna be fun setting up linked networks.

A suggestion, though. With just ESLD installed, you can tweak Karborundum in the VAB. With Karbonite installed, you have to distill it- but the cost conversion from Karbonite to Karborundum is lossless, and you can tweak Karbonite in the VAB, so it's perfectly feasible and mass-preferable to just cart some full Karbonite tanks and some distillers on the pad and distill all you need before launch.

Would it be possible to make the Karborundum distillation only function in microgravity? It would make the end result of installing Karbonite functionally different than without it, while providing another fun logistical challenge. It even makes sense as I understand things, since crystals form rather differently with gravity than without it, would also explain why the natural deposits are so remote when you add FTT to the mix.

e: Also there are Karborundum tanks, they're just further in the tech tree than the beaons are- so until then they're the only storage for it.

You have a point there. The microgravity conversion solution would be fun, but at that point I'd probably have to look at coding my own converter, or at least a class that modifies the converter - the standard USI Converter that Karbonite parts use doesn't have the capability to filter on gravity. I'll open an issue to look at the possibility, since it's pretty silly to leave that workaround there - they should either both be tweakable, or conversion should be harder.

The KBD tanks are relatively similar in rank to the beacons in terms on when you unlock them, but they're in different branches. The tanks are all bound to the materials research nodes, while the beacons are under electrics.

EDIT: RoverDude, didn't see you there. Those look awesome! How much does the biggest hold?

[RoverDude]

You have a point there. The microgravity conversion solution would be fun, but at that point I'd probably have to look at coding my own converter, or at least a class that modifies the converter - the standard USI Converter that Karbonite parts use doesn't have the capability to filter on gravity. I'll open an issue to look at the possibility, since it's pretty silly to leave that workaround there - they should either both be tweakable, or conversion should be harder.

The KBD tanks are relatively similar in rank to the beacons in terms on when you unlock them, but they're in different branches. The tanks are all bound to the materials research nodes, while the beacons are under electrics.

Actually... if you'd like a microgravity filter that's totally doable for the USI converters. Though that's more for when you don't have Karbonite installed, since if people are allowed to warp their way to making the stuff (which they can do with a particle collector in LKO and some patience - especially since these work on rails) then you're back to it being more of a 'aggravation because I just have to warp' mechanic vs. a 'tough and interesting technical problem to solve' mechanic. Just my 0.02 funds.

[scottpaladin]

You have a point there. The microgravity conversion solution would be fun, but at that point I'd probably have to look at coding my own converter, or at least a class that modifies the converter - the standard USI Converter that Karbonite parts use doesn't have the capability to filter on gravity. I'll open an issue to look at the possibility, since it's pretty silly to leave that workaround there - they should either both be tweakable, or conversion should be harder.

The KBD tanks are relatively similar in rank to the beacons in terms on when you unlock them, but they're in different branches. The tanks are all bound to the materials research nodes, while the beacons are under electrics.

EDIT: RoverDude, didn't see you there. Those look awesome! How much does the biggest hold?

Is the Karbonite>Karborundum conversion going to remain a permanent part of the mod? It always felt like something of a stop-gap until FTT gets proper Karboundum gathering/transport implemented.

[TMarkos]

Actually... if you'd like a microgravity filter that's totally doable for the USI converters. Though that's more for when you don't have Karbonite installed, since if people are allowed to warp their way to making the stuff (which they can do with a particle collector in LKO and some patience - especially since these work on rails) then you're back to it being more of a 'aggravation because I just have to warp' mechanic vs. a 'tough and interesting technical problem to solve' mechanic. Just my 0.02 funds.

Well, a thought that I had afterwards was that the conversion shouldn't be unavailable in a gravity field, just really inefficient - so that the ideal would really be to mine it someplace like Minmus and then pop it out to high orbit for conversion. That takes care of the issues of on-ground conversion (no longer economical) and atmo-skimming conversion (doable, but now stupidly time-inefficient compared to the other way).

@Scottpaladin - the MM config will detect FTT and disable the distiller modification if it's installed.

[RoverDude]

Well, a thought that I had afterwards was that the conversion shouldn't be unavailable in a gravity field, just really inefficient - so that the ideal would really be to mine it someplace like Minmus and then pop it out to high orbit for conversion. That takes care of the issues of on-ground conversion (no longer economical) and atmo-skimming conversion (doable, but now stupidly time-inefficient compared to the other way).

@Scottpaladin - the MM config will detect FTT and disable the distiller modification if it's installed.

FYI it's not part of FTT It's a Karbonite extension - I'll need to see if there's a different DLL you can detect on since you're using the Karbonite one. Worst case I'll make a dummy one for you.

[Robanada]

The KBD tanks are relatively similar in rank to the beacons in terms on when you unlock them, but they're in different branches. The tanks are all bound to the materials research nodes, while the beacons are under electrics.

Ahh awesome, looks like I unlocked beacons long before I unlock the tanks o.O

Oh well!