Realism Overhaul Discussion Thread

[Frybert]

Hey, looks like you're already going to do most of what I'm about to recommend but I'll say it anyway:

 

When doing and RO RP-0 install its best to make that its own install. If you download via steam, move the download to its own unique folder and only use that one for RO. Also be aware that some of the mods were hosted on Kerbal Stuff and I'm not 100% they have all migrated over to a different host yet so CKAN may be a bit more unreliable than normal.

[John FX]

30 minutes ago, Frybert said:

Hey, looks like you're already going to do most of what I'm about to recommend but I'll say it anyway:

 

When doing and RO RP-0 install its best to make that its own install. If you download via steam, move the download to its own unique folder and only use that one for RO. Also be aware that some of the mods were hosted on Kerbal Stuff and I'm not 100% they have all migrated over to a different host yet so CKAN may be a bit more unreliable than normal.

The transfer of mods from Kerbalstuff seems to be fine and Scansat and Realchute just glitched for some reason unknown to me but they are fine now and downloading from Spacedock.

I already had an idea this would be a picky install so I downloaded the zip of 1.0.5 and made a fresh install folder. It did not help that the latest windows update seems to be one where the computer likes to lock up and think for a minute or two after the reboot but seems fine now so back on with trying to install the mods without issues (feels a bit like the guy that had to sit in the Apollo 13 simulator trying to find a way to get the systems up without going over 31 amps)

EDIT : So using CKAN I installed RSS and the launchpad mod but did not install RO. Loaded game, went into map (I heard launchpads likes this), shut down game. Installed RO, scansat, magic13`s orbital science, RP-0, KAC, testflight and KCT. loaded game, started a new career and got a KSC.

 

Now to launch some sounding rockets...

Edited March 3, 2016 by John FX

[NathanKell]

Yay! Welcome!

 

@Phineas Freak excellent work!

[XpertKerbalKSP]

On 10/24/2014 at 3:08 AM, NathanKell said:

Realism Overhaul Discussion Thread

This thread is for discussing the Realism Overhaul suite of mods. You can get Realism Overhaul, and its list of required mods, from the Realism Overhaul Release Thread

Links

Realism Overhaul Craft Repository

Real Solar System Craft Megathread

RealSolarSystem subreddit

Support

This is not a support thread for mod issues. If you are encountering a bug with one of the mods in the Realism Overhaul mod suite, please post on that particular thread. However, this is the thread for general tips and tricks and discussion. Things you should ask here: How do a I build a launch vehicle that can get to orbit? or How do I take a trip to Mars? or I need to add verniers or ullage motors for control or ullaging my propellants. What should I do? Things you should not ask here: My game crashes, here's a log. Help? or How do I fix parts exploding on launch? or RSS crashes while applying its changes, how do I fix it?

Hi, NathanKell!

I did post a thread on RSS/RO a while back ("I need RO recommendations", if you remember) and there were great tips and all. But i can't get into orbit, still. Other people go past their AP and then it catches back up. For me, I go past, I'm dead.

So I really need an effective way to get into orbit with RO/RSS installed.

Thanks!

[NathanKell]

@XpertKerbalKSP once you pass apogee you need to pitch up, perhaps as much as 20 degrees above the horizon, to kill your descent speed. Can you may post an image of your launch vehicle with MechJeb's delta V stats panel open? (Showing TWR, SLT, Max TWR, vacuum delta V, and burn time--for all stages)

[LostOblivion]

I'm currently trying out Real Solar System (RSS) without Realism Overhaul (RO), and mostly play with stock parts and TweakScale.

I understand that RO includes some mods that do a lot with fuels and engines that are more balanced for real rockets, such as increase TWR and ISP on most engines, however, what are the most obvious such 'nerfs' Squad has done to make the stock parts work better with the small size of Kerbin and the stock KSP solar system that are addressed in RO?

Said in other words. RO makes most things harder, such as limited engine ignitions and requirements to fuel ullage, to make things realistic, however, I'm interested in the things that are actually unrealistic in stock, that makes it easier or even impossible to play in RSS wihout RO.

Are the stock TWR on engines too low?

Are the stock ISP on some engines too low?

Is the stock fuel less dense?

Are some stock parts way too heavy?

[Phineas Freak]

@LostOblivionall the points that you mentioned are valid with the exception of the fuel density. In reality, even the most dense hypergolic propellants (Cavea B for fuel - 0.001501 t/L, Tetrafluorohydrazine for oxidizer - 0.001604 t/L) would have at least 3 times less massive than the stock "LiquidFuel/Oxidizer" combo for a given volume. In conjunction with the abysmal ASL & VAC ISP of the engines it leads to heavy stages that have a small Delta - V budget.

Also, it is impossible for an engine to have a perfect 0 to 100% thrust scaling (a minimum of 10% the maximum rated thrust is considered top notch and really difficult to achieve).

SQUAD has chosen to balance the parts by:

• Increasing the inert mass.
• Decreasing the TWR and ISP

SMURF addresses these base issues.

[NathanKell]

You might also like ROMini. It does similar work to SMURFF but also fixes part scales, so you don't have insanely-high-ballistic-coefficient pods etc.

[LostOblivion]

Ah, great! Exactly what I was looking for! :-)

[John FX]

Just landed my first tiny probe from orbit. Now to do it again with the same rocket a few times to try and get some funds in the bank. I got down to 2800 funds...

After that I`ll use the funds in the bank to increase the reliability of some of the engines and prepare for unmanned moon flyby and manned suborbital flight. It is going to be interesting without any capsules designed for rockets like the mercury one for example, that would be nice.

[komodo]

2 hours ago, NathanKell said:

You might also like ROMini. It does similar work to SMURFF but also fixes part scales, so you don't have insanely-high-ballistic-coefficient pods etc.

@NathanKell: I'm sure you just got pinged repeatedly, but my funday-Sunday-day-off managed to get the modifications I made cleaned up and a thread posted in AddonDev: Link.

@LostOblivion, if you find ROMini to your liking, I would look at the modification I linked above. It remixes the script a bit for some quality of life improvements.

[NathanKell]

@komodo Good stuff!

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

3 hours ago, NathanKell said:

You might also like ROMini. It does similar work to SMURFF but also fixes part scales, so you don't have insanely-high-ballistic-coefficient pods etc.

Now hang on, I'll not see my work slandered.  Starting in version 1.2, pods and heat shields get their masses reduced to keep ballistic coefficients under control.

(I'm glad to see the rescaling bug is fixed for 1.1, but ROMini's not off the hook just yet. )

Edited March 6, 2016 by Kerbas_ad_astra
The "wink" didn't work.

[John FX]

Hello again, so the year is now 1954 and I`m wanting to bring kerbals back from space. Is there a Pe I should be aiming for so my heatshields don`t bow up through overheating and also my kerbals don`t die from excessive G-force?

Is there a chart showing the entry corridor for RO?

EDIT : Also, is an off centre COM needed to widen the entry corridor?

would this work in FAR? (I suspect it would)

Edited March 9, 2016 by John FX

[NathanKell]

Yes, off-center CoM will allow a lifting reentry.

For reentry corridors...it depends on your orbital altitude prior to retro burn. But there's a reason RP-0 offers those "Return safely, uncrewed" contracts--so you can test your capsule with no crew. From a 300km orbit, a perigee of anything between 50km and -200km should probably be fine for a ballistic reentry. With offset CoM, if you roll to keep at about 50km, then the corridor gets wider.

[John FX]

18 hours ago, NathanKell said:

Yes, off-center CoM will allow a lifting reentry.

For reentry corridors...it depends on your orbital altitude prior to retro burn. But there's a reason RP-0 offers those "Return safely, uncrewed" contracts--so you can test your capsule with no crew. From a 300km orbit, a perigee of anything between 50km and -200km should probably be fine for a ballistic reentry. With offset CoM, if you roll to keep at about 50km, then the corridor gets wider.

Cool, I find I`m exploding from heat if I have a Pe as high as 50km but now I have an idea of the bottom range (-200km) so a bit of experimenting should see me good from here.

Also I have yet to unlock basic capsules so I`m winging it with the X1 pod, hehe.

Haven`t had this much fun in KSP for ages.

EDIT : I tend to follow the design principle of `just make it work` followed by `now make it work better` which leads to some unorthodox designs...

Edited March 10, 2016 by John FX

[NathanKell]

The X-1 pod is only rated for supersonic flight. It's not surprising at all that it explodes. Glad it's fun though.

(Even the 1.25m cockpit that unlocks in High Speed Flight needs to be very, very careful about how it reenters.)

[John FX]

2 hours ago, NathanKell said:

The X-1 pod is only rated for supersonic flight. It's not surprising at all that it explodes. Glad it's fun though.

(Even the 1.25m cockpit that unlocks in High Speed Flight needs to be very, very careful about how it reenters.)

It`s the heatshield that explodes first, the X1 seems like it would be fine otherwise. I`m soon unlocking some larger heatshields so I`ll see how it copes with one too large for the pod. I`m thinking the larger mass would take longer to heat up so I might get a bit more leeway.

Is it right that the heatshields explode before they start to ablate much if I spend too much time in the upper atmosphere?

On 06/03/2016 at 1:11 AM, XpertKerbalKSP said:

Hi, NathanKell!

I did post a thread on RSS/RO a while back ("I need RO recommendations", if you remember) and there were great tips and all. But i can't get into orbit, still. Other people go past their AP and then it catches back up. For me, I go past, I'm dead.

So I really need an effective way to get into orbit with RO/RSS installed.

Thanks!

I found that by overengineering stage 1 (it`s huge) and aiming for a 200km+ Ap you can get your time to Ap above 2 minutes which allows you to have a longer burning stage 2 of around 150 seconds which should give you time to build up orbital speed. The same as you, I find that if I stay this side of my Ap I`m fine but usually not otherwise.

The more tech I unlock the easier it is, maybe send some sounding rockets toward the pole and other unexplored areas to get some science?

Edited March 10, 2016 by John FX

[UR-700]

Hello everyone. I looked everywhere and I did not find a mod for In-Situ Resource harvesters compatible with RO / RSS?

Or to make the stock parts like  (Convert-O-Tron 250, 'Drill-O-Matic' Mining Excavator) functional.

 

Thanks 

[Parallax59]

I really like to play career mode, but find it too difficult in RO because the science is too hard to get.  Does anyone have plans to add more science capability to RO or an RO compatible mod?  For example, landing and collecting science is difficult/unsupported at the beginning of the game and for most, if not all items you get zero science value... why?  Also I would like to see science for specific Earth/Solar System locations, for example instead of Mountains I can land in (or orbit above) the Rocky Mountains or the Alps or Himalayas or Olympus Mons and each would have its own science values.  If I should be posting on a different thread such as [x]Science for example, please let me know.   I would like to hear your opinions on this, thanks.

[Frybert]

1 hour ago, Parallax59 said:

I really like to play career mode, but find it too difficult in RO because the science is too hard to get.  Does anyone have plans to add more science capability to RO or an RO compatible mod?  For example, landing and collecting science is difficult/unsupported at the beginning of the game and for most, if not all items you get zero science value... why?  Also I would like to see science for specific Earth/Solar System locations, for example instead of Mountains I can land in (or orbit above) the Rocky Mountains or the Alps or Himalayas or Olympus Mons and each would have its own science values.  If I should be posting on a different thread such as [x]Science for example, please let me know.   I would like to hear your opinions on this, thanks.

Have you looked into RP-0?

 

[John FX]

I`m having issues with the S1.5400/RD-58 not gimballing (spinning craft on burn) and wondered if it was mechjeb, the cfg, the latest update, or by design or something I have not thought of.

Is anyone else having the same issue?

[NathanKell]

@John FX you have the latest release of Ven's Stock Revamp, right? 1.9.1?

[John FX]

4 minutes ago, NathanKell said:

@John FX you have the latest release of Ven's Stock Revamp, right? 1.9.1?

yes. Should I post a log?

[NathanKell]

@John FX Post your configcache, yeah. Log too I guess.