[WIP] KSS Asimov - A spaceship pack - Update 0.1.2 (11/17/2016) [KSP 1.2.1]

[Kosmonaut]

1 minute ago, Vrana said:

Really nice to see the Asimov in development again.

 

New parts sound awesome!

I love your Profile Pic

[Vrana]

3 minutes ago, Kosmonaut said:

I love your Profile Pic

Thank you, I'm a great Ghost in the shell fan. Was considering this or a Tachikoma outline. But we probably shouldn't  clutter this place with GitS or profile pic stories.

[v1per]

1 hour ago, Kosmonaut said:

Although I like my first drawing the best, another alternative (Sort of like the Mission to Mars craft) would be to have something the same size as the regular Hab, but with a different IVA (I know those aren't implemented yet but still), and that is spinnable

I've been reading a bit about spinning habitats, and the reality is that for the whole thing to look remotely realistic we'd need a diameter of 45 meters or more. I'll chew more on this. After the engine is released I'll consider my options.

[Kosmonaut]

On 10/13/2016 at 5:54 PM, v1per said:

I've been reading a bit about spinning habitats, and the reality is that for the whole thing to look remotely realistic we'd need a diameter of 45 meters or more. I'll chew more on this. After the engine is released I'll consider my options.

Not really. 45m is good, but the smaller it gets, you only really need to spin it faster to generate the same gravity. And remember that kerbals only need 1/4 of the gravity that humans need, so you only need to generate 1/4 of the gravity.

Edited October 16, 2016 by Kosmonaut
Correction

[v1per]

Hey folks, just for a quick update. Due to a crazy run of bad luck, I am only going to be able to buy the final part for my PC tomorrow but then I'll be cooking with gas here and be able to do things much faster. I kinda had to stop the engine model as well cause my notebook can't handle the multiple meshes without heating up a lot, and I can't afford to damage it right now. So that's the situation. Can't wait to have the new build up and running. Core i7 6700k + 16Gb DDR4 on an Asus Maximus VIII Hero. I already have a SSD here, so it should be a big step up from my i7 920. I'll have news tomorrow

[Vrana]

7 hours ago, v1per said:

 Core i7 6700k + 16Gb DDR4 on an Asus Maximus VIII Hero. I already have a SSD here, so it should be a big step up from my i7 920. I'll have news tomorrow

 

That's a nice rig. You using the on-board gfx subsystem or something else?

[v1per]

19 hours ago, Vrana said:

 

That's a nice rig. You using the on-board gfx subsystem or something else?

I have a GeForce 970 GTX

Ok, so great news, just finished building the computer, everything is working again  The difference in speed to my older one is very noticeable. I have some actual work to do, but later tonight I'll be able to get back to the parts properly.

[v1per]

Finally some progress  First, the engine:

There's still things to adjust, but the main pieces are all blocked out. I wasn`t going for this, but I managed to keep the engine itself smaller than a 1.25 diameter. The main advantage being that it can be possibly used for smaller ships. I'll supply a smaller base for that, though the engine itself might be overkill for small ships. Could be used as an upper stage engine I guess.

And here's the re texture of the command module:

I'm not sure if I'll keep the text. Probably not...or I could supply that as an alternative texture? We'll see. I kept the general idea of the original, but re arranged the lines, and redrew everything in higher resolution and with rounded corners. Windows should make more sense now as well. The door markings are red now, to follow the latest pod re texture in the base game. For anyone wondering, that's a render out of Substance Painter.

Hope to have more later today

[StarStreak2109]

I like it... a lot! I'd also keep the text. Maybe use a texture switching module to be able to switch in on and off? Or even with alternative names?

[Kosmonaut]

Maybe you could have a small window on the bottom, just a a cool looking thing. Maybe you could have the words as an option, sort of like toggling the flag

Edited October 19, 2016 by Kosmonaut

[v1per]

On 10/19/2016 at 6:17 PM, Kosmonaut said:

Maybe you could have a small window on the bottom, just a a cool looking thing. Maybe you could have the words as an option, sort of like toggling the flag

Not a bad idea. I'll consider it  The window I mean. As far as the text goes, I won't give it much thought for now. I might just release it without it and supply the alternate texture for those that like it. I'll see about doing something fancier later. The engine is mostly ready. I was about to post a couple of images, but I'm really unhappy with the engine frame. The design itself is good, but it's looking too bland. So I just spent the last couple of hours building a highpoly mesh to see if something comes out of it. Hopefully the results are good.

[v1per]

To quote myself from a post some time ago, we have ignition!

Textures are not done yet btw and the the engine should be rotated 90 degrees. The transition between Substance Painter to Kerbal isn't as good as I wish. It's a shame the lighting and shader model Kerbal uses is so simple otherwise it would be possible to do some very cool stuff.

So, here's my plan for the engine. If you are absolutely stock, you'll get a slightly more powerful version of the Poodle Engine. If you have module manager then the engine becomes cryogenic along with the fuel tank. Thus, you'll need electric charge to keep the tank working and so on but it becomes even more powerful. I haven't settle on numbers yet, but I want it to be able to bring a fully outfitted Asimov (This includes USI Life Support supplies) to Duna and back with fuel to spare. Haven't settled yet on fuel type. I'll see what's available from the community resource pack.

Finally, I'm actually not very happy with the model. It ended up having a tri count a bit higher than I wanted and some of the parts really need a redesign. Especially the turbopumps. But, I want to move on to the rest of the ship so it's time to finish it. I'll get back to it after the rest is done.

 

[Vrana]

Looking really good! Also looking forward to USI support.

 

When you say engines will be cryogenic... Are you planning to write your own boiloff plugin or are you using NearFuture CryoEngines/KerbalAtomics plugin?

[v1per]

No reason to re invent the wheel. The idea is to use one of the existing plugins, unless I can't get permission or if there's any other issue. If that happens, then I'm not so sure about creating my own plugin. Not that I can't, it's just that I already have to code on my job, I'd rather not do it on my spare time as well. I'll cross that bridge later. Right now I'm focused on the parts themselves. With the engine now complete I'll focus on the retexture of the other parts which should be quick. I kinda want to remodel everything again, but I'll hold that off for a bit. You guys waited long enough already

[Kosmonaut]

Could you program it to have it show the given craft name on the side?

Also, I LOVE the engine.

[Ciaran]

11 minutes ago, Kosmonaut said:

Could you program it to have it show the given craft name on the side?

Also, I LOVE the engine.

I doubt that's possible without creating your own code, But an alternative would be to generate a flag with the name you want for the ship.

[v1per]

Hmmm...without creating code it's not possible. But I suspect that there are other barriers to this than just that. For starters, it would only be possible with Unity Pro form what I'm gathering doing a quick search.

If people aren't afraid of a bit of manual work, there might be a possibility. I'll take a look at how well Kerbal handles transparency maps. With a decal it could be possible. But you'd have to generate the texture yourself, and it would probably need a bit of config file editing. No promises though.

[StarStreak2109]

This looks awesome! Can't wait to try this out!

Subbed!

[Kosmonaut]

Just looked back at the engine and noticed... That is a really pretty emission. Please tell me that I won't need extra mods for this. Also, what are the black things on the top of the cockpit? They look a bit out of place. Maybe make them windows or put lights around them or something. And the fuel tank looks beautiful but has no connection to the engine. Could be a problem? But I'm really happy with the way this mod is going. I think that  it is one of the coolest mods I've ever seen, and I'm proud to have contributed in the smallest way to it. 

 

EDIT- I also really like the text on the 'Asimov' text on the cockpit. It looks like the 80's NASA worm logo, and that makes me happy.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Kosmonaut

[v1per]

3 hours ago, Kosmonaut said:

Just looked back at the engine and noticed... That is a really pretty emission. Please tell me that I won't need extra mods for this. Also, what are the black things on the top of the cockpit? They look a bit out of place. Maybe make them windows or put lights around them or something. And the fuel tank looks beautiful but has no connection to the engine. Could be a problem? But I'm really happy with the way this mod is going. I think that  it is one of the coolest mods I've ever seen, and I'm proud to have contributed in the smallest way to it. 

 

EDIT- I also really like the text on the 'Asimov' text on the cockpit. It looks like the 80's NASA worm logo, and that makes me happy.

That's a lot of feedback  Let me get it in order:

• The emission is copied from the shuttle engine in the base game. Picked at random, liked the look, went with it.
• The black things are just an attempt to break up the white surface. I'm not super happy with it either. To be honest, the command pod and the auxiliary module are the hardest one to make details for because they are just living spaces. Anyway, I'll try and work on it some more.
• I was just making changes to the fuel tank connection right now. I'll also change the reaction wheel connection to fit in case you want to put one between the tank and the engine.

And hey, glad you like it  I'm really trying to up the quality of everything for this next release. Sorry it's taking so long.

Edited October 26, 2016 by v1per

[Kosmonaut]

On 10/25/2016 at 11:02 PM, v1per said:

And hey, glad you like it  I'm really trying to up the quality of everything for this next release. Sorry it's taking so long.

It doesn't matter how long it takes, I'll still be happy when this mod is released.

Also, would it be possible to change the colour of the emmission? It could look really cool in magenta...

[Kosmonaut]

New thought! What if you replace the black things with two windows, and then put the flag behind that? Might break up the white nicely.

[v1per]

So work on this is chugging along. I finished the new Fuel Tank today:

I might do more details on the textures later. For now I'm pretty happy. I removed the little dots that simulated screws because I'm going to see about doing something better. Also, here are better renders of the engine and the command pod:

Hope these are to your liking  Big disclaimer that the parts will never look like this in game. Kerbal just doesn't have the shader model to do it  Anyway, I'm going to work on the Reaction Wheels next. It should be the last piece that'll require major mesh work. The Auxiliary and Service Modules shouldn't need any sort of modelling, only some UV adjustments. After that I'll work on balance and configuration. I might have to revisit the Solar Panels though. I did them a long time ago now, and I didn't have access to the tools I have now. They definitely don't look good next to the new textures.

Edit: Oh, here's something I just cooked up to show how one connects to the other now (Click here for High Resolution):

Edited October 30, 2016 by v1per

[Kosmonaut]

OH. MY. GOD. They are INCREDIBLY beautiful. Can you do animations? Because I thought that an inflatable airlock might look cool.

[v1per]

I can animate, yes. I thought about doing an airlock before, but I never managed to design something I was happy with. The Asimov seems to be sort of on the perfect size right now. Adding a small module or two shouldn't be a problem, but to fit something that has an airlock it would require a larger piece. I'll consider it for the future though.

BTW, I just noticed that the last image on my previous post was using the wrong mesh, so I rendered it again. Sorry about that. Also made a better angle to view the connection between engine and fuel tank.

Edited October 30, 2016 by v1per