[0.90] Regolith - an open ISRU and Resource framework [0.1.7 - 2015.02.26]

[RoverDude]

Great! It feels a bit like the proposed stock resources system.

I want to get making some parts for this I really like the Philae-esque stuff included also.

I have a question for the future... Will it remain mainly lightweight, for people to build from? (I.E. limited part selection / resources in vanilla distribution).

This is meant to be a foundation bit, not a stand alone mod. I will include limited sample parts just to give people stuff to use as a technical demo (same when I do atmospheric and planetary), and will in time pull these parts out to a separate pack so people can just get the Regolith DLLs. It won't even make assumptions about resources, leaving that up to mods

[Beale]

This is meant to be a foundation bit, not a stand alone mod. I will include limited sample parts just to give people stuff to use as a technical demo (same when I do atmospheric and planetary), and will in time pull these parts out to a separate pack so people can just get the Regolith DLLs. It won't even make assumptions about resources, leaving that up to mods

Great! Thanks for the answer

It will be very good to have a common "back-end" to various resource mods.

[Klakh]

For those who are complaining about memory... Go Linux.

Here is a screen of a light install of mine... Look at the "Mémoire" column. ;D

http://nsa34.casimages.com/img/2014/11/18/141118111806134768.png

This is on Kubuntu 14.04

If you look around the Linux thread, you can find some 6.3Gb screens

[LethalDose]

First off, RoverDude, this looks really cool. Thanks for putting it together, I'm eager to see where you go with it.

Based on your tech preview, could I make a suggestion? Have you considered including a separate intermediate for H2 (either liquid or gas), instead of going straight from H20 to LF? H2(g) could be used immediately in fuel cells or LH2 could be combined with CO2 to make LF and more O2 (Sabatier reaction).

Also, since biomes are going to be added to all the planets, have you considered just setting some kind of efficiency rate per biome for resource harvesting? It may be simpler than the raster maps used in other resource systems.

Just thoughts. Hope we're not gonna end up with too many resource mods (Kethane, karbonite, regolith, maybe possibly stock one day. Maybe. We'll see).

[Kolago]

Yep! There will be pretty API documentation once I kick the bees out

@Kolago - can you humor me and try it without DDS Loader?

No change without DDS Loader ;-) I think you don't have hard coded textures in your DLL.

[goldenpsp]

Just thoughts. Hope we're not gonna end up with too many resource mods (Kethane, karbonite, regolith, maybe possibly stock one day. Maybe. We'll see).

Don't worry we won't Regolith isn't a "mod" as has been multiple times. Karbonite will eventually use Regolith as it's resource engine rather than ORSX which it uses currently. MKS resources will use Regolith as its engine instead of ORSX...

[edit]

and it we are lucky Squad will pull a Spaceplane+ on us with this when it comes time for them to integrate a resource engine

Edited November 18, 2014 by goldenpsp

[SheepDog2142]

Don't worry we won't Regolith isn't a "mod" as has been multiple times. Karbonite will eventually use Regolith as it's resource engine rather than ORSX which it uses currently. MKS resources will use Regolith as its engine instead of ORSX...

[edit]

and it we are lucky Squad will pull a Spaceplane+ on us with this when it comes time for them to integrate a resource engine

Really hoping so I want all of Rover Dudes mods to become standard issues. He has done so much work they would be lucky to have his stuff in there game.

Still having a problem with the packrat exploding whenever I touch it and KAS says its not on there end.

[LethalDose]

Another thought: The video seemed to imply that there would be different asteroids types that had different mixes of resources. (e.g. C-group, S-type, M-type) Have you considered adding a space telescope part that could evaluate the type of asteroid while it's still in orbit? It wouldn't provide the exact amounts of each resource present (your analyzer does that), only give an idea of which resources could be present.

Don't worry we won't Regolith isn't a "mod" as has been multiple times. Karbonite will eventually use Regolith as it's resource engine rather than ORSX which it uses currently. MKS resources will use Regolith as its engine instead of ORSX...

I understand that Regolith is a system/framework for mod development, not a mod itself. I didn't realize that Karbonite was also developed by RoverDude, et al. In this light, it's less concerning, and makes sense that Karbonite would transition to Regolith as an underlying framework from ORS/X.

and it we are lucky Squad will pull a Spaceplane+ on us with this when it comes time for them to integrate a resource engine

You have vastly more faith in Squad than I. Especially given Harvester's recent Reddit post about about "time-based mechanics", I wouldn't expect mods like this to ever make it into stock. Though he did have a really bizarre and convoluted way of defining "time-dependent mechanics".

[RoverDude]

Have you considered including a separate intermediate for H2 (either liquid or gas), instead of going straight from H20 to LF? H2(g) could be used immediately in fuel cells or LH2 could be combined with CO2 to make LF and more O2 (Sabatier reaction).

Considered that, but intentionally left the tech preview very simple. But there will be things like that in MKS pretty soon.

Also, since biomes are going to be added to all the planets, have you considered just setting some kind of efficiency rate per biome for resource harvesting? It may be simpler than the raster maps used in other resource systems.

That's pretty much exactly how it will work for planetary stuff

Another thought: The video seemed to imply that there would be different asteroids types that had different mixes of resources. (e.g. C-group, S-type, M-type) Have you considered adding a space telescope part that could evaluate the type of asteroid while it's still in orbit? It wouldn't provide the exact amounts of each resource present (your analyzer does that), only give an idea of which resources could be present.

Easily doable by a mod since abundance data is tied to the asteroid at creation. I'd leave this as some fertile ground for modders

I understand that Regolith is a system/framework for mod development, not a mod itself. I didn't realize that Karbonite was also developed by RoverDude, et al. In this light, it's less concerning, and makes sense that Karbonite would transition to Regolith as an underlying framework from ORS/X.

At the end of the day, we have three. Kethane (which can be used by EL), ORS (I think KSPI is the only one using this now since I switched off), and ORS-X (which will soon be deprecated in favor of Regolith) which covers MKS/OKS, Karbonite, and my EL adaption).

I think the interesting thing to watch out for is where Squad goes, since once they do their official bit, there will be no need for any of the core mechanics covering resources (whether it's Regolith, Kethane, or ORS) and all that's to be decided is how we extend what is offered by the core game. Hence I am trying to make Regolith extremely extensible (i.e. the resource broker itself is swappable, so it could just be an interface to Squad's).

[Angelo Kerman]

I was thinking that the CactEye scope needs a module that wold identify the type of asteroid. .

[LethalDose]

/snip

Thanks for the response. It looks anything I might want is gonna be there is possible. Thanks!

[Sun]

That 0.625m claw looks really good for imitating the Philae landing, but with less bounciness or sleep mode.

[Cornholio]

This looks fantastic. I am usually turned off by resource mining like kethane and karbonite but having JUST this half released is something else. This gives me reasons to capture asteroids.

Is there a way to change the resources collected/available to be for currency?

[RoverDude]

This looks fantastic. I am usually turned off by resource mining like kethane and karbonite but having JUST this half released is something else. This gives me reasons to capture asteroids.

Is there a way to change the resources collected/available to be for currency?

Easiest way would be to make a resource that's extremely valuable, and recover the asteroid.

[Chyort]

Easiest way would be to make a resource that's extremely valuable, and recover the asteroid.

Hah.

Just be sure not to take out the VAB when you try to land your asteroid near the space center for the highest recovery value.

[kerbiloid]

Sorry, a few words about RAM vs textures.

Trying other mods I have tried several times to replace MBM files with PNG ones.

I have converted MBMs to PNGs with mbm2png utility from kerbalspaceport, then sometimes compressed png with a graphics software.

Every time I've gotten the same result: PNG files are greatly less in GameData directory, the game starts more fast, all looks amusing.

But the Task Manager shows that PNG greatly increased RAM used by KSP (for hundreds of MBytes).

As I can see, all USI textures are PNGs. Maybe, converting them to MBM would decrease RAM usage.

I would check this myself, but have absolutely no idea how to convert PNG to MBM.

[RoverDude]

Sorry, a few words about RAM vs textures.

Trying other mods I have tried several times to replace MBM files with PNG ones.

I have converted MBMs to PNGs with mbm2png utility from kerbalspaceport, then sometimes compressed png with a graphics software.

Every time I've gotten the same result: PNG files are greatly less in GameData directory, the game starts more fast, all looks amusing.

But the Task Manager shows that PNG greatly increased RAM used by KSP (for hundreds of MBytes).

As I can see, all USI textures are PNGs. Maybe, converting them to MBM would decrease RAM usage.

I would check this myself, but have absolutely no idea how to convert PNG to MBM.

This info is a bit out of date. As of 0.25, there's a bug with TGA's that make them larger in RAM now. It's whack a mole with graphic formats sometimes.

[John FX]

"depletable resources"

Could this be optional in Karbonite etc please?

One of the things that made me remove Kethane was that if I built a mining base I would have to move it at some point (usually very quickly)

[Jivaii]

Unless your running the buggy as heck 64bit exe, Kerbal will only use 3.5gb before crashing due to out of memory errors.

Or you know, dual-booting with Linux?

Hah.

Just be sure not to take out the VAB when you try to land your asteroid near the space center for the highest recovery value.

Just land it somewhere close, then take an FTT HoneyBadger to go pick it up (Or your preferred heavy-lift VTOL Crane)

Rover, is this what you were talking about for the support of things adding in other planets?

Edited November 20, 2014 by Jivaii
Things

[riocrokite]

Hey Roverdude, I was thinking about making my first mod by extending functionality and adding new use for your mods (ftt/mks/oks). For this purpose I would need to reuse and extend some of your models and textures. Is it okay with you?

[Spacepetscompany]

IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE!!!!!! Three cheers for roverdude!

[RoverDude]

Hey Roverdude, I was thinking about making my first mod by extending functionality and adding new use for your mods (ftt/mks/oks). For this purpose I would need to reuse and extend some of your models and textures. Is it okay with you?

100% ok - it's a CC BY SA NC license

It's also where I usually get new ideas to fold back in

[RoverDude]

"depletable resources"

Could this be optional in Karbonite etc please?

Karbonite's mechanics will not change, but AMT (my mining mod) will extend them to be more challenging.

Rover, is this what you were talking about for the support of things adding in other planets?

Planetary resource harvesting is next for Regolith so it winds up as a complete ORS/ORS-X replacement. Just need to get my new Alcubierre drive out the door first

[Jivaii]

Karbonite's mechanics will not change, but AMT (my mining mod) will extend them to be more challenging.

Planetary resource harvesting is next for Regolith so it winds up as a complete ORS/ORS-X replacement. Just need to get my new Alcubierre drive out the door first

I wanna buy you a cake =P (Yes, it's a reference). Speaking of which, that alcubierre drive, any chance of...extending...the bubble? For things like, if we got a long ship.

Also posted in the alcubierre drive thread.

Edited November 20, 2014 by Jivaii

[Threadsinger]

Karbonite's mechanics will not change, but AMT (my mining mod) will extend them to be more challenging.

Planetary resource harvesting is next for Regolith so it winds up as a complete ORS/ORS-X replacement. Just need to get my new Alcubierre drive out the door first

Challenging is good, but if votes matter, I still vote for not having to hop around on a planet for a resource pocket (from a casual player's perspective). I like the idea of inexhaustible resources for simplicity, although tis your mod and your vision. (Asteroids would be ok, since they continually spawn...right?)