Some questions for engine modding

[MatterBeam]

Hi!

I'm trying to make a series of interplanetary drives that use nuclear technology. I have made and tested modded config files that have the proper statistics for the engines (thrust, Isp .ect)

However, I want to go further.

Currently, all I can do is duplicate existing engines and change the characteristics. Visually, they are identical, which is annoying.

1)How do I change the rocket exhaust color and intensity? For example, a 25000K Open-Cycle Gaseous-core Nuclear engine, the exhaust would leave as a near-invisible deep purple haze.

2)How do I make engines use a different resource as fuel? The LV-N in-game uses rocket fuel and oxidizer. How do I make an engine consume Xenon gas or Monopropellant, as stand-ins for LH2 for example?

3)How do I force the game to consider four or five parts stuck together as one model? For example, I want to create a Gasdynamic Mirror Fusion engine that requires a very long tube, radiators along its length and a reactor at the bottom. In-game, I would attach two Gigantor XL solar arrays to an S1 SRB-KD25k rocket booster, and on the bottom, link an Advanced SAS Module, Large to a PB-ION Electric Propulsion system.

My wish to click on the 'Gasdynamic Mirror Fusion' engine and have all five parts appear stuck together and functioning as one engine.

4)How do I make engines consume ElectricalCharge as a resource?

5)How do I make models bigger or smaller without using modelling software? Is this possible through configuration files (rescale factor)?

Thank you for your answers.

[artwhaley]

1 - The exhaust effects are controlled in the .cfg file... I've never fiddled with them beyond copying them from one engine to another as is, but they SEEM like they could be fiddled with. The definitions look something like:

fx_exhaustFlame_blue = 0.0, -1.6, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, running

fx_exhaustLight_blue = 0.0, -1.6, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, running

fx_smokeTrail_light = 0.0, -1.6, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, running

I'm sure someone has documented what the numbers do... and if they haven't, you should figure it out then post a mini-tutorial and mention it in this thread:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/94638-New-Mod-Development-Links-Compilation

2. Also in the config files. Under the propellant section of the engine module - looks like this:

PROPELLANT

{

name = LiquidFuel

ratio = 0.9

DrawGauge = True

}

PROPELLANT

{

name = Oxidizer

ratio = 1.1

}

You tell it what resource to use and in what proportion to other resources.

3. Couple of ways. The easy way- make a subassembly. You can save and distribute those along with your mod. The hard way, the link I posted above has information on 'welding' where you define several models in one config file using the MODEL tag. THen all of the parameters and modules for the combined part go into that same config file. Might get tricky with a ton of modules, each with animations and such...

4. See answer to 2. And the thread I linked.

5. Rescalefactor should do what you want. I haven't kept track of which of the various scale tags, and inside or outside of model tags, is required to make attachment nodes defined in the cfg files, the way squad does it, scale correctly. So if your attachment nodes wind up in the wrong place, there are some other things to try. but Rescalefactor is the easiest, if it happens to just work.

[MatterBeam]

Thank you very much!

I'll get back on point 3 after some testing.