A large part of this update was just below the surface, refactoring our old code and tackling some technical debt. Nathan took a quick hiatus from mod support to perform major surgery on the game loop and it has significantly improved performance for large craft. From our testing, we've seen an FPS increase of over 30% for some crafts.
I refactored all of the fuel code so that we could support some new features to give you more control over how your crafts consume their fuel (I mean propellant...sorry, Kell). Now you can re-prioritize your fuel tanks, drain from multiple tanks at once, and even automate fuel transfer using cross feeds, which are available on any new interstage part you pull out from the part list.
Kevin revisited the fuselage parts and rebuilt their meshes to remove unnecessary complexity and improve game performance, undoubtedly contributing to the 30% FPS boost I mentioned earlier. Then he went through all of the fuselage textures with a fine tooth comb and fixed issues with alignment that had cropped up in a few bug reports. After that, he freshened up the loading screens to be more reflective of the game's current state.
William added a new, resizable gyroscope part, so now your crafts don't need to have a command pod for that. The power of the gyro is based on its size. He also incorporated four new songs from Fat Bard (the music guys).
Philip has been working on procedural landing gear, but that didn't make this update. We are hoping to get that in the next update, in a few weeks.
Here are the nitty gritty details:
FEATURES
Added multi-directional RCS part.
Added gyroscope part.
Performance improvements. From our testing, we've seen large craft have up to a 30% increase in FPS.
New loading screens.
Docking ports can now be targeted, which makes docking a lot easier.
Added fuel tank priority so the player can change the order in which fuel tanks are drained.
Added fuel crossfeed option to side interstage part.
Allow draining from multiple fuel tanks at the same time when they are set to the same priority.
Added shortcut to open Performance Analyzer window in the designer. Bound to 'O' by default.
Added an option to disable ambient light attenuation in the game settings.
Added more music.
TWEAKS
Added button to the Part Inspector to select a part's command pod during flight.
Display fuselage radius and length when resizing in the designer.
Added Propellant Mass to Performance Analyzer window in the designer.
The explode part button now must be clicked twice before actually exploding the part. Safety first.
Slightly increased the default ambient light in space.
Tweaked exhaust visuals for underexpansion and overexpansion.
Added a progress bar for fuel in the fuel tank inspector window.
Paint Emission Setting Now Allows 1% Increments.
Added tool-tips for replication/control options on command pod's flight scene inspector panel.
BUG FIXES
Fixed a bug where the center of mass of the craft would not update during flight in some circumstances.
Fixed a bug with opening a craft/sandbox via file associations resulting in launching the game but not actually loading the craft/sandbox.
Fixed a bug where rotating a part with the keyboard would sometimes rotate the wrong part.
Fixed a bug with overlapping text on the dummy inspector window.
Fixed a bug where engines would not continue throttling to last known throttle input after separating from their commmand pod.
Fixed a bug where the part shape tool would not hide its grid after the player had finished dragging with the mouse.
Fixed a bug where disconnected parts would show up in staging display in flight scene.
Fixed the rotation direction of the planet in the main menu :D
Fixed issue which can cause a craft to whip around after undocking if the current heading is locked.
Fixed visual tearing on orbit lines when moving camera very rapidly in map view.
Fixed bug which would occur when the current navigation target is destroyed.
Improved the handling of invalid part styles, preventing them from modifying the part style list of all parts of the same type.
KNOWN ISSUES
The game occasionally hangs on exit.
Cross feeds are not included in delta-v calculations or active fuel levels. I'm not sure if they ever will, but I do plan to investigate.
Multi-directional RCS can malfunction if a new stage is activated while the RCS is receiving input. Quick Save and Quick Load should fix the issue if you encounter it before we fix it.
Our games are now free for educators
Starting today, our games can be used for free for education. Educators now have access to download the Windows and Mac versions of SimpleRockets 2 and SimplePlanes (DRM-free) from our website and install them on any number of classroom computers.
We've heard many great things over the years about how teachers are using our games in the classroom. They lend themselves well to teaching physics concepts and students seem to enjoy them. Fundamental concepts such as velocity, acceleration, gravity, lift, drag, etc can easily be demonstrated with an airplane or a rocket hurtling through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds and that has a way of grabbing and maintaining a student's attention. SimpleRockets 2 goes a step further and can demonstrate advanced concepts such as orbital mechanics and many other rocket science concepts.
If you are an educator, just visit this page and click the Submit Request button. After we review your request, you will be given access to the downloads page where you can freely download our games for Windows and Mac.
If you are a student, help spread the word and let your teachers know!
Procedural Rocket Engines
We just released a huge update for SimpleRockets 2 today and we're celebrating it with a 20% discount.
Pro Tip: If you already own SimplePlanes, you can get SimpleRockets 2 with an additional 15% discount if you complete the Aerospace Engineer Bundle.
Did you think we would let this aggression against rocket engines stand? No sir!
You no-longer have to be content with basic cookie-cutter rocket engine variants, you can build your own with the eight new engine types, seven new nozzles, and six new fuel types that are available which allows for hundreds of possible rocket engine configurations. They also have slider options for size, nozzle length, throat radius, and chamber pressure so really there are infinite possible configurations.
The new Performance Analyzer window in the designer will give you immediate feedback. You can see how their performance characteristics change with altitude as you tweak the rocket engine's parameters.
One of my favorite details of the new engines is how dang good the exhaust looks, and that they react realistically to changes in their design and environment. From over-tightened shock diamonds to huge bulbous clouds of supersonic gas, the exhaust really amps up the variety of the already diverse rocket engine aesthetics.
This update also brings a lot of improvements and bug fixes for building airplanes. There is now a plane/rocket building mode option available on the command pod and a new tool to help visualize and adjust your pilot's orientation/direction of travel.
A lot of issues with creating airplanes boiled down to control surfaces, airfoil directions, and their relation to the pilot. Some highlighted changes include:
You can now visualize the airfoil direction in the designer (and show live lift values in flight).
Wing control surfaces set to auto now show which axis they're assigned to instead of having to hope it has assigned them correctly.
Unlike rockets, most airplanes fly best with a single axis (Roll/Pitch/Yaw) assigned to a control surface, not multiple...you now have that option.
Invert just the airfoil w/o impacting the control surface direction.
Manually inverting should not frequently be necessary...adjusting the pilot orientation correctly should auto-orient airfoils properly in most cases.
Ability to switch between Airplane/Rocket configurations for a design.
Before Adjusting Pilot Orientation - Control surfaces assigned incorrectly/airfoils inverted.
After - All good!
Version 0.7 includes a big upgrade to rocket engine customizability, major improvements for building airplanes, and a whole lot more. This is the third round of beta testing. Hopefully the last. Most of the high-level, boss bugs have been vanquished.
The command pod's "Auto Config Controls" option now defaults to true.
Added the RcnThrottle property to the ReactionControlNozzleScript (this one's for you [user]pedro16797[/user])
Tweaked starting camera angle in the designer to an angle that works well for both rockets and airplanes.
Improved smoke trail drag behavior.
Changed Stage Isp, Stage Delta V, and Stage Burn Time in flight view to no longer be dependent on the craft's current throttle setting.
Updated stock crafts and crafts in challenges to use new rocket engines.
Added tooltips to performance analysis window
Added the ability to tilt the game camera with middle mouse button drag.
Bugs
Darken smoke trails at night.
Fixed a bug where the inspector windows could be dragged on top of the dialogs in the flight scene.
Fixed issue which caused a craft's throttle to be reset to zero when switching between crafts.
Re-open the performance analysis window in the same place it was closed instead of always resetting back to the original location.
Beta Bugs
Fixed issue causing translate gizmo to no-longer work with connected translations.
Fixed a bug with the designer tutorial where the fuel tank placement hints were incorrectly positioned.
Fixed a bug that made it very difficult to dock.
Fixed a bug where the smoke trail would get thicker when in slow motion.
Changed how efficiency is applied to engine performance so that exhaust velocity jives with Isp.
Beta version 0.7.0.1 is now available
Continuing with the beta for version 0.7. If you missed the last beta post, you can read it here. Version 0.7 includes a big upgrade to rocket engine customizability, major improvements for building airplanes, and a whole lot more.
Here's what's new since the last beta:
FEATURES
Added texturing to (most) rocket engines
Allow resizing aerospike nozzle. Increasing length can increase performance, but it also increases mass.
New sound effects for rocket engines
TWEAKS
When using the tinker panel to set stage activation to "None", the following items will no-longer auto-activate upon flight start: fairings, parachutes, and side detachers.
BUG FIXES
Properly restore joints which were "bent" when saved.
Fixed a bug preventing image effects from working.
Fixed antialiasing on part icons.
Fixed a bug that could cause undefined behavior if two docking ports completing docking in the exact same frame.
Fixed bug where translate/rotate gizmos can become sized incorrectly after using part-scale in the tinker panel.
BETA BUG FIXES
Fixed a bug where the exhaust looked over-expanded when throttling below 20%
Fixed a bug where engines could not be disabled via activation groups.
Fixed a bug with engines not starting when assigned to an activation group that is enabled at start.
Fixed a bug where symmetric engines did not update their attached fuel tanks or their performance correctly.
Fixed a bug where the new rocket engines were not reporting the correct max thrust when not actively burning at 100% throttle.
Fixed a bug where the staging editor would report inconsistent delta-V when rapidly moving the altitude slider in the Performance Analzyer window.
Attempt to scale exhaust particles when engine has a non-uniform part scale.
Allow solid rocket engines to fire in same stage as a detacher.
Fixed a bug that allowed solid rocket engines to be active during time warp.
Fixed bug where nudge gizmos would sometimes not adjust properly when using World-Space coordinates.
Fixed issue where zooming camera in designer could cause gizmos to disappear.
Fixed a bug with incorrect price and mass of rocket engines outside of designer.
Fixed a bug where the craft would sometimes explode on the launch pad after tweaking engine properties.
Beta version 0.7.0.0 is now available
Eight new engine types, seven new nozzles, and six new fuel types are available which allows for hundreds of possible rocket engine configurations. They also have slider options for size, nozzle length, throat radius, and chamber pressure so really there are infinite possible configurations.
The new Performance Analyzer window in the designer will give you immediate feedback. You can see how their performance characteristics change with altitude as you tweak the rocket engine's parameters.
This update also brings a lot of improvements and bug fixes for building airplanes. There is now a plane/rocket building mode option available on the command pod and a new visualization tool to help visualize your craft's direction of travel.
Features
Added procedural rocket engines
Several new types of engines: Pressure Fed, Electric Pump, Gas Generator, Staged, Solid, and Nuclear Thermal
Adjustable nozzle parameters such as Nozzle Length and Nozzle Throat Radius
Several nozzle options: Resizable Bell, Resizable Cone, Aerospike, Alpha, Bravo, Delta, and Omega
New Fuel Types: Hydrolox, Methalox, Kerolox, Liquid Hydrogen, Water, and Solid rocket fuel.
Engine exhaust plume now supports under-expansion and over-expansion.
Added new Performance Analysis window to designer for jet engines and new rocket engines.
Added build mode so you can now switch between rocket building and plane building. You can find this under your command pod's part properties.
Added pilot orientation gizmo to help player visualize the intended direction of travel of the craft
Added ability to invert the airfoil of wings.
Display which input a control surface is assigned to when it uses Auto.
Added ability to restrict a auto-configured control surface to a single axis.
Added button in designer to show wing lift vectors.
Added option to show wing lift vectors during flight
Activation Group Replication - When you have a craft with multiple command pods you can enable this option on a command pod to replicate the primary command pod's activation group states.
Docking ports can be disabled to prevent docking. Disabling while docked will undock the ports.
Added flight scene camera speed and sensitivity settings.
Upgraded to Unity 2018.3
Testing Notes
New engines are not yet textured and they don't have new sound effects yet. We are working on it.
We are looking for feedback on the new rocket engines. We've spent a lot of time trying to make them as accurate as possible. Let us know if you have any feedback on their performance or visuals.
How to get the beta
Open the Steam client and go to your Library
Right click SimpleRockets 2 and click Properties
Go to the BETAS tab
Select beta - Public Beta Testing from the beta dropdown
Procedural Rocket Engine Test Fire [Teaser]
Results from today's test fire of the new procedural rocket engine.
Configuration:
Type: Liquid
Power Cycle: Gas Generator
Fuel: Kerolox
Chamber Pressure: 10.0 MPa
Nozzle Throat Radius: 0.1440 m
Nozzle Exit Radius: 0.5400 m
Nozzle Ratio: 14.06x
Performance:
Total Thrust: 1,067 kN
Isp (sea level): 298s
Isp (vacuum): 324s
Mass Flow: 364.79 kg/s
Exit Mach Number: 3.59
Exhaust Velocity: 3,071.80m/s
Test Stand Footage (slow motion):
Bonus Shots
Dev Notes - 2019.2.18
You may have noticed that things are quieter around here lately. We have shifted our focus over to SimplePlanes so we can finish the 1.8 update. We hope to finish it next month and then we'll return our focus to SR2 development.
Before jumping over to SimplePlanes, Kevin and I made a lot of progress on the new procedural rocket engines. I'm really excited about them and I can't wait to start working on them again. We're trying to make them as flexible as possible to accommodate as much player feedback as we can. Here are some of the options we currently have:
* Engine Type: Liquid, Solid, Nuclear (thermal), Ion
* Power Cycles (Liquid only): Gas Generator, Staged, Pressure-Fed, Electric
* Fuel Types: Kerolox, Hydrolox, Methalox, Solid, Liquid Hydrogen (nuclear thermal engine), Xenon (ion engine)
There are also several nozzle options available. Most of them are fixed geometry, but there is a procedural cone style and a procedural bell style you can adjust to get the exact nozzle area ratio you want. This will allow you to optimize your engine for sea level, vacuum, or anywhere in between. We will also include an altitude-compensating toroidal aerospike nozzle.
Also, Philip did a lot of work to improve support for building airplanes in SR2, including a new option to specify if you are building a rocket or an airplane. Parts will adjust to a more convenient orientation when added and you can also adjust the direction of travel using this new handy gizmo:
In the same aim of improving support for building airplanes, William has been working on adding resizable landing gear. They are still in the early stages of development, but they already show a lot of potential.
We're hoping to get most of this out next month as well, but that will be a tall order! We will do our best!
Jet Engines
Come melt your face off with our latest jet engine addition to SimpleRockets 2. Put the throttle lever to the metal, and fulfill your need for speed. Full release notes can be found here.
Here's a new trailer showing them off:
We really went all out on these. I hit the textbooks and learned about the thermodynamics of jet engines, (which are fascinating, btw) and Kevin created detailed, modular jet engine models. In the end, we have a highly procedural jet engine part that can be used to create anything from old-style turbojets to new low-bypass military turbofans to high-bypass civilian airliner engines.
You can also tweak several visual aspects of the engine, including the shroud style, length, and curvature. Cycle through the available nozzle styles, fan styles, and inlet cones. Here's a quick GIF showing some of the features:
You can tweak the size, bypass ratio, compression ratio, and afterburner and see how it affects the performance. The designer has some extra tools to help analyze performance at different altitudes and airspeeds:
Jet engines need air to breathe, so the new inlet part helps to make sure your jet engines are getting enough air. If you connect an inlet directly to a jet engine, it will only provide air to that engine. If you connect an inlet somewhere else on your craft, it will provide air to any jet engines that don't have sufficient airflow. If you're curious about how your engines are doing, you can click on them during flight and check their Inlet Efficiency to ensure they are getting enough air.
Of course, the fun doesn't stop there. Kevin built two new stock airplanes to show off the new jet engines.
They are a blast to fly and it's fun to watch the new jet engines in action. Don't forget to turn on the new heat distortion particle effects for maximum enjoyment.
Beta version 0.6.9.0 is now available
Jet Engines are ready for testing! Realistic thermodynamic simulation allows you to tweak their size, bypass ratio, compression ratio and afterburner and see how it affects performance. Cycle through the different visual styles for nozzles, fans, inlet cones, and shrouds (or remove their shroud and see their naked core). You can easily create high bypass turbofan engines or low bypass military afterburning engines and anything in between.
