General Question Trying to add a landing pad to Phobos.

[dbeachy1]

This looks great! Any chance you could package the .cfg file up into the zip as well and release it on OrbitHangar as an add-on? Easier to install that way. :tiphat:

 

[dgatsoulis]

That's my intention as soon as David and anyone else who wants, tries this out first, in order to find if anything needs to be fixed.

 

[blixel]

@Blixel

I had forgotten how easy it is to get carried away, when you are making a base.

Absolutely fantastic! It was great before these changes, but now it is absolutely amazing! The rounded pillars do look better, and the additional pillars help sell the idea that it's firmly embedded into the hillside. The hangars are a nice touch as well, and the lighting effects definitely improve the night time appearance. Those extra aesthetic touches really add a lot to the experience. Excellent work!

After doing a test landing with the XR5, I realized I should have requested that the edges around the landing pads be extended a bit - for safety purposes. With a less than perfect landing, it's easy to hang over the edge. Not a big deal though.

Your zip archive and CFG file worked perfectly as-is without any changes.

 

[fort]

Certain details can can be to be suited as here: http://www.orbithangar.com/addonpics/Mars Phobos Montage.jpg

I think about the diameter of the pilars ( with different sizes ); about their height, as early as the instant when the plateforme seems supported by a part of the ground of Phobos. And in this case, the pilars more close of the sheds could be replaced by a solid parallèlépipédic structure, with a plateforme a little bigger ( the first two picture on the top left ).

 

[blixel]

I brought the XR5 up from Mars and landed it at the new Phobos Base for a full trial run. Works great! It allows for a much more graphically pleasing touch down on Phobos; you don't have half of your vessel sunk inside the mesh.

(Video best viewed full screen 1080)

 

[dgatsoulis]

Certain details can can be to be suited as here: http://www.orbithangar.com/addonpics/Mars Phobos Montage.jpg

I think about the diameter of the pilars ( with different sizes ); about their height, as early as the instant when the plateforme seems supported by a part of the ground of Phobos. And in this case, the pilars more close of the sheds could be replaced by a solid parallèlépipédic structure, with a plateforme a little bigger ( the first two picture on the top left ).

Thanks for the input.

I'll try and add diagonal strats to connect the back and middle row pillars. That should turn them into more solid structures capable of holding the weight of the ships. I'm not so sure about removing any pillars though. If you look at where the ships are when landed, they seem to be supporting them quite well.
I'll toy around with a couple of configurations - different diameters, etc- and see which one I find plausible and aestheticaly pleasing.
And I agree the platform needs to be bigger, the Lpads are too close to the edge.

I brought the XR5 up from Mars and landed it at the new Phobos Base for a full trial run. Works great! It allows for a much more graphically pleasing touch down on Phobos; you don't have half of your vessel sunk inside the mesh.

(Video best viewed full screen 1080)

Orbiter 2010 - XR5 Landing at Phobos Base - YouTube

Nice vid blixel! Much better landing this time.:thumbup:

 

[dgatsoulis]

What started as a slight adjustment of the support pillars and platform size, ended up as a complete rework of the base from scratch. Having seen quite a few... "baces" on OH that should have never left the author's hard drive, I figured I might as well do it right. Here are some pics:

New support structures, bigger platform broken into 8 segments to sit well on Phobos' surface. (MapObjectsToSphere). This way the wheels of the spacecrafts don't disappear inside the mesh.

Every thing was retextured from scratch and also added lights and a control tower. (Not a mesh, a collection of "tanks").

View from platform level.

View from Control tower.

The whole thing.

Night-textured pretty much everything.

I'll add a few finishing touches and a couple of scenarios. I'll upload it on OH sometime tomorrow. Any ideas for a name, other than Phobos base?

 

[blixel]

What started as a slight adjustment of the support pillars and platform size, ended up as a complete rework of the base from scratch.

Very impressive work! I never would have imagined that a request to learn how to place a landing pad on Phobos would turn into a brand new base of such extremely high quality. Hats off to you sir. :tiphat:

I wish I had a good name to offer as a suggestion, but I can't think of anything that would be meaningful. Come to think of it, why is the moon's base called Brighton Beach?

 

[dgatsoulis]

Come to think of it, why is the moon's base called Brighton Beach?

Good question, I have no idea why it's called that. I hope someone on the forum knows.

As for the base I'm thinking either Hall Base, named after Asaph Hall the discoverer of Phobos and Deimos, or Harmonia Base, named after Phobos' younger sister the goddess of harmony. Probably the first, since the second will probably be taken by an asteroid or something.

 

[Wishbone]

I'll add a few finishing touches and a couple of scenarios. I'll upload it on OH sometime tomorrow. Any ideas for a name, other than Phobos base?

Camp Hitchcock, perhaps?

 

[dgatsoulis]

That's a pretty cool name actually. I wish I'd seen it before packing up the files. Oh well, perhaps on the next base.
May I ask why Hitchcock?

EDIT:
Base uploaded on O-H

 

[Wishbone]

That's a pretty cool name actually. I wish I'd seen it before packing up the files. Oh well, perhaps on the next base.
May I ask why Hitchcock?

Fear and horror movies, am afraid. You have to be afraid at Phobos, don't you?

 

[dgatsoulis]

Fear and horror movies, am afraid. You have to be afraid at Phobos, don't you?

:thumbup:

And I was under the Suspicion that you were saying I was for The Birds , for making a base Downhill on Phobos, where if some Psycho stood at the edge of the platform would probably get Vertigo. :lol:

I always thought of Hitchcock as the master of suspense, not horror. That's why I didn't make the -now very obvious- connection. :facepalm:

 

[flytandem]

suspense? for sure.
Then perhaps the pillars that support the base shouldn't hold it up from under the pad surface but instead should be located near the 4 corners and a suspension bridge type of catenary over each side and have the platform suspended with a series of vertical cables along each side ? :facepalm: