How to build a space station?

[henrik]

I've seen on the forums that a lot of people are building their own space stations and that sounds like something that I'd like to give a go at as well.

Now, the problem isn't the flying. I know how to do that pretty well, especially in LEO. The problem is that of payloads and game saves.

I know that I can download station building blocks as addons, but how do I get them on the space shuttle?

Additionally, how can I save the current configuration of the station between missions?

Maybe there are a million tutorials about this already, but I haven't come across one.

 

[agentgonzo]

There is a quicksave option in the F4 menu. Also, when you exit, it automatically saves the current state. All saved scenarios are in the scenarios folder of your orbiter install. Copy the files from there to wherever you want them saved.

 

[ar81]

Building blocks are too big to fit inside a shuttle.
You need Big Space Plane by Greg Burch and my scenario generator

BSP Scenario generator
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3152"]Big space plane 4.0 scenario generator 1.1[/ame]
Space Station Building Blocks 4.1B
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3177"]Space Station Building Blocks 4.1B[/ame]
Big SpacePlane 4.0
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3124"]Big SpacePlane 4.0[/ame]

If you want to build missions for Space shuttle you may like this (see manual for details on installation order)
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2746"]Shuttle fleet scenario generator v1.5c[/ame]
You also might need this LC-39 platform
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=1274"]LC-39 High Detail Version 8[/ame]
and of course shuttle fleet
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3221"]Search[/ame]
and also some payloads. Mustard site has good ones, but I do not have the link here.

 

[Kyle]

All you really need is Velcro Rockets and Attachment manager

 

[adamb193]

Energia or the XR-5 are good ones as well, you'll need an arm too.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

There are two ways to get payloads onto vehicles and both have been mentioned here. The first and easiest is to use what's called a CVEL craft. Sputnik's Velcro rockets are CVEL as are his Titan pack and several others. CVEL is straight forward as all you have to do is put the following lines in your scenario file in the launcher's definition as follows:

PAYLOAD name meshname class x y z mass 0 fuel

You replace everything but "PAYLOAD" and the 0 with your own figures for your specific payload.

The second method is a tad more complicated, it uses Orbiter's attachment point system and is what the Space Shuttle uses. You basically have to define a child attachment point on the payload (may already be included) and a parent attachment point on the launcher (again, may be done for you). Different vessels may have their own unique payload description methods so read the manual. Shuttle Fleet in particular has a unique system that does use the attachment points, but throws in another feature or two.
Happy Orbiting!

 

[Matt Decker]

I find the best way is to use the Ariane 5 by Well & No matter from Mustard's site. You have to create an ini file for it but you can just copy that from the ones included. Then you don't have to worry about landing the shuttle after your module is in place. You just send a Delta Glider to go pick it up. The Ariane 6 add on has a tutorial on how to add pay loads it's the same deal, but the 6 is just to big for most pay loads.