Yeah. Cholmondely's explanation was better.DavidKroc wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 4:07 pmOk. I'll fix that in version 1.5.another_commander wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 7:30 amThe Expansion Manager just uses whatever you have put in thedescription
field in the oxz manifest. In the case of Sidewinder NG the description reads as "Sidewinder NG", which is what is shown.
[Release] Sidewinder NG
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Re: [Proposal] Sidewinder NG
"There are large, white swans, and there are small, black swans," he explained, "But there are no medium-sized swans, and there are no grey swans. The non-existence of grey swans mitigates against belief in Mr Darwin's theory."
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Re: [Proposal] Sidewinder NG
I updated Sidewinder NG's OXZ from v1.4 to v1.5 on wiki.alioth.net but the Expansion Manager doesn't seem to parse it automatically.DavidKroc wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 4:07 pmOk. I'll fix that in version 1.5.another_commander wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 7:30 amThe Expansion Manager just uses whatever you have put in thedescription
field in the oxz manifest. In the case of Sidewinder NG the description reads as "Sidewinder NG", which is what is shown.
What should I do to make it read OXZ content again?
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Re: [Proposal] Sidewinder NG
Jsut kicked off a manual rebuild of the catalog, should have the result in about 30 minutes from posting this.
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Re: [Proposal] Sidewinder NG
It worked! Thanks.another_commander wrote: ↑Sat Feb 15, 2025 11:28 amJsut kicked off a manual rebuild of the catalog, should have the result in about 30 minutes from posting this.
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Re: [Proposal] Sidewinder NG
Editorial nitpicking!
When you feel your OXP is ready, you might wish to edit the very first post in the thread which should allow you to change the thread title from [Proposal] Sidewinder NG to [Release] Sidewinder NG.
When you feel your OXP is ready, you might wish to edit the very first post in the thread which should allow you to change the thread title from [Proposal] Sidewinder NG to [Release] Sidewinder NG.
Comments wanted:
•Missing OXPs? What do you think is missing?
•Lore: The economics of ship building How many built for Aronar?
•Lore: The Space Traders Flight Training Manual: Cowell & MgRath Do you agree with Redspear?
•Missing OXPs? What do you think is missing?
•Lore: The economics of ship building How many built for Aronar?
•Lore: The Space Traders Flight Training Manual: Cowell & MgRath Do you agree with Redspear?
- DavidKroc
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Re: [Release] Sidewinder NG
You're right. Done.Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sat Feb 15, 2025 7:21 pmEditorial nitpicking!
When you feel your OXP is ready, you might wish to edit the very first post in the thread which should allow you to change the thread title from [Proposal] Sidewinder NG to [Release] Sidewinder NG.
Last edited by DavidKroc on Sun Feb 16, 2025 10:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Release] Sidewinder NG
Could you, please, launch another manual rebuild? I've uploaded v1.6 OXZ that removed fuel scoops option because of the Sidewinder NG small size.another_commander wrote: ↑Sat Feb 15, 2025 11:28 amJsut kicked off a manual rebuild of the catalog, should have the result in about 30 minutes from posting this.
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Re: [Release] Sidewinder NG
OK, done. Note that the catalog is rebuilt automatically also on the 1st day of each month.
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Re: [Release] Sidewinder NG
Ok. I'll try to sync next releases with that.
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Re: [Release] Sidewinder NG
Hi,
When I updated the screenshot for the GalCop Sidewinder NG, I discovered that CombatMFD displays a very low 1.7 T (1700 Kg / 3748 lb) for the Sidewinder NG.
As I was very surprised of such a tiny mass for a 21 x 4 x 15m ship, I started searching how this mass was computed and found on this page that on Oolite mass is directly proportional to the volume.
The next step was to compute Sidewinder NG volume. This was pretty hard because I've almost never used any 3D software before.
Anyway, after some search on this forum I've found downloadable Sidewinder 3D models from Griff website. I downloaded Blender, its Print3D expansion and with all this I got the volume of the NG: 294.39 m³.

So, 1700 Kg for 294.39 m³ gives a very low medium density of 5,77 kg/m³ for the Sidewinder.
It's pretty difficult to found "real" values to compare, but according this page, the Space Shuttle was 23 x 17 x 37 m (W x H x L) for 78T (empty) and the volume was 965 m³ (found there). That gives us a medium density for the Space Shuttle of 80,83 kg/m³ (which I think is much more realistic).
So, my questions are:
When I updated the screenshot for the GalCop Sidewinder NG, I discovered that CombatMFD displays a very low 1.7 T (1700 Kg / 3748 lb) for the Sidewinder NG.
As I was very surprised of such a tiny mass for a 21 x 4 x 15m ship, I started searching how this mass was computed and found on this page that on Oolite mass is directly proportional to the volume.
The next step was to compute Sidewinder NG volume. This was pretty hard because I've almost never used any 3D software before.
Anyway, after some search on this forum I've found downloadable Sidewinder 3D models from Griff website. I downloaded Blender, its Print3D expansion and with all this I got the volume of the NG: 294.39 m³.

So, 1700 Kg for 294.39 m³ gives a very low medium density of 5,77 kg/m³ for the Sidewinder.
It's pretty difficult to found "real" values to compare, but according this page, the Space Shuttle was 23 x 17 x 37 m (W x H x L) for 78T (empty) and the volume was 965 m³ (found there). That gives us a medium density for the Space Shuttle of 80,83 kg/m³ (which I think is much more realistic).
So, my questions are:
- How the ship mass is really computed in relation to volume in Oolite?
- If mass really is only directly proportional to volume, wouldn't it be better to add a base weight and volume for engines + cockpit + weapons + fuel tank, and - only then - apply a weight coefficient for the remaining cargo volume?
Last edited by DavidKroc on Sat Feb 22, 2025 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Release] Sidewinder NG
Caveat: I'm a dumb pilot, not a programmer.DavidKroc wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2025 8:02 pmHi,
When I updated the screenshot for the GalCop Sidewinder NG, I discovered that CombatMFD displays a very low 1.7 T (1700 Kg / 3748 lb) for the Sidewinder NG.
As I was very surprised of such a tiny mass for a 21 x 4 x 15m ship, I started searching how this mass was computed and found on this page that on Oolite mass is directly proportional to the volume.
The next step was to compute Sidewinder NG volume. This was pretty hard because I've almost never used any 3D software before.
Anyway, after some search on this forum I've found downloadable Sidewinder 3D models from Griff website. I downloaded Blender, its Print3D expansion and with all this I got the volume of the NG: 294.39 m³.
So, 1700 Kg for 294.39 m³ gives a very low medium density of 5,77 kg/m³ for the Sidewinder.
It's pretty difficult to found "real" values to compare, but according this page, the Space Shuttle was 23 x 17 x 37 m (W x H x L) for 78T (empty) and the volume was 965 m³ (found there). That gives us a medium density for the Space Shuttle of 80,83 kg/m³ (which I think is much more realistic).
So, my questions are:
- How the ship mass is really computed in relation to volume in Oolite?
- If mass really is only directly proportional to volume, wouldn't it be better to add a base weight and volume for engines + cockpit + weapons + fuel tank, and - only then - apply a weight coefficient for the remaining cargo volume?
If you look at Captain Beatnik's Pitviper wiki page, you will see that he made a whole thing of using it to ram other ships. When I probed this, he mentioned that he had tweaked the density to facilitate this. I suspect that mass is directly proportional to volume unless the density has been tweaked. Hope that helps.
Comments wanted:
•Missing OXPs? What do you think is missing?
•Lore: The economics of ship building How many built for Aronar?
•Lore: The Space Traders Flight Training Manual: Cowell & MgRath Do you agree with Redspear?
•Missing OXPs? What do you think is missing?
•Lore: The economics of ship building How many built for Aronar?
•Lore: The Space Traders Flight Training Manual: Cowell & MgRath Do you agree with Redspear?
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Re: [Release] Sidewinder NG
I suspect that most ship designers don't go into this apart from a handful such as yourself.
Comments wanted:
•Missing OXPs? What do you think is missing?
•Lore: The economics of ship building How many built for Aronar?
•Lore: The Space Traders Flight Training Manual: Cowell & MgRath Do you agree with Redspear?
•Missing OXPs? What do you think is missing?
•Lore: The economics of ship building How many built for Aronar?
•Lore: The Space Traders Flight Training Manual: Cowell & MgRath Do you agree with Redspear?
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Re: [Release] Sidewinder NG
That was the right clue, thanks a lot! According this page:Cholmondely wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2025 8:09 pmIf you look at Captain Beatnik's Pitviper wiki page, you will see that he made a whole thing of using it to ram other ships. When I probed this, he mentioned that he had tweaked the density to facilitate this. I suspect that mass is directly proportional to volume unless the density has been tweaked. Hope that helps.
Default density is 1.0, Sidewinder NG volume should be 294.39, so according this page I should see a mass of: 20x1.0x294.39 = 5887,8 Kg (5.8T).This real value is used to calculate a ships total mass. Default is 1.0. The mass of the ship is then 20 * density * volume.
But that's not what I see on CombatMFD, so what's written on the page I linked must be wrong. But never mind, I'll try varying the density and see what happens. My goal is to get a mass of 10-15T (closer to the 80 kg/m³ of the Space Shuttle density).
Maybe I'm a bit crazy.Cholmondely wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2025 8:11 pmI suspect that most ship designers don't go into this apart from a handful such as yourself.

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Re: [Release] Sidewinder NG
With a density set to 6.9 I got a mass of 11.5T, which is better for me now according NG's size, as a real life war (navy) ship builder.


Last edited by DavidKroc on Sat Feb 22, 2025 10:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Release] Sidewinder NG
For those of you who want to give it a try, I've uploaded two savegames on the wiki page that allow you to start Oolite with a Sidewinder NG in Easy or Normal mode.
Here are the direct download links:
Here are the direct download links:
- OXZ v1.7: oolite.oxp.davidkroc.sidewinder-ng.oxz
- Savegame to start Oolite in easy mode with a Sidewinder NG: Easy.zip
- Savegame to start Oolite in normal mode with a Sidewinder NG: Normal.zip