Positioning a Scaffolding with HyperEdit

[Just Jim]

*** Warning ***

This thread is mostly meant for writers wanting special effect props in their stories, and could be considered cheating...
Read at your own discretion.

 

 

Howdy all.

A few days ago I was asked if I would explain just how I position some of the scaffolding, as well as other objects, in Emiko Station using HyperEdit.  Well, it's actually fairly simple, as I'll show you.   Oh, before I continue, I was going to do this as a video, but the movie maker I have is being finicky.

OK, in this scenario, let's say Jeb's just blown up another rocket, and a chunk of debris caused some minor damage to the Tracking Station roof....  sounds like the construction crew needs a scaffolding.

First off, we need to get a general location of where we'll be placing the scaffolding.  The easiest way to do this is just drive a rover near the spot, then open up HyperEdit and select Ship Lander:

When the Ship Lander is open, hit the "Set to Current" button to mark your location, and then hit "Save", which will then prompt you to give the location a name. 

From here we're done with the rover, so it can be moved or reverted.  Do NOT keep it in this spot, or the scaffoldng will land on it!

OK, now we can go and load up our scaffold. 

The scaffolding construction itself is very basic, and uses panels and girders and struts, but we also need a probe brain of some sort, and a small reaction wheel to move it around. 

As far as appearance, I prefer the box probes in this case because they look like, well, boxes, and are easily blended to a bunch of construction stuff.  But I've also stashed a smaller, smarter probe under the R/W wheel for more SAS control. 

One other thing... depending on how tall you make it, these scaffoldings are quite wobbly, so you may need to experiment to get one that stays upright.

Now, once it's on the runway or pad, doesn't matter which, open HyperEdit and Ship Lander back up.  Then hit the "Load" button and select the tracking station location we saved a few minutes ago. 

Now this next step is important, and needs to be done in the correct order.

First, change altitude to at least 100 meters.  I prefer 200 at first so there's plenty of room to spare.  Too low and you could easily collide with the tracking station, and bad things will occur.

Second, turn on the "Set Rotation" button.  This feature is fairly new, and will orientate the scaffolding upright when it lands, no matter where on the planet you are.

Finally, hit the "Landing" button, and the scaffolding should now move to 200 meters over the tracking stating and start gently descending.

But when we look straight down, oh no... it's 90 degrees from how we want it. 

No problem, this is why we have the probe brain and small R/W wheel.  The scaffolding will drop only a meter or so per second, so you have lots of time.  Just turn on the SAS, if it isn't already, and use the Q and E keys to gently rotate the scaffolding into position.

Once it's lined up right, go ahead and let it land.  It will still be a bit away from the tracking station, but that's fine for now. 

Once the scaffolding in on the ground, hit the "Set to Current" button again to fine tune the location, this time turn off "Set Rotation", and hit "Landing " once again. 

This time when you land you should be still lined up correctly, and now you can use the K,I,J, and L keys to move the scaffolding around to it's final position.  It might take a little practice, but if you're careful, you can get the scaffolding close enough to the tracking station to allow a Kerbal to jump from one to the other with ease.

And that's how its done. 

Landing things like a rocket on the KSC2 pad, or even a Magic Boulder on the admin building is done the exact same way.

I hope this helps.  If you have any questions, or I forgot anything, please feel free to chime in and I'll help if I can.

JJ

Edited July 29, 2016 by Just Jim

[Pecan]

(A nitpick, which I offer only in the hope that it will amuse.  "Scaffolding" is a temporary structure used during construction.  People are hanged on a "scaffold").

[Just Jim]

15 minutes ago, Pecan said:

(A nitpick, which I offer only in the hope that it will amuse.  "Scaffolding" is a temporary structure used during construction.  People are hanged on a "scaffold").

Opps.... good point... I should probably change it... 

Edited July 29, 2016 by Just Jim

[Geschosskopf]

Thanks.  I've never understood how HE's "Land Ship" thing worked.  I've been using Vessel Mover for similar things but haven't ever tried it on other planets so don't know if it works there.

[Just Jim]

2 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

Thanks.  I've never understood how HE's "Land Ship" thing worked.  I've been using Vessel Mover for similar things but haven't ever tried it on other planets so don't know if it works there.

Oh crap!  That reminds me, I forgot something.

Do NOT land on a different planet than the one you are currently on, or in orbit around.  I don't know why, but it will summon a Kraken almost every time.

If you are going to land on another planet, use the orbit editor and go into orbit of the target planet first!  Again, I don't know why, just trust me and do it, or bad, bad things will happen.

 

[Geschosskopf]

Thanks again.