Loren Pechtel

What would be really nice is a mod that monitored a ship and kept it from coming apart.

ZeroMiniAVC

Some reason these aren't on CKAN?

When programs want Microsoft downloads the space they take is usually pretty small and it's very likely that other programs will also want the same download. Since CKAN is a .net executable it's probably asking for a version of the runtime you don't have on your system. The biggest is under 100mb and will be required to run any .net program targeted on the same version.

And why would the game record the location that a vessel is created at? What use would it have?

How do you figure out where it came off?

I understand what he's after. Unfortunately, StageRecovery is lacking one very, very critical piece of information to calculate the boostback--the point at which the burn could have been done. StageRecovery could backplot the orbit the object is on but it has no way of calculating when the booster came off. (Note: I have used StageRecovery on stages discarded on the way down. Equip your final stage for recovery, carry enough fuel to get down to a safe velocity and then jettison. Trying to guide your rocket down to a flat spot is quite a pain, trying to land a booster on ground that isn't nearly perfectly flat is even harder. I've even built rockets deliberately built to land on their side and watched them go for great long slides on nearly flat ground.) If that datum could be obtained I don't think calculating boostbacks would be hard.

Very strange indeed--I was totally unable to get the search to cough up that thread. The thread listed on CKAN for it doesn't exist so I figured it was one that was lost that day. As for the bit about the rocket and page 1--don't you remember the day when all the threads on page 1 of the mod forum got nuked?

This coming to 1.4?

The thread for this mod got lost the day a rocket crashed into page 1 and now it's like it's been erased from history. The github page shows 1.3 compatibility. It looks like somebody updated the page for 1.4 compatibility but the change was reverted. What's happened?

Yup, the Mun is a pain. Last I knew at least MechJeb does not handle it well at all. Check your path before the engine lights, make sure it's clear of the Mun's SOI. Note that you can have an improper shutdown of the burn if the trajectory temporarily passes through the Mun's SOI. If this happens simply manually burn prograde and watch the trajectory plot, you'll generally get a reasonable intercept, although not quite as clean as if MechJeb had done it.

It's not that simple. There's only a tiny window where Stage Recovery would get control too low for a landing burn. I'm sure it simply assumes there was enough space (as in reality there would have been, it just would have started before SR got control), the error would be tiny. Likewise, a retroburn is no problem. You won't be too far off if you simply figure it at that point. Also, the touchdown point is no problem--simply extend the orbit until it hits the ground, that's your touchdown. (I suspect it does it without regard for terrain, the discrepancy would be tiny.) Boostback is quite another matter, though. It needs to be performed as soon as possible after the stage comes off. Stage Recovery does not know where this happened. When SR gets control it's generally too late for a meaningful boostback burn.

By the time SR gets a look at it it's way too late for a boostback. If you want anything sane for boostback you need to trigger it when the stage comes off. (And note that what I was suggesting was simulating the result, not actually flying the booster back. The game engine can't even handle flying it back other than with one-at-a-time approach like FMRS uses.)

The distance calculation is fine. The problem is the boostback burn should be done long before Stage Recovery is triggered. By the time Stage Recovery wakes up it has no idea of when the stage was jettisoned and thus where the boostback could have been done. (I have successfully used Stage Recovery on boosters that had been used to fly to the Mun. Landing the rocket intact was asking for trouble if it came down on land but Stage Recovery doesn't worry about little things like tipping over.) The only way I see that Stage Recovery could be made to handle it is if it somehow knew what was supposed to be recovered. My suggestion: A recovery controller that's attached to the stage. When a stage is separated so it has no other control point the recovery controller activates. It looks at the remaining fuel, allocates what it will need for landing after considering chutes, allocates what it will need to get it down to a safe velocity and uses the remainder to get as close to KSC as possible. Note that this is not always a boostback, such a system would permit stages to be recovered from in orbit.

Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple as Stage Recovery is triggered when it goes outside physics range, not when it's jettisoned. Thus the boostback burn will be calculated at the wrong time.

Adding a mod with the game running would be harmless--but the mod wouldn't be picked up until you ran the game again. Updating a mod with the game running would be a very bad idea. Even if you didn't get file lock error during the copy you would be asking for it.

Doesn't this mod also remove the actual update check? They can be slow if a host is acting up.

Yup, this is my experience, also. Make it as symmetric as feasible, get the COM in line with the rocket and I haven't found anything I can't fly with using a very steep trajectory in MechJeb. Costs fuel but it gets the job done.

3200m/s will fry the rocket every time--that's above Kerbin escape velocity. You'll need to edit the config as you're obviously using a different world.

CKAN?

When you recover a vessel you simply get back a percentage (based on distance) of the value of whatever it was made of and any kerbals and science. There are no "recovered vessels" to examine, same as with the stock game.

ShipSectionsContinued is showing only 1.3.99 support, yet the thread says 1.4.1.

Settings screen hangs on the latest version.

SR has long been weak in telling you why it went wrong. However, from your pics I'm pretty sure it failed to find either parachutes or active engines. Since I saw no fuel going splat I suspect that's the problem. Putting the landing fuel in a separate tank and locking it so it won't be burnt on the way up makes life much simpler. Simply stage your rocket normally when it runs dry, nothing fancy needed. (It even works with MechJeb and hands off the keyboard.)

I can't address currently--I've been waiting on some mods and haven't updated. However, I have successfully done powered recovery. I added a probe core and a small fuel tank that I locked that had enough fuel for about 300m/s. Booster recovered successfully. You need a pretty big booster before powered recovery is a better deal than chutes. As for your photos: After fixing the URLs (you have the first part duplicated) I see a rocket that in the VAB shows as it's going to lithobrake and in flight I see a rocket that did lithobrake. The list of components isn't quite complete but I see no fuel--and without fuel there can be no powered recovery. The safe way to do powered recovery is a locked fuel tank with enough fuel for the landing, but I see nothing in your rocket that looks like this. The only other way to do it is to jettison it manually at the requisite fuel level (and note that getting this right is hard as it's such a small amount compared to the total it was carrying!) Note that jettisoning a stage does not shut down it's engines, you must do so manually. (I've had a MechJeb screwup result in a staged but still burning engine pushing me into space! Flies fine until you attempt to turn and since it's staged you can't shut it down.) I also note the presence of grid fins and landing legs. You might be including these for thematic reasons but they are not needed for Stage Recovery.