[1.12.x] Anatid Robotics / MuMech - MechJeb - Autopilot - [2.14.3] [4th March 2023]

[VoidSquid]

Hey @Jim DiGriz, some feedback as promised:

I finally found the time to do some real testing with the new transfer planner, in general the plots are good, no more wacky stuff.

A few things though I'd like to mention:

1. Calculating the 2nd (i.e. circularization) burn, imo, makes no sense as the execution of the initial transfer burn never leads to exactly the projected trajectory, we're talking here about fractions of m/s with a huge effect.

2. Don't know if this is on purpose, but MJ still calculates the target Pe with any inclination, why not try to calculate an equatorial trajectory in respect to the target CB if it is possible?

3. I still miss the option to set a time frame for the pork chop calculation by just entering dates numerically. 

 

Thanks, and regards  

Edited April 7, 2020 by VoidSquid

[HansonKerman]

note: my computer broke down so this is from 1.6 experience: why is there a MechJeb pod that is only accessible by filtering for MJProppelant? It has a cool design and a cool premise- a robot with a unique fuel and built in thrusters... so... why is it hidden?

[sarbian]

37 minutes ago, HansonKerman said:

why is it hidden?

The landing leg of the pod broke when KSP leg/wheel code was overhauled and I can not fix it.

[HansonKerman]

11 minutes ago, sarbian said:

The landing leg of the pod broke when KSP leg/wheel code was overhauled and I can not fix it.

well Wynaut remove the landing leg? Wouldn’t a stock landing leg work just as well? It doesn’t need to be THAT all in one (though it is pretty all in one rn). I didn’t even know it had landing legs.

[New Horizons]

How can roll be prevented in Ascend Guidance. "Force Roll" is not activated.

[Tonka Crash]

13 minutes ago, New Horizons said:

How can roll be prevented in Ascend Guidance. "Force Roll" is not activated.

Turn on Force Roll and set the number to what you want.

[New Horizons]

Mmh, I do not want any roll after lift off. Is there an offset between orientation in VAB and that orientation MJ considers normal?

[Tonka Crash]

If your rocket points North on the pad you want Force Roll at 90. If your rocket points East on the pad (how I launch) you want Force Roll at zero. I suggest turning Force Roll on and playing with some numbers to learn how to make the feature work for you.

[New Horizons]

Ok, I will check this out. But still, for me this appears more as an bug than a feature. 90 °C standard launch direction should be zero orientation in VAB for probes.

[sarbian]

The game rotates the ship between the vab and the pad. Nothing I can do about that 

[Tonka Crash]

15 minutes ago, New Horizons said:

Ok, I will check this out. But still, for me this appears more as an bug than a feature. 90 °C standard launch direction should be zero orientation in VAB for probes.

If you point north on the pad and launch east (default orientation) you are flying on your side or a 90 degree roll according to the Navball.  If you point east and launch east you are at zero roll on the Navball.  Just rotate your rocket before going to the pad if you want zero roll as your normal launch orientation. MechJeb is consistent with the NavBall it's just you aren't thinking about the axis system the same way yet.

You can always rotate your rocket in the VAB before going to the pad or use a mod to do it for you.

 

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

I honestly love this mod, just felt like coming here to say thanks!

[cpcallen]

How does one control the throttle using the scripting module?  I thought it might be completely impossible (and so did at least one other user), but it looks like it at least used to be possible (except when out of contact with Kerbin):

On 6/8/2017 at 4:58 PM, Starwaster said:

On 6/8/2017 at 1:10 PM, sarbian said:

I actually have no idea which part of MJ works or does not work when out of comm. range. As for the Scripting module it is a contribution by @SPD13 and I did not take the time to look at all its features, yet.

Throttling does not work. Other commands such as attitude control do. I *think* that if auto-RCS is enabled that it can also turn on RCS but I'm not 100% sure on that.

 

[New Horizons]

After a complete maneuvre execution (maneuvre node already gone) my ship reorients itself a little. This wastes fuel. RCS is on but SAS. What can cause this?

[Tonka Crash]

44 minutes ago, New Horizons said:

After a complete maneuvre execution (maneuvre node already gone) my ship reorients itself a little. This wastes fuel. RCS is on but SAS. What can cause this?

If you had MechJeb's SMART.A.S.S or just normal SAS engaged it may be reverting to whatever mode it was in before the maneuver.

[New Horizons]

Actually I am doing as follows. 

Create a node
deactivate normal SAS (no smart SAS)
activate RCS
click on execute next node
it gets executed (no signal at this time) correctly
after that RCS fires everytime when I leave time warp -> this stops, when there is a connection again.

[sarbian]

Thanks to the effort of @fitiales MJ now has a Spanish translation in the current Dev. Coming to you in a release soon(ish)

[Virtualgenius]

Awesome well done that man  and thankyou too @sarbian for MJ cant live without it

[Jim DiGriz]

On 4/7/2020 at 5:57 AM, VoidSquid said:

Hey @Jim DiGriz, some feedback as promised:

I finally found the time to do some real testing with the new transfer planner, in general the plots are good, no more wacky stuff.

A few things though I'd like to mention:

1. Calculating the 2nd (i.e. circularization) burn, imo, makes no sense as the execution of the initial transfer burn never leads to exactly the projected trajectory, we're talking here about fractions of m/s with a huge effect.

2. Don't know if this is on purpose, but MJ still calculates the target Pe with any inclination, why not try to calculate an equatorial trajectory in respect to the target CB if it is possible?

3. I still miss the option to set a time frame for the pork chop calculation by just entering dates numerically. 

 

Thanks, and regards  

Yep, Yep and Yep.

The circularization burn is almost a stupid trick, it needs a lot of work done to the Node Executor to make burn precision that precise.

And yeah, targeting the inclination and eccentricity could be done, that's just more math.

And yeah, the actual porkchop interface is still not satisfying in numerous ways....

Also everyone an overhaul to the launch-to-plane math just landed.  If you see anything wonky please report it.  It sort of escaped into the dev builds without sufficient testing (I've gotten distracted with a bit of a minor family emergency). Make sure the field next to the launch to plane button is zero though, if its not your plane will always be off by that many degrees (kinda looking at nuking that or more aggressively forcing it to zero to eliminate bug reports due to that field).

[breako]

Im trying to move sattelites into a lower/higher orbit using just RSC thrusters. But mechjeb doesnt seem to see that thrusters are there somehow, for the burn itself. it uses them to orient the craft but then doesnt do the burn with them. any ideas?

[SP_S6]

hey, is anyone aware of a way of making mechjeb a little more aggressive with alignments using only SAS?  with rcs it will turn promptly but using only SAS it will initiate a very slow drift in that direction.  If you take over you can speed it up but it will always try to bring you down to the slow drift as soon as you stop your inputs.  I've only noticed this for the last few weeks so may have changed something by mistake.

[DStaal]

9 minutes ago, SP_S6 said:

hey, is anyone aware of a way of making mechjeb a little more aggressive with alignments using only SAS?  with rcs it will turn promptly but using only SAS it will initiate a very slow drift in that direction.  If you take over you can speed it up but it will always try to bring you down to the slow drift as soon as you stop your inputs.  I've only noticed this for the last few weeks so may have changed something by mistake.

Typically I only see that behavior when I have fairly weak reaction wheels in relation to the mass of my vessel.  Can we see a pic of the ship?

[SP_S6]

1 minute ago, DStaal said:

Typically I only see that behavior when I have fairly weak reaction wheels in relation to the mass of my vessel.  Can we see a pic of the ship?

hmm ok i haven't got one to hand, it's not a particular thing to a certain design, i thought about the strength but if i take over myself it's strength is fine mechjeb just chooses not to use it to align faster than the slow drift.  next time i notice it i'll take some shots or a clip.

[rmaine]

1 hour ago, DStaal said:

Typically I only see that behavior when I have fairly weak reaction wheels in relation to the mass of my vessel.  Can we see a pic of the ship?

 

1 hour ago, SP_S6 said:

hmm ok i haven't got one to hand, it's not a particular thing to a certain design, i thought about the strength but if i take over myself it's strength is fine mechjeb just chooses not to use it to align faster than the slow drift.  next time i notice it i'll take some shots or a clip.

I don't think it has much to do with strength. Just mass... or more specifically probably moment of inertia. I also see the behavior with my ships that are big and lumbering in the first place - they are even more so if I let MechJeb turn them. Looks to me like MechJeb only uses some percentage of the available torque. If the vessel is fairly nimble, that's still plenty. Minorly annoying to have to take over myself, but it isn't at the top of my list of annoyances. I have a long list, but most of them aren't worth posting because they are minor enough that I'd rather the maintainers not be distracted by them so they have more time for the bigger things.

[sarbian]

2 hours ago, SP_S6 said:

hey, is anyone aware of a way of making mechjeb a little more aggressive with alignments using only SAS?  with rcs it will turn promptly but using only SAS it will initiate a very slow drift in that direction.  If you take over you can speed it up but it will always try to bring you down to the slow drift as soon as you stop your inputs.  I've only noticed this for the last few weeks so may have changed something by mistake.

Open the Attitude Adjustment Windows and increase the MaxStopppingTime by x10. It will be more agressive.