Newbie Mechjeb question...

[pilot505jfw]

I am a relatively new player and I need some info about Mechjeb...I have installed it and added the part to the ship I want to control but only SOME of the features advertised come up, along with an announcement that some of them are 'restricted' until certain R&D nodes are met or the Tracking Station is upgraded...Well, my tracking station is upgraded all the way and there is no mention of WHICH R&D modes are needed in the wiki manual...I can't control accent, rendezvous, or docking, etc. which is what I got the mod for to begin with...Could it be that it only works in sandbox mode?...I'm confused...Any help you could give would be very much appreciated...

[Starman4308]

This is intended behavior for MechJeb in career mode. When looking at a tech tree node, you may see a MechJeb upgrade mixed in between the parts. I can't remember offhand which nodes give MechJeb function upgrades.

[pilot505jfw]

Thank you Starman4308...That's what I was afraid of...

[Atkara]

1 hour ago, pilot505jfw said:

Thank you Starman4308...That's what I was afraid of...

You'll be fine

[Gargamel]

You should try to think of MJ as a tool, not a crutch.   I try to make sure I can do everything on my own before I let MJ automate it for me.   I may not be very good at rendezvous and docking, but I can do it.   That's why the tech tree is setup like that.  You should do it manually before letting the autopilot run the show.  

[drhay53]

Just a note, you also have to upgrade mission control to level 2 to unlock maneuver node creation

[Foxster]

Assuming you have Module Manager installed, you can create a text file called <anyname>.cfg in your GameData folder containing the following to unlock all the MechJeb features:

@PART[*]:HAS[@MODULE[ModuleCommand]]:Final
{
	%MODULE[MechJebCore]
	{
		MechJebLocalSettings
		{
			MechJebModuleCustomWindowEditor { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleSmartASS { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleManeuverPlanner { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleNodeEditor { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleTranslatron { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleWarpHelper { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleAttitudeAdjustment { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleThrustWindow { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleRCSBalancerWindow { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleRoverWindow { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleAscentGuidance { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleLandingGuidance { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleSpaceplaneGuidance { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleDockingGuidance { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleRendezvousAutopilotWindow { unlockTechs = start }
			MechJebModuleRendezvousGuidance { unlockTechs = start }
		}
	}
}

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by Foxster

[HeronRocketry]

Let's just say I'm lazy and don't want to repeatedly pilot into orbit. Which mechjeb option autopilots into orbit, and which does rendezvous?

[Tyko]

37 minutes ago, HeronRocketry said:

Let's just say I'm lazy and don't want to repeatedly pilot into orbit. Which mechjeb option autopilots into orbit, and which does rendezvous?

Rendezvous is very rewarding to learn and, once you figured it out, is actually really really easy. I can set up rendezvous is 1 minute consistently. Up to you, of course, but learning and gaining new skills is one of the fun parts of the game   

As far as launching...I agree 100% I've done so many launches and I know how to do it. I use Gravity Turn for those because I don't really want all of the other overhead/capabilities of MJ.

Simple rendezvous instructions-

1. Launch a target into a circular, equatorial orbit at 150km - the more circular, the better. The closer to 0 inclination the better
2. Launch your docking craft into a lower 100km orbit. Make it circular and equatorial.
3. Make sure the two orbits are on the same plane. If you followed 1 and 2 above this is probably done already, but check to make sure the orbits are co-planar.
4. your craft is now "below" your target. on every orbital pass the lower craft will complete it's orbit more quickly and catch up to the higher orbit. If you're ahead of the target, you'll eventually lap it and catch up again.
5. Drop a maneuver node ahead of your docking craft and set the AP to 150km - now you have a maneuver to raise your orbit, but you have to time it right so when you get to the higher orbit you're close to the target. You'll see two orange chevrons appear, one on your orbit and one on the target's orbit. These show the closest approach and they may be pretty far apart to begin with. 
6. Right click on the chevrons to pull up the details including closest approach distance
7. Grab the maneuver node and move it forward along your orbit until the two chevrons line up. Sometimes you'll have to drag your maneuver node ahead of your ship around multiple orbits before they align. Ideally you should be within 1km at closest approach.
8. Once you have the chevrons aligned execute the burn. This puts you on an intercept course
9. Set SAS to Retrograde and Target mode...once you get within 2km of your target, burn retrograde until your Target velocity indicator is around 1-5 meters / second.
10. Complete your approach, dock and PROFIT!!!
11. NOTE: using Precise Maneuver or Precise Node mods make adjusting the maneuver node a LOT easier. you can use your keys to make changes versus  having to drag the node around by hand.

Hope this helps!

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by Tyko

[Shushoni]

For automated launches before mechjeb unlock, I've been using Gravity Turn Continued. It's an excellent mod available from the start of a career. I haven't used mechjeb ascent autopilot in a long time so I don't know if there's any more advanced features, but Gravity Turn does really efficient launches. Before you unlock maneuver nodes and mechjeb maneuver autopilot, the circularization burn will have to be done manually.

[Vanamonde]

Modding question moved to the modding subforum.