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[1.12.x] The RAT Pack - Ram Air Turbines, Terrain Warning, Thrust Reversers


linuxgurugamer

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Forum user @satnet created this nice little mod to give your planes EC even when the engines are off.  Based on real-life parts.  Original thread is here:  https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/122568-wippartplugin-the-rat-pack-ram-air-turbines-terrain-warning-thrust-reversers/&tab=comments#comment-2218163

 

After noticing a sharp rise in crashes Gene Kerman commissioned a study on why rockets and planes crash. The resulting 3,151 page report was turned over to SatNet Aerospace to research and develop parts that could reduce crashes or make them more survivable. The first parts to come out of the project were Ram Air Turbines and the group was quickly dubbed “The RAT Pack". Even as they expanded into more flight safety parts the name stuck.

P155zml.png

 

Terrain Awareness and Warning System.  It is as close as it looks and the plane did survive (barely).

Spoiler

OmesNdU.png

 

LEST Saving The Day.  Launch Escape System Trigger aborting automatically.

Spoiler

URymjZn.png

 

Terrain Radar.  Landing on the Mun.

Spoiler

S8r8uzR.png

 

A RAT-360 and RAT-6000 on a plane landing on Duna. The RAT-360 is center of the frame and the RAT-6000 is in the lower right.

Spoiler

UBfVhUx.png

 

Active TR-L.  An activated thrust reverser with an LV-N.

Spoiler

evZUcEO.png

 

Inactive TR-L.  An inactive thrust reverser with an LV-N.

Spoiler

ZLbagtp.png

 

A TR-1 with a RAPIER installed.

Spoiler

Od9bqzP.png

 

RAT-6000 Animation:

Spoiler

NCT1mQK.gif

 

The RAT Pack:

Ram Air Turbines

The RAT Pack provides Ram Air Turbines that generate power from flowing air. I was partly inspired by a documentary on the "Gimli Glider", a 767 that had to glide to a landing with nothing but batteries and a RAT to power critical systems. A couple of spaceplane landings where I had to constantly manage electric charge to maintain control and keep enough for the landing gave me some incentive to actually build it. The RATs are designed to provide emergency power and have peak power at or slightly above that of an RTG. Electric charge output is a function of both airspeed and atmospheric density.

 

  • RAT-1 "Pinwheel" Ram Air Turbine - As basic as they come, it provides little power and must be activated manually.
  • RAT-360 "Cage Master" Ram Air Turbine - Generates more power and will automatically start up when electric charge is depleted.
  • RAT-720 "Topper" Ram Air Turbine - A RAT built into a nosecone. It has a higher peak power than the RAT-360, but has a performance curve similar to the RAT-1.
  • RAT-6000 "Pack Master" Ram Air Turbine - The most powerful RAT. This one has the ability to control electric charge flowing from its internal battery and turns it on only when it is activating. It is able to generate peak power over a broader range.
  • EPM-MK3 "Emu" Emergency Power Unit - A complete emergency power solution with a RAT, Fuel Cell, and APU.

 

Thrust Reversers

Thrust Reversers redirect the engine thrust. They are used to reduce stopping distance once landed. I developed it primarily for Duna spaceplanes where a short stopping distance is a huge asset. They will redirect the thrust of the engine attached to them. Attaching multiple engines will not give you the desired behavior as only one engine will be reversed.

  • TR-1 “Backup" Thrust Reverser - Designed to fit a Turbojet or RAPIER engine.
  • TR-L “Way Back" Thrust Reverser - Designed to fit longer 1.5 m engines, particularly the LV-N.

 

 Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems

A Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (TAWS) gives you a chance to avoid a crash by warning you while you still have some time to react. It uses the radar altimeter and some calculations to figure out what the terrain looks like. It also has an obstacle detecting radar (FLT Radar), however it only activates below a certain altitude and uses a fair amount of power when in use.

  • TAWS-1 "Lookout" Warning System - Equipped with Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) and Forward Looking Terrain (FLT) Radar.
  • TRS-1 "Lookdown" Terrain Radar - Terrain scanning to improve landings.

Launch Escape System Trigger

I came across this post Launch Escape System Rocket Stack Failure Detection and thought it was in line with this mod and a great idea.

  • LEST-1 "Oops" LES Trigger - Detects a unplanned dis-assembly and hits the abort button for you.

 

New Dependencies

 

Availability

 

 Questions and Answers:

Spoiler

Q: Are these RATs realistic?

A:Somewhat. The power curves where inspired by real RATs, but have been heavily Kerbalized.

Q: Why doesn't my speed on the power curve match my vessel speed?

A: The RAT uses an effective speed calculation that takes into account orientation, parts blocking airflow, and pressure. It will only match up with vessel speed at sea level, going straight, and without anything in front of the part.

Q: Where can I use RATs?

A: Anywhere with an atmosphere. Kerbin, Duna, Eve, Laythe are all good places to use them. Jool and Kerbol might work, but you'll probably be crushed or melted before you get any power.

Q: What happens if I run out of power landing on the Mun with a RAT?

A: You will probably hit the Mun and the RAT will be destroyed.

Q: What happens if I run out of power landing at the KSC with a RAT?

A: If you have an auto-activating RAT it will deploy and start generating power. If it is a manual RAT, you can't activate it after losing power, so prepare for high speed litho-braking.

Q: Do RATs work inside fairings or cargo bays?

A: No, they need to be in the air-stream.

Q: How does orientation affect RATs?

A: Yes, they produce the most power when pointed in the prograde direction.

Q: Can I fly backwards using a thrust reverser?

A: Yes, though it is not recommended. Most planes and rockets are not aerodynamically stable in both directions.

Q: How much thrust will a thrust reverser reverse?

A: Short answer:  you lose a lot of thrust, but it should be enough to stop quickly.
A: Long Answer:  Each TR has a thrust modifier which defaults to 50% intended to account for thrust lost to exhaust escaping to the sides. Additionally the thrust direction is not directed in reverse, but in a 45 degree angle above and below the engine. The net thrust is in reverse, but there are significant losses from the thrust directed up and down that cancels out.

Q: Will a thrust reverser work in space?

A: It will, though you are effectively reducing your engine efficiency, so you are better off re-orienting.

Q: Why doesn't my descent rate match my vertical speed?

A: They are similar but different values. Descent rate is probably better described as ground closure rate. It is how quickly you are approaching the ground. Vertical speed is how quickly you are changing altitude relative to a common reference radius (i.e. sea-level). If you are on level terrain they will be the same. If however the ground is rising relative to sea-level you will have a higher ground closure rate than vertical speed which is a really important distinction when deciding whether you will hit the ground at some point in the near future.

Q: Will I always have time to pull up when TAWS issues a warning?

A: Not necessarily. The current values are very... "Kerbal", they give you a chance at survival, but no guarantees. If you aren't trying to hit terrain it is usually enough warning to avoid the occasional near miss, but if you deliberately try to test the limits you will hit the ground at least some of the time. You can set your own values, but I found anything that would ensure survival was too conservative for the way I fly in game.

 

NOTE: I'm referencing the stock textures. If you modify or remove textures from the stock parts these parts will fall back to the solid black placeholder texture.

Edited by linuxgurugamer
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  • 6 months later...
  • 8 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I'm getting an error when installing with CKAN

About to install...

 * The RAT Pack 0.4.3.1 (spacedock.info, 222.6 KiB)

Downloading "https://spacedock.info/mod/1963/The%20RAT%20Pack/download/0.4.3.1"

Could not find a part of the path 'E:\Games\Kerbal Space Program\KSP 1.8.0\Ships\Ships\SPH\RATPack Demo.craft'.
Error during installation!
An unknown error occurred, please try again!

It looks like the zip folder has 2 craft file locations: \Ships\Ships\SPH\ and \Ships\SPH\. I'm guessing the double nested 'ships' folder is what is messing it up.

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37 minutes ago, Aerospacesmith said:

I'm getting an error when installing with CKAN


About to install...

 * The RAT Pack 0.4.3.1 (spacedock.info, 222.6 KiB)

Downloading "https://spacedock.info/mod/1963/The%20RAT%20Pack/download/0.4.3.1"

Could not find a part of the path 'E:\Games\Kerbal Space Program\KSP 1.8.0\Ships\Ships\SPH\RATPack Demo.craft'.
Error during installation!
An unknown error occurred, please try again!

It looks like the zip folder has 2 craft file locations: \Ships\Ships\SPH\ and \Ships\SPH\. I'm guessing the double nested 'ships' folder is what is messing it up.

Looks like it, I’ll fix it this evening

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  • 1 year later...
On 5/30/2021 at 3:56 PM, m4ti140 said:

Reversers don't work in 1.11.2, unfortunately

They actually do, but there was a problem with the effects.

 

New release, 0.4.3.3

  • Fixed bad effects when deactivating a thrust reverser, in 1.11.2
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On 6/2/2021 at 1:20 AM, linuxgurugamer said:

They actually do, but there was a problem with the effects.

 

New release, 0.4.3.3

  • Fixed bad effects when deactivating a thrust reverser, in 1.11.2

for me there was no way to activate them, neither through UI nor through action groups

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2 minutes ago, m4ti140 said:

for me there was no way to activate them, neither through UI nor through action groups

Then it sounds like you didn't install it properly.

Where did you get the zip from, and how did you install it?

Also, a log file would be useful

Edited by linuxgurugamer
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On 9/5/2018 at 11:21 AM, linuxgurugamer said:

Terrain Awareness and Warning System.

Does it make a sound and warn you when you are about to crash into something, or does it have the thing where it calls out the altitude as you are about to land? How does it work?

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18 minutes ago, Ben J. Kerman said:

Does it make a sound and warn you when you are about to crash into something, or does it have the thing where it calls out the altitude as you are about to land? How does it work?

OmesNdU.png

It has an audio alert if enabled, but this is not a mod to call out.  There are other mods for that

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1 minute ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Then it sounds like you didn't install it properly.

Where did you get the zip from, and how did you install it?

Also, a log file would be useful

From your github, literally this file: https://github.com/linuxgurugamer/RATPack/releases/download/0.4.3.2/RATPack-1.8.0-0.4.3.2.zip

Issue still occurs with update.

Directory structure:

 Volume in drive X is Seagate Backup Plus Drive
 Volume Serial Number is 2870-DD25

 Directory of X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Kerbal Space Program\GameData

06/03/2021  20:56    <DIR>          .
06/03/2021  20:56    <DIR>          ..
02/25/2021  00:58    <DIR>          000_AT_Utils
02/19/2021  00:59    <DIR>          000_TexturesUnlimited
02/18/2021  21:31            14,336 666_ModuleManagerWatchDog.dll
02/18/2021  21:31             5,120 999_Scale_Redist.dll
02/18/2021  21:37    <DIR>          AnimatedDecouplers
05/30/2021  18:39    <DIR>          B9PartSwitch
05/28/2021  08:34    <DIR>          B9_Aerospace_ProceduralWings
02/18/2021  21:27    <DIR>          Bluedog_DB
02/11/2021  01:00    <DIR>          BoulderCo
02/18/2021  21:37    <DIR>          CommunityCategoryKit
05/30/2021  18:39    <DIR>          CommunityResourcePack
02/24/2021  10:40    <DIR>          CraftManager
02/11/2021  02:05    <DIR>          DistantObject
02/24/2021  10:28    <DIR>          DKSalvage
02/18/2021  21:27    <DIR>          DMagicScienceAnimate
02/11/2021  01:00    <DIR>          EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements
06/03/2021  20:56                 0 GameDatadir.txt
02/18/2021  21:36    <DIR>          KAS
02/19/2021  00:59    <DIR>          KerbalFoundries
02/19/2021  00:59    <DIR>          KSPWheel
02/24/2021  10:28    <DIR>          KXAPI
05/30/2021  18:38    <DIR>          Mk2Expansion
02/18/2021  21:37    <DIR>          ModularLaunchPads
05/30/2021  18:39           141,312 ModuleManager.4.1.4.dll
06/03/2021  20:30        18,100,232 ModuleManager.ConfigCache
06/03/2021  20:30           842,539 ModuleManager.ConfigSHA
06/03/2021  20:30             9,164 ModuleManager.Physics
06/03/2021  20:30            31,262 ModuleManager.TechTree
02/18/2021  21:31    <DIR>          ModuleManagerWatchDog
02/11/2021  02:03    <DIR>          PlanetShine
05/30/2021  18:54    <DIR>          RATPack
05/28/2021  13:35    <DIR>          RealPlume
05/28/2021  13:35    <DIR>          RealPlume-Stock
02/10/2021  23:47    <DIR>          ReStock
02/10/2021  23:47    <DIR>          ReStockPlus
05/27/2021  22:11    <DIR>          scatterer
02/18/2021  21:27    <DIR>          SimpleAdjustableFairings
05/28/2021  13:35    <DIR>          SmokeScreen
01/01/2021  16:44    <DIR>          Squad
01/01/2021  16:44    <DIR>          SquadExpansion
05/28/2021  03:02    <DIR>          StockWaterfallEffects
02/21/2021  21:33    <DIR>          Tantares
02/21/2021  21:31    <DIR>          TantaresLV
02/21/2021  21:30    <DIR>          TantaresSP
02/19/2021  20:56    <DIR>          TarsierSpaceTech
05/29/2021  16:06    <DIR>          ThrottleControlledAvionics
02/18/2021  21:31    <DIR>          TweakScale
02/09/2021  21:09    <DIR>          VesselMover
05/28/2021  14:10    <DIR>          Waterfall
05/28/2021  14:10    <DIR>          WaterfallRestock
02/18/2021  21:31    <DIR>          __LOCAL
               8 File(s)     19,143,965 bytes
              45 Dir(s)  20,990,181,376 bytes free
 Volume in drive X is Seagate Backup Plus Drive
 Volume Serial Number is 2870-DD25

 Directory of X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Kerbal Space Program\GameData\RATPack

06/03/2021  20:56    <DIR>          .
06/03/2021  20:56    <DIR>          ..
05/30/2021  18:47            14,812 LICENSE.md
05/30/2021  18:47            44,032 MiniAVC.dll
05/30/2021  18:54               241 MiniAVC.xml
05/30/2021  19:42    <DIR>          Parts
05/30/2021  18:47    <DIR>          Plugins
05/30/2021  18:47               217 RATPack.restockwhitelist
05/30/2021  18:47               379 RATPack.version
06/03/2021  20:56                 0 RATPackdir.txt
05/30/2021  18:47             9,041 README.md
05/30/2021  18:47    <DIR>          Sounds
05/30/2021  18:47    <DIR>          Textures
               7 File(s)         68,722 bytes
               6 Dir(s)  20,990,177,280 bytes free

log https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArMDWm49dN3Cgs4DL230o7oJTeWjWA?e=pEQfxr

Screenshots:

RpKtsrR.png

yzYRFQI.png

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18 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Install ZeroMiniAVC, you have at least one MiniAVC.dll file there which will break KSP

Also, you installed an old version.  This is the current version:

 

https://github.com/linuxgurugamer/RATPack/releases/tag/0.4.3.3

Read the whole post. We were talking about 4.3.2 the entire time, which is why I gave you link to the zip you were asking about, as well as logs with that version installed, then explicitly said that the same happened with the update (i.e. 4.3.3).

Also I managed to fix it already, the problem disappeared after installing Click through blocker and Toolbar controller, neither of which was listed as a dependency.

Edited by m4ti140
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2 minutes ago, m4ti140 said:

Read the whole post.

Also I managed to fix it already, the problem disappeared after installing Click through blocker and Toolbar controller, neither of which was listed as a dependency.

I looked at the log file you provided.  It had the older version, it had the MiniAVC.dll, which I saw. 

I only have limited time, if you don't provide the right data, I can't help you.

If you had provided a current log file with the current version (0.4.3.3) of the mod, then I would have looked a bit further.  But once I find errors which can cause problems, I stop looking.  Your post is rather big, with a lot of words, it's easy to miss a single line.

Glad you figured it out.  I hope you installed ZeroMiniAVC to make sure you don't have any old MiniAVC dll files, because those will definitely cause random issues

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I'm just going to recursively yeet all MiniAVC.dll with PS, didn't realize people were still including those, thanks for warning.

Sorry if I sounded rude, it's just that from my perspective it looked like a visit at a clerk office, where I ask the clerk for help, they tell me to do something and then refuse the original request because somehow doing what they told me made me illegible for it.

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24 minutes ago, m4ti140 said:

Sorry if I sounded rude, it's just that from my perspective it looked like a visit at a clerk office, where I ask the clerk for help, they tell me to do something and then refuse the original request because somehow doing what they told me made me illegible for it.

It's understandable to feel frustrated, if the situation seems like that.

However... please remember that asking for help from a modder is a completely different situation from talking to a clerk.  A clerk is a public figure who's being paid to do a job-- on some level, it's their job to help you.  That's very much not a modder's job-- remember that they make these mods for free, asking nothing in return.  They have many users using their mods, and in some cases they maintain many mods.  So it's not really like going to see a clerk-- it's more like if you're a guest in someone's home.  At a time when they have many guests, and many problems around the home to deal with.  In such a situation... if the host is friendly then I'm sure they're happy to try to help you with a problem ;) ... just remember that they're doing that as a favor to you, and they have a lot of other demands on their attention, as well.

So, the best way to do that is to help them help you-- and also understand that, 1. they don't actually owe you anything, and 2. they may not be able to devote full attention to your particular problem, so it's easy for them to miss things.  So no matter what... it's best to stay patient and appreciative.

Glad you got your problem sorted out!

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