[1.12.x] AttitudeAdjuster v1.2: Set control point via action group. Variable-pitch control point for spaceplane reentry.

[Rodger]

I've been trying to invert the roll axis on a command part I'm making, so (from top-down) Q rotates CCW and E rotates CW, but without any luck so far. Is that something this mod could help with, or do you know if it's possible from your dealings with control points making this mod?

[Snark]

On 4/18/2020 at 10:09 AM, Rodger said:

I've been trying to invert the roll axis on a command part I'm making, so (from top-down) Q rotates CCW and E rotates CW, but without any luck so far. Is that something this mod could help with, or do you know if it's possible from your dealings with control points making this mod?

I don't think you can do that in KSP.  There's a "roll left" control, and a "roll right" control.  Those are determined by key bindings (e.g. "Q" and "E") and are a function of the game's control input, and have nothing to do with any part on the rocket.  So I don't think it's possible to alter control bindings for a particular part.

(I have no idea if it might be possible to achieve that effect by writing custom code in some mod to do it... but I've never heard of that being done, nor have I ever heard of anyone wanting to do that before.  Certainly I've never tried to do that in any of my own mods, nor would I ever be likely to.)

[linuxgurugamer]

@Snark

Do you think you could add an option to flip the control point by 180 degrees?  This would be helpful for those (hopefully rare) instance where a probe core is upside down.  It can be quite useful

[Beetlecat]

9 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said:

@Snark

Do you think you could add an option to flip the control point by 180 degrees?  This would be helpful for those (hopefully rare) instance where a probe core is upside down.  It can be quite useful

I wonder if you could just do that by adding a high enough value in the mod config file? The default is modestly limited, but it's not restricted by values.

[DJ Reonic]

Would it be possible to add a roll value to a control point? I am looking to automate the roll over for my shuttles. The idea is to automate the flip after SRB Separation. I would use an action group to switch the control point to the +15 degrees required for the OMS engines, but also the 180 degree roll so the shuttle does both changes in one smooth motion and rolls heads up.

[Snark]

2 hours ago, DJ Reonic said:

Would it be possible to add a roll value to a control point? I am looking to automate the roll over for my shuttles. The idea is to automate the flip after SRB Separation. I would use an action group to switch the control point to the +15 degrees required for the OMS engines, but also the 180 degree roll so the shuttle does both changes in one smooth motion and rolls heads up.

An interesting use case.    Also, you're not the first to request it-- it's a reasonable ask.

However, the answer is no, it's not possible; this is solidly in the "ain't gonna happen, ever" category.

Reason:  SAS doesn't care about roll at all, in KSP.  It does pitch and yaw, but not roll; the only roll influence it has is "hold current".  There is no functionality built into the game to maintain any sort of roll attitude.  Therefore this mod can't do that, and never will.

(Of course it would be possible for someone to write an autopilot mod that would control that sort of thing... but that would be a whole different kettle of fish from this mod, which is deliberately small and simple.  I'm not in the business of writing autopilot code, and never will be.  That's lots of work-- just look at the size of the MechJeb codebase sometime.  So perhaps some mod may do that, either now or in the future, but that mod would not be this one.)

I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[Rodger]

Would it be possible to add an option to invert the default control orientation of docking ports? I've had some issues with making a drone that docks to a rover, and since the drone's docking port is upside down, and it always defaults to controlling from the docking port on undock, launching the drone always has its control point pointing backwards.

ModuleDockingNode has the ability to define a controlTransformName, but I don't think you can use a CONTROLPOINT node in that module. So just something that takes the default control point the docking port has, and inverts it, without needing to add in more game objects would work. Or letting ModuleAttitudeAdjuster target the default control point of a docking node, and then just set pitchMax to 180 would also work.

[Snark]

On 6/25/2022 at 3:10 AM, Rodger said:

Would it be possible to add an option to invert the default control orientation of docking ports? I've had some issues with making a drone that docks to a rover, and since the drone's docking port is upside down, and it always defaults to controlling from the docking port on undock, launching the drone always has its control point pointing backwards.

Thank you for the suggestion, but I'd say I'm unlikely to make such a change.  I tend to be very "strongly minimalist" when modding-- I deliberately write my mods to do the bare minimum of what's needed to accomplish some particular task, and tend to be strongly averse to adding in functionality for which the game provides some other mechanism.  For example, my own answer to the problem that you describe is at construction time (i.e. making sure docking ports are the right way up).

To be clear, I'm not saying it's a bad suggestion-- it's a pretty good one.    It's just not my cup of tea for how I put my mods together.

[Rodger]

All good! I suspect it might not even be that simple, as I tested out adding a new transform to a docking port part, facing backwards. I could then 'control from here' on the docking port and it pointed me in the correct backwards direction... except it didn't make a difference to my control orientation on undocking! I was still set to 'docking port forward', even though my control point transform was backwards. So I'd guess my idea for this mod wouldn't even solve my problem haha

[Rory Yammomoto]

I've found this extremely useful for launch autopilots. Since the pitch offset has an axis field, it can be put in a KAL sequencer, and if you set your rocket up such that pitching 'up' will put you in the correct inclination, you can arrange for a gravity turn through the KAL sequencer just by leaving the SAS on attitude hold. Only issue is, it gets real strange  around 90°, since yaw becomes roll, and 'roll' thus becomes uncontrollable - but this can be somewhat mitigated by swapping control to a CP in the prograde direction, resetting the pitch offset through the KAL, and switching back.

E: Actually, this gives me an idea:

On 8/2/2020 at 1:46 PM, DJ Reonic said:

Would it be possible to add a roll value to a control point? I am looking to automate the roll over for my shuttles. The idea is to automate the flip after SRB Separation. I would use an action group to switch the control point to the +15 degrees required for the OMS engines, but also the 180 degree roll so the shuttle does both changes in one smooth motion and rolls heads up.

What if you tried turning roll into pitch or yaw by swapping to a probe core facing perpendicular to the direction of travel?

Edited April 18, 2023 by Rory Yammomoto
Brainwave