[1.3.1] Ferram Aerospace Research: v0.15.9.1 "Liepmann" 4/2/18

[Mecripp]

@darcgekco: It models them as elliptical frustums based on the approximate shape of the mesh, using attach node sizes to properly handle the very blunt sections at either end.

@junkie_business: There are a few errors that I see in there, particularly caused by and out-of-date ExsurgentEngineering. I don't know if that's causing problems down the road or not, but it is breaking some MJ stuff. I'm not sure what ModuleDataTransmitter belongs to, but that's breaking too. Then (what I think you're talking about) involves the game losing track of the GPU for some reason, which i've only seen happen when someone alt-tabs. If that's the case, try updating your drivers and see if that works. I've never seen anything like this happen.

@a__gun: Handling animating parts properly is in the "things to do" category. I've had some issues getting the mesh detection to work properly for some of these things.

You Don't know what it belongs to look at a stock antenna part.

MODULE

{

name = ModuleAnimateGeneric

animationName = antenna

isOneShot = false

startEventGUIName = Extend

endEventGUIName = Retract

actionGUIName = Toggle Antenna

}

MODULE

{

name = ModuleDataTransmitter

packetInterval = 0.4

packetSize = 2

packetResourceCost = 10.0

requiredResource = ElectricCharge

DeployFxModules = 0

}

}

[ferram4]

So it does. Thanks. So that means there's a messed up antenna somewhere on the problem craft.

[Mecripp]

Does FAR use ExsurgentEngineering for info ?

Sorry, I asked before , I looked and then looked but ty for reply.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Mecripp2

[ferram4]

No, but when plugins break they can have unintended consequences.

[Mecripp]

You put booster on your rocket ? with KW the KWSidetank is not going to be good and a sure Fall apart is if you have the

AmericanPack try to build a rock and use the Ares_SRB booster if you can make launch it will come apart at first turn. and the first thing that brakes is inside Fairings which, I thought was shielded. Uninstall FAR relaunch all is fine ? test for your self.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Mecripp2

[NathanKell]

Given that Ares I failed in real life, it's only realistic if the SRB knocks you apart ingame. :]

[Boamere]

You put booster on your rocket ? with KW the KWSidetank is not going to be good and a sure Fall apart is if you have the

AmericanPack try to build a rock and use the Ares_SRB booster if you can make launch it will come apart at first turn. and the first thing that brakes is inside Fairings which, I thought was shielded. Uninstall FAR relaunch all is fine ? test for your self.

Kw works fine for me, you just gotta take the turn veeerrry slowly or my rocket flips upside down

[cardgame]

FAR & Toolbar seem to be giving me some pretty bad lag, enough so I uninstalled them for the time being. By editing the settings.cfg, I enabled smooth frames and green MET everywhere on Kerbin by knocking the ocean detail down. However, when loading FAR, I consistently get shaky fps in the yellow MET zone. Is this normal, or is there some kind of conflict?

I'm currently running the following mods:

AIES_Aerospace

AlternisKerbol

BOSS - supersample screenshots

BoulderCo - Texture Compression

HullCameraVDS

JSI - RasterProp

KerbalJointReinforcement

MechJeb2RPM - SCANsat dependency

PorkWorks

RealChute

SCANsat

SCANsatRPM

SH_mods - mk2 cockpit IVA

SiliskoIndustries - parts

SMP - parts

Squad

StretchyTanks

TarsierSpaceTech - telescope

UniverseReplacer - 8K Clouds & Kerbin

[AbeS]

Add an output log while playing with FAR, he'll ask for it

[cardgame]

I will, going to have to retry it anyway, just found out I've been forcing integrated graphics for a while instead of using my gpu. Will give it another shot and provide log if necessary.

EDIT: update time. Works just fine with my GPU taking over, had some issues with Intel HD 3000 though.

Edited January 31, 2014 by cardgame

[Mecripp]

Kw works fine for me, you just gotta take the turn veeerrry slowly or my rocket flips upside down

LOL yep, I had a good share of them cartwheels 2

[Mecripp]

Given that Ares I failed in real life, it's only realistic if the SRB knocks you apart ingame. :]

HEHE I guess thats fare. but in game it make for a good launcher for small probes.

[Raptor831]

You're still not saying what actual problem you're having. Can you not keep the nose up? Can you not control the direction of flight? Can you not reduce the vertical velocity enough during the landing flare? The possibilities are endless and without any specific description of what's happening there's really not any way to offer help.

Basically I can't seem to hold the right speed, or find the right speed for the craft. Part of it is my "aim" on deorbit, as I haven't figured the right place to stick the periapsis to reliably hit the runway. Which usually results in me deploying speedbrakes/flaps in an attempt to not overshoot, or trying to glide in from much too far out.

Once I can get the aim close, it seems either a) I don't pull up soon enough, and I don't have enough control authority at the speed I'm at, or I pull up too soon and end up bleeding off too much energy and having to flare too much, resulting in a stall (and subsequent fireworks).

If it were a powered landing, I feel I could get the landing fine. It's the "You only get one shot" part that's killing me. I'm looking for more piloting advice than design, because I think I've got a decent craft by the numbers. The CoM doesn't move more than 1m between full and empty, and it handles well when I'm gliding in either case.

Basically, where do I aim when deorbiting (I've been doing a 100 m/s burn from 80km and "aiming" just to the west of the peninsula across from KSC), where do I want the vector to end up, and when do I need to pull up from the dive that will occur at the end of reentry? Obviously this can be craft-specific, but any rules of thumb would help.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I'll post the craft if you want to take a look. It requires KW (struts), Space Shuttle Engine mod, and B9.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Raptor831

[junkie_business]

You Don't know what it belongs to look at a stock antenna part.

So it does. Thanks. So that means there's a messed up antenna somewhere on the problem craft.

The antenna was the problem! Thanks chaps. Out of curiosity, what part of the log gave it away?

[taniwha]

Far don't play nice with other mods like KW and AmericanPack if you make it off the launch pad at the first turn around 6k to 10k your rocket is going to fall apart.

Should add with boosters like the Ares_SRB that is.

You are turning way too late. Start your turn below 200m (usually). Everything depends on your TWR, but when your velocity gets between 20m/s and 100m/s is when you should begin your turn, and then nose over only a small amount (less than five degrees). Once I learned how to fly with FAR, rather than against it, I had no trouble with KW (though I used only its fairings).

[Mecripp]

will try that ty.

EDIT but that still don't fix the part where if, I build a rocket and use NovaPunch Decoupler_Radial_Aero_Decouplers and out of AmericanPack the Ares_SRB coupled to Aero_Decouplers when you goto launch you get a dancing rock and boom most of the time,

and if you get a launch a turn will make them come off.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Mecripp2

[Raptor831]

Update to my previous posts: I was finally able to land this thing. I think I was giving the control surfaces too much play, and it made the craft too twitchy. I was able to pin down a landing procedure for myself and made a few successful landings. So, in short, I'm a cruddy pilot.

For those playing along, here's my answers to the questions:

1) Burn I mentioned above was fine, just needed to "aim" in the middle of that bay/gulf/whatever to the east of KSC.

2) Creep the landing spot in as you go (AOA, airbrakes), but aim to "land" at the beginning of the KSC plain.

3) I started pulling up from the dive at around 4500 m and ~400 m/s. With airbrakes/flaps, I was able to bleed of the speed by the time the ground came up.

I also realized I was being way to twitchy on final approach and would correct myself into the ground. Kinda let it float down from around 10 m off the ground as the speed bled off.

Still need to actually land on the runway, and not just near it, but I'll take it. Got that KSP feeling again when I landed that bird nicely with FAR.

[darcgekco]

Questions:

Why does my debug log get spammed with aerodynamic force = NaN errors whenever I turn on the CoL indicator?

Also, what does FAR do if the object has no nodes e.g. the stock xenon canister?

[cardgame]

I'm having fun, but also a spot of trouble; my SSTO design seems to have an omnipresent right-rolling force, which, while so negligible as to be unnoticeable at low speeds and altitudes, is impossible to overcome at high Mach when I'm trying to pitch up and get out of the atmosphere. This is present whether or not I use FAR assisting systems such as level, yaw, pitch, AoA, etc.

Any ideas? All I know is that it can't be imbalanced fuel loads. My design:

My only hypothesis is that my CoL being super marginally above my CoG is what's trying to flip my plane over upside down (the roll typically stops when I'm upside down) but it still only goes to the right.

Edited February 1, 2014 by cardgame

[p3asant]

I've got problem with rockets steering to the sides immediately after liftoff.

Any idea what's causing this?

Edited February 1, 2014 by p3asant
wording

[RoboRay]

I'm looking for more piloting advice than design

Ah, ok... I see that you've had some success in the later post.

When making glider landings, plan to approach KSC with extra energy... you want to overshoot a little (assuming you don't take corrective action) to ensure you actually make it to the runway. During the reentry, once you're certain you are going to overshoot, start making S-turns (like the real shuttles did) - bank the craft to one side for a while, turning one direction, then bank it back the other way to straighten out and come back the other direction. This bleeds off some of that excess energy, slowing you down so that you don't overshoot.

If you dramatically overshoot KSC, you can try for the auxiliary landing field on the island out in Booster Bay, or try to circle around over KSC, spiraling downward to get lined up with the runway.

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Edited February 1, 2014 by RoboRay

[AngelLestat]

it will nice to see in the future releases (if is possible to code) that not aerodynamics back surfaces like the one that we see in the picture (that faces against the air flow), to produce extra drag due to the real vortices effects.

[ferram4]

@darcgekco: It means that you're running an out-of-date version of FAR with issues that have already been fixed.

If a part doesn't have nodes on it, FAR handles the drag as best it can, assuming that the part is draggy, but is meant to be radially attached, so the drag isn't as bad for that type of part.

@cardgame: Needs more vertical tail. That's a sign that you don't have enough yaw stability and that it's sideslipping.

@p3asant: Not FAR, launch clamps probably aren't straight. If you're playing with Real Solar System, it's a stock bug with launch clamps not being placed exactly being exacerbated by the size of the planet. There's really not a solution besides not using launch clamps.

[jpinard]

If I want to have all the aerodynamics FAR provides, but have everything else be stock kerbal, like how far a single SRB can shoot me into space, what settings do I use? What is happening right now is I'm getting launched into space with substantially smaller amount of engine power and fuel than before.

Thanks Ferram for such brilliant work on this mod and your other projects. I so appreciate everything you've brought to the game!

[Agathorn]

So I have been working on exposing some of FAR's flight data to kOS, so that kOS computers can use the data for calculations. So far I have exposed the following FAR data to kOS:

Mach

EAS

DynamicPressure

AtmDensity

RelativeAtmDensity

TerminalVelocity

OxygenIntake

VesselLift

VesselDrag

Any suggestions on anything else that would be useful to expose?