[1.11.x] RCS Build Aid v1.0.6

[Drew Kerman]

it may also be the fact that the RCS blocks in question are the retractable ones from BahamutoD and under 0.90 they don't seem to animate open/closed and I just discovered when I right-click on them in flight I don't see the Enable/Disable tweak that I do for the RCS blocks I'm using for the craft as a whole

[Red3Tango]

I haven't seen an option (may be blind), or maybe it's not possible?

But the red arrow that shows which way its turning, can you make it scale the size based on SAS torque instead of vessel mass? Sometimes it's hard with larger mass vessels to get them balanced because the spin arrow doesnt show. I do know there is a numerical readout, but can still be tricking to use that number. Maybe this could be a feature in a future release?

[m4v]

I haven't seen an option (may be blind), or maybe it's not possible?

But the red arrow that shows which way its turning, can you make it scale the size based on SAS torque instead of vessel mass? Sometimes it's hard with larger mass vessels to get them balanced because the spin arrow doesnt show. I do know there is a numerical readout, but can still be tricking to use that number. Maybe this could be a feature in a future release?

The red straight arrow represents torque while the red spin arrow represents angular acceleration, is normal for the later to get smaller as the mass increases because the bigger the ship, the harder is to turn. If the spin arrow doesn't show then maybe you don't need to perfectly balance the vessel, because the existing torque isn't enough to turn your vessel much. If you still want to reduce torque to zero then look at the straight red arrow or the torque readout, those don't change with mass.

[Dermeister]

I just wanted to say this mod is FN GENIOUS! I'm building a space shuttle and it's very very very important to Align COM with COT and this mod Helps a lot more than default Editor tools! It made my life so much easier!

[LostOblivion]

Thanks for the update! :-)

[KerBlam]

DBT85: if a mod author did not put the mod on CKAN, please don't bother them about CKAN. Please take it to the CKAN thread.

I'm here to tell him about the same thing. I've been told before that the Author needs to authorise a mod to be on CKAN, so if it hasn't been authorised he really needs to let hakan know to take it off there if it's not going to be maintained.

[Superfluous J]

I'm here to tell him about the same thing. I've been told before that the Author needs to authorise a mod to be on CKAN, so if it hasn't been authorised he really needs to let hakan know to take it off there if it's not going to be maintained.

I thought the whole point of CKAN was that the authors don't have to worry about it and everything will just work. Seems it's more of a PITA than it's worth.

[KerBlam]

I thought the whole point of CKAN was that the authors don't have to worry about it and everything will just work. Seems it's more of a PITA than it's worth.

I'm pretty sure that mod authors still need to update the metadata when they update a mod which isn't a huge job, they usually do it anyway via github. I don't think this is the place for this convo anyway. As long as they're aware it's going on.

Another thing I've found (not related to CKAN):

When I'm building in the SPH, I've noticed that build aid seems a bit screwy when I'm checking attitude thrust. It shows everything around 90 degrees out, as in, when I select up, it shows the RCS thrust for right, right is down, down is left, left is up....

Everything seems normal in flight, but the display does not seem to not showing correctly in the SPH editor.

Edited January 29, 2015 by KerBlam

[NathanKell]

No, it's the responsibility of the person who created the metadata in the first place to keep it updated. In the case of mods released on KS or GIthub, that happens automatically, but for stuff only on Curse (or other places that don't offer up metadata themselves) it has to be done by a human. However, the nice thing about CKAN is that *any* human can do it, and in particular CKAN does not pester (and its users should not pester) the author of the mod.

Seriously folks, you want to discuss CKAN? You want to discuss mods on CKAN? Please take it to the CKAN thread.

[hakan]

Ah guys, just to cut the CKAN discussion on this thread short:

0.5.5 is not shown because the releases on github are not marked properly, see https://github.com/m4v/RCSBuildAid/issues/20

Aaaaand, RCSBuildAid-v0.5.5.ckan is written up and merged.

Edited January 29, 2015 by hakan
ckan created

[m4v]

0.5.5 is not shown because the releases on github are not marked properly, see https://github.com/m4v/RCSBuildAid/issues/20

Is not they are not marked properly, is I don't do releases in github.

When I'm building in the SPH, I've noticed that build aid seems a bit screwy when I'm checking attitude thrust. It shows everything around 90 degrees out, as in, when I select up, it shows the RCS thrust for right, right is down, down is left, left is up....

Everything seems normal in flight, but the display does not seem to not showing correctly in the SPH editor.

yes, that's because the direction is for the torque vector: when the torque vector is up, craft yaws left, if vector is right craft pitches up, etc (right hand rule). The controls are also inversed because shenanigans.

But I refactored all that a while ago and I think the attitude stuff is going in the right direction in my computer.

Edited January 29, 2015 by m4v

[Alshain]

I think I might have found an unusual problem. I have my command pod offset in order to have clearance for the ladders, but I don't want the RCS ports to be on top of the ladders, so I left the docking port aligned with the rest of the ship because I figured the only time I would use RCS is when docking the lander back to my interplanetary drive. However RCS Build Aid always seems to assume my "Control From Here" will be the command pod. Is there any way to choose the control point so RCS build aid will show the translations correctly?

[m4v]

I think I might have found an unusual problem. I have my command pod offset in order to have clearance for the ladders, but I don't want the RCS ports to be on top of the ladders, so I left the docking port aligned with the rest of the ship because I figured the only time I would use RCS is when docking the lander back to my interplanetary drive. However RCS Build Aid always seems to assume my "Control From Here" will be the command pod. Is there any way to choose the control point so RCS build aid will show the translations correctly?

No, RCSBA uses the root part as reference. I was going to say that you could temporally make the docking port the root part but I'm not sure if RCSBA will update the reference transform...

edit: yep, it doesn't. Something to fix...

Edited January 30, 2015 by m4v

[Alshain]

No, RCSBA uses the root part as reference. I was going to say that you could temporally make the docking port the root part but I'm not sure if RCSBA will update the reference transform...

edit: yep, it doesn't. Something to fix...

Yeah, I tried that too.

[smjjames]

Is there an annotated version of that video on the first post because I'm hard of hearing? Though maybe I can figure it out by watching.

Actually, I get the idea already, but would be nice if the video was annotated. At least theres the imgur album.

Edited February 8, 2015 by smjjames

[m4v]

@smjjames, I'm afraid no.

Version 0.6
-----------

* You can now move gimbals in Engine mode.
* Scale CoM markers depending of the distance of the camera.
* FIX: update reference transform when the root part changes.

[Agathorn]

Latest release seems to be breaking the Editor upon revert.

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  at RCSBuildAid.RCSBuildAid.onShipModified (.ShipConstruct construct) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at EventData`1[ShipConstruct].Fire (.ShipConstruct data) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at RealFuels.ModuleEngineConfigs.SetConfiguration (System.String newConfiguration) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at RealFuels.ModuleEngineConfigs.OnLoad (.ConfigNode node) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at PartModule.Load (.ConfigNode node) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at Part.LoadModule (.ConfigNode node, System.Int32& moduleIndex) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ShipConstruct.LoadShip (.ConfigNode root) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at ShipConstruction.LoadShip () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

  at EditorLogic.Start () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

(Filename:  Line: -1)

Full Log

[m4v]

@Agathorn

I can't reproduce, but it seems that for some reason EditoLogic.RootPart is returning null and RCSBA trips on that. I'll fix that exception but there's probably something else going on.

[Agathorn]

@Agathorn

I can't reproduce, but it seems that for some reason EditoLogic.RootPart is returning null and RCSBA trips on that. I'll fix that exception but there's probably something else going on.

Might be something to do with multiple mods. I now both myself and @NathanKell ran into it last night. Rolling back to 0.5.5 100% fixes the issue so i'm not sure if that helps at all?

[NathanKell]

The stack trace tells all: onShipModified is being fired at a time when RCSBuildAid does not expect it to be fired, and thus freaks. (RF fires it whenever fuel level or engine config is changed, and that may be during *loading* of a vessel, not just once editor is fully loaded).

Suggest you add checks to your onShipModified method to make sure you're not throwing.

[m4v]

tsk... mods breaking my stuff.

[NathanKell]

Mea culpa m4xima. :]

[m4v]

I don't feel like doing a new release yet so here is a quick build for those using Real Fuels or having a similar exception.

RCSBuildAid_v0.6-1-ge596cea.zip

[Agathorn]

I don't feel like doing a new release yet so here is a quick build for those using Real Fuels or having a similar exception.

RCSBuildAid_v0.6-1-ge596cea.zip

That was fast. Thanks!

Stupid RealFuels ruining my day.

[NathanKell]

Thanks so much, and sorry for the day-ruining.