[1.0] XT Landertron - Smart Retrorockets for Landers and Spaceplanes v0.08 Oct 10

[TurielD]

Hey Xander, with the latest release you accidentally named the folder in the .ZIP XandetTek. That may lead to people having double installs when they update versions and so to having two landertron.dll

Edited June 27, 2014 by TurielD

[XanderTek]

I'd rather not make SolidFuel a pumpable resource; that would definitely feel like cheating to me. I like the requirement for an EVA Kerbal to manually refuel the landertrons, I just don't like dependencies on other plugins unless completely necessary.

Understandable. I'm still trying to think of a way to do this that doesn't make my code even more of a mess than it currently is.

Hey Xander, with the latest release you accidentally named the folder in the .ZIP XandetTek. That may lead to people having double installs when they update versions and so to having two landertron.dll

Woops! Thanks. Uploaded a new version with my name spelled correctly

Edited June 27, 2014 by XanderTek

[Galane]

Someone should do a Credible Sport plane with this mod. :-)

[TurielD]

Just about every time I try to use these for a Mun landing (usually going at around 100m/s, but between 50 and 200) they activate too late and the craft slams in to the ground

Note: this when trying to put down MKS modules, which can have quite varying weight and density depending on loadout - that may or may not have something to do with it.

Edited June 27, 2014 by TurielD

[XanderTek]

Just about every time I try to use these for a Mun landing (usually going at around 100m/s, but between 50 and 200) they activate too late and the craft slams in to the ground

Note: this when trying to put down MKS modules, which can have quite varying weight and density depending on loadout - that may or may not have something to do with it.

Hmm... have you checked to see whether the Landertron stage has the necessary delta-V? Those MKS modules can be pretty heavy when loaded with resources.

Also, do your landers have much horizontal velocity as they approach the ground? The Landertrons won't change the orientation of your ship, so they only concern themselves with your vertical velocity. If you have your ship angled correctly (lined up with the retrograde symbol on your navball) you can kill the horizontal velocity as well, but its a trickier maneuver.

If you'd like to upload a saved game, I'd be happy to do some tests on your specific lander.

Edit: I tested an MKS landing on the Mun. Fully loaded with construction supply, the Power Supply module had a mass of over 20t. I used eight XT-L2 rockets, which gave me a little over 200 delta-v. The lander also needed a reaction wheel, since the module doesn't have one. At a 14km orbit, I used my orbital stage to bring my horizontal velocity to a stop, then fired it a few more times on the way down to keep my speed under 200m/s. I jettisoned the orbital stage at about 1km, and the Landertrons kicked in at the appropriate height and set me down gently.

Edited June 27, 2014 by XanderTek

[TurielD]

No horizontal speed (or less than 2m/s), easily enough dV (up to 500), and the modules generally weigh less than 2 tons as I was moving them un-loaded.

I will upload a save (unless the problem spontaneously fixes itself), thanks!

One thing though: my current mod count is 68, which is bound to cause some issues...

Ok, here are a pair of saves. Th first one has mixed landertron types and almost always crashes hard. The second one is actually two modules that can be separated (though I foolishly didn't send enough kerbals to control it for the test), and this actually seems to be working today, even though it burst apart repeatedly yesterday.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9fghdp507vbs7kq/MKS%20landing%201.sfs

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4xwp16x7ciu79y3/MKS%20landing%202.sfs

Edited June 28, 2014 by TurielD

[JeffreyCor]

I really love the concept of these! Have you considered arming the rockets via an action group instead of or along with the staging option? This would give much greater control by the user and be able to unitize something like AGExt to create an "arm landing rockets" button.

[Ravien]

Works with 0.24. Tested with 32bit.

[Fraz86]

Well, it works except that it's dependent on KAS for refueling, and KAS has quite a few problems in 0.24.

[XanderTek]

Works with 0.24. Tested with 32bit.

Thanks for checking. I haven't had time to play lately.

It might be a while before I get a new version out, but hopefully it'll have:

• The ability to arm Landertrons via action group
  
• Better handling of situations where different models of Landertron are used together
  
• Some alternative to KAS refueling
  

[Walsht9]

Is there any way to control the max thrust of the engines? Ideally I would like to slow down slower to keep the g-forces out of the red (for realism purposes). I Tried using the thrust limiter in the VAB but the engines fired at full speed but from too high up.

[XanderTek]

Is there any way to control the max thrust of the engines? Ideally I would like to slow down slower to keep the g-forces out of the red (for realism purposes). I Tried using the thrust limiter in the VAB but the engines fired at full speed but from too high up.

You were doing it correctly. Sounds like a bug. I might have forgotten to take the limit into account when turning the motors on. I'll try to have a fix this weekend.

[Walsht9]

Looking forward to it!

[Fraz86]

Thank you for your continued work on this awesome plugin. Any news on the update?

[SP_S6]

this looks really interesting!, do they only work on kerbin or do they take into account different gravities?

[XanderTek]

Thank you for your continued work on this awesome plugin. Any news on the update?

Sorry, real life has been getting in the way. The update is still in the works. I'm trying to figure out how I want to handle refueling going forwards. The KAS method is nice and clean, but I'd rather not worry about functionality breaking every time a new version comes out. On the other hand, I'd rather not reinvent the wheel.

this looks really interesting!, do they only work on kerbin or do they take into account different gravities?

It should work on any body. The rockets fire based on the craft's current speed and acceleration, which more or less takes into account local gravity and atmosphere. Just make sure you have enough delta-V!

[Spacepetscompany]

So..... Any progress?

[XanderTek]

Quick update: I'll have a new version out by the weekend though it's nothing too fancy.

In 0.08:

• Fixes for .25 (scaling issues, in particular)
  
• Arm the landertrons from an action group
  
• Improve reliability when the engines have had their thrust limited (still trying to track down a bug here)
  

Longer term plans:

• Rewrite the landing controller so that one process governs all landertrons on a vehicle, rather than having each operate independently (this will improve the reliability when using multiple types of landertrons at the same time)
  
• Come up with a better way to handle refueling
  

As always, feature requests are welcome!

[komodo]

Sounds good! Only thing I can think of is the horrified faces on the (n-Jeb) kerbals as they hurtle towards mother kerbin unabated. This though, I see *as* a feature, so in other words, I'm pretty psyched as it is. Action groups open up the possibility for aiding the remotetech flight computer doing remote landings, though. Oooh.

[XanderTek]

The new version is up. In addition to what I mentioned yesterday, Landertrons can be decoupled when you no longer need them via action group or eva. It's a handy way to reduce the part count if you're going to continue using the landed object (such as a rover or part of a base).

...the horrified faces on the (n-Jeb) kerbals as they hurtle towards mother kerbin unabated.

That's half the reason I made the mod

Edited October 10, 2014 by XanderTek

[JeffreyCor]

Typo on the OP for the download link. It says 0.07c even though it does point to 0.08

And thank you for the update! This adds a really neat and unique feature

Edited October 10, 2014 by JeffreyCor

[XanderTek]

Woops! Fixed the typo. Thanks!

A question for anyone using this mod: I could take over control of the orientation of the craft when the Landertrons are armed. It'd make landings easier because I would be able to point the ship retrograde, eliminating any horizontal movement automatically during landing. Does that make things too easy? Is it duplicating too much MechJeb functionality? Obviously it could be optional, but I'm not sure if it's worth bothering with.

Edited October 10, 2014 by XanderTek

[Guest]

No, leave the orientation to the player. Landertrons taking over orientation would be rather disorienting, IMO, not to mention you might not always want to kill horizontal velocity (say, a rocket-assisted plane landing, with some rockets deployed to assist with arresting descent velocity).

[XanderTek]

Good point Dragon, I'll leave that alone for now.

A couple things I'm considering for the next version:

1. Contracts that ask you to perform Landertron landings on different planets and moons.
   
2. A method for creating new SolidFuel canisters from Karbonite (or Kethane?) so that it's possible to refuel at off-world bases.
   

Both present some significant coding challenges, so it might take a while...

[johnwayne1930]

1. Contracts that ask you to perform Landertron landings on different planets and moons.
   
2. A method for creating new SolidFuel canisters from Karbonite (or Kethane?) so that it's possible to refuel at off-world bases.
   

But both are good ideas!