tek_604

I am indeed using MJ 2.0.8. If I read you right, I would need to open MJ's "Manoeuvre Node Editor", and dial the numbers into RT? I must admit, I didn't check the Flight Computer as well as I should have, as I am already using MJ.

You should really put this up on the spaceport. Mediafire totally sucks... Hidden popup windows everywhere

I started looking at this mod yesterday, and have the 0.20 version. I've not yet tested it beyond LKO as yet, as I rebooted my space program at the same time. Please forgive me if this has been answered before, I just spent a good few minutes reading every page in this thread, but didn't find an answer that satisfied me. I have a single satellite in orbit, a low 80Km orbit (as its a space program reboot, this is basically Sputnik ). I have the antenna attached, and all is well, giving me a lovely 500Km wide window of control as we're passing over KSC, just as I expected. This is great! However... I fly solely with MechJeb (I can hear some groans already )... The problem I see now is, that during my communication slot, I can tell MechJeb to plan a manoeuvre to happen while out of signal range. Great so far. But, as soon as signal is lost, MechJeb just turns off? Am I doing something wrong? (and don't say I'm doing it wrong cause I'm using MechJeb ) What I thought should happen is that I can get MechJeb to set up its nodes during communication slots, and then the nodes would be performed.

OMG! Shiny! Just downloaded, plonked the folder in the GameData (as per instructions), and BINGO! Lovely. Time to reboot the Kerbal Space Administration! Although Kethane hasn't been updated, MapSat was the one I was waiting really waiting for before making a decision to continue my 0.19 or start afresh. Start afresh it is. No biggie Oh! Can I safely assume that the parts will be forward compatible? Just wondering, in case I have to launch my probes again

Sorry to sound mean, but did you even read the thread? On page 97, Innsewerants said he is working on it. Even has a link to his blog, so you can follow its progress: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/blog.php/16471-Innsewerants

People! Beware! I just lost all my Kethane maps, as I put my old ones maps into GameData\Kethane\Plugins\PluginData\MMI_Kethane... restarted KSP... *poof* all maps blank. And me being the idiot I am, used my only copy. So, if you do this, don't be an idiot like me, make sure you make backups! Would like to say though, I can successfully place the part on a craft, and activate the detector.

I couldn't find it. If you do find it, please remember to post the link to the .de shop

I would love to buy from cafepress, but... I'm in Germany, and want to buy though cafepress.de. Sadly, KSP merch isn't available through .de. Want to say "shut up and take my money" as I buy a t-shirt, mousepad & bumper stickers. Please, squad, let me buy through .de

Check the config.xml file in PluginData\CrewManifest: <bool name="EnablePermaDeath">0</bool>

I was aware of NERVA, although I must admit I didn't know how long they'd run them for until 5 minutes ago Anyway, I guess I think they're cheaty because they were never flown in real life. At some point, I will use them, but as my manned program hasn't started yet (waiting for flag planting in .20!)... Once Kerbals land on the Mun, and assuming the Kerbal Space Administration isn't gutted when the politicians get changed, and decide to build a shuttle... (oh, and I didn't read it as rude. Maybe in a different forum I might have done, but this community seems to be one of the friendliest I have encountered for a while) Not a bad idea! I did play with a similar design with tanks on radial decouplers and fuel lines (if memory serves, its the Explorer III class), but I've never flown it yet. Oh! Yes I did. Moho Shot III. Its now in a wonky solar orbit Should fly it again though.

I didn't want to say anything, but, now its been said, I was thinking the same thing Right now, I don't want to use the nuclear engines. Call it role play if you will, but, I think they're a little bit cheaty. The oscillating tanks I have now solved with the new Explorer Na series of probes; not tested yet, but designed. And when I looked at the fuel/mass ratio, I thought they were lighter than the 90 ltr. tank for the same fuel load? God I'm bad at maths if my thinking was wrong

Thanks Random! I had a feeling you were going to say something like this (didn't realise they would bend, but thought the stacking in the VAB might be off centre), so I redesigned my probe to have a single 90 ltr. tank. I think I'll try that as my first solution, and if that doesn't fix it, then I'll go for Quantum Struts, as I said before. Another thought I had was... if you use those gold tanks, you can stack them around a beam, I wonder if that would stop the bending?

Yes, I like the look of them

I selected the first injection stage for "control from here". I was wondering if the antennas were causing the imbalance. Checking the parts: KE-S210 Compact Survey Unit: mass = 0.075 ISA MapSat: mass = 0.01 This mass difference seems quite small when we're talking the whole thing being close to 50t. I think I'm liking Akalaël's suggestion, in that the probe is slightly off centre compared to thrust, and MechJeb is doing a bad job of compensating for this, and made worse because of wobble. I say this because at full thrust (480kn), the problem was a lot worse than at 25% throttle. Also, if I have the same probe, attached to an injection stage through a normal decoupler (I use the same probe to go to the other planets, using the boosters 3rd stage as injection stage), then this does not veer off course. Only when using docking ports. Struts was the suggestion, to remove the off centre wobble. Problem is, the injection stages are already pushing my lifting capability, and I'm not sure I can lift the probe and 2nd (middle) injection stage in one go. I seem to have picked up that Quantum Struts might be the solution, to add struts in orbit. Am I right? Other than that, I guess I've got some experiments to do! Thanks for the help guys, I'll post my result when I've done them.

If I want to shift into a polar orbit (for mapping), then as soon as you hit the SOI of the body, this is the best time I find. OK, probably better earlier than this, but I find as soon as you hit SOI, is more manageable. Usually, my order is (as soon as I hit SOI): 1) Set periapsis to my desired altitude 2) Switch to polar orbit (~88 degrees) 3) Circularize at periapsis Of course, I also use MechJeb, so...

Here is my ship, assembled in orbit... Be gentle RCS was used during the assemble in orbit stage, but, was ejected, don't need to take the extra mass. The only SAS module I have is on the probe. I am thinking of a large SAS module on the injection stages, that might sort it out? Also, I think I know what made this worse. During my injection burn, I forgot to turn off cross-feed on the docking module between the injection stages, so the first stage drew fuel from the 2nd stage. If I remember to turn this off, it should also help?

I can successfully perform enough rendezvous/docking in Kerbin orbit, to make a "3 stage" probe to go to Moho (the only inner solar system target I have not yet reached). The first and second stages are basically the same unit, and a probe docked on the very end. My first try at this, was using the stock clamp-o-trons, and that ship was not flyable... As soon as the thrust was applied, the whole thing would basically go "head over heels". Today, I've tried using the "Common Berthing Mechanism" parts, thinking they would keep the ship together better. But, again, as soon as thrust was applied, the whole thing pulled to the right (going right, or head over heels, are all relative to your POV, but anyway...! ). I understand it is to do with the centre of thrust. If the thrust vector is off centre, the worse it gets with longer ships? What I don't get is... how do I ensure that ships created in orbit through docking have a balanced centre of thrust? I would assume that when building the parts in the VAB, with symmetry turned on, would build your capsules with the balanced centre of thrust. But this doesn't seem to be. Maybe its as simple as not enough SAS? Advice is most welcome!

How do you use the "Return from moon" option? I assumed setting the PE to 150 would put me on a return course from the Mun into a roughly 150km orbit of Kerbin. Apparently not.

I've noticed this, but never really worried about it. I just press "T" to activate SAS, and then worry about my next move. I had this happen ONCE to me today, when trying to enter Minmus orbit. Wasn't really MJ's fault at this point, cause the Hohemann transfer was bad, and I wasn't paying attention. Still, I managed to recover it. I'd suggest keeping your mouse over the Abort button. This is why I've given up on MJ for planet transfer. Try Protractor. I've been using it this weekend, and EVERY mission I have launched so far (Dres, Ike (via Duna), Gilly (via Eve) & Eve), Protractor never failed to get me on course. As soon as out of Kerbin SOI, I would then use MJ to fine tune the encounter. I'd suggest somehow merging what Protractor does into MJ. Although it would mean I'd have to stop making the interplanetary burn manually, and I've actually been enjoying it I find launch to rendezvous is difficult to use. When you go to map, and select the already orbiting vessel, it doesn't enter it into the MJ window, replacing it with some angle. Little bit confusing. But, I don't expect the launch to put me right next to my target, just in the general area. From there, you can either dock direct (never tried this myself, and it would probably murder your mono consumption), or, you can use the Rendezvous Guidance to target. This is awesome to watch, and usually puts you in 50m or less of your target. I've noticed some difficulty with getting some rockets into 100x100. Usually, this is because the payload is too small compared to the rocket you've used. Also, if you have not enough torque to turn your rocket, this causes MJ problems, but then again, it would cause you problems if you tried to fly it manually Bit unfair. I've had so much success this weekend with Protractor for planetary transfer, and MJ for everything else. This time last week, I thought my rockets were not powerful enough, and I wasn't getting enough Delta V to orbit. This weekend, turns out actually everything was fine, and every inner planet (Eve to Dres) I can reach easily with at least 1000m/s to spare. Except Moho. Except Moho. The area between Moho and Eve is now littered with probes out of fuel

I wouldn't mind, if MechJeb would stick to its original plan. But, if you have a ship in orbit, that says 90d, then go away, warp to this time, and recalculate, it generates a new transfer at a new time, usually far in the future... again... Anyway, I think I'll try to use Protractor to see if I can get on with that. And for the record, the mission I went for to Dres, I went for it anyway, but, the transfer didn't work. Ended up going to Duna. Not too bad, needed to map and scan Duna for topography and kethane anyway. But, I'd also like to add, for pretty much everything else, I use MechJeb. Launching, no problem, orbital rendezvous (which is freaking awesome to watch btw), docking, no problem (except that you have to persuade it the last 2m or so, seems ole MechJeb wants the flight controller to make sure all is well for the last 2m!), Mun and Minmus transfer, landing autopilot (which is also awesome!). Actually, there is one other problem? Dunno if you can fix this one though. If you dock, the Vessel Information gets all muddled. Part of this I am sure is due to the staging becoming "entangled" (for want of a better term) by the game engine, but even after reordering the staging, the Vessel Information doesn't get updated with the new Delta V stats. This is a little annoying, as you end up with a stage with fuel and an engine, but MJ reporting 0m/s Delta V. End up flying this bit by the seat of my pants. Guess I have to do something this method I suppose

"Hohmann transfer to target" doesn't work between planets, only between a planet and its moon? At least if I try to use a Hohmann transfer to get to, say, Dres (as I write this I have a probe warping its way to the transfer node in 90 days or so), MechJeb 2.0.7 reports "not in same sphere of influence" (paraphrasing). Anyway, the rest of this method is, in principal, correct... If you are able to launch your probe in a single launch. If you need to assemble your probe in orbit (like I do, I don't have heavy launch capability yet ), then you can't warp your way from the pad. I guess now, as I am in a 300km parking orbit, it allows warp up to x100 (I think, might be x1000), but 90 days warping takes forever. Guess I could get my probe to plot the original 90 odd day plan, go to space centre, and then put something on the pad, set Kerbal Alarm Clock, warp, go back to my probe on the alarm, and have MechJeb replot the transfer... But, when I did this in the past, it plot the new transfer some distance in the future (even if I went back to the probe with an hour before the original plotted course), so I was never able to make this work. Very frustrating. I reported this previously in this thread, but it would be nice if the interplanetary transfers would use the same calculation used by Kerbal Alarm Clock; MechJeb doesn't agree with KAC, or Protractor, or http://ksp.olex.biz/ ... This I find to be a real pain. Edit: Yup, just confirmed this. Still had 91d to go on first plot, so, went to pad, set alarm for 90d. Went back to craft on the alarm, replot; next plotted course, in 124d. :mad:

First, thanks for your work on Mechjeb! Its a great piece of work! I'd like to ask about planetary transfers though... Mum & Minmus work extremely well, using Hohmann transfers, but, when trying to get to say, Duna, or Dres, Mechjeb doesn't agree with any other "transfer planner"; for example, Kerbal Alarm Clock, Protractor or http://ksp.olex.biz/ - these all agree with each other. But, Mechjeb does something else... It makes planning for transfer windows interesting.... I end up launching a test vehicle first, asking ole MJ when the transfer should happen, then setting an alarm manually. I also had an issue landing on Dres. I picked a spot, and MJ started the landing process, but the actual landing point wandered way off, so, I aborted, and then tried to land at the same spot again. This resulted in KSP locking up completely. I guess my bad, but MJ shouldn't lock up everything.