[1.8.x] DMagic's Modlets - Most KSP 1.8 Updates [10-29-2019]

[DMagic]

@FirroSeranel Can you try backing up and moving in close again (on Minmus you can probably just lean one vessel away from the other)? Or retract and extend the flexible port again. It should be able to dock to anything as long as it is the same size. Also, what does it say in the right click menu for the status?

The flexible port should start tracking the other port once you move within 1m (the values can be changed in the config files) of the other port, and it will disengage at 1.5m (when you have a docking port selected as the target and a docking port as the control point on your current vessel Basic Orbit will give the exact distance between the two docking nodes). It's possible that it thinks it should be disengaging, or that it needs to reset something internally.

[FirroSeranel]

1 hour ago, DMagic said:

@FirroSeranel Can you try backing up and moving in close again (on Minmus you can probably just lean one vessel away from the other)? Or retract and extend the flexible port again. It should be able to dock to anything as long as it is the same size. Also, what does it say in the right click menu for the status?

The flexible port should start tracking the other port once you move within 1m (the values can be changed in the config files) of the other port, and it will disengage at 1.5m (when you have a docking port selected as the target and a docking port as the control point on your current vessel Basic Orbit will give the exact distance between the two docking nodes). It's possible that it thinks it should be disengaging, or that it needs to reset something internally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmm... well, I've tried many times of course, including an entirely new launch.

Here's a video of a couple of attempts.

The config file is unmodified, and says 1m, though in the VAB, it says its "Capture Range" is 0.06, max translation is 1.6m and max angle is 10°. I'm assuming capture range is the range at which it considers itself to be docked, and is 6 cm? But Basic Orbit says it's still 25 cm away when they're touching... Still, it isn't doing any translation at all.

Prior to the start of recording, all I did was land about 80m away, drive up to it, target the docking port, then click Extend, and approach as straight-on as I could get it.

Edit: Seems like the capture range is the issue. I repositioned the docking port to be precisely aligned and tried again, only this time with the docking port in standard mode. The magnets engaged, straightened it out, pulled them together, then it held there for about 2 seconds before giving up and separating again. Any thoughts? I did reposition the target craft's docking port when I built it, for better aerodynamics, IIRC, but normal docking ports have no issues with that. Also, it's built onto a Science Lab, covering up the rear crew hatch, if that might be relevant.

Edit Edit: Tried one last time, with a regular Clamp-o-Tron, and it was able to dock without issue. So it seems it's having trouble docking with a normal clamp-o-tron, at least for me.

While docking, the regular clamp-o-trons blinked green lights continually once the magnets engaged, and until they were docked. No green lights blinked with the flex-o-tron. Could it be that the normal clamp-o-tron didn't recognize the flex-o-tron?

Edited October 19, 2016 by FirroSeranel
Update

[DMagic]

@FirroSeranel Do you have a save file from when you are trying to dock them together? The only thing I can think of is that one of the ports is stuck in the Acquire state.

I just tried it out with Indicator Lights installed, on the off chance that was causing any problems, but it worked fine for me.

[FirroSeranel]

5 minutes ago, DMagic said:

@FirroSeranel Do you have a save file from when you are trying to dock them together? The only thing I can think of is that one of the ports is stuck in the Acquire state.

I just tried it out with Indicator Lights installed, on the off chance that was causing any problems, but it worked fine for me.

 

 

 

 

@DMagic, sure, I can generate one. Gimme a few minutes.

Edit: For the purposes of this save file, would you like me to replace the USI Life Support gear with stock parts, like a couple of fuel tanks and a Cupola? Or do you run with USI installed?

(The purpose of this mission is to add life support equipment to a Minmus science lab that I put in place during 1.2 beta testing with no mods, rather than scrapping the lab.)

Edited October 19, 2016 by FirroSeranel

[DMagic]

If it's not too much trouble you can replace them.

[FirroSeranel]

Sure, no problem.

Wasn't sure what exactly you needed, so here's the whole directory in a zip.

Flexible Docking Port Test Save

The ship you'll want to switch to in the tracking station is "Docking Test Module".

Edited October 19, 2016 by FirroSeranel

[FirroSeranel]

@DMagic, could it be a conflict with something else that's altering parts in flight mode, like Tweakscale? I know not all mods that do flight-time modifications to things get along...

[DMagic]

Hmm, it worked as soon as I loaded it.

You said the Max translation was 1.6m in the VAB info panel? It should only be 0.625m, if that's changed it won't work, though that doesn't seem to be the issue here.

Edit: Tweakscale could definitely be breaking something.

Edited October 19, 2016 by DMagic

[FirroSeranel]

1 minute ago, DMagic said:

Hmm, it worked as soon as I loaded it.

You said the Max translation was 1.6m in the VAB info panel? It should only be 0.625m, if that's changed it won't work, though that doesn't seem to be the issue here.

 

No, you're right, it says 0.63 in VAB.

[FirroSeranel]

So at this point, it must be a conflict with another mod.

Unfortunately, I have... lots. <.< 

Possible contenders to my thinking are:

TweakScale (changes parts in flight mode)

Interstellar Fuel Switch (changes parts in flight mode)

Texture Replacer (Just because this has created some very odd and unpredictable bugs in the past, so I never rule it out. )

RetractableLiftingSurface (I'm not entirely sure why that's even there... must be a dependency, but I assume it must modify parts in flight mode)

Konstruction (part of RoverDude's USI suite, has similar functionality to Infernal Robotics, and thus probably changes parts in flight mode)

Hangar (No idea how this does what it does, but as no parts from it are on that ship, I have no idea why it'd matter. Still, it can load and unload entire crafts on the fly in flight mode, so maybe...)

[FirroSeranel]

Okay, I created a small test rover (just an octo core, a structural plate, four wheels, a battery, a couple of solar panels, and a flex-o-clam-o-tron jr.

Two of them will dock with each other. However, they'll only dock if they're perfectly aligned anyway. If they're misaligned, the magnets try to pull them together, but no flexing happens. So that portion is definitely not working for me.

Also, when I switch one of the test rovers to a normal clamp-o-tron jr, neither will dock with the other, in either mode, no matter which one I'm controlling.

@DMagic, I think I figured it out. Gimme a minute to test, but I'm fairly sure it's conflicting with Snap Dock, which makes stock docking ports only dock at 5° angle increments.

[FirroSeranel]

@DMagic Yep! That was it. Removing SnapDock fixed it. It behaves exactly as expected now. I can live without that mod, as I have square docking ports that angle snap for orbital construction anyway. Still, might want to add a note in the OP about it not being compatible (if you can't/don't want to fix it).

[DMagic]

That makes sense. And while poking around I also discovered that the initial rotation of the flexible docking port can throw off the positioning calculations, which was something I though I had tested. I know almost exactly what is going wrong, just not quite. 

I think this would still work with Snap Rotation, you would just have to add the MM patch to the FlexoTube module as well as the stock ModuleDockingNode.

Edited October 19, 2016 by DMagic

[DMagic]

Flexible Docking version 4.0 is out; get it on Space Dock.

It fixes a problem that caused the docking ports to be misaligned in some cases.

[flatbear]

ckan wont let me update the latest dmagicorbitalsciences because it says

Quote

The following inconsistencies were found:
- DMagicOrbitalScience conflicts with ForScience.

 

[FirroSeranel]

1 minute ago, flatbear said:

ckan wont let me update the latest dmagicorbitalsciences because it says

 

 

That's a long-standing incompatibility as far as I know.

Check out AutomatedScienceSampler by SpaceTiger instead. It works great, and is compatible with everything.

[flatbear]

1 minute ago, FirroSeranel said:

That's a long-standing incompatibility as far as I know.

Check out AutomatedScienceSampler by SpaceTiger instead. It works great, and is compatible with everything.

thanks, is there a way to force ckan to force update over its objections?

[FirroSeranel]

Just now, flatbear said:

thanks, is there a way to force ckan to force update over its objections?

Not that I've ever found... but generally if it's something that's not just temporary (I've noticed this going back to 1.0 when I started playing), there's a good reason for it.

[DMagic]

Basic Orbit version 2.0 is out; get it on Space Dock.

It includes a new Maneuver Node info panel. This has readout info for the maneuver node dV, the burn time (which uses Better Burn Time data if available), and target rendezvous information using the maneuver node orbits (this will match what is shown in the map view).

It also adds a target name readout to the Target info panel. And it changes the behavior of the target rendezvous info in that panel. Instead of giving the closest approach and relative velocity at closest approach data for the post-maneuver node orbits (which is what is shown by KSP in the map view, and is now shown in the Maneuver Node info panel), it will give that information for your currently active orbit. It also calculates that information outside of map view, so it should always be accurate.

The Toolbar window can now only spawn one of the settings windows at a time. And if the window is below the mid-point on the screen those settings windows will spawn above the window, instead of below it.

[FirroSeranel]

On 10/20/2016 at 4:19 PM, DMagic said:

Basic Orbit version 2.0 is out; get it on Space Dock.

It includes a new Maneuver Node info panel. This has readout info for the maneuver node dV, the burn time (which uses Better Burn Time data if available), and target rendezvous information using the maneuver node orbits (this will match what is shown in the map view).

It also adds a target name readout to the Target info panel. And it changes the behavior of the target rendezvous info in that panel. Instead of giving the closest approach and relative velocity at closest approach data for the post-maneuver node orbits (which is what is shown by KSP in the map view, and is now shown in the Maneuver Node info panel), it will give that information for your currently active orbit. It also calculates that information outside of map view, so it should always be accurate.

The Toolbar window can now only spawn one of the settings windows at a time. And if the window is below the mid-point on the screen those settings windows will spawn above the window, instead of below it.

 

2

@DMagic, this mod's getting really good! I have a request though.

The one thing I'm always missing from KER's information, is vertical and horizontal components of velocity relative to the surface. That's essential to me for landing. Would it be hard to add?

Actually, one other thing I'd like, is slope information, either right below the ship (okay), or at the current impact point (ideal).

Edited October 22, 2016 by FirroSeranel

[Brigadier]

16 hours ago, FirroSeranel said:

The one thing I'm always missing from KER's information, is vertical and horizontal components of velocity relative to the surface. That's essential to me for landing. Would it be hard to add?

Actually, one other thing I'd like, is slope information, either right below the ship (okay), or at the current impact point (ideal).

I'm not saying that DMagic's solution isn't worth asking for, but I'm pretty sure that KER supplies all of this.  Vertical and Horizontal speed, when combined with Surface mode on the NavBall, should give you want you want.  They certainly read 0 when I'm hovering.  And slope under the ship is definitely available.  Not sure about slope at impact point, though.

[FirroSeranel]

11 hours ago, Brigadier said:

I'm not saying that DMagic's solution isn't worth asking for, but I'm pretty sure that KER supplies all of this.  Vertical and Horizontal speed, when combined with Surface mode on the NavBall, should give you want you want.  They certainly read 0 when I'm hovering.  And slope under the ship is definitely available.  Not sure about slope at impact point, though.

 

It does, and everything else Basic Orbit does as well, and more.

However, KER isn't currently -really- updated for 1.2, and the "adventurous" build spams about a hundred errors a second for me, so...

[Brigadier]

13 hours ago, FirroSeranel said:

It does, and everything else Basic Orbit does as well, and more.

However, KER isn't currently -really- updated for 1.2, and the "adventurous" build spams about a hundred errors a second for me, so...

Fair enough but that's a different question.

Regardless, thanks to DMagic for all of his great mods.

[Li0n]

Hi @DMagic thanks for you hard work on all your mods.

I have a suggestion / feedback for Portrait Stats : Currently the crew transfer button brings the transfer menu for the part the kerbal is in, so it show all the kerbal in the part and need a click on "Transfer" before showing the highlighting of crewable parts. Would it be possible to skip the stock transfer menu ? Having the highlighting show right after clicking on the portrait button ?

[pheenix99]

So glad I found Science Relay. Gives new purpose to my LKO science station.