[PART, 1.0.2] Anatid Robotics / MuMech - MechJeb - Autopilot - Historical thread

[zYnthethicz]

Not automatically, but you can do it quite precisely with the manual controls:

- Show the Orbital Information window

- Set the Smart ASS to Normal + or Normal -.

- Burn until the Inclination is at the desired value.

Thanks

Also, i noticed that the rendevouz mode never shuts off, so i couldn\'t do anything, i couldn\'t circularize my orbit, so i just sat there and watched my satellite crash.

[Jontu]

Can anyone explain the 'edit path' more? The manual does not do a good job.

Example, I want a 100km orbit, what is a good setting for the 'edit path'?

Set turn start to 12 km or 15 km for heavier ships. Set turn end to 70 km-outside of atmosphere. This works for me.

[chrisdanger]

I\'m going to ask am really dumb question...dont flame me as im new to KSP and this app, but how the heck do I install this?? I\'ve already installed the files, but im not seeing the GUI itsself, what am I doing wrong??

[Guest]

I\'m going to ask am really dumb question...dont flame me as im new to KSP and this app, but how the heck do I install this?? I\'ve already installed the files, but im not seeing the GUI itsself, what am I doing wrong??

You need to attach a Mechjeb to your ship to get the GUI.

[Mr_Orion]

I\'m going to ask am really dumb question...dont flame me as im new to KSP and this app, but how the heck do I install this?? I\'ve already installed the files, but im not seeing the GUI itsself, what am I doing wrong??

Do you have the paid version or the free demo? Mechjeb doesn\'t work with the demo version, nor does any other plugin.

[Tupin]

I can\'t seem to do Mechjeb landings. It starts burning the lander stage too late, I impact too fast.

[Zombieweasel]

The auto-lander is kind of ... Suicidal. Every time ive used it for a mun landing it always seems to come in WAY too fast. My solution was to add a ridiculous amount of thrust for mun landings. So my craft will stop almost on a dime and it uses little fuel to mun land because of it. It just takes a huge launcher to get it up there.

You can use the manual landing functions. Kill Horizontal speed, Set Vert speed -12. Wait for it. It will just use lots more fuel this way. Idd personally test a rocket out to find out just how fast and responsive the lander is. Once i know that I can change the design our just manually input settings for landing

[Volt]

Click the help button on the landing autopilot, and it explains it to you. It brings you in I think 200m above the target then slows to a stop and does a conventional vertical landing. It even calculates if you have enough thrust to do the maneuver.

[Misterspork]

Erm, MechJeb needs its own torque.

My idea was to have a ship deploy several mechjeb controlled missiles that would then 'rendezvous' with the target.

But alas, even with 4 RCS thrusts on a half tank the thing couldn\'t move!

When trying to align orbital planes it was absolutely ridiculous, and MechJeb was doing retarded crap and all it did was hold pitch down the entire time, and the thing started spinning out of control.

I don\'t imagine this is a bug, but if it is I\'ll see if there\'s anything odd in the output_log.

[Guest]

I totally agree. One of the main reasons i got Mechjeb was to control debris. But when i found out it didn\'t have magical pod torque, i was sad.

[duclicsic]

I love this plugin, the new pod is awesome and it spares me the anxiety of losing my precious kerbals. The one thing I feel is missing though, is an attachment node on the top of the pod. I would like to be able to have a backup parachute for Kerbin returns for instance, or to be able to attach escape rockets and whatnot.

Maybe this is something that I could easily hack in myself though? I really don\'t know.

[rkman]

Maybe this is something that I could easily hack in myself though? I really don\'t know.

That\'s quite simple - except for the fact that it messes up KSP big time on the launch pad even if the modded mechjeb pod is not part of the craft...

An alternative is to use the ARRemotePod from the Satellite Relay Network plugin

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=9006.0

It\'s like an stock command pod except that it is unmanned (intended for remote control but also allows local control).

don\'t try this at home:

in \Parts\mumech_MechJebPod open part.cfg

find

// --- node definitions ---

node_stack_bottom = 0, 0, 0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0

add below that

node_stack_top = 0, 0.9, 0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0

[maltesh]

Click the help button on the landing autopilot, and it explains it to you. It brings you in I think 200m above the target then slows to a stop and does a conventional vertical landing. It even calculates if you have enough thrust to do the maneuver.

Also, the 'Land' button currently doesn\'t affect time warping, and MechJeb can\'t do anything with your ship at faster than 2x. If you wait until your altitude kicks you down to 2x anywhere other than Kerbin, you probably won\'t have enough thrust to kill your lander\'s velocity in time.

'Land At Target' generally handles unwarping sufficiently for objects of reasonable size.

[chrisdanger]

Do you have the paid version or the free demo? Mechjeb doesn\'t work with the demo version, nor does any other plugin.

Heres the fun part, im running paid version 0.15.2, yet when I look up the mechjeb parts, it tells me its not available for this version of KSP...

[GWBBQ]

Is it just me or does the MechJeb pod with tank, engines, and legs either weigh too much or have too much drag to allow a rocket to launch without tipping over?

[semininja]

I have had no issues with the v2 pod. Try adding some more boosters (seriously) and see if that helps. You might not have enough thrust.

[BioSehnsucht]

I\'ve been having trouble trying to launch multiple craft using mechjeb from one booster - I guess it\'s the 'activates all parts' clause when a section is detached.

It would be nice if there was an option to not activate all unactivated decouplers when you jettison part of your craft, if it has a mechjeb or command pod attached to it, so that if there is an otherwise functional (and couplered-together) craft being detached, you would still be able to switch to it and operate it, instead of having everything but your final stage of the subcraft detached.

Perhaps using tweakables later when those are adjustable in the VAB/SPH, and cfg option setting for now to override this behavior? Could even be a non-boolean option, I don\'t know if MechJeb can tell a parachute from a decoupler, but could be a binary OR\'d combination of flags i.e.:

ACTIVATE_ALL = 256

ACTIVATE_NONE = 0

ACTIVATE_PARACHUTES = 1

ACTIVATE_LEGS = 2

ACTIVATE_DECOUPLERS = 4

etc etc so if you wanted just legs / chutes for landings but not decouplers to auto-deploy, you would set this setting to 3 (1 | 2 = 3).

It would also be nice if we could 'bookmark' landing sites on each body, I keep initiating a landing on Mun only to realize that again, it has reset to default coordinates even though I had just set it for my last lander a few minutes before ... and then I have to hurriedly type in the coordinates in the little boxes on the landing panel before I drift too far off course after initating a landing to the wrong destination.

[Tupin]

Small question, why can I do Kerbin-Mun/Kerbin-Minmus transfers but not Mun-Kerbin/Minmus-Kerbin transfers? I had to get in orbit around Kerbol before it let me transfer back to Kerbin.

[colmo]

I was using MechJeb last night to fly helicopters and space planes.

The main things to watch for on ascent auto-pilot is that you set the \'turn\' alt to 0km as you don\'t want to point nose up, change your ascent path to nearly or entirely horizontal, and then make sure it achieves the altitude you set. When it tries to circularise orbit, it\'ll keep the craft aloft indefinitely, fuel allowing. Not very pretty, blipping the throttle on and off like that, but effective.

If it fails to make altitude because it tried coasting to apoapsis, it\'ll crash. You are warned.

Smart A.S.S will keep a helicopter flying if you set a negative pitch value to keep it moving forward.

Fooling MechJeb to fly a helicopter using the CIRC orbital function meant the chopper went as high as it could (ignoring the specified PE+AP value) on full throttle, so not fuel efficient.

[Katalliaan]

Small question, why can I do Kerbin-Mun/Kerbin-Minmus transfers but not Mun-Kerbin/Minmus-Kerbin transfers? I had to get in orbit around Kerbol before it let me transfer back to Kerbin.

It\'s easy to go from one of the moons back to Kerbin. When orbiting one, do a prograde burn when your ship is opposite Kerbin relative to the moon until your orbit leaves its SoI (2340 km for Mun, 2713 for Minmus). It should leave you in a Kerbin orbit, although it won\'t be circular.

[Charzy]

Heres the fun part, im running paid version 0.15.2, yet when I look up the mechjeb parts, it tells me its not available for this version of KSP...

Did you put the plugin in the plugins folder and the parts in the parts folder?

[BioSehnsucht]

I\'ve been having trouble trying to launch multiple craft using mechjeb from one booster - I guess it\'s the 'activates all parts' clause when a section is detached.

...

It would be nice if there was an option to not activate all unactivated decouplers when you jettison part of your craft, if it has a mechjeb or command pod attached to it, so that if there is an otherwise functional (and couplered-together) craft being detached, you would still be able to switch to it and operate it, instead of having everything but your final stage of the subcraft detached.

Perhaps using tweakables later when those are adjustable in the VAB/SPH, and cfg option setting for now to override this behavior? Could even be a non-boolean option, I don\'t know if MechJeb can tell a parachute from a decoupler, but could be a binary OR\'d combination of flags i.e.:

ACTIVATE_ALL = 256

ACTIVATE_NONE = 0

ACTIVATE_PARACHUTES = 1

ACTIVATE_LEGS = 2

ACTIVATE_DECOUPLERS = 4

etc etc so if you wanted just legs / chutes for landings but not decouplers to auto-deploy, you would set this setting to 3 (1 | 2 = 3).

It would also be nice if we could 'bookmark' landing sites on each body, I keep initiating a landing on Mun only to realize that again, it has reset to default coordinates even though I had just set it for my last lander a few minutes before ... and then I have to hurriedly type in the coordinates in the little boxes on the landing panel before I drift too far off course after initating a landing to the wrong destination.

So I found the line to comment out to prevent MechJeb from disconnecting everything, it looks like, at least my simple test rig stopped firing all decouplers:

MJ pod

MJ decoupler

MJ 1m

MJ decoupler

MJ decoupler

MJ decoupler

stock SRB

I moved the bottom decouplers all into a stage above the pod so I could be sure not to fire them. With stock MuMechLib.dll, everything still falls apart, but making a single modification prevents this, commenting out the following line:

MechJebCore.cs: 1107: //p.force_activate();

This is located in the onPartFixedUpdate() function.

It took me ages to find the actual documentation in the wiki on how to set up a project to build a plugin in the first place, all I was finding was the part creation SDK. After that, it only took a few minutes to find the right code to tweak.

Unfortunately, now I\'m left with this, everything gets shoved into one stage of the new / detached vessel:

Trying to copy the staging from all the relevant parts into the new vessel is way beyond what I\'m going to attempt right now...

I imagine we\'d have to either get all the current stages and then see which parts are being detatched, put them into the same #\'d stages in the new vessel, then go in and remove empty stages and adjust all the remainder so be 0 through N. And I\'m not even sure if that\'s doable - might have to track all the parts / staging separately because it may have already separated when we see the event?

[Lodvib]

There should be a kerbol to kerbin transfer, in the orbital operations

[royying]

Could you remove the name field?

I think this field is not necessary and have bug if the craft name is all capital letter

[cttw]

This plugin is fantastic! What a great job!