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

[Tallinu]

So Mr. Duck, here go the record of the Return from Mun error.

I reported this earlier. The weird node placement and messed-up resulting orbit predictions if you click "Go" at certain points around the orbit have apparently been fixed in the current dev build. For the other problem, set the desired altitude higher than 100 and play with the value untli the resulting periapsis is where you want it (or manually edit the maneuver node it creates).

@The_Duck : the debris I left to fall into EVE (wanted to see teh pretteh flames ) crashed onto the ground, but was "marked" as like it still exists, so I couldnt leave to VAB, nor switch vessels (still in atmosphere)...So my whole voyage was for nothing...also, do I really need to launch into 270 heading for inner transfers?

If by "inner transfer", you mean going to Eve or Moho, no. You just have to leave Kerbin traveling retrograde to Kerbin's orbital path. You should still launch onto a heading of 90 degrees for a prograde orbit around Kerbin.

If you're looking at the map with the sun positioned behind Kerbin, you perform your burn to escape Kerbin orbit somewhere on the right side of your orbit around Kerbin, so that your escape path goes off to the left (the opposite of the way you go to travel to the outer planets). The same thing applies for going from a moon back to its planet (Mun > Kerbin, Minmus > Kerbin, etc).

Edited April 22, 2013 by Tallinu

[Tallinu]

Ack... Isn't there a way to delete posts?

[tek_604]

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.

[Climberfx]

Ack... Isn't there a way to delete posts?

They are working on it. Got lost on the server restore, and i already pass the info to a moderator that wold talk to the admin.

[Castun]

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've definitely had some issues with MechJeb 2 and planetary transfers. It usually gets you 'close enough' but a lot of the time it seems like it doesn't calculate quite enough dV to burn, so I have to manually burn a bit extra in order to be close enough for the SoI change. Also, once I did this, I used the rendezvous planner to match planes, and instead of doing the maneuver at the very next AN, it scheduled the maneuver at the DN which was past the SoI change anyway (the orbits matched closely enough so I was still able to be caught by Duna.)

[Canopus]

Sorry this doesn't really belong here but where can i find the latest version of the mumech camera?

[SunJumper]

Also, another possible idea: A SMART-ION option for orbital operations. This would have Mechjeb do the following to make use of ion engines easier:

• Roll to maximise power input on solar panels (or until there is enough power for all ion engines/other parts)
  
• Limit throttle to the maximum that will still allow power flow to the probe modules
  
• If the craft gets too far from the node, it will warp and return to before the node. A tolerance would be set for this prior to burns, e.g. five minutes may be set for LKO, or half an hour for a low solar periapsis
  

Separately, I'm not sure if Mechjeb already does this, but if there is not enough delta-v in the tank to land perfectly, Mechjeb should burn as late as possible to minimise impact velocity.

[COL.Neville]

what ive been seeing is

1. planetary and satellite xfers are whacked. why is it doing all this extra stuff when launch to when it gets to zero and burn again prograde when it gets to zero using the protractor mod and use the adjust pe on soi switch does fine?

2. landing well lets just say you better have 4 or 5 orange tanks of fuel on your one man lander if you try to use the land at target. looks like the next problem is helping with this. it just chases its tail all the way into the ground.

3. its not going back to the smart a.s.s. setting when it finishes a node just sits there and spins.

4. overly complicated to use compared to 198. way. KISS will help with almost all of the above.

[Tallinu]

I've definitely had some issues with MechJeb 2 and planetary transfers. It usually gets you 'close enough' but a lot of the time it seems like it doesn't calculate quite enough dV to burn, so I have to manually burn a bit extra in order to be close enough for the SoI change. Also, once I did this, I used the rendezvous planner to match planes, and instead of doing the maneuver at the very next AN, it scheduled the maneuver at the DN which was past the SoI change anyway (the orbits matched closely enough so I was still able to be caught by Duna.)

Try the 'fine tune closest approach' option in the maneuver planner. And note that the options for plane-matching currently don't include a "next AN *OR* DN", so you have to choose the correct one to make it happen at the right spot.

[Castun]

Try the 'fine tune closest approach' option in the maneuver planner. And note that the options for plane-matching currently don't include a "next AN *OR* DN", so you have to choose the correct one to make it happen at the right spot.

Thanks, I'll try that method. Also, the plane-matching thing in the rendezvous planner just seemed odd to me that instead of scheduling the maneuver at the next node which was only something like 15 days away, it picked the one that was further away by over 100 days, and would have been past the closest approach (I hadn't manually extended my orbit at the time, so my expected orbit still didn't pass close enough to Duna's SoI yet.

But what I ended up doing was just deleting that node and using the maneuver planner interface to match inclination with target, and selected the next node as the point to use.

[HoY]

Custom windows are still randomly deleting themselves.. both in the VAB and launched. about once a day with 20-30 launches (not successfull obviously) I have to remake the two custom windows I use

[M3Man03]

RemoteTech devices no longer recognize MechJeb w/ v2.0.

When using RemoteTech devices for remote control, it no longer recognizes MechJeb as a valid control. After valid communication with a RemoteTech ComSat - it used to allow you to choose "MechJeb" as the control - but it no longer switches to that - just stays at a red "Local Control" indicating there is nothing to control the vessel.

[Fyrem]

M3Man03. you will need to update Remote Tech to version 5, it works with MJ2.

HOWEVER !!!!! your existing Remote Tech version 4 equipment will NOT work at all. they are dead jim.

see http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/16347-PLUGIN-PARTS-0-19-1-RemoteTech-Relay-Network-–-V-0-5-0-0 for all the information you need on the new Remote tech version 5

[WatchDragon]

Is anyone having issues with mechjeb not circlizing orbits properly? I just installed 1.9.8, and when i get to 100,000m and mechjeb starts circlizing orbit, the rocket starts pointing in random directions burning the engines, stops thrust before runnign out of fuel and deorbits itself. While i enjoyed that my rocket actually made it into orbit properly and circleized orbit one time yesterday, it still fell out of the sky because part of the orbit was at 40,000m. That could be the fact it was not Jeb Kermin piloting the ship though.

I do not know if i put a file in the wrong place or what, all i did was copy parts to parts, and plugins to plugins to KSP. ( /games/KSP/parts, not games/KSP/parts/parts)

[GoldenBadger]

I've got weird happenings with MJ2: every so often, the translucent windows become totally transparent (no background whatsoever, virtually impossible to read or interact with, titles overwritten with the first line of the window). Not sure what's causing it (although I do have a fair number of mods installed, so am I hitting some sort of texture limit or other conflict? I don't have any of Romfarer's mods, specifically because of issues with them.) I've tried a few things to try solving it, including the latest snapshot from the dev server (I first saw it when I tried a dev snapshot though, so... Stumped at this point), removing and reinstalling, and deleting the config, but it still happens.

Any ideas?

I've been having this same problem. The first day, MJ2 was working perfectly. Then the next time I started KSP all of the window formatting had vanished. All that was left was misaligned black text. I have tried reinstalling and deleting the plugin resources folder.

[Zhuikin]

@WatchDragon

For me Mechjeb usually does a very good Job at getting into and circularizing Orbits. 1.9.* seems a bit better (more precise) than 2.* even, might be just me imagining things tho.

What you describe (the rocket swaying around unable to keep straight at the mark) is usually a problem with the rocket design itself - mechjeb does not magically turn the vessel, it uses the controls you build in. So if you have a huge, heavy ship with insufficient (or poorly aligned) stability/control elements, it might fail to perform the requested maneuver.

[ummwut]

Is there a zip for the source of 1.9.8?

[johnpoz]

There's an add-on called Haystack that provides a tab in the map screen to pick/select targets (and filter by type) -- it works fantastically well and is very simple. I'm not sure if it got lost in the Great Forum Purge of 2013, though....

here is it http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/haystack/

This looks great! Only reason I found it was your post - so thank you!

[Climberfx]

here is it http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/haystack/

This looks great! Only reason I found it was your post - so thank you!

Wow, good!

[Ryusho]

I don't know if this has been requested, but I would like to suggest adding two features possibly, one, the ability to use the rover auto-pilot with non vanilla rover wheels, if that is in already I don't know how to set that up.

The other thing is, for possibly the ability to help it recognize non vanilla Docking-ports, as I have the Kosmos Space Station pack http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kosmos-tks-spacecraft/

And the docking ports are not recognized, as well as it lines up at a 90 degree angle because of that.

[RoboRay]

MJ2 is shaping up very nicely. There's something from MJ1 that I miss very much, however...

On the Landing Guidance, MJ1 gave you your distance north/south and east/west of the target as separate values. This made it very easy to dial in a manual approach for a precise touchdown, as you could see precisely how you needed to adjust your trajectory and in what direction.

On MJ2, however, you get a single distance value, and there's no indication for what direction you need to adjust. The visible marker on the map is great for rough positioning of your touchdown point, but it's not precise enough for setting down on a specific point. If we're going to stick with a single distance value, can we add a radial direction to the information displayed? So, instead of saying "12.3km" it would say "12.3km NE" or maybe even "12.3km @ 041°".

This would go a long way to eliminating the trial and error I'm having to do on the descents now, as I figure out exactly what direction I need to steer.

Edited April 23, 2013 by RoboRay

[luvsan]

I've been having a weird issue with the game that may be MechJeb related. I've got a gaming laptop with a dual-graphics setup. There's an Nvidia GeForce 670M as the main graphics option, and the Intel on-die HD Graphics that are part of the Ivy Bridge processor in the system as a secondary option. The system basically uses the Ivy Bridge graphics for 2D applications, and switches to the 670M for games/etc.

Obviously I run KSP on the 670M. However, I've been running into an issue where, as near as I can tell, something is actually stopping the 670M from being used as the graphics renderer. In practice, what happens is that KSP turns into a slideshow, and my GPU usage goes from a constant 75-80% to 0%. The common factor I've run into is that this seems to happen while the rendezvous autopilot in MJ2.0 is doing its thing.

.

Try changing it in the nvidia control panel to force it to always use the 670.

I actually have the same setup but haven't seen this problem as far as I know, I only lag with huge ships with lots of parts. Manage 3d settings-> global settings -> preferred graphics processor.

I had to manually add it in the program settings tab I am guessing you have done this hence the gpu switching. Just curious if it's forced if it would work then, a pain yes but then you would be able to play at least. Just make sure to turn it off or you will get crap battery life.

[jawzy]

First off I apologize if these questions have been answered before, I did try and search with no luck.

I have been trying to get mechjeb to operate properly all day with little luck. First, I tried the 2.0.7 version, but every time I tried to use the ascent assist, it never put me in a parking orbit, just kept going, long past the orbit of the next few plants.

So, I then uninstalled KSP completely and installed the 1.9.8 version. I had varying luck with it. I was able to get mechjeb to put in a 100k parking orbit a few times with no problem. But ran into an issue where after I was in parking orbit, none of my (non-mechjeb) commands would work. I could not increase thrust, rotate, or anything, map commands did work though. If I messed with the ascent assist again, it would adjust the throttle, but the engines would not fire.

This issue with my commands not being able to operate by hand I think leads to the next issue, after in parking orbit, I tried to have mechjeb land my craft. It would warp to the proper location, tell me it was thursting, but there was clearly nothing happening. I also tried to have mechjeb put me in a transfer orbit to the mun, it would warp to the right spot, tell me its firing my engines yet nothing was happening.

My last attempt with mechjeb before writing this post, I had my original issue with the ascent assist not putting me in orbit, but continuing to send me out to some far out galaxy. (still using the 1.9.8 version)

I have the steam version of the game, I am not sure if that has anything to do with my issues. I am using no other mods but the downloads that are linked from this page. Any insight on how to fix these problems would be great.

Thank you.

[jawzy]

I have been trying to get mechjeb to operate properly all day. I have no idea if it is something I am doing or if it is because I have the steam version of KSP. I have no other mods installed other than mechjeb.

I first started with the 2.0.7 version. I would use the ascent assist and it would not put me in a 100k parking orbit, rather just continue to shoot me off into a distant land. After trying it about 5x, I completely uninstalled KSP and proceeded to install the 1.9.8 version.

The 1.9.8 version would put me in parking orbit, but after it did I was unable to control my ship at all. I would push buttons but nothing would happen, all other game features worked properly though. I also would try to have mehcjeb control my ship, it would just time warp to the proper location and tell me it was burning, but the engines never turned on.

Then my last attempt mechjeb ascent assist did not put me in parking orbit, rather the never ending journey to god knows where.

Any advice on how to fix these issues would be great. I apologize if this has been asked before I was just unable to find it, but did search. Thank you

[nmdanny]

For some reason the MechJeb interfaces are glitched for me, there's no overlay/background for the menus and the font is small and black, very hard to read. I tried re-installing MJ and removing the MJ plugins folder but it didn't help.