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

[Corbald]

Badarse! TYVM!

Note: You'll have to set MechJebModuleMenu's Enabled = True, but this time it'll STAY true ;D

MJ also seems to want to inherit a planet's movement through space as part of it's calculations for retrograde. I would prefer to use retrograde on SmartASS to land, but it points me off some 45 degrees to the left on Kerbin and 10 degrees on the Mun... ?

#100 should not hide your tabs

Edited October 30, 2013 by Corbald

[Galane]

Galane, you continue to not read our responses to you. They are not in different stages. Mechjeb stages the same way you do when you hit space. If you hit space in the same circumstances, the separatrons would fire the same way, your currently active engines would be brought up to the stage the separtrons are in because you staged to that stage. If you don't want it to autostage (what you told it do do) then turn off autostage.

The one thing not working as designed here is that MJ doesn't determine what direction an engine's thrust transform points in.

What you suggest (not staging until fuel exhausted) would break asparagus launchers, which depend on staging away things as soon as they no longer contribute to the flight. In fact, it would break any kind of parallel staging, whether crossfed or not, because, oh well, can't stage away anything until the core runs out of fuel!

In asparagus or parallel staging, all the engines to be run asparagus style are in the same stage, the decouplers that let them go in sequence are in different stages above the engines. When the fuel associated with each of those stages is gone, MechJeb releases them - if one has ordered the decoupler staging correctly. If the decoupler stage order doesn't match the order in which the fuel tanks drain or solid boosters burn out, MechJeb won't release the empties. It operates strictly in stage order.

I've put together some complicated asparagus staged rockets, both with stock and with mod parts.

What I did was put different engines in two separate stages but MechJeb activates the top one before the middle one is finished burning. The way it works, to get it to not fire the separatron stage immediately after the second solid rocket is fired, I'd either have to set autostage to stop at 1, which defeats the purpose of having a fully automated flight, or I'd have to add weight and complexity by putting radial decouplers between the separatrons and the solid rocket they're attached to - and move those decouplers up a stage so it doesn't simultaneously light and cast them loose.

It should be able to operate the engines strictly in stage order in any case, same as if it's staged manually with the player waiting for each stage to burn out. MechJeb should be able to have such 'patience' to operate the staging the same way.

[Simplicity]

Thank you very much, #100 works perfectly, I got my tabs back, and I didn't have to edit a thing, just dumped the folder into GameData loaded up my career and there they were :)

[Knobby]

Hey guys, tnx for this great mod!

I have a problem though, or perhaps i just don't understand how it should work.

I'm trying to get to Duna. I have a rocket in orbit and let mechjeb plan a node to transfer to the planet.

It says the burn should be in 12 days. As i'm only at 100km i can only warp at 50x. So i switch to a buggy at KSC and warp 10 days ahead.

I return to my interplanetary rocket and plan the node again (the game not remembering nodes when switching vessels is annoying btw) but lo! now mechjeb says the burn is in 226 days!

I know i didn't overshoot my window because the mission timer for my interplanetary rocket is at 10 days, so i should have 2 days left!

What's going on here and how can i fix it?

[rosenkranz]

Great, I'll download 100 when i get home. tyvm!

On the staging thing, I'm not sure I understand Gal's difficulty. Are you not putting the sepratrons in the same stage as the decoupler? I've never had a problem with sepratrons or other ulage motors and MJ autostaging unless i screwed up the staging sequence. It's always been operator error.

Now the one i do have trouble with is fairings. MJ keeps trying to spring em before we're out of the atmo. So any ships with fairings, i've always had to manually stage.

[sarbian]

@Knobby Go to a 600+ km orbit. It won't cost you more dV in the end.

Kerbal Alarm Clock will restore a node if you create an alarm for it, so it may help too. Maybe MJ should do it to ...

But I don't know why it did that. It may be that the second time MJ found a lower dV transfer. I did not look much into the transfer code, but the way it works may give different solution at different time.

[Knobby]

@Knobby Go to a 600+ km orbit. It won't cost you more dV in the end.

Kerbal Alarm Clock will restore a node if you create an alarm for it, so it may help too. Maybe MJ should do it to ...

But I don't know why it did that. It may be that the second time MJ found a lower dV transfer. I did not look much into the transfer code, but the way it works may give different solution at different time.

Tnx for the tip, will try!

[sojourner]

It should be able to operate the engines strictly in stage order in any case, same as if it's staged manually with the player waiting for each stage to burn out. MechJeb should be able to have such 'patience' to operate the staging the same way.

At some point mechjeb cannot read the mind of the designer and know what you intend with your rocket. The staging code is the way it is because the change you want would break many more rockets than it would fix. You just have to take responsibility for your rocket and do a little (very very little) work to get the exact results you want in this situation.

[Jason Cox]

MechJeb WILL burn forever when you have the wrong "control from here" area set. Example, if you have the docking port at the top set as the control point then MJ will burn the engines while the marker gets farther and farther away. I've lost a few ships to that.

I gave this a try this morning; i.e. trying launches with different control points selected. Sadly it appears that the problem persists no matter what control point I have selected. This is just interesting because I never had this problem prior to upgrading...

[NathanKell]

Galane, sorry, I'm done. If you can't be bothered to read my explanation of exactly how MJ works (it's not the way you think), and exactly why what you're suggesting will break things, I can't be bothered to repost it every few hours.

[Lennex]

2) I was using mechjeb prior to .22, upgraded to .22, noticed mechjeb functions no longer worked on my vessels, so I downloaded the .22 compatible version. I notice now that I need to add the mechjeb parts to my ship. That's unfortunate for my existing ships as the program just worked for them prior to the upgrade. My question here is, did I do something that allowed mechjeb to work without it's parts in the prior build and I just forgot that I did something to make that happen, or was mechjeb changed to require it's parts?

Same problem here. I really like to do manual piloting, and especially in career mode it is great fun, but for my main sandbox save I'd still love to get MechJeb back, especially S.A.S.S. and the delta v display are quite helpful and I miss them a lot.

Thanks!

[Monoroch]

I correctly understand, that mechjeb work as autopilot in career only after all research all and research AI as last?

[Corbald]

I correctly understand, that mechjeb work as autopilot in career only after all research all and research AI as last?

Correct. You're fed bits of functionality with each Automation tech-tree node. I like it!

You get the basic readouts with the first Automation research. Ascent and Landing Guidance (and Space-Plane Guidance) with Adv. Automation. That's as far as I am, but you get the idea.

[Starwaster]

Hi,

A few questions / comments.

1) Thank you for your continued support for this mod, I don't know how my feeble mind would play this game without the data and controls this mod provides.

2) I was using mechjeb prior to .22, upgraded to .22, noticed mechjeb functions no longer worked on my vessels, so I downloaded the .22 compatible version. I notice now that I need to add the mechjeb parts to my ship. That's unfortunate for my existing ships as the program just worked for them prior to the upgrade. My question here is, did I do something that allowed mechjeb to work without it's parts in the prior build and I just forgot that I did something to make that happen, or was mechjeb changed to require it's parts?

3) I've been trying to make sense of mechjebs auto landing. My goal is to land next to a target, another ship on the mun if you will. I know that mechjeb is so accurate that it crashes right onto the target I set, which is not good for the kerbals directly below. I've been playing around with the coordinates settings post-set target. I am always either too far or not far enough. My question is, is there an ideal coordinate change that would put me just a couple meters away from the target? Let's use the Mun for this example because I assume the answer would be different for each body.

Thanks again

Some part on your rocket MUST have the MechJebCore module in it.

You probably had a config file (or several) that added it to your parts.

A few builds back though some changes were made that would globally hide all mechjeb functions if it had not been researched, and by globally I mean even in Sandbox mode where there is no research.

So that got reverted out but the settings files for MJ could have it listed as disabled even after that meaning that they have to be hacked to enable it or deleted so it could rebuild.

I think in the latest build it just works (that's #101 last time I downloaded, last night) but any disabled config files still need to be fixed.

[rosenkranz]

Dang. Still doing it. I have a few windows but the main tab remains hidden even though the part itself is available

[Starwaster]

Dang. Still doing it. I have a few windows but the main tab remains hidden even though the part itself is available

Find this file

<KSP install folder>\GameData\MechJeb2\Plugins\PluginData\MechJeb2\mechjeb_settings_global.cfg

There's a part that looks something like this except that in yours windowStat = HIDDEN

You want it to look like it does below.

MechJebModuleMenu
{
	windowStat = NORMAL
	windowProgr = 1
	windowVPos = -419
	windowVector = 1720,319,200,645
	showInFlight = True
	showInEditor = True
	enabled = True
}

alternatively you can just delete the entire file and it should be recreated but then any custom windows you made are lost.

[BananaDealer]

Any chance on getting the Decking autopilot and/or Rendezvous autopilot back?

Saved me a butt-load of fiddling those two...

[Galane]

Galane, sorry, I'm done. If you can't be bothered to read my explanation of exactly how MJ works (it's not the way you think), and exactly why what you're suggesting will break things, I can't be bothered to repost it every few hours.

The idea is to have an autopilot able to run any staging sequence that works when run manually. There's certain setups that work fine when run manually that MechJeb currently cannot run properly.

Why would you not want to see it improved? I'd like to see it able to handle more, apparently you're fine with how it currently is.

[Psykikk]

Hey there

love the mod. its essential for me because some stuff just takes me ages to do it by mself. now the bad thing: since I reinstalled and updated to .22, some options and mechjeb helps seem to be missing.

seems like docking assistant, rendezvous planner etc are all missing. and those are the things that made my day in the first place. did I do somethign wrong ? do i need to reserach those options first ?

please help me

thx

[Galane]

Interesting rocket. Where do you fly it to? (Aside from "to outer space" of course.)

[Psykikk]

just to KO, to pick up some kerbanauts that have been sitting in a station for 11 years non stop, as I forgot to include a landing / reentry-Module on that station.

at least it has a docking port so i can save them.

oh i see i messed up the stages a lil bit. well. its in orbit so got enough time to change it.

anyways, back to my question:

so if i read correctly, only after I research all automation nodes I get the full functionality of mechjeb in career mode ?

Edited October 31, 2013 by Psykikk

[LameLefty]

seems like docking assistant, rendezvous planner etc are all missing. and those are the things that made my day in the first place. did I do somethign wrong ? do i need to reserach those options first ?

please help me

thx

Please scan through the last several days of the thread - this has been asked and answered several times since the mod was updated for Career. Most MJ functions are initially locked in Career mode. As you research Automation nodes through the Tech Tree, progressively more complex and advanced MJ functions are unlocked.

[Psykikk]

Please scan through the last several days of the thread - this has been asked and answered several times since the mod was updated for Career. Most MJ functions are initially locked in Career mode. As you research Automation nodes through the Tech Tree, progressively more complex and advanced MJ functions are unlocked.

thx mate... i feared as much when I saw the other entries.

impatience got the best of me here.

with my posting as well as my mission: since my docking skills are extremely bad i guess I have time to pratice now...

*sigh*

its just not fun for me to feverishly been forced to do stuff in a sandbox game (a single player onee at that) that i just dont enjoy that much (if at all). mechjeb was the perfect solution for me in that regard...

I NEED MORE SCIENCE !!!

[1of6Billion]

thx mate... i feared as much when I saw the other entries.

impatience got the best of me here.

with my posting as well as my mission: since my docking skills are extremely bad i guess I have time to pratice now...

*sigh*

its just not fun for me to feverishly been forced to do stuff in a sandbox game (a single player onee at that) that i just dont enjoy that much (if at all). mechjeb was the perfect solution for me in that regard...

I NEED MORE SCIENCE !!!

Or open the MJ-windows you need in the Sandbox game and go to your career game. BAM! There they are!

[rosenkranz]

Find this file

<KSP install folder>\GameData\MechJeb2\Plugins\PluginData\MechJeb2\mechjeb_settings_global.cfg

There's a part that looks something like this except that in yours windowStat = HIDDEN

You want it to look like it does below.

MechJebModuleMenu
{
	windowStat = NORMAL
	windowProgr = 1
	windowVPos = -419
	windowVector = 1720,319,200,645
	showInFlight = True
	showInEditor = True
	enabled = True
}

alternatively you can just delete the entire file and it should be recreated but then any custom windows you made are lost.

Actually, deleting it was the first thing I did. Well, no, actually the first thing I did was delete the entire MJ2 folder and installed 100 fresh. When that didn't work I tried just deleting the cfg file.

I'll try again.