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

[UberFuber]

Fair enough, although perhaps there should be some visual indicator that this has been selected, so it can be noticed and disabled before it interferes with an otherwise carefully planned manoeuvre?

Not sure about "disable it before it activate". But once it activates, the Utility menu item will turn green to indicate that some sort of limit is activated.

[Roxette]

... is it possible to edit the ship/craft file after it is in space? and if so how. (it looks like i put the port on backwards and would like to fix it with out having to redo the take off again.

Anything is possible, as Jeb keeps saying... It is tricky, as sojourner says - you need to locate the game data file - persistent.sfs in the KSP\saves\<game name> directory and then use a text editor to change the specific data. Once you've located the correct docking port on the correct craft, you need to change some numbers...

PART

{

part = dockingPortLarge_4294795574

...

pos = x,n,y <<---- change the number n between the commas to n-0.29

rot = -1,0,0,0 <<---- change to 0,0,0,1

...

attN = top,... <<---- change 'top' to 'bottom'

... or you write it off to experience and launch the mission again, as was said

Standard disclaimers apply. Save a copy of the file before editing, if it breaks you get to keep all the pieces.

[Starwaster]

Anything is possible, as Jeb keeps saying... It is tricky, as sojourner says - you need to locate the game data file - persistent.sfs in the KSP\saves\<game name> directory and then use a text editor to change the specific data. Once you've located the correct docking port on the correct craft, you need to change some numbers...

PART

{

part = dockingPortLarge_4294795574

...

pos = x,n,y <<---- change the number n between the commas to n-0.29

rot = -1,0,0,0 <<---- change to 0,0,0,1

...

attN = top,... <<---- change 'top' to 'bottom'

... or you write it off to experience and launch the mission again, as was said

Standard disclaimers apply. Save a copy of the file before editing, if it breaks you get to keep all the pieces.

That number at the end of the part name only exists in the craft file. In the save files it's saved as just the part name. (with underscores changed to periods)

[calkhi]

Could someone please explain to me how this mod works now?

I'm freakin lost to hell on it. Used to be so simple...

Seriously, I can't research the part.

Is that a bug?

Edited November 15, 2013 by calkhi
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[Galane]

Stuff I learned fixing a problem craft. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52288-Rover-wheel-alignment

You do not want to edit the Rot = line in the persistent or save file. That tracks the orientation of the part. (Tracking every part to many digits after the decimal point is likely where some lag comes from on large ships.) What you want to edit is the attRot = line. Set those numbers to attRot = 0,0,0,1 for a port facing up. attRot appears to be a fixed value that carries over to persistent.cfg 0,0,0,1 is apparently the default "straight up" orientation for any part. Seems weird but it worked on my rover, for the wheels on both sides!

If it's not facing straight up, make a quickie craft of just a probe body with a port stuck on in the orientation you want, then open the saved craft file in a text editor and copy the attRot numbers to that part in your persistent file. Be aware that each part in the craft and other files has a long identifier number tag added to its name, and the names used in those files are often not the same as in the parts inventory in the game.

I did that to correct some crooked wheels on a rover that was on Minmus. In the pos = line, the middle number in the craft file is the part's height above the VAB floor. If you need to vertically align some parts after launch, you can edit that middle number. I did that with the rover wheels.

Keep in mind that that number is not a constant! If you move the craft up or down in VAB it changes for every part. Don't try making large changes, if you're vertically aligning several parts placed one at a time, pick the number of one and copy it to the others.

Making things more difficult is KSP apparently uses radians to track rotation instead of degrees. 1 radian is an arc of a circle with the same length as the radius, which makes the number of radians in 360 degrees = 6 and a bit or 2 times Pi.

Since the craft, persistent and quicksave files are plain text, it should be possible to write an external program to do things like adjust part placement and orientation, swap one part for another (though for anything but parts in outer locations with nothing else attached that would be very difficult), aligning several parts to the same plane or even swapping complete crafts. Swapping a landed craft would require being able to copy and apply the rotation values and location/surface altitude correctly. Swapping a craft in space would be much safer, just pop it in there 'upright' then alter the rotation in-game. Swapping a docked craft is most likely right out.

It would be much easier to fix a problem craft by correcting it in VAB or SPH then using an external program to swap the entire craft instead of editing in-situ for anything more complicated than a slight vertical position or attRot problem on a part.

Renaming a craft or editing any other descriptive text, all you need for that is a text editor.

I've looked for such external craft and savegame editors but haven't found any yet.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Galane

[NicoH]

As GitHub only says 404 if I try to report the bug, I'll report it here:

As I entered Kerbin's atmosphere, all objects in my game stopped moving. The GUI and the timecounter weren't affected by this.

My KSP.log is full of these entries:

MechJeb module MechJebModuleThrustController threw an exception in Drive: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  at MuMech.CelestialBodyExtensions.RealMaxAtmosphereAltitude (.CelestialBody body) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at MuMech.VesselState.TerminalVelocity () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at MuMech.MechJebModuleThrustController.TerminalVelocityThrottle () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at MuMech.MechJebModuleThrustController.Drive (.FlightCtrlState s) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at MuMech.MechJebCore.Drive (.FlightCtrlState s) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

[sarbian]

Thanks for the log. Any other mods ?

[NicoH]

Yes, there are a couple of other mods I use, but it ran smoothly until now.

Aviation Lights,

City Lights,

Kerbal Joint Reinforement,

Docking Port Alignment Indicator,

Nova Punch2,

Part Catalog,

Remote Tech 2,

Stretchy Tanks

[Hakkonen]

Sorry if this has been posted before, but, well... 384 pages to wade through.

I installed MechJeb 2.1 by extracting the .zip into my GameData directory, per the instructions. There are now two subdirectories inside GameData: Squad and MechJeb2.

I loaded my saved career game. The MechJeb part in the VAB says it requires an "Entry Purchase" in R&D. I went to the R&D lab, located the part in the "Flight Control" tech node (previously researched) and clicked on it, confirming when prompted that I wanted to research the part. I went back to the VAB... and the MchJeb AR-202 case still says it requires an Entry Purchase. Went back to R&D, now there are two MechJeb parts listed under Flight Control. Researched the part a second time, returned to VAB; same deal. I have now researched this part three times, and it is still not available for use.

Do I need to start a new career game in order to use MechJeb2?

There are no other mods installed.

[brians200]

If you install mods after unlocking the correct part of the tech tree, you need to go to the tech tree and reunlock it. You will see a red number on the tech tree node. Then on the right, click on the part and click unlock

[Starwaster]

Sorry if this has been posted before, but, well... 384 pages to wade through.

I installed MechJeb 2.1 by extracting the .zip into my GameData directory, per the instructions. There are now two subdirectories inside GameData: Squad and MechJeb2.

I loaded my saved career game. The MechJeb part in the VAB says it requires an "Entry Purchase" in R&D. I went to the R&D lab, located the part in the "Flight Control" tech node (previously researched) and clicked on it, confirming when prompted that I wanted to research the part. I went back to the VAB... and the MchJeb AR-202 case still says it requires an Entry Purchase. Went back to R&D, now there are two MechJeb parts listed under Flight Control. Researched the part a second time, returned to VAB; same deal. I have now researched this part three times, and it is still not available for use.

Do I need to start a new career game in order to use MechJeb2?

There are no other mods installed.

Might be a problem with your save file. I had this problem with other parts before. One thing I had to do was edit the save file (it's just a text file, use Notepad++ on it) and remove a bunch of duplicate parts from the tech fields in the save file. And the same part was also scattered across several of those tech fields. In that specific case it happened because I added the tech requirements to all parts missing it before the specific parts pack was officially updated and the mod author then updated it. Because I'd used a blanket catchall that was different than the one that was officially assigned to that part the game ended up adding it to a second tech field which confused it because in the R&D it knew that I had purchased it but in the VAB it saw that I still hadn't.

[Hakkonen]

The save file is persistent.sfs, right? What am I looking for? I deleted the redundant entries for the AR-202, but it still wasn't available in the VAB. I started a new game, flew a couple of missions to gain enough science to research Flight Control with the AR-202, and it's still not available. I guess my next step is to try deleting and reinstalling KSP.

[Isntitveird]

I'm having no luck getting MechJeb to show up at all. I've read the instructions and tried several times. I've copied the MechJeb2 folder to the Game Data folder. I've deleting all KSP folders and reinstalled more than once. Incidentally, I've used the Kerbal Engineering Redux and it works fine. One other thing, the Mk16 parachute does not have a picture on it when I view it in the R&D tree. This has been the case throughout all of the installs. Does anyone have a clue as what could be wrong?

[Hakkonen]

I tried starting a sandbox game. The AR-202 is available in the VAB... but there are two of them. One of them costs 550, the other 750. Their stats are identical, except that the cheaper model lists "Max SAS Torque: 5" and "Crew Capacity: 0." The more expensive model does not have value for either of these.

[sarbian]

Hakkonen : It seems you have an old version of the part somewhere. Delete the mechjeb folder and re install the last version.

Isntitveird : use pastebin to post the content of KSP_Data\output_log.txt

[Isntitveird]

Update: I noticed that if I explored the uploads_2013_10_MechJeb2-2.1.0.0 file, that the file structure was different than what's in the Game Data folder. The structure in the zip is: MechJeb2\Plugins\MechJeb2.dll. But in the Game Data folder it is \MechJeb2\Plugins\PluginData\MechJeb2. The .dll was dropped at the Plugins level. The \PluginData\Mechjeb2 folder was empty. So, I copied the MechJeb2.dll file and dropped it into the \PluginData\Mechjeb2 folder. Then I started a new sandbox game. Hooray! MechJeb was there and working. The problem now is that MechJeb is still not there in career mode. I think I'm getting close but I'm not sure what else to try. Any ideas?

[Isntitveird]

I tried to paste from pastebin and it told me: The text that you have entered is too long (245887 characters). Please shorten it to 100000 characters long.

[sojourner]

I'm having no luck getting MechJeb to show up at all. I've read the instructions and tried several times. I've copied the MechJeb2 folder to the Game Data folder. I've deleting all KSP folders and reinstalled more than once. Incidentally, I've used the Kerbal Engineering Redux and it works fine. One other thing, the Mk16 parachute does not have a picture on it when I view it in the R&D tree. This has been the case throughout all of the installs. Does anyone have a clue as what could be wrong?

Where do you have ksp installed? if in C:\program files, try moving it to C:\games. Same if you have the KSP folder on your desktop.

[labtopia]

is there an estimate of when AUTOM8 is coming back?

[labtopia]

When using MJ to dock like to space stations, it seems to run into either the space station or other ships frequently while maneuvering. is there a plan for it to be aware of other objects while it's maneuvering around?

[Hakkonen]

My issue has been resolved. I went through the entire directory tree of my KSP installation and deleted everything related to MechJeb (several folders and files), then reinstalled MechJeb2 from scratch. It now works, thank you.

[Kruppski]

Ascent guidance seems to have a bug wherein it starts trying to face the rocket retrograde, or at least 90 degrees off from the correct direction. .....

I have the same problem. No solution.

[Isntitveird]

Where do you have ksp installed? if in C:\program files, try moving it to C:\games. Same if you have the KSP folder on your desktop.

It was installed on a separate hard drive. I tried as you suggested and created a new Steam directory in my C:\Games folder. I then installed KSP and the Mechjeb mod. Everything is the same:

Mk16 parachute picture is missing in R&D tree. Am I the only one not seeing this? If so, how could I be replicating this problem if I'm reinstalling?

MechJeb is present and working in Sandbox mox.

MechJeb is nowhere to be found in Career mode. No parts, no mention of it in R&D.

This is really frustrating.

[sarbian]

When using MJ to dock like to space stations, it seems to run into either the space station or other ships frequently while maneuvering. is there a plan for it to be aware of other objects while it's maneuvering around?

I have plan to check the size of what your are docking with and move around when you are not on the good side, but don't expect anything that involve more than the ship you control and the one you are docking to.

[softweir]

Ascent guidance seems to have a bug wherein it starts trying to face the rocket retrograde, or at least 90 degrees off from the correct direction.

...

Have you tried mechJeb without the other mods?