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

[KOCOUR]

I dont understand how mechjeb works in career mode I have the ar202 case unlocked but I dont get any of the normal menu's only the basic VAB stuff where is the ascent guidance and other tabs

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/12384-PART-0-22-Anatid-Robotics-MuMech-MechJeb-Autopilot-v2-1?p=725240&viewfull=1#post725240

[Virtualgenius]

How does that help ??? Kocour its the same thread I am in

[drtedastro]

Hello, I have been using the version of MechJeb that sarbian was updating and i have now tried this new release. Unfortunately, it seems that like the previous 'formal' release and the dev releases, this new version is burning RCS fuel at a alarming rate, as compared to the version updated by sarbian. I set up a docking test where i had two vessels in orbit around Kerbin, 150 meters apart and then saved "F5" the flight. Then using the new MechJeb release, i went back to the saved state, "F9" and started the automatic docking run. I repeated this three times and the average rcs fuel usage was 72 units. I then replaced only the mechjeb directory with the version from sarbians updates and loaded the same saved game, and repeated the same test, but average rcs usage is 7 units.???? What do i have set wrong with the new version that is making it use 10 times as much rcs as the other version???

thanks for any help with this...

[LordAldrich]

Hey! Thanks for the update, I like the new MechJeb pod! Two questions/suggestions:

1. It's cute, but is there any way to get it to stop staring at me when the autopilot is disabled? Either a manual toggle for the animation or just automatically going back to sleep when the autopilot is off would be great.

2. I noticed that it has a thermal plating texture on the underside of the the eyeball - I thought it might be neat if it could flip around and display that side to protect itself on reentry. Again, maybe a manual toggle, or something to do automatically when a landing autopilot is engaged?

Cheers, and thanks for all of your work on this!

P.S. It also seems to have menu actions for all four landing legs independent of each other? Is that intentional? And why does it have it's own special fuel type, as opposed to just running off of monopropellent or something?

[vanlock]

How does that help ??? Kocour its the same thread I am in

It took me a few minutes to understand his reply.

"Full support for Career mode, with modules individually unlocking in several nodes;"

I too was looking in the game how to get my rendez-vous module and also ascent guidance.

So it seems they are unlock farther down the road ? In which ScienceNodes are they ?

Also, the MJPod is unlocked from start ? i don't find it ;-(

[Typoman]

After installing MJ 2.1, in my existing career mode save I am unable to load any craft in the VAB (possibly also the SPH not tried that) pressing the load icon receives no response. If I build a craft I can still save it.

I have other mods installed but the issue persists even after removing them.

This issue does not occur in a fresh save, but that's not really helpful now that there's actual loss incurred by starting a new one.

KSP Version: 0.22.0.351 (Steam)

Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (SP1)

If there is any other information you need, let me know.

[sarbian]

@drtedastro It's hard to know why it's doing worse without a ship file.

@vanlock the pod is at the end of the tech tree

@Typoman Any message in the log ?

[John FX]

After installing MJ 2.1, in my existing career mode save I am unable to load any craft in the VAB (possibly also the SPH not tried that) pressing the load icon receives no response. If I build a craft I can still save it.

I have other mods installed but the issue persists even after removing them.

This issue does not occur in a fresh save, but that's not really helpful now that there's actual loss incurred by starting a new one.

KSP Version: 0.22.0.351 (Steam)

Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (SP1)

If there is any other information you need, let me know.

I had this issue with 2.09, it appeared with 0.22. It depends on which mods are on the craft in your save directory and their tech tree nodes. When I downloaded treeloader this issue was caused as parts got moved.

Hope that helps.

[Typoman]

@Typoman Any message in the log ?

just a few lines of this

[EXC 20:02:38.877] NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

edit: Hmm i'm not entirely sure why, but in attempting to find any more info for you the issue has righted itself... I'll let you know if it crops up again. I did delete autosave.craft (i have no idea when it was made) which could be related.

edit2:

I had this issue with 2.09, it appeared with 0.22. It depends on which mods are on the craft in your save directory and their tech tree nodes. When I downloaded treeloader this issue was caused as parts got moved.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, seems I inadvertently fixed this issue while attempting to narrow down possibilities.

Good to know it's not a MechJeb issue.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Typoman

[r4m0n]

Hey! Thanks for the update, I like the new MechJeb pod! Two questions/suggestions:

1. It's cute, but is there any way to get it to stop staring at me when the autopilot is disabled? Either a manual toggle for the animation or just automatically going back to sleep when the autopilot is off would be great.

2. I noticed that it has a thermal plating texture on the underside of the the eyeball - I thought it might be neat if it could flip around and display that side to protect itself on reentry. Again, maybe a manual toggle, or something to do automatically when a landing autopilot is engaged?

Cheers, and thanks for all of your work on this!

P.S. It also seems to have menu actions for all four landing legs independent of each other? Is that intentional? And why does it have it's own special fuel type, as opposed to just running off of monopropellent or something?

1 - It gets bored and goes to sleep around 30 seconds after you stop using it.

2 - It already uses it on reentry.

P.S. - That is a KSP bug while using multiple legs, and the separate fuel is so you don't accidentally drain the landing engines fuel while using RCS.

[Galane]

For the first time, with the 2.1 release version, I'm having the issue where roll gets pegged all the way to the right and yaw almost all the way to the right while sitting on the pad with the ascent guidance autopilot engaged.

I launched a few rockets tonight, no problems. Did rendezvous and dockings in Kerbin and Mun orbit, no problem. Everything built before switching in the new MechJeb.

I decided to finish the evening's work by launching another Large Rover to replace the smallest one I'd disposed of on Mun. Launched it and off course it went. "WTH?" I thought. Not the most stable rocket anyway so I tried again and let it twirl. After making a full rotation it stood upright and continued with the program, but with too much fuel burned off the first stage to make it to orbit.*

So I reverted again and watched the indicators. Yup, it's that bug again.

Another issue (that I've noticed through the last few dev builds but never reported) is that Smart A.S.S. and Docking Autopilot have their degrees for force roll 180 degrees out of phase. This is easy to demonstrate. Rendezvous with another ship and get lined up for docking. With the ships tgt+ at each other's docking ports, enable force roll on one.

When it stops turning, disable force roll and turn off Smart A.S.S. then turn on docking autopilot on the same ship and enable DA's force roll. The ship will roll 180 degrees instead of staying in the same zero degree alignment Smart A.S.S. put it in.

Large Rover launch in this zip file. Large Rover and its launcher require Kethane mod, ReStock, Stretchy Tanks and inline reaction wheels from KSPX. I stuck a small one on the bottom of the rover because with just the large one on top, away from COM, it was too sluggish at rotating in orbit.

ZIP file size is about 776K, includes a text file with some notes and links to all mods used. If you don't have MechJeb or don't want to use it, none of these rockets have the AR-202, I use the stock control pods with cfgs edited to integrate it and only have the MechJeb2.dll in the Plugins folder under the main game folder.

Until the 2.1 release version I haven't had any serious issues with MechJeb, other than problems with the automatic adjusting ascent path in KSP .21. But that's the past. Deleted KSP .21 tonight. No need to go back to it after using KSP .22.

*Well, probably could make orbit but it'd have to dump the 2nd stage to get there and that's needed for Trans-Munar-Injection with this heavy rover. It gets to 71KM with stage 2 on and I launch a tanker built of ReStock parts to fill it up for the Mun trip.

[Ringkeeper]

hmmm.. i have the Mechjeb Ar202 case unlocked. But i miss some of functions. Spacecraft helper and Auto-Lift-off, landing guidance at least. Or do i get them only, if i also research the pod ?

[sarbian]

@Ringkeeper function unlock as you research node in the tree. For exemple Advanced Flight Control will unlock the Maneuver Planner (and others)

@Galane

For the roll on start I did not find a way to reproduce each time, so it's not easy to debug. Most likely some var is not reset between flight.

"Smart A.S.S. and Docking Autopilot have their degrees for force roll 180 degrees out of phase" : Good catch. It seems I align with Vector3d.back for docking and Vector3d.forward for target. I'll look into it.

Thank for the zip, it's the kind of thing that really help to fix bugs.

Can you check if the "Use Stock SAS" in the Attitude Adjustment window is active or not ?

[willow]

Hey I have two suggestions for mechjeb which I hope you'll like.

There is the option for custom windows now where we can add our own variables and in some cases there is even support for buttons and checkcontrols. This is awesome it stops my screen from becoming cluttered and I want more of it Would it be possible to add commands from the maneuver planner dialog directly to custom windows? So that we could activate our favourite maneuvers from a custom dialog with a click of a button? It's okay, preferable in fact, if you can't set any parameters in the custom dialog after the button is made. If you frequently set your apoapsis to 100, 120 or 150, that would be done by adding 3 buttons. If you make the "Execute" "Abort" and "Remove" node buttons available to put in those same custom dialogs. Then that would save a whole lot more screen clutter.

Another feature that no mod offers as of yet is a projection in the flightscene where the ship would hit the ground on the current trajectory which will be useful in precision landings, for example if you're trying to group a few landers for a mini mun base. I'm an experienced player, but I find it very hard to guestimate where my ship is going to touch down when constructing such bases and I usually need to do a few hops before I get my craft to the right spot.

[Demon_82]

Oh, god... I didn't know the "eye pod" I've Heard of before was this eye. SPAAAAAACE!!! I now have a serious urge to use it as main body of all my satellites xD

[Galane]

Another feature that no mod offers as of yet is a projection in the flightscene where the ship would hit the ground on the current trajectory which will be useful in precision landings, for example if you're trying to group a few landers for a mini mun base. I'm an experienced player, but I find it very hard to guestimate where my ship is going to touch down when constructing such bases and I usually need to do a few hops before I get my craft to the right spot.

When you select the target for landing guidance, you can directly target a ship on the surface. At least on airless bodies it's now so accurate you'll need to interrupt the autopilot and either manually take over the landing or poke Land Somewhere so it'll just plot the fastest place to land, which if you do it at the right altitude will be pretty close.

What I'd like to see is a function to "Miss target by" with a box to enter in how many meters to miss it. Should only be available if the target chosen is a ship or other thing that is "live" and controllable.

It would also be nice if in the pre-programmed landing target list was the old KSC and the island runway, and for KSC a second spot that's not trying to hit the launchpad.

[drtedastro]

@drtedastro It's hard to know why it's doing worse without a ship file.

?

What is the correct way to attach a file to this post?

[sarbian]

Copy the content of the file to http://pastebin.com/ and post the link. List the used mod too.

[drtedastro]

Ok, I hope this works. The craft used for the tests is http://pastebin.com/RA5z2yMT

mods installed for test(s); Engineer, Impossible Innovations, KSPX, VOID and then depending on which test MechJeb 2.1 (burns LOTS of rcs) or MechJeb from MechJeb2-Multipatch.zip, which uses very little rcs.

thanks for looking at this.

[jimos]

Is there a way to disable auto warp for rendezvous auto pilot it keeps slamming me into the mun no mater how far away i tell it to stop

[willow]

When you select the target for landing guidance, you can directly target a ship on the surface.

Thanks for the tip, I know the feature, but like you say, it puts your ship on top of the other ship. Which means you need to steer. When you steer, my suggestion would come in handy then. But also if you want to position yourself near landmarks or when you wish to put your landing craft in a line or circle. Like I said, precision landings.

But to be fair, I'm way more interested in :

There is the option for custom windows now where we can add our own variables and in some cases there is even support for buttons and checkcontrols. This is awesome it stops my screen from becoming cluttered and I want more of it Would it be possible to add commands from the maneuver planner dialog directly to custom windows? So that we could activate our favourite maneuvers from a custom dialog with a click of a button? It's okay, preferable in fact, if you can't set any parameters in the custom dialog after the button is made. If you frequently set your apoapsis to 100, 120 or 150, that would be done by adding 3 buttons. If you make the "Execute" "Abort" and "Remove" node buttons available to put in those same custom dialogs. Then that would save a whole lot more screen clutter.

[sarbian]

@jimos The RdV AP is to meet a ship in orbit. It will always always crash you if you use it on a moon

You should use the "Hohmann transfer to target" in the Maneuver Planner followed by "Fine tune closest approach to target"

@willow What will appends a some point is that I'll add a pad to move the landing point by X meters in some direction.

And for your suggestion I don't think the current code allow for that easily.

Edited October 24, 2013 by sarbian

[jimos]

The RdV AP is to meet a ship in orbit. It will always always crash you if you use it on a moon

You should use the "Hohmann transfer to target" in the Maneuver Planner followed by "Fine tune closest approach to target"

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! hehehe how long after the hohman transfer burn is finished do i use fine tune approach ?

Edited October 24, 2013 by jimos

[Senshi]

When you select the target for landing guidance, you can directly target a ship on the surface. At least on airless bodies it's now so accurate you'll need to interrupt the autopilot and either manually take over the landing or poke Land Somewhere so it'll just plot the fastest place to land, which if you do it at the right altitude will be pretty close.

Once you have selected the landed target vessel, its coordinates are entered automatically in the coordinates boxes. Just edit those by a few degree minutes ( or even seconds) to plop your lander right next to it, without the need of panically steering yourself or hitting "Land somewhere" during descent, which can cause you to end up really far from your target.

[sarbian]

The sooner the better