[1.0.5] T.I.M. - Thrust Indication Module v1.1

[wrcsubers]

Introducing T.I.M - Thrust Indication Module!

T.I.M allows you to easily visualize your current thrust output and efficiency using the stock GUI. T.I.M. displays a second needle in the throttle gauge next to the NavBall and shows you the current thrust output as a percentage of the engine(s) total capable thrust.  Very handy for Planes or anywhere you find an atmosphere.

This First Picture shows an Aerospike running at 100% throttle on the launchpad at KSC. 153.7kN is about 86% of the Aerospikes maximum thrust output, and thus the needle is sitting just below the throttle needle.


This second picture shows how the spooling down of a Jet Engine still produces thrust even when the throttle is set to 0.




Features in v1.1:

• Shows current, combined Thrust Output of all active engines on vessel:
  • The gray needle in the throttle gauge shows the current percent thrust, just like the throttle percentage.
  • Works with all Engines
• Thrust Calculations have been updated to the following model:
  • For Jet Engines, VelCurve and AtmCurve are evaluated and depending on the resulting Thrust Multiplier, the following calculations are used:
    • If the resulting Thrust Multiplier is greater than 1.0, Maximum Thrust Multiplier is multiplied by maximum engine thrust in part cfg.
    • If the resulting Thrust Multiplier is less than 1.0, only the maximum engine thrust from the part cfg is used.
  • All other engines use the maximum engine thrust from the part cfg.
• Two different indicator styles are now available:
  • Stock mode with two needles (as shown in the above screenshots).
    • Throttle Needle is white, Thrust Needle is grey.
    • The opacity of the Throttle Needle will now fade when near the Thrust Needle so you can see it better.  This fade amount can be configured in a config file.
  • Split Needle mode (as shown below).
    • This shows one needle similar to the stock needle when Thrust = Throttle. 
    • Shows a split needle when values are different, Throttle (top half) and Thrust (bottom half).
    • 

To Change Needle Types Open: GameData\ThrustIndicationModule\Config\ThrustIndicationModule_PluginSettings.cfg

There are comments inside this file, but...

To use the split needle instead of two separate needles change 'UseSplitNeedle' to 'true'.  To use the dual Needles, change 'UseSplitNeedle' to 'false'.

To change the opacity of the Throttle Needle when in stock needle mode change 'StockGaugeColorAlpha' between '0.00' and '1.00'. 0 is completely clear, 1 is completely opaque.

Next Update:

• Suggestions?

Known Compatible Mods:

• This mod doesn't change any stock values, it simply reads engine parameters, does some math and shows results.  This means that T.I.M. should be compatible with *most-to-all* mods.  The list below shows confirmed working mods, if you happen to run into a mod that is NOT compatible, please let me know.
• FAR, SpaceY, Kerbal Aircraft Expansion (KAX), Interstellar Fuel Switch

Download:
You can download T.I.M. - Thrust Indication Module from Kerbal Stuff here
or
You can download T.I.M. - Thrust Indication Module from Curse here

 

Source:
Source code can be found here
License:
T.I.M. - Thrust Indication Module is released under the MIT License
 

Special thanks to xEvilReeperx for helping me with some code =)
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions; I am wide open =) I appreciate any help with my code and ideas for improvement.

Thanks for Looking!

Edited December 2, 2015 by wrcsubers
v1.1 Release - Compatible Mods addition

[MK3424]

Neat! now that's something really useful, especially with jet engines!

[wrcsubers]

[quote name='MK3424']Neat! now that's something really useful, especially with jet engines![/QUOTE]

I'm glad you like it!

I'm quite the plane enthusiast myself, so it's rare that I even leave Kerbin (or the SPH) these days. I'm always looking for something to make flying easier and more enjoyable.

Please let me know if you have any issues!

[FungusForge]

This is something I've wanted for some time now.

[Streetwind]

Very neat. Earmarked for future download...

[wrcsubers]

Bump for v1.1 release.

Please read over the new Thrust Calculation method and let me know what you think.

I chose this method for two reasons. 

1. I didn't like that the values would exceed 100% and your indicator wouldn't be able to show this.  I originally changed it so that the indicator constantly evaluated the AtmCurve and VelCurve and got it's max capable thrust from those combined.  While this worked fine, you didn't get much movement in the needle as your engines always run, pretty close to this amount. 
2. I liked the fact that you could see when you were really getting poor performance out of you engines, which was really the original reasoning for this mod. 

I think that this method of calculating thrust is a nice balance between the two.  If anyone has any comments or suggestions I would enjoy hearing them!

Thanks!

Edited December 1, 2015 by wrcsubers

[Gaarst]

Really nice mod, pretty useful even for rockets.

I have two questions:

1. Is it compatible with 1.0.4 ? (I know I could just drop the files in my 1.0.4 install, but if anyone knows, that'd be quicker)
2. Does it work with modded engines and Real Fuels ?

[Warezcrawler]

wow... amazing..... Simple og rather usefull! Love it.

[wrcsubers]

8 hours ago, Gaarst said:

Really nice mod, pretty useful even for rockets.

I have two questions:

1. Is it compatible with 1.0.4 ? (I know I could just drop the files in my 1.0.4 install, but if anyone knows, that'd be quicker)
2. Does it work with modded engines and Real Fuels ?

Hi Gaarst! To answer your questions...

1. T.I.M. should be compatible with 1.0.4, I don't think you should have any issues.  Most of the mechanics should be good for anything after 1.0.
2. Yes! This mod is simple in the fact that it doesn't change any values.  As long as people are integrating engines with stock part modules (most are) everything should work fine.  I've tested a few mods and added the to the Original Post.  If you run into any that aren't compatible, please let me know.  Also, if you know some that I can add to the list, I would like that information as well.

[wrcsubers]

On 12/4/2015, 6:43:06, WildLynx said:

Looks like TIM does not detect, that navball is re-sized by enhanced navball mod

Thanks for the feedback WildLynx! I'll look in to this ASAP and get a patch out. Thanks Again I appreciate it.

[wrcsubers]

On 12/4/2015, 6:43:06, WildLynx said:

Looks like TIM does not detect, that navball is re-sized by enhanced navball mod

Hey WildLynx,

I was unable to replicate the issue you are having.  Here is what I had...

 

Seemed to show up fine here... I'm using http://kerbal.curseforge.com/projects/enhanced-navball-v1-3

Send me a screenshot if you can...

[wrcsubers]

5 hours ago, WildLynx said:

Enhanced navball 1.3.6

Looks like it's resizing with the navball ... strange.

Also, I have square monitor 1280x1024 - don't think it's matters ...

A lot of mods, but ... nothing that can distort screen ...

Interesting... I did get it to go wonky on me once when I loaded an existing craft on the runway, but as soon as I reloaded it everything was back to normal and it was scaling with the NavBall.  I'll take a look at the code for ENB and see how they are re-sizing it, see if I can't put a check in there to make sure it is the right size.

It's finals week so I might not get to it right away, but I'll look into it. =) Thanks Again

[djnattyd]

I'm also getting weirdness when using TIM and ENB although my issue is that the ghosted needle appears outside of the navball. This happens even if I reset the navball size to default.

[wrcsubers]

On 12/9/2015, 10:19:12, djnattyd said:

I'm also getting weirdness when using TIM and ENB although my issue is that the ghosted needle appears outside of the navball. This happens even if I reset the navball size to default.

Hey djnattyd,

Thanks for trying TIM.  I'm working on updates for a couple pluggins right now, and TIM is next on my list. 

Seeing as I can't seem to get the issues others are having to reproduce reliably on my setup, would you maybe be interested in testing out new versions for me once I get them up and running? PM me if you (or anyone else) is interested in doing this for me.

Thanks!

[bgeery]

I'll beta test for you.

BTW, I did edit the UseSplitNeedle = false in the CFG file, as true is the default.

[AbsoluteHuman]

Does a revived version of this mod exist somewhere? It is looking pretty useful