[1.12.x] Anatid Robotics / MuMech - MechJeb - Autopilot - [2.14.3] [4th March 2023]

[strider3]

On 10/7/2020 at 12:08 PM, HansAcker said:

That's the spirit!

In my experience, precision landings require a TWR that's not too high (neither too low, of course) and responsive attitude control. More or less balanced RCS thrusters help, too. If MJ starts pulsing the throttle or roasts the engines on a slow brake burn, I reduce engine thrust.

@HansAcker When you mention TWR...do you have a range in mind that is "not too high or low"?

[strider3]

On 10/7/2020 at 6:47 AM, Tonka Crash said:

 If that doesn't work I use the Translatron to hover taxi from where I landed to where I need to be

@Tonka Crash Can you explain a bit more on using the translatron function? The only YouTube video I found is 6 years old...and the ship crashed! Say I land safely, but my ship is too far away to reach the hoses so I can transfer fuel to it from my mining base. How do I use translatron to move me closer?

[Tonka Crash]

@strider3 Open up SMART.A.S.S and set to Surf Up and Translatron in Keep Vert mode.  In Keep Vert mode, Tranlatron will keep vertical speed to what you set.  SMART.A.S.S Surf Up tries to keep your nose point at the sky.  So what I do is set my modes, then give Translatron a couple clicks up to climb and then click back to 0 when I'm at the altitude I want.  With Translatron a 0 you will hover until you are out of gas. 

Now I can use either RCS or tilt the rocket in the direction I want to go. I find it easiest to roll so pitch inputs go to/from the primary direction I want.  Yaw then tilts to slide left/right.  When I get to the target area I slow down with RCS or tilting or hit the Kill H/S to stop completely if I'm moving slow enough.  Then click Translatron to -1 or -2 to settle back to the ground.

The Kill H/S check box in Tranlatron will try to stop any horizontal motion by tilting the rocket. It can be very aggressive if you are moving fast. Make sure it's unchecked before you try to liftoff or you won't be going anywhere.  Don't try to engage it low and moving fast.  Also if you are hovering and check it, then uncheck it SMART.A.S.S will disengage.  So be sure to click the SURF UP button again or you will start to tumble.

I always make a quicksave before starting a maneuver just in case I screw it up.  And usually I keep the speeds relatively slow at less than 5 m/s if I'm just doing a reposition and I'm only a few meters up.  Although I've cruised across Minmus flats at 40 m/s just a couple meters off the ground.

[strider3]

30 minutes ago, Tonka Crash said:

@strider3 Open up SMART.A.S.S and set to Surf Up and Translatron in Keep Vert mode.  In Keep Vert mode, Tranlatron will keep vertical speed to what you set.  SMART.A.S.S Surf Up tries to keep your nose point at the sky.  So what I do is set my modes, then give Translatron a couple clicks up to climb and then click back to 0 when I'm at the altitude I want.  With Translatron a 0 you will hover until you are out of gas. 

Now I can use either RCS or tilt the rocket in the direction I want to go. I find it easiest to roll so pitch inputs go to/from the primary direction I want.  Yaw then tilts to slide left/right.  When I get to the target area I slow down with RCS or tilting or hit the Kill H/S to stop completely if I'm moving slow enough.  Then click Translatron to -1 or -2 to settle back to the ground.

The Kill H/S check box in Tranlatron will try to stop any horizontal motion by tilting the rocket. It can be very aggressive if you are moving fast. Make sure it's unchecked before you try to liftoff or you won't be going anywhere.  Don't try to engage it low and moving fast.  Also if you are hovering and check it, then uncheck it SMART.A.S.S will disengage.  So be sure to click the SURF UP button again or you will start to tumble.

I always make a quicksave before starting a maneuver just in case I screw it up.  And usually I keep the speeds relatively slow at less than 5 m/s if I'm just doing a reposition and I'm only a few meters up.  Although I've cruised across Minmus flats at 40 m/s just a couple meters off the ground.

@Tonka Crash Thanks, buddy! Will let you know how it works for me.

[rextable]

Hello all

I'm just reporting an unholy interaction of doom between the latest Clickthough Blocker and Mechjeb - LOG HERE.

I've tested this with no other mods installed accept Module Manager and can confirm the problem is persistent and repeatable. Interestingly, the game loads with no errors or warnings and runs as one would expect with only one mod or the other installed, just not both together.

I've left the same message over on the Clickthrough Blocker thread too.

X

[Tonka Crash]

@rextable Your log is not publicly shared, none of us have permission to look at it.

[antipro]

maneuver-planner - Intercept only, no capture burn (impact/flyby)

hi, I'm close to eve on the way back for kerbin after a 90km eve flyby.
From a sun orbit, in order to reach eve from kerbin, I have used it cause it seemed better.
But in this particular scenario, look ss, there's not so much difference between both the maneuvers.
I can't decide what is better: enable or not enable the "Intercept only, no capture burn (impact/flyby)" option in maneuver-planner?

Can someone please explain me when it is usually supposed to be used? what does it do when enabled?

Edited October 12, 2020 by antipro

[The_Arcitect]

Is anyone else having issues with landing?

(btw I got log files...)

Edited October 12, 2020 by The_Arcitect

[DaveyJ576]

I am using BDB to fly an Apollo lunar mission. The Maneuver Planner puts me into a trajectory that has my CSM/LM flying an east to west orbit (right to left) around the Mun. I landed fine, but once I tried to launch from the Mun, Ascent Guidance wanted to fly the ascent stage into a west to east trajectory, 180 degrees opposite from which the CSM was flying! I eventually launched manually and made it to orbit, but could not figure out how to launch from the Mun into a westbound trajectory using Ascent Guidance. Can this be done? Or do I need to enter Munar orbit flying in the other direction? If so, how?

Thanks for the guidance!

[HansAcker]

5 minutes ago, DaveyJ576 said:

how to launch from the Mun into a westbound trajectory using Ascent Guidance

Try a launch to 180° inclination.

Edited October 14, 2020 by HansAcker

[VoidSquid]

Just now, HansAcker said:

how to launch from the Mun into a westbound trajectory using Ascent Guidance

Manually.

[DaveyJ576]

3 minutes ago, HansAcker said:

Try a launch to 180° (or -90 if you prefer) inclination.

Dang, I knew that it would be simple. I didn't think of that but it makes sense. I will try it tonight!

[denniscm]

On 10/12/2020 at 7:23 PM, The_Arcitect said:

Is anyone else having issues with landing?

(btw I got log files...)

Yeah, i don't know if it's just for me, but, before the last update the landing was good. But now, it's not good, it's trying to do suicide burn and missing by a lot.
But i think this is really hard to do it.

[maddog59]

On 10/12/2020 at 4:23 PM, The_Arcitect said:

Is anyone else having issues with landing?

(btw I got log files...)

Yes, I am as well ... orbiting Mun at ~50km (KSP v1.10), with the latest version of MechJeb2 installed (just did so today), and it's taking me to the opposite side of the Mun from where I want to land. Been looking around for a solution without luck. This seems to be a recurring issue w/ MechJeb, as I've seen lots of posts dated several years ago. 

Good to know it's not just me, right now...

<8 HOURS LATER>

I've been trying to find the boundaries of where MechJeb2 works and where it doesn't. There seems to be a valid 'box' where MJ2 works properly (on the Mun) in the region of 27N/17E; 25N/25E; 11N/, 11E; and so far I've been able to land as far west as 10N/35W, but nothing in the South.  There may be other variables involved, but I'd be curious to see if anyone else has similar results, where there's a zone of viable landing areas. 

My ship is starting at:  Ap: 72.7km; Pe: 52.5km; Period: 55m 13s; Inclination 163.5; Ejection: 17.0; LAN:280.1; ARG PE: 316.7; Eccentricity: 0.0385

Hopefully some of this information is of use in trouble-shooting this excellent mod. Any comments, suggestions, observations are welcome! 

 

<A FEW HOURS LATER

 

So maybe it looks like you have to be within a certain range of the landing site when you active the Landing Guidance. I got down to a low orbit of ~15km, and within 35 degrees of the landing site, and the guidance worked fine. 

Edited October 18, 2020 by maddog59

[JakGamingKSP]

Mechjeb Refuses to show, I have tried Reinstalling and still doesnt work

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-6KMt_RV7Ra0zSDBfLgNMm3EmGozeugQ/view?usp=sharing

KSP log ^

 

[antipro]

if you put a vessel to an eve 400km polar orbit, your "advanced transfer to another planet" can create a node for kerbin?

[HansAcker]

3 hours ago, antipro said:

if you put a vessel to an eve 400km polar orbit, your "advanced transfer to another planet" can create a node for kerbin?

It did for my Eve probe (on a ~400x100km polar orbit). I'll know in 2 years game-time if it works ;)

 

[dresoccer4]

hi friends. I'm getting back into KSP after a long hiatus, and am re-learning MechJeb. 

I'm having an issue with the autowarp feature; namely, it's not working for me. For example, when I do a simple maneuver (like change apoapsis) and execute, the craft spins and aligns with the correct maneuver attitude, but then never begins auto-warp. It just sits there,

However  if I manually press the . key to increase warp to 5x, then mechjeb takes over and increases the warp to the correct speed, and then decreases it normally when it's time to maneuver .

but it refuses to start up warp at the beginning of a maneuver. is this happening with anyone else? thanks

[LTQ90]

4 hours ago, dresoccer4 said:

hi friends. I'm getting back into KSP after a long hiatus, and am re-learning MechJeb. 

I'm having an issue with the autowarp feature; namely, it's not working for me. For example, when I do a simple maneuver (like change apoapsis) and execute, the craft spins and aligns with the correct maneuver attitude, but then never begins auto-warp. It just sits there,

However  if I manually press the . key to increase warp to 5x, then mechjeb takes over and increases the warp to the correct speed, and then decreases it normally when it's time to maneuver .

but it refuses to start up warp at the beginning of a maneuver. is this happening with anyone else? thanks

Hi dresoccer4, same "issue" for me. It depend how much rotation wheel, but i always press the accel time key to manually to begin the warp.

[dresoccer4]

6 hours ago, LTQ90 said:

Hi dresoccer4, same "issue" for me. It depend how much rotation wheel, but i always press the accel time key to manually to begin the warp.

thanks for confirming! while obviously not game breaking, maybe it's a sign of some other underlying issue in the code. good to know it's not just me breaking it  

[darthgently]

I mostly dock on my own, but there are times when I'm docking several tugs to some big thing with a short window of time and I use MechJeb docking to ease the brain burden.  But the biggest use case for this is asteroids but I can't use the current Docking Autopilot for that.  What would be great is if the Docking Autopilot worked with the Grab units as a control from and targeting CoM were integrated into it also.  Has this been, or is it being, considered?  Thanks for all you do.  Let me know if you have a coffee fund

[CAPFlyer]

Quick question - on PVG guidance, is there any way to get it to ignore an ullage stage?  I use Engine Igniter and I'm finding it problematic with the ullage stage because it tries to use it before the coast and even if I manually actuate it, I have to like wait 5-6 seconds beyond the end of the coast to ensure that it stages properly and doesn't kill the throttle when the dV hits 0 on the ullage stage maneuver.

[HansAcker]

On 10/21/2020 at 5:12 PM, darthgently said:

if the Docking Autopilot worked with the Grab units as a control from

It already does, if you ignore the warning message.  The docking autopilot tries to bring the positions of the controlling part and the target together, looking at each other. Neither of them necessarily have to be docking ports.

On 10/21/2020 at 5:12 PM, darthgently said:

targeting CoM

Indeed, the autopilot currently does not allow targeting positions (if an asteroid CoM target isn't even another kind of target), only docking-port-alikes, vessel CoM and celestial bodies, apparently.

I'm not convinced, though, that using the docking autopilot in this way would lead to a good connection to the asteroid. It would not consider the asteroid surface normal and just try and stick the claw in at any angle, as long as it points to a fixed "face" of the CoM.

Spoiler

Yes, the docking autopilot can target celestial bodies. It's probably not very useful, either

 

Edited October 24, 2020 by HansAcker

[darthgently]

15 hours ago, HansAcker said:

Indeed, the autopilot currently does not allow targeting positions (if an asteroid CoM target isn't even another kind of target), only docking-port-alikes, vessel CoM and celestial bodies, apparently.

I'm not convinced, though, that using the docking autopilot in this way would lead to a good connection to the asteroid. It would not consider the asteroid surface normal and just try and stick the claw in at any angle, as long as it points to a fixed "face" of the CoM

  Hide contents

Yes, the docking autopilot can target celestial bodies. It's probably not very useful, either

 

 

Thanks for the info, I'll start coloring outside the lines in this regard and see what happens.  I'm not certain, but it seems like, with asteroids, that the moment you get a second connection from a separate vehicle, even one with vague control authority, latched onto it the task becomes much, much more manageable as the flexing and whipping nearly always evaporates once I've done this even when the second craft isn't placed well and has very little torque or thrust capability given its position, angle, connection quality (grabber with one "toe" in the target etc).  Almost as if the code tosses you a bone just for getting the second control point latched on.  I'm not sure if a great connection that also targets CoM is really required in this sense at this point.  But one still needs the main engine thrust in line with CoM at some point to get decent braking for placing asteroids into orbit

[darthgently]

On 10/12/2020 at 6:23 PM, The_Arcitect said:

Is anyone else having issues with landing?

(btw I got log files...)

On occasion.  I got munarly lithobraked at 80+ meters per second the other day when I got up to do a quick chore.  Pulled up the quicksave from right before engaging Landing Guidance and manually landed just fine so not positive what the issue was.  I had come back to the game just as it slammed into the surface and I read a vertical speed of -86.xx m/s.  I suspect that RCS had turned itself off and mechjeb couldn't get it to orient properly and lost control.  The RCS mysteriously turning off is nearly always the reason Landing Guidance goes off the rail in my experience.  Accuracy aside, it mostly works for me but I definitely have to babysit that RCS functionality.  I don't know why it gets turned off sometimes by either mechjeb or something else, not sure, idk. 

TL;DR -> watch that the RCS stays on and turn it back on if it goes off, if your craft needs it for control authority

I've also has situations where even though there is plenty of opportunity to land where I targeted, it wants to land me hundreds of kilometers downrange instead.  It just brakes way too late.  Again, I'm not sure this is a mechjeb issue.  It might be getting starved of processing time or something by something else

Edited October 24, 2020 by darthgently