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[1.9.*, 1.10.*, 1.11.*] DockRotate - lightweight robotics - rotational control on docking ports (plus NodeRotate, make any part rotate)

peteletroll

By peteletroll
in KSP1 Mod Releases

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peteletroll

peteletroll

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New release!

Clamp-O-Tron Sr. are fully supported now. They are really strong when coupled in the VAB/SPH, because they are connected by a triple joint (that's why they're harder to rotate).

So, who's going to post a Serenity takeoff video first? :)

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mr. engino

mr. engino

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2 hours ago, peteletroll said:

Your craft looks great, but I can't understand how it works :D

It's quite simple, actually!

Behind the command module is a container where you add the required/assorted rover parts, in the middle is the robot arm mechanism. The mechanism is controlled via custom action groups, at least 2 for each axis of movement, which in this case is 3. Batteries and beams are placed opposite the joint in the hope they would counterbalance, but they don't. On the end of the robot arm is a winch, which you use to hoist up the main body of the rover, so that you can place the wheels on it with extreme precision; nobody wants a wobbly, uneven rover, after all! On the other side of the whole robot arm is a nuclear reactor, for both powering the robot arm, and also for balancing the whole thing. Lastly the entire thing sits on four heavy duty landing legs, with a 2x2 panel on the bottom as a last resort.

Like I said, quite simple! :sticktongue:

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peteletroll

peteletroll

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1 hour ago, Psycho_zs said:

Is custom node selection going to make its way into your TODO?

Definitely maybe :)

Seriously, the progress I made with sr. ports opens a lot of possibilities: I should be able to rotate any part joint now.

DockRotate is very close to what I imagined it to be now. It will stay in small improvements/bug fixes mode for a while, and we'll see how much interest it gets from the community. Then it will maybe have a NodeRotate companion.

Thanks for the interest, and please post pictures of your cool creations!

Edited by peteletroll
removed stuff that was for a different post
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peteletroll

peteletroll

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8 minutes ago, Psycho_zs said:

Offtopic: how does triple joint work? Is it just a triple-strength joint, or three actual joints, do they have geometric offset?

Tiny and small port couples have a single center to center joint*. Large ports have a stronger single joint when they're docked in flight, but three separate joints in a triangular configuration when they're coupled together in the VAB/SPH.

* joint = Unity ConfigurableJoint

5 minutes ago, MarethyuGamer said:

Does this mod have, or will it have, a constant rotation mode? I really like building custom centrifuges, but getting them to rotate is finnicky even with mods

It doesn't now. See my reply to @Psycho_zs for an outlook to DockRotate future improvements.

Edited by peteletroll
typo
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theJesuit

theJesuit

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8 hours ago, peteletroll said:

Definitely maybe :)

Seriously, the progress I made with sr. ports opens a lot of possibilities: I should be able to rotate any part joint now.

DockRotate is very close to what I imagined it to be now. It will stay in small improvements/bug fixes mode for a while, and we'll see how much interest it gets from the community. Then it will maybe have a NodeRotate companion.

Thanks for the interest, and please post pictures of your cool creations!

This is a great mod and what adds to its greatness is the ability to remove the mod and not break craft.  A natural VERY stock alike extention to the main game.

I'm still trying to get my head around making a lift myself, but it makes a stock based launch access tower with swing away ramp easily!

Peace.

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peteletroll

peteletroll

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9 hours ago, MarethyuGamer said:

Does this mod have, or will it have, a constant rotation mode? I really like building custom centrifuges, but getting them to rotate is finnicky even with mods

It doesn't, and I honestly don't know if it will. Constant rotation interferes badly with time warp in the current module architecture.

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theJesuit

theJesuit

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42 minutes ago, peteletroll said:

It doesn't, and I honestly don't know if it will. Constant rotation interferes badly with time warp in the current module architecture.

As a suggestion towards this... maybe a constant rotation that stops on timewarp then restarts so that the movement only occurs when the vessel is not on rails.  

Alternatively a KOS script could manage it but is cumbersome.

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Yargnit

Yargnit

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One thought of a fix that could greatly increase the usability, can you make it only disable auto-struts that cross ports that are being rotated, instead of all auto-struts? On large craft having all auto-struts disable can mean instant death if not backed up with a significant amount of regular struts to take up some of the slack at least. I'd like to make arms that raise and lower docking clamps on my carrier for planes to attach to, but my carrier is 330m long, and would self destruct in about 1 physics tick without autostruts.

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Yargnit

Yargnit

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10 hours ago, peteletroll said:

@Yargnit, landing gears' autostruts can't be disabled manually. But I'm having some ideas I want to try out this weekend. Stay tuned.

I know, but it would work as long as we aren't rotating with landing gear struts running across the hinges.

 

Edit, in case my description was too brief. The thought wasn't to change the default behavior at all, it was just to add another button in the parts right click menu that when enabled would skip the disabling auto-strut step when that port is rotated. So if you don't push the button nothing changes compared to now, but if you push it then you must manually remove the auto-struts that cross the port.

I'd say most of the time the stuff I've built with this doesn't have wheels on both sides of the hinge so this would solve it completely. VTOL engines or moving docking ports/claws up and down are my biggest uses in gravity where auto-struts matter.

 

Edited by Yargnit
clarification
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Yargnit

Yargnit

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On 3/22/2018 at 1:26 PM, peteletroll said:

@Yargnit, I'm trying to keep the usage of the module as simple as possible. Forcing the user to manage the autostruts manually seems a little too much to me. I'm trying some cross rotating joint autostrut detection code now, let's see if I can make it work.

I get that, and in an ideal world I 100% agree. I just think it's far better than not being able to work with auto-struts at all.

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