Protractor - Rendezvous Plugin - Under New Management!

[mrenigma03]

I miss the howto you had on how to use this on the first post. Could you bring that back?

Click the "?" on the in-game window for a manual. It was a pain to keep the manual in the OP updated as features were added or tweaked.

[hubbazoot]

Awesome. Thanks.

[Rickenbacker]

This mod is awesome, both visually and function-wise. I love the calculator strapped to my rockets, and this finally allowed me to reach other planets - eyeballing it just wasn't cutting it. I now have two ships in orbit around Duna, so thanks for a very useful addition to the game!

The only thing I might add is a button to switch to the old style of angles display, where it'd display the actual angle, and you matched it to the displayed angle of your ship, rather than waiting until it was down to 0. This is nice and intuitive, but it kind of hides the mechanics of it all .

[Cypherwraith]

Excellent mod overall, definitely better than waiting for those irritatingly long transfer burns in mechjeb. However, I've found that it works even if theta is within ~20 degrees of zero from either side, so long as Psi is close to zero when you burn. This often throws deltaV off by a few (hundred) meters/second. From there, you have to play it by ear.

Also, when it says 'burn' when theta equals zero, does that imply that your ship is already in orbit? Or are you supposed to launch at theta=0?

[mrenigma03]

Protractor update.

Changes in 2.3.4

- fixed bug where windows occasionally reset

- fixed bug where GUI toggle icon may not display

Excellent mod overall, definitely better than waiting for those irritatingly long transfer burns in mechjeb. However, I've found that it works even if theta is within ~20 degrees of zero from either side, so long as Psi is close to zero when you burn. This often throws deltaV off by a few (hundred) meters/second. From there, you have to play it by ear.

Also, when it says 'burn' when theta equals zero, does that imply that your ship is already in orbit? Or are you supposed to launch at theta=0?

It's best to wait for Theta to be close to 0 before launching because you can time warp at 100,000. The best result would be to start your ejection burn at the time when theta and psi are both 0.

Edited October 18, 2012 by mrenigma03

[maltesh]

Protractor update.

Changes in 2.3.4

- fixed bug where windows occasionally reset

- fixed bug where GUI toggle icon may not display

It's best to wait for Theta to be close to 0 before launching because you can time warp at 100,000. The best result would be to start your ejection burn at the time when theta and psi are both 0.

I put a protractor on a rover, and drove it far enough away from the pad that launching a craft wouldn't force-delete it.

Now, when I want to lanch interplanetary, I load the rover, and use it for 100k time accel until its go time, then either exit to the Space Center and load the interplanetary craft for launching, or switch to the map screen to load an interplanetary craft already in orbit.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Just made my first rendezvous with Duna last night. Well, got distracted by Ike on the way and now have an ISA Map Sat mapping Ike. I'll probably leave that one there and launch another one for Duna itself. All thanks to this mod. Makes things like this a lot less hit and miss. I know I'd be doing a lot of missing if I was using any of the other methods.

[mrenigma03]

New version!

Changes in 2.4.0

* new! when body is focused and intercept is detected, your predicted inclination is displayed below closest approach

* new! click theta symbol to toggle between estimated time and angle to next launch window in days, hours minutes format

* new! click phi symbol to toggle between estimated time and angle to next launch window in days, hours minutes format

* fixed text alignment for tracked dv

[Dweller_Benthos]

Awesome, nice update. Hey, looks like I had the very last post before the forum died.

[ramses]

I searched for this the other day after having quite a break from KSP and to my surprise couldn't track it down.

Has Protractor been on hiatus as well?

About to head to Eeloo for the first time so I'm stoked to see it's been updated for .19.

Edited April 25, 2013 by ramses

[mrenigma03]

I searched for this the other day after having quite a break from KSP and to my surprise couldn't track it down.

Has Protractor been on hiatus as well?

About to head to Eeloo for the first time so I'm stoked to see it's been updated for .19.

Nope, it hasn't gone anywhere. You may have been looking during the forum catastrophe when it's possible that links were broken or something, but it has been on space port the whole time. The link in the first post is working and now more obvious:

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/protractor-for-ksp-0-18/

[ramses]

All good,

Cheers Enigma, only mod I use.

[czokletmuss]

Is deleting the parts required as well or can I just paste the new plugin and plugin_data into the game folder?

[mrenigma03]

Is deleting the parts required as well or can I just paste the new plugin and plugin_data into the game folder?

Officially, I advise that you delete all mod parts and files before upgrading.

Unofficially, it's usually only the .dll that changes from one version to another, but that isn't always the case. At the very least, delete the config file and replace the .dll, but don't say I didn't warn you

[mrenigma03]

Updated for 0.20. New installation instructions, so delete all old files.

Unzip the Protractor folder to your GameData\ folder in the main game directory. The resulting path should be ...\GameData\Protractor\...

[knightofni]

Thanks for the update enigma ! I still prefer to use the protractor over the new maneuver technique.

[XerZin]

Will try this out, not fun to allways use Mechjeb for longer and harder travels

[DeathSabre]

I've tried to put the protractor on the new lander command pod and I can't see the instrumentation. its my first time using this mod. is there something I'm missing?

[mrenigma03]

I've tried to put the protractor on the new lander command pod and I can't see the instrumentation. its my first time using this mod. is there something I'm missing?

Make sure you have the latest KSP and Protractor versions, and are using the new installation instructions. The mod uses the new plugin system introduced with 0.20.

If that doesn't work, can you check the log (someone please post the exact file path, I'm out of town without access to my KSP install) and note any mentions of Protractor in there?

[KhaosCorp]

Will try this out, not fun to allways use Mechjeb for longer and harder travels

As much as I love MechJeb and use it a lot its actually rather bad at planning interplanetary transfers. MJ(even the new and improved MJ2) bases its transfers mainly on Phase Angles, but this is only one of three data points you need when doing a transfer like that. Sure MJ will get ya there, but your gonna use a lot of extra fuel. I use MechJeb for everything EXCEPT the main transfer burn.

Example:

Both flights start from a circular kerbin orbit of 610km (I do this for max warp)

MechJeb2 plans injection burn to Duna....required Dv for this shows as 1000m/s or more

Doing the same burn with protractor....820ish m/s Dv

Keep in mind these are numbers only for the intial injection burn....not mid course burn or stabilizing orbit at destination

May not sound like much, but 200m/s Dv can be make or break for a mission

[Initar]

Just a quick note on the thread title, as a french guy.

"Rendez", from the verb "rendre" means "give back". "SE rendre" means "going to". And "rendez-vous à" means "lets meet at". "Rendez" alone really does'nt mean anything in this context. I know it's subtle, but the difference is huge. That's french! (and saying "rendez-vous" with the english accent is just so cute ^.^ )

Anyway that's a great mod, Mechjeb is just too much for me, this one is perfect.

[mrenigma03]

Haha, thanks for the lesson. I know "rendez" doesn't mean anything (in English, at least), but the title had to be shortened when it became a forums convention to add info like the version number and KSP compatibility to the thread title. Hence "rendezvous" became "rendez."

Glad you like the mod!

[Will_hynes]

I just installed this mod a few days ago and I love it. Although, today the ui is not showing up, the calculator is on my rocket and ive hit the little button multiple times and no luck... Should I just re-install?

[mrenigma03]

I just installed this mod a few days ago and I love it. Although, today the ui is not showing up, the calculator is on my rocket and ive hit the little button multiple times and no luck... Should I just re-install?

Try restarting KSP, and if that doesn't work, delete the Protractor folder and reinstall the mod. Let me know if that works.

[Will_hynes]

Restarting did nothing but re-installation did the trick. Despite the small problem, its still a great mod!