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Protractor - Rendezvous Plugin - Under New Management!

mrenigma03

By mrenigma03
in KSP1 Mod Releases

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mrenigma03

mrenigma03

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Another suggestion for this plugin would be so that it saves your settings, so I don't have to hide the moons every time I start a flight. Really loving this plugin though, I didn't like having to manually do the math, literally holding a protractor to my screen and stuff. So thanks!

Adding this.

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mrenigma03

mrenigma03

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You are the man, I can't believe how often you add new features to the most handy plugin I have installed! Thank you once again for your great work!

Thanks, glad you like it!

I'm not a software developer by trade, so this plugin is my learning project. All these features are the result of "hmm..I wonder if I can do 'x'" and then learning how. That's also why it gets updated almost daily.

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notasurgeon

notasurgeon

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Thanks so much for this, it has been very helpful!

Today I tried to use it to get to Duna for the first time, and did a burn from a zero inclination circular 100km Kerbin orbit when both angles were zero (the phase angle was actually 0.00 exactly during the burn), but I ended up missing Duna by several degrees of its orbit. The interplanetary burn was short too, because I had a very small lander with an aerospike. Total burn was maybe 20 seconds, with most of the delta-v happening in the first 10. And this exact same method got me to Eve just fine, so I feel like I did everything correctly.

Problem was, I arrived at my apoapsis at Duna's orbit several million miles ahead of Duna. I'm going to try it again with Duna's phase angle at 350 or 355 instead of 0, because 0 was definitely far too early to launch. No interference from the mun or anything else on the way out either. Any ideas what went wrong?

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pina_coladas

pina_coladas

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Thanks so much for this, it has been very helpful!

Today I tried to use it to get to Duna for the first time, and did a burn from a zero inclination circular 100km Kerbin orbit when both angles were zero (the phase angle was actually 0.00 exactly during the burn), but I ended up missing Duna by several degrees of its orbit. The interplanetary burn was short too, because I had a very small lander with an aerospike. Total burn was maybe 20 seconds, with most of the delta-v happening in the first 10. And this exact same method got me to Eve just fine, so I feel like I did everything correctly.

Problem was, I arrived at my apoapsis at Duna's orbit several million miles ahead of Duna. I'm going to try it again with Duna's phase angle at 350 or 355 instead of 0, because 0 was definitely far too early to launch. No interference from the mun or anything else on the way out either. Any ideas what went wrong?

It's most likely because this plugin doesn't account for eccentric orbits. The slight eccentricity of Duna is apparently enough to throw everything off by a few degrees sometimes, unfortunately. The closest approach figures really help though!

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mrenigma03

mrenigma03

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I don't think I've ever once had it where both angles were 0. If I wait for the ejection angle, the phase angle changes off somewhere else.

Get as close to 0 with phase angle first, then as close to 0 with psi. You're really unlikely to get both to 0 simultaneously. The goal is to get as close as possible. You have a decent margin of error depending on which planet you're going to.

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xamino

xamino

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I finally got around to building a rocket capable of (theoretically) doing a there-and-back mission to some of the other planets, so I decided to install this plugin after hearing praise. However, I seem incapable of installing this correctly. I tried searching but I haven't found anything yet. A small tip please? :D

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mrenigma03

mrenigma03

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I finally got around to building a rocket capable of (theoretically) doing a there-and-back mission to some of the other planets, so I decided to install this plugin after hearing praise. However, I seem incapable of installing this correctly. I tried searching but I haven't found anything yet. A small tip please? :D

Extract the .zip. Open the folder called "protractor vx.x.x" (the x changes with each version). You'll see three folders: Parts, PluginData, Plugins. Copy those into your KSP install directory. Click yes to merge/overwrite.

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notasurgeon

notasurgeon

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I agree. I usually burn around 0.01 degrees, and then do some course corrections till i get an intercept. Closent approach= AWSOME

Yeah. I discovered that if I'm going to get there early, I can just keep burning to push the apoapsis a bit past the target's orbit. That gives it time to catch up. Then when I'm about halfway there, I can burn normal or antinormal so I don't end up too far vertically above or below it.

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xamino

xamino

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Installing plugins is easy. Copy the contents of the Plugins and Parts folders into the Plugins and Parts folders of your KSP folder. How easier can it get ?

Ah okay, thank you. I figured it was easy, I just thought the complete thing had to go into plugins. In retrospect stupid, yes. :D

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a1fonzo

a1fonzo

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Is it possible a calculator for say orbital rendezvous of crafts in an orbit around the same body, can be added?

Also, this is the only mod I have ever used (I like playing games "vanilla-style, but couldn't get to any planets by ya know holdin up the protractor), however I love this thing in about 3 hours I've put a spacecraft into orbit around basically every planet.

Edited by a1fonzo
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mrenigma03

mrenigma03

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Is it possible a calculator for say orbital rendezvous of crafts in an orbit around the same body, can be added?

Also, this is the only mod I have ever used (I like playing games "vanilla-style, but couldn't get to any planets by ya know holdin up the protractor), however I love this thing in about 3 hours I've put a spacecraft into orbit around basically every planet.

I've considered adding a "closest approach" that tracks other vessels and debris orbiting the same body as you. Is there anything else useful to display for vessels?

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a1fonzo

a1fonzo

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That works too, although some people could have trouble with that if they don't know how to adjust their orbit in order to make the closest approach closer.

Although if you do debris also, then I would certainly add a toggle for the debris because as someone who has a save with way too much debris I could see that getting annoying.

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mrenigma03

mrenigma03

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Protractor update!

Changes in 2.3.3

- converted to partmodule

- model source files no longer part of package, available upon request

- substantial code cleanup

- fixed draw code to work on SOI intercepts

- added symbol around close approach distance to indicate target is selected for map line

- changed save to use more robust system

I suggest removing all protractor files from Parts, PluginData, and Plugins before installing due to the switch to partmodule and new save system. This will work with previous ships.

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mrenigma03

mrenigma03

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I can't move the protractor window with the newest update. Also the buttons do not work. Is this happening to anyone else?

I think it's a KSP/Unity issue. I've had that problem with just Mechjeb before. Try clicking on the game window, then dragging the protractor window. Also make sure your game is finished loading before trying to move the window.

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