Maneuver Node Controller [0.8.0]

[schlosrat]

Updated to 0.9.5

* Updated to use UITK for KSP2 as the GUI (replacing IMGUI). This update helps improve performance in the game (the mod's GUI is only updated once per frame, and only those parts that need updating are updated, vs. IMGUI which redrew the whole mod twice per frame). This also means the mod is now dependent on and requires UITK for KSP2 to be installed for it to work, however the latest SpaceWarp version (1.3.0) also requires UITK for KSP2, so you were gonna need that one anyway...

Note, this update also fixes an issue where the mod's UI was ridiculously narrow and unreadable if there were no nodes. If you're still using 0.9.4 and you've updated your game to 0.1.3 and SpaceWarp to 1.3.0, then you're gonna want this update. 0.9./4 seems to work fine if there is one or more maneuver nodes, but will not look right or be easy to sue if you happen to need to create a first node.

Download from SpaceDock here: https://spacedock.info/mod/3270/Maneuver Node Controller

or GitHub here: https://github.com/schlosrat/ManeuverNodeController/releases/tag/0.9.5

Or get it from CKAN when that updates (shouldn't be long)

Edited June 24, 2023 by schlosrat

[schlosrat]

Updated to 0.9.6

• Fixed an issue that would cause NRE errors to spam the log when loading a save from an open game.

GitHub: https://github.com/schlosrat/ManeuverNodeController/releases/tag/0.9.6

SpaceDock: https://spacedock.info/mod/3270/Maneuver Node Controller

[schlosrat]

Updated to 0.9.7

• Added display of trajectory encounter info for previous and next orbits to aid in fine-tuning encounters
• Updated display of Ap and Pe for previous and next orbits so that these fields autoscale from m up to Gm to prevent very large orbits from overfilling their display space
• Changed display font to LibertationSans (a Linux variant of Arial that's free to distribute) for the main GUI. This allows a larger font size to be used with a crisper, cleaner font that's easier to read
• Changed the title font to Orbitron because it's way more futuristic and just plain cool (and also free to distribute!)
• Changed the borders around the UI and buttons to better match the stock game and other common mods like Flight Plan and K2-D2

GitHub: https://github.com/schlosrat/ManeuverNodeController/releases/tag/0.9.7

SpaceDock: https://spacedock.info/mod/3270/Maneuver Node Controller

[schlosrat]

Here's a quick video to demo the new MNC 0.9.7 Encounter display capability. Note, that in this version of MNC, and using Node Manager 0.5.7, it's currently necessary to add a second empty (0 Delta V) node for the encounter information to be correctly displayed. I think this shouldn't be the case, and am working on finding a way to get this working without that hack. In the mean time, it's at least possible to get the correct info.

 

[schlosrat]

Updated to 0.9.8

• Added the patch transition start and end info to the encounter info group. This makes it possible to quickly see the effect of node adjustments that might result in things like SOI escape, collision with a body, etc. without needing to be in map view.
• Updated dependency for Node Manager to require 0.5.8 which includes an improved node creation process enabling mods like MNC to have the correct encounter and transition info as soon as a node is created or modified without needing a hacky process of making a second unnecessary node.
• Updated the look of the UI to align with the game, K2-D2, and Flight Plan for colors and thicknesses of borders, etc.

GitHub: https://github.com/schlosrat/ManeuverNodeController/releases/tag/0.9.8

SpaceDock: https://spacedock.info/mod/3270/Maneuver Node Controller

Here's a sample to show the new look relative to K2-D2, FP, and the game's UI elements

Edited July 21, 2023 by schlosrat

[adaniel87]

Is it possible for the window to scale ? It takes up quite a bit of screen real estate. Is it supposed to scale with the new stock UI scale option?

I've loved this thing so far, though. Like the Precise Maneuvers mod for KSP1 was, this is a mod I just can't play without at this point.

Edited July 26, 2023 by adaniel87
rewording

[schlosrat]

16 hours ago, adaniel87 said:

Is it possible for the window to scale ? It takes up quite a bit of screen real estate. Is it supposed to scale with the new stock UI scale option?

Good question! I’ll look into that - it may be possible now that it’s a UITK gui. Also, I could make some parts of the display optional like the previous/next orbit and encounter info. Would making those parts optional help you?

[Falki]

No scaling out of the box, I'm afraid. Stock UI scale doesn't affect mods. In "UITK for KSP2" (mod) you can manually adjust scaling in Settings, but that will scale everything that is done in UITK, including Micro Engineer for example. If that suits you, great!

[schlosrat]

On 7/26/2023 at 8:11 AM, adaniel87 said:

Is it possible for the window to scale ? It takes up quite a bit of screen real estate. Is it supposed to scale with the new stock UI scale option?

Would it help you if I made the Previous Orbit / Next Orbit block optional?

In the next version there will also be a Post Node Event Lookahead block below the Previous Orbit / Next Orbit block, This new block only displays up to the next 4 events (SOI entry / exit, fly by distance, collision, out of fuel) and automatically goes away entirely if there are no events, but it could also be made configurable optional.

Changes like these would make the UI more compact at the cost of displaying less info.

Other possible changes would be generally a harder to put under dynamic user control such as using a smaller font and making rows of info less tall. Such things can certainly be done, but finding a way to do them so that the user dynamically configures them may be a bit tricky.

[schlosrat]

Updated to v 1.0.0!

With this update, I believe we're essentially at full capability for this mod and future updates are probably bug fixes or minor improvements in UI layout, etc. This release adds some capability to reduce the amount of screen realestate needed for the mod, with the default being to give you all the info.

• Added Post-Node Event Lookahead information block. This info block displays up to 4 events anticipated after the selected node. If fewer than 4 events are anticipated, then only that may are displayed, and if no events are anticipated the info block is omitted entirely. The user can also enable/disable the display of this info block via the mod's configuration panel (Alt-M -> Open Configuration Manager). Reportable events include the following
  •     Collision (reported in red)
  •     SOI Entry (body and time)
  •     SOI Exit (body and time)
  •     Orbit Intersection
  •     Fly By (Pe and Inclination)
  •     Partial Out of Fuel
  •     Completely Out of Fuel
• Corrected issue with the Previous Orbit / Next Orbit information block where sometimes the wrong Next Orbit info was displayed
• Added user-configurable setting to enable/disable the display of the Previous / Next Orbit Info block (Alt-M -> Open Configuration Manager)

GitHub: https://github.com/schlosrat/ManeuverNodeController/releases/edit/1.0.0
SpaceDock: https://spacedock.info/mod/3270/Maneuver Node Controller

Edited July 28, 2023 by schlosrat
corrected formatting

[schlosrat]

Here's a quick demo of Maneuver Node Controller v1.0.0 and its Post-Node Event Lookahead feature. This demo shows how a node created using MNC can be easily edited, and how the post-node events will be automatically displayed. It also shows how a node created in another application (Flight Plan) can be similarly edited and will also show its post-node events.

Note that in this demo, the display of the Previous Orbit / Next Orbit info block is disabled. This is done through the MNC configuration settings panel which is shown below. You can enable or disable either of the optional info blocks (Post-Node Event Lookahead and Previous / Next Orbit Display) using this interface, that's accessed via the SpaceWarp modlist interface (Alt-M -> Open Configuration Manager -> Pick the Maneuver Node Controller mod)

These optional info blocks default to Enabled as shown above, but you can disable them if you don't need them and want MNC to take up less space on your screen.

Edited July 28, 2023 by schlosrat

[Kerbin Launch Coalition]

This mod looks sweet, going to have to add this to game. I miss being able to do *precise* manoeuvres.

[adaniel87]

Re: the UI scaling I asked about above (sorry, totally forgot) -- the UITK scaling setting helps a ton. One thing I've definitely realized would help would be if the maneuver node controller window would auto-hide when a maneuver is completed/deleted and auto-appear when a new one is made. That's definitely the biggest specific pain point for my usage

[schlosrat]

17 hours ago, adaniel87 said:

Re: the UI scaling I asked about above (sorry, totally forgot) -- the UITK scaling setting helps a ton. One thing I've definitely realized would help would be if the maneuver node controller window would auto-hide when a maneuver is completed/deleted and auto-appear when a new one is made. That's definitely the biggest specific pain point for my usage

Glad to hear that the UITK scaling is helping you! Your suggestion to allow for auto-hide / auto-appear is an interesting one.  That may be feasible, I'll look into it.

What do you think you might like to see if there is more than one node out there? Presumably auto-hide only takes place if there are no nodes remaining in the future, but if you've got, let's say, three nodes ahead and one of them completes, then I'm assuming that would mean "stay up please" unless you choose to dismiss it via the app bar button or the close button.

Edited August 11, 2023 by schlosrat

[adaniel87]

On 8/11/2023 at 6:13 PM, schlosrat said:

Glad to hear that the UITK scaling is helping you! Your suggestion to allow for auto-hide / auto-appear is an interesting one.  That may be feasible, I'll look into it.

What do you think you might like to see if there is more than one node out there? Presumably auto-hide only takes place if there are no nodes remaining in the future, but if you've got, let's say, three nodes ahead and one of them completes, then I'm assuming that would mean "stay up please" unless you choose to dismiss it via the app bar button or the close button.

yep, my personal preference would be for it to auto-close when the last remaining maneuver node is deleted/completed and then auto re-open when a new maneuver node is created again

[schlosrat]

22 hours ago, adaniel87 said:

yep, my personal preference would be for it to auto-close when the last remaining maneuver node is deleted/completed and then auto re-open when a new maneuver node is created again

Updated to v 1.0.1

• Added new configuration parameters for autoLaunch and autoClose (both defaulting to false).
  • When Automatic Launch is enabled, then MNC will automatically launch itself any time a new node is created (either manually, or by any other means)
  • When Automatic Shutdown is enabled, then MNC will automatically hide itself any time there are no nodes remaining in the future.

SpaceDock: https://spacedock.info/mod/3270/Maneuver Node Controller#changelog

GitHub: https://github.com/schlosrat/ManeuverNodeController/releases/tag/1.0.1

You can access the MNC configuration parameters by going into the MODS menu on the launch screen or pressing Alt-m in-game. From there select Open Configuration Manager. Within the configuration manager, pick Maneuver Node Controller 1.0.1 and set up your preferred configuration values which will be set each time you launch the game.

[adaniel87]

oh wow, that was quick! Thanks so much!

I went and messed around in-game with it and have found a couple of bugs (just to make clear that I was using it, I first made sure to enable both "Automatic Launch Enable" and "Shutdown Enable" in that menu) . First, the maneuver window seems to go away at some point during the burn itself and remains closed for the rest of it – it seemed like it was after a second or two of burning, but I wasn't able to pinpoint what exactly was the trigger for its closing in the couple of minutes I had free to investigate. After deleting that maneuver (so I have no active maneuvers left), the window does correctly appear when I make a new maneuver as it should, though.

It also looks like having the new options enabled breaks the App Bar listing for MNC, so it won't ever open manually, both when there's no maneuver node and also while it's in that state I mentioned above where during the burn the window went away (meaning once it went away I could never get it back without deleting the maneuver I was burning through and creating a new one)

This is kind of confusing to get written down concisely, and I don't have very much experience with this kind of stuff, so let me know if anything wasn't very clear. Again, though, thanks!

[schlosrat]

On 8/15/2023 at 11:35 PM, adaniel87 said:

oh wow, that was quick! Thanks so much!

I went and messed around in-game with it and have found a couple of bugs (just to make clear that I was using it, I first made sure to enable both "Automatic Launch Enable" and "Shutdown Enable" in that menu) . First, the maneuver window seems to go away at some point during the burn itself and remains closed for the rest of it – it seemed like it was after a second or two of burning, but I wasn't able to pinpoint what exactly was the trigger for its closing in the couple of minutes I had free to investigate. After deleting that maneuver (so I have no active maneuvers left), the window does correctly appear when I make a new maneuver as it should, though.

It also looks like having the new options enabled breaks the App Bar listing for MNC, so it won't ever open manually, both when there's no maneuver node and also while it's in that state I mentioned above where during the burn the window went away (meaning once it went away I could never get it back without deleting the maneuver I was burning through and creating a new one)

This is kind of confusing to get written down concisely, and I don't have very much experience with this kind of stuff, so let me know if anything wasn't very clear. Again, though, thanks!

Thanks for the feedback! My hunch is that what's happening when MNC goes away during the burn is that it sees the current node as being in the past and so lowers itself. It should be fairly easy to have it drop only after the current burn is done, perhaps with a bit of margin. I've got an idea for how to work that, so I'll see if I can get something out soon for that.

For the second matter, I had thought I'd solved that when I was testing it, but I'll look again. It would help me if you could jot down the steps you've taken when you've seen this happen so I can do my best to recreate them.

[schlosrat]

On 8/15/2023 at 11:35 PM, adaniel87 said:

I went and messed around in-game with it and have found a couple of bugs (just to make clear that I was using it, I first made sure to enable both "Automatic Launch Enable" and "Shutdown Enable" in that menu) . First, the maneuver window seems to go away at some point during the burn itself and remains closed for the rest of it – it seemed like it was after a second or two of burning, but I wasn't able to pinpoint what exactly was the trigger for its closing in the couple of minutes I had free to investigate. After deleting that maneuver (so I have no active maneuvers left), the window does correctly appear when I make a new maneuver as it should, though.

It also looks like having the new options enabled breaks the App Bar listing for MNC, so it won't ever open manually, both when there's no maneuver node and also while it's in that state I mentioned above where during the burn the window went away (meaning once it went away I could never get it back without deleting the maneuver I was burning through and creating a new one)

Fixed (mostly) in v 1.0.2

• Updated Automatic Shutdown capability so that it will not automatically close until the last node has been completed. Previously, it would close as soon as the universal time was greater than the start time of the last node, which had the effect of taking down the GUI before the node was completed.
• Corrected logic so that with Automatic Shutdown turned on, the GUI will stay up when commanded up by the player (via the app bar or hotkey), or when commanded up by another application (e.g. Flight Plan, etc.). With this change, Maneuver Node Controller will stay up until either it's manually closed or a node has been created and that node was subsequently deleted or completed.

There is one little wrinkle that I was not able to track down and fix - it may be in the game's logic as I could find no cause for it in MNC. For some reason, if you're in Flight View and you've not yet switched to Map View at least once during your game session, then when you create a node using Flight Plan (or presumably any other mod that can create nodes for you), then MNC does not come up automatically even if you have Automatic Launch turned on. If you flip into MapView, then MNC will pop up automatically, and if you've ever been in Map View previously since you launched the game, then MNC will auto Launch from Flight View. This curious behavior leads me to suspect there's something fishy going on with the game itself that gets sorted out once you've visited MapView at least once. As it is, the workaround is simple. Hit "m" to switch into map view, and then hit it again to get back to flight view if that's where you want to be.

https://github.com/schlosrat/ManeuverNodeController/releases/tag/1.0.2

[schlosrat]

Update to v 1.0.3

• Updated for KSP2 0.1.4 compatibility. Previous versions of Maneuver Node Controller will not work correctly with KSP2 0.1.4+. You must update to this version (or later) of Maneuver Node Controller if you want to use it with KSP2 0.1.4+
• Updated dependency on Space Warp to version 1.4.2 (same reason)
• Updated dependency on Node Manager to version 0.6.1 (same reason)

[HebaruSan]

6 hours ago, schlosrat said:

Update to v 1.0.3

Hi, FYI this was entered on SpaceDock as "0.1.3" instead. I assume you'll want to update that.

[schlosrat]

3 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

Hi, FYI this was entered on SpaceDock as "0.1.3" instead. I assume you'll want to update that.

Thanks for the heads up! It's fixed now.

[Jhaxxar]

Which Module allowed you to click one button and it would launch your craft, do the staging, and put you into orbit that you selected. I can not seem to find it.

[schlosrat]

On 9/6/2023 at 5:26 PM, Jhaxxar said:

Which Module allowed you to click one button and it would launch your craft, do the staging, and put you into orbit that you selected. I can not seem to find it.

In KSP2 currently, I think that a single-click operation like you're asking for here is only possible in KS2, which flies scripted flights. I've not used it lately, but it may have something like (or close to) what you're describing as a stock script, but it's not as interactive as, say, Flight Plan and K2-D2. That said, FP and K2-D2 are not single-click, but pretty close.

K2D2 has a Lift mode that will fly your ascent, but I don't think it does auto staging yet and it won't automatically circularize your orbit. You can get FP to set up the node with perhaps two clicks, plus one more to make K2-D2 execute it for you.

Conceivably, K2-D2 could probably get all of this down to one click as FP does have a Library mode where other mods can call it. If K2-D2 were to add auto-staging and auto-circularization (where it would just need to send the appropriate request to FP at the appropriate time), then that could likely get you down to one click.

[adaniel87]

So I think I've run into some sort of a bug with (I think) MNC. Was playing around with the new patch, wanting to go see the new sunset color on Duna (with this mod updated via CKAN to v1.1.0). I have been able to reproduce it twice now. This is a bit of a weird one to explain, so here's my best shot:

I was in LKO, setting up the interplanetary burn to Duna. I clicked in the MNC window "Small Step delta-v" textbox to change it, and after changing it (to 1 m/s), pressed Enter, but I lost the ability to click on basically anything in-game, including in the MNC window. Some mouse hover tooltips over in-game UI stuff would show the tooltip, but clicking was just not registering at all, EXCEPT I could still click on the maneuver's line on the Map screen and would get the popup to either Create a Maneuver Plan or Time Warp to Point, but clicking on either of them wouldn't register. Clicking away from the tooltip would get that one to disappear again, but still not able to click on anything else. The game essentially seems like it's soft-locked at that point, and the only way I can fix it is to close the app via the Windows taskbar

If that's just totally unreadable/unclear, I can try and record some footage of it if it would help

Edited October 28, 2023 by adaniel87