FlyByWire SAS Mode - Control a navball attitude marker with WASD input

[Gotmachine]

FlyByWire SAS Mode

This Kerbal Space Program plugin adds four new SAS modes and a new more relaxing way to control your vessel, especially useful for managing your gravity turns on launch :

Modes
	Fly by wire When enabled, pitch and yaw WASD inputs don't control the vessel directly anymore, but instead control the position of a custom navball direction marker that the SAS will follow automatically. You can switch to precision mode (Caps lock key) for finer control.
	Fly by wire (plane mode) Identical to the fly by wire mode, but the navball marker stays at a constant position relative to the horizon.
	AntiParallel Available when a target is selected, will keep the vessel control part in the opposite orientation as the target. Quite useful for docking !
	Parallel Available when a target is selected, will keep the vessel control part in the same orientation as the target.

These new modes are available for pilots and probe cores at the same SAS level as the target and maneuver modes, but this is configurable in the settings.cfg file (doing that with a ModuleManager patch is recommended).

Download and installation

Compatible with KSP 1.12.3 to 1.12.5 - Available on CKAN

Installation

• Go to the GitHub release page and download the file named FlyByWireSASMode_x.x.x.zip
• Open the downloaded *.zip archive
• Open the GameData folder of your KSP installation
• Delete any existing FlyByWireSASMode folder in your GameData folder
• Copy the FlyByWireSASMode folder found in the archive into your GameData folder

License

MIT

Changelog

1.2.0 - 01/05/2024

• Added plane mode
• Fixed a bug where the SAS would keep going toward the fly by wire direction after switching back to the stock stability assist mode.
• Put all icons in a single texture atlas

1.1.0 - 28/04/2024

• Added parallel / antiparallel modes

1.0.0 - 27/04/2024

• Initial release

Edited May 1, 2024 by Gotmachine

[dok_377]

Would it be possible to have a mode that keeps the marker level relative to the surface so it could be utilized for planes? Right now it's drifting upwards over time, so planes can't fly level using it.

[Gotmachine]

4 hours ago, dok_377 said:

Would it be possible to have a mode that keeps the marker level relative to the surface so it could be utilized for planes? Right now it's drifting upwards over time, so planes can't fly level using it.

That feels like a good idea, will try to add that additional mode.

[Gotmachine]

@dok_377 Plane mode added in 1.2

[dok_377]

Wait, already? Are you a magician or something?

[JollyGreenGI]

Is there a way to invert the pitch controls? Typically S pitches the nose up and W brings it down, but with the Fly-by-Wire enabled it reverses this.

[dok_377]

Hmm, doesn't seem like this mod works with procedural control surfaces. But not really a problem of the mod, the game's SAS is not very good with them either, they just wobble all over the place.

[Gotmachine]

7 hours ago, dok_377 said:

But not really a problem of the mod, the game's SAS is not very good with them either, they just wobble all over the place.

This plugin just instruct the stock SAS to follow a custom direction, so indeed all the usual caveats applies, the stock SAS just isn't well tuned for atmospheric flight and control surfaces.
I made this plugin with mainly rocket launches and landings in mind, and while it can be used for controlling planes, this isn't a replacement for the more advanced autopilot mods.

16 hours ago, JollyGreenGI said:

Is there a way to invert the pitch controls?

No, but I will try to remember to add the option.

[dok_377]

39 minutes ago, Gotmachine said:

the stock SAS just isn't well tuned for atmospheric flight and control surfaces

It's for some reason greatly exaggerated with procedural control surfaces. Stock ones for the most part are decent enough. But anyway,  it hardly has anything to do with the mod itself, just KSP being KSP.

[linuxgurugamer]

On 5/15/2024 at 1:39 PM, Gotmachine said:

On 5/14/2024 at 9:34 PM, JollyGreenGI said:

Is there a way to invert the pitch controls?

No, but I will try to remember to add the option.

@GotmachineI just pushed a PR which inverts the pitch controls