[1.11.x] RCS Build Aid v1.0.6

[slackitude]

11 hours ago, m4v said:

if you can put a screenshot we might have a better idea of what is going on.

edit: maybe the window is minimized, click the small button in the right top corner of the window, is a little square.

Derp! That was it. I thought the little square was to close the window. Thank you! 

[Errol]

I have a feature request. I would like to be able to view rotational torque caused by drag in one direction. For building better balanced open cockpit planes.

I'm pretty sure that this kind of information is only available during flight, while the simulation is running. However I don't need the full simulation to get the information I want. I don't even need 3 dimensional data. If I build a simple plane using a structural beam as a fuselage and a command seat on it for a kerbal to drive from, and then make it perfectly balanced with the mass and lift markers, it will not be balanced when the kerbal hits the seat and adds their drag. I know that the command seat/kerbal is a bit of a special case, but I still think that something should be possible (I can always create a duplicated (through MM) command seat with placeholder drag values for balancing craft with, then swap it out for the normal one before flight).

I'm pretty sure the game knows which direction up is while in the VAB and SPH. It is hard-coded as up in the VAB and towards the hangar doors in the SPH. All I really want is additive linear force arrows for every part that is not shielded from the air stream if it were coming from that "forward" direction and then the option to display rotation about the center of mass based on the sum total of all those drags and with the option to add the force of engines too. I realize that drag changes with velocity, so perhaps a slider will need to be added to allow the user to define the air stream velocity from a reasonable flight range, like 30 m/s - 3000 m/s, and altitude slider for atmosphere density too. 

EDIT: Lurking around this thread, I have a question too:

 

On 07/12/2016 at 6:53 PM, m4v said:

The red circular arrow represents the angular acceleration, the straight red arrow is the torque vector. Torque is always represented as a vector that points along the rotation axis. In practice you don't need to give much attention to that vector though.

What does the size/length of this red arrow represent? I usually try to make it as small as possible, is this necessary?

Edited January 5, 2017 by Errol

[m4v]

@ErrolI have a feature like that in mind but I'm not actively working in RCSBA these days.

7 hours ago, Errol said:

What does the size/length of this red arrow represent? I usually try to make it as small as possible, is this necessary?

torque magnitude.

 

[Captain Planet]

Hey @m4v, I just wanted to thank you for building this tool and maintaining it as long as you have. It's become a critical piece of many modlists, and your work is immensely appreciated.

[bertibott]

hi,

 

after using this mod for quite a while I just wanted to drop in say thank you! It is a great mod! One of the few that I consider essential!

[jofwu]

Is there a way to see how much torque you potentially can get out of reaction wheels?

[fourfa]

Not needed, since reaction wheel torque is not affected by placement on the craft.  Just add up the numbers from their tooltips.

[jofwu]

, but

7 hours ago, fourfa said:

Not needed, since reaction wheel torque is not affected by placement on the craft.  Just add up the numbers from their tooltips.

Right, but for a big ship it can be hard to find all relevant parts buried in there.

[StahnAileron]

@m4v A feature request: Would it be asking too much for a fourth mode - CoM Alignment - to assist in building VTOL craft with good long-term balance? (Without the need for dynamic thrust adjusting mods like TCA or an absurd amount of SAS.)

It would list the difference in distance between the CoM and DCoM along each axis (so 3 readouts) so a player can zero-out whatever axes they need/want/require. As it would be its own mode (along with Translation, Attitude, and Engine), it won't clutter up the menu UI. (Like the old single direct distance sitting in the middle of the readouts.)

I did like and use the old distance feature, though it wasn't quite intuitive to use since it was just an absolute distance between CoM and DCoM. (It would never zero-out unless CoM and DCoM were the exact same.)

I currently vertically align the CoM and DCoM in the SPH visually using the markers, but that requires messing with the camera to get a precise alignment. (Which also needs to have markers that overlap at some point; I try to line up the lines on the markers.)

[eberkain]

4 hours ago, StahnAileron said:

@m4v A feature request: Would it be asking too much for a fourth mode - CoM Alignment - to assist in building VTOL craft with good long-term balance? (Without the need for dynamic thrust adjusting mods like TCA or an absurd amount of SAS.)

It would list the difference in distance between the CoM and DCoM along each axis (so 3 readouts) so a player can zero-out whatever axes they need/want/require. As it would be its own mode (along with Translation, Attitude, and Engine), it won't clutter up the menu UI. (Like the old single direct distance sitting in the middle of the readouts.)

I did like and use the old distance feature, though it wasn't quite intuitive to use since it was just an absolute distance between CoM and DCoM. (It would never zero-out unless CoM and DCoM were the exact same.)

I currently vertically align the CoM and DCoM in the SPH visually using the markers, but that requires messing with the camera to get a precise alignment. (Which also needs to have markers that overlap at some point; I try to line up the lines on the markers.)

There is this mod, not sure if that will help you. 

[StahnAileron]

8 minutes ago, eberkain said:

There is this mod, not sure if that will help you. 

I know of that mod and it addresses a completely different issue than what I'm asking for.

That mod tells you the true CoL for a design (it account for both the stock lift module as well as body lift). You can then arrange your CoL vs Com/DCoM properly for forward flight stability. Aero forces are much bigger concern here.

What I'm asking for is  way to align the CoM and DCoM for stable hovering (or vertical flight.) The concern here is make sure the thrust always go through the center of mass through the flight regime. Generally not a problem on most rockets due to radial symmetry. It's hell with aircraft with only mirror symmetry. (i.e. Left/Right symmetry, but not front/back.)

Though now that I think about it, I wonder if you can set it up so you can see the difference between CoM/DCoM and the axis of thrust... (Just wondering; this part isn't a request, though it'd be interesting.)

[fourfa]

Like, a mode where both CoM and DCoM are onscreen at the same time, with a readout of distance between them?  Probably doesn't need to be too smart about what distance along what axis, just give the user some feedback on sliding parts or assemblies back and forth manually on an axis to search for a minimum.  Then repeat on other axes.  Just spitballing here.

[m4v]

@StahnAileronFeature noted, i don't think it would be hard to do, but development is in hiatus for the moment and I have some backlog in my TODO list.

[StahnAileron]

1 hour ago, m4v said:

@StahnAileronFeature noted, i don't think it would be hard to do, but development is in hiatus for the moment and I have some backlog in my TODO list.

That's fine. I'm not in any rush since 1.2.9-pre is out. I know updates are hell on everyone, but modders get the brunt of it, IMHO. I imagine the language update might (will?) wreak havoc with plug-in mods since SQUAD had to refactor code to accommodate Unicode strings (or whatever is needed to support non-western character sets.)

On ‎4‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 0:36 AM, fourfa said:

Like, a mode where both CoM and DCoM are onscreen at the same time, with a readout of distance between them?  Probably doesn't need to be too smart about what distance along what axis, just give the user some feedback on sliding parts or assemblies back and forth manually on an axis to search for a minimum.  Then repeat on other axes.  Just spitballing here.

That was more of less the method used back in the 0.90 days of RCSBuildAid. The thing I disliked about it was needing to find that minimum via trial and error first, then arranging parts around that minimum. You have to do the same if you decide to add/remove parts or resources. I'd rather know the XYZ distances individually and plan around the one(s) I need knowing the minimum(s) will be always zero (and ignoring the one(s) that won't be factored in.) I'd prefer the precision (less guess work) if it's not a big chore to implement.

Heck, I have to do that now, but with three numbers, one at a time together to balance a VTOL well. (Though I admit it would be far easier if I could see all three D/A/CoM torque numbers at once. The minimum I'm looking for is actually the minimum difference between all three numbers. When they're all the same or close, I'm aligned and can futz with thrust values to zero out the torque magnitude.)

[LostOblivion]

Feature request: In engine mode, you know that arrow showing the direction the vehicle will travel offset from the marker showing which way the vehicle actually points? For rockets, these will usually align, but for, say, space shuttles, this will be slightly offset. Since the data is already there, would it be hard to show this offset angle in degrees?

[oliezekat]

I like build small crafts, and I use Linear RCS as main engine (Fore Throttle is nice for landing). My main problem is to estimate TWR.

I submit your (lovely) mod display TWR and "body" selector if we choose Translation mode with "fore" direction. Another way can be to add "RCS as Engines" mode which work like "Engines" mode.

NB: Thrust ASL can be usefull too.

[SleweD]

@m4v I get the following error in my ksp.log at startup, it doesn't affect the mod in any way I just thought it'd be best to let you know:

 

[LOG 14:26:20.624] Load(Assembly): RCSBuildAid/Plugins/RCSBuildAid
[LOG 14:26:20.624] AssemblyLoader: Loading assembly at D:\Files\Games\Steam\SteamApps\common\Kerbal Space Program\GameData\RCSBuildAid\Plugins\RCSBuildAid.dll
[LOG 14:26:20.626] Load(Assembly): RCSBuildAid/Plugins/RCSBuildAidToolbar
[LOG 14:26:20.627] AssemblyLoader: Loading assembly at D:\Files\Games\Steam\SteamApps\common\Kerbal Space Program\GameData\RCSBuildAid\Plugins\RCSBuildAidToolbar.dll
[LOG 14:26:20.646] AssemblyLoader: Loading assemblies
[ERR 14:26:20.747] ADDON BINDER: Cannot resolve assembly: aaa_Toolbar, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null

[ERR 14:26:20.748] ADDON BINDER: Cannot resolve assembly: aaa_Toolbar, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null

[ERR 14:26:20.751] AssemblyLoader: Exception loading 'RCSBuildAidToolbar': System.Reflection.ReflectionTypeLoadException: The classes in the module cannot be loaded.
  at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Reflection.Assembly:GetTypes (bool)
  at System.Reflection.Assembly.GetTypes () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at AssemblyLoader.LoadAssemblies () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

Additional information about this exception:

 System.TypeLoadException: Could not load type 'RCSBuildAid.Toolbar' from assembly 'RCSBuildAidToolbar, Version=0.9.1.29305, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'.
[LOG 14:26:58.752] [ModuleManager] Post run call threw an exception in loading RCSBuildAidToolbar, Version=0.9.1.29305, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null: System.Reflection.ReflectionTypeLoadException: The classes in the module cannot be loaded.
  at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Reflection.Assembly:GetTypes (bool)
  at System.Reflection.Assembly.GetTypes () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at ModuleManager.MMPatchLoader+<ProcessPatch>d__46.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
[LOG 14:26:58.798] [ModuleManager] Ran in 1.831s

 

[StevieC]

@m4vI'm still clinging to KSP 1.2.2 for this mod, alone.

[phantom000]

I love this mod! it is so incredible helpful i wish they would put it, or something like it, into the game itself. So you can imagine my frustration when it doesn't seem to work with version 1.3.

[m4v]

I'm real busy, so don't expect an update soon.

[III-METHOD-III]

This is such a helpful mod.  Thank you for making it.

Crossing fingers that you get a chance to update to 1.3 when your life is less crazy busy.

Take care

Meth

[emirkustirika]

pls up to 1.3

[TheRagingIrishman]

Just now, emirkustirika said:

pls up to 1.3

look up 2 posts

[balgor]

I love your Mod and i will wait patiently the next version.

Thanks for your work, keep going

[kcs123]

On 04. 06. 2017. at 10:33 PM, m4v said:

I'm real busy, so don't expect an update soon.

Take care of any personal issues first, any family issues second and work on mod when you grab some free time and when it provide at least some fun creating it. All other users have to be patient and wait for update, no matter how "essential" this mod is in creating properly balanced craft. Take your time and do moding when you enjoy doung it, otherwise you will suffer from burnout effect.