[1.8.1] Docking Port Alignment Indicator (Version 6.8.5 - Updated 12/14/19)

[NavyFish]

Currently CVEL does show just the component of relative velocity that is normal to the docking port

While tracking down the TVI reversal bug mentioned by Mr. Shifty, I discovered something else: CVEL is currently acting as "true" vel, and not pure closure vel along the target port's normal vector. This is not the intended behaviour, and will be fixed in the next point release (coming soon). Sorry for the confusion!

[NavyFish]

I just wish the reticules weren't quite so twitchy near the center. They're giving me an inferiority complex, as I can never seem to get them centered and perfectly stable!

I'm tweaking the value a little bit, I agree it's just a little too twitchy. That twitchiness is ultimately caused by the exponential scaling, which is designed to improve precision, so it's always going to be a little more sensitive towards the center of the gauge. But perhaps not that sensitive

Edited August 17, 2013 by NavyFish

[Deadweasel]

I'm tweaking the value a little bit, I agree it's just a little too twitchy. That twitchiness is ultimately caused by the exponential scaling, which is designed to improve precision, so it's always going to be a little more sensitive towards the center of the gauge. But perhaps not that sensitive

LOL I figured that was the case. Glad it can be influenced at least.

[NavyFish]

Might I make a suggestion?

The velocity indicator is useful, but I feel it could be improved if it were replaced with a lateral/vertical drift indicator. At present, movement forwards/backwards "scales" the velocity indicator (because, of course, it is a form of direction indicator), so the slower you are moving towards or away from the target, the more sensitive the velocity indicator is, and it is hard to judge how much correction you need to make to kill drift. If you scaled it so 1m/s laterally/vertically moved the indicator to the edge of the display then that would be about right for most docking manoeuvres.

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm trying out this approach as we speak! (No pun intended )

[togfox]

Might I make a suggestion?

The velocity indicator is useful, but I feel it could be improved if it were replaced with a lateral/vertical drift indicator. At present, movement forwards/backwards "scales" the velocity indicator (because, of course, it is a form of direction indicator), so the slower you are moving towards or away from the target, the more sensitive the velocity indicator is, and it is hard to judge how much correction you need to make to kill drift. If you scaled it so 1m/s laterally/vertically moved the indicator to the edge of the display then that would be about right for most docking manoeuvres.

The little yellow circle indicates your direction of drift and degree of drift. If the circle is all the way to the right then you are drifting quite fast. If the lines are a little off centre then your yellow circle needs to be a little off centre. If your lines are a long way off centre then it is safe to thrust quite hard and doing so moves your circle accodingly.

[Pixel of Life]

The little yellow circle indicates your direction of drift and degree of drift. If the circle is all the way to the right then you are drifting quite fast. If the lines are a little off centre then your yellow circle needs to be a little off centre. If your lines are a long way off centre then it is safe to thrust quite hard and doing so moves your circle accodingly.

Yes, but his point was that the "drift" indicator is extremely sensitive at low velocities because it takes the forward/backward motion into account as well. This results in the marker jumping all over the place and being almost impossible to center because the amount of thrust required to "throw the craft in reverse gear" is so small - the game is "unsure" whether the craft is moving forwards or backwards. This can be fixed by removing the in/out velocity from the equation so that only lateral and vertical velocity controls the instrument, thus turning it into a real drift indicator.

Edit:

If you scaled it so 1m/s laterally/vertically moved the indicator to the edge of the display then that would be about right for most docking manoeuvres.

This, or maybe there could be different modes - 5 m/s for rough line up and 1 m/s for fine tuning? Such a mode change would probably work well with the orientation and course deviation too . Although such precision is useless as the docking ports are magnetic, I'm fairly sure many of us would like such a feature as it would add to the realism

Edited August 17, 2013 by CaptainKorhonen

[softweir]

So, perhaps have a single "Precision" button that toggles between coarse "where the heck is the docking port" and fine "almost there, just wanna fine-tune"?

OR, read the input sensitivity (CapsLock) status - when the player switches to fine control, then switch to fine display?

[NavyFish]

Version 2.1 will be out momentarily. The proposed change to the TVI is quite nice - thanks again softweir. I ended up going with +/- 3.5 m/s at full deflection, which feels like a good middle-ground, and threw in a touch of exponential scaling to increase the precision when the indicator is nearly centered. Stay tuned!

[Kethevin]

Thank you so very much for this mod. Its help to me cannot be understated! :-)

[NavyFish]

Version 2.1 has been released!

Head over to the Spaceport to download!

Changelog can be found on the First Post.

[NavyFish]

Whoops! I left debugging on.. The download has been fixed, but if you grabbed a copy before now, you may wish to re-download

Edited August 18, 2013 by NavyFish

[Mr Shifty]

Version 2.1 has been released!

Head over to the Spaceport to download!

Changelog can be found on the First Post.

Thanks much! I'll be checking it out early tomorrow morning.

[Superfluous J]

I used this mod for the first time today, and had a terrible time with it. But I got docked.

I then used it for a second time and had no issues at all. I believe my brain just needed time to categorize all the new info it had learned.

Thanks for such a needed addition to the game!

[Zhuikin]

Great add-on.

[RoboRay]

NavyFish? Just saying, but...

If you happen to be looking for other projects, KSP could really use a Doppler Landing Radar that reports your altitude AGL as well as vertical speed and discrete lateral and longitudinal horizontal velocities.

If it also reported the slope of the ground directly below you, that would be just gravy.

No pressure, of course.

[Tripzter]

Is it possible to increase rotational sensitivity at the 90 degrees for the roll angles just like it was for the orange center marker? Also may i suggest adding a date next to each new release? Like 8/17/13 for 2.1, whatever it was for 2.0 etc. Other than that loving it.

Edited August 18, 2013 by Tripzter

[czokletmuss]

Very good alternative for MJ docking autopilot - kudos!

[NavyFish]

Is it possible to increase rotational sensitivity at the 90 degrees for the roll angles just like it was for the orange center marker? Also may i suggest adding a date next to each new release? Like 8/17/13 for 2.1, whatever it was for 2.0 etc. Other than that loving it.

Remember, you can turn on a numerical display of roll through the settings menu. Can't get much more accurate than that!

[NavyFish]

NavyFish? Just saying, but...

If you happen to be looking for other projects, KSP could really use a Doppler Landing Radar that reports your altitude AGL as well as vertical speed and discrete lateral and longitudinal horizontal velocities.

If it also reported the slope of the ground directly below you, that would be just gravy.

No pressure, of course.

Hah, not a bad idea. I have another indicator mod planned, though it's significantly more simple than this one, so perhaps after that one's done I'll shoot your a PM and we can discuss what that might look like. No promises though

I'll be taking a break from dev work for the next week and going on vacation, so please continue to post feedback, though my responses will have to wait until I'm back.

Thanks for all the positive comments and suggestions, folks! KSP has a really sweet modding community compared to what's out there!

-Navy

[Rybec]

Just used this to capture a large probe into a small cargo bay to bring it back home. The probe barely fits in the bay, so it has to be perfectly aligned. Could not have have done it without this excellent readout, and could not have done it with version 1. So glad you added a roll indicator.

Mission control is glad they can recover all that precious unused xenon. That probe was not cheap.

I documented the procedure:

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I think next time I need more lights in my cargo bay.

[Deadweasel]

I think next time I need more lights in my cargo bay.

Heh, IPEV Excursion and IPEV Tailwind have that aspect covered well

Also, this latest rendition of the plugin is a massive improvement. Love love LOVE it! I can already handle docking very well with just the navball, but getting properly aligned and rotated before docking without having to cam all over the place? GENIUS!! <3

[NavyFish]

Loving the showcases Inspiring stuff, keep 'em coming!

[Mr Shifty]

Loving the showcases Inspiring stuff, keep 'em coming!

The modifications for 2.1 are great! I had no problems doing a Buran-to-space-station docking yesterday. I'll try to post pictures at some point.

[Tripzter]

Remember, you can turn on a numerical display of roll through the settings menu. Can't get much more accurate than that!

Ha yeah, my main problem is that i keep mixing up left for right because of the + or -. Like when i'm near the port ready to dock a meter away i end up going the wrong way.

Edited August 19, 2013 by Tripzter

[NavyFish]

Would it be more clear if the numbers ranged from 0-359.9 (0 at the top), instead of the way they are now (-180 to +180)?