[1.3](Jun04/17) Automate Vertical Velocity and Altitude Control

[Diazo]

Good to hear the mod is doing it's job.

On the spool time question, I asked that because in the youtube video I noticed the throttle jumping up and down really fast. What usually causes that is spool time (slow throttle response) on the engines. The stock jet engines are really bad for that, it can take them 10-15 seconds to go from 0 to 100% throttle.

This mod tries to compensate for spool time by overshooting the throttle, then pulling back as the spool time ends, but that leads to the jumpy throttle seen in your youtube videos.

All in all, I think I'm going to let this lie. I have made a note about the throttle modifier that I will look at next time I'm working on this mod, but it's going to be a while. This mod just got a release last week and I've got a new mod I'm trying to polish up for release right now.

Happy KSP'ing!

D.

[V8jester]

Good to hear the mod is doing it's job.

On the spool time question, I asked that because in the youtube video I noticed the throttle jumping up and down really fast. What usually causes that is spool time (slow throttle response) on the engines. The stock jet engines are really bad for that, it can take them 10-15 seconds to go from 0 to 100% throttle.

This mod tries to compensate for spool time by overshooting the throttle, then pulling back as the spool time ends, but that leads to the jumpy throttle seen in your youtube videos.

All in all, I think I'm going to let this lie. I have made a note about the throttle modifier that I will look at next time I'm working on this mod, but it's going to be a while. This mod just got a release last week and I've got a new mod I'm trying to polish up for release right now.

Happy KSP'ing!

D.

Alright I do believe your two mods have become a necessity! After spending some time messing around today I built a V-280 Valor and was able to position it exactly as I needed to in order to put my latest video together. Thank you so much Diazo

https://youtu.be/FBiZyTgpju0

[Bizz Keryear]

Installed it, but turns out it was not what I am looking for ... this is for rockets and the OP should clearly say so. (which is, while still useful, a little cheaty in this game)

I was looking for a mod that fine tunes your altitude in a plane. Planes are a pain ... you fly like forever to get somewhere ... and you either going up or down but never stay on the same height ... means I have to control the plane over a long time ... a pain. I wan't to point it in the right direction at the right altitude and then do something else.

[VR_Dev]

I have seriously been waiting for a mod like this for years. Necessity for VTOL flyers. Check out how I put it to use with the Gundam.

[Combatsmithen]

I installed the mod. I took the Diazo folder and dropped it into my gamedata folder, and unbound Z from set throttle to max and when i press Z in game it does NOTHING, its not even on the stock toolbar or blizzy's toolbar.

EDIT: i think i got it to work

Edited September 13, 2015 by Combatsmithen
NVM

[Eskandare]

Can I rebind the VTOL mode key to tilda? I've got myself trained for Z being full throttle. I want to check this out for my flying aircraft carrier mod I put on hold.

[Diazo]

Yes, the key this mod uses can be rebound, the documentation using Z is a legacy of the fact this mod predates Squad adding Z as full throttle.

Currently, when you install this mod it is not bound to a key, you have to go into the settings page and select the key you wish to use.

You can also use the on screen buttons via mouse click to control this.

D.

[Diazo]

[b]KSP Verision 1.0.5 Compatible.[/b]

No update is required for KSP 1.0.5, everything works as is.

Happy KSPing all.

D.

[inigma]

Would be awesome if you combined these two mods  into one mod:

Possible?

[Diazo]

@inigma I'm not sure I want to combine them.

My objection is from a design standpoint, when I made a mod I make it to do {something}, in this case a mod to control your vertical velocity and a mod to control your horizontal velocity.

If I combine the two mods, what would be the point, or the {something} of the new mod? With two seconds thought the only thing I can think of is if I was moving towards a full on rocket auto-pilot with trajectory planning and control. As I have no plans for anything like that I can't see the point in combining them.

D.

[inigma]

1 hour ago, Diazo said:

@inigma I'm not sure I want to combine them.

My objection is from a design standpoint, when I made a mod I make it to do {something}, in this case a mod to control your vertical velocity and a mod to control your horizontal velocity.

If I combine the two mods, what would be the point, or the {something} of the new mod? With two seconds thought the only thing I can think of is if I was moving towards a full on rocket auto-pilot with trajectory planning and control. As I have no plans for anything like that I can't see the point in combining them.

D.

@Diazo Hover. A stable hover mode for jet engine or KAX helicopter craft would be the point. That' s all that's needed in the game. 

Specifically I just want a single mod that will allow me to just single click and hold a KAX helicopter or jet engine VTOL in a simple vertical and horizontal hover so I can just focus on manually dropping down a rescue ladder to rescue Kerbals from the ocean. Currently there is nothing that can do this well.

Edited December 25, 2015 by inigma

[inigma]

I noticed that the Vertical Velocity Control GUI altitude option is set to only use actual terrain altitude and not sea level altitude. It makes holding this heli steady in the highly sloped mountains rather tedious for a rescue. Actually impossible. Is there an option to set your mod to use sea level altitude?

Edited December 28, 2015 by inigma

[Diazo]

@inigma There isn't a function to hold altitude above sea level directly, however isn't that just using the velocity hold mode with a setpoint of 0 (zero) ?

All the velocity functions are absolute relative to your current position which effectively makes them relative to sea level as that is also constant.

As for your previous request about combining the two mods, I have not forgotten about that. One thing I will point out is that both this mod and the Horizontal Landing Aid mod are enabled in Mod Actions so you could make an action group that started hovering. (That takes up an action group slot though so it's not ideal either.)

D.

[linuxgurugamer]

@Diazo

I was wondering if you could make a modification of this:  Instead of controlling the vertical speed, I'm looking for something which I can use while landing, which will prevent me while landing from thrusting too much and going up again.

Seems like a fairly simple modification of this, if the vertical speed drops below a set point, reduce throttle to 0

[Diazo]

I'm not sure what you are asking for here, I'm trying to parse your question but isn't that was this mod already does?

Coming in to land, you touchdown, then hit X to cut your throttle to zero (and disengage the mod).

Don't hit X right away? Don't worry, the lift compensation will kick in and reduce the throttle for you, although it won't cut the engines or disengage the mod. It is still enough to keep your vessel from crashing or lifting off again.

Adding something that reduced the throttle to 0 at a certain velocity would screw over operation of this mod when you weren't landing so I can't do that.

I can't do it on a "are we landed" check either, that would be problematic for launches and for people who use this mod for skycranes with KIS/KAS.

Can you clarify what you are asking for? The entire reason this mod was created in the first place was because I was tired of my own craft overthrusting and going back up when I tried to land so the fact that vessels controlled by this mod are doing that is odd.

D.

 

 

Edited February 21, 2016 by Diazo

[linuxgurugamer]

32 minutes ago, Diazo said:

I'm not sure what you are asking for here, I'm trying to parse your question but isn't that was this mod already does?

Coming in to land, you touchdown, then hit X to cut your throttle to zero (and disengage the mod).

Don't hit X right away? Don't worry, the lift compensation will kick in and reduce the throttle for you, although it won't cut the engines or disengage the mod. It is still enough to keep your vessel from crashing or lifting off again.

Adding something that reduced the throttle to 0 at a certain velocity would screw over operation of this mod when you weren't landing so I can do that.

I can't do it on a "are we landed" check either, that would be problematic for launches and for people who use this mod for skycranes with KIS/KAS.

Can you clarify what you are asking for? The entire reason this mod was created in the first place was because I was tired of my own craft overthrusting and going back up when I tried to land so the fact that vessels controlled by this mod are doing that is odd.

D.

 

 

Sure.  This mod as is, does too much.  I want to do my own landings, but sometimes, when landing, I'll thrust too much and start going up.  All I'm looking for is something that will monitor the descent velocity, and if it drops below a specified amount, to cut the throttle.

Maybe include a horizontal component in that as well.  I don't want it to do anything else, I want to do the landing, if possible.

I was thinking maybe a new mod, with most of this stripped out and leaving the minimal amount in there.

[Diazo]

[KSPAddon(KSPAddon.Startup.Flight, false)]
public class VelocityLimiter
{
public float velocityLimit;

public void FixedUpdate()
{
if(FlightGlobals.ActiveVessel.verticalVelocity > velocityLimit
{
FlightCtrlState.mainThrottle = 0f;
}
}

}

That's the bare bones basic of it, you'd have to add enable/disable logic and some method to modify velocityLimit to make it actually usable however.

Having said that, I forsee this causing crashes. You're trying to land and kick the throttle too high, this cuts in and sets the throttle to zero, you are now freefalling so you kick the throttle up to slow down, it goes too high, this kicks in, etc. etc. etc.

But yes, this would have to be a separate mod and it's not something I have the time to do. AGX is currently ripped apart and then ModActions needs some serious attention before i can think about anything else.

D.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Diazo

[linuxgurugamer]

Ok, thanks.  I'll see if I can do something with it in the next week or so, busy with my current mod and an upcoming surgery

[particlesmash1]

So...um...yea....When ever I click on the button it says no vessel...so....yea

[Diazo]

@particlesmash1 Most likely ModuleManger is not installed. It's a separate mod for editing config files this mod depends on.

You can get it here.

If that is not the problem, I would need more details and/or a log file to see why the mod thinks the vessel is not controllable.

D.

[particlesmash1]

15 hours ago, Diazo said:

@particlesmash1 Most likely ModuleManger is not installed. It's a separate mod for editing config files this mod depends on.

You can get it here.

If that is not the problem, I would need more details and/or a log file to see why the mod thinks the vessel is not controllable.

D.

Thanks! That was the problem.

I just didn't think that I would need it because in previous versions I never had it. Anyway thanks

[achroma]

Hey Diazo! Just wanted to say i use this mod on a daily basis, absolutely can't live without it. It seems to be more gentle than alternatives out there, especially when dealing with somewhat noodle-y ships that generate oscillation. Very handy and very easy to use, so thank you.

I do like inigma's suggestion. Hovering is nice, but micro-managing horizontal drift can be a pain during complicated missions. For the last while I've been locking ships in place with the Q-strut/truss bug, but need to see if that's still around in 1.1 soon. Hadn't even heard of Landing Aid before, so i guess i'm installing that when i get home! If the two mods combined, i sure wouldn't complain.

[Diazo]

Version 1.30

Download here.

-KSP 1.1 Update. No functionality changes.

And here we go, this update makes the mod functional on KSP 1.1 exactly the same as it did on KSP 1.0.5

Future updates will look at making use of new features of KSP 1.1, notable the VesselModules and new GUI, but no ETA on when I'll have a chance to look at that.

D.

[Slightlylyons]

1 hour ago, Diazo said:

Version 1.30

Download here.

-KSP 1.1 Update. No functionality changes.

And here we go, this update makes the mod functional on KSP 1.1 exactly the same as it did on KSP 1.0.5

Future updates will look at making use of new features of KSP 1.1, notable the VesselModules and new GUI, but no ETA on when I'll have a chance to look at that.

D.

Thank you! Your mods are invaluable to me and I don't think people tell that to modders enough. This with land aid makes cool things happen, and I'm glad to see it updated.

[brusura]

Hi Diazo

would it be possible intercept the "control from here" action and pass that direction as the main direction the engines calculate their trhrust from? ( instead of going in the setting and manually set it )

This work already if the part is a root but I'd like if it would also works on the fly as you make a "control from here"

 

thanks