[1.12.*] Deadly Reentry v7.9.0 The Barbie Edition, Aug 5th, 2021

[ArcFurnace]

And here I was about to complain about RealChutes spamming the flight log. Seems to be working perfectly with the new version, no spurious flight log spam at all.

[Northstar1989]

Not much to go on there but ok some possibilities:

The event log is wrong. That's happened before.

Jebediah definitely died. His portrait in the corner disappeared and everything.

Or, did you change any settings relating to crew g forces? Press alt+D+R and let's see what those settings are.

Fresh install of KSP with 0.25, hadn't even heard of that screen before now. So *I* definitely didn't change any of the settings...

Or.... or... you put Jebediah on top of an SRB? Not just any SRB but the one that its folder says MassiveSRB? That one. Oh dear....

Yes, Jebediah *IS* on top of an SRB. In a 1.25 meter crew capsule on top of the "MassiveSRB" from Stock. Separated by a (not yet staged) DRE decoupler.

But it doesn't matter what the potential thrust of an SRB is, only the ACTUAL thrust. And the MassiveSRB was not yet activated at that point- only 3 (thrust-limited) BACC SRB's in the stage below it. The TWR was only 1.7 at that point in the flight, as the flight log correctly indicated.

Edit: Ok, just noticed your staging, you didn't just stick him on top of an SRB, the craft was a little more complex than that so I don't know what sort of loads I should be expecting with it. Can you post a picture of of the craft?

The craft was EXTREMELY simple. Basically a 1.25 meter Command Pod (with a reduced amount of AblativeShielding and no Hydrazine) on top of a MassiveSRB (seperated by a DRE decoupler) which was not yet activated and sitting on top of 3 thrust-limited BACC SRB's under a tricoupler, with another decoupler between the bottom of the MassiveSRB and the tricoupler.

A basic understanding of physics would dictate VERY LOW forces on the Command Pod. Since all the heavy parts were below it, basically there should only be enough upward force left after gravity on the parts lower down to lift the Command Pod at less than 2 G's- with a little drag on it from above (FAR was installed, and the speed wasn't that high: so not a lot of drag) which shouldn't have been a very big deal...

OK, maybe that's NOT as simple as it sounds. I'll try and get a screenshot up of the rocket in a second.

Regards,

Northstar

[wrsomsky]

Why do I get a white "stock button" for DR on the "Space Center" scene, which pops up a large(ish) box titled "Deadly Reentry Settings" w/ just three buttons: "Easy", "Normal", "Hard" which don't seem to do anything at all?

This is w/ vanilla Win32 KSP 0.25, no other mods installed, and a freshly created career-mode game:

Edited October 13, 2014 by wrsomsky

[Starwaster]

Why do I get a white "stock button" for DR on the "Space Center" scene, which pops up a large(ish) box titled "Deadly Reentry Settings" w/ just three buttons: "Easy", "Normal", "Hard" which don't seem to do anything at all?

This is w/ vanilla Win32 KSP 0.25, no other mods installed, and a freshly created career-mode game:

http://i.imgur.com/6Q7Y9c8.png

ugh, because I accidentally left in something I was working on and forgot to take it out (again) when I updated just now. Very sloppy of me. Try to ignore it.

(basically it's what you see, it's going to be difficulty settings so people who find reentry too easy/hard can dial it up/down a bit without monkeying around with the debug menu)

Jebediah definitely died. His portrait in the corner disappeared and everything.

I didn't mean about Jeb dying, I meant about the reported g forces.

And I'm not able to duplicate your problem at all. There's something happening that's unique, or at least very rare since I don't see anything like this being reported currently. Maybe if you try posting an output_log.txt file I can see if I find anything in it that sheds light on the problem.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Starwaster

[Cleric2145]

ugh, because I accidentally left in something I was working on and forgot to take it out (again) when I updated just now. Very sloppy of me. Try to ignore it.

(basically it's what you see, it's going to be difficulty settings so people who find reentry too easy/hard can dial it up/down a bit without monkeying around with the debug menu)

Mmm, lovely! So does the menu actually do anything? Do the settings change any of the debug options? I got exciting thinking it was a new feature and tapped 'Normal.'

[Starwaster]

Mmm, lovely! So does the menu actually do anything? Do the settings change any of the debug options? I got exciting thinking it was a new feature and tapped 'Normal.'

Not right now, no.

Well except that the button selection is persistent.

And it writes that to the save game itself (so you can choose on a per save game basis what your difficulty is)

[Zeenobit]

Thanks for the quick update, Starwaster.

You definitely fixed the console spam issue. However, I still have the issue that my chute doesn't deploy through staging. Again, everything is fine if I use the right-click menu to deploy the chute.

[Northstar1989]

I didn't mean about Jeb dying, I meant about the reported g forces.

They're definitely accurate. MechJeb clearly indicates the maximum TWR the lower stage is even capable of with the set thrust limits is 2.04 when I select "All Stats" (talk about taking it slow and careful- this was the LAST spacecraft I would ever expect G-force deaths on...) and the rate of velocity gain on the navball was in line with the TWR only being 1.7 by the time Jeb died...

And I'm not able to duplicate your problem at all. There's something happening that's unique, or at least very rare since I don't see anything like this being reported currently. Maybe if you try posting an output_log.txt file I can see if I find anything in it that sheds light on the problem.

Here are screenshots of the launch vehicle, if it helps you try and reproduce the problem any:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

I'll be attempting to reproduce the bug on my own install in just a second...

Regards,

Northstar

EDIT: Just added an image showing the MechJeb2 "All Stats" screen so you can see the TWR isn't capable of exceeding 2.04 based on the rocket thrust (and when the G-force death occurred, the rocket was flying straight up at moderate speed- so it shouldn't have experienced excessive aerodynamic forces either)

EDIT #2: Strange, doesn't seem I can reproduce the bug either. I had my rocket fly through its entire first stage without issue this time around... I guess keep an eye out in case this kind of thing pops up again though.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Northstar1989

[Starwaster]

They're definitely accurate. MechJeb clearly indicates the maximum TWR the lower stage is even capable of with the set thrust limits is 2.04 when I select "All Stats" (talk about taking it slow and careful- this was the LAST spacecraft I would ever expect G-force deaths on...) and the rate of velocity gain on the navball was in line with the TWR only being 1.7 by the time Jeb died...

Here are screenshots of the launch vehicle, if it helps you try and reproduce the problem any:

http://imgur.com/a/QIi6M

I'll be attempting to reproduce the bug on my own install in just a second...

Regards,

Northstar

EDIT: Just added an image showing the MechJeb2 "All Stats" screen so you can see the TWR isn't capable of exceeding 2.04 based on the rocket thrust (and when the G-force death occurred, the rocket was flying straight up at moderate speed- so it shouldn't have experienced excessive aerodynamic forces either)

EDIT #2: Strange, doesn't seem I can reproduce the bug either. I had my rocket fly through its entire first stage without issue this time around... I guess keep an eye out in case this kind of thing pops up again though.

That's about what I thought your build was from your last description. I've sent pretty much the same thing up a few times but with no thrust limit and no science experiment attached. Jeb arrived safe and sound. (except for the time that I pointed the second stage at the ground and ignited.....)

[DudewHorns]

Thanks for the update Starwaster. All the extra crispiness now with less RC spam! Only thing missing now is a little Soon trademark Icon for your toolbar that you keep forgetting to hide

[mdosogne]

Not right now, no.

Well except that the button selection is persistent.

And it writes that to the save game itself (so you can choose on a per save game basis what your difficulty is)

Please, could this window contain debug info, or a button to bring it up (instead of Alt+D+R)? Alt+D sets yaw trim, and R enables RCS... not what I need while trying to figure out what's gone wrong on a "controlled" re-entry

Also, a minor bug report: I can't seem to type decimal points into the debug menu (digits 0-9 are OK however). I'm running 0.25 on a Mac; other mods installed: AJE, CustomBiomes, FAR, ModuleRCSFX, RealChute, RSS, RemoteTech, TAC LS.

Thanks for your time

EDIT: Bug can be reproduced without the other mods just as easily; I'm trying to type "0.5" into "crew G kill chance per update"

Edited October 13, 2014 by mdosogne

[North]

Is there any way to get this working for 64 bit of ksp .25?

[Starwaster]

Please, could this window contain debug info, or a button to bring it up (instead of Alt+D+R)? Alt+D sets yaw trim, and R enables RCS... not what I need while trying to figure out what's gone wrong on a "controlled" re-entry

Also, a minor bug report: I can't seem to type decimal points into the debug menu (digits 0-9 are OK however). I'm running 0.25 on a Mac; other mods installed: AJE, CustomBiomes, FAR, ModuleRCSFX, RealChute, RSS, RemoteTech, TAC LS.

Thanks for your time

EDIT: Bug can be reproduced without the other mods just as easily; I'm trying to type "0.5" into "crew G kill chance per update"

Yeah, I'll put a button on the settings window to bring up the debug window. The idea with the difficulty buttons btw is that it'll do settings presets. Though I have to figure out how I'm going to do that in a way that doesn't interfere with the debug window or use of configs that alter the settings.

The decimal point issue is a problem with that type of entry field and how we set and read it and it's not really unique to DRE.... The work around (which you really don't want to do DURING reentry because you could easily enter a number that explodes you instantly) is to type the numbers you want THEN position the cursor and put your decimal point. In your case you type the number 5 and then put the cursor in front and do your decimal. (imagine doing something like that with the shockwave or density exponents and you can see why it could be a bad idea during reentry)

[FlowerChild]

Yeah, I'll put a button on the settings window to bring up the debug window. The idea with the difficulty buttons btw is that it'll do settings presets. Though I have to figure out how I'm going to do that in a way that doesn't interfere with the debug window or use of configs that alter the settings.

On the "things that affect BTSM" front, it would be awesome if there was a config file setting to remove/disable that button or ignore the selection. I've basically balanced the mod for a single set of values, and I've already had a player expressing confusion in my thread as to which DR difficulty option is supposed to be selected with BTSM. I realize the button is not yet active, but it gives me an indication of the tech support that will come from it

[RedAV8R]

Is there any way to get this working for 64 bit of ksp .25?

Run it in linux. Otherwise, no.

[lajoswinkler]

Great, let's test this.

[Kedwin Hubble]

Thanks to everyone who has kept this project going. Is it be possible to add KSP-AVC support to it?

[Camacha]

The Deadly Reentry button appears to be white in the Space Center view and the texture seems to be missing from the zip too. It works, so it is just a cosmetic issue.

[lev]

I can confirm I have this issue too. If the speed is above 200 m/s, the parachutes are instantly cut (with no heating of the parachutes displayed). I had parachutes cut at 700 feet above sea level at 300m/s. The second time, they were cut as my rocket hit an apex at 15,000 feet, I deployed parachutes, and the ship accelerated downward from 0 m/s to 1,000 m/s. The parachutes cut when the speed crossed around 200 m/s. I don't think either of these would be a heating issue given the low speed, but I could be wrong.

Hope there is a workaround. I lost 4 ships on ironman trying to deploy chutes before I hit the ground. 4 good Kerbals have entered Valhalla.

After having the same problems using probes to try landing empty tanks & engines for cash refund, it got me wondering what they'd do in real life (aside from inventing stronger chutes), most obvious solution would be to increase form drag, so I started using Infernal Robotics hinges with downscaled wing connectors attached, slowly opening them a couple of kilometers above the surface increases your cross-section and really helps with decelerating, enough to deploy parachutes at a safe altitude instead of hitting the surface at 300 m/s, of course this "workaround" only works if you've got FAR or NEAR installed.

Edit: I just found out FAR gives winglets a very similar function, if you right-click on them in the VAB, activate Flap, set Flp/splr Dflct to maximum, and (optionally) add increase/decrease Flap Deflection as action groups, you have a simpler and more sturdy air brake, the only downside is that your vehicle will start spinning like a fan once active.

Edited October 14, 2014 by lev

[Starwaster]

If you still have a problem with chutes burning up, first make sure you're updated to latest version of 6.2.1. Chutes are working as intended. Open up the debug menu and edit the chute temp multiplier to suit.

Large numbers are safer. Mean people might say large numbers are wimpier.

Really mean people might tell you to accept current chute behavior and to suck it up!

"Space is a tough place where wimps eat flaming plasma death!"

[Taki117]

If you still have a problem with chutes burning up, first make sure you're updated to latest version of 6.2.1. Chutes are working as intended. Open up the debug menu and edit the chute temp multiplier to suit.

Large numbers are safer. Mean people might say large numbers are wimpier.

Really mean people might tell you to accept current chute behavior and to suck it up!

"Space is a tough place where wimps eat flaming plasma death!"

Another option is to just deploy the chutes lower, I find semi-deploying at 3km and fully at 500 works wonders. (This is with Realchute and FAR YMMV)

[Mystique]

Err.. What's the difference between those difficulty levels? And which corresponds to previous version's default values?

[Starwaster]

Err.. What's the difference between those difficulty levels? And which corresponds to previous version's default values?

They don't work yet. It was something I was testing and left in accidentally. I usually make a separate branch for testing but I didn't. The main way it will work is by applying presets of the settings you see when you press alt+d+r

Another option is to just deploy the chutes lower, I find semi-deploying at 3km and fully at 500 works wonders. (This is with Realchute and FAR YMMV)

correct. FYI Apollo deployed drogues at 7km and mains at 2km

Edited October 14, 2014 by Starwaster

[Jashin]

I'm running the latest versions of both Deadly Reentry and RealChute, and I can't get chutes to work properly. And by properly, I actually mean "at all", since they insta-burn/destroy each time I activate them. I've tried almost everything, from a semi-powered landing to a mega-drogue combo, nothing works even the most ridiculous designs. Keep in mind I'm not talking about some Eeloo reentry here, I'm just testing from a shallow suborbital trajectory. I will try to tweak the settings you mentionned, Starwaster, but IMO, the default ones are WAY too hard.

[Starwaster]

Suborbital is irrelevant. What was your velocity during deployment? What version number are you using? (Latest version is not a number)

Edited October 14, 2014 by Starwaster