[0.25] RasterPropMonitor - putting the A in your IVA (v0.18.3) [8 Oct]

[MOARdV]

If anyone takes the time to study the interaction of RPM with 0.23.5 in detail while I'm out it'll help to ensure a smooth upgrade. Things I am particularly concerned about:

1. Targeting. A new target class has been added and I'm not sure that all the code correctly handles such a case. Targets are now persistent as well, which can have unexpected consequences. Anything related to targeting is a prime candidate for needing an update.
   
2. Various things that happen to the vessel when it grabs something else. I've got no clue how exactly it works yet and I've only had ten minutes to investigate before having to leave.
   
3. Oh, and someone please confirm that EVAing by doubleclicking on the hatch from IVA still works and doesn't break everything.
   

I am pretty sure asteroids will look funny in JSIOrbitView. The new VesselType isn't specifically handled, and I don't remember what the default icon we use is. Something might show up, but I'm not sure what.

[Hyomoto]

I apologize for not having testing information Mihara, instead a request if not already implemented. A user brought up a situation that leads me to ask, is there a variable we can reference which gives the relation in degrees of your orbit versus a stationary body on the surface? Basically, let's say I have an inclination of X degrees, and I want to know how far that is from the inclination I need to pass over object Y. I think this would help a lot of people who build bases, but I haven't checked to see if it already exists. I know it does for objects in orbit, I just don't know how that relates to objects on the ground. The result of that object in orbit at the same altitude and eccentricity as the controlled vessel, returning the difference in inclination at which they could meet up.

I figure that could give a stable reference players could use to land objects near to one another.

[been playing Dark Souls II, Bravery Default, EDF 2025, etc... so my KSP has been lagging ]

Edited April 2, 2014 by Hyomoto

[Mihara]

I apologize for not having testing information Mihara, instead a request if not already implemented. A user brought up a situation that leads me to ask, is there a variable we can reference which gives the relation in degrees of your orbit versus a stationary body on the surface? Basically, let's say I have an inclination of X degrees, and I want to know how far that is from the inclination I need to pass over object Y.

Errr... It's actually more complicated than you might think.

Imagine your stationary vessel on the surface is in a point that is 45N, say. Any orbit - ANY orbit! - with an inclination of 45 degrees or higher will someday pass right over it as the planet rotates underneath the orbit. At the same time, the nearest loop of that orbit most likely will not.

[DonPiano]

If anyone takes the time to study the interaction of RPM with 0.23.5 in detail while I'm out it'll help to ensure a smooth upgrade. Things I am particularly concerned about:

1. Targeting. A new target class has been added and I'm not sure that all the code correctly handles such a case. Targets are now persistent as well, which can have unexpected consequences. Anything related to targeting is a prime candidate for needing an update.
   
2. Various things that happen to the vessel when it grabs something else. I've got no clue how exactly it works yet and I've only had ten minutes to investigate before having to leave.
   
3. Oh, and someone please confirm that EVAing by doubleclicking on the hatch from IVA still works and doesn't break everything.
   

I haven't had any trouble using the hatch to EVA

[Hyomoto]

Errr... It's actually more complicated than you might think.

Imagine your stationary vessel on the surface is in a point that is 45N, say. Any orbit - ANY orbit! - with an inclination of 45 degrees or higher will someday pass right over it as the planet rotates underneath the orbit. At the same time, the nearest loop of that orbit most likely will not.

Wow, I considered the orbit for the completely wrong reason. I knew I was special.

[S.O.P.H.I.A.]

RPM currently doesn't list the claw on the list of parts you can control the vehicle from (where it lists the various command modules and docking ports). It would be beyond helpful if you could select the claw to control from and utilize the docking cam for grabbing asteroids.

On that note, a few new variables would be spectacularly useful for comparing Centre of Thrust (CoT) and Centre of Mass (CoM). This would particularly be useful for asteroids, but could serve other purposes as well. Maybe one variable for the offset in meters the two on each axis (for example: ThrustOffsetZ would be +5 if the engines were 5m behind the centre of mass, or -5 if they were 5m in front, X would be sideways, and Y would be vertical) and another for their relative angles on Pitch and Yaw? I don't know if that would be complicated or not.

Thanks for making such a great mod! I can't even play without it anymore.

[BudgetHedgehog]

RPM currently doesn't list the claw on the list of parts you can control the vehicle from (where it lists the various command modules and docking ports). It would be beyond helpful if you could select the claw to control from and utilize the docking cam for grabbing asteroids.

If you can't 'Control From Here' in the stock game (such as is the case with the AGU), there's nothing RPM can do. It only lists controllable parts and docking ports. Talking of which, there is no docking port on the claw, so you wouldn't be able to use a docking cam anyway.You're better off putting a cam outside pointing forward and using that or using the cupola pod (or the 1-2 one).

[MOARdV]

If you can't 'Control From Here' in the stock game (such as is the case with the AGU), there's nothing RPM can do. It only lists controllable parts and docking ports. Talking of which, there is no docking port on the claw, so you wouldn't be able to use a docking cam anyway.You're better off putting a cam outside pointing forward and using that or using the cupola pod (or the 1-2 one).

Well, for now, you can't select it as a reference part. Once Mihara or I have time to dig into things, we may be able to change that. However, I've been pretty busy IRL, and I suspect Mihara may be even more so.

[S.O.P.H.I.A.]

If you can't 'Control From Here' in the stock game (such as is the case with the AGU), there's nothing RPM can do. It only lists controllable parts and docking ports. Talking of which, there is no docking port on the claw, so you wouldn't be able to use a docking cam anyway.You're better off putting a cam outside pointing forward and using that or using the cupola pod (or the 1-2 one).

Fair enough. I'd assumed that you could. I'll use a manual camera, instead.

[Mihara]

On that note, a few new variables would be spectacularly useful for comparing Centre of Thrust (CoT) and Centre of Mass (CoM). This would particularly be useful for asteroids, but could serve other purposes as well. Maybe one variable for the offset in meters the two on each axis (for example: ThrustOffsetZ would be +5 if the engines were 5m behind the centre of mass, or -5 if they were 5m in front, X would be sideways, and Y would be vertical) and another for their relative angles on Pitch and Yaw? I don't know if that would be complicated or not.

That could be complicated, but I'll put it on the list of gifts from Santa Claus. (That's what alexustas calls his gigantic list of feature requests...)

Well, for now, you can't select it as a reference part. Once Mihara or I have time to dig into things, we may be able to change that. However, I've been pretty busy IRL, and I suspect Mihara may be even more so.

I just added that to the dev version, but I have not had a chance to even run KSP with the resulting compile, so I have no clue whatsoever if it even runs and if I broke anything (or miss anything...). It should work now, but no promises. Claw modules do have a control-from-here menu option which RPM can trigger, which means they're relatively easy to support in existing code. (That is how it works with docking ports -- it essentially presses the 'control from here' button for you when you can't reach it. If there's no such button, it would need to go much, much deeper into KSP internals.) Claws should become selectable from reference point menu, and cameras should support them. I have no idea where the actual reference point on the claw model is, though, so there's no guarantee that the camera dropped straight into the reference point (which is what happens to dorking ports) will see anything or will be sensibly oriented.

Claws should also become releasable from the undocking menu eventually when one of us has a chance to research what state strings do claws actually have, right now they can get released but can't actually get listed in that menu.

EDIT: Well duh. Reference point is too deep inside the claw, so it doesn't exactly work very well. This will need some more complicated hacking...

Edited April 4, 2014 by Mihara

[MonkeyLunch]

I cant imagine playing Kerbal without this mod now. You've ruined me, lol.

I look forward to your next update.

Thank you.

[Godot]

Great Mod ... first time in KSP that I actually control large parts of the mission from inside the cockpit

A tiny thing (that you probably already know for yourself) is, that UT (I assume, MET as well) is calculated in earth days instead of Kerbin days ...

maybe enabling us to switch between these 2 time scales would be great

[Mihara]

A tiny thing (that you probably already know for yourself) is, that UT (I assume, MET as well) is calculated in earth days instead of Kerbin days ...

maybe enabling us to switch between these 2 time scales would be great

https://github.com/Mihara/RasterPropMonitor/wiki/Changes-in-this-version :

• Time formatter now observes the KERBIN_TIME system settings. If the system says your day is 6 hours long and year is 426 days long, so will your monitors. For your convenience, a variable named ISONKERBINTIME will return 1 if the game is set to use Kerbin time.

[pingopete]

I've been thinking of a way in which this mod, VDS hullcam and Remote tech could be combined to produce an IVA control cockpit or such for docking or rovers etc. This may be completely impossible but it'd be truly awesome, especially if RT could be integrated to limit video feed range and/or incrementally add image distortion with distance.

[luizopiloto]

I don't know if someone noticed this already, but the icons on orbital display and scansat map are messed up. Ships displays as stations and stations displays as bases...

on this particular image, I was piloting a ship to dock with a station... if you look to the icons, ship is showed as a station and the station as a base. Maybe the new asteroid and unknow object classes changed the old icons ids

[MOARdV]

I don't know if someone noticed this already, but the icons on orbital display and scansat map are messed up. Ships displays as stations and stations displays as bases...

Yes, it's because of the 23.5 change. Grab the latest dev build of RPM - it should be compiled against KSP 0.23.5.

[TLATopHat]

I don't know if this is a user error on my end or not, but as of updating all of the RPM related mods, I've lost the ability to access MechJeb functions through RPM.

I'm running the dev build you just linked above, along with the latest versions of MechJeb (build #213) and ScanSat (build 5), including both their RPM compatibility files. I still have ScanSat capability, but the SmartASS functions are no longer usable.

I get the same message I would get if I didn't have MechJeb installed on the craft, even when I have the MechJeb component attached directly to the command pod.

Any insight from your end would be appreciated.

[DonPiano]

It's not really relevant anymore, but when 23.5 was just released the only way I could get any MechJeb function to work was from smartASS in the RPM plugin screen I was quite surprised!

[GorillaZilla]

This may sound daft, and probably is but where abouts in the IVA can I find the amount of Delta-V left to burn in the current maneuver node?

The lack of that little yellow bar is the main reason I never used the Stock IVA much, Even though I really wanted to due to the IVA Navball being more accurate, and Zoomable in to fill the entire screen for really precise Following of the Maneuver node marker.....

[DonPiano]

This may sound daft, and probably is but where abouts in the IVA can I find the amount of Delta-V left to burn in the current maneuver node?

The lack of that little yellow bar is the main reason I never used the Stock IVA much, Even though I really wanted to due to the IVA Navball being more accurate, and Zoomable in to fill the entire screen for really precise Following of the Maneuver node marker.....

For me it's in the ORB screen, but I have Hyomoto's MFD mod for RPM. If you don't have it you should check it out!

[Sovetskysoyuz]

I'm running the dev build you just linked above, along with the latest versions of MechJeb (build #213) and ScanSat (build 5), including both their RPM compatibility files. I still have ScanSat capability, but the SmartASS functions are no longer usable.

You're doing better than me… I can't get ScanSat to work with RPM either, even using the dev build. Is there an RPM-specific patch for ScanSat that I'm missing?

[BudgetHedgehog]

Just to add to the group of people having problems - neither SCANsat nor MJ work for me in RPM. And this is after I'd installed the dev build.

[John FX]

I don't know if this is a user error on my end or not, but as of updating all of the RPM related mods, I've lost the ability to access MechJeb functions through RPM.

I'm running the dev build you just linked above, along with the latest versions of MechJeb (build #213) and ScanSat (build 5), including both their RPM compatibility files. I still have ScanSat capability, but the SmartASS functions are no longer usable.

I get the same message I would get if I didn't have MechJeb installed on the craft, even when I have the MechJeb component attached directly to the command pod.

Any insight from your end would be appreciated.

Same here, no mechjeb at all although I do get scansat scans.

[Sir_Tramalot]

I think you need to update Mechjeb.

[John FX]

AFAIK I have the latest versions. I`ll check again. If things are supposed to work I`ll reinstall MJ Scansat and RPM and see if that helps.