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[0.23.5] Goodspeed Automatic Fuel Pump v2.14.1

Gaius

By Gaius
in KSP1 Mod Releases

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Renegrade

Renegrade

Posted
Posted
Why would it be better than TAC Fuel Balancer which is easier to install and use

While TAC FB has some advantages (mostly when handling TAC LS resources, and the Dump ability), it lacks the following features:

- It doesn't save the state with the ship.

- It doesn't save the state with the .craft file.

- It only effectively has two or three priorities.

- You have to identify the tanks in a very long list of tanks instead of simply right clicking them.

- It relies on the game's built in pump mechanism and won't pump if the resource in question isn't configured to do that. (only an issue for certain mod resources)

- It doesn't allow you to deconfigure a resource from pumping.

I can set up a Goodspeed Fuel Pump base which automatically tops off all the resources on a visiting craft..and I only ever have to set it up once, in the VAB.

And yes, it still works in 0.24.

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Superfluous J

Superfluous J

Posted
Posted
Why would it be better than TAC Fuel Balancer which is easier to install and use

These are both incorrect statements. I found TAC and Goodspeed to be equally easy to install. Once learned, Goodspeed was insanely easier to use.

What TAC does have over Goodspeed is it's easier to LEARN. All the uses are obvious and up front, mostly because there is only one use, automatic pumping from one tank to another, assuming you can find those two tanks. Goodspeed seems harder until you've used it a few times and then suddenly you see the light and then you have your perfect Kethane base/fuel tug/station set up where all you have to do is land, connect to the refinery, disconnect, lift off, dock with the station, undock, and repeat. Never ever touching your tanks because they just do everything for you.

And you never had to navigate a menu of a dozen tanks with the same names, trying to figure out which one was the one you wanted to transfer OUT from and which you wanted to transfer IN to.

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FreeThinker

FreeThinker

Posted
Posted
Design it properly.

Well designing a craft from which the weight doesn't alter after fuel use is impossible. You can counter it somewhat with reaction wheels but to a limmit and what if you don't have access to reaction wheels (damaged/low power) or they are nerfed.(for realism/gameplay)

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JeffreyCor

JeffreyCor

Posted
Posted

Actually I use Goodspeed for balancing mass during consumption. I only use TAC-FB for supplying stations with TAC-LS resources. Both have their place and neither can effectively replace the other as least in the current state. Goodspeed is particularly useful in designing craft with droptanks or if you want tanks to always drain in a specific order or balance as they can be defined in the VAB/SPH.

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Pecan

Pecan

Posted
Posted

Design it better.

  • Loss of weight (mass) does not imply the CoM has to move.
  • Nor does it imply that you can't design for expected fuel-load at the time RCS is likely to be used.
  • There's not much point arranging RCS around the CoM of a launch-vehicle, for instance, if you expect it to move.
  • Tweak the fuel down in the VAB/SPH to approximate the load and CoM position it'll have by the time it needs to dock.
  • Arrange tanks to burn in a balanced way.
  • Hey! You could use Goodspeed Fuel Pump to help ^^

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Superfluous J

Superfluous J

Posted
Posted

Yeah I've never felt the need to balance my tanks around CoM. Just load up dry and empty COM in the VAB (using RCS Build Aid, which should be stock) and fiddle with your fuel tanks to get those two close to each other. Then it won't matter.

If you can't get them close, then set up your RCS to be near the middle of them (or nearer dry or full depending on your craft. My Kethane fuel tug needed RCS to dock, so I set it up to work better when almost full) and bring some reaction wheels to help.

This all goes out the window if you use mods to make this part harder, of course. But that goes a bit outside the "general use" cases and for every single general use case I've ever come across, a little bit of planning has overcome every single "ship balance" problem I've ever encountered.

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Pecan

Pecan

Posted
Posted

/me nods at 5thHorseman

At worst, where I've had a space-only tanker that went one way wet and the other (almost) dry I set RCS thrusters in three rings:- one set around the dry CoM for docking before reloading, two sets balanced against the wet CoM. Apart from wet/dry configurations that meant I had more thrusters when there was more mass to shift. Can't say I've ever bothered again but for any engineering problem, there's usually an engineering solution.

Mods are nice, but you shouldn't rely on them ^^. Information is always useful so information mods (eg; RCS build aid) are always good but you shouldn't NEED an operational mod like this or any other fuel balancer/mod; they're just a convenience or gameplay choice. KSP is what it is, have fun with it however you decide to play :-)

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Nori

Nori

Posted
Posted
I couldnt find a nice blanket method, trying to target the TankContentSwitcher module didnt seem to get caught by MM for whatever reason. Tried a few other modules unique to PP with no joy. I ended up just breaking down and targeting the specific parts and it worked like a charm.


@PART[proceduralTankLiquid]
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = GoodspeedPump
	}
}

@PART[proceduralTankXenon]
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = GoodspeedPump
	}
}

@PART[proceduralTankRCS]
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = GoodspeedPump
	}
}

@PART[proceduralTankExtraplanetary]
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = GoodspeedPump
	}
}

@PART[proceduralTankKethane]
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = GoodspeedPump
	}
}
@PART[proceduralTankTAC]
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = GoodspeedPump
	}
}

Wouldn't this work better?

@PART[proceduralTank*]
{
	MODULE
	{
		name = GoodspeedPump
	}
}

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Renegrade

Renegrade

Posted
Posted

Mods are nice, but you shouldn't rely on them ^^. Information is always useful so information mods (eg; RCS build aid) are always good but you shouldn't NEED an operational mod like this or any other fuel balancer/mod; they're just a convenience or gameplay choice. KSP is what it is, have fun with it however you decide to play :-)

Just be warned: The stock CoM indicator doesn't understand massless parts. If you have RCS Build Aid, it's behavior is overridden so it's no longer confused by RCS quads, landing gear, ox-stats, that big 3.75m decoupler, The Comm16 and 88-88 antennas, Vernors, O-10s, etc, and whatever might end up being massless in 0.25.

I believe NEAR and FAR also have this modification too.

It's important to note this, especially if you're going for a small design, and using the 'heavier' massless parts like the O-10 or Small Gear Bay.

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BradicusPrime

BradicusPrime

Posted
Posted
Without changing the plugin, you might be able to give a part two copies of the pump module, each set to pump a different set of resources.

Interesting solution, I'll dig into that. Being able to designate separate pump groups for multi-use tanks is pretty crucial when using with modular fuel tanks that have like 10 resources in a single part.

And while TACFB works alright for smaller ships, as soon as you start building interplanetary cruisers and mondo stations with 50 different types of resources and tanks out the wazoo it quickly becomes unmanageable. Goodspeed, on the other hand, is set it and forget it, and if you understand how it works it's much better at keeping your ship balanced automagically(especially in atmo). I keep both installed for now, but I'm working towards phasing out TACFB.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Kamuchi

Kamuchi

Posted
Posted (edited)

Been using this mod for quite awhile and love it, but has anyone an idea to fix it for multi resource modules?

Multi resource modules don`t have the "resource" declared, only the "FSfuelSwitch" module.

MODULE    {
        name = FSfuelSwitch
        resourceNames = Structural;LiquidFuel;LiquidFuel,Oxidizer;MonoPropellant
        resourceAmounts = 0;1260;567,693;1260
        basePartMass = 0.641
        tankMass = 0;0.12;0.16;0.08
        tankCost = 0;1370;945;1620
        displayCurrentTankCost = true
    }

vs

RESOURCE
{
 name = LiquidFuel
 amount = 3000
 maxAmount = 3000
}

RESOURCE
{
 name = Oxidizer
 amount = 3667
 maxAmount = 3667
}

After a couple of tries, solution was alot easier then I thought :P

Fix for multiple resource parts:

@PART
[*]:HAS[@MODULE[FSfuelSwitch],!MODULE[ModuleCommand],!MODULE[GoodspeedPump]]{
	MODULE
	{
		name = GoodspeedPump
	}
}

Just add this at the bottom of GoodspeedPump.cfg

Edited by Kamuchi
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  • 5 weeks later...
psyper

psyper

Posted
Posted

I've been getting an interesting little bug and I think I've nailed it down to this mod :/

I use this mod quite a lot with transporting fuel around the system - I have miners which has a high number so they pump to fuel transporters who has radial tanks that has the next number down, they transport to a station in low mun/minmus orbit who when docked transfer the fuel from the transporters to the station, then I have transporters which ferry that fuel to stations in low kerbin orbit and lastly they transfer the fuel to any ships that dock with them. So I have a lot of different tanks with different values and balances. Every now and then I get a craft doing various tasks suddenly spiral out of control - after checking the fuel balance is okay I noticed that one of the engines was flickering its power back and forth for no reason - if I reduce its twin down to 50% trust it would even out the flickering but wasn't a solution especially if another engine started having the same issue.

The craft were built with small radial tanks with engines stowed under them - everyone assumed it was either a flame out issue (on nukes) or that I had mucked up the symmetry. I would swap out the bugged out craft and it would behalf normally. Well last night I was doing a landing and I was monitoring my fuel on one of my craft and while it was landing it started spinning out of control as soon as one of the middle tanks had depleted - this gave me a clue as to what could be causing it and after a couple of crashes and reloads I was mucking about with the fuel mix moving fuel from one tank to the other using the fuel pump settings. At one point I turned off all the auto-pump settings on all the tanks and the craft righted itself straight away.

Please bear in mind that I have looked in to this in great detail and all of the radial tanks show plenty of fuel in them whether I have the balancer on or not - its just used for when the ship docks it automatically fuels up or offloads its fuel depending on the type of craft. So its not a fuel balance issue per se. I'm wondering if there is perhaps a bug in the fuel pump which zeros out the fuel for a millisecond and sputters out the engine?

More details and images on this thread for it:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/100108-Nuke-engines-keep-cutting-out-now!

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ExavierMacbeth

ExavierMacbeth

Posted
Posted
Does anyone have a cfg to enable this for TACLS resources?

You mean this? :P

Its pretty much that simple to tag a resource with it. Just make a blank cfg file (basically a txt file with a changed file type) and dump this in it. Put it anywhere in Gamedata (Personally i keep a folder for personal tweaks so I can keep them organized). I've pretty much got a config for ever resource covered by the CRP at this point :P

@PART
[*]:HAS[@RESOURCE[Food],!MODULE[GoodspeedPump]]:NEEDS[Pump]:FINAL
{
    MODULE
    {
        name = GoodspeedPump
    }
}

@PART
[*]:HAS[@RESOURCE[Water],!MODULE[GoodspeedPump]]:NEEDS[Pump]:FINAL
{
    MODULE
    {
        name = GoodspeedPump
    }
}

@PART
[*]:HAS[@RESOURCE[Oxygen],!MODULE[GoodspeedPump]]:NEEDS[Pump]:FINAL
{
    MODULE
    {
        name = GoodspeedPump
    }
}

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Jack_Aubrey

Jack_Aubrey

Posted
Posted
Design it better.

  • Loss of weight (mass) does not imply the CoM has to move.
  • Nor does it imply that you can't design for expected fuel-load at the time RCS is likely to be used.
  • There's not much point arranging RCS around the CoM of a launch-vehicle, for instance, if you expect it to move.
  • Tweak the fuel down in the VAB/SPH to approximate the load and CoM position it'll have by the time it needs to dock.
  • Arrange tanks to burn in a balanced way.
  • Hey! You could use Goodspeed Fuel Pump to help ^^

Design it better???

There are a few aircraft that the pilot need to keep track of the fuel level in the craft's several tanks, just to make sure the craft will fly as the designers wanted... If i don't remember wrongly P51, f190 had a to be manually adjusted so the CoM wouldn't move to a strange or even dangerous position..... and my belive is that both of them were as well design as they could be....

Pd-> Even the B17 need those adjustments to fly properly....

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