Throttle Controlled Avionics 1.4.1 [0.90] (5 January '15)

[Knobby]

It has probably been mentioned before in this thread but besides ignoring disabled engines it doesn't take gimbals into account either. I had a single stack rocket with 4 engines on a quad coupler for testing and noticed that during steering it was completely shutting down engines on a certain side (treating engines like RCS I suppose). Problem however is that gimbal could have done the same thing and would not cause the vessel to lose thrust.

Other than that though this mod is a must-have for anyone wanting to build a shuttle-like rocket without spending 3 days balancing fuel and thrust to make it fly straight.

Sounds like that can be tuned by changing the sliders:

2. What do the sliders do.

Thrust factor: This sets the aggressiveness of the mod. With this to max, complete engines will completely shut down, even on minor corrections. The minimum does almost nothing to balance things out. I don't know what the ideal amount is, so let me know what your experiences are.

Mean Thrust: This is what the thrust is of all the engines when no control input is given.

100 means that all engines burn max, and when an input is given, some burn less.

Less, eg 80, means that thy will standard burn at 80%, and when an input is given, some will thrust less, others will thrust more.This will give you more control.

More than 100, eg 120, means that all the engines will thrust at max, and when a small input is given, nothing will change. Only when a throttle change of more than 20% is asked, the engines will react. This might be handy when you think your standard control mechanisms (gimbals, reaction control, control surfaces) are most of the time sufficient.

[Ballistic Idiot]

As a highly trained, professional idiot, I've built a lot of things that could not and should not fly.

NOW THEY CAN!

Excellent mod.

[bludclot]

I love this! No more making strange looking Pulling rockets to get funky looking stuff into orbit! Not that this is really needed for that, it will make it a LOT easier.

[xtremeqg]

Sounds like that can be tuned by changing the sliders:

Interesting, I'll try. To be honest I didn't see any sliders, just a button in the VAB that told me there's an update for toolbar something or other.

[Tidus Klein]

have you ever thought of letting the plugin save its state? or adding it to a small part?

getting tired of always having to turn it off every time I start up a new vessel.

(I use it for vtols only, because you lose burn time maneuvering with it on and I personally don't like that, even though it doesn't do a whole lot to burn time.)

PS, GREAT mod by the way.

[Climberfx]

Man, i love this. You did what i always needed. Great work Qfeys!

[SkyHook]

Firstly, great work! My shuttle would be grounded without you! I have some feed back for you:

- You misspelled the word "Toggle." < < That is the correct spelling.

- Sliders are easy to use, but very imprecise. You might consider adding a text box with which to enter exact values.

- Sometimes, when the plugin adjusts the craft (in this case my shuttle), it wildly overcontrols the throttle on one engine for a split second. This has caused deviations of up to 90 degrees for me.

Besides this, great job! I hope for your continued success with this mod's development!

Fun fact: No thrust control plugin has ever made it past one update. Please don't follow them!

[SpaceGremlin]

Just tried this mod today, and I love it already. Whipped a VTOL together in 30 seconds and landed on the VAB with no trouble at all.

A few things though:

It should default to off, I don't need it for most launches. It would also be nice if it gave some indication of what state its in (like changing the icon color on the toolbar).

[Queril]

I concur, by-default it must be off. And there must be a clear indication whether it's on or off.

too many kerbals and rockets died, too many launch windows got missed

[Chimaine]

I concur, by-default it must be off. And there must be a clear indication whether it's on or off.

too many kerbals and rockets died, too many launch windows got missed

Exactly. Default turned off, save the state for each rocket and remember the window position(!) and this will be a must have mod

[swoosh]

The mod seems to use all engines, even if some of them are in other stages (so they are power off, no trust). Can we choose the engines we want to use?, or maybe that the mod doesnt count the engines at other stages (only the current stage)

[qfeys]

Version 1.2 is out. I will update the forum post immediately.

[K3-Chris]

Sweet, I'll try it when I get home

[K3-Chris]

Nice additions, though I'm not sure a red dot is a good "on" indicator Could have the red dot when off and switch it to green when on perhaps?

[xZise]

I haven't tried it yet, but does it obey your thrust limitations?

Fabian

[JeffreyCor]

Tried 1.2 on a few flights and really liking it a lot! The changes are fantastic!!

[kiwiak]

Nice, at least its functional now.

But we still need some quick toggle key!

For quick actions - for example when one engine is ripped off by decoupled booster and we need stabilize rocket FAST.

[SpaceGremlin]

Very nice.

[SkyHook]

I am having a slight problem. The plugin will not recognize most of my engines if I attach seperatrons. The fact that they are oriented sideways is the most likely cause of this. Also, might you consider having a separate link to download the plugin, in case Spaceport goes down (as it just did). Amazing improvements. I cannot ask for more!

[Freefly]

I can't count the amount of times I forget to turn TCA off on a heavy lifter. Surely the Michael Baying resulted from its oscillating destruction would bring joy to any self respecting Kerbal rocket scientist, the spectacular explosions eventually become insipid and frustrating...

Of all the mods I've updated today, this one is the best because of the QoL "default off" option. Thank you.

[qfeys]

I can't count the amount of times I forget to turn TCA off on a heavy lifter. Surely the Michael Baying resulted from its oscillating destruction would bring joy to any self respecting Kerbal rocket scientist, the spectacular explosions eventually become insipid and frustrating...

Of all the mods I've updated today, this one is the best because of the QoL "default off" option. Thank you.

Thanks. I saw many had asked for that, so I implemented it.

btw, if you have problems with the rockets shaking themselves apart, you might consider lowering the 'Thrust Factor'. That should make it less aggressive.

[Beetlecat]

I was pretty thrilled to try this out as I'm early in the tech tree and my VTOLs are more than rudimentary... I've installed the mod and it seems to be "working" properly with the toolbar icon and control panel, but none of the engines show up on my craft upon launch.

I'm using stock LV-909s arrayed on an H grid "Space 1999" style, and they all work, but no balancing occurs (and the fuel consumption quickly throws the tail into the air).

Do I need to build the craft over again with the mod already installed? Is there a part I need to add?

Danke!

[K3-Chris]

Did you turn TCA on? It has a red dot on it when on, toggle in the window opened by the toolbar button, also it needs contol input to work, manual, SAS or MJ etc.

[Beetlecat]

Did you turn TCA on? It has a red dot on it when on, toggle in the window opened by the toolbar button, also it needs contol input to work, manual, SAS or MJ etc.

Yeah -- The icon does indicate it's active. and using it with arrow keys or joystick with SAS enabled or not doesn't make much of a difference. The craft's rockets never appear in the mod panel's list. It does also load and save the three different preset options. I'll do some experimenting.

Edit: pulled all mods and it works fine on that same craft. Such fun! I'll have to reintroduce them and see what's causing the issue.

Edit: Edit: It looks like HotRockets! was the culprit. It's a phenomenal effects mod, so I hope some means of getting these two to play well is found.

Edited February 24, 2014 by Beetlecat

[xZise]

Hi, I still have the issue in TCA 1.2 that it overwrites my predefined thrust factor value for each engine (the build in factor). Could you somehow apply your changes ontop of that thrust factor change?

Fabian