[0.24] Sensible Pumps v1.1 -- solving an annoying problem of range safety [18 Jul]

[Mihara]

Ever had a rocket snap in half on you while in flight? I know you have. Ever noticed how the engines in the snapped-off part keep running while there's still fuel in the remaining stage? I know this happened to you as well.

Ever wish the pumps in an uncontrolled piece of debris would behave like real pumps and stop feeding fuel into the engine? I know I did, so I made this little plugin.

Usage:

Just install. It will just work, by adding itself into every part that has engines with ModuleManager. Engines which are part of vessels which cannot be controlled, i.e. are debris, will immediately shut off, and do so only once. This will correctly observe engines which cannot be shut off, i.e. solid fuel rockets.

If this behaviour is, for whatever reason, not what you want on a particular engine, for example, you're making a liquid rocket meant to be used as a dumb projectile, you can toggle it in the editor by right-clicking on the part.

Source code

See GitHub.

Downloads:

• GitHub release page.
  
• CurseForge
  

Screenshots

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Cause you guys like to say 'no pics no clicks', and I'm not giving you the opportunity. It's just that the pics are uninteresting.

License:

The license for the code -- the entire silly half-page of it -- is GPLv3. ModuleManager is bundled with the plugin according to it's license permissions.

Edited July 18, 2014 by Mihara

[shynung]

Looks interesting. DL'ing immediately.

[dtoxic]

nice mod well done!

[Javster]

Looks interesting. Sometimes the problem you're fixing has been advantageous to me though.

[Mihara]

Looks interesting. Sometimes the problem you're fixing has been advantageous to me though.

Which is why there's a toggle.

[Ratzap]

This mod could help the realism projects like RPL. With real engines/fuels you tend to get a very high acceleration spike as the tanks empty which makes things awkward with deadly rentry. If this is instant it'll be easier to just stage to drop the engine and have this switch it off to avoid G force damage.

[Mihara]

This mod could help the realism projects like RPL. With real engines/fuels you tend to get a very high acceleration spike as the tanks empty which makes things awkward with deadly rentry. If this is instant it'll be easier to just stage to drop the engine and have this switch it off to avoid G force damage.

Well, it is instant, it happens on the nearest FixedUpdate.

[Camacha]

I think this would work wonderfully in conjunction with the random failures mod(s). Range safety is preferred, but sometimes you lose the authority to shut down engines, leaving the broken part to wreak havoc on your vehicles and range.

[Queril]

Nice work. Though I'm sure I will never use it, I've managed to successfully complete mission with semi-snapped rockets on more than one occasion.

[HoneyFox]

I would hope that this can throttle down the engine gradually instead of suddenly cut-off... in RL engine thrust does not suddenly change to zero when cut-off AFAIK.

Edited June 14, 2014 by HoneyFox

[Mihara]

I would hope that this can throttle down the engine gradually instead of suddenly cut-off... in RL engine thrust does not suddenly change to zero when cut-off AFAIK.

That would take longer than a page to do and would require special handling for solid rockets, so, not right now.

[dtoxic]

is it working with 0.24? thx

[Mihara]

is it working with 0.24? thx

Well, I've just recompiled it, so if it didn't, now it is. Too simple to break.

[mecki]

Could it be that this also works for SRB and LES by default?

[Mihara]

Could it be that this also works for SRB and LES by default?

Stock ModuleEngines has the "allowShutdown" parameter which determines if the engine can be shut down -- it's "true" by default, "false" with all stock solid fuel engines. My plugin sends the shutdown command to the engine exactly as if you used the right click menu to shut it down. (I'm actually just calling the same method that fires when you click the right click menu option) and doesn't go deeper into the internal works of the engine module. The engine then decides itself whether to shutdown or not by testing the value of this parameter.

So SRB and LES should still work exactly as they're meant to, i.e. keep firing after being detached, and if they don't, I'd love a test case I could verify.

[mecki]

Had this problem with the LAS by Aerojet Kerbodyne. Maybe it's a missing "allowShutdown" then, thank you!

[Mihara]

Had this problem with the LAS by Aerojet Kerbodyne. Maybe it's a missing "allowShutdown" then, thank you!

MODULE
{
	name = ModuleEnginesFX
	engineID = LES
	runningEffectName = running_closed
	thrustVectorTransformName = thrustTransform
	exhaustDamage = False
	throttleLocked = True
	ignitionThreshold = 0.1
	minThrust = 0
	maxThrust = 750
	heatProduction = 400
	fxOffset = 0, 0, 0.25
	PROPELLANT
	{
	 	name = SolidFuel
        	ratio = 1.0
		DrawGauge = True
	}
	atmosphereCurve
 	{
   	 key = 0 300
  	 key = 1 250
 	}

}

Yep, it is. Needs a line "allowShutdown = false" somewhere in the MODULE block. I'd say it's a minor bug, the nice thing about it is that it's not mine.

[Vahal]

This is a really nice plugin since sometime the unexpected dumped engine is pushing your ship to her doom. With this no more mean pusher.

One drawback. You can't anymore have this kind of screenshot:

Perfect (Jeb) Landing:sticktongue:

[Jaxx]

I passingly saw this on the community plugins page, and thought about getting it but decided not to. Having to deal with forty parachutes opening and an engine that decided to keep burning on me simultaneously changed my tune. Thank you!

[Antipaten]

Made a quick test with 0.25 and it works!!! Yay! \o/

[Leszek]

Seems to work in .90 Jolly good.

[Antipaten]

Tested with 1.00. Still working as intended. Resilient Mod this is. Happy player I am.

[Leszek]

Tested with 1.00. Still working as intended. Resilient Mod this is. Happy player I am.

Does a little dance!

[stryth]

1.0.5 compatibility confirmed. This is an amazingly robust little mod, at least fourteen versions since it was first made and it's still going strong!

[Leszek]

And I am most thankful for that.  Really I have been using this mod for so long that I would have serious issues without it.  You would think this mod would be stock by now.