[PLUGIN] dodADA - Advanced Descent Assistant alphav6 for KSP .14

[dodrian]

Ok, I added another part to the pack (and a sample craft file to go with it).

You can choose to put either the dodADA, or the Automated Landing Legs on your lander.

If you stick the Automated Landing Legs on your craft, then you should be able to use a normal ASAS also. The automated throttle control kicks in when you press \'g\' to deploy the legs.

The downside is, once landed you can\'t take off again unless you retract the legs (might mean your engine hits the ground).

Let me know if this works better!

[Festivefire]

probably a ridiculous question, but i am new to this. where do i put all of the files in the download to make this work?

put the .dll in the plugins folder, and put the folder with the .cfg and model and stuff in your parts folder.

[Blinkin]

The leg module is great! It\'s very cool to be able to use both this addon and the normal ASAS.

[trbinsc]

You could make this fully automated by making it align retrograde as well as controlling the throttle. Then all you would have to do is watch.

[RC1062]

You\'d need to align it upwards as apposed to retrograde.

Awesome landing legs though.

[witeken]

Lol. Like nothing changed and already in version 3.0? This little changes aren\'t a major upgrade worth, imo.

[dodrian]

Lol. Like nothing changed and already in version 3.0? This little changes aren\'t a major upgrade worth, imo.

It\'s alpha version 3 . I\'ll to proper versioning when I\'ve got a product I\'m happier to release

You could make this fully automated by making it align retrograde as well as controlling the throttle. Then all you would have to do is watch.

That is the plan eventually, but first I need to make the throttle control smoother. Trying to think how I can do that...

[Corax]

Lol. Like nothing changed and already in version 3.0? This little changes aren\'t a major upgrade worth, imo.

Apparently not everyone subscribes to the V0.0.1.0.0.7.1a-minor versioning scheme...

[dodrian]

OK! I figured out how to stop the throttle from throbbing and make a steady descent! I\'ll upload the next alpha version as soon as I figure out why the throttle occasionally sticks and won\'t let you take off :-/

Then it\'s on to making the landing fully automated!

[Blinkin]

Well I \'found out\' that you have to turn your trust to the max and then quickly turn the automated landing on.

In this way it will allow you to take off again after a landing without damaging.

Because when you retract the landing legs it will switch back to max trust.

I haven\'t tried it with switching vessels, that\'s probably going to be a problem.

[RC1062]

You can actually hold shift to up the thrust while the assistant is on. 8)

[Blinkin]

That\'s perfect! 8)

Dodrian thank for all the time you spend on this and releasing it.

3/5 of my landings on the moon are crashes (I suck a bit XD).

Now with this it\'s really much better. Thanks!

[Causeless]

OK! I figured out how to stop the throttle from throbbing and make a steady descent! I\'ll upload the next alpha version as soon as I figure out why the throttle occasionally sticks and won\'t let you take off :-/

Then it\'s on to making the landing fully automated!

To make the landing automated, just make the ship point retrograde (with some sort of check to stop the ship pointing too far below the horizon).

Also, you should just map the activation key to something defined in the part.cfg.

[NIN3]

That\'s perfect! 8)

Dodrian thank for all the time you spend on this and releasing it.

3/5 of my landings on the moon are crashes (I suck a bit XD).

Now with this it\'s really much better. Thanks!

LOL, better then me. my first 5 attempts ended in me pumping full throttle into the surface with 2000m/s speed and 200m to go.

[dodrian]

OK, alpha v4 is now out, the descent is much smoother and the lander no longer throbs as much, and shouldn\'t bob up and down at all any more!

Unfortunately, I ran into a weird bug when I restructured the code, which I haven\'t fixed properly. Essentially it means the tricks for easy takeoff posted above by Blinkin and RC1062 no longer work :-[

I think in the next version I\'ll put in a \'takeoff/abort landing\' button or something, which you press to get full thrust up and retract legs.

But it\'s getting late and I\'ve done enough coding for one night, so that will have to come another day.

[dodrian]

To make the landing automated, just make the ship point retrograde (with some sort of check to stop the ship pointing too far below the horizon).

Yeah, I have ideas about what to do to make it fully automated, it\'s a matter of figuring out how to code it

(Remember, we still haven\'t received proper plugin docs from Squad yet, coding is a bit tricky at the moment and involves lots of guessing 8))

[trbinsc]

So when it\'s done, we will be able to put a ship into orbit around the Mun, turn it on, walk away from the computer and come back to a landed ship?

[Blinkin]

(Remember, we still haven\'t received proper plugin docs from Squad yet, coding is a bit tricky at the moment and involves lots of guessing 8))

And still you managed to build this.

This might be the beginning but I already lopve it to the max!

[Causeless]

Yeah, I have ideas about what to do to make it fully automated, it\'s a matter of figuring out how to code it

(Remember, we still haven\'t received proper plugin docs from Squad yet, coding is a bit tricky at the moment and involves lots of guessing 8))

Well, you could ask the guy who made mechjeb - he\'s managed to get some similar stuff.

[rebelcommando1807]

Well, you could ask the guy who made mechjeb - he\'s managed to get some similar stuff.

I find myself pairing the two up for testing purposes.. Shame MechJeb doesn\'t have a \'Kill Lateral Velocity\' button, because then it would be amazing.

[Causeless]

I find myself pairing the two up for testing purposes.. Shame MechJeb doesn\'t have a \'Kill Lateral Velocity\' button, because then it would be amazing.

You could just click the retrograde button, that would kill all lateral velocity for you.

I myself am avoiding this plugin mostly until I can modify the activation button.

[rebelcommando1807]

You could just click the retrograde button, that would kill all lateral velocity for you.

I myself am avoiding this plugin mostly until I can modify the activation button.

The issue with doing that, though, is it goes for the Orbit reference retrograde.

Not a good thing when landing on Kerbin.

[Cepheus]

I\'d like to see this paired up with mechJeb. Should make landings a breeze.

[Causeless]

The issue with doing that, though, is it goes for the Orbit reference retrograde.

Not a good thing when landing on Kerbin.

Yeah, that\'s a good point. It should change according to what you have the indicator set to.

[dodrian]

I myself am avoiding this plugin mostly until I can modify the activation button.

OK, added a new version and now you can choose which key to press to activate the descent computer. Pressing \'y\' by default turns on (or off) the computer, this can be modified in the part.cfg file.

There are also several other options to modify in the part.cfg file, play around with them and see if you can arrange smoother landings than my defaults (make sure to try them on both Kerbin and the Mun, as well as with small and larger ships).

I also added a GUI clue to tell you when the computer is on or not. Because of symmetry it\'s not perfect, but it\'ll do for now.

Goal for Friday: add in full automation for the landing ;D