[1.3] Pilot Assistant: Atmospheric piloting aids - 1.13.2 (May 28)

[Van Disaster]

Be easier to say what annoys me about the current setup.

* I'd like to be able to choose between PA and SSAS for axes - currently I'm using a combo of PA and MJ SmartASS for re-entering spaceplanes, because PA won't hold AoA/pitch and SSAS isn't quite so good at flying. Unfortunately that means PA and SA argue the plane down until I can use PA vertical speed but well, it works. It'd also help on the outbound trip too. A PA hold-AoA might fix all of that actually, specially given it actually has an AoA controller...

* No dynamic control tuning - well we've been through that from the start and there's no rush

I do use the wing leveller in combination with other things like smartass given it's a bit better at actually levelling wings, but I'm not sure I'd really care if it went.

You could perhaps either have an inertial mode for direction ( actually just a relative change from current vector mode ) or a full celestial one using Sun/Mun/Minmus there was another annoyance I've forgotten which I'm sure I'll rediscover soon enough.

Edited February 13, 2015 by Van Disaster

[Crzyrndm]

* I'd like to be able to choose between PA and SSAS for axes

You can do that right now. I removed the "one or the other" requirement in the last version or two thanks to some new 0.90 functionality (Pilot Assistant has final say on an axes if there is a conflict) and SSAS has always been on a per axis basis.

* No dynamic control tuning - well we've been through that from the start and there's no rush

Yup, perpetual bugbear. Never had much success in writing something to make it happen, and if I do there's going to be the "how do I GUI this" problem as well...

You could perhaps either have an inertial mode for direction ( actually just a relative change from current vector mode ) or a full celestial one using Sun/Mun/Minmus there was another annoyance I've forgotten which I'm sure I'll rediscover soon enough.

The only difference between the current wing leveller and the proposed direction hold is that it will only target 0 degrees of bank if your craft is perfectly symmetrical (and thus would fly straight anyway). Any slight asymmetry will be compensated for under a direction hold, that's about the only difference.

Not quite sure what you mean by the celestial direction method. I'm thinking really simple:

• define a plane by your current facing and a vector perpendicular to the planet (divide the planet in half through the longitudinal center of your craft).
  
• While engaged, lock the longitudinal axis of the craft to lie on that plane.
  

[Svm420]

The next update sounds awesome. I didn't know how much i love this mod till i finally got a understanding of it. But now i would never fly a jet without it. Set and forget with proper building.

[Van Disaster]

Not quite sure what you mean by the celestial direction method. I'm thinking really simple:

I meant define your position in relation to ( presumably the origin of ) several obvious visible(? maybe, given the lack of choice probably just the nearest 2 + sun ) celestial bodies which in a space game one might hope would be easy to grab the location of, which would sidestep a lot of problems about planets not having tilt / navigation at the poles. I guess which celestials would depend where you are ( other than the Sun ). Navigating by stars was something even airlines did not all that long ago, we just don't have many celestial objects to choose from...

Will try PA+SSAS again, any particular order you have to enable them in?

Edit: Arm SSAS, lock SSAS pitch & roll ( I'm in space atm, roll is necessary ), arm PA roll & yaw in heading mode, SSAS unlocks... which is OK in space, but not so OK flying. This is 1.2.1, if this isn't behaving right I guess I'll download it again to be sure. Disarming PA heading also popped off the SSAS locks again.

Edited February 13, 2015 by Van Disaster

[Crzyrndm]

Edit: Arm SSAS, lock SSAS pitch & roll ( I'm in space atm, roll is necessary ), arm PA roll & yaw in heading mode, SSAS unlocks... which is OK in space, but not so OK flying. This is 1.2.1, if this isn't behaving right I guess I'll download it again to be sure. Disarming PA heading also popped off the SSAS locks again.

I'll take a look to be sure everything is behaving as expected, but PA will override SSAS inputs on the same axis (in your case, SSAS can only control pitch). Is there a particular reason you want PA heading control active in space (where it's almost guaranteed not to work)

Bumpless transfer is in, configurable easing being added shortly.

[Crzyrndm]

Pilot Assistant v1.3

• SSAS pitch/roll/heading inputs now have update buttons, changes won't be made until commited
  
• All setpoint changes through commit buttons now use a gradual transfer scheme. This is tweakable on Pilot Assistant using the "Easing" parameter. Higher is more abrupt. Only applies to the controller recieving the commit (even though it's visible on all controllers)
  
• Window position is now persistent
  
• Integral limits are now single input for both upper and lower
  
• Fixed GUI leakage for the toolbar window
  
• Removed slide parameter from SSAS
  
• Added Delay parameter to SSAS. This is the time in 1/100ths of a second between you releasing the key and SSAS locking to the current attitude
  

IMPORTANT:

On the first run, add this to a .cfg file somewhere in GameData. It will update all the existing Asst Presets with the new default Ease parameter. Once Presets have been saved (enter and leave the flight scene one), you should remove it from GameData so that presets are not overwritten on next run

@PIDPreset,*
{
    @HdgBankController
    {
        @Ease = 1
    }
    @AltitudeController
    {
        @Ease = 100
    }
    @AoAController
    {
        @Ease = 10
    }
}

[Van Disaster]

I'll take a look to be sure everything is behaving as expected, but PA will override SSAS inputs on the same axis (in your case, SSAS can only control pitch). Is there a particular reason you want PA heading control active in space (where it's almost guaranteed not to work)

http://youtu.be/fQLFTOYRBmI

I was going to stop being in space fairly shortly - I didn't much care about being absolutely level, just level enough. The point was it unlocked SSAS *pitch* as well, and I didn't touch that part of PA. Will try the latest.

[Crzyrndm]

That really shouldn't happen. I'll see if I can't track it down (I have a few other minor bugs to squash anyway)

E: I can't reproduce activating any Asst aids causing active SSAS axes to be deactivated

Edited February 15, 2015 by Crzyrndm

[Van Disaster]

Well no conflict between PA & SSAS anymore. You'll be delighted to know my buttons have reverted to the old gui style again though! I haven't checked in a clean built yet.

[Crzyrndm]

You'll be delighted to know my buttons have reverted to the old gui style again though!

... :mad: ...

One of these days I will work out why that happens... (And will then proceed to squash it with extreme prejudice)

Edited February 16, 2015 by Crzyrndm

[stali79]

Loving the assistance this addon provides, however my plane has a huge turning circle and low roll angle during banking. What would I need to change to tighten up the turning circle?

[Van Disaster]

Show PID limits enabled -> Heading -> Max Bank.

If I lock SSAS Pitch ( only ), why is it changing it's value if I use A/D? :S

[Crzyrndm]

Show PID limits enabled -> Heading -> Max Bank.

And/or make Kp on the yaw controller > 0 (note that this configuration is slightly less aerodynamically stable hence why it defaults to 0)

If I lock SSAS Pitch ( only ), why is it changing it's value if I use A/D? :S

Because unless your roll angle is exactly zero, yaw input could be asking for a change in pitch angle (and the opposite for pitch input). I don't really have an adequate solution to that.

[Van Disaster]

Because unless your roll angle is exactly zero, yaw input could be asking for a change in pitch angle (and the opposite for pitch input). I don't really have an adequate solution to that.

Hm, it was on the runway - any way of making an exception for landed craft? I was going a bit too fast to steer with the wheels.

[Crzyrndm]

I could probably decouple them for low (<5/10 degrees) angles of bank without any major issues arising.

[mreadshaw]

Would it be possible to add an angle of attack autopilot to the pilot assistant? I find it much more important in FAR to control your AOA that anything else.

[Crzyrndm]

An angle of attack controller on it's own is next to useless for flying. You have to offload all vertical control to the throttle before it makes sense again and then you're right back where we are now. Pilot Assistant is continuously adjusting the desired AoA to attain a target vertical speed (the low level control *is* working on angle of attack and you can limit the AoA Pilot Assistant will try to use).

If you meant pitch, just use SSAS. If you want it for re-entry purposes, SSAS pitch control is the closest thing available (even if I added an AoA control mode, you would still have to monitor it for when to switch back to something useful).

[mreadshaw]

Ya I only use PA for re-entry of my dreamchaser style craft. Its unpowered and glides in. It basically lands just fine with SAS on for yaw and roll control but it means that I have to constantly fight to keep it at the right AOA. I've tried using target vertical velocity but no matter what I set the coefficients to it never pitches up beyond 13% (the craft needs 20% to bleed off enough speed). I haven't had luck with SSAS being able to hold any direction, it always just goes into death wobbles, maybe I'll try messing around with its number a bit more.

[Crzyrndm]

Thinking on it further:

Set the output limit of the vertical speed block to desired AoA

Set the desired vertical speed to 0

That *should* do what you want it to (helps to have a use case )

[Van Disaster]

Couple of wierdnesses:

* I -think- that enabling a PA hold the first time by typing into the box & clicking the relevant set button isn't actually enabling it until I change the value further ( say, with keys ). I keep forgetting to rigorously check that.

* Sometimes the AoA controller seems to be getting stuck, beyond what I'd expect from integer windup...

When I've managed to actually reproduce something reliably I'll post how, but maybe you can give anything related a brief once-over at some point.

[Crzyrndm]

The no/slow response may be due to the new Ease/Easing setting (which doesn't apply to key input). Compare the numbers in my release post to your default (or other as applicable) config

Need a lot more information than just "stuck"

[Van Disaster]

As in "the pitch surfaces are pointing in the wrong direction given the condition being tested has gone way past the setpoint"... AoA is the obvious one ( well I guess it could be the VS controller sticking, I'm usually too busy trying to rescue the plane before it pitches a-over-t to expand everything ) given it changes a lot more than the others, so maybe it's universal and I've not triggered the others.

Or maybe I need to go and redo all my presets, I dunno.

[Crzyrndm]

The only thing I can think of is that the easing parameter is very close to 0. Are you possibly using the update button when this happens as well? (A look at your default config will help here, it will atleast rule out easing)

[Van Disaster]

No, I'll have been flying PA via WASD. Might be right on the easing thing given most of my presets seem to have it at 0.01, I didn't actually pay much attention to what that's for

[Crzyrndm]

Easing is for the bumpless transfers I introduced with 1.3. If everything is 0.01, that 100% explains your first issue and *may* explain the second issue. I added a note about a temporary MM patch needed to update old presets in the v1.3 release post (otherwise existing presets get read as having 0)

IMPORTANT:

On the first run, add this to a .cfg file somewhere in GameData. It will update all the existing Asst Presets with the new default Ease parameter. Once Presets have been saved (enter and leave the flight scene one), you should remove it from GameData so that presets are not overwritten on next run

@PIDPreset,*
{
    @HdgBankController
    {
        @Ease = 1
    }
    @AltitudeController
    {
        @Ease = 100
    }
    @AoAController
    {
        @Ease = 10
    }
}

If you could get a video of the freezing thing with the top level controller having a reasonable value for easing (it only matters on the controller that your inputs are being passed to) it would be much appreciated