Run through time twice.

[Frozen_Heart]

I wasn't sure how to title this suggestion but this is my solution to reusable boosters such as the shuttle SRBs and the Falcon 9. This would also make air-launch aircraft work.

What I'm suggesting is to be able to run through the same segment of time twice. Once to pilot the upper stage and once to land the booster or launch aircraft. This would get around the problem of parts being deleted once they are further than 2.5km.

What do people think?

[Bill Phil]

So, like an autopilot, but it's just replaying what you did?

[Tex_NL]

There is already a mod out there somewhere that does exactly this. Can't remember the name but I know it exists.

[bakanando]

I'd rather thrash the boosters, than spend real time landing them for virtual monies. The better solution would be to fix the physics loading bubble, but that basically means rewriting the physics engine...

I wonder what would happen if you were to hit your main ship with your booster in the second time iteration.

Time travelling sheanigans!

[Giggleplex777]

This may work once multiplayer is implemented, since that would allow the rest of the the spacecraft to still be loaded and doing its thing while you control the boosters, though I do see a problem with multiple boosters.

A simpler option is to have a way to make a save of the state of the booster after it passes 2.5km and then return to it later. It would be like an on-rails simulation expect the the booster stays at the same position relative to the body it's on until it is loaded, in which it would then retain its velocity after separation.

[Starman4308]

If all you want is stage recovery, well then...

There is StageRecovery.

[Tex_NL]

...

A simpler option is to have a way to make a save of the state of the booster after it passes 2.5km and then return to it later. It would be like an on-rails simulation expect the the booster stays at the same position relative to the body it's on until it is loaded, in which it would then retain its velocity after separation.

That's pretty much what the OP is asking for. And as I said there is already a mod that can do this. I just can't remember the name.

If all you want is stage recovery, well then...

There is StageRecovery.

That's not what the OP is asking for. He obviously wants to actually LAND them.

[Frozen_Heart]

I know that there is a mod for it. I'm suggesting its implementation to stock...

[Capt Snuggler]

I brought something like this up before but it was shot down.

KSPs physics is single threaded right. so I suggested when an object with forces acting upon it, thrust or drag, moves outside of the 2.5km bubble, it jumps to another thread/core with with a pic in pic window in the bottom of the screen.

you could then quickly and easily switch control from one craft to another keeping tabs on both. you could safely land your reusable lower stage, while your playload powers towards its apoapsis.

[BudgetHedgehog]

SRBs are cheap enough to throw away for me to not worry about recovering them. An RT-10 costs less (325) than a Mk16 chute (422) - why bother spending twice as much and recovering it for partial value when I could just not spend as much in the first place? Putting a chute on top of an SRB might make early career boosters too expensive to even launch.

Say, for arguments sake, you have an RT-10 and Mk16. Together they cost 747. They land at a distance far enough away to return 97% value which nets me 523ish funds so I've spent 224ish funds (instead of just 325 and dropping them without recovery). Are you really going to bother with switching back to boosters and landing them safely just to save 100 funds? If you're that desperate for funds, accept a part test contract for landed at kerbin and test it on the launchpad and recover for 100% value.

[Capt Snuggler]

its not just about the funds but also the efficiency of a nice reusable space x style system.

[Valericson]

Capt Snuggler said:

its not just about the funds but also the efficiency of a nice reusable space x style system.

You're damn right.

I saw that mod somewhere a week ago but can't find any mentions of it now.

Could someone lead the search?)

UPD: Found it! CHEERS!!!

[Moderator removed defunct website link]

Edited August 28, 2022 by James Kerman
link removed

[vexx32]

I brought something like this up before but it was shot down.

KSPs physics is single threaded right. so I suggested when an object with forces acting upon it, thrust or drag, moves outside of the 2.5km bubble, it jumps to another thread/core with with a pic in pic window in the bottom of the screen.

you could then quickly and easily switch control from one craft to another keeping tabs on both. you could safely land your reusable lower stage, while your playload powers towards its apoapsis.

It's not that it's single-threaded, so much as it's simply not threadsafe. In other words, there's no way of reliably offloading any physics calculations to another thread without causing seriously messed glitches, up to and commonly including crashes (if not having things totally run out of control and triggering a BSOD). When Unity finally gets around to incorporating more recent versions of PhysX in their build, this may become possible. Until then, it's pretty impossible.

[DiamondExcavater]

I could create a Paradox and never be able to play KSP due to a melted computer and a rip in time and space out side my window.....

[technicalfool]

Perhaps the rich-kid option, but you could always use DMP in career mode and two (or more) computers. A little fiddly, you'd basically leave one machine at KSC or in the tracking station, and use it to connect to and control your booster stages. However, in theory you (or you and a friend) could recover every single launch stage in real-time.

[Tex_NL]

You're damn right.

I saw that mod somewhere a week ago but can't find any mentions of it now.

Could someone lead the search?)

UPD: Found it! CHEERS!!!

https://kerbalstuff.com/mod/172/Flight%20Manager%20for%20Reusable%20Stages%20%5BFMRS%5D

Scott Manley just did a video on this and indeed what I was thinking of is FMRS.

To see it in action check out his latest at