[1.9-1.10] Throttle Controlled Avionics

[kcs123]

Ah, thanks for clarification, it is slightly different kind of animal here. It is hard to predict if some mod will use low level unity methods, or those available from KSP.

[linuxgurugamer]

4 hours ago, allista said:

TCA does an even simpler thing: it checks if a mouse is over the window rect, and if it is, it locks controls to prevent other KSP stuff from reacting. The key word here is KSP, not Unity. These "control locks" work on KSP controls, like part menu and so on, but other UI windows drawn using direct Unity calls don't know anything about these "locks". And, as you can imagine, drawing a bitmap of a waypoint on screen and then checking if a mouse click was directed at it is pretty low-level stuff.

EDIT: I want to emphasize, that the underlying mechanisms of TCA's clickthrough preventing and that of the ClickThroughBlocker are identical.

The advantage of using ClickThroughBlocker is that it will be aware of your mod's windows, and vice versa 

[allista]

19 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said:

The advantage of using ClickThroughBlocker is that it will be aware of your mod's windows, and vice versa 

That is tempting

But the need to compile against it and the .dll load order problem still make me hesitant about using such utility libs

[Reverant77]

38 minutes ago, allista said:

That is tempting

But the need to compile against it and the .dll load order problem still make me hesitant about using such utility libs

Thing is I can't use the waypoints without it as even though it works, I end up with 5 extra waypoints because of click through

[allista]

1 hour ago, Reverant77 said:

Thing is I can't use the waypoints without it as even though it works, I end up with 5 extra waypoints because of click through

How so? 

Never have such problems myself, actually. You just left-click to add all the waypoints you want, then right-click to stop adding them and return to normal operation.

In any case, ClickThroughBlocker can't help with that problem.

[The Space Man]

Hi, is TCA really incompatible with Astronomer's Visual Pack/Scatterer/EVE?

[allista]

Just now, The Space Man said:

Hi, is TCA really incompatible with Astronomer's Visual Pack/Scatterer/EVE?

There are multiple reports of incompatibility with AVP, yes.

As for the Scatterer and EVE, I don't know, so you can try and share your experience.

[Reverant77]

8 minutes ago, allista said:

How so? 

Never have such problems myself, actually. You just left-click to add all the waypoints you want, then right-click to stop adding them and return to normal operation.

In any case, ClickThroughBlocker can't help with that problem.

When I click 'add waypoints' it adds the first waypoint immediately underneath the button, then i cant remove that one. Ill try again tomorrow, didnt realise right clicking stopped adding waypoints.

[The Space Man]

3 minutes ago, allista said:

There are multiple reports of incompatibility with AVP, yes.

As for the Scatterer and EVE, I don't know, so you can try and share your experience.

This is heartbreaking 

[allista]

30 minutes ago, Reverant77 said:

When I click 'add waypoints' it adds the first waypoint immediately underneath the button, then i cant remove that one. Ill try again tomorrow, didnt realise right clicking stopped adding waypoints.

Hm... I'll try it myself now, but It seems to me that you have a faulty mouse that generates more clicks than you actually make.

I myself have had several of those with the symptoms like that.

@Reverant77

Here, see for yourself:

https://gfycat.com/IndolentJadedGoldenmantledgroundsquirrel

[Smurfalot]

Which is the newest TCA release compatible with KSP 1.3.1?

[Nicky21]

This is an excellent mod, thank you for taking your time to build it !

 

I have, however, 2 problems with it.

The first is more of an UI thing. I accidentally started the landing program and I had no visible abort button for it. i turned off the TCA assuming that would kill the program but as soon as i turned it back on again it continued to land. I still don't know how, once the land program started it never stops.

The second is much more important. Your mod devalues the Pilot's experience. Now i have worked on having several level 2 pilots and one level 4 for days now in my career game. However, after i install the components on my ship, it doesn't really matter who flies it, does it ? I would suggest that some components and programs should be available only to high level pilots or something or some of the low level but really smart pilots.

 

Anyway, again, excellent mod ! now my spaceships really feel like spaceships, not tin cans controlled by a swiss clock !!!!

Edited May 20, 2018 by Nicky21

[Nicky21]

Is there a way to change the color of the buttons used in this mod ? I can't really distinguish between green and yellow.

[allista]

5 hours ago, Nicky21 said:

Is there a way to change the color of the buttons used in this mod ? I can't really distinguish between green and yellow.

There is, but unfortunately not a straightforward one.

You need to create a text file named GameData/000_AT_Utils/000_AT_Utils.user and place the following there, setting the colors to your needs:

StylesConfig
{
	//available colors: normal (meaning white), grey, red, dark_red, green, dark_green, yellow, dark_yellow, cyan, magenta
	EnabledButtonColor = green
	ActiveButtonColor = yellow
	InactiveButtonColor = grey
	ConfirmButtonColor = green
	AddButtonColor = green
	CloseButtonColor = red
	DangerButtonColor = red
}

It's a shame I haven't had the time to make it more user friendly, but it is as it is for now.

Note, that these color settings will affect all of my mods, not only TCA.

Edited May 25, 2018 by allista

[allista]

On 5/20/2018 at 12:11 AM, Nicky21 said:

This is an excellent mod, thank you for taking your time to build it !

I have, however, 2 problems with it.

The first is more of an UI thing. I accidentally started the landing program and I had no visible abort button for it. i turned off the TCA assuming that would kill the program but as soon as i turned it back on again it continued to land. I still don't know how, once the land program started it never stops.

The second is much more important. Your mod devalues the Pilot's experience. Now i have worked on having several level 2 pilots and one level 4 for days now in my career game. However, after i install the components on my ship, it doesn't really matter who flies it, does it ? I would suggest that some components and programs should be available only to high level pilots or something or some of the low level but really smart pilots.

Anyway, again, excellent mod ! now my spaceships really feel like spaceships, not tin cans controlled by a swiss clock !!!!

1. Do you mean "land while hovering over the surface" Land, or the "land from an orbit" Land? 

2. A fair point, gameplay-wise. But TCA is an auto-pilot after all; its whole purpose is to be better that an unskilled pilot. Roleplaying-wise, I really don't see why its functions should depend on anything but the technology level. After all, if I seat on a driver seat of a, say, Tesla and tell it to drive me home, it would 200% perform the task better than me, considering I don't even have a drive license 

[Nicky21]

5 hours ago, allista said:

1. Do you mean "land while hovering over the surface" Land, or the "land from an orbit" Land? 

 

I don't know the difference. There was a button "Land" and as soon as i entered an suborbital trajectory i hit that and it was pretty unstoppable.

 

Thanks for the color config, i'll try it right away!

 

[allista]

9 minutes ago, Nicky21 said:

I don't know the difference. There was a button "Land" and as soon as i entered an suborbital trajectory i hit that and it was pretty unstoppable.

That was on-planetary Land program in Navigation Tab (the first one in the column of tabs to the right).

I wouldn't recommend you to use it on suborbital trajectories; only in normal VTOL flight above the ground.

[Swoop911]

Hi everyone i wonder if someone can explain me how to install the 3.5.2 tca manually. i dowloaded the file then tried the game.. no tca button anywhere do i need to extract the gamedata file content from the trottlecontrolledavionics-3.5.2 file and leave the trottlecontrolledavionics-3.5.2 file in the gamedata file of the game  ? same question with AT_Utils-master who have a gamedata file in it.im not sure why but i cant seem to make it work. with the 1.3.1 version i had the button but no control windows when i clicked it. do i need an aditional toolbar or to put a MM copy in one of the directory ??im on linux-mint i aslso tried to install ckan to help but i seem unable to get the mono-runtime 5.0 for mint...

thanks for your help!

 

EDIT: i tried with the gamedata folder content out of the file i do see the modules in my tech tree but still not gui no buttons ect...where do the files in the zip i download belong to i guess this is what i do wrong.

EDIT: tried the whole thing with 3.5.0 i do see the buttons and my craft have the tca software installed but still no controls windows at all when in flight.i guess 3.5.2 would be the answer if i got it to work.

Edited May 25, 2018 by Swoop911
unclear

[Nicky21]

On one of my ships the tca doesn't trigger the engines properly when i take off (like a rocket). I have tried almost everything short of redesigning it from scratch.

 

Here is what happens: 

The engines are all set to trust and maneuver except 2 big engines in the first stage set to manual trust. When i take off and turn on TCA (absolutely no modules installed - just the basic tca ) only the manual engines stay at full trust, the rest of the auxiliary engines stop firing except to make maneuvers (and obviously the ship starts to degrade its path). They act like i set them to maneuver, but they are set to trust and maneuver. Setting them to trust only also doesn't work.

This goes on until i reach orbit. As soon as the system is out of Gael's suborbital trajectory, TCA starts working properly, as in it now balances the trust so that the center of trust is behind COM. Landing on the moons works fine, tca balances trusters (set to trust and maneuver) great. landing back on Gael also works great. The only time tca doesn't work is when i take off initially.

What could cause this behavior ? Could some VTOL autopilot start in the background with out any indication ?

This is very odd behavior as i have designed vessels very similar to this one and TCA works as intended when taking off.

 

https://imgur.com/JzjXIwk  

https://imgur.com/EoD3WOM

https://imgur.com/9swSEJY 

Edited May 28, 2018 by Nicky21

[MonsieurPatateuh]

Hi,

First things first : Thanks for your awesome mod ! 

Ok, so I came here because I require some help with the macros. I want to use the "If Else" block but when I chose a condition when I hit "Add Condition", I want to chose (for example) "Altitude" but then, I have a grey window. 

I tried everything to fix this : reinstall TCA / AT_Utils / ModuleManager / the game, I tried all versions of TCA / ModuleManager / AT_Utils / the game. I also tried a fresh install of the game (with 1.4.1 update instead of my 1.4.2) and have installed only AT_Utils, TCA and ModuleManager with the right updates (for KSP 1.4.1) and noway, I still have that issue (I have this issue with every other options btw under "If Else", "While", "When", ... blocks).

 

Check the screens below (btw sorry for the resolution, this is my fresh install and I didn't change the default resolution).

The "If Else" block.

The grey window after clicking Altitude.

 

By advance, thank you !

(sury 4 my english im frunch)

[Uberns]

One of my planes appears to have lost many of it's TCA modules and I am unsure if I just experienced a bug or I made an error.  I am certain that the plane launched with the correct modules because it has them in the VAB and on the launchpad.  The plane docked in orbit around Kerbin with a transfer ship and is now on the surface of Laythe but is missing the VTOL modules. 

The transfer ship does not have any TCA modules installed.  Could this have somehow wiped the modules from the plane when I docked?

I also renamed the plane after landing on Laythe but before attempting to use the VTOL abilities.  Does renaming or changing the icon of a ship affect the modules in anyway?

 

I do not know if this will help, but this is a link to my output_log.txt: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzsZI1NOlHQpSTlhZllCNnYxQk0

Thanks mate!

[Uberns]

On 3/20/2018 at 6:46 AM, allista said:

*snip*

The second question is trickier: find the active ModuleTCA of your vessel (resides in one of the command parts) and inside it a VSLCONFIG.EnabledTCAParts node. There are saved all the TCA modules that are installed on that TCA instance. To enable others you need to add corresponding subnodes there. But you have to copy them from some other vessel which has them enabled.

^I found the above quote while looking for a way to add the TCA modules back into the plane that I mentioned in my previous post and I would like to beg for a bit of clarification.  I have located my vessel in the save file and I launched a version of it that has the TCA modules installed to use as a reference.  Do you mean copy the "ModuleConfigs" and the "EnabledTCAParts" sections?  Or are there other nodes that also need to be moved over?

[allista]

14 hours ago, Uberns said:

^I found the above quote while looking for a way to add the TCA modules back into the plane that I mentioned in my previous post and I would like to beg for a bit of clarification.  I have located my vessel in the save file and I launched a version of it that has the TCA modules installed to use as a reference.  Do you mean copy the "ModuleConfigs" and the "EnabledTCAParts" sections?  Or are there other nodes that also need to be moved over?

Yes

*like in (A or B) === True, if A and B are mutually exclusive 

ModuleConfigs contain runtime state of active modules. I probably wouldn't copy them to a vessel in a different situation.

EnabledTCAParts enumerate TCA "modules" (in end user terms) available to the vessel. They're called parts, because a) they correspond to the actual part configs that you see in tech tree as TCA's blue boxes, and b) some of these parts enable several TCAModule classes (in backend terms).

I don't have the code at hand right now to be absolutely sure, but as far as I remember, nothing else should be required.

On 5/25/2018 at 3:54 PM, Swoop911 said:

Hi everyone i wonder if someone can explain me how to install the 3.5.2 tca manually. i dowloaded the file then tried the game.. no tca button anywhere do i need to extract the gamedata file content from the trottlecontrolledavionics-3.5.2 file and leave the trottlecontrolledavionics-3.5.2 file in the gamedata file of the game  ? same question with AT_Utils-master who have a gamedata file in it.im not sure why but i cant seem to make it work. with the 1.3.1 version i had the button but no control windows when i clicked it. do i need an aditional toolbar or to put a MM copy in one of the directory ??im on linux-mint i aslso tried to install ckan to help but i seem unable to get the mono-runtime 5.0 for mint...

thanks for your help!

 

EDIT: i tried with the gamedata folder content out of the file i do see the modules in my tech tree but still not gui no buttons ect...where do the files in the zip i download belong to i guess this is what i do wrong.

EDIT: tried the whole thing with 3.5.0 i do see the buttons and my craft have the tca software installed but still no controls windows at all when in flight.i guess 3.5.2 would be the answer if i got it to work.

First of all, it sounds like you've just downloaded the sources from GitHub. They're not equivalent to distros and won't work as is.

Try installing the package from SpaceDock (link in the OP). Make sure to use version compatible with your KSP version (they're shown in grey in changes page). The GameData folder in the archive should be merged with the GameData folder of your KSP. AT_Utils are included, but you have to install ModuleManager separately (you probably already have it).

[Swoop911]

You solve it obviously Thanks!!! while i was trying to get it to work i tried many ways to get a vtol jet to takeoff properly like mechjeb+davon...nothing worked well i just took off in perfect balance with TCA i got plenty of mods installed but this one is the best haha i am a big fan keep up the good work allista!

 

edit: i still have a question for you if ever you have an answer im willing to build a ssto vtol i tried some B9  va1 vtol engine but i think their built in  control system is somewhat conflicting with tca so infernal robotics seems to be an answer to my problem but im not sure how their rotors  works well with tca  (can add more mods if needed) thanks 

Edited June 9, 2018 by Swoop911
another question

[allista]

7 hours ago, Swoop911 said:

edit: i still have a question for you if ever you have an answer im willing to build a ssto vtol i tried some B9  va1 vtol engine but i think their built in  control system is somewhat conflicting with tca so infernal robotics seems to be an answer to my problem but im not sure how their rotors  works well with tca  (can add more mods if needed) thanks 

IR is ok for TCA as it physically rotates engines. As for B9, I don't know the parts, unless they're using non stock modules for engines they should be ok too.

Could you describe in more detail what you're trying to achieve?

On 6/7/2018 at 11:03 AM, MonsieurPatateuh said:

Hi,

First things first : Thanks for your awesome mod ! 

Ok, so I came here because I require some help with the macros. I want to use the "If Else" block but when I chose a condition when I hit "Add Condition", I want to chose (for example) "Altitude" but then, I have a grey window. 

I tried everything to fix this : reinstall TCA / AT_Utils / ModuleManager / the game, I tried all versions of TCA / ModuleManager / AT_Utils / the game. I also tried a fresh install of the game (with 1.4.1 update instead of my 1.4.2) and have installed only AT_Utils, TCA and ModuleManager with the right updates (for KSP 1.4.1) and noway, I still have that issue (I have this issue with every other options btw under "If Else", "While", "When", ... blocks).

 

Check the screens below (btw sorry for the resolution, this is my fresh install and I didn't change the default resolution).

The "If Else" block.

The grey window after clicking Altitude.

 

By advance, thank you !

(sury 4 my english im frunch)

Thanks for the report, this is definitely a bug.

Could you please reproduce this once more and share the KSP_Data/output_log.txt afterwards?