[1.9-1.10] Throttle Controlled Avionics

[allista]

1 hour ago, TBenz said:

But if there is something that I should really have turned off during launch, and this is just Id-10T error on my end, that would be good to know too.

All TCA autopilots turn other functions on and off as they need; so if something should indeed be turned off for proper takeoff, this is a bug, not a user problem 

[AlexO]

Hi @allista

 

So, I've tested the Mun landing again without MH and BG. Result is the same -> Game crashed with "OutOfMemoryException: Out of memory".

Player.log: https://www.mediafire.com/file/221o3r6r42570x2/Player.log/file

 

Please don't forget the Rendezvous-Out of memory! 

Situation was:

Manually landed my Munlander on Mun and then trying rendezvous function of TCA to reach an orbiter.

Edited June 24, 2019 by AlexO

[AlexO]

Hej  @allista

any progress?

 

Alex

****

 

 

[Gordon Dry]

Testing:

GameData\ThrottleControlledAvionics\TCATechTree_RP-1.cfg

@PART[TCAModuleVTOLControl]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = earlyAvionics
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleMacroProcessor]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = basicAvionics
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleBallisticJump]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = orbitalRocketry1959
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleCruiseControl]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = earlyAvionics
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleToOrbitAutopilot]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = orbitalRocketry1958
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleVerticalSpeedControl]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = supersonicDev
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleFlightStabilizer]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = improvedAvionics
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleRendezvousAutopilot]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = orbitalRocketry1959
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[ThrottleControlledAvionics]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = avionicsPrototypes
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleSquadControl]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = materialsScienceAdvCapsules
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleHorizontalSpeedControl]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = avionicsPrototypes
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleAttitudeControl]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = postWarAvionics
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleThrottleControl]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = basicRocketryRP0
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleAutoLander]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = lunarLanding
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleManeuverAutopilot]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = orbitalRocketry1956
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModulePointNavigator]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = matureAvionics
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleAltitudeControl]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = improvedAvionics
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleCollisionPreventionSystem]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = advancedAvionics
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleRadar]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = electronicsSatellite
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleDeorbitAutopilot]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = orbitalRocketry1959
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleAnchor]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = earlyLanding
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleVTOLAssist]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = entryDescentLanding
	%RP0conf = true
}

@PART[TCAModuleMatchVelocityAutopilot]:NEEDS[RP-0]:AFTER[ThrottleControlledAvionics]
{
    @TechRequired = orbitalRocketry1964
	%RP0conf = true
}

 

[allista]

9 hours ago, AlexO said:

Hej  @allista

any progress?

 

Alex

****

Haven't had time yet, too much work at work 

Was planning to address this at the weekend; if family allows 

[Keet]

So.. bit of a snag. I built a craft for hovering using the Feline Rover thingy. I enable all the stuff, launch it, and it will hover just fine using altitude controls. However, when I go into cruise mode to have it, you know, fly places.. it will steadily decrease in altitude until it eventually crashes. Not sure if I am doing something wrong.. or...

I am not using the follow terrain option.

[allista]

4 minutes ago, Keet said:

So.. bit of a snag. I built a craft for hovering using the Feline Rover thingy. I enable all the stuff, launch it, and it will hover just fine using altitude controls. However, when I go into cruise mode to have it, you know, fly places.. it will steadily decrease in altitude until it eventually crashes. Not sure if I am doing something wrong.. or...

I am not using the follow terrain option.

Slow engines like jets, or instant response like rockets?

Enough TWR, like 2+?

And of course if you're not following terrain the craft should keep altitude ASL.

[Keet]

12 minutes ago, allista said:

Slow engines like jets, or instant response like rockets?

Enough TWR, like 2+?

And of course if you're not following terrain the craft should keep altitude ASL.

I was using the hover engines(the electronic mode) that come with the Feline Rover mod. I, unfortunately, cannot find the mod I used to have that contained all sorts of hover and V-TOL engines. Also, I am not sure what TWR is? I literally only use your beautiful and amazing mod for hover stuffs and helicopters and really only the options I mentioned. Hover, stop, cruise. This in conjunction with BD Armory, of course. XD

 

I can screenshot the craft if you like. 

Edited July 5, 2019 by Keet
added stuff

[allista]

1 minute ago, Keet said:

I was using the hover engines(the electronic mode) that come with the Feline Rover mod. I, unfortunately, cannot find the mod I used to have that contained all sorts of hover and V-TOL engines. Also, I am not sure what TWR is? I literally only use your beautiful and amazing mod for hover stuffs and helicopters and really only the options I mentioned. Hover, stop, cruise. This in conjunction with BD Armory, of course. XD

Thrust to Weight ratio. You can check it in editor in TCA window (it's called TWM there) or in the stage stack to the right.

As for the engines -- do they take time to spin up and build thrust?

[Keet]

11 minutes ago, allista said:

Thrust to Weight ratio. You can check it in editor in TCA window (it's called TWM there) or in the stage stack to the right.

As for the engines -- do they take time to spin up and build thrust?

So I suppose the TWR may indeed be the culprit? 0.97, with wet mass. So aim for 2+ and it should be fine moving forward? 

Engines spool up to start for about half a second to a second upon starting. After that they are pretty responsive. 

[allista]

1 minute ago, Keet said:

So aim for 2+ and it should be fine moving forward? 

Well yeah, when a VTOL tilts, it shifts some of the thrust in horizontal direction; but it's vertical component should always be >= 1. So you should always have at least 1+something. Where something is actually equals to sinus of the maximum allowed tilt angle.

There's also a complication with atmospheric engines that user AirIntake, as their thrust often depends on the speed and angle to the airstream.

[Keet]

Just now, allista said:

Well yeah, when a VTOL tilts, it shifts some of the thrust in horizontal direction; but it's vertical component should always be >= 1. So you should always have at least 1+something. Where something is actually equals to sinus of the maximum allowed tilt angle.

There's also a complication with atmospheric engines that user AirIntake, as their thrust often depends on the speed and angle to the airstream.

Yay! I will test it out here shortly. Thank you for the help and the swift response.

[DStaal]

1 hour ago, Keet said:

So.. bit of a snag. I built a craft for hovering using the Feline Rover thingy. I enable all the stuff, launch it, and it will hover just fine using altitude controls. However, when I go into cruise mode to have it, you know, fly places.. it will steadily decrease in altitude until it eventually crashes. Not sure if I am doing something wrong.. or...

I am not using the follow terrain option.

One quick comment: Those engines have a built-in hover mode as well.  You might want to try that mode instead of TCA, just to compare.  (Their hover mode is very nice and quite slick - but it's a 'hovercraft' mode, in that they only hover a couple meters off the surface, and that's it.  TCA is a lot more versatile.  But if you're just driving over the surface while hovering, you might prefer their mode.  Just note that you'll either want to turn it on and then activate the engines, or have it linked to an action group.)

[spectre007x]

Any advice on making a Mv 22 style aircraft,i've tried with the buffalo mod pack V22 motors but, cant quite get the horizontial speed to increase and also i thinks its more of a game limitation but the aircraft has no idea how to process the motors rotating in mid air.  thanks for any feed back.

[MaxPeck]

5 hours ago, spectre007x said:

Any advice on making a Mv 22 style aircraft,i've tried with the buffalo mod pack V22 motors but, cant quite get the horizontial speed to increase and also i thinks its more of a game limitation but the aircraft has no idea how to process the motors rotating in mid air.  thanks for any feed back.

So, I've built a successful VTOL that transitions in forward flight, although I use the J. Edgar engines from SXT.  So what I do is this...

I have 2 J Edgars as my "main engines", they're up forward.  I have 4 smaller VTOL engines in the rear (not sure what they're from, I'll look later) - they point aft in normal flight, but in VTOL flight, 2 point up and 2 point down.  This helps IMMENSELY with attitude control.  I then add 2 small regular engines to the tail pointing aft and set to "manual control" - these are your VTOL forward flight engines.  In the SPH or VBA, you can assign a TCA toggle to an action group, so I'll assign them to a custom group, along with VTOL mode toggles for all of the VTOL engines.  When you activate that action group, it'll set the engines to vertical thrust and TCA to ON, or engines to horizontal thrust and TCA to OFF.  Take off in vertical thrust/TCA ON mode and get up to about 500m, using TCA to get your forward thrust up to 100m/s or thereabouts.  At that point, toggle the engines to horizontal thrust, TCA to OFF and get ready to engage your autopilot (I use Kramax), or SAS and fly like a normal airplane.

When you're ready to land, slow to about 60m/s or so, point your nose up slightly (~5 degrees) and follow the procedure in reverse.  Keep TCA set to give you a forward speed above 60m/s and then use the slider to slow yourself down.  Don't slow all at once, your aircraft will pitch up drastically and gain altitude and you might exceed your controllability depending on how you're loaded.  I bring down my speed ~10m's at a time until I'm at about 20 and then use the landing routine to do the rest.  I typically start my slowdown and transition above 500m and about 10km from my destination.

To make sure you're balanced, in the editor, put all of the VTOL engines in vertical mode, and then set the thrust limiter on the horizontal engines to 0%.  Make sure the purple arrow goes right through the middle of the CG marker.  I generally always have horizontal engines set to 0 at launch, just in case - once TCA is engaged, it'll take control, so it doesn't matter.  With this design, I'm able to have a VTOL surface transport that can reach 300 m/s in forward flight (in forward flight you have 6 engines pushing you!).  Just make sure you're aerodynamically sound for forward flight and you're all set.

Hope that helps!

[spectre007x]

14 hours ago, MaxPeck said:

So, I've built a successful VTOL that transitions in forward flight, although I use the J. Edgar engines from SXT.  So what I do is this...

I have 2 J Edgars as my "main engines", they're up forward.  I have 4 smaller VTOL engines in the rear (not sure what they're from, I'll look later) - they point aft in normal flight, but in VTOL flight, 2 point up and 2 point down.  This helps IMMENSELY with attitude control.  I then add 2 small regular engines to the tail pointing aft and set to "manual control" - these are your VTOL forward flight engines.  In the SPH or VBA, you can assign a TCA toggle to an action group, so I'll assign them to a custom group, along with VTOL mode toggles for all of the VTOL engines.  When you activate that action group, it'll set the engines to vertical thrust and TCA to ON, or engines to horizontal thrust and TCA to OFF.  Take off in vertical thrust/TCA ON mode and get up to about 500m, using TCA to get your forward thrust up to 100m/s or thereabouts.  At that point, toggle the engines to horizontal thrust, TCA to OFF and get ready to engage your autopilot (I use Kramax), or SAS and fly like a normal airplane.

When you're ready to land, slow to about 60m/s or so, point your nose up slightly (~5 degrees) and follow the procedure in reverse.  Keep TCA set to give you a forward speed above 60m/s and then use the slider to slow yourself down.  Don't slow all at once, your aircraft will pitch up drastically and gain altitude and you might exceed your controllability depending on how you're loaded.  I bring down my speed ~10m's at a time until I'm at about 20 and then use the landing routine to do the rest.  I typically start my slowdown and transition above 500m and about 10km from my destination.

To make sure you're balanced, in the editor, put all of the VTOL engines in vertical mode, and then set the thrust limiter on the horizontal engines to 0%.  Make sure the purple arrow goes right through the middle of the CG marker.  I generally always have horizontal engines set to 0 at launch, just in case - once TCA is engaged, it'll take control, so it doesn't matter.  With this design, I'm able to have a VTOL surface transport that can reach 300 m/s in forward flight (in forward flight you have 6 engines pushing you!).  Just make sure you're aerodynamically sound for forward flight and you're all set.

Hope that helps!

Thank you for the layout ill give it a try today im making a recovery vehicle that can hover and pick up down kerbins and hopefully flip rovers over. Really appreciate the time it took to write all that too.

[MaxPeck]

13 hours ago, spectre007x said:

Thank you for the layout ill give it a try today im making a recovery vehicle that can hover and pick up down kerbins and hopefully flip rovers over. Really appreciate the time it took to write all that too.

Some other stuff to add, after looking back over my design.  Fuel wings is almost mandatory, unless you want to hang fuel tanks all over the place.  I like the drop tanks from firespitter for extended range missions, and there is a fuel tank, I think it comes from SXT that’s like a wrapper tank, and it saddles nicely on top of a 2.5m part and makes a good wing root and place to mount intakes.  I’m too lazy for pictures, but to give you the basic idea, I start with a 2.5m cockpit, attach a 2.5m passenger section and then a cargo ramp.  On top I mount the aforementioned wrapper tank, with wings leading off and J Edgars at the end of them. I build my tail off of the cargo ramp segment and mount jump jet engines above and below,  with the manual engines at the end of the horizontal stabilizer.  For landing gear, I use the saddle tanks from Buffalo, aligned with the bottom the the passenger segment, and attach gear to those.  It all works pretty well and looks slick.  I’ve been able to do most VTOL/GAP search and rescue missions with it, and I’ve even picked up a Kerbal off the surface and hauled him into the cargo ramp segment using a KAS winch. 

Good luck, hope you have good results. 

[allista]

@everyone

Looking for maintainers (so basic understanding of KSP API and C#) to help me keep the mods up to date with the galloping KSP releases 

If you think you know someone who can and want to help, pass the word, please 

[allista]

On 6/29/2019 at 1:26 AM, AlexO said:

Hej  @allista

any progress?

Just tested landing on the Mun in KSP-1.7.3 with the pure-stock (no expansions) lander: 
https://mega.nz/#!24oHhSxT!bcDZ52zlFbWZXYp5HiZUl5IiCJ5r0MmwZyVUk2yBOe8

No exceptions, no memory leakage detected by the system tools.

Will now test the rendezvous...

[allista]

@AlexO can't reproduce with Rendezvous either. Everything works as always.

[allista]

Nightbuilds for those interested could be obtained here:

https://mega.nz/#F!X1AEUKwC!u3xLqpJ2-EJlF7BgGSUlrQ

[AlexO]

On 7/13/2019 at 7:11 PM, allista said:

@AlexO can't reproduce with Rendezvous either. Everything works as always.

Hi,

 

I'll try it with 1.7.3 next week when I'm back @ home. Thanks!

[allista]

Updated nightbuilds: fixed several bugs, including crashing on right click on my toolbar buttons.

[wayvern]

I know this is kinda old thread but i want to ask for help about TCA, i cant find any module or extra buttons other than enable tca and smart engines and few tweaks on its main page.

How Can i add other modules like squadron and vtol functions etc? because i cant find them.

[allista]

1 hour ago, wayvern said:

I know this is kinda old thread but i want to ask for help about TCA, i cant find any module or extra buttons other than enable tca and smart engines and few tweaks on its main page.

How Can i add other modules like squadron and vtol functions etc? because i cant find them.

In career game you have to purchase them first in the tech tree. Then enable them in editor in TCA config window when you're building a new craft.