Project Universal Car for Orbiter (UCO)

[Arrowstar]

If I can for example have a "Inertial navigation unit kit" or "3 GW injector kit" as cargo box, I am already happy, since it would be pretty much exactly what I want. Otherwise I would have needed a general "spare parts" category.

Couldn't you just create cargo with those names and meshes that give the appearance you want? Or am I missing something subtle here?

 

[Ghostrider]

Why? Do you get bored with having to do things yourself?

Snarking aside, I think the questions does have legitimacy because although the beauty of a simulator is doing the stuff yourself, one may like an automated ship so that you can chase it or do something else while the robo-ship is performing another manoeuver. For instance, I like the auto-liftoff to orbit feature of the DGIV so that I can try to chase it up and see if I can keep formation with it on the way.

 

[markl316]

Hey, dunno if this has been mentioned before, but the fuel truck seems to not be able to fill up the XR2 Ravenstar. This was tried on Europa if that helps.

Everything is AWESOME. Especially the building where if a person walks outside on the moon without a spacesuit, he or she dies. The AI cars are simply stunning.

 

[Ark]

Snarking aside, I think the questions does have legitimacy because although the beauty of a simulator is doing the stuff yourself, one may like an automated ship so that you can chase it or do something else while the robo-ship is performing another manoeuver. For instance, I like the auto-liftoff to orbit feature of the DGIV so that I can try to chase it up and see if I can keep formation with it on the way.

NASA's "pilots" spend most of them time sitting back letting Mission Control or some other onboard autopilot fly the ship. Being able to automate 90% of the flight is actually more realistic than trying to fly it all.

 

[garyw]

Hey, dunno if this has been mentioned before, but the fuel truck seems to not be able to fill up the XR2 Ravenstar. This was tried on Europa if that helps

You need to edit the xr2 preferences file to allow this. If you do, the XR2 will also autorefuel when landing on lpads.

 

[T.Neo]

NASA's "pilots" spend most of them time sitting back letting Mission Control or some other onboard autopilot fly the ship. Being able to automate 90% of the flight is actually more realistic than trying to fly it all.

Indeed.

Flying manually is fun though.

Although watching a well-coded autopilot execute something flawlessly is also fun to watch.

 

[dansteph]

Hey, dunno if this has been mentioned before, but the fuel truck seems to not be able to fill up the XR2 Ravenstar. This was tried on Europa if that helps.

In added that in the FAQ (see doc, the link point to a FAQ on my forum)

Much thanks for reporting.

Dan

---------- Post added at 08:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:20 PM ----------

Snarking aside, I think the questions does have legitimacy because although the beauty of a simulator is doing the stuff yourself, one may like an automated ship so that you can chase it or do something else while the robo-ship.

Yep we even had a conquest in my forum following a DGIV and seeing who was the closest at AI completion. (Engine stop, MECO) It's really fun.

This said I'm a bit fed of the DGIV, it's really to small. Would one not preffer more VC and systems on the Arrow Freighter... mhhh ?
Why not a real VC 3d radar room (functionnal), crew rooms or a Bar VC ? (with beer cargos to resupply the bar's tanks :lol: )

I can't do it before several month but I have already a precise idea of what I want to do.

Dan

 

[Urwumpe]

Yep we even had a conquest in my forum following a DGIV and seeing who was the closest at AI completion. (Engine stop, MECO) It's really fun.

Yeah, actually such a scenario is a standard test case for the Black Dart, using the superior acceleration of the dart for catching a DGIV that launched some time (handicap?) earlier... 30 seconds earlier is a piece of cake, one minute possible.

This said I'm a bit fed of the DGIV, it's really to small. Would one not preffer more VC and systems on the Arrow Freighter more than a DGIV autopilot ... mhhh ?

I understand the problem, a big mothership or a large space station is always a different house number. But I must also say: If you are creative with the technology, a DG size spacecraft is pretty powerful, despite the limited volume. The Black Dart was initially just a military DG, actually even smaller than the DG. Now it is 50% larger, heavier, meaner... and in the fluff closer to a corvette then a boat. You can really do a lot with the right ideas.:rofl:

Why not a real VC 3d radar room (functionnal), crew rooms or a Bar VC ? (with beer cargos to resupply the bar's tanks :lol: )

I can't do it before several month but I have already a precise idea of what I want to do.

LOL. Sounds like a nice idea. I would like to do similar stuff, like having NPC astronauts floating and working inside the spacecraft for adding some more atmosphere, but I would need the graphics for that.

---------- Post added at 08:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:57 PM ----------

Couldn't you just create cargo with those names and meshes that give the appearance you want? Or am I missing something subtle here?

Yes, the question was rather if there are any limitations.

 

[Ark]

IMO, short of having a VC the DGIV is pretty much perfect. It's about all I could ever ask for in a small crew and light cargo transport. The Arrow has a much wider range of potential applications, and I'd like to see what else Dan can do with it.

 

[sunshine135]

My virtual bar would be empty before I even crossed lunar orbit :dry:
Wonder why navigation is all frigged up?

LOL

 

[Zane]

Since we're all taking about stuff the DGIV should/shouldn't have, I have one request, and this shouldn't be too difficult.

I think that you should be able to customize various performance related parameters in the DGIV, such as changing the mass, main engine isp, RCS isp, main thrust, etc. That way, it'd be possible to create a more realistic version of the DGIV launched by another launcher. That way, we can get all of the DGIV's capabilities, but in a more technologically feasible manner.

There wouldn't even need to be a nice GUI tool for it. Maybe just a few parameters in the scenario file.

 

[halcyon]

Just finished the first leg in my UCGO Moon Trip scenerio.
The trip started with the Arrow in LEO, and the DGIV parked at Wideawake.
Took off, docked with the arrow, then set off for the moon.
Arrived in high lunar orbit, undocked the DGIV with the transponder in cargo, and found a flat valley area between two mountains (using ORULEX w/ collision detection).
Landed, deployed the XPDR, and then I brought the Arrow in.

I have to say...watching the Arrow streak by the 3D landscape while it was turning for a level horizon orientation for autoland was awesome, even more so because the lunar sunrise happened just as the Arrow descended to below 10k meters.
However, the default autoland parameters of course don't include terrain above 0 meters. Dan, I know you modeled it using a stock install with flat terrain.
Nevertheless, it was an interesting experiment.

My Arrow ended up hitting the side of a mountain in autoland doing about 800 groundspeed. The whole ship bounced up and forward velocity was instantly brought to near zero. Afterward, the main engines kicked in and the ship was once again on it's way (with zero crew deaths!).
It got stuck on the side of another mountain, steeper, and this one the autoland couldn't get free from. I had to manually engage hover plus up translation RCS to get free, then turned on the autoland again and off the Arrow went towards the XPDR.

The final touchdown sequence was great, big mountains all around providing a great panoramic landscape. I had CameraMFD on so I could see my landing site while in the VC. The DGIV was already parked next to the XPDR, a command module already built to house the two crew members who came in on the glider.

What a great ride.
Next step is to build the base, and then it'll be a return trip back to Earth where the glider will drop out of the hanger bay and rocket into the atmo to land back at Wideawake (I'm envisioning the scene from Aliens when the dropship shot out of the Sulaco hehe).

 

[dansteph]

Since we're all taking about stuff the DGIV should/shouldn't have, I have one request, and this shouldn't be too difficult.
.

Any request is welcome but NEVER assume something "should be easy"
Sometime one idiot detail can puzzle an author for weeks while a huge "wow" things that look difficult from user point of view can be done in two days.

A more flexible parameter editor may impact a lot of linked things (autopilots, comsuption, reserve etc etc). Forgotten variables can cause CTD because there were never planned to accept such configuration, you get the picture,
It may not be as simple as it seem. Now I can still write a free config file with all those values and a disclaimer "modify at your own risk"

But actually I worked more than 6-8 month on the DGIV and I'm very enthousiast about Arrow's system and VC. So my next move will probably not be the DGIV(2).

Dan

 

[Zane]

Any request is welcome but NEVER assume something "should be easy"
Sometime one idiot detail can puzzle an author for weeks while a huge "wow" things that look difficult from user point of view can be done in two days.

A more flexible parameter editor may impact a lot of linked things (autopilots, comsuption, reserve etc etc). Forgotten variables can cause CTD because there were never planned to accept such configuration, you get the picture,
It may not be as simple as it seem. Now I can still write a free config file with all those values and a disclaimer "modify at your own risk"

But actually I worked more than 6-8 month on the DGIV and I'm very enthousiast about Arrow's system and VC. So my next move will probably not be the DGIV(2).

Dan

Definitely true, and that's something I should probably have thought about before making that assertion. But thanks for considering the idea.

 

[dansteph]

The Black Dart was initially just a military DG, actually even smaller than the DG. Now it is 50% larger, heavier, meaner... and in the fluff closer to a corvette then a boat. You can really do a lot with the right ideas.:rofl:

Right but this recall me the industrial story of the Me-109 (I'm fond of warbird) Further devellopment of Me-109 were very difficult. Because of it's small and compact size a lot of "specialized tricks" had to be found. Hence they couldn't simply enlarge it and just modify some systems, they would have to redo 80% of systems.

The DGIV is a puzzle of trick, at first I only wanted to add an airlock button to the stock DG ( :lol Adapting the code for a bigger mesh might take as much time as doing one from scratch with well organized and flexible code.

Dan

 

[Urwumpe]

Right but this recall me the industrial story of the Me-109 (I'm fond of warbird) Further devellopment of Me-109 were very difficult. Because of it's small and compact size a lot of "specialized tricks" had to be found. Hence they couldn't simply enlarge it and just modify some systems, they would have to redo 80% of systems.

Yeah, isn't much different with most german military projects though. I just read about the submarines of the FRG, it is pretty interesting how NATO rules, misunderstandings and technological problems result eventually in the 206 class. Like the NATO rules saying 350 tons displacement, the resulting submarine having 450 tons because the displacement had to be with ballast, resulting in using the 450 tons of the new treaty for larger batteries...etc.

I don't think it is wise saying the Black Dart is at one day done...I am sure I will never run out of ideas to improve it beyond better technological constants.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Hi Dan
The autoland feature on the Arrow is great. Is there any possibility of having it in the DGIV in a future version maybe?

I've used LOLA pretty extensively for the HLV missions, it's pretty cool to be EVA on the lunar surface and watch 3 modules come in at the same time. I've never had the need to use LOLA in a DGIV, only did it once and it felt like I was cheating.

The Arrow is fan-freakin'-tastic.

 

[dansteph]

BTW german users:

Youtube stated that because of the music copyright my UCGO video where blocked in germany:
http://www.youtube.com/user/DanStephOrbiter#p/a/u/2/Ukb33V0gSWs

Can you check please ?

There is a direct link in the UCGO doc to the HD video on my server. (at end of Youtube video page)

Much thanks

Dan

 

[Urwumpe]

All your videos are not available it seems.

 

[dansteph]

Ok thanks. Seem they were right. Strange !? Germany is the only country where they are blocked.

Dan