OHM Air to Air Refuel Script MFD v0.67

[OrbitHangar]

Author: beep

Normally, refueling MFD's are dock based therefore you were not able to do atmospheric inflight refueling. This one is attachment based so now you can do it. Besides transfering fuel it  performs the hook up contact to the boom or drogue and guides the pilot displaying useful data concerning relative speed and position to the tanker.
 

IMPORTANT :  it's up to the user  to provide suitable attachment points in the vessels and, optionally,  transponders to the tankers. Some examples and orientation are provided in the documentation.

Be sure to read all the instructions in the documentation file. This is a script MFD and some special procedures apply.

v.6 Beta ; Tanker message is now optional and user variable controlled (default OFF); improved relative speed calculation and added a relative tangential speed indicator in the XY locator; added a Flight Planning Page to calculate fuel spending, maximum  vessel reach and the coordinates to position a tanker; on (re)activating the MFD in a hooked receiver, if tanker is still tuned, tanker equipment selection and contact condition are now automatically detected and granted;you can now set to self mode and transfer fuel among receiver tanks when hooked to a tanker without breaking out;corrected self fuel 'creation' when transfering to the same self tank; corrected false tanker tune validating when tanker had no transponder and inserted instructions on adding transponders to vessels in the doc; allowed tanker without transponder selection by tuning to 111.10MHz ;corrected a bug that made Orbiter crash in multi tanker scenarios.

v.62 Beta Visual acceleration orientation indicators added to the contact approach graphic instrumentation page.

v .64 Made changes required for altitude commands that make this addon compatible from now on to Orbiter 2016.

v.65 Use of the now fully functional storestatus callback function to delete created annotations at MFD deactivation; Deleted the related warning. Some cleaning up regarding the HUD mode set/reset.

v .66 Some coordinates base changer routines were corrected.

v .67 Corrected a bug that made Orbiter crash if the vessel tuning the tanker transponder wasn't equipped with either a receptacle or a probe.



DOWNLOAD

 

[BEEP]

Supporting Users

:hello: I'll be around here giving advice on installing , using and discussing particular cases for creating attachments on vessels.

And ... of course .... attending any eventual bugs..

Best Regards,

Beep

 

[sputnik]

Fantastic! This is desperately needed!

A few glitches:
1. MFD text is run-on and hard to read. It looks like lower lines of the MFD aren't given enough spacing down the MFD, so the overrun text that's higher up. I use a laptop with a 16:9 screen; problem is less (but still present) when switching to a 4:3 aspect ratio.
2. If you have the HUD information up and you make it invalid by switching focus or deactivating the MFD, it leaves the last cycle of text up...which never goes away, making it hard to read the text when you bring it up again.
3. When I successfully plugged in with the default (2 DG's) scenario, I wound up rotated 90 degrees, facing the sky. Definitely decreased the satisfaction. Possibly I had the wrong receptacle point selected; they're hard to read (see point 1).


Overall, though, very exciting! Thank you!

 

[BEEP]

Bottom Lines and HUD

Dear Sputnik,

Thanks a lot for your comments. Congratulations for your sucessful hook up contact. :thumbup:


The problem with the lines is somewhat expected since I didn't give proper attention to it scaling the MFD accordingly . I'll try to correct it. Could you please tell me the 'Screen Resolution' set in Video and the proportion you selected for the MFD in 'Generic MFD size' in Launchpad Parameters?

Maybe a multipage MFD allied to a declutterer state of mind would solve this problem...what do you think?

As stated in the readme there's no solution for the HUD problem due to non persistent script MFD limitations. That's why it's off by default. turn it on only when you are close and turn it off if you want to close the MFD, change vessels,etc...Sorry....


All attachments are shown in the selections and the correct boom/drogue or probe/receptacle attachment should always be the one set to establish correct contact. I think one solution would be to make it clearer in the documentation providing a scenario tutorial where the options for attachment ID 'BoomL' or 'BoomR' for the tanker and 'Fuel' for the receiver are indicated more emphatically.

Or I can limit what is shown in the MFD according to some ID string specification. Is it a good option?

EDIT: Chose this second option. It's already running and being tested. Only valid attachments identified as 'A2RB' for the Boom, 'A2RD' for the Drogue, 'A2RP' for the Probe, 'A2RR' for the Receptacle with or without sufixes such as 'L' for left and 'R' for right will be shown for selection with clear descriptions. Also considering 'A2RC' ,(Connection to Boom or Drogue) a standard attachment ID for the scripts that attach the refuelling devices.

Rgds,

Beep

 

[sputnik]

The 4:3 (which was only sorta readable) was a 1440x1080 window. The original 16:9 window was 1920x1080.

Hmm. Yes, I would recommend being more specific in the introductory scenario. But yes, I would also recommend picking out 4 attachment types (for boom and receptacle, probe and drogue), and connect to those only. This eliminates the tedium, and unpredictable results, of paging through other attachment points for tow vehicles, slings and payload attaches, etc.

 

[BEEP]

Script MFD reading and Higher Resolutions

Waw!!! I only very recently entered the word of the 1280X1024 was marvelled at it!!!!. At this resolution MFD size 2 makes it small but readable and not overflowing.

Sorry for insisting but the info on the size set for the MFD at Launchpad Parameters is also very important, so that I can try to reproduce it someway.


Your comments already brought great improvements for the project.
The 'selective selection' seems to be working fine so far and I'm sure the that paging the MFD will open a lot of visual and user interfacing possibilities.

For example, I'm not sure about having only three buttons, one for page changing and other two for the parameters at that page or to keep the buttons as they are (adding only a page button) and switching to the relevant page as the parameter is pressed. What do you think?

Rgds,

Beep

 

[sputnik]

Oh yes. Generic MFD size is 6.

I'm not sure about your question, but my first thought is that making it TOO simple cuts down on the flexibility.
I would prefer the MFD self-populate with the first possible answer, though, rather than requiring me to press EACH button in turn.

 

[BEEP]

Touching Up the UI

Sorry for the late reply. I hope you still are around and interested. I also wish to have more impressions issued from more people ( it's more than 70 downloads so far and I'm wondering how many hookup contacts).

I understand now that the problem is not the resolution or the MFD size but the fact that nowadays virtual cockpits are becoming (or already are) mandatory in the sim world and a good MFD should provide information under this circunstance which probably matches the real thing visibility problem.


Now the bad news. I got stuck (again) in a limitation from the script system. Changing fonts is not practical at this time since you almost cannot get font handlers inside the script. There's a default font choice available from the MFD class but there you can only change from the small Courier to a smaller Arial.


So I decided to resource to colors and graphics to help solve our problem of visibility. You will see that I went to great measures with this effort. I'm very happy with the improvement.

Also changed all fonts to uppercase and kept strings to a minimum.

Specific attachment ID codes will be mandatory from the next beta on.


Paging will be both automatic and manual through a specific 'page' button.


.2 Beta Release soon.


Rgds


Beep

 

[RacerX]

You may also use any of my meshes whatever you need feel free here
https://bitbucket.org/Racerx/xr5-midair-refuel/wiki/Home

 

[BEEP]

.2 Beta Released

.2 Beta was just uploaded. Hope you all like it.

No problem about writing over the previous one.

A warning was added in the doc file about the impossibility of simultaneous activation of any persistent or 'vessel' MFD and this one. Take out any persistent MFD from the ScriptMFD.cfg file.

I still wonder how many people got sucessful inflight refuelings....:feedback:


Best Regards,


Beep

---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:20 PM ----------

You may also use any of my meshes whatever you need feel free here
https://bitbucket.org/Racerx/xr5-midair-refuel/wiki/Home

A great help from a great project.

:speakcool:

As everything concerning XR class of vessels the meshes are awesome. It's indeed a muuuch welcome assistance.


Tks,


Beep

 

[RacerX]

The downfall of my little addon is you have to open the XR top hatch to attach the refuel lines to it and fly with it open. this is where it fails due to the fact I cant script. So if you have a use for it or can incorporate it into your addon then feel free. If you need any help with the modeling such as splitting it up or adding to it I can help if you need it. Use it as you see fit.

 

[BEEP]

Animations and Script Vessels

As you can see in my Boom and Drogue script 'vessels' the boom and drogue extend whenever the vessel crosses 1 km high and retract whenever the vessel descends 850m down. I didnt find a way to key trigger animations in script vessels yet but some other condition may apply as the distance from a certain vessel for example. Or it can be MFD activated ( look for the receiver attachment, get what is attached, get its vessel interface. command the anim....mmmmm....let's see.....)

Thanks again for the meshes I'll do the cutting out myself as I intend to make some other already planned changes to allow night Air to Air Refueling.


Thanks


Beep

 

[Interceptor]

HI,Beep I was just trying out your MFD,and am wondering why are the drogues,and booms still sitting on the runway when I take off in the DG,am I missing something here?
Also,it would be great if you could add some kind of autopilot especialy for the DG,because the DGs autopilot has some severe bugs that make it just about impossible to use this with.Thanks ps.Dgatsoulis has a an autopilot in his refueling addon that maybe you could take a look at on this page.http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=32132&highlight=RacerX

 

[BEEP]

HI,Beep I was just trying out your MFD,and am wondering why are the drogues,and booms still sitting on the runway when I take off in the DG,am I missing something here?
Also,it would be great if you could add some kind of autopilot especialy for the DG,because the DGs autopilot has some severe bugs that make it just about impossible to use this with.Thanks ps.Dgatsoulis has a an autopilot in his refueling addon that maybe you could take a look at on this page.http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=32132&highlight=RacerX

Thanks a lot for the valuable feedback, Interceptor.


Drogues and booms are attached to the Tanker DG when the script called in the ENVIRONMENT section of the scenario runs. All scripts for this MFD are in the <OrbiterRoot>\Script\ Air2AirRefuel MFD\. The scripts called in the scenarios are TkrBoomStp.lua or TkrDrogueStp.lua depending on the boom or drogue scenario . This script sets a variable indicating a Boom or Drogue scenario (which will be used for selecting the nature of the connection in the receiver) and calls for other two scripts in sequence:

1) The first one called CreateA2ARefAttchs.lua is the one that creates the attachments that will act as receptacles or probes, with ID 'A2RR' or 'A2RP' but more important to us now is that it also creates the attachments for connecting the boom or the drogues, with ID's 'A2RCL' or 'A2RCR' for left and right connections.

2) The second script called is ConnBoom. lua or ConnDrogue. lua, depending on the scenario. Each one do what the name says, i. e. connects the Boom or the Drogue to the 'A2RCL' or 'A2RCR' attachment already created in the previous script. After this, the attachments that will effectively connect tanker and receiver, with ID 'A2RB(L or R or C)' for Booms and 'A2RD(L or R or C) are created.​

It seems to me that somehow no scripts are being run.

1)Check if your Orbiter version is the latest and is capable of running scripts. ( I don't know if earlier ones would crash on script declarations in scenarios)

2)Check for the presence of all scripts in their correct path. <OrbiterRoot>\Script\ Air2AirRefuel MFD\.

3)In the cockpit check in the MFD whether the probe or the receptacle is being shown for the receiver vessel at the bottom of the screen. This would mean that the first script has run but not the second.

4)If you are acquainted with the tools you could use Attachment Manager or similar to check whether the attachments were created.

5)Also, if you wish to do so, you can enable te Lua Console and call the scripts from there, maybe one by one, and check what happens.

​

I wish I could be of more help. I'm surely interested on what could be happening. Please keep me informed of the results if you take any measure to investigate the issue.


Rgds,

Beep

 

[Interceptor]

HI BEEP,Yeah my orbiter version is up to date,I have no problems running scripts with other addons,and I just tried calling out all the scripts manually,and I get some kind of execution error,on each one.I'll try and take a screen shot of the errors when I get home later on.
Perhaps maybe you could do a video showing all the steps,and how to use it.Thanks

---------- Post added at 07:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:27 AM ----------

So BEEP what your telling me is the Booms,and Drogues should be automatically attached to the Deltaglider when I start the provided scenarios correct?

---------- Post added at 08:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:29 AM ----------

OK good news BEEP,I figured out that the CSSC spawner module was causing the booms not to attach to the deltaglider,so soon as I unchecked it all was well.Thanks again.

---------- Post added at 01:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 AM ----------

This is so Cool BEEP,I am looking foward to the next version with the air to air nights ops.Thank you

 

[BEEP]

HI BEEP,....OK good news BEEP,I figured out that the CSSC spawner module was causing the booms not to attach to the deltaglider,so soon as I unchecked it all was well.Thanks again.

---------- Post added at 01:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 AM ----------

This is so Cool BEEP,I am looking foward to the next version with the air to air nights ops.Thank you

Hi Interceptor,

Your MIGCAP's can last longer now...

I'm the one to be grateful. Your experience (and troubleshooting skills) added to the project in the sense that I'll have a warning about some problems with other modules in the documentation. Thanks!!

I'll look for what could be happening with CSSC Spawner.


I'm looking forward to night AAR too!


It seems you won't need an AP after all.... Remember trimming and Surface MFD ACC and VACC indications for straight and level fllight applied to both tanker and receiver are (together with some irrational intuitive complete mindfulness ) everything for AAR ballet.


Rgds,

Beep

 

[Interceptor]

Just awesome,it took a little while but I achieved contact.

 

[Interceptor]

Hi Beep some nice improvements in 0.25beta.would it be possible for you to add either a remote control function to deploy the boom,and drogues?or make it so you could set an altitude for the boom,and drogues to deploy?Thanks:thumbup:

 

[BEEP]

Deploying Booms and Extending Drogues

As supplied boom and drogues already deploy as the tanker reaches a certain altitude, a simpler option is to indicate clearly at the begining of the boom.cfg and drogue.cfg files the altitude variable (currently it's fixed as described in the message above) so that the user can preset it as he/she wishes.

But I'm thinking about remote boom activation specially and fondly because I'd love to see it lowering (and lights turning on) as I approach. I'll certainly try to develop the idea. The problem is that it means (it seems so far) to recreate ALL the vessel animation in the MFD which seems weird. And it would only work with the supplied booms or drogues and I intended something more universal.


Let's see....:hmm:

Beep

 

[Interceptor]

I agree it would be cool to see the drogues,and,booms lower,and the lights turn on.Beep,how about some sounds like dgatsoulis air to air refueling Addon has?