New Release IMFD Full Manual

[markl316]

IMFD Full Manual just released at Orbithangar.

Hope you all like it.

Mark

 

[the.punk]

Yeah. Thnks for that.:speakcool:

 

[jedidia]

Sir, you are releasing one day before the anounced date. Do you have any idea how disastrous it could turn out for the software industry if EVERYONE would be so carelessly efficient??

I'm really out of words here. You deserve a medal for that monumental undertaking. I Will praise some more after reading.

 

[flying coffin]

This is great! it has answered all my questions except one, and I saw one minor error.

The question it has not answered is how to use the target offset to get into
a specific orbit. (I understand what it does, just not how to use it to get a
desired result) For example, when working on the LRO docs, the launch date
would change, and the mission plan changed a couple of times from a S. pole
flyby, to N. pole, and finally back to S. pole. I had to do much trial and error
with the parameters to get the polar orbit insertion right, and sometimes still
never got it right. I'm sure glad Jarmo came up with LTMFD when he did!

A little more explanation about this would be helpful. (for me at least)

The error (not really an error, I guess, more of "needs a bit more detail" ) I noticed is on page 21.

PLAN—Course Plan
When on, your ship‘s orbit is highlighted in Purple. When off, your ship‘s orbit is highlighted in green.

While this is correct, it also displays the projected path of the current course plan. (which is explained above), but it does more than just change the color.

These are just minor suggestions for improvement. I wish I had this manual long ago!

Thank you much!

EDIT: I Found another error. On page 79.

Basically, there is no real need to ever use this program.

is stated in reference to the delta velocity program. Again, for the LCROSS mission, the Delta velocity program is very useful to adjust the trajectory
at the first earth apogee, in conjunction with the IMFD Map plan mode, so that the eventual moon impact point is targeted as closely as possible.
I know of no other way to achieve the level of accuracy required. This is a specialized real-world mission of course, but still....

 

[markl316]

This is great! it has answered all my questions except one, and I saw one minor error.

The question it has not answered is how to use the target offset to get into
a specific orbit. (I understand what it does, just not how to use it to get a
desired result) For example, when working on the LRO docs, the launch date
would change, and the mission plan changed a couple of times from a S. pole
flyby, to N. pole, and finally back to S. pole. I had to do much trial and error
with the parameters to get the polar orbit insertion right, and sometimes still
never got it right. I'm sure glad Jarmo came up with LTMFD when he did!

A little more explanation about this would be helpful. (for me at least)

The error (not really an error, I guess, more of "needs a bit more detail" ) I noticed is on page 21.



While this is correct, it also displays the projected path of the current course plan. (which is explained above), but it does more than just change the color.

These are just minor suggestions for improvement. I wish I had this manual long ago!

Thank you much!

To answer your question--Getting into a specific orbit is best done using Planet Approach. You can set Equatorial Inclination and Altitude of Periapsis.

Yes, I should have probably put in a bit more detail. I left out some things, I'm sure. I don't know if it's possible to document every single minute feature of IMFD due to its incredible complexity. The things that are not as in detail are things that I do not use often or have never used. I'll be experimenting with them in the future. There are so many ways to do everything with IMFD. As far as the details go, I'm sure I'll be releasing an updated version every now and then, maybe some more playbacks

Thanks to all for your feedback

EDIT: I should have said in my experience, I have never needed delta velocity. My mistake.
I've never really used LCROSS so that's probably why. But it's useful for the thing you said, and for changing velocity exactly.



Also, could somebody run a few of the playbacks and make sure they're working?

Thanks

 

[Fiddler]

Tomorrow today

Sir, you are releasing one day before the anounced date. Do you have any idea how disastrous it could turn out for the software industry if EVERYONE would be so carelessly efficient??
.

The future is already here... It's already the 3rd in New Zealand

 

[Nemoricus]

I've been interested in using IMFD, but have been put off by the lack of comprehensive documentation. This should change things.

 

[flying coffin]

I tried the first playback. It all seemed to work, except for the time warps.
I thought you could record a time warp, but maybe not, or maybe my
playback is faulty.

Anyway I found something else. Needing 2 different versions of IMFD to do
orbit insert is crazy. (or maybe it's just me that's crazy... a definite possibility)

You can use the delta V program to do the orbit insert. The LRO/LCROSS docs describe how.

(sorry to keep bringing that up, but I learned SOOOO MUCH while making it!)

One other thing I wanted to mention. You said that planet approach can be used to set the orbit around the destination body. This is true, but there is a (probably small) subset of us who like to do things as closely as
possible to how NASA does it. We don't have the delta V to do that on these little moon probes Targeting must be done during TLI with
a correction about four hours after TLI, and the next burn is the orbit insertion.

That being said, again, absolutely great job on the manual, and I realize I'm
making mountains out of anthills here.

-Chris

 

[markl316]

Flying coffin, whats wrong with the time warps?
Are they not working? I did record only that playback with no time warp but I manually put in the time warps, and they work fine here. If you could give me a more detailed description of what it's doing that would be great.

Mark

Is anybody else experiencing problems with playback 1?

 

[Kelpie]

Tried a few of the playbacks and so far all ok, including time warps.
Looking forward to using IMFD a lot more.

 

[flying coffin]

Brain fault on my end. Sorry.

F4/record playback/play at recorded speed must be checked.

 

[fost]

ehi, thanks a lot!
great job, markl316!
I was already able to use a lot of IMFD programs and functions, but I learned it spending hours and hours, trying and trying
(going wrong and sending my spaceships somewhere in deep space...)

this manual explain me many things that i didn't learn before by myself
so... thanks again for this manual, it'll be very useful for a lot of people

 

[Kveldulf]

Mark, I'm having some issues with a couple of the playback files. Yes, play and recording speed is checked, but I think thats the problem. I loaded up the Moon to Mars playback, and it plays fine until you timewarp for the launch window. At this point, it freezes at around x100000 time, and when I finally get it working again, the playback is at the first MCC on the Earth - Mars leg. I noticed this problem on a couple other playbacks, but I'm not entirely sure which, so I'll try and compile a list for you.

 

[markl316]

Hmmm, wierd. If it's freezing up, maybe try lowering your graphics (max patch res level, etc) only for the playback. If it's freezing, it sounds like you're running hi res stuff. What are your computer specs? Is orulex on? A list of what's going wrong would help very much.


Oh, and is anybody else experiencing this freezing problem, with playback 6?

 

[Tommy]

I also had a problem with freeze-ups like that. I blame my antique hardware. I solved the problem by deleting all the other vessels (including space stations) from the playback's scenario file.

 

[markl316]

Tommy's solution sounds like it'll work best. The playbacks were made on:

Athalon duo core 2.0
2GB DDR2 RAM at 533MHz
Geforce 6100
Windows XP

and run (tested on):
Intel duo core 2.0
4GB DDR2 RAM at 833 MHz
Geforce GTX 260M

so turning down graphics and doing what Tommy said should work. also you might want to delete the corresponding ship entries in the scenario files for the atc, att, and pos files of the ships you delete. Space stations especially, take up a load of memory and are not necessary.

 

[Kveldulf]

I'll take a look at the graphics settings, although I doubt thats the problem as I had a similar problem with your old Direct Return in XR-2 playback, and that was before I installed any graphics update (and by that, I mean before I installed Med-Res KSC). Orulex and any high level texture files run horribly, so I dont use them.

I'm with Tommy though, my computer is old, so I'll try deleting the stations and stuff from the scenario file.

 

[ex-orbinaut]

Well written, friendly and efficient! Clarifies so many points regarding this most daunting of MFDs. I think it should become the SOP and reference manual for IMFD.

Thank you so much!

 

[Kveldulf]

I removed the extra stuff from my playback file, and I can now confirm that it works fine with the Earth to Mars playback (which was giving me problems).

Out of curiosity, would you be interested in a KSC to ISS playback for the next version?

 

[markl316]

KSC to ISS using IMFD?