Land MFD - Help Please!

[zarak]

Hi everyone. About three years ago I was an Orbiter addict but slowly stopped playing. Recently I've returned and am having to relearn certain parts of the sim. I've downloaded the DGIV and have been going through a few self imposed missions to relearn the basics. So far I've launched, rentered, landed, docked with the ISS, docked with MIR, went to the moon and landed on Brighton beach and relaunched back to Lunar Orbit. Looking at the forums I found information regarding Land MFD. I downloaded it and installed it and that's about the only success I've had with it.

While using it with the DGIV in an attempt to land at Brighton Beach wierd things are happening. After starting the AP (Shift-0) a message will eventually appear on the MFD letting me know it is orienting for PDI. The vehincle will then turn retrograde and be hanging upsidedown (canopy to the surface). After that nothing. No matter how I've tried it. I've tried aligning with BB before starting the MFD. I've tried being out of alignment. I've tried doing the braking burn myself and then activating it (This just resulted in a nice explosion canopy first on the moon). What am I doing wrong? I've searched this forum and discovered that the Hover and RCS doors have to open .. No problem. Did that with the same result. I've seen several posts at various forums where people have had success using this MFD with the DGIV so it must be something I'm doing.

Any help is more than appreciated. Thanks everyone!

 

[agentgonzo]

Not sure why it won't work if you have the hover doors open. However, if you search for LolaMFD, then that does all the stuff that LandMFD did, and is more reliable (done by the same guy I think). IMO it does too much (you can click a few buttons and it will change orbit and land for you), but you can turn the autopilots off.

 

[mikesensei]

Same Problem

I had the same issue. At first I thought it was use of time compression (I'm impatient...) but later I got Land MFD to land perfectly while alternating between 100x at 10X (which was quite cool in external view).

Only other thought I had was maybe it was because I was orbiting retrograde; maybe it was trying to land through the planet... :weird:

I agree with agentgonzo. Get LolaMFD; if for no other reason than because you can turn the autopilot off if it goes crazy.

M

 

[zarak]

Thanks much for the advice guys! I downloaded LOLA and gave it a shot and it worked beautifully! With a single exception .... It landed my DGIV right on it's tail instead of the landing gear. Although it looked really cool AND didn't destroy the vehicle it was not the hoped for result. Is there something I need to configure? I did ensure that the hover and RCS doors were open. ... I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong ... Thanks for any help!

 

[Master of Blades]

Lola is actually intended only for tailsitters (craft that lands engines down, such as the Apollo LM), but (thanks to the low gravity of the moon), you can turn off the lola autopilot during the final descent stage, flip your craft over and do a manual landing with the hover engines (or the hover autopilot in case of the DGIV).

 

[Woo482]

and I don't think any one is going to be able to make it support the DG IV because the author of the mod died (R.I.P lazy D)

 

[pattersoncr]

Lola is actually intended only for tailsitters (craft that lands engines down, such as the Apollo LM), but (thanks to the low gravity of the moon), you can turn off the lola autopilot during the final descent stage, flip your craft over and do a manual landing with the hover engines (or the hover autopilot in case of the DGIV).

Huh?
I've had LOLA land an XR1 several times with no attempted tailsitting. Sometimes it ends up hovering a couple of feet off the pad and needs to be turned off but other than that it's absolutely perfect.

 

[mikesensei]

LolaMFD tries to land me on the engine as well - just let it get you oriented and do the last few adjustments yourself. These are fun, anyway.

Or, you can wait until just before Lola sets you down, and then (as close to simultaneously as you can) roll your nose over with the RCS and kill the engines. You'll probably roll off the pad, but you'll be down.

I wonder why it works with the XR1...

Michael

 

[SiameseCat]

I haven't tried this myself, but try opening the hover doors before you start Land MFD.

 

[Andy44]

LOLA was a project to upgrade and update the Land MFD. Sadly, Dennis Hare, aka LazyD, passed away before he finished LOLA, so what you've got is what you've got.

Land MFD worked fine with Orbiter 2005, but with 2006 it seems to have run into some problems, as if it doesn't fire the RCS hard enough to line up with the commanded attitude.

The fix for this is to activate the MFD and watch the commanded pitch, roll, and yaw angles while flying the joystick to drive the errors to zero. This will get you very close to the landing site, but in the final phase you will need to disable the autpilot and finish the landing manually.

I think it's actually more fun that way, since it's more hands-on.

 

[zarak]

Wow! Thanks for all the advice everyone! Problem has been solved. It's exactly what SiameseCat said. I was activating the autopilot and then configuring the DGIV for landing. Including opening the hover and RCS doors. By opening the doors FIRST it landed the DGIV perfect! I was very impressed.

Now I just have to keep myself from getting lazy and remember to still do manual landings to keep in practice.

Again, thanks for all the help guys.

Safe flying to everyone!

 

[Genesis27]

By the way, was just curious as to whether Land MFD or LOLA MFD can be used for landing at KSC/Cape Canaveral...or is it purely for the Moon, Mars..etc...if so, does it bring the DGIV in at a hover ?..
I've used LOLA to land on the Moon, but not sure if it can be used for landing on Earth...thanks

 

[agentgonzo]

I think that it can be used on earth, but be aware that you'll only be able to use it for the last bit of descent to the pad. If you are travelling too fast (probably in excess of mach 1), the aerodynamics will take effect when the vessel pitches up and throw you off course or rip the wings off or something.

 

[Genesis27]

@agentgonzo...thanks mate !...what you say is quite true !...LOL...anyway, I'll have a go, and let you know what happens....just wanted to try it out before I contemplate landing manually....not easy by the looks of things...practice makes perfect I suppose...thanks for your reply though...

---------- Post added at 03:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------

I've just found out that Land MFD and LOLA MFD don't work when trying to land at Cape Canaveral....anyway, when you call up Cape Canaveral in both MFD's, it asks you which pad you want to land at !....(rather than which runway....)...oh well, worth a try...

 

[EtherDragon]

Land MFD and LOLA MFD are meant for landings where there isn't a usable atmosphere - where you would have to use your rocket engines (hover/main/etc...) to make a landing.

For atmospheric landings, the gliders use their wings to fly to where ever they are landing. I suppose that settling on a pad is possible with Land/LOLA after you get to a point of stalling - but a lot of fuel is required to land in such a way in earth gravity.

In short, if possible, land at a runway by flying there. It's much more fuel efficient.

~ED