MFD Parking Brake MFD

[N_Molson]

It's a native Orbiter feature.

I was not sure if it was native or coded through specific vessel modules, so good news there

 

[jacquesmomo]

Hello asbjos

This MFD is awesome: it keeps "spacecraft3 and 4 ships in place!"

It's just what I needed.

Thanks for that.

 

[N_Molson]

@asbjos : I'd like to use it for the Proton launcher I'm developping (and then in other projects).

I know how to do it through .dll coding, but this can lead to some conflicts.

I'm working on "inline" launchers, with multiple stages docked together and strapon boosters for some of them.

Parking Brake in its current state works "too well" : it grounds all my rockets stages and bypasses the scenario docking information (overrides the DOCKINFO parameter). So my rocket stages dock but then are immediatly grounded by Parking Brake. As soon as I apply thrust, they all get back to their "normal" postion.

So what I need is a parameter in the scenario file that would disable parking brake for that vessel. Do you think it can be done ? That would help a lot. I'm sure a lot of people will use this great plugin and I want to make my stuff compatible with it.

 

[asbjos]

@asbjos : I'd like to use it for the Proton launcher I'm developping (and then in other projects).

I know how to do it through .dll coding, but this can lead to some conflicts.

I'm working on "inline" launchers, with multiple stages docked together and strapon boosters for some of them.

Parking Brake in its current state works "too well" : it grounds all my rockets stages and bypasses the scenario docking information (overrides the DOCKINFO parameter). So my rocket stages dock but then are immediatly grounded by Parking Brake. As soon as I apply thrust, they all get back to their "normal" postion.

So what I need is a parameter in the scenario file that would disable parking brake for that vessel. Do you think it can be done ? That would help a lot. I'm sure a lot of people will use this great plugin and I want to make my stuff compatible with it.

What mode are you in? (Contact/low speed/launch control)

I'm not a fan of a scenario "ignore" flag, as it would require to retroactively add it to all previous add-ons, and all future add-ons to take mine into consideration.

Maybe better to add a condition so that I don't park vessels that are docked and/or that have a full propellant tank.

Could you send me a zip of a launcher for testing?

 

[N_Molson]

Yes I'll send you an alpha later today.

Yes I think that the "docked" condition check would work

 

[4throck]

Noticed one thing with SC4 vessels:
If lift-off and landing points are defined, ParkingBrake seems to only consider landing points. Lift-off are ignored.

I guess this might also affect non sc4 vessels that do similar changes.

 

[N_Molson]

Yes I'll send you an alpha later today.

@asbjos: still working on it !

Now it does not work with the Orbiter 2016 default "Space Shuttle Atlantis" scenarios, the whole stack ends in the flame trench. I think this is pretty much the same issue (but I'll send you the add-on pre-alpha before going to sleep). Testing the "docked" condition with Atlantis could be interesting, because Martins used docking ports instead of attachment points (that trend comes from there).

 

[asbjos]

Hey, no sweat! Please do get your required sleep. I'm in no hurry at all.

 

[asbjos]

Noticed one thing with SC4 vessels:
If lift-off and landing points are defined, ParkingBrake seems to only consider landing points. Lift-off are ignored.

I guess this might also affect non sc4 vessels that do similar changes.

Do you have a link to such a vessel? But with a only-park-if-fuel-not-full rule, I assume that also this would be "fixed".

The parking is done in the same fashion as when using the scenario editor, so I don't do anything with touchdownpoints and their definitions in my code.

 

[4throck]

Tested more and indeed it doesn't seem to be a parking break problem.
It's an Orbiter bug....

For the sake of discussion try:
Vinka's spacecraft » Vertical Take Off - Horizontal Landing

On KSC it works (vertical DG). Move to Brighton Beach using scenario editor, it works (vertical DG).
Move to Edwards or Kourou (bases with updated terrain) and the DG becomes horizontal...

Very strange

 

[asbjos]

Tested more and indeed it doesn't seem to be a parking break problem.
It's an Orbiter bug....

For the sake of discussion try:
Vinka's spacecraft » Vertical Take Off - Horizontal Landing

On KSC it works (vertical DG). Move to Brighton Beach using scenario editor, it works (vertical DG).
Move to Edwards or Kourou (bases with updated terrain) and the DG becomes horizontal...

Very strange

The description of that scenario says "the landing position is switched when you reach an altitude of 100 m", so my guess is that Vinka uses mean-sea-level altitude, and not altitude over terrain.
Cape is at the coast, Brighton is -2.6 km, but Edwards is at 700 m.

 

[4throck]

Makes sense then! Good to have an explanation!