Problem Spacecraft3 Hover Engine Direction

[Gendo]

Is there a version of Spacecraft3 that will allow me to define the direction of the hover engine? No matter what I've put for it, the thrust always points in -Y. It's the Spacecraft3 version created on 10/12/2006. Is that outdated? I thought it was the latest version, but maybe not.

I'm trying to make a Delta Clipper style reusable 1st stage vehicle that would use a hover engine in between the 4 main engines to land. Since real world main engines typically can't operate below 40-50% of full power this is the most realistic way to design it, imo.

I had considered rotating the vessel, but the Spacecraft3 manual doesn't indicate that I can define the direction of the pilot's POV camera, only where it is located relative to the mesh origin.

 

[fred18]

I don't think you can modify the hover directoin of an SC3 vessel. The hover is in the +Y direction by definition, like main engine is in +Z...

The only way to simulate something like this with SC3 that comes to my mind is to use the RCS translation forward, but then you won't have a regular translation RCS for your vessel... I think that the limitations of SC3 do not allow to implement your option :shrug:

 

[Gendo]

Ah, I see. I thought maybe it was a specific limitation of the Spacecraft3.dll. It's really just for demonstration of concept anyways, so maybe I'll just rotate the whole thing in Blender, and adjust the landing leg and thruster animations. In most scenarios it would be setup as Multistage2 anyways. Thanks.

 

[fred18]

Ah, I see. I thought maybe it was a specific limitation of the Spacecraft3.dll.

Well, it is. If you code a spacecraft with c++ you can do whatever you want with thrusters and directions, but since Spacecraft3 is intended to simplify and to allow everyone to make addons some things had to be simplified, like thruster directions are standardized: hover +y, main engine +z etc.
:tiphat:

 

[meson800]

Spacecraft3 is outdated. However, Artlav is working on GenericVessel which is designed as a drop-in replacement for Spacecraft3.

This means you could immediately switch to GenericVessel, which may support hover engines along custom axes. GenericVessel is also being continually updated/developed.

 

[4throck]

You can add to the basic SC3 configuration by adding some LUA script.

Check Orbiter's help, and look for:

v:set_thrusterdir(ht,dir)
Reset the force direction of a thruster.

Parameters:
ht (handle): thruster handle
dir (vector): new thrust direction (vessel frame of reference)

Notes:
This method can be used to realise a tilt of the rocket motor (e.g. for implementing a thruster gimbal mechanism)

See also:
v:get_thrusterdir, v:set_thrusterpos

 

[Gendo]

Spacecraft3 is outdated. However, Artlav is working on GenericVessel which is designed as a drop-in replacement for Spacecraft3.

This means you could immediately switch to GenericVessel, which may support hover engines along custom axes. GenericVessel is also being continually updated/developed.

Looking at the GenericVessel Dev thread again, that probably is the thing to do even if he hasn't yet added the hover engine direction definition option in. I'm not really in any hurry to complete any of this stuff, so perhaps I can be of some help to his GV development if/when I come across any bugs. There are still some missing things like particle streams definitions, but that's not a problem for the time being.

---------- Post added at 11:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:14 PM ----------

You can add to the basic SC3 configuration by adding some LUA script.

Check Orbiter's help, and look for:

v:set_thrusterdir(ht,dir)
Reset the force direction of a thruster.

Parameters:
ht (handle): thruster handle
dir (vector): new thrust direction (vessel frame of reference)

Notes:
This method can be used to realise a tilt of the rocket motor (e.g. for implementing a thruster gimbal mechanism)

See also:
v:get_thrusterdir, v:set_thrusterpos

Tempting, but I seem to have a hard enough time just getting everything setup correct in an ini file. lol