OHM SpaceX launch vehicles and Dragon

[blixel]

This is an observation / bug fix request.

When you use the SpaceX payload editor to add payload within Orbiter itself, the quicksave file that you end up with isn't any good. The payload has to be located between the LPad section and LV section. But when you quicksave, it always puts the payload below the LV section.

So before you can use the scenario, you have to edit the file and move the payload up above the LV section.

Also, it always adds this line to the payload: ATTACHED 0:1,FH

That line causes a CTD when you load the scenario. I've found that if I change ATTACHED 0:1,FH to ATTACHED 0:0,FH, the scenario will load just fine.

How to test this yourself:

* Load a scenario such as the Scenarios\SpaceX\Falcon Heavy - LC40 launch.scn
* Use the Orbiter Scenario Editor to delete the Cylinder payload. (I also delete the fairings because they block the view.)
* Press p to go into payload editor mode.
* Press e to add a vessel from disk. For this test, type Deltaglider and press enter.
* Press e again to give the ship a name. For this test, type DG-01 and press enter.
* Press e a 3rd time to make the vessel appear.
* Press p to get out of the payload editor mode.
* CTRL+S to save the scenario

Now try to load the scenario and you'll see the problems.

 

[Kyle]

This is an observation / bug fix request.

When you use the SpaceX payload editor to add payload within Orbiter itself, the quicksave file that you end up with isn't any good. The payload has to be located between the LPad section and LV section. But when you quicksave, it always puts the payload below the LV section..

Oh, that's a bug? I always thought it was because my computer hated me.

 

[laukejas]

I can land/splashdown inside a radius of 300 km of any base with this Dragon. This is good for my (lack of) experience with capsules, maybe you're making reference to a much lower value.

Well, landing within 1km of target is what I call precision landing. I can achieve this with both winged spacecraft (DGIV, XR1 and similar) and other reentry capsules.

It's just that Dragon's reentry predictions are somewhat buggy when passing that 90km altitude. If this would be fixed, precision landings could be made.

(I've achieved less than 5km away from Cape Canaveral landing with Dragon, but it was based on making very expensive burn once I passed 90km altitude, and in normal missions no one would leave that much fuel for reentry, so it really doesn't count)

 

[sorindafabico]

I observed that the capsule starts to produce L/D only below 90 km. Maybe this is the problem.

 

[laukejas]

I observed that the capsule starts to produce L/D only below 90 km. Maybe this is the problem.

Very likely. What it would take to fix this problem?

 

[sorindafabico]

Very likely. What it would take to fix this problem?

Changing the code, I think :hide:

 

[laukejas]

Changing the code, I think :hide:

Well, is the creator still updating this addon? It's nearly perfect, just these few bugs...

 

[blixel]

When you attach payload to the Falcon, you can press U/D to move it up and down until you find a good position for it to sit. But is there a way to move it forward and backward? As you can see in the image below, the LDEF is in a good vertical position, but it's not centered.

BEGIN_DESC
END_DESC

BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT
  System Sol
  Date MJD 56413.5
END_ENVIRONMENT

BEGIN_FOCUS
  Ship FH
END_FOCUS

BEGIN_CAMERA
  TARGET FH
  MODE Extern
  POS 2.41 0.36 -114.75
  TRACKMODE TargetRelative
  FOV 50.00
END_CAMERA

BEGIN_HUD
  TYPE Surface
END_HUD

BEGIN_MFD Left
  TYPE Surface
  SPDMODE 1
END_MFD

BEGIN_MFD Right
  TYPE Orbit
  PROJ Ship
  FRAME Equator
  ALT
  REF Earth
END_MFD

BEGIN_SHIPS
LPad:SpaceX/LPad
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS -80.5771995 28.5619578
  HEADING 90.00
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:1.000000
  THLEVEL 0:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 0 0
  TYPE 2
  SUBTYPE 0
  ANIM0 0 0.0000
  ANIM1 0 0.0000
  STIME 20.000000
END
LDEF:LDEF
  STATUS Landed Earth
  NAVFREQ 0 0
END
FH:SpaceX/FH
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS -80.5771995 28.5619578
  HEADING 90.00
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 0 0
  CONFIG 0 0 0 1 1 1
  LPAD LPad
  FMULT 0.0000
  PAYLOAD LDEF
  POFS 32.900000
END
END_SHIPS

 

[James200809]

dragon

does anyone know how to separate the nose cone

 

[PhantomCruiser]

[Shift] + [J] I think (at least according to my notes).

 

[Donamy]

When you attach payload to the Falcon, you can press U/D to move it up and down until you find a good position for it to sit. But is there a way to move it forward and backward? As you can see in the image below, the LDEF is in a good vertical position, but it's not centered.

BEGIN_DESC
END_DESC
 
BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT
  System Sol
  Date MJD 56413.5
END_ENVIRONMENT
 
BEGIN_FOCUS
  Ship FH
END_FOCUS
 
BEGIN_CAMERA
  TARGET FH
  MODE Extern
  POS 2.41 0.36 -114.75
  TRACKMODE TargetRelative
  FOV 50.00
END_CAMERA
 
BEGIN_HUD
  TYPE Surface
END_HUD
 
BEGIN_MFD Left
  TYPE Surface
  SPDMODE 1
END_MFD
 
BEGIN_MFD Right
  TYPE Orbit
  PROJ Ship
  FRAME Equator
  ALT
  REF Earth
END_MFD
 
BEGIN_SHIPS
LPad:SpaceX/LPad
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS -80.5771995 28.5619578
  HEADING 90.00
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:1.000000
  THLEVEL 0:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 0 0
  TYPE 2
  SUBTYPE 0
  ANIM0 0 0.0000
  ANIM1 0 0.0000
  STIME 20.000000
END
LDEF:LDEF
  STATUS Landed Earth
  NAVFREQ 0 0
END
FH:SpaceX/FH
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS -80.5771995 28.5619578
  HEADING 90.00
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 0 0
  CONFIG 0 0 0 1 1 1
  LPAD LPad
  FMULT 0.0000
  PAYLOAD LDEF
  POFS 32.900000
END
END_SHIPS

try moving the LDEF attachment, probably in the Y direction.

---------- Post added at 02:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:43 AM ----------

does anyone know how to separate the nose cone

Which Dragon ?

 

[blixel]

try moving the LDEF attachment, probably in the Y direction.

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried adding a POS and then an RPOS line to the LDEF section, but it doesn't have any effect on the position of the satellite. It's still hanging out the side.

LDEF:LDEF
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS -70.5771995 48.5619578
  NAVFREQ 0 0
END

 

[Donamy]

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried adding a POS and then an RPOS line to the LDEF section, but it doesn't have any effect on the position of the satellite. It's still hanging out the side.

LDEF:LDEF
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS -70.5771995 48.5619578
  NAVFREQ 0 0
END

No, you have to change it in the .cfg

 

[blixel]

No, you have to change it in the .cfg

Ah... ok.

I didn't want to change the original, so I made a copy of LDEF.cfg and took a look at it. I wasn't sure if I needed to change the TouchdownPoints or the BEGIN_ATTACHMENT section, but I started with the BEGIN_ATTACHMENT section and that seems to be right. I found what the data meant by looking at page 22 of Doc\OrbiterConfig.pdf

The original was:

; === Attachment specs ===
BEGIN_ATTACHMENT
P 0     2.6  0   0  1 0  0 0  1  XS
P 0.05 -2.6  0   0 -1 0  0 0 -1  GS
C 0 0 -5         0 0 1   0 1 0   X      
END_ATTACHMENT

I wasn't sure which line to edit (the one ending in XS, GS, or X), so I just started with the first one. According to the pdf, the 2nd # was the y coordinate, so I just set it to 0 to see what would happen.

; === Attachment specs ===
BEGIN_ATTACHMENT
P 0     0    0   0  1 0  0 0  1  XS
P 0.05 -2.6  0   0 -1 0  0 0 -1  GS
C 0 0 -5         0 0 1   0 1 0   X      
END_ATTACHMENT

And that seems to work! The LDEF now sits in proper position on top of the F9. (I have no idea what the second line is for. Should I edit the line ending in GS also?)

Anyway, here's the result. As you can see the LDEF has one small corner that comes through the fairing, but it's subtle enough that I'm not going to concern myself with it.

Thanks for the info.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I think the GS is indicative of a grapple point for an RMS and that XS is where the attachment point would line up with the shuttles payload bay?

 

[Avedis Ghazarian]

Dragon main thrusters

How come the rcs and main engines of the Dragon capsule weak. Is it me or there has to be some bug fixes or just wrong info? :-/

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Any plans on updating to include the new F9 V1.1?

 

[Kyle]

Any plans on updating to include the new F9 V1.1?

Check back a few pages, though I haven't heard anything since January I'm sure he's working on it on his own schedule.

I think I can start making an update for the addon now, because I don't see any effort to make terrain support in the Orbiter core. (and that means that no stable at high time acc. terrain collisions is possible) So the terrain part can wait for the next beta or whatever will have anything about terrain support for graphics clients.
So, I'll focus on making the new version more stable and with a better graphics client support. The requested features I saw were:
- Falcon 9 1.1 (the longer version with M1D) and longer model for F9H
- multiple payloads for all LVs
- more precision for autopilot
- stable orbit as target for autopilot
- second launch pad at Vandenberg ?
- reusable 1st and 2nd stages with propulsion landing ? (I don't believe they'll do anything like that beacuse it looks more like an advertisement than an actual working thing... and propulsive landing of capsule from 5+ km altitude doesn't make any sense at all because it isn't possible with Earth's gravity and Dragon's engines)
- also I'm sure I'll add support of normal/specular/emmisive textures into the next version for D3D9 and D3D11 users. these textures can really improve visual part of the addon.
- open source code, so anyone later can fix important bugs and improve/take something
Maybe something else ?

I will try to make sure that the D3D9 conflict is gone (I'll try to reanimate solar panel in a different way, and if it won't work I can look for a problem in D3D9 code. After D3D11 development I understand how graphics clients work ) I'm gonna start with writing a new code and try to make sure that it'll be more configurable and stable than the old version. Then I'll have to make some new meshes and textures.

 

[vsfx]

I created a scenario where I have attached a Dragon from this add-on to a Themis-A launcher. All goes well until the trunk explodes on the ascent to orbit every single time. I've tried adding the indestructible re-entry line to the scenario and it allows the Dragon capsule to survive but the trunk still explodes, as shown here:

BEGIN_DESC
END_DESC

BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT
  System Sol
  Date MJD 51981.8767895459
END_ENVIRONMENT

BEGIN_FOCUS
  Ship LPad
END_FOCUS

BEGIN_CAMERA
  TARGET LPad
  MODE Extern
  POS 1.97 -126.50 -16.04
  TRACKMODE TargetRelative
  FOV 60.00
END_CAMERA

BEGIN_MFD Left
  TYPE Surface
  SPDMODE 1
END_MFD

BEGIN_MFD Right
  TYPE User
  MODE Themis Control
END_MFD

BEGIN_SHIPS
Themis-A:Themis-A\Themis-A_Dragon_2_Sirus
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS 169.5375920 -0.8578510
  HEADING 0.00
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:1.000000 1:1.000000 2:1.000000 3:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 0 0
  PL_DESCRIPTION Dragon 0.000 0.000 26.550 -0.0000 0.0000 -1.0000 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000 0
  IN_JETTISON 0 0
  J_MARKER 0.000000
  FC_Config 250000.035378 90.000016 0 0 44.100000
  FC_State 0 0.000000 0.000000
  LV_State 1 1 1 1 0.000000 1
  LV_Config 5 1 0
END
loco01:SaganSpaceport\\loco01
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS 169.5332800 -0.8578510
  HEADING 270.00
  AFCMODE 7
  NAVFREQ 0 0
  CradleP 0.00
  CradleT 0
  Angle 0.00
  SpeedT 0
  SpeedC 0
END
Crane:SaganSpaceport\\XR5_Crane
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS 169.5270000 -0.8542000
  HEADING 90.00
  AFCMODE 7
  NAVFREQ 0 0
  X_P 0.50
  Y_P 0.00
  Z_P 0.50
  X_T 0.50
  Y_T 0.00
  Z_T 0.50
END
LPad:SaganSpaceport\\ThemL_Pad
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS 169.5375920 -0.8578510
  HEADING 270.00
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 0 0
  Arms_P -0.000012
  Arms_T 0.000000
  Lights 0
END
Radar:SaganSpaceport\\Radar
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS 169.5330990 -0.8597000
  HEADING 270.00
  AFCMODE 7
  NAVFREQ 0 0
END
BPad:SaganSpaceport\\Big_Pad
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS 169.5321950 -0.8686880
  HEADING 180.00
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 0 0
  Lights 0
  Config 0
END
Dragon:SpaceX\DragonM
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS 64.4687730 28.6242705
  HEADING 295.68
  ATTACHED 0:0,Themis-A
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:0.999629
  NAVFREQ 0 0
  CONFIG 0 1 1
  ANIM0 0 0.0000
  REENTRY 0
  UCGO @@0,1,0,0,@@1,1,0,0,@@2,1,0,0,@@3,1,0,0,@@4,1,0,0,@@5,1,0,0,@@6,1,0,0,@@7,1,0,0,
  TRUNK 1 1 0 1 0 1.0000 0 0.0000
  ANIM1 0 0.0000
  ANIM2 0 0.0000
  CFG 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 10483720
  PARAMS 84.0000 14.0000 1.4000 14.2000 1.0000 24807030.0000 -2500.0000
END
END_SHIPS

Is there anything that can prevent that? I'm just trying to find a decent orbital capsule with some realistic features that can be attached to different launchers.

 

[preacherzero]

Hey guys, long time no see.

Do I still need to have the LC 40 & 41 addon installed for this version?
It doesn't mention it in the description but it does in the older version.

The LC 40 & 41 addon says that it requires CVEL Titans version 1.00 which doesn't seem to exist anymore, will v 1.36 do? Or do I even need it?

I can't seem to load any of this addons vehicles into other scenarios without getting a CTD and I'm wondering if that's the cause (like maybe it needs assets from the LC40 module?), my plan was to do launches with these from CSSC but I can move house if need be.

Thanks for any advice, great to be back into Orbiter.