OHM SpaceX launch vehicles and Dragon

[Wonderer]

Could somebody verify this: when in VC you hit the orbit normal autopilot button you can't turn it off without going into glass cockpit mode.

 

[RisingFury]

This addon has a lot of potential, but it looks like it wasn't properly tested before release. Here are the bugs I found:
- Periodic frame rate drop. For some reason the frame rate drops from 80 to 20 for a few seconds and it seems to happen periodically, independent of what view I'm in (internal, external) and it happens regardless of what part of the flight I'm in or what object I'm focusing on.
- I can confirm the invisible mesh bug with manned Dragon.
- The autopilot needs a touch. Every time I tried launching with an autopilot, it dumped me in the drink or goes haywire...
- Sometimes the green notification messages overlap. One gets printed over another. I've seen it several times, but I can't figure out the circumstances.
- I found the RCS system somewhat overpowered.
- When the manned Dragon gets ejected during launch (in an emergency), the main engines don't shut down if you don't shut them down manually. The launcher then flies right into the capsule.

 

[diogom]

This addon has a lot of potential, but it looks like it wasn't properly tested before release. Here are the bugs I found:
- Periodic frame rate drop. For some reason the frame rate drops from 80 to 20 for a few seconds and it seems to happen periodically, independent of what view I'm in (internal, external) and it happens regardless of what part of the flight I'm in or what object I'm focusing on.
- I can confirm the invisible mesh bug with manned Dragon.
- The autopilot needs a touch. Every time I tried launching with an autopilot, it dumped me in the drink or goes haywire...
- Sometimes the green notification messages overlap. One gets printed over another. I've seen it several times, but I can't figure out the circumstances.
- I found the RCS system somewhat overpowered.
- When the manned Dragon gets ejected during launch (in an emergency), the main engines don't shut down if you don't shut them down manually. The launcher then flies right into the capsule.

-Autopilot has worked fine for me for every launch.
-Every time I used the LES, the launcher never "hit" the capsule. It does pass close, but doesn't hit it.

 

[Mantis]

How do you get the autopilot to work? The manual and on-screen instructions say press "A" to activate the autopilot but it seems to have no effect. I press "A" and nothing happens and if I then fire the engine manually, the vehicle goes straight up unless I control it manually.

 

[diogom]

How do you get the autopilot to work? The manual and on-screen instructions say press "A" to activate the autopilot but it seems to have no effect. I press "A" and nothing happens and if I then fire the engine manually, the vehicle goes straight up unless I control it manually.

You have to input the autopilot parameters, with L. Then press A.

 

[RisingFury]

-Autopilot has worked fine for me for every launch.

Well, it's failed every time for me. Launching from KSC, if I specified inclination lower then 28°, it just went haywire. It launched into heading 180 into a nearly polar orbit. First stage went fine, but second stage turned some 50° relative to velocity vector and wasted the fuel. The stage reached some 4.5 km/s and then it hit the drink.

If I specified inclination higher then that, the launch went better, but still it didn't reach orbit. The closest it came if I specified inclination 30° and apogee altitude 150. It flew to about 300 km altitude and perigee was 7 km below the surface.

I even tried separating the payload fairing at 30 km altitude, so I wouldn't have to lug all that weight to orbit. Didn't work...

-Every time I used the LES, the launcher never "hit" the capsule. It does pass close, but doesn't hit it.

In either case, I'd suggest programming the launcher to shut down the engines.

Also, you can continue to control the launcher after Dragon ejects in an emergency...

 

[diogom]

Well, it's failed every time for me. Launching from KSC, if I specified inclination lower then 28°, it just went haywire. It launched into heading 180 into a nearly polar orbit. First stage went fine, but second stage turned some 50° relative to velocity vector and wasted the fuel. The stage reached some 4.5 km/s and then it hit the drink.

If I specified inclination higher then that, the launch went better, but still it didn't reach orbit. The closest it came if I specified inclination 30° and apogee altitude 150. It flew to about 300 km altitude and perigee was 7 km below the surface.

I even tried separating the payload fairing at 30 km altitude, so I wouldn't have to lug all that weight to orbit. Didn't work...

Hum, you do know you can only get an inclination of 28 or higher degrees from KSC, right? Though the rest is weird, it has worked perfectly for me.

 

[RisingFury]

Hum, you do know you can only get an inclination of 28 or higher degrees from KSC, right?

Exactly. But the autopilot doesn't handle it well. I'd either program it to execute a plane change or just correct the values, so that if the user sets an inclination lower then launch site, the autopilot just launches due east to at least hit the lowest inclination possible.

 

[Tacolev]

Great Addon! Still plenty useable even with a few kinks to be ironed out. Can confirm some irregular solar panel animations. Half the time it makes orbit with them all spaced out and meshing through the panel covers.

Also quick question about the 4-seat dragon: I'm assuming it's for BEO operations, is there a heavier heat shield fudged into some of that mass reshuffling?

 

[Capt_hensley]

Very nice work!

 

[Kyle]

Still having problems with this addon, orbiter log still saying textures aren't showing up. I thought it was because I didn't have the VC++ 2010 Redistributable package, but I downloaded it and there is still crashing.

 

[T.Neo]

Also quick question about the 4-seat dragon: I'm assuming it's for BEO operations, is there a heavier heat shield fudged into some of that mass reshuffling?

The Dragon heatshield is apparently designed to be thick enough to withstand reentry from Lunar/Martian reentry velocities, so no mass reshuffling should be required in terms of a heavier TPS.

 

[Tacolev]

Ah, I'd guessed that might be the case. Shows me to spend more than two minutes googling something like that.

 

[Moach]

Still having problems with this addon, orbiter log still saying textures aren't showing up. I thought it was because I didn't have the VC++ 2010 Redistributable package, but I downloaded it and there is still crashing.

same situation here... any thoughts? :shrug:

 

[NOMAD]

I have the same problem with Moach. Orbiter would stop loading when it was loading the Glasspit.dds file. Installing VC2010 can not solve the problem.

 

[Wishbone]

Have you put MSVCR100.dll into the Orbiter root folder?

 

[Chub777]

More launch vehicles? Added realism? This is a must have! Downloading now.

 

[Wishbone]

Things of notice: (YMMV)
1. In the payload screen menu, "L" key is erroneously listed for loading the payload instead of "E".

2. In the launch autopilot, there has to be some kind of G-limiting throttling down even in cargo versions. (the reason is that NTR core stage is alas limited to maximum 7 gees at launch time, and explodes near 1st stage burnout )

 

[MaverickSawyer]

(the reason is that NTR core stage is alas limited to maximum 7 gees at launch time, and explodes near 1st stage burnout )

OUCH!

 

[T.Neo]

In the launch autopilot, there has to be some kind of G-limiting throttling down even in cargo versions.

Whether that would exist on these launchers depends on the properties of the real vehicle. I've heard of F9 cutting two engines off late into the ascent, but I'm not sure if this is similar to Saturn V's "inboard cutoff", to reduce acceleration, or some kind of engine-out test.

I'm not sure what the throttling capability of the Merlin engine is. Since SpaceX intends to launch people on Falcon, they would surely have controlled acceleration to insure a comfortable ride... maybe.