A couple of Questions about Building blocks 4.1

[Chrisinspace]

Ok I am using the XR5 vangard with the addon to make it space station building blocks 4.1 compatable. So I get in my ship take off get into the exact orbit I want and open my payload doors. Now How the heck do I actually put the pieces together. I cant really manuever them with my little astronaut cause they are so heavy. So how do i get them in position and join them together??

My second question is in regards to how do I save my space station so itll always be there so I can keep adding on to it. I saw some answers to this question on a diffrent thread but I didnt understand them. So please break it down for me with some simple easy to read directions.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Quick_Nick]

You could add a Dragonfly to the scenario and use that for assembling the station.
And if you hit Ctrl-S while in the sim, a scenario will be saved in the Quicksave folder for you to open later. You can just copy part of another scenario to the quicksave file to have the XR5 on the ground with a payload, or if there is a way to add a payload to the XR5 while in the sim you could just use Scenario Editor to move the XR5 to the ground.(I'm not familiar with the XR5 )
Welcome to the forum!

 

[Cobalt]

If you want it done instantly, the scenario editor would be the way to go. Just use the docking function to put the pieces together.
I put together a small one tonight like this.

If you want to be "realistic," the Dragonfly was made for this kind of thing.

 

[Chrisinspace]

Ok thanks so much for your responces. I got it working great!

 

[Cobalt]

Glad to help!

 

[Chrisinspace]

Ok the quick way worked great but now I am trying with the dragonfly. Do I just ram the peices together? How do I make them dock with each other the realistic way????

 

[Cobalt]

Line them up and make a slow approach, but there's more to it than that. I'm not good with the Dragonfly.

 

[n122vu]

I'm also using BB4.1 and the XR5, but going about it a bit differently. I'm using a combination of the built-in XR5 payload bay and Kulch's Universal Cargo Deck to load the pieces into the cargo bay.

For assembly of the first few modules, I am using Kulch's Universal Remote Manipulator System (URMS), placed in the cargo bay of the XR5 and scaled up to a factor of about 2.8. I simply opened the dock of the XR5, maneuvered the first module above the dock with the URMS and aligned it for docking visually and released. Now, I am connecting the other modules to this one and each other using the URMS. Plans are to eventually install a URMS on the station also, and use this in conjunction with the Dragonfly as well as URMS on the XR5 and Big Space Plane.

That's just the way I'm going about it. You might find another way is easier/simpler for you.



(*NOTE: I see you have downloaded the config files that make the modules usable in the XR5. There are some additional tweaks needed for the animated modules, such as solar arrays and radiators. See my thread here: http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=3165)

I'm new at station building as well, but I've learned a few things, so I'd be happy to share what I know. Always someone around the forum with a fresh solution for a problem so don't hesitate to ask questions.

Good luck and welcome!

Regards,
n122vu

 

[Chrisinspace]

Thanks that was what I had in mind when I started this little project. I really appreciate all the help guys.

 

[blane]

Hi,

I was about to open a new thread but I might as well revive this one as it's related.

I'm rather new to orbiter so I was not around to follow all the stages of building blocks and further developments. Actually, my question is more related to Greg's Local Space Transportation System (Gilgamesh) and the Descartes add-on -- but it seems it all runs down to the building system.

I seem to lack some fundamentals about this docking/attachment thing. I understand how to dock something with a dragonfly for instance, also that I can undock any item with CTRL-D.

But I read in various documentations this is about some pseudo docking (attachments). My rather simple question is, what do I need to do, to actually "attach" something?

As in an example: I have a passenger module with a dragonfly and want to load it into a Gilgamesh in orbit (or even a robotic arm at the clarke station). I can put it in there, but what actually attaches it?

And another thing, something from the Descartes Documentation which I don't understand (though the documentation is very nice to read, well done!) -- what about that Docking-Adapter? I don't quite understand... Do I need to remove/apply that adapter during play? If so, in what cases and how do I actually do that?

I'm sorry if my questions seem rather wild or even confusing but this system confused me, too :/

 

[HiPotOk1978]

As far as attaching SSBB, the parts have docking ports on them, and it is the matter of connecting Docking port A to Docking Port B


The way I was building my station was I launched a Dragonfly and a single piece in one launch, then sent a cargo bay full of trusses up in the next flight. Flying the dragonfly around using the docking port to snatch up a piece then fly it into position was the most fun I have had in orbiter! Heck I was even doing the approaches visually... I didn't realize that I was so good in the craft. 18 trusses end to end in groups of 9 for the LARGE solar panel array that was going to be the next few launches.

Next thing I know my wife sez I been doing it for like 3 hours placing the trusses end to end on the starting block. I then exited out of orbiter and came back to it today to see the parts all bunched up in a weird configuration. 3 hours of work went to nothing and I am not sure why... it was one giant mesh mush.

When the community finally sees the presents of Multi-player orbiter, I envision people flying around in UMMU's guiding Dragonfly pilots into positions building spacestations in teams sounds like uber fun, but my work going to poo is upsetting

don't mean to take over the thread but I was about to start a SSBB thead about my issues, figured I piggyback on this one

 

[Dimkin]

Hello all!
I've decided also to write in this thread, seems to as relevant.
I like the idea to try to build my own space station. I have an idea I want to try, now I know that this idea can be undoable in real world, but this is why we have orbiter for
Now for the idea: I want to try to build spacestation on geostationary orbit at some specific coords.
Now in details:
I want to launch dragonfly and dock it with ISS or Mir (depends on what would have less RInc.) and use it as a refuel port.
Then I want to start hauling the modules with DG-IV(If possible) to the geostationary orbit and then with the help of the dragonfly put them together.
Now, what I don't know is:

1. Can I build the station on geostationary orbit?
2. What addons do I need to build one?
3. Can I haul the parts with DG-IV?
4. What skills should I master to be able to do that? (except aligning orbits, docking and controlling DG-IV that I already know)

Thanks! :speakcool:

 

[HiPotOk1978]

Hello all!
I've decided also to write in this thread, seems to as relevant.
I like the idea to try to build my own space station. I have an idea I want to try, now I know that this idea can be undoable in real world, but this is why we have orbiter for
Now for the idea: I want to try to build spacestation on geostationary orbit at some specific coords.
Now in details:
I want to launch dragonfly and dock it with ISS or Mir (depends on what would have less RInc.) and use it as a refuel port.
Then I want to start hauling the modules with DG-IV(If possible) to the geostationary orbit and then with the help of the dragonfly put them together.
Now, what I don't know is:

1. Can I build the station on geostationary orbit?
2. What addons do I need to build one?
3. Can I haul the parts with DG-IV?
4. What skills should I master to be able to do that? (except aligning orbits, docking and controlling DG-IV that I already know)

Thanks! :speakcool:

1. Can I build the station on geostationary orbit?
U could, but why... there is no advantage to going that high with a station unless you wanted to observe the Earth or relay comm signals. as far as viewing the earth, geostationary orbit is VERY high

2. What addons do I need to build one?
There are quite a few space stations pieces you can get from various websites including orbithangar.com

3. Can I haul the parts with DG-IV?
As Scotty would tell ya.... just just don't have the power... or the cargo room. some of those station pieces from Space Station Building Blocks (SSBB) are as big as the ship

4. What skills should I master to be able to do that? (except aligning orbits, docking and controlling DG-IV that I already know)
Well that depends on the vehicle your using to place objects into orbit, and what body your placing the station in orbit around. Noone ever has thought of a SSBB lunar station... Your have to get the pieces from Point A to wherever your station is going to be built. In my most humble opinion, a Lunar station is fairly easy to get up and going. The VERY slow rotation of the Moon means that a single launch window is reusable over and over again without much fuel needed for plane alignments and lack of atmosphere makes it easy to return your transport vehicle if you using something like the XR5. This statement applies ofc if your launching your pieces from the Lunar surface and returning there. A bit more challenging if your wanting to launch from Earth and construct the base orbiting the moon

I have tested out the launch abilities of the ShuttleA with quite a bit of cargo strapped to the top via Universal Cargo Deck. I had a hard time flying with just RCS so I got creative and used the main, hover and engine pods to do my alignments and such.

If you wanted to do a more realistic station creation, then your going to have quite a lot of launches. I read somewhere, can't remember where but it took a few launches of the Shuttle, Proton rockets and a couple of other launch vehicles to equil the mass of ISS to the single launch of Skylab. Your results will vary based on how you wanna get the stuff in orbit. That is one thing I can't stress enough

Something that makes station building fun for me is using the Dragonfly. It is designed to move bulk around in orbit. Moving the 20t fuel tanks in SSBB is really pushing the abilities of the craft since all it has for moving is big RCS thrusters