Request DG-EX update

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

I will try to ask for a much simplier request than my previous idea: DG-EX update

So far, I find the DG-EX very entertaining to fly, but I believe it need updates. There is no button on 2d cockpit for any type of lights nav/strobe/etc., so I think that could certainly be implemented. As a standard request, I believe an actual 3D cockpit feature may be nice. The retro-thrust need more power and feel free to whatever with the hover thrust and plasma jet. Oh, and I don't mind the sound of the craft, as it is loud as it suppose to be. Thanks for anyone doing this.

 

[Hlynkacg]

I've messed around with modifying the DGEX for my own purposes but will not be releasing anything with out permission of the original author and he hasn't been seen since 2011.

 

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

Ah....I see...That might be a problem. I send him a message a long while back, but no replies. Can someone just make a new one like how people keep making spin offs from the original DeltaGlider that is basically the same thing with a few different features and a new name? I don't want it to go that way, but I feel something have to be done....

Also, I have another add on idea, but I don't know if I am suppose to make a new section or can I just post the idea here?

 

[dacamp66]

the light switches can be found by pressing ctrl + up arrow

---------- Post added at 08:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------

I like the dgex also; it is EASY to get it into orbit (contrary to what some people think) the trick is, you have to fly it like a jet airliner NOT a rocket.
climb 30-35 M/S to 30 km then 20 m/s to 60 km, level off @ 60 km, accelerate until it takes full down trim and full down thrust vectoring to keep from climbing,
re-center trim and vectoring and watch your apoapsis take off like a bat outta heck. IMO the dgex is best described not as a spacecraft with wings, but as an aircraft with rocket engines. i think flight simmers would have an easier time with the dgex (already being trained by their flight sim game to think like a pilot and not an astronaut.)

 

[ADSWNJ]

I've messed around with modifying the DGEX for my own purposes but will not be releasing anything with out permission of the original author and he hasn't been seen since 2011.

I had the same problem with Glideslope 2 - i.e. updating work of a prior author who had left the forum. The advice I was given was to just make a reasonable attempt to contact the author - e.g. through this forum and through PM's, and then if no answer, release your version with appropriate credits to the original work.

I believe that if the code was released, then there is an implicit approval for others to continue with the tradition ... add a bit, share the updated source, keep the sprit alive.

I.e. go for it.

 

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

@dacamp66, I am pretty sure I get the gist of your idea for DG-EX launch, but due to my inexperience, it might not help me :huh: But I will get there...with some experience...eventually.

@ADSWNJ, is that even allowed? If so...and if people are willing to try...go for it. (By the way, I have no c++, etc. coding experience so I won't be of any help...sorry :uhh

 

[dacamp66]

the easiest way to describe the general flight plan is "fly it like a Boeing 727, not a spaceplane: the thrust to weight ratio is very low, so you have to let your wings do 99% of the vertical work instead of climbing vertically on a column of rocket exhaust. that being said, IMO the dgex, depending on payload mass is easily one of the most fuel efficient spaceplanes out there. keep at it anakinskyobliviator, as JFK once said "WE choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are difficult!":thumbup:

 

[ADSWNJ]

@ADSWNJ, is that even allowed? If so...and if people are willing to try...go for it. (By the way, I have no c++, etc. coding experience so I won't be of any help...sorry :uhh

Well - it depends on the license (if any) on the original source. Usually if the source code is included with the add on, the author did that to allow others to modify the code and keep it alive after they move on from the project. If not ... they would just release the compiled code and no source.

Some of the best addons are now sadly stuck in limbo, due to not being maintained any more and no source code. It's sad really. Hence the philosophy of opening the source and letting the code live on.

 

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

@dacamp66, I see! Yeah, I keep on flying it like a jet, pitching it up to 45 degree most of the time, but as soon as I get to a certain altitude, my altitude just fails and I have to jam my fingers on the numpad (in my case numlock 2). One time it took me just over half an hour to get it up into orbit...:blink: And thanks for the quote, it renews my willingness to re-attempt.
@ADSWNJ, well, that is indeed a problem...unless someone can do something. If anything can be added at minimum, I want it to be a good 3d cockpit, as I got the cockpit shake add on, and I think the DG-EX will look nice with it.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Take a look at some of the comments here http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=13066&highlight=dgex

There's some pretty good advice on how to get the DGEX to orbit. It just takes a bit of practice. 45 degrees up doesn't work too good as you've noticed, the trim knobs are your friends. There is a zone somewhere around 45 to 55Km altitude that really lets you pour on some acceleration, I can't remember exactly what is is though.

 

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

@PhantomCruiser, thanks, will take a glance at it, and yeah, I heard trim helps a lot.:thumbup:

By the way, is the altitude in meters or feet? Some says feet others says meters....

 

[Sunhillow]

By the way, is the altitude in meters or feet? Some says feet others says meters....

Orbiter shows meters. NASA officially also works metric, although there has been an attempt to combine imperial and metric units several years ago. The resu.t was another crater on martian surface: lol:

... and DGEX is really fun to bring into orbit. Just don't trim upwards nor use elevon upwards

 

[Hielor]

Haven't seen it mentioned yet, but it might be part of the problem people are having:
The DGEx's main engines lose a significant amount of thrust at 30km altitude and again at 60km altitude. It's not gradual, it's just a sudden switch.

So, when taking off, you want to get up to ~25-28km ASAP, and then level out and keep it in the 28-29km range as long as possible, accelerating horizontally, until full nose-down trim isn't enough to keep it down.

Then, get up to 58-59km and repeat.

I believe this is all mentioned in the DGex manual.

 

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

@Sunhillow, I see...I always used meters, but people keep on going on with "go to 7500 feet" and I was like "What?"

@Hielor, I saw this on the post for the mod itself, if I am getting this right, hold altitude at 28km (I am pretty sure it is 28 on the altitude indicator, right?) keep on going till nose dips, then set trim to full down, until the altitude drops again, where I put trim to zero, hold alt, and go again? How much thrust? Should I use reheaters? Is reheaters basically afterburners?

 

[dacamp66]

1.climb at 30 to 35 meters per second vertical speed (VS) on the surface mfd until you get to 28 to 29 km altitude
2. hold altitude at 28 to 29 km and continue to accelerate until you start to climb even when you are using FULL nose down pitch trim and FULL nose down engine thrust vectoring.
3. reset pitch trim and engine thrust vectoring to center, then set pitch trim to climb at 20 meters per second on the VS readout of surface mfd
until you reach 58 to 59 km altitude, and repeat step 2 at this altitude.
4. bring up orbit mfd if you haven't already, reset pitch trim and engine trim and climb/accellerate until you reach your target apoapsis.
5. cut engines, only using them to maintain your target apoapsis as necessary.
6. burn to circularize at apoapsis.
7.done
the reason you fly the spaceplane this way is the fact that the engines have 3 modes:
from 0 to 30 km is turbofan mode (most thrust) from 30 to 60 km is ramjet mode (median thrust) from 60 km and up is rocket mode (least thrust) reheat is just the european english term for afterburner; and yes you should use full throttle and full afterburners, you want to go as fast as possible. once you get to orbit you might be able to get away with just using the plasma drive (super super low thrust, but unbelievable fuel economy) the lever beside the plasma rocket throttle is a efficiency control ( up for more thrust, down for more fuel economy)

 

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

@dacamp66, Okay, so I will summerize what I understand as a procedure to see if my newbie interpretation is any good...
1. Start engine, put engine output to full with reheat. Turn on Surface MFD with trim neutral (take off from what angle?)
2. 28-29 km hold alt, reset trim (and the so-called vector thrust...is this another add-on by any chance?) to full down.
3. Wait until start rising again (turn off hold alt when the HUD start wobbling up and down?)
4.58-59km repeat step two.
5.Reset trim (at what alt?) and climb to a desired apogee.
6.Turn off engines (what alt is the best?), done.

By the way, I found that at certain altitude, reheat levers would refuse to lift, why is that? (And this topic is getting further away from the topic, should it move to a different thread?)

 

[Hielor]

Don't use the "hold alt" autopilot, it won't do what you want.

 

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

Oh? Well, I can barely hold altitude by myself...I am not that experienced yet...Unless the EX flies at constant alt, which I don't think it does.

 

[Hielor]

That's what trim is for.

 

[AnakinSkyobiliviator]

Oh. But it keeps on dipping...And what's GIMBAL?