Oolite Bulletins

Dock Assist System™ is the final result of my take on docking lights, and replaces the test versions of Docking_Lights.oxp. The quirks and error messages that were in the test versions should be resolved in this final version. Enjoy!


Overview

While manually docking with a rotating station may seem an easy task for a veteran space hog, it has proved to be a considerable hurdle for new pilots. Sure, the station beacon helps with aligning with the docking bay, but it can still be fiddly to stay exactly in-between the beacon and the bay, constantly switching between front and rear view for adjustments. Shouldn't there be a better system?

Now it turns out there is. All GalCop main stations are actually equipped with a band of cold-plasma light signals reaching all the way out to the navigational beacon. It's like the runway markings on a traditional airport. All you have to do is to ask the station to switch on these light signals for you.

And that's exactly what Foole's Systems™ Dock Assist System™ is for. Foole's Systems™ is always striving to bring you the latest and greatest in computerized assistance for your convenience in tight situations. And the Dock Assist System™ does not disappoint. Once it is installed on your ship, you can activate any GalCop station's runway markings by hitting 'N' when you're reasonably close. The Dock Assist System™ will automatically de-activate when you dock, leave the station's immediate vicinity, or jump out.

Foole's Systems™ Dock Assist System™ not only guides you on the ideal flight path towards the docking bay, but also warns you when you're in danger of colliding with a launching ship. When this happens, the two bands of green lights to your right and left are replaced with a single band of red lights in the centre of your view. You should then halt your approach and wait until the launching ship has cleared your path. Remember: launching ships always have priority, you have to give way.

Foole's Systems™ Dock Assist System™ is available in every equipment department with a tech level of 5 or more for only 95 ₢. Once it is installed and connected to your ship's computer, you can select it with 'SHIFT-N' and activate it with 'N'.

If you feel that you no longer need Foole's Systems™ Dock Assist System™, you can resell it in every equipment department of the appropriate tech level for a nominal fee of only 10 ₢. 60% of its original price will be refunded.

Minimum Requirements

Dock_Assist_System1.3.oxp requires at least Oolite 1.76.

Download Location

This OXP is available for download via the  Elite Wiki.

Installation

Move or copy the file Dock_Assist_System1.3.oxp from its download folder into your AddOns folder. Where that resides depends on your installation. Don't forget to remove any previous version. Restart Oolite.

Sounds good, but could it be expanded to constores as well? I'm getting a bit tired of either using the slow docking computer or flying all the way to the ad beacon in order to line my ship (currently a Boa Clipper) up with the docking bay.

BuggyBY wrote:

Sounds good, but could it be expanded to constores as well? I'm getting a bit tired of either using the slow docking computer or flying all the way to the ad beacon in order to line my ship (currently a Boa Clipper) up with the docking bay.

Sorry, it's limited to main stations.

Pro tip: Once you've practiced enough with main stations you don't need so much effort to align anymore. Usually it's perfectly fine to start the docking process from somewhere between the docking bay and the buoy. There's no need to tip your nose to the buoy first.

Actually, you don't need a buoy or any outer point of reference at all. The only thing you need to check is that you are centered towards the docking bay. As long as you see a roughly equal portion of its floor and ceiling, and a roughly equal portion of its left and right walls, you're fine.

Commander McLane wrote:

Actually, you don't need a buoy or any outer point of reference at all. The only thing you need to check is that you are centered towards the docking bay. As long as you see a roughly equal portion of its floor and ceiling, and a roughly equal portion of its left and right walls, you're fine.

You should see a bit less from the ceiling than from the bottom as your view position is a bit above the centre

And only when you really learned to dock, you should buy a Falcon. There the cabin and its view position is 24 meters to the right of the centre. So, on docking you want to aim for the right wall and certainly not the centre.

And when lazy like me, buy a boa. Its about as high as it is wide and fits both ways. No need to rotate with the station, just fly towards it.

Eric Walch wrote:

And when lazy like me, buy a boa. Its about as high as it is wide and fits both ways. No need to rotate with the station, just fly towards it.

And there's nothing stopping one from adding another custom view that goes through the centre of the ship and calling it the "Docking Camera View".

You mean something like this? Works, but the external view has the disadvantage that it does not show a target reticle. On comparing, docking with a small parallax is easier than no parallax and no target reticle.

Eric alerted me to a problem with the orientation of the "runway", which could sometimes run at the top and bottom of the docking bay instead of to the left and right. This is now fixed for any type of station in v 1.1. Please re-download.

And another alert from Eric: I forgot to exclude interstellar space, which resulted in error messages on misjumps. This is fixed in v 1.2. Please re-download again. Sorry.

No problem, Commander! New version downloaded and installed!

I'll grab it as soon as the Wiki is back online.

Hi!

I bought this equipment on the beginning of game play to help with manual dockings. After some practice I found that I am no longer require it and wanted to sell, which was not available. I added some code to OXP to allow selling of this equipment based on the code from sell_equipment.oxp. Can anyone suggest where to send or post this update if you are interested?

Generally I believe that any buyable OXP equipment should be allowable to sell for a fraction of price and depending on equipment condition like broken or operational. I am happy to update these OXPs that I want to sell but no able to at the moment.

Cheers, Commanders!

Hi vsfc, and welcome to The Friendliest Boards This Side Of Riedquat™!

I don't know why I didn't make the equipment sellable. Probably just an oversight on my part.

Thanks for the reminder. I'm going to include it in the next version.

Hi Commander McLane!

Thanks for friendly welcome.
The work of adding a sellable equipment is done and working (based on my testing).
I am happy to send it to you just to save you a time and I will be happy to get a review of the code as I am at humble beginning of OXP Java Scripting and don't know much of API yet.

I will welcome an update of your OXP in any case.

Thanks!

New version 1.3. The Dock Assist System is now re-sellable. Thanks to vsfc for the suggestion!