I have a spacecraft which has a docking port with a cover over top it. How I do this is I attach my docking port to my command pod, then I temporally move the port out of the way to attach the piston to the command pod as well. Once the piston is connected, I then connect the port cover onto the piston itself, then move the docking port back into it's original position. The result is a hidden docking port that I can easily access by removing the cover. At the moment, I can only remove the cover by using the slider. What I would like to do is configure the piston's settings so that it responds strictly by activation group 2. I know there's a way to pull it off, but I'm not sure how exactly. I'm hoping somebody can explain it for me.
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Mod sflanker4.3 years ago
@FLYGUY101 I think the same concept would work fine with a motor. The input constant is just the power level. And the activation group controls whether it's on or off. If you wanted to target a fixed rpm or something that would be more complicated.
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119 FLYGUY1014.3 years ago
@sflanker
Question for you, what can I do to make an electric motor run by an activation group? It's a little different than the piston as you can't really put a percentage on something that keeps on moving. -
Mod sflanker+2 4.7 years ago
Kudos to the dev team for making that magically work. It was just a stab in the dark but I was thrilled to see it work (and I verified the behavior for different numeric values).
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Mod sflanker+3 4.7 years ago
Using
1or1.0as the "Input" property makes the input value a fixed number instead of reading the current value of a slider, attribute, or variable. If you used0.5the piston would be half extended any time it was activated. -
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373 zeropol+1 4.7 years ago
If I understood, you want to use the piston only with action groups. Pressing AG2 one time would extend the piston, pressing a second time retract it, and so on.
If it is what you want, so do this ( I tested it works ):
- Select your piston, click "properties", and in "piston input" ( you have "slider 2" ) , click "slider 2" and writeCommand Pod.FlightProgram.PistonVar
- Enter vizzy and use this short snippet
- Now, pressing action group 2 will alternate between extended and retracted.
edit : Sflanker was faster than me ^_^ ( the solution seems different. His solution looks better because it don't need Vizzy. Do his solution. )
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Mod sflanker+4 4.7 years ago
You can achieve this by setting the
Inputproperty of your piston to the numeric value1.0, theActivation Groupproperty to your desired AG, and enabling the "Zero On Deactivate" property. All under the Piston Input section of the part properties.
If you don't see some of these properties you need to do the following: In the part settings for your piston, enable "Show Hidden Properties" in the Tinker Panel, you will then see a number of new options under the Piston Input section.
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@sflanker
Has an update changed anything, because my pistons are no longer working either, still using this method.