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kcobbva

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For those that don't get Sport Rocketry; there was an article I read last night that discussed some neat software that plugs in to Rocksim. Jim Squire wrote the article and software and made it freely available at https://www4.vmi.edu/faculty/squirejc/Rockshell/

After reading the article I immediately downloaded and began playing with it. Pretty darned slick! It pulls off of the flight simulations you've done in Rocksim already then gives you lots of data from safety to where it estimates where you should land using google maps. When you first start it up, pull up the rkt file you created in Rocksim. Then select the simulation number tied to the flight you wish to pull details from:
RockshellStart.jpg

Then you have a myriad of choices to test. One thing I really like is the ability to plug in the GPS coordinates of your launch location so you can see what your flights at YOUR site should look like.
MonteCarlo.jpg

Finally a little shot using the Monte Carlo configuration as shown above. One thing I've noted is I've had a few issues with JS when google maps comes up. Had to close the program and start again. It only occurs when google maps comes up..and not all the time.
rockshellmclanding.jpg

Again, not too shabby for a free add-on to rocksim and definitely one I will be using when planning and simming high flights. Lastly for fun and accuracy, I plugged in data from my Level - 2 Certification flight out at BattlePark. Darned if it doesn't look like the exact landing spot where I recovered!
L2Flight.jpg

Download and enjoy. Jim, if you are out there in our forum....THANKS!
 
Wow, that sounds cool! Might have to play with it while recovering from my hip surgery.
 
No. Run your Sims in rocksim so you have your engines etc selected and tested. Then make note of which launch # has you favorite launch and save the file. Close rocksim - or leave open. Start rockshell, select your same rkt file, select that flight # you recorded and all the proper engine details are there. Pretty easy and cool.
 
Note the author states its nothing new, it just pulls the data and represents it in an intuitive way to visualize; especially the safety aspect of weight to thrust ratio
 
I read the same article last night, and it's very cool tech. I wonder how long it'll take to make it's way into RSO/LCO planning tools for expected flights and wind conditions. Looks like a very valuable tool when assessing field capabilities in regards to recovery run out and location based on prevailing winds when paired with this web page/app: https://www.windyty.com/?36.585,-76.336,9


It'd be cool if there was a version that interfaced with OR too.
 
I read the same article last night, and it's very cool tech. I wonder how long it'll take to make it's way into RSO/LCO planning tools for expected flights and wind conditions. Looks like a very valuable tool when assessing field capabilities in regards to recovery run out and location based on prevailing winds when paired with this web page/app: https://www.windyty.com/?36.585,-76.336,9


It'd be cool if there was a version that interfaced with OR too.

indeed. He states that this works with Rocksim because of the command line interface, which doesn't apparently exist with OR. He also told me he submitted the article a year ago. So glad it finally made it to print as I agree. I see it as a very valuable tool!
 
No. Run your Sims in rocksim so you have your engines etc selected and tested. Then make note of which launch # has you favorite launch and save the file. Close rocksim - or leave open. Start rockshell, select your same rkt file, select that flight # you recorded and all the proper engine details are there. Pretty easy and cool.

Yeah I get an error message I'm in Win 10 so maybe there's an issue with the OS?
 
Nope. Runs fine on all my Win10 boxes and a win 7 I tested. What's the error message. I know JavaScript is part of it.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! I baked help into the program, so you're not missing anything if you don't have the Sport a Rocketry article. Limitations: really for plain vanilla L2 and L3 flights: only dual deploy, only Windows (XP, Vista, 8, 10), requires Rocksim to be installed, no custom motors, no staging. The program is a single file of about 600k and has no installer; just run it and delete it to uninstall.

I'm not a Forum regular, but a proud recent successful (2nd time!) L3!
 
Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! I baked help into the program, so you're not missing anything if you don't have the Sport a Rocketry article. Limitations: really for plain vanilla L2 and L3 flights: only dual deploy, only Windows (XP, Vista, 8, 10), requires Rocksim to be installed, no custom motors, no staging. The program is a single file of about 600k and has no installer; just run it and delete it to uninstall.

I'm not a Forum regular, but a proud recent successful (2nd time!) L3!

Very cool. Just read the article yesterday. The rocksimc.exe is very handy, especially for the casual programmer. I helped the developer de-bug it, when I made an add-on product many years ago. Very few people use it, it seems. To do custom programming with OR, I think you pretty much need to get into the entire source code.

Curious, in what language is Rockshell written, and how do you avoid the Windows installer thing? That is a very nice feature and makes the whole experience more enjoyable!
 
Very cool. Just read the article yesterday. The rocksimc.exe is very handy, especially for the casual programmer. I helped the developer de-bug it, when I made an add-on product many years ago. Very few people use it, it seems. To do custom programming with OR, I think you pretty much need to get into the entire source code.

Curious, in what language is Rockshell written, and how do you avoid the Windows installer thing? That is a very nice feature and makes the whole experience more enjoyable!

What was your add-on? What others are available? I'd think about throwing down for RS had I a couple of good reasons
 
I tried getting this to run on Linux using wine but it complains that it needs ".NET Framework: v4.0.30319". I checked and it appears that .net v4.0 is installed. At least when I run the installer it says that it is already there.
 
I tried getting this to run on Linux using wine but it complains that it needs ".NET Framework: v4.0.30319". I checked and it appears that .net v4.0 is installed. At least when I run the installer it says that it is already there.
Sorry; only works on windows. I don't have a Linux distro installed anymore to test under Wine. I should have made that clearer. If I could get my windows programs running under wine, I would run all my VST's on Linux. Maybe someday!
 
More recent versions of .NET ( 4.0 included ) are a major pain under Wine. What it basically comes down to is if a program uses them, it won't run under LInux/Wine. If it uses a small enough subset of the functionality it might work, but, as I've said, it's a pain.

Martin Jay McKee
 
Having worked some with Rocksim Pro I have a question. In RS Pro you can have a series of wind layers with different directions and velocities. Can you do that here, or are you limited to a single wind at a given velocity?
 
Would be nice. Need to make a command line interface to OR first. That's what this uses if I recall the article that Jim wrote.

I suggested the command line executable in a comparison of RS vs. OR a few years ago (it is in a forum post, somewhere). Sampo kinda turned his nose up at it, suggesting that did not make RS truly "extensible" as the Open Source crowd defines it.
 
I too would like to see a command-line interface for OR. While the ability to write extensions ( or plugins ) that directly interface to the code is amazingly powerful, sometimes all that is needed is the ability to script operations. A command-line interface makes that easy. Actually, I think that Rockshell is an excellent example of what can be done with such a "poor" form of extensibility. Many of the pieces of software I have used over the years are actually more powerful in their CLI form. They end up being tied together with a web of scripts ( UNIX style ). It's amazingly powerful. Rather archaic in some ways though.

As I see it, the other bar to RockShell for OR is the Windows dependence it has. Given that OR can run on almost anything, it would be a shame to be limited to a Windows environment just because of an extension ( although, truth be told, I've been having Java version issues with OR under Linux, so I run it in a Windows VM anyhow ).

Martin Jay McKee
 
I too would like to see a command-line interface for OR. While the ability to write extensions ( or plugins ) that directly interface to the code is amazingly powerful, sometimes all that is needed is the ability to script operations. A command-line interface makes that easy. Actually, I think that Rockshell is an excellent example of what can be done with such a "poor" form of extensibility. Many of the pieces of software I have used over the years are actually more powerful in their CLI form. They end up being tied together with a web of scripts ( UNIX style ). It's amazingly powerful. Rather archaic in some ways though.

As I see it, the other bar to RockShell for OR is the Windows dependence it has. Given that OR can run on almost anything, it would be a shame to be limited to a Windows environment just because of an extension ( although, truth be told, I've been having Java version issues with OR under Linux, so I run it in a Windows VM anyhow ).

Martin Jay McKee

Depending on Java is not so good with Windows though Open Rocket or Rocksim have no dependence on Bluetooth. Bluetooth connectivity in a Java/Windows environment is not dependable as I so rudely found out with a Java dependent tracking application.
 
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