What it does

• Adds action group items for toggling control points, for parts that have multiple control points defined.
• Adds a variable-pitch control point that's handy for spaceplane-style reentry (i.e. instead of "hold ", you want SAS to "hold attitude with nose up N degrees").
• Adds an axis binding (new KSP 1.7.1 feature) so that you can control the pitch angle with keyboard keys.

How to install

Unzip the contents of "GameData" to your GameData folder, same as with most mods. (Note, includes ModuleManager.)

Why would anyone want this?

KSP 1.6 introduces a new feature that allows a "command" part (such as a crew pod or probe core) to support multiple control points (e.g. "forward", "reverse"), which the player can select either in flight or in the vehicle editor.

That's a powerful and useful tool... but it stops just short of what I'd like to have. In particular, the stock game doesn't provide any way to select among those control points using action groups. Also... I've long wanted the ability for SAS to hold a "slightly nose-up" attitude during reentry (i.e. the way spaceplanes usually do), meaning I'd love to have a pitched control point-- with the ability to vary the pitch as desired.

Well, this mod closes that gap.

Action groups

This mod makes several new actions available in the vehicle editor, which you can assign to action groups as you please.

• "Toggle CP: {name}": This action is for a 2-way toggle that flips back and forth between the named control point and the part's default. This is added to all command pods and probe cores that support multiple control points. For example, in the screenshot above, the HECS2 probe core has three alternate control points besides the default ("Forward", "Reversed", plus the new "Pitched" one provided by this mod), so each of those gets a corresponding "toggle" action made available.
• "Change Control Point": This is a cyclic action that just switches the control point to whichever one's next. In other words, it does exactly the same thing as clicking the stock "Change Control Point" button on the part's right-click menu. This action is added to all command pods and probe cores in the stock game that have 3 or more control points available.

Axis group binding

KSP 1.7.1 adds a new feature called "axis groups", which work similarly to action groups but allows binding control axes to part actions. AttitudeAdjuster 1.1 adds an axis group binding for "Pitch Angle" so that you can set up your craft to allow using keyboard bindings (e.g. the I and J keys, if you use the "Translate U/D" axis, to take one example).

New "pitched" control point

This mod adds a new control point, "Pitched", to certain parts in the stock game. It's accessible both in the vehicle editor and in flight.

The "pitched" control point is pointed in the part's direction... but rotated downward by a few degrees (25 degrees, by default). That way, if you want to do a "nose up" spaceplane-style reentry, all you have to do is to select the "Pitched" control point, and tell SAS to hold , and your craft will do exactly what you want. But that's not the clever bit.

The clever bit is that the pitch angle is user-adjustable. Whenever the "Pitched" control point is the currently selected one, either in the editor or in flight, then a "Pitch Angle" control will appear on the right-click menu (see above screenshots). This is a slider control that lets you pick any angle you like, from zero up to 90 degrees.

Currently, the following parts have a "Pitched" control point added to them:

• All probe cores that include SAS functionality
• The stock cockpits (Mk1 regular and inline, Mk2 regular and inline, Mk3)

I've deliberately not added it to the various "rocket" command pods (such as the Mk1, etc.), just to avoid clutter. However, if you'd prefer to add it there, too (or remove it from one of the places I've added it), that's easy to do-- see the "Extending / customizing" section, below.

Extending / customizing

All of the new functionality is added and configured via ModuleManager-- which means It's flexible. If there's some aspect of how I've set things up that you don't like, it's easy for you to tweak just by adding your own ModuleManager config.

Examples of how the mod can be customized via config:

• Choose which actions are available on which parts (e.g."Toggle CP" and "Change Control Point" actions).
• Choose which parts get the "Pitched" control point added.
• Customize the numeric behavior of the pitched control point's UI. For example, if you want it to vary from 0 to 10 degrees in increments of 0.1 degrees (instead of the default "0 to 90 degrees in increments of 1 degree"), then you can do that.

In the interest of avoiding clutter, I won't go into all the technical details here, but you should be able to work it out from looking at the config files. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions!