constantly crashing into the mun at 1000+ meters

[Tothmetres]

I know how to set my relative velocity to surface instead of orbit, and it will tell me my altitude, but it lies. Over and over again I smash-land at 1000 m or sometimes more. where is the button that says. "the mun doesn't have a sea-level, so I don't want to know how far above sea level I am. Just tell me how far from the ground I am?". Where is the altimeter?. A simple radar ping aimed straight down would tell me my altitude above ground level, but I can't seem to find it. What am I overlooking?

[Leigh]

There are several possibilites here.

1: Not all of the Muns terrain is at sea level, so you may be hitting those areas.

2: As versions have progressed the default terrain mapping per planet/moon has shifted, mostly expanded. You can see what I mean if you take a look at the monolith near KSC. This is only exacerbated by...

3: ... the use of mods that change terrains, and other graphics. Most of these use the Real Solar System plugin which adds essentially adds layers ontop of the default terrain, and so a new terrain is created, but the game does not register that. (I did in fact talk to Nathan Kell about this some time ago, if I can find the post I will link it here)

EDIT: It was Pingopoete, not Nathan, and here it is http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/77523-0-25-0-90-Better-Atmospheres-V5-June-14th-2014?p=1138358&highlight=terrain+offset#post1138358

[Tothmetres]

I am only using Mech-Jjeb and Presice-Node mods.

[Leigh]

Then that limits possibilites to 1 or 2.

[Tothmetres]

It is definately option 1. How do I set my altimeter to ignore the 'sea-level' and just tell me my altitude above the ground that i'm about to smash into? My last descent was perfect, I was only going 200m/s, at 1500m I decided to start slowing down, and 5 second later I smashed into the ground at 1100 meters.

edit, crap, it wasnt even 5 seconds, more like 2

[Leigh]

If you use a mod called Kerbal Engineer, or even MechJeb will work once that element is unlocked (assuming Science/Career Mode), you will be able to find your altitude based on terrain.

By default, all in-game altimiters work by sea level, or at least, the flat bit under the surface terrain. To my knowledge, no way to change this.

[Tothmetres]

aha. I'll look around the mech jeb options that I havent used yet then. maybe I might have already unlocked it, and I just don't know it. TY

[grandnovice]

Well, on Layeth, my first landing was a crash as the ground was like 19,000 meters above sea level where I was at.

[grandnovice]

Landing on a mountain can be usefull when trying to save fuel on a landing, but if it night and you can't see anything. OUCH!!!

[BOYCOTT]

so.... how does a moon with no liquid seas even have a sea-level to be considered, i might be missing something obvious here, but why give players irrelevant data in the first place?

we could give a "hypothesized past sea-level" for any bodies containing ice though..

[Leigh]

As I stated earlier, the terrain mesh is essentially wrapped around the cubes that make the planets (yes, cubes, which they then distort into globes). So "sea level", wether if there is any water or not, is basically the surface of the cube.

Some bodies, such as Minmus, have the flats which are at true "sea level", and then various moutian ranges which are of course higher.

To find out terrain altitude for 100% sure, the use of the aforementioned mods, or similar ones, are required.

[BOYCOTT]

Originally posted by lei07:

As I stated earlier, the terrain mesh is essentially wrapped around the cubes that make the planets (yes, cubes, which they then distort into globes). So "sea level", wether if there is any water or not, is basically the surface of the cube.

Some bodies, such as Minmus, have the flats which are at true "sea level", and then various moutian ranges which is of course higher.

To find out terrain altitude for 100% sure, the use of the aforementioned mods, or similar ones, are required.

ah okay, i figured it was just a poorly named thing, thanks for explaining.
sounds more like average surface height, or something would be less confusing.

[ghpstage]

There is actually a radar altimeter in stock, unfortunately its inside the cockpit and only viewable in IVA making it quite impractical for actual use.

[BOYCOTT]

Originally posted by ghpstage:

There is actually a radar altimeter in stock, unfortunately its inside the cockpit and only viewable in IVA making it quite impractical for actual use.

maybe an easily made mod i wonder? :)

[RossDBrown]

There is a surface altimeter in each manned command module. However, it only starts ticking down once you are within 3000m of the surface level. My tactic is:

* get to 10,000m above 'sea level'
* press 'c' to enable cockpit view
* locate and zoom in on altimeter so that you can see it quickly when switching views
* press 'c' to go back to ship view
* descent slowly, switching occasionally to ship view to see when the altimeter starts moving
* when it's moving, deduct altimeter reading from 'sea level' to determine the true surface level

It's not much of a fiddle once you get used to it, maybe the first couple of times.

Doesn't work with unmanned vessels though. With them you just have to be careful, descent slowly and keep your eye out. Lights can help. Wait till you see the ships shadow and that can be a good indicator.

[Rhedd]

Simple, elegant solution:

https://kerbalstuff.com/mod/458/Landing%20Height