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Troubleshooting & Debugging

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AfterAStorm edited this page Nov 1, 2025 · 1 revision

Overview

There always comes a time where something goes wrong or not as expected, and this page intends to help you solve these problems!

Troubleshooting Tips

Before we head into looking at the raw data produced by MCS, here as some troubleshooting tips:

  1. Legs are spasming out or don't walk correctly
  • Are your Leg Lengths correct? If they are set to auto and the order in which they are placed isn't correct, it may not work correctly; see below
  1. (todo, recommendations are welcome!)

Enabling debug mode

MCS looks for a Text Panel named MCS_Debug on the grid to spit logs into. It can output to the Echo (custom info on the terminal screen) if no text panel is present, but it's very hard to read and also incredibly laggy.

To "enable" debug mode, you can run the command debug. If the logs don't display on the text panel, make sure you reload before-hand!

Categories

NOTE: If you see flashing on screen, it's probably setup mode-- fetching blocks creates logs too!

Here are some categories and what each message means:

Inputs

  • moveInput > The RAW input from the controlling cockpit (WASDC and Space)
  • rotationInput > The RAW rotation input from the controlling cockpit (mouse movement)
  • rollInput > The RAW roll input from the controlling cockpit (QE)
  • parsedMoveInput > The "parsed" input, is used as an intermediate step to support "rebinding" keys (ex: ReverseTurnControls)

Stabilization

  • gravity > The current gravity vector, magical in nature
    • May display a message indicating not in a gravity well, prevents some exciting script crashes!
  • offsets > The offsets based on the controlling (or random reference) cockpit's rotation and the gravity vector; they're already labeled
  • roll/pitch dir > The desired speed for the rotors/gyroscopes (RPM)

Thrusters

May display a message indicating no reference cockpit (needs a controlled cockpit to fly).

  • thrustersEnabled > The current state of the thruster system, toggled with commands
  • thrustersVtol > The current state of the vtol system, toggled with commands
  • <direction>Stators > The current count of all vtol stators
  • vectorMovement > The target vector movement (offset) for vtol legs
  • thrusters > The current count of thrusters controlled
  • thruster mode > The current thruster mode

Arms

(for each arm)

  • is zeroing > If the arm is currently headed to its zero position

Legs

(for each leg) # L/R <joint> > How many of each joint there is, simple enough <appendage> Length > The current appendage length, the value is final value, the value in parenthesis is the value set by the configuration Step > The current animation step: [0, 1] Camera Offsets > If applicable, left/right offsets (in meters) Flying Angles > Vtol vector offset as described above <direction> Target > The target of the foot in meters described as <X, Y, Z> <joint> Angle > The target degrees of any joint

Timers

  • # of timer blocks > You'll never guess what this one means
  • last event > The last called event
    • The enum is minified, so it's not actually human readable

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