Garthog

I am using a number of mods but I'm using 1.3.1 and haven't changed any mods or anything since last Dec - guess the answer from DoctorDavinci sounds like something to be careful - I'll watch for "autosave" kicking in before I close any windows - thanks for all of the help, especially the detail from cheesecake - good to know for the future garthog

Never mind!! I reloaded a previous save (fortunately only a few days ago) and it had all of my vehicles, flags, etc. and came up fine. I then closed that save and then opened up my most recent save and everything was where it was supposed to be ... I guess that the previous save had all of the vehicle IDs (whatever they are) and they "reloaded" with the previous save and must be happily restored as of now. Sorry for the false alarm, but does anyone know what vehicle IDs are, and how they can be lost, and why all of my ships were in my save file but would not load with my current save?

I've lost all of my vehicles!! I launched my game as usual this am and when I loaded my saved game, I got a large number of small windows saying "vehicle ID lost" for each of my vehicles, flags, everything ... the windows would not let me proceed without clicking "OK" on each of them (which took 10 minutes or so), and now I have no vehicles, flags, anything ... but my clock still shows all of the upcoming events, my science points, money, reputation, all are present. Can anyone help me recover my vehicles?

Thanks! I didn't think about the craft that use mods being affected ... of course they would be - thanks again!

I made the second ksp install per suggestions from y'all and it works fine - I had a few mods in my original steam install (mechjeb, real plume, kerb eng, and a few more) ... can I simply delete those folders from the 2nd install gamedata folder, or will that cause a problem? And will my CKAN app apply mods to my 1st or 2nd install? I was about to go ahead and try to see what happens but then I thought y'all's advice might be less damaging!

I made the second install and it works fine - I had a few mods in my steam install (mechjeb, real plume, kerb eng, and a few more) ... can I simply delete those folders from the 2nd install gamedata folder, or will that cause a problem? And will my CKAN app apply mods to my 1st or 2nd install?

Thanks to everyone for all of the ideas - sounds like the two separate installs is the better approach. Good info and helpful on these forums.

Now another dummy question ... I want to try some graphics mods but many forum discussions suggest installing a second, clean copy of KSP and try the mods on this 2nd install before putting them on the normal install - I'm using the Steam KSP, so (a) how do I install KSP again, and (b) once I've installed it, how do I launch it (I assume my desktop icon will only launch my current Steam install) - I'm not a computer scientist, I'm just trying to have some fun with KSP!

Wow, that was quick! Thank you very much and I"ll try it tonight! Take the rest of the day off!

Is it possible to save a spacecraft built in the VAB in career mode over to sandbox mode? I'd like to test some of my creations before putting career kerbals into harms' way ...

why should you do it this way rather than load them all using CKAN?

It happens with anything with legs, regardless of whether a drill is in the ground or not (it's impressive to see a vessel with long drillers below instantly emerge and take flight!) - if this just started with me as of 1.3.1, when did 1.3.1 come out? Since I'm on steam it would have automatically updated me without my being aware.

Unfortunately, this has never happened until it began last week, and I have several machines on various moons/planets on "legs" that are now exploding (or sometimes "sinking" almost out of sight and then "springing" into the void) - I thought that a recent update (I'm on steam) must have caused it and hopefully it will be remedied soon - if not ... well, there's always Civ IV garthog

wow - I hadn't heard about the bug - I like your suggested solution and may try it, but I'd rather the dev's fix it - any idea of when that may happen, and will we know or will I just try it one day and find that's it's now working properly? thanks for the quick response - this forum seems to be filled with nice and helpful people!

I'm about ready to give up on KSP - every lander for the past week now seems to "hop up" when I open a save of a spacecraft/driller/anything on the surface of a planet/moon - sometimes they collapse onto the nozzles and blew themselves to pieces, but mostly I open the save and the vessel is launching itself into the space above the site completely out of control - if this can't be solved, I've wasted an enormous amount of time on this application for nothing. Has anyone run into this before, and if so, can you advise me on how to stop this most recent "behaviour"?? garthog

Thanks for the ideas! I'll check the quality and experiment with some lights.

I am not getting a shadow until less than 5 meters AGL on Kerbin and the Mun (only locations so far) - it is very difficult to determine how high I am above the Mun without a shadow - am I missing an option under "settings"?

Thank you! I also just "discovered" the tutorials in the game - I'm an idiot ... I need to practise for awhile now. Thanks for everyone's patience!

Well I tried again and was successful, but I'm still a little bewildered how I did it - to review the various colored paths, my existing course is blue with a projected (if I have a manoeuvre node) in dotted yellow/orange (?) - that path becomes purple and has the "Pe" marker with the Mun Periapsis (my closest approach?), but the path is a twisting "knuckle ball" that appears before the Mun and there's a new purple orbit (my eventual "return to kerbin" orbit?) - when I execute the manoeuvre node and stay on the course, my spacecraft enters the Mun's SOI and the paths change - now there's a new blue course going in the opposite direction towards the Mun and arcing around it with a new blue "Pe" - if I do nothing, my spacecraft follows the blue arc and passes the Mun, then hesitates for a while then makes its way to the purple "return to kerbin" orbit. Which is somewhat confusing to me and I'm really trying to understand this without using any mods so that I can "know" what I'm doing. The idea of orbiting/landing on the Mun seems even more confusing - Scott Manley's tutorial seemed straight forward compared to this. "what" 's suggestion of getting into the target's SOI implies that I need to do another burn when I get the blue arc inside the SOI - do I? I tried setting up a manoeuvre node on the arc just past the Mun to create a new "return to kerbin" orbit, but it takes too much fuel. But "what" 's description of the orbit colors seems correct. I did try lowering the engine thrust and that did help in "sneaking up" on the SOI orbit changes! I also tried that with the solid boosters to prevent them from exploding as soon as I release them but it made no difference. I am getting better at spelling "manoeuvre" (or is it "maneuvre", or "manoeuver"?).

One other question or two before I try again - is there any way to alter the sensitivity of the adjustments on the manuever node? I slowly creep very carefully extending my projected orbit into the Mun's orbit and then suddenly I have several orbits/colors displayed - when checking the Pe (I'm now ignoring the target markers - "bewing" was correct!) I discover that I have usually two and once I had four Pe's, all for later orbits - I need to "slow down" the mouse's triggering the display of orbits after touching the Mun's SOI - and the other question is why do my solid booster explode after they burn out and I decouple them? I have to launch three or four times before my core rocket escapes the blasts unharmed. Thanks is advance again! Y'all are very helpful!

Thanks everyone for all of the suggestions! I didn't get to it last night (honey do's) but I'll attempt again tonight - "bewing" 's comment about the target markers may explain a lot - after getting the spaghetti mix, I have continued to look at the target markers which always indicate the same closest approach of 2924.6km - I'll try looking for the "Pe" marker - is there a tutorial somewhere that explains all of the orbits that appear when entering another body's SOI? I'm seeing my original orange with green actual path, then purple, brown, and sometimes a short green arc near the Mun going in the opposite direction for a short distance ... none of it looks like Scott Manley's tutorial - thanks in advance for all of your help - this community is very helpful!!

Thanks for your help! I'll give it a try later this evening!

I'm a newbie in career mode and have hit a roadblock in attempting to fly by and gather scientific data near the Mun - I've followed Scott Manley's tutorials on how to do this, but I'm doing something stupid because I can't succeed - after achieving a stable orbit around Kerwin, I place a manuever node 90 degrees ahead of my target (Mun) - no matter how I try, I cannot get a projected orbit to get closer to the Mun than 2429.6 km - no matter how many ways I try to do it (ahead of it, behind it, near it), the closest approach miraculously stops at 2429.6 km - also, the application is so sensitive as I increase the projected orbit near the Mun that I instantly "pop" into a totally different orbital arrangement (is that the effect of the Mun's sphere of influence?), but still keeps me 2429.6 km away from it - and finally, is there a way to zoom in on the projected near encounter of the Mun in map view? Mine remains centered on my spacecraft and when I try to zoom in the "spaghetti" of orbits near the Mun I only zoom in on my spacecraft so it is impossible to analyze what my projected path(s) are doing very easily. Sorry for all the questions - I love the application but I'm up against a "wall" that's preventing me from advancing - the issues are exactly the same in sandbox as well as career mode. Thanks in advance for anyone's assistance/suggestions.