Geonovast

@5thHorseman, did what you suggested and it worked perfectly. Everyone's home and the conspiracy has been successfully covered up. Thank you!

Luckily, this is a science save. No rep, contracts, or funds to worry about. I like this, probably going to be a lot easier than what I just finished. 20 minutes of deleting stuff from the save in a way that made sense to me (The ship in question by itself was at least 7,000 lines.), only for the game to not load. Luckily this is my first encounter with Duna as well, no probes beforehand. So there shouldn't be any Duna references at all that I would need to keep!

Initially I thought it would be like that, but skimming over the save file, there's mission histories and progress tracking that I could see getting messed up from me mucking around in there when half the stuff I can't infer what it does.

Last night I was testing a craft in my science save. This ship is being built specifically for Duna, and so I needed to test some things at Duna. Used F12 to warp my way there. I specifically made sure to revert everything back to the way it's supposed to be before saving. Or so I'd thought. I just loaded up the save, and that ship is still in orbit around Duna with Jeb and Bill on board. All the recent quicksaves are in the same condition. I'm not quite sure how this has happened. My problem though, is I would really like to make this ship disappear, get the two home, and not accrue any science in the process. I could F12 them back to Kerbin and retrieve them, but I'm worried I'll get some science in the process for that. I'd rather not kill them. Link to save file (edit: seems it autosaved between me F12ing it back to Kerbin and uploading). Name of the ship in question is Project Washburn Modlist Is there anything I can do besides learn to make a backup of the save outside of KSP before playing in the "simulator?" TIA.

#4 - I think you mean right click? Left clicking doesn't do much other than possibly drop another maneuver node. I didn't know this! This is really helpful. Just tried out these instructions for myself. Seems I've been returning to Kerbin the wrong way for... always. SS to help out anyone else.

When you watch Apollo 13 and think "This isn't that bad, guys." That's me... like every day.

Not random, but it is underlining. It underlines common acronyms so you can mouse over it and see what it means.

Total while pushing myself home: Partial while refueling: I never really noticed any until the real one awhile back.. now I'm seeing them fairly regularly. On the surface, in space, even a few during launches. If you end up doing ISRU stops that take a few game days on Kerbin somewhat equatorial, you'll see them often. Also, just an FYI, you can hit F1 to grab in-game screenshots. They're saved in the Screenshots folder in your KSP folder. A lot easier than dealing with the OS's SS system and cropping. F2 will toggle the HUD for cleaner images like my refueling one.

I can't believe I just found this. The hour and a half until I get home from work is gonna take forever.

Yeah, the first problem I can work around. I'll just make a habit of attaching the Transfer Conduits I'll need for the next addon before I leave. The exploding is just the one piece, the Interior Heat Probe. All the other modules are fine. The Transfer Conduit even stays put, hovering above the ground where it would be if the probe didn't explode. The only other exploding has happened when I would accidentally attach the Transfer Conduit to the ground.

Probably not the worst, but it made for an eerie view. Endless ice fields of Minmus at night.

First of all, I love this mod! It's awesome to have something incredibly useful to do on the surface of other planets / moons! I've been working on a SEP base on The Mun. First issue I ran into, was after setting up the first couple of tests, going home, researching more, and sending a second mission to add more, I couldn't add plugs to the units already there. Noticed I had to move the old units first, so no biggie. Unlinked, moved the last section, re-linked, and good to go. However, the Interior Heat Probe explodes when I try to attach a Transfer Conduit to it. I've attached the bit of the log between the screenshots. Very repeatable. Done this three times now, hence the screenshots.

I remember the first time I saw one, I think researching what it was was the first thing that brought me to the forums. I think there's a couple of them. Reverted a couple of times to try to land as close to it as I could.

Set up my first SEP station on The Mun!

It happened again shortly after posting this, so I removed Kerbal Alarm Clock, being the most recent mod. Thought I was good.. Except it crashed again, this time while entering the Space Center from a ship in orbit. Log from that crash: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByNnawSf7zdIRUdYLV83RFprbWs/view?usp=sharing Last handful of lines:

Just ran a quick test. Obviously not the same conditions you have, but; I added some cat ears to the top of the command pod. Might throw off your launch (I just debugged my way to orbit), but you could make changes to the rocket to adjust for that. The fins did explode on re-entry, but the craft stayed stable the whole way down. I came in fairly shallow, my periapsis was about 40k. Also note you might want to raise the slider for when your chute opens. On mine, it opened at 1000, but the pod didn't slow down to a safe speed until ~20 meters above the water. A split second longer and it would have at least exploded the cabin. (Yes I have the goo canister on that.)

I agree that's the way it's supposed to be, but I did have the exact same problem as the OP. Did the launch 3-4 times while activating the engine before and inside the parameters. Contract would only complete with clicking on the "Test" Button. Would not pop with staging the engine.

This is the second time this has happened. I don't have the log file from the first time unfortunately, because when it happened I thought I had somehow closed the game. No errors, pausing, or otherwise weird behavior. Game just closes like I'd closed it. This time it happened when reverting during launch to vehicle assembly. This wasn't even a big, confusing revert. Craft was about 15 parts. Full log: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByNnawSf7zdINUtBeDVpQnJZeVU/view?usp=sharing Last 16 lines of log: GameData folder: System specs in signature. It's too inconsistent to just revert to stock and see if the problem goes away. First time it did it was a couple days ago. A couple of these mods I could live without. Appreciate a point in the right direction!

On some of those, you have to right click on the engine itself, and hit the "test" button while within the testing parameters. Hitting test should activate the engine... but I don't remember if it has to be in shutdown when you hit test or not.

You can also go Armageddon style and lightly use 'N' (RCS down) to keep you from bouncing up right on contact.

Your picture still isn't showing and I'm likely imagining your craft wrong. Can you try linking the picture again so it shows, or at least a link to it?

RCS is based off of your "Control From Here" point. Usually if I need to control a vehicle from an obscure spot, I'll slap a Jr. Docking port in that spot so I have something to click on and select "Control From Here" So you could slap a docking port or probe core on the side, which would be the "top" when it's landing, and you should get correct control over your RCS.

Well... here's Bob. Bob is looking off into a crater on The Mun, shortly after Jeb managed to put them down right on the edge of said crater. Bob is looking off into the distance instead of performing the 8 science experiments he brought with in KIS containers to assemble on the surface because he forgot a screwdriver.

If you're looking for a big boost in science like that, and you've only played for a few hours, is your tech tree advanced enough to even try something like this? I'm playing a science game right now (so money isn't an object, and I have fancy toys from mods to play with). Tree is a little over half full, and I wouldn't even think of a grand tour yet. Not saying you shouldn't try, just a concern. Maybe give it a shot in a sandbox save first to see what's involved?

Ideally you want the COM as close to the heat shield as possible. It's pretty good with just the command pod: Not so with the hitchhiker in the mix: Some fins on top would help, but as you said, would mess up launch. You could use airbrakes instead if you have them researched: Or attach your fins and put the whole shebang in a fairing for launch.