Bug : Kerbals getting cloned on ladder while boarding

[FroggyCanuck]

Hi guys,

I'm having a bug where Kerbals are getting cloned when boarding. For example, if I take Jeb out on EVA, when I board, Jeb will be back in the capsule with full control, but a clone Jeb will be on the ladder outside, preventing from doing any time acceleration (plus being creepy as heck).

The clone Jeb acts like its own ship, I can switch to it using the [ ] keys, but I need to take control of him, make him let go then let the clone drift off into space. Same thing happens each time I go on EVA, I can have 2-3 clone Kerbals stuck on the ladder. If I manage to get back to the Space Centre, it gives me something like : "Part Jeb cannot load/not found" or something to that effect.

The only mods I have/had are/were :

- Chatterer (still there)

- Hot Rockets (recently removed)

- Planetshine (removed after a day of use)

Now I also managed to fix another bug, the disappearing tech tree, which was caused by Module Manager with Hot Rockets. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/134407-Tech-tree-disappeared-after-upgrading-R-D-facility

So I'm wondering if Module Manager has anything to do with this, and I'm a complete noob regarding the persistent.sfs file even though I fixed the earlier issue with the tech tree.

So does anybody have any ideas on fixing this Kerbal cloning issue?

And apologies if this has been covered in another thread, I looked and could not find one, still a bit new at finding stuff on here.

Thanks!

EDIT : This is happening in Science mode, so I started a career and the same problem occurs, so it's not a save file issue it seems.

Edited October 26, 2015 by FroggyCanuck
New info

[p1t1o]

I had this bug once, I found a couple of threads about it, but not much.

I had a craft on the way to minmus, did an eva to get the science, and he was cloned trying to get back in.

The most promising thread I found stated that if you could board the external kerbal into a different part of the ship (not containing the internal clone) and then moved both copies of the kerbal so that they inhabit the same part, they would "re-merge".

Unfortunately, in my case, I only had one, single seat pod, so I could not do this, instead I managed to insert the craft into orbit with external clone clinging onto the ladder outside.

On trying to rescue external clone (with an empty, two-seat pod, so I could try the "re-merge"), when the rescue ship arrived, I saw something very large in the distance, orbiting minmus. It turned out to be external clone, bugged out to all hell, kraken-style. I ignored it, parked the rescue craft in orbit and carried on with the original minmus mission (which was a success).

Crashed to desktop (I run lots of mods, this is a common occurrence) and on re-load was greeted with a message saying that such-and-such kerbal could not be loaded due to such-and-such (some garbage) missing part.

Thus, back to normal.

Luckily, that was the only time I have seen that bug. Hope that gives you some insight at least.

**edit**

I just remembered - another solution I found in the threads was apparently to edit your save file and remove the cloned (I presume the "external clone") kerbal from it directly.

I couldn't figure out how to do this though.

Edited October 26, 2015 by p1t1o

[FroggyCanuck]

I had this bug once, I found a couple of threads about it, but not much.

I had a craft on the way to minmus, did an eva to get the science, and he was cloned trying to get back in.

The most promising thread I found stated that if you could board the external kerbal into a different part of the ship (not containing the internal clone) and then moved both copies of the kerbal so that they inhabit the same part, they would "re-merge".

Unfortunately, in my case, I only had one, single seat pod, so I could not do this, instead I managed to insert the craft into orbit with external clone clinging onto the ladder outside.

On trying to rescue external clone (with an empty, two-seat pod, so I could try the "re-merge"), when the rescue ship arrived, I saw something very large in the distance, orbiting minmus. It turned out to be external clone, bugged out to all hell, kraken-style. I ignored it, parked the rescue craft in orbit and carried on with the original minmus mission (which was a success).

Crashed to desktop (I run lots of mods, this is a common occurrence) and on re-load was greeted with a message saying that such-and-such kerbal could not be loaded due to such-and-such (some garbage) missing part.

Thus, back to normal.

Luckily, that was the only time I have seen that bug. Hope that gives you some insight at least.

**edit**

I just remembered - another solution I found in the threads was apparently to edit your save file and remove the cloned (I presume the "external clone") kerbal from it directly.

I couldn't figure out how to do this though.

Thanks p1t1o, glad to see I'm not the only one who experienced this!

Unfortunately, my issue is recurring (happens to me constantly) and probably not related to a save file issue (started a new career to test and still have cloned Kerbals being produced).

Thanks for the tips though! I would have liked to see that Kraken-Clone!

Oh well, might just delete the whole game and start fresh vanilla-style.

[p1t1o]

Thanks p1t1o, glad to see I'm not the only one who experienced this!

Unfortunately, my issue is recurring (happens to me constantly) and probably not related to a save file issue (started a new career to test and still have cloned Kerbals being produced).

Thanks for the tips though! I would have liked to see that Kraken-Clone!

Oh well, might just delete the whole game and start fresh vanilla-style.

No worries

Happened to me using a command pod from AEIS, havn't used it since, I'm hoping thats the root of the problem.

By any chance do you always use the same command pod?

[Padishar]

It may be helpful to look in the output_log.txt for any exception message when this cloning happens. An exception while the game is doing the board/unboard may stop it from deleting the "old" kerbal.

[maltesh]

I've had this happen as well. It's really bloody annoying. I wound up having to investigate my persistence file to figure out which Kerbal was the real one, and delete the fake.

It's been awhile since i've done it, and I'm relating it from memory, so definitely back up the save before doing so:

What I did was:

0. Back up the original persistent.sfs file,just to be sure.

1. Switch to an object that is not the duplicated Kerbal, or the vessel he's in.

2. F5 to create normal Quicksave.

3. Alt-F5 to create a named quicksave. Call it quicksave-edited.sfs or something.

4. Open the quiicksave-edited.sfs file in a text editor, such as notepad++.

5. Search for the Kerbal's name in the Roster section. Check its idx= value.

If the idx= value is 0 or greater, the real Kerbal is in the spacecraft. Find the KerbalEVA vessel in the VESSELS section, and delete that.

If the idx= value is -1, the real Kerbal is the EVAed kerbal. Look for the part of the spacecraft that contains "crew=[Kerbal's name]". Blank out [Kerbal's name], so it's just "crew=".

6. Save quicksave-edited.sfs

7. Use ALT-F9 to load the named quicksave. See if this fixes the problem. If the problem is not fixed, or things are otherwise broken, you can use regular F9 to go back to the quicksave, or quit the game and copy back the original persistence.sfs

[FroggyCanuck]

No worries

Happened to me using a command pod from AEIS, havn't used it since, I'm hoping thats the root of the problem.

By any chance do you always use the same command pod?

Nan, the first time the issue came up it was with the 3-man pod in science mode, then I tested with the one-man pod in career mode and same thing came up. Oh well.

Thanks Padishar, maltesh, I ended up deleting the game local content from Steam and just reinstalled it before seeing you messages. The bug is now gone in vanilla mode. I'm not too upset, I only had a proper science game going (no career), 140 hours in but still had some of the tech tree to uncover. At least now I'll know what I'll be doing when building rockets and what I need first in the tech tree! :-)

Out of curiosity maltesh, after you deleted the fake Kerbal, did the problem occur again after in another mission/career, or was it a one-time thing?

Cheers!

[kerbanoid]

I have already experienced this bug while playing my modded game. If it happens again, look for incorrectly installed mods or mods that were not properly removed by CKAN, if you use it. This helped me avoid this bug and some others, such as planet textures disappearing.

[maltesh]

Out of curiosity maltesh, after you deleted the fake Kerbal, did the problem occur again after in another mission/career, or was it a one-time thing?

Cheers!

It's happened about three times in the Career Game I've been playing since 1.0 released. The most recent time, I had a recent enough quicksave that I used that instead of editing the persistence file. I've generally gotten into the habit of quicksaving before having Kerbals exit a craft now.

[FroggyCanuck]

It's happened about three times in the Career Game I've been playing since 1.0 released. The most recent time, I had a recent enough quicksave that I used that instead of editing the persistence file. I've generally gotten into the habit of quicksaving before having Kerbals exit a craft now.

Ah, good tip, think I'll start doing that now!

[Simon Trueheart]

Hi all, looks like it has been a little bit since someone commented on this one, but I just ran into it as well. I'm running the latest version as of today 1.1.3, and the only mod I have is mechjeb (which, was not a component of the vehicle I was using). To try to troubleshoot what was going on, I tried repeating the exact same launch and actions repeatedly, with minimal changes, and each time it happened. I did get it to go away finally, after removing a single component from the vehicle. I had the AE-FF1 shroud, and was using it not far behind the command module (I have a picture of it). Once I removed the shroud, and did not change any other components on the ship, it didn't clone once I began an EVA.

I'm not sure if this resulted from a problem with the part, how the part was connected, or even perhaps something changed just by going back to edit the ship, I really don't know. But thought I would share this bit of data to see if it helps at all!

 

 

[Fusi]

Today this bug also accured in my game and I can confirm what you said, Simon. 

I have mounted a Probodobodyne OCTO on top of a Mk1 Lander Can in the same Stage. This was the first time I used the Lander Can instead of the Mk1 Command Pod, so I switched back to the Command Pod. This didnt change anything, what lead me to this forum.

So I tried what you said and it seems that dividing the two control parts either by a decoupler or docking ports solves the issue. 

 

Edit: Well, seems like it isn't that easy. I tested what I wrote above only on the launch pad. Now I completely removed the remote control, flew to Minmus and tried again to take some surface samples. As soon as Jeb climbed back into his Command Pod the bug occured again. 

Edited September 12, 2016 by Fusi
Uncomplete/false information

[Kerbal101]

I have experienced the cloning on 1.0.5 when I have External Seats mod (Take Command) installed! The issue appeared when anything blocked the seats. Check if anything blocks area/door where kerbals enter/leave.

Edited September 13, 2016 by Kerbal101

[Akely]

I've had the same problem as of yesterday. I have the latest patch (non-beta/pre-view) and quite a bit of mods. I found out that when I used the stock 2.5 meter fairing that this happened. Once I removed the fairing everything works as it used to, and should.

Might be my bug is a version and that there are several things causing this, but in my case it sure is the stock 2.5 meter fairing.

*edit*
I found that if I jettison the shroud by using staging (as in hitting the space bar) the problem goes away. Right-clicking on the shroud and jettisoning it means this cloning occurs. It is however possible to first right-click and then have it think it is jettisoning the shroud in the staging queue. I usually end up doing this because... I dunno, I just prefer right-clicking on it...
*end edit*

 

Fly Safe,
/Akely

Edited September 20, 2016 by Akely
Did some testing, found things.