Booster Recovery method

[TylaJames]

Hi guys,

I'm running KSP 1.8 and something is really bugging me.

I was playing ksp 1.1 and I really loved the game, so I upgraded to 1.8 and got some mods. However, it came at a price. Booster Recovery was now basically impossible or unreasonably difficult to pull off. 

When the part gets more than 25 km's away, the parachutes "un"deploy, and if the part is in the atmosphere and more than 25 km's away, it just disappears. How do you separate a side booster so it stops rising, starts falling, deploys chutes and touches down, all before you get more than 25kms away? What's the point of using them then? 

I did a spaceX style launch, separated side boosters, switched to them and activated mechjeb2 auto landing. Both boosters touched down absolutely perfectly, about 50 metres apart. This was it! I was super excited! Painfully i then found out about the 25km problem. 

It sounds contradictory, but i had separated those boosters very, very early. And it was just lucky that by the time they landed and i switched back to my craft, it was at appoapsis- a pure fluke, and a result i haven't been able to replicate since!Although appoapsis was way too high.. Like 50km over target. I assume the rocket just kept going flat out, straight line.

I realise i could go sub-orbital, separate, get to orbit and switch back to them afterwards, so i can ride them down to avoid disappearing. But that is not on. I feel like this is a major step backwards for the game.

In ksp 1.1, the parts didn't disappear? You just hoped they didn't destroy themselves on impact, and even if so, there was often debris that survived.. And I've seen mechjeb2, guide two separate craft, and land them simultaneously no problems.

Btw, FMRS would be amazing, but it seems to clash with the expansion packs- making history, breaking ground. And i really want them. Reverting back to 1.1 is not worth it.

Can anyone tell me if its possible to get around the 25km barrier? I rate if it could be disabled, the auto pilot won't disengage, parachutes will work again, and you wouldn't have to just shoot and hope for the best. Maybe even the ability to switch vehicles in the atmosphere.

For the record, i don't care if the recovered parts are worth peanuts. It's what makes building, launching and getting to orbit satisfying. It's really irritated me, and even poisoned my mindset. I find myself just building what ever, using the money cheat and who cares because its all just going to be thrown in the trash. May as well just play sandbox.

And i have really been trying to do the career and earn enough money the right way, but i feel like the game is just stealing my sh!t and ruining the experience. Even if recovery isn't worth a lot or even worth nothing, it makes me more build conscious and the process a lot more enjoyable.

Why doesn't the game just put me straight into orbit and take all the fun out of it. 

I'm sorry, i know im ranting.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Superfluous J]

Your post implies this was easy in 1.1. Back then, the limit was about 2km, making this much, much harder.

I personally solved this by deciding to not care, but there is also a mod that automatically recovers things that look like they should be recoverable. It comes in 2 flavors, if you use FMRS:

...and if you don't:

 

[TylaJames]

@Superfluous J really? Strange, I don't recall me having to worry about my stages touching down? I didn't even give it any thought. They just seemed to be there as long as i remembered to fit chutes.

FMRS doesn't want to work, it causes my expansion packs to being "verified" during loading, forever. I had really hoped it worked, would've solved all my problems!

Thanks again, I'll take a look at that mod!

[linuxgurugamer]

2 hours ago, TylaJames said:

Btw, FMRS would be amazing, but it seems to clash with the expansion packs- making history, breaking ground. And i really want them. Reverting back to 1.1 is not worth it.

What happens with FMRS and the expansion packs? No one has reported any issues. Log file would help

Edited August 17, 2020 by linuxgurugamer

[TylaJames]

@linuxgurugamer

The error is :"Exception: ReflectionType Load Exception. System Reflection type Load Exception.

Module Manager then says, Intercepted a Reflection Type Load Exception. list of broken dll's: FMRS 1.0.1.0 game data/FMRS/FMRS.dll

When the game is loading, it starts "verifying" the expansion packs, forever. I tried keeping just one at a time installed, and it does it with both of them.

Not sure if it works without them?

Edited August 17, 2020 by TylaJames

[jimmymcgoochie]

When the game hangs at 'loading expansions', it's almost never due to the expansions- it's just that the expansions are the last thing to be loaded in before the code compiles, and any exceptions during that process cause the game to hang at the last part of the loading screen, which happens to be about expansions.

Make sure you have the right version of FMRS for your version of KSP, and the right version of Module Manager too.

Alternatively, try using Stage Recovery instead- it can work with parachutes and simulate powered recovery too, with plenty of configurable stuff to choose how much you get back for each recovered part, how slow it needs to be going to recover it and also simulates parts burning up if they're going too fast. It's a matter of preference really, but you can use both FMRS and SR at once- as long as you set them up right to play nicely, otherwise stuff just crashes into the ground!

[linuxgurugamer]

6 hours ago, TylaJames said:

@linuxgurugamer

The error is :"Exception: ReflectionType Load Exception. System Reflection type Load Exception.

Module Manager then says, Intercepted a Reflection Type Load Exception. list of broken dll's: FMRS 1.0.1.0 game data/FMRS/FMRS.dll

When the game is loading, it starts "verifying" the expansion packs, forever. I tried keeping just one at a time installed, and it does it with both of them.

Not sure if it works without them?

That usually means there is an exception while loading models and the game just hangs there.

I would need to see the log file to diagnose it any better, but I will see if I can replicate it this evening

[TylaJames]

@jimmymcgoochie yeah I wasn't convinced it was the expansions. That's why i didn't bother trying any further. The module manager that came with FMRS is like 2.4 and amongst the mods i loaded, the latest version i found was 4.1.4. So i only have that one. But it didn't work with the 2.4 version either. 

[linuxgurugamer]

3 minutes ago, TylaJames said:

@jimmymcgoochie yeah I wasn't convinced it was the expansions. That's why i didn't bother trying any further. The module manager that came with FMRS is like 2.4 and amongst the mods i loaded, the latest version i found was 4.1.4. So i only have that one. But it didn't work with the 2.4 version either. 

That actually sounds like a very old version of FMRS

[TylaJames]

@linuxgurugamerI haven't ever tried it with a fresh install of the game. I had already installed  mechjeb2 and kerbal engineer when i tried FMRS. Didn't work then, and i figured its probably not one of those two causing issues so i just moved on..

It is FMRS v1.0.1.0? When i googled it, that's what came up as compatible with ksp 1.8 and it was up to date.. 

So which version is the latest/best for me?

May i also mention that was the only version that kept popping up for me, lol.

Edited August 17, 2020 by TylaJames

[linuxgurugamer]

If you are installing it with CKAN. It doesnt matter, CKAN will install the right files.

I'll  test this evening on my modding stream

[linuxgurugamer]

I installed FMRS on a clean KSP + DLC install with CKAN.  It started and got to the main menu without any problem.

On anything 1.8 or later, you need to be installing FMRS 1.2.9.1;  make sure if  you are using CKAN that you set the compatibility to allow 1.8 and 1.9 to be installed on a 1.10 game

[TylaJames]

@linuxgurugamer

Alright, so im using the wrong FMRS version, and im haven't been using ckan.

Let me go learn how to use ckan and get FMRS 1.2.9.1 and I'll give it a shot!

Thanks a bunch, I'll report back with results!