Claw

Awesome Glad you got it fixed. I think someone is working on a module for KER that will either dump out the craft structure or perhaps give part numbers. I'm not sure if that's done yet though.

I won't argue with that, but if the OP is using a calculator to figure out dV requirements, I was trying to illustrate where the 11.5 km/s came from. The OP's 12,000 m/s is not from padding, but from the calculator totaling up all the dV required, to include re-establishing orbit around Kerbin and flying back down (non-aerobrake).

If it's all stock, post a craft file (or the save file) if you can. In addition to what Kasuha said, here's a couple extra things to look for, just in case. - Zero out the trim using ALT+X - If you have a joystick installed, make sure it's calibrated. - If you ever had a joystick installed and then removed it, you'll need to delete the configuration. This spoiler is for a throttle fix, but you can use the same idea if you're unable to zero out the joystick in-game. Phantom throttle changes when switching docking mode (and you ever had a joystick installed) – [FIX] Sometimes when you exit docking mode back to staging mode, the throttle will reset itself to something other than 0%. For some reason (maybe Unity update?) the game will now grab old joystick values, even if it isn't installed anymore. You can do one of two things: - Delete settings.cfg and let the game create a clean one (this will delete all of your graphics settings and keybindings). - Edit the settings.cfg manually using the information below. What it might say (from settings.cfg): AXIS_PITCH { name = Logitech Freedom 2.4 Axis 1 id = joy0.1 inv = False sensitivity = 1 deadzone = 0.05 scale = 1 group = 0 switchState = Any } AXIS_ROLL { name = Logitech Freedom 2.4 Axis 2 id = joy0.2 inv = False sensitivity = 1 deadzone = 0.05 scale = 1 group = 0 switchState = Any } AXIS_YAW { name = Logitech Freedom 2.4 Axis 0 id = joy0.0 inv = False sensitivity = 1 deadzone = 0.05 scale = 1 group = 0 switchState = Any } AXIS_THROTTLE { name = Logitech Freedom 2.4 Axis 3 id = joy0.3 inv = True sensitivity = 1 deadzone = 0.05 scale = 1 group = 0 switchState = Any } AXIS_THROTTLE_INC { name = None id = None inv = False sensitivity = 1 deadzone = 0.05 scale = 1 group = 0 switchState = Any } What it should say (clean install, no joystick): AXIS_PITCH { name = None id = None inv = False sensitivity = 1 deadzone = 0.05 scale = 1 group = 0 switchState = Any } AXIS_ROLL { name = None id = None inv = False sensitivity = 1 deadzone = 0.05 scale = 1 group = 0 switchState = Any } AXIS_YAW { name = None id = None inv = False sensitivity = 1 deadzone = 0.05 scale = 1 group = 0 switchState = Any } AXIS_THROTTLE { name = None id = None inv = False sensitivity = 1 deadzone = 0.05 scale = 1 group = 0 switchState = Any } - You said you turned off all the torque. Make sure you turn it all off, then timewarp to stop rotation, then drop back to normal. If it turns again, then it's probably clipping or some other bug. - Another fix that worked for a recent "spontaneously exploding ship" that wobbled itself apart from phantom forces was to transfer some fuel around and change the mass distribution. Perhaps give that a try. Not sure if any of that will help, but if I think of anything else, I post it.

It's unclear if it's "still here" or if it's a new one that basically acts the same. I have yet to run into it (running stock, MJ, & Alarm), but I've helped out many people who have had it. Unfortunately, I have yet to run into someone who has the docking bug in a stock game.

No problem. Sorry I missed your post earlier.

Glad it's okay now. Just FYI, pictures of the explosion (while entertaining) aren't as helpful as pictures of the ship causing problems. Some people have a good eye for spotting problem areas in pictures. Just makes it a little easier to point and say "there's your problem." And sometimes these things "just happen."

The location of the CoM doesn't strictly matter. You are already aware that the CoL needs to be behind the CoM, but make sure it's not too far back. Basically you'll want to build the craft and let the CoM be where it wants to be. Then design your CoL/CoT around that location, plus placing any RCS (if using it) in a relatively symmetric distribution around the CoM location. Balanced RCS makes orbital maneuvering a little easier, although SAS helps balance it for you. FAR introduces a whole lot more considerations for airplanes over stock aerodynamics. With FAR, you also need to consider supersonic and hypersonic drag and CoL movement. I can't speak very well to all the FAR considerations because I don't use it.

As XOIIO is getting at, more reaction wheels allows your craft to turn (or stop turning) faster. It's not always beneficial to have more. You are correct in that the inline wheel is basically obsolete. It did have a different function, but it does the same thing as the reaction wheel now. So the only difference is the look.

You should be able to find the correct section by either searching for "FiFi Debris" or by searching for each "pid" listed below in the code. I was unable to confirm this is all you need to fix since you have mods in your save file. However, the rest of it looks okay. Okay. Here is what you need to fix for Lubo. First, look for this section... VESSEL { pid = f2185864c6b14dc1af62dd4aecd64ad9 name = FiFi Debris type = Debris sit = LANDED You need to change it to look like this. VESSEL { pid = f2185864c6b14dc1af62dd4aecd64ad9 name = [COLOR="#FF0000"]Lubo Kerbin[/COLOR] type = [COLOR="#FF0000"]EVA[/COLOR] sit = LANDED Then for Billy-Bobvey, pretty much the same thing... VESSEL { pid = e0987d5baa25497ba732efabeb5c9382 name = FiFi Debris type = Debris sit = LANDED to... VESSEL { pid = e0987d5baa25497ba732efabeb5c9382 name = [COLOR="#FF0000"]Billy-Bobvey Kerman[/COLOR] type = [COLOR="#FF0000"]EVA[/COLOR] sit = LANDED Please remember, EVA must be in all capitals. Make a copy of your persistence and quicksave file before hand. I recommend editing the quicksave file since that will be easier to check and see if it worked.

Oh I'm sorry. I missed this post yesterday. Give me a few minutes to have a look.

I don't know what ya'll are talking about, but the downloads are set up with two links. There isn't one marked "Full," but I can see how it looks that way. The "Full" download was the 0.23.0 version. The "ARM Patch" is version 0.23.5. They are separate versions of the game as 0.23.5 includes the ARM gear, improved joints, and other things. I think what may be confusing about the ARM release is that the first release of 0.23.5 was 0.23.5.459. That version had several game breaking bugs that were quickly fixed via a "hot fix." That is what downloaded/updated and became version 0.23.5.464.

Yes, look at the dV map. If you add it all up: 4550 + 920 + 80 + 240 + 240 + 80 + 920 + 4550 = 11580 m/s. That's only 100 m/s over what the OP states. Which is probably because whatever calculator was used assumes 4500 m/s off of Kerbin instead of 4550 m/s in the chart above. So whatever calculator probably did a full round trip with no aerobraking. As you all said, the last 920 + 4550 m/s isn't necessary.

Well, what part are you having difficulty with? This might be a good place to start if you are having a hard time understanding Center of Mass / Center of Lift relationships. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/65638-Basic-Airplane-Space-Plane-Aero-Tutorial And that tutorial goes along with this other article. Which is well written by Keptin. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52080-Basic-Aircraft-Design-Explained-Simply-With-Pictures They aren't space planes, but it's a stepping stone if you don't understand the basics of aero. If you already understand all of that, let me know and I'm sure I can find more bits that discuss further details. Also, are you using FAR? (It's a mod.)

If you are running out of fuel, perhaps you need to attempt escaping Minmus orbit in a different direction. Where you leave Minmus' orbit can impact the amount of return dV that you need. You want to stay in a fairly low Minmus orbit (the lower the better, but look out for terrain of course). Once you're in orbit, try setting up a maneuver node and just pull on the prograde marker for a couple hundred dV. Then drag the maneuver node forward/backward around the orbit by grabbing the white ring. Eventually you'll find a place where you can eject from Minmus' orbit and head back to Kerbin with a small amount of dV. That point should be roughly on a spot where your orbit is between Minmus and Kerbin. Aim to arrive around Kerbin with a PE around 30-35 km. That will allow you to burn off some speed when you return by aerobraking. If you aerobrake too high, you'll just have to wait another orbit to finish burning off speed. If you aerobrake too low, be careful not to rip off the parachutes.

You don't need quite that much. You can leave out most of the fuel required to go return from Minmus to Kerbin because Kerbin lets you aerobrake. If you take a look at the map below, it takes about 4550 m/s to make Kerbin orbit, then another 920 to get to Minmus. Then 320 (240 + 80) to catch orbit and land. You'll need roughly 320 dV to get off of Minmus and break Minmus orbit, to head back to Kerbin. So in total: 4550 + 920 + 320 + 320 = 6110 m/s. So you don't need the 920 m/s to return, nor do you need the 4550 m/s to get from Low Kerbin Orbit back to land on Kerbin.

*high fives* That's the beauty of this game! You can design what you like.

Yes, I would highly recommend this route. Don't update your current install but start a new one. Then download and install the updated mods for that version. After that, you can copy your save games from 0.22 into your fresh 0.23.5 install. Doing it this way will prevent a lot of problems with outdated files. At least two examples of why I suggest this is that sometimes the settings.cfg has weird values in it that have caused problems in 0.23.5. Also, a lot of mods changed install location from the "Plugins" to the "GameData" folder. So it's possible that if you update a mod, there could be big conflicts with old files scattered all over. You may also wish to look through this thread (shameless self promotion). There are a few things you can do to reduce crashes and problems with 0.23.5 once you download it. (Specifically the new, large decoupler needs a slight modification to its part.cfg file.) http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/77327-20May-0-23-5-Issues-Fix-Crashes-Decoupler-EVA-Career-Save-Won-t-Start-more By the way, here's a link to another thread listing most of the updated mods for 0.23.5 http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/74457-ARM-Pack-0-23-5-Mod-Compatibility-Thread

Yeah, if you could post pictures or a craft file. It's possible you might have something clipped together. Or if there is something in the way between the docking modules, it will get "pinched" when the ports dock. A stuck part like that can cause the ship to fly apart. Also, if your craft is long and put together with flexible parts, torque modules can also cause them to wobble and fly apart.

There is/was a tutorial about this. Although I'm not sure it has info about size changing. I think the problem there is that the size is changed in the save file rather than in the part.cfg file. Although you could potentially make separate asteroid parts and rescale them to suit your needs.

Ahh, okay. glad it is working correctly now.

Eh. Here's my most recent. It's mostly a test of using larger sized modules and Clawed RCS tugs for docking the modules. Proof of concept for (hopefully) something larger. Only about 120 tons and 260 parts. (and playing with some colored lights)

Yes, you can just delete the whole section that you want gone. Make sure you don't leave any blank lines where you deleted, it sometimes causes problems. Also, as it seems you found out, deleting the section doesn't effect your available science points or unlocked nodes. If you mess with the line at the beginning of the section that says "sci", then you can change your available science points. (Which I know is not what you are after, but just letting you know that is where it is effected.) SCENARIO { name = ResearchAndDevelopment scene = 7, 8, 5, 6, 9 [COLOR="#FF0000"]sci = XXXX[/COLOR] Tech { ...

For a stock design you look like you're on the right track. If your AoA is that high, you probably need a little bit more wing area. That will help keep your AoA down, which will reduce your drag and increase your intake efficiency. You're getting up to pretty high speeds, but you should get a little higher in altitude too. Your picture of 1400+ m/s at 21km is great, you just need to get up a bit higher and you'll continue to accelerate. I think having a little bit more wing area will help with that. To me, it looks like you have enough intakes and you have a high enough engine/mass ratio. It's good to level out and accelerate at 25km like you did, but you need to then get above ~32km and your orbit will start to stretch out. If you can get your orbit stretched out then you can work your altitude a bit higher. Eventually you should be high/fast enough that you can fire up the rocket and point upward a bit more to get above the rest of the atmosphere. That will then buy you some time to use the LVN to finish the orbital insertion. I find with dual TurboJet designs, it's tough to get a really good atmospheric circularization due to the asymmetric thrust issues. It just gets tough to really eek out the engines at the end. Although realize you can run the TurboJets and rockets at the same time. TurboJets will still provide some thrust (if you control the asymmetry) to add to your rocket. (EDIT: Yeah, what Othuyeg just said... )

Haha. But seriously, why would you need it to point a constant direction? If it isn't in focus (you aren't looking at it), then what does it matter where it is pointed? (I get that it might be an OCD thing.) Perhaps you'll have to pretend it's pointing the correct way when you're not looking? Yeah, a lot of real world craft (including the ISS) maintain orientation because of the gravity gradient. As small as it is, there's actually slightly more pull on the bottom of a craft than on the top. I'm not sure about something like a micro satellite, but those do most of their pointing with reaction wheels anyway.

I have thought about it, but I'm too afraid to make something that might break someone's save file.