qoonpooka

This was fixed by uninstalling KSP and starting over with a new install, using CKAN for mod managment. It meant the loss of PreciseNode, which no longer appears on the install list, but everything else worked. The dev for CTB suggests that the issue stems from having manually installed mods and CKAN installed mods on the same KSP install.

Going full reinstall and using CKAN from the get-go seems to have resolved the main issue. The saves still had their missions-in-progress wiped, but they're playable again. I do notice that CKAN doesn't have PreciseNode listed on the 'compatible' list, so it seems likely that your theory of 'some manual, some auto-installed' holds. I'll update the support thread as well. I noticed also that the pop-up window for CTB showed up this time, as well. It hadn't before.

Could be. I'll try that and let you know how I get on.

Reporting an apparent bug with his mod here, because I'm not sure where else to do so: After losing the editor window in PreciseNode, I saw that reinstalling PN would fix this. PN mentions having a new dependency to CTB, so I installed CTB as well, saw CTB mentioned dependencies, so I installed CKAN to do the work for me. Loaded up my game to find that I had zero contracts active, zero completed, and zero available (and, consequently, career mode now unplayable). Decided that it was probably a save incompatibility and so I started a new career game... only to find no contracts available, nor any strategies available in the admin building. I began taking steps back, and contracts re-appeared in career mode games immediately after I deleted 000_ClickThroughBlocker. Let me know what information I can supply, I'm done playing KSP for a while as while new contracts and whatnot appear, all of the accepted contracts in my saves have been deleted, and so I am back to square 1 on my career run and that's demoralizing enough that I'm taking a break from KSP.

I am having the same issue. This includes starting new games, but even if I take control of things, contracts don't appear at all. Also, there are no strategies in the admin building, either. My modlist is VERY simple, which helps narrow this down I hope: 000_ClickThroughBlocker KerbalEngineer KerbalJointReinforcement PreciseNode TriggerTech Of these, I strongly suspect the issue is with 000_ClickThroughBlocker, since it and PreciseNode were the two mods I installed just before the issue began, and Gr@y doesn't have PreciseNode on their modlist. My issue began with PreciseNode's node editor window vanishing on me, not responding to the key to toggle it, and so I attempted to reinstall it. After finding that it now hand a bunch of dependencies, including ClickThroughBlocker, I grabbed ClickThroughBlocker, which mentioned having its own dependencies updated through CKAN, so I installed CKAN as well. Some or all of CTB, CKAN, and PreciseNode is almost certainly the culprit here, as I had a perfectly fine time until I tried to fix PreciseNode via the other two. Meanwhile, KSP is now unplayable for me with those mods. I deleted 000_ClickThroughBlocker, and contracts and strategies came back for me, however, the contracts I had accepted are still gone and cannot be recovered. I will also post this information to the CTB thread.

I use Kerbal Joint Reinforcement... or I did. It's stopped working, I assume because of the new version. I prefer to fly rockets rather than slinkies. Can anyone suggest an alternative mod that works with 1.4?

Have a lander and a tanker mated up over the Mun. Built it because I had a dock-over-the-Mun contract and so figured I'd launch this landing mission, with full science package, in two parts, possibly leave the reusable lander in orbit for later. Both launches work fine, I get 'em docked up and they're fine... except that while I can alt-right-click the two tanks, there's no options to send fuel between them. Oops. I forgot to get R&D Level 2. Okay, annoying, but no problem. I grab some contracts and scrape together the cash, I was only 100k short anyway, and bam, R&D Lvl 2 now complete. Then Patch 1.4 hits. #Welp, good by mods. Anyway I finally got the time to fly the Munar landing mission... except I STILL can't transfer fuel. Why can't I move fuel from the tanker (on right) to the lander (on left) - the tanks are separated by: Stack decoupler, heat shield, passenger compartment, command pod, 2xClampotron Jr. & a small-to-tiny adapter. EDIT: Apparently it's the heatshield. Never had that stop me before, but 2-for-2 folks say it can't be done so I'll rebuild another tanker, I guess.

I'm impressed by a number of things (including your ability to rebuild my truss from visual, and even got the LT-400 and LV-909 included! In re the truss having less drag.... Sigh. Are the fairings one of those parts that's just there for immersion but actually hampers you? Do they EVER provide less drag than a spiked ball of dragness?

This was the solution. Moving the CoM forward like this did the trick. I wasn't even aware that this was a thing that could be done. Payload is in orbit without any other changes. Took two tries because the fairing is so huge that it blows up the payload if you eject it while under thrust. Cutting engines just long enough for the fairing to clear did the trick.

Thank you for taking the time! Here's the answer to your question: 1a) Just Precise Node. What you see is what you get. 1b) Several. As you can see the TWR is quite low, so at 1km I'm only doing 80m/sec or so. When I start the turn with 5-deg there, I lose control at 15,000m pretty consistently, and prograde is around 30 degrees inclined from horizon. When I go for a shallower turn, as you suggest in #2, I can get up to 22,000m, but again 30 degrees inclined. What happens in all scenarios is that this is the point where I don't feel my vertical velocity is sufficient to not crash and I have to hesitate away from prograde or it will naturally lawn dart. 1c) Loss of control happens at probably about 2 degrees AoA, full-on flip out is hard to distinguish from this but somewhere in the 20-30 range. I can keep it to slow, unstoppable turn until about then. 1d) Rocket does not fit on screen, attaching another image here for the bottom half. Both photos are at maximum zoom-out. 1e) A good time after SRB ejection. The whole thing is very stable (and yet still fairly responsive to control) through the liftoff. It's only when it wants to gravity turn way too fast that we run into problems. Once you've started the gravity turn it will readily yaw itself at an ever-increasing rate. I've tried to slow it as much as I can by hanging out in the westward edge of the prograde marker. (As long as I'm in the circle I seem to be okay.) 1f) In photo, aside from the four thumpers, 1 skipper. All engines fire at launch, the thumpers are there to give me velocity, without the skipper their TWR is 1.01. When they cut loose, the skipper is only .84. It's enough to continue ascending, however. TWR is around 1.2 when loss of control happens. The skipper is the most powerful engine I have. Kickbacks won't fit because the launch pad can't handle the weight. I've tried using two kickbacks and two Thumper/Hammer stacks but the whole rocket becomes very wiggly all of a sudden, below the 2nd orange tank. 2) I've done a straight ascent to 10,000 meters and then initiated a gravity turn, control was maintained but the gravity turn still eventually ran away from me, loss of control at 22,000m instead of 15,000m. I suspect I don't have a fine enough control to initiate a gravity turn gentle enough for this thing. I can try going even higher to reduce the aerodynamic forces and essentially go for a dragless horizontal flight. Gonna need more dV, I suspect, not sure how to get it. 3) I usually use the Delta-Deluxe and have no problems at all. The AV-R8 is beefier. I don't see the in 'standard canard' in my aeroparts. Is it the 'tail fin' or have I not unlocked the node in question. 4) I'm worried about that many clamp-o-trons. This is a station that will be moving from LKO to Minmus to satisfy two contracts (at a steep loss, but I wanted the fueling station anyway). So finding a way to put this payload in orbit is important to me. This structure will be under thrust stresses. Replying to other folks trying to help: @MaxL_1023 1) Rocket is stable while SRBs are attached, fins are on the lower orange tank. 2) An asparagus staging option is interesting, but it'll make that fairing stick out roflsauce far. 3) Skipper does gimbal, or are you referring to some other engine? I probably don't have it unlocked. The Skipper is as far as I've managed this game. 4) Don't have 3.75m parts. The fairing here isn't to protect the payload so much as it is to reduce drag. There's 20 or so girder segments on that thing, then PV panels and lights and struts and ports. As bad as this fairing is, I can't imagine the drag on the truss isn't going to be so very much worse. @5thHorseman That's an interesting idea! I'm going to try it and see how it goes.

I have this space station structural component I'm trying to launch. It's a ton of girders, girder-to-small adapters, and clamp-o-trons. Eventually it will hold the fuel tanks and any large craft that dock at Minmus for fuel. But first I need to get it into the sky. The vessel is very stable at launch and at low speeds. As it exceeds 300m/sec, however, I run into problems. It begins to gravity turn too steeply and any deviation from prograde results in a loss of control and tumble. The payload is only 6 tons, IIRC. I suspect the fuel needed to lift it to orbit is simply too far back but I can't figure out how to generate anything like enough drag in the back. I'm already running 8 AV-R8 winglets. When I ran with full-on wings as stabilizers, the elevons didn't have any control authority. Image included, happy to clarify.

I'm playing on ultra-hard, with payouts down at 40%, so they're barely offering me 200k all-in. I have to be picky and careful about what contracts I accept because margins are super tight.

Does this mean that multiple docking ports won't provide a less-wobbly, more secure connection for parts of a large, interplanetary vessel?

And that's not the wiggliest thing in the history of ever? Iiiiiinteresting.

So, based on the answers in this thread, does flipping one of these over: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/TVR-400L_Stack_Quad-Adapter Not attach the four motors to the quad-side of things at all four points?

Sure, but hitchhikers are heavy and I've only just unlocked the Skipper.

AIUI (No doubt someone more experienced will come along) you'll want to use it in the same manner as you'd perform your ejection burn. The problem with this is that your maneuver time is dependent upon the TWR, which will change - sometimes dramatically - when you hit the stack separator and ditch the now exhausted stage. (You'll also now have extra space junk, but you may not care.) I think KER, at least, is able to figure out the length of burn including a stage separation, but KSP can't even adjust for change in mass during long burns. tl;dr - use that extra fuel for your ejection burn but be ready for the burn time reported by KSP to be wildly incorrect.

Yeah, I have no problem contract stacking. Mostly I was just looking for confirmation that I hadn't missed a sweet infrastructure project. I think this required 11 Kerbals and 4k fuel on board. That's a huge payload to go anywhere with.

An interesting contract came up with a Kerbol orbit between Duna and Kerbin. I thought, for a moment, and my brain said to me: "Hey. That means you could stop for gas on your way from Kerbin to anywhere beyond!" And so I moved the mouse over to click 'accept.' My finger had velocity when another part of my brain suddenly burst out of it's office screaming at the top of it's lungs, "STOP THE PRESSING!!!!!" There was a flurry of mental papers and commotion as the mouseclick was aborted, and I look at that part of my brain tensely, waiting for the explanation. It took a moment to gather itself and then added: "If you park that station in that orbit, you'll never know if it's ANYWHERE near where you're going to want it to be for those trips. Sure, you can maneuver to intercept but each orbit being more than a year, rendezvous maneuvers could take decades to complete unless you're carrying way more fuel than you need to complete the mission anyway. Even if you do find it useful for refueling, any mission with that kind of stop will DEFINITELY take decades to finish." I passed on the contract. But was that part of my brain correct?

It used to be the case that, if a probe or whatever ran out of power, but had generation, that communication would stall, awaiting sufficient charge again... but this seems to no longer be the case. Transmitting the data to KSC in the meantime can be done by flying someone to the station and then taking that data during EVA and storing it in the capsule that will be returned to Kerbin.

Given what you've said, I suspect you're not flying to orbit along the correct path. The early parts (Swivel, LT-200, etc) are definitely enough to get into orbit. If you're hitting 200,000m but not getting orbit, then you're flying too high, too soon. Orbiting isn't about altitude, it's about speed, and sideways speed in particular. You're literally throwing yourself at the ground... and missing off to the side. Aim for an orbit with a highest point (Apoapsis) of around 80,000m, and a lowest (periapsis) of 75,000 or so. If you're going higher than 80,000 then you need to turn eastwards (always eastwards at first) soon enough or hard enough. Efficient flight to orbit is basically entirely sideways. Look for threads in this forum using the term 'gravity turn.'

At the risk of Necro'ing the thread: It's decisively argued herein that departing from a lower orbit is just better because the cost of attaining the higher orbit overwhelms the lower dV required to make the departure... But what if you don't have to pay full price for the higher orbit? What if, instead, you were to make a pass or two at Mun and/or Minmus on your way out of Kerbin - essentially obtaining a higher departure orbit at a discount? Is a gravity assist sufficiently powerful that it can save you a few gallons of gas?

When you're not in VTOL mode, and are instead in horizontal (or 'normal' or 'traditional') flight mode, what is it's highest sustainable ground speed at whatever it's optimum cruising altitude is?

I like it a lot. I may go with that if I can't figure out how to build a truly VTOL craft. What's it's flank speed for point-to-point?

So I've got some EVA cluster missions far from KSC. I'm playing with an absolutely brutal set of difficulty settings, and I'm getting bored with flying tourists around to scrape together enough cash to finance science missions. I take the EVA and 'below' observation missions near KSC because they pay well for a 100% recoverable craft (aircraft) and they also give science while I'm at it (yay!) For near EVA missions I use a build I call the 'Science Jetcar.' It's a wingless aircraft with a pair of Junos and the basic landing gear, a low-science rover, basically. Great for scooting around @ 50m/sec. In addition to doing EVA missions on the opposite side of Kerbin, I'd like to get a 100% recoverable craft to some of the more distant biomes in KSP as well for science purposes. Before 1.0 I would follow Scott Manley's VTOL construction video and basically build out a Harrier jet. Is that build still viable? Are there any tips for building VTOLs with stock parts? Any designs people want to share? I haven't finished unlocking all the 45 science point nodes yet, so it's vitally important that we do this with basic parts.