jimmymcgoochie

1. Right click KSP in Steam library > browse local files. 2. Copy KSP/saves/<your save name> and paste that on the desktop. 3. If you used CKAN to install your mods (and you should!), click File > export modpack and save that to your desktop too. Screenshot your GameData folder with mods installed (even if you use CKAN) so you can check that you’ve reinstalled them all later. 4. Uninstall all mods from KSP. 5. Right click KSP in Steam library > properties, disable Steam cloud. 6. Completely uninstall KSP through Steam. 7. Reinstall KSP through Steam, right click > Properties > local files > verify integrity of game files. If you want to play a version other than the current release (1.12.4), pick that version in the Betas tab and verify the files once Steam has installed that version. 8. Run KSP and make sure it loads properly without mods. 9. Browse local files again, then go up one level (to Steam/steamapps/common) and copy the Kerbal Space Program directory, then paste it where you want to keep it- make sure it’s outside Steam’s folders so it can’t meddle with it in future. 10. Rename the KSP folder so you know what mods you’re using in it (e.g. 1.10.1 RO/RP-1, 1.12.3 JNSQ), then add this new copy to CKAN and use the modpack created in step 3 to reinstall all your mods; or reinstall them by hand if you don’t use CKAN. Double-check that all files and folders you had in GameData before uninstalling/reinstalling everything are there again, if not then you’re probably missing some mods. 11. Move your saves from your desktop into your new KSP copy’s saves folder, run KSP, load save. A warning about vessels having missing parts is usually because a mod is missing or wasn’t installed correctly. You can make as many copies of KSP as you want, have several copies on different versions and with different sets of mods in each- CKAN makes this much easier to keep track of, but it’s still possible to do it all yourself.

The bad news is, your save file is corrupted. The good news is, KSP has backups! Go into KSP/saves/<your save name>/backups, find the newest persistent_[date+timestamp] file and copy it back to saves/<your save name> then rename it to persistent.sfs and overwrite the existing file. You'll probably lose a little bit of progress but it's better than losing the entire save. You can also rename a named save file to persistent.exe but depending on how regularly you save you could lose a lot more progress that way.

The log files should give clues as to why this is happening, here's how to get them and what to do with them once you have them: A freeze/crash when the game says it's loading Breaking Ground just means that it got to the end of the loading process and started compiling but something went wrong there and it can't proceed any further, it just never updates what's shown on screen. Breaking Ground is almost never the problem.

Do you have: an antenna a docking port a source of power (solar panels, fuel cells or RTGs count, engine alternators do not)? It's hard to say for sure since I can't zoom in on the picture, but it looks like you have an antenna but no docking port and no power generators.

Here's what I think is happening: I can't really see much of the vessel in image 1 but I'm going to assume that each probe is attached to the central craft by a radial decoupler attached to the fuel tank. Another screenshot with the ambient lighting settings turned up (a lot!) or the vessel in the VAB would help. When the probe is separated, the root part of this new vessel is either going to be the radial decoupler or the fuel tank it was attached to. In either case, this is below the stack decoupler under the probe core and so the delta-V readout assumes (wrongly) that you'll be decoupling that dead weight above the decoupler before firing the engine. When the probe is in the VAB on its own, the probe core is the root part and so the readout correctly displays the delta-V with the probe still attached. If you right-click the probe core and then click "Control from here" after decoupling the probe, does that change the delta-V readout?

There might not be any mods that put parts in that node.

The only time I really use launch escape systems is in RO/RP-1, I’ve used them a few times to extract the crew from problem situations, most often due to engine failures. Otherwise, revert to launch is my LES.

“Interesting design choice”… What is it with dragging spent solid boosters around on first stages? Switching vessels doesn’t work on debris unless you hold Alt and press ] or [ You could probably double your KCT points in R&D if you spent that huge pile of money you’ve been hoarding. Adapting the new COG into a fuel tanker would be pretty easy, just swap the life support resources for RCS propellant and you’re done.

Engine failure seconds after launch put an end to the mission, and unfortunately the early failure meant there was insufficient altitude to get the parachute open in time to save the only passenger on board, Hammy the hamster. Er, I mean, Hammy went to space just fine and then went to live on a farm in the country, he’s absolutely fine, please stop crying before your mother finds out I stole your pet hamster for a science experiment…

I didn’t know KSP would even let you go beyond 1000 years. What made it take so long, just waiting for transfer windows between the outer planets?

The Mando finale felt a bit too rushed, too many things to do and not enough time to do them. Without spoiling too much:

The change you’re seeing is actually very small- 0.0002km is 20cm. Even tiny variations in the vessel’s attitude will change the orbital parameters slightly.

SSTOs are hard; SSTOs that go somewhere beyond Kerbin orbit are hard2; SSTOs that carry mining equipment with them to go somewhere after they’ve gone somewhere beyond Kerbin orbit are hard3. From your description it sounds like you have too much drag and/or not enough thrust. Can you share some images of the vessel in question? Try flying with the aero overlay on (F12) and see if there are any really large red spikes trailing from specific parts which indicate that they’re producing huge amounts of drag, then turn on the drag debug (alt+F12 > aero I think) to confirm exactly how much drag is being produced and then tweak the affected part(s) to try and reduce it.

Yes, those exceptions seem to point to a file permissions issue. Do other Steam games work if you run them? If not then there’s a bigger issue but if they do then it’s a problem with just KSP. There’s probably a simple way to allow access to the files but I’m not a Mac person so I can’t help you with that.

KSP staging operates in reverse order- the bigger the number, the sooner it’ll be used. Stages are displayed in this order from bottom to top in both the editors (VAB/SPH) and in flight. Put your parachutes in stage 0 and work your way down the rocket from there.

Sounds like the game is encountering a problem during the loading process which usually stops the game loading but doesn’t cause it to crash or exit. The best way to find the cause and fix it is to post your log files so someone can take a look, here’s how: What are you trying to run KSP on i.e. PC, laptop, chrome book etc. and what are the hardware specs? KSP is limited mostly by RAM during loading and by CPU in flight so those matter most, but you may also have issues if your hard drive has insufficient free space.

Added external drop tanks to a plane to increase the flight time, cruising at Mach 2 drains the internal tanks in under 10 minutes and the new tanks almost double that. The cockpit still heats up like a sauna (internal temperature over 60 degrees Celsius and plenty of glass to let in the blistering Australian summer sun) but that’s a problem for another day.

So when I said "new" LV design... See, I already have a 700-ton class launch rocket that works perfectly well in It's Only Rocket Science, Blue String, so I just copied the design and made some small changes, chief among them replacing the second stage RL-200 with two J-2s since the RL-200 is part of CH-4 which I'm not using in this playthrough. The design works, unsurprisingly, but tooling the new parts will be a bit more of a problem. (Sneak preview of the livery too!) The new LC is under construction, however paying for the new tooling will be a much bigger challenge as it has to be done all at once, up front, rather than being able to spread the cost over time as with facility construction/upgrades. Something to suggest for future P&LC development maybe? The Mars transfer window is open, cue the interplanetary launches! Salmanzar Mars Orbiter 1 is sent earlier in the window while the second will follow in what MechJeb insists is a more optimal time but which TWP isn't so sure about. This is one of several reasons why I built two of them. Meanwhile, back on Earth: Following some construction reprioritisation, what was meant to be Voskhod 3 is now launched as Voskhod 2 since the new astronauts aren't even close to being able to fly yet ad I want them to all get an EVA. This mission does without the airlock and docking target and has two goals: longer term crew experiments lasting up to six days, and staying in orbit for a whole week. Seven days later, re-entry was targeted at Florida... And to my surprise, that's exactly where it ended up! That's Miami in the distance, so splashdown will be somewhere near the Florida Keys? Much better than my usual "targeted" re-entries, that's for sure. Between the science recovered and already transmitted, that's enough to keep R&D going for another year at least. Over to the Moon now with an upgraded Salmanzar Moonlander Mk5 featuring new bipropellant RCS and thrusters. Not that it needed those, strictly speaking, but the extra margin is always a good thing. The landing site ended up being at the edge of a fairly substantial crater, but the lander found a less steep area that wasn't too lumpy and set itself down. In the dark, obviously. The landing was on the far side of the Moon in the highlands, a biome unvisited until now. Science should be sent back via the lunar relay network just as soon as the sun comes up. I've been playing around with the idea of a low-tech Mercury orbiter but without a whole lot of success, it really needs the extremely high ISP of hydrolox to stand a chance of getting there unless I figure out how to use a slingshot planner of some kind. Next time: Second Mars launch? I'm not entirely sure if the second Mars-bound probe has been launched already or is still waiting, everything before the Moon lander was done a couple of weeks ago and I've only recently come back to this save.

Looks like the Restock-ed version of the stock large drill to me. A flurry of rocket launches, flinging cameras and small creatures into space for a few minutes at a time for mostly scientific purposes, a couple of high speed aircraft flights and one rather disastrous attempt to staple wings and a cockpit onto one of the aforesaid rockets to make it a rocketplane, which ended about as well as you’d expect- it ripped its own canards off and then killed the pilot by flying too high and too fast before tumbling out of the sky in an uncontrolled tailspin.

Parachutes are optional on Venus.

It might work, but it’ll add a lot of drag and cost you a lot of delta-V. Fins with control surfaces are the better choice. You could also try adding some small vernier engines e.g. Twitch or Making History’s Cub, or Thuds for a larger rocket, which would give you more control and a bit more thrust at the cost of reduced fuel efficiency (just turn them off in the upper atmosphere), but would still be a good idea to add fins too.

Thalia has strange heat characteristics, apparently that’s by design. And now you’ve got that song stuck in my head (theeeeeeere’s Antimony, Arsenic, Alumin(i!)um…)

The yellow lights, not the drill?

After a few hours yesterday trying to make a new plane, I decided to try just sticking some better engines on the one I already have- and it worked! It's also significantly cheaper than building a new one since the only changes are replacing the engines and some minor fuselage remodelling to make the larger new engines fit properly. I also tried a two stage sounding rocket, found a serious stability problem on the second stage and solved it with some credit card sized fins to keep the pointy end up and the flamey end down.

Video ended rather abruptly A bit of trial and error with azimuth and elevation on the antenna can get a signal when you’re close to Earth if you’re patient enough. Or maybe put (with set position cheat) a tiny “probe” beside each DSN station to make it easy to target them? A crewed Mars mission is no easy undertaking: I needed five launches in total including four extremely large rockets that were ~12kt on the pad to get the ship into orbit and assemble it, though it’s possible to do a larger number of smaller/lighter launches including orbital refuelling to get the same result. ISRU for a Mars ascent craft would need to be sent in the previous transfer window because it’s SLOW; I went for just taking a lander that could do the landing and return with the main ship as it was less hassle.