Kazkar

Oh yeah, it fits the "Role Playing" too! After all, in Baikonur (and in other places too, right?), they transport the rockets without the fuel, I think. So, for the added realism I may actually have to always empty the tanks, and let the rocket be refuelled on the pad. The mass limit may be thought as the maximum carrying capacity of the transport train instead of of the pad itself. This may add a nice vibe to also have to keep looking if the refuelling has already finished before I ignite the engines.

I'm pretty sure that it was meant to be a honest expression of disappointment for the general situation - including one's perceived inability to help. Because if you, RoverDude, would reveal yourself in any location (disclaimer: inhabited and having sufficiently large players' population), you could well get enough free drinks and anything else for several lifetimes!

Hey! It might have looked like a mistake, but it was actually my genius subconsciousness giving some hints! If I can launch a rocket weighting over 20 tons from a launchpad limited to 20 tons, just by having the rocket refuelled while on the launchpad, then I can also deliberately move a "dry" rocket from the VAB. (The KSC inspectors - I hope they don't read this forum - are controlling just the mass on the VAB doors, right?) I just need to wait a few seconds until my tanks are full, and then I can launch probably some 25 tons monster without spending any funds on a larger launchpad! Technically it's cheating, but the defence of the Motherland requires no less!

Oh, my... Where is the facepalm emoji when I need it? These are very good advices, @AVaughan! I wanted to tell you that, and then I wanted to add that - quite obviously - I wouldn't make them. But just to be over-absolutely sure, I've loaded that rocket design, checked both fuel tanks - and as I suspected, - they were perfectly full. But then I accidentally clicked on that green-black painted tank used to hold varying amounts of sounding payloads... Tja. Because wasting space is a bad thing, I had indeed assigned all the remaining volume to the fuels, and didn't bother with adjusting the utilization percentage. These tanks were roughly half-empty. Filled up to the top, they explain nicely these "strange" 600-something kg. Thanks, man! You made me believing again in the sanity of the world! (or at least in the rocket-launching part of it!)

I have 1.11.10.0 (from Express Install). That issue - "Fix avionics getting briefly locked at flight scene load" - initially I thought that it is totally unrelated. But now I am not so sure... (follow-up below) Hmm... Indeed I see that the "Vessel Mass" is over 21t in the mod window. This is also the most basic, 20t launch pad, right? The game would not allow you to launch a vessel (without the launching base stuff), which would exceed that mass, would it? Apparently some evil magic is at work here. I had two working theories, one about my computer being too slow (he is almost as old as I am... as for a computer, at least) and failing in some race condition between updating the mass of the vehicle and the contract checking the current state. My second working theory was that maybe the contract fails when I stage the first ... stage? I have to warm up the engine for ca 2 seconds, and only the second stage releases the clamps. Maybe it was already counting that as the flight time? But then I've tested the stuff, and this time it looks again slightly different. (I shall have backed up the gamesave, instead of screenshots, but well... too late now.) This time I no longer have that contract available. However, I still have the "Downrange Milestone (3000km)". That one also has the clause about not losing the control. So I run a simulation, I open the contract tab, and the "Maintain..." clause still has the green check mark. So far, so good. So I trigger the first stage - I see the mass still over 20t, but the contract is still green, and the mission time clock is NOT ticking. Then I launch the rocket (the second stage), and - lo and behold - once the vehicle is flying, and it finally has the correct mass, I see that temporary message in the upper-central part of the screen "Insufficient avionics... locking control". Now you're telling me that? However, the contract is still green-checked. At that point I have looked back at the first screenshot in my initial post up there. By accident, the "Downrange Milestone" contract is still visible there, and it still has the green check mark! Right below the non-green-checked-but-exactly-the-same clause from the other contract. So maybe there - in the contract - some bug was hiding? Maybe that contract was failing during the scene load? Maybe it actually is an issue similar or connected to that mentioned in the 1.11.9 version? When this problem hit, I had already been playing for a few hours. This usually involves a large amount of explosions, restarting the simulation, scene changes to and from VAB, etc. Memory corruption would not surprise me - after all, the game sometimes crashes to tell me that I was playing for too long. And talking about evil magic, some time before that I was also trying to land a jet plane. With engines turned off, lowered gear, and perfectly flat flight (one of these helpful panels was showing me vertical velocity to be a few millimeters(!) up), several meters above the ground, and the speed of ca 101 m/s the plane was... speeding up! It just did not want to fall to the ground! I was swinging over the runway, then (still with the engines turned OFF) turning back for another approach, and again.... and again... And because I was gaining height after each turn, I had to deploy spoilers to slow down again after going back closer to the ground. The spoilers were causing the plane to raise the nose sharply when the speed was somehow below 90-100m/s, so I had to turn them off for the final part of the approach. Was it the wind? Always turning so that it was blowing in my back? Or have I designed that plane to be so aerodynamic the the small fan that the pilot had in his cockpit for some hot days was causing enough thrust to speed up this 5 ton machine? Well... Just a normal day.

I think I have found an interesting "quirk" related to the vehicle mass calculations and launching clamps (both the stock-with-ro-config Launch Stability Enhancers, and launch bases from Modular Launch Pads mod). I've got a "Downrange Distance" contract, where one of the points is "Maintain Sufficient Avionics for the first 50s of the flight". So I have tooled an avionics for 20t, what is the maximum capacity of my current launch pad, and I have stuffed the rocket with as much fuel as possible, taking care to not exceed the 20t. To launch with style, I have also added a launch base and four precisely adjusted clamp arms. Here is a screenshot from the VAB: The (stock) Engineer Report reports (correctly) 19.968t out of 20, and does not stop me from launching it. Kerbal Engineer Redux reports 20.008t - this seems to be the mass of the rocket plus the 4 launch arms. And this is the screenshot from the launch site: Here, the "Flight Engineer" (I don't know if it is the same mod, or some other one) shows the mass as 20.680t. The same mass seems to be used by the avionics - right after starting the simulation or the real launch, there is a fading message along the lines of "Insufficient avionics, 20680 out of 20000, locking controls". I do not know where is this 600-something coming from. The launch base in the VAB claims to have 1 ton. Maybe it's the mass of the various resources pumped by the clamps? In addition, the MechJeb (not on the screenshot) reports that strange mass plus that 1 ton of the launch pad: 21.680. The same issue - but with slightly different numbers - may be observed if I replace the launch pad and the launch arms with the stock (with RO config - as it states in the item description) launch clamps. It looks like various mods may have different methods of finding our what is the current mass of the craft. But the actual sad problem is that when I launch this rocket, my contract does not trigger, because it takes about a second to register the new (correct) mass of the rocket in flight, and this already fails the part "the first 50 seconds" (I was flying about 2 minutes before noticing that). Oh, cruel world! And I wanted to play without using cheats to right the wrongs! Is it reproducible by any of you, guys, or is it something on my side? (I have pretty bare - with added kOS - express install from CKAN, with just one round of the upgrades from a few days ago; nothing suspicious or shaddy)

I have found something today! All the RCS thrusters have the setting "RCS: disabled" by default. This option is located in the PAW, in the group "Control" - and it is available both in VAB as in flight. Could THAT be the problem? I don't really know why the default is false, but if I wouldn't remember your question, I might be unpleasantly surprised during my simulation

Hi, @LTL King! If I read this image correctly, then you have enough avionics ONLY for the first stage. The left pop-up says "Contr. Mass 78.0 t", and the lowest stage in "Delta-V stats" shows that this stage has from 74 to 71 tons. This is good. The second pop-up says "Contr. Mass 15.0 t", but the second stage is shown as "Start Mass" = 68.661 t and "End mass" = 15.108 t. So, it cannot control that stage, because it starts much heavier than 15 tons, and even when the whole fuel is burned, it still has 108 kg too much. The last stage says "Contr. Mass 6.0 t", but the "Start Mass" and "End mass" of this stage seems to be "9.524 t" and "1.922 t" - this one would be controllable after burning some of its fuel. Could this be the problem?

It seems to be one of the most often requested features.

I'm sorry for possible confusion... To clarify: my exact version of KSP is 1.12.3.3172, but I have it from GOG, not Steam. Using CKAN I have installed "Realistic Progressions One (RP-1) Expres Install" version v1.0, and.. ..and it has pulled as its dependency "Realistic Progression One (RP-1)" version v1.11.9.0. A few days ago (2022-05-12 02:17 CEST, to be precise) it was probably the latest. Today I see that CKAN has a new version of RP-1, available for update: v1.11.10.0 Now I'm wondering what can possibly go wrong, and which of the other packages shall I update.. Hmm.

I think the trick is that in CKAN, in "Settings" -> "Compatible Game versions" you need to also mark the version "1.11" as compatible. I do not really know why (I was staring at the versions tab, and the requirements listed there), but this allowed me to install "Realistic Progression One (RP-1) Express Install" on my KSP 1.12.3 without any further problems. I'm almost sure that this "1.11" is mentioned somewhere in the RP-1 Wiki documents, so you cannot blame the authors (I know, because I've found that info after I have selected multiple older versions to see which one would let me install this mod). Also, be sure to NOT have any of the new DLC - only the core KSP. I've made that mistake, and then I got some strange errors when actually starting the game. Reinstalled without DLC, got the mod from CKAN, and I am now a happy user!

Today, I! HAVE! LANDED!!! Seriously! No explosions, and the number of wheels, wings and kerbals before and after the landing, remained constant. This was a simulation run of the first aeroplane (and the second vehicle) in my new RO/RP-1 career. I still cannot figure out these MechJebs and all the various autopilots, which have been brought upon me by the automatic CKAN install of RP-1, so I have decided to "just run it slowly and carefully" Here are the shots of the (now famous) prototype of the first wheeled and mann.. kerballed machine: "Yuppi"! "Slowly and carefully" meant that hardly a single (kilo)meter of the runway would go to waste: And here it is! Almost perfectly centered, with reasonably large safety margin for braking: After such a success how could I refuse putting it into serial production? In about 3 months (there is a sounding rocket being assembled right now) I shall be able to see how much of it was just a one-time accident.

I've started a new career on RSS-RO-RP-1 pretty recently, and it's a lot of fun to see so many explosions again Building my first sounding rocket, I have noticed that the "Ring Decoupler" part (used in https://github.com/KSP-RO/RP-0/wiki/First-Rocket-&-Early-Career-Tutorial ) has an option "Auto Decouple" with editable time. So I got a brilliant idea, that if I use that Auto Decouple with a delay of 1 second, then I can stage the decoupler together with the Tiny Tim Booster, and it will automatically decouple a second later, and I will not have to frantically try to count 0.7 seconds in my head. As most of my brilliant ideas, this did not work. So, I've checked what that option is really doing. I've found no info in the forum, but I think I have found the code in https://github.com/KSP-RO/ROLibrary/blob/master/Source/ROLib/Modules/ModuleRODecoupler.cs Here it looks like it will decouple the second node, after I decouple the first. (However, I'm not sure if it works correctly - what is the operator precedence in that language? Is the line 113 correct, or does it need a pair of parentheseseses?) I've also run a simple simulation, and it looks like indeed it is supposed to decouple a second node after that configurable delay. So, my question is : in which situations may it be useful? When would I care whether it detaches from a part, which I have just dropped away - like a SRB? Or why wouldn't I just decouple both nodes at the same time (i.e. using it as a standard stack separator)?

Because talking about proud moments will never get old I remember having the same start as Earthlinger - I was going up, and after a few times a seed of a thought started to nudge my brain: "Hey, gravity isn't disappearing above atmosphere! And see - if I you would just go slightly more to the side, maybe you could miss the planet?" But I don't remember the moment of my first orbit. However, a very proud moment was when I have finished creating a pretty universal kOS script to launch any rocket (I mean : any not exploding rocket) into Kerbin orbit! After experimenting with either looking at the current flight situation or flying a pre-defined path (adapted to desired orbit altitude, TWR and the aero profile of the rocket), I've settled for pre-defined paths. This allows me sometimes to launch even some wildly shaped behemoths, like wide rovers on top on a spike. (My apologies to all the engineers! If I would ever get a job at ESA, I would NEVER try to build something like this in real life!) I keep using that script all the time now, as soon as I discover the necessary techs in a new career game. (I tend to keep starting new games after every longer break from playing KSP. That's why I still haven't seen any planet outside Kerbin SOI, even that I started playing when the version was like zero.something)

OOkayyy... Why?

Before, there was the KAC - the first mod I ever used, and for many years the only one. In the recent KSP update, a version of it has been added to the stock game. What are your experiences with that stock alarm clock, guys? How would you compare it to the KAC mod? Which one (if any) are you using now?

Yeah. What you describe is what seem to remember how it worked before. This time I have tested the SEQ-3 container part (I'm almost sure that SEQ-6 is also stock, but better safe than sorry). I've removed the old SEQ-6 ones, and attached a single new SEQ-3 (just in case the symetry would be significant). I clicked on the science part (I've tested both "Control Station" and "Go-ob ED Monitor"). This time I noticed that as soon as I select the part, the container (or all suitable containers) highlight green at the same moment. Previously I was also opening their inventory windows, so I haven't noticed them being highlighted also when the window was closed. They may have been, I just weren't observing that. I've tried to place the parts as you have described (even that I have tried that before), and initially I had no luck. However! After a few tries (because you never know what could happen the third or tenth time) I have noticed that even that the opened window of the container does NOT show the science units inside, the container highlights YELLOW and not GREEN as before. I recall that it means that it is full. I was lucky trying the SEQ-3, so it needed just 3 successful tries. I have added one more container to the ship, and tried to place the parts in that one. The first few times the part was "disappearing" or being found on the floor of the VAB. But one time it suddenly became visible in the inventory! I guess that it might require some specific angle of view and/or specific point on the container where I click. Now the state is that I have 2 containers, both highlighting YELLOW, and in their opened windows only one of them shows only one "Go-ob ED Monitor". Hovering over that Monitor I see the normal description pop-up. Hovering over the other empty "boxes" they behave like really empty. I was never able to place (visibly) the unit using the opened container window. After some practice (or purely because of luck) I can place the unit if I click over the green-highlighted container, but it seems to heavily depend on some area of the container. This may probably explain why I have that feeling of danger when adding deployed science units. It was probably failing the same way in 1.9 (or even before), but maybe I used to have more luck more often. Anyway, now I am sure that this is a bug of KSP, or some mod error, and not PEBKAM. Thanks @Okhin!

So, here goes the story: I'm on KSP 1.10.1.2939 with several (not that many) mods. A possibly relevant ones are KIS 1.26 and KAS 1.7 (both listed by CKAN as the most recent). My other mods are: AT Utils, Chatterer, Chatterer Extended, Community Category Kit, Community Resource pack, Easy Vessel Switch, Environmental Visual Enhancements (with its Stock Planet Config files), Final Frontier, Firespitter Core, Global Construction Core, KAC, Konstruction, kOS, Module Manager, ReCoupler, Surface Mounted Lights, TextureReplacer, TriggerAu Flags, USI Asteroid Recycling Technologies, USI Core, USI Kolonization Systems (MKS/OKS), USI Life Support, USI Tools. In the VAB I add the part "SEQ-6 Cargo Storage Unit" to my ship. Now I want to put the "Probodobodyne Experiment Control Station" into that container. And here the problem is: HOW? KSpedia page "Breaking Ground / Deployed Science / Cargo System - VAB/SPH" says: "You can drag a cargo item from the build menu to a container/storage unit to add it to the inventory, or put it in its opened menu" So, I try: - Dragging the control station part simply does not work. There is no dragging, my mouse just moves alone. - Then let's try the old way: I click the part in the build menu, move to the construction area (just as we do with any other parts - tanks, engines, etc.). I try to "attach" it to the container, and even that the container gets highlighted, a click leaves the deployed science part unattached, somewhere at the floor of the VAB. The same happens when I click (as if wanting to attach the part) over the opened menu of the container (over one of these 6 large square places, where the unit is expected to be displayed when inside) - Then I remember that KIS/KAS has also something to do with "dragging" parts. So I open the command module, click on the option "Seat 0 inventory", and try to drag the deployed science unit. Now the dragging works! A miniature of the part is following my mouse cursor. So far, so good. Just to test, I drag the part into the opened inventory window of the command module, in exactly the same way as we are dragging there the electric screwdriver and beer bottles. So far, so good - I get the message "Use stock game abilities to handle this part". I kinda expected that. Now, I try to drag the part into the opened window of the SEQ-6 container. Aaand... nothing happens. Also dragging the science unit over the container itself does not change anything. The part just disappears. Dragging a screwdriver (a KIS/KAS part) into the inventory of the command module works OK, but the screwdriver disappears when dragged over the opened menu of the SEQ-6 container. This is not surprising. So, in short: by default, dragging parts does not work. Dragging parts works when the "Seat X inventory" window is opened, but that does not handle the non-KIS parts. From some older times I remember that I was able to pack the deployed science units, because in KSP 1.9 I had a working deployed science location on Mun. However, I also remember that I have some deep fear of doing that. It may be that it never worked intuitively. In that older game I had also the same set of mods. This game is a newly started career after upgrading my KSP to 1.10. Is it that I forgot how to pack the deployed science units, or has it been changed in 1.10, or maybe there is some conflict with the mods in that new KSP version? Can you pack a deployed science unit into a container? --------- Update: Some boring entries from my KSP.log file: They show that there were no errors before I've encountered the problem. There is a NullPointer exception, but it happened already after I started to do various crazy experiments. ... ---------- Edit 2: It seems that I might have suffered a once-in-a-lifetime personal Kraken attack. KSP behaves actually quite nice (unless during Kraken attack), and as soon as you click the deployed science unit and hover over the suitable container, it even opens an inventory window, so that you can see what has already been placed inside. I probably have started placing the units by opening (and pinning) the inventory windows, and that may have started the problem. I may have also started from dragging the units onto these windows, and that also might be what awakens Kraken. So, friends, when you want to place a deployed science unit in the container, then: 1) place the containers on the ship, 2) click once the deployed science unit in the build menu, 3) observe that the containers highlight in green, 4) hover over one of these containers, 5) observe that the inventory window gets opened somewhere nearby, 6) click and enjoy having the unit inside of the container. But if something starts to behave weirdly, then in my case simply putting the ship on the launchpad, verifying that the "invisible" units were actually in the containers, and aborting the flight helped. The VAB now behaves quite well.

Okay, I must give up. In my quite new career game, in KSP 1.10.1.2939 in VAB I don't see anything like it. Shift and Ctrl-clicking also didn't reveal anything. Maybe someone else will be able to help.

It's not necroposting. Running Bob over is still valid today.

How did you remove that part? I didn't even know that there is such option.

In whatever way you explain the "Kerman" name or title, don't forget about Wernher von Kerman!

Nay, ladders are way to advanced concept at my current technology level. I am able to launch 3 Kerbals into orbit, but building a ladder is yet far beyond the capabilities of my engineers.

The most recent annoyance (and quite a strong one) is that when I have a scientist on EVA, I'm just is about to click "Log temperature" (or similar), but in the meantime Bob drifts away, so that the option disappears, and the next one - "Disassemble part" replaces it, but my brain already sent the "press" command to my fingers... You know what happens, right? This is not strictly the fault of KSP, because that dangerous option is being added by some mod (I don't exactly remember which one - one from Umbra, most probably. A very good one.) However, something could be done with the user interface. I'm a backend programmer, so you would better not ask me about the solution. An annoyance belonging strictly to the KSP may be that with each new release (even minor) it is much safer to start the career game anew, instead of continuing an old one. That's the reason why I have never been to Duna, even that I started playing KSP somewhere around 2013, if my memory serves. And this also is the reason why I have Bob doing manual experiments on EVA.