Ekku Zakku

Did another Mun landing, this time with some short hops around in the lander, and some really interesting terrain as well, and a successful Munar orbit rendezvous with the ascent stage this time! I also really wanted to post again with my second flight, since it shows some of the advantages of this style of Munar landings. I can definitely understand why NASA chose the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous concept for the Moon landings. It leaves a lot of fuel all around for doing different tasks (ex. landing on the Mun, returning to Kerbin, etc.), so I encourage everybody to try it. http://imgur.com/a/ZHufJ#0

Ah, I see, that makes sense! I'll see if I can modify my ship design to take that into account then.

I ran into a bit of an issue that makes things kinda difficult in certain situations; when I decouple something off of one of the pods, my camera/control/whatever is left on the debris and not on the pod, so I have to switch over quickly. Is this fixable or is it something I'll just have to deal with?

Thanks! Yeah, it definitely got my heart racing there, I didn't want my first successful Mun landing to end like that lmao. I definitely like the concept of having an ascent stage though, it didn't really matter that that I broke stuff in the landing XD I just need more fuel next time! Also having a command module was nice, I landed on the Mun before without enough fuel to get back and it kinda sucks =P

Link to pics of the ship's maiden voyage and a more in-depth description: http://imgur.com/a/ra0ox#0 The only things lacking in terms of Apollo-style are 2 crew members in the L.E.M., and docking with the command module, which we all know isn't possible yet XD Otherwise it performs just like the Apollo Moon missions; a Command Module with 3 crew members, a Landing module that separates for the accent stage (and leaves the descent stage on the Mun, which I think is AWESOME, spacecraft persistence ftw), and all in one package (not having to get two modules into the Mun's orbit separately just to have a Command module) Uses the following mods: MechJeb v1.9.1 (required version to avoid the automatic decoupling bug, if you download the MechJeb version of this ship. Uses the fuel tank and rockets, just because I had them and wanted things to be compact. It doesn't need the MechJeb module, but it's a nice assist for lazy folk like me XD) Zoolotac Escape Pod (made this all possible, can't thank him enough) Modified TR-19A decoupler (only on the version in the screenshots) modified to make them 1m, not necessary with Zoolotac's Escape Pods, but was required when I attempted this with only MechJeb. I removed them in later versions. EDIT: Posted save file, just did some tests and a Mun landing to make sure it was ready (also in memory of Neil Armstrong, R.I.P.). Only requires Zoolotac Escape Pod and MechJeb (I will be uploading a non-MechJeb version tomorrow)

Here's my rocket, which performed a landing on the Mun in a very Apollo-like mission (with a bit of added drama, this is KSP after all): http://imgur.com/a/ra0ox#0

Yup! I definitely found out that it can have multiple stages, it's just that if a parachute is on the final stage, it won't activate. It needs to be activated before the final decoupler it seems =3 Also, I just had a successful Mun landing (Apollo style!) using this pod, it worked flawlessly (*cough* unlike MechJeb *COUGH* (j/k)), and I'll be posting some screenshots in a few minutes once I get them all uploaded.

Well, these escape pods don't seem to like parachutes... Caused the unfortunate death of two brave test pilots, as well as the mysterious disappearance of a third (presumed eaten by the Space Kraken). Problem was solved by putting the parachute before the decoupler to separate the pod from the fuel tank and engine. I'm assuming it was because the decouple somehow caused the pod to think it didn't have a parachute to deploy =P Not gonna matter to me from here on out though, since I'm not planning on using the pod for landing on Kerbin XD Otherwise, it works perfectly! Better than trying to mess around with inverted MechJeb controls and whatnot lol

Yeah, I can't always figure out how to get MechJeb to control parts 100% of the time, idk what it is. If you just want to avoid rescuing the rescuers though, I would use one of the unmanned MechJeb pods to control your ship, would be a quick fix =3

I'm with MrMoog, as we've been discussing MechJeb on the Crew-able empty pods mod thread. The decoupler issue was the perfect fix for me, and allows me to functionally use the ship I created perfectly, but the inverted controls and the insane spinning out of control makes it unflyable. The problem DOES exist even with just one MechJeb module on a ship, as my Mun lander can attest to. It was attached to the separated parts however, so that might have been the issue? Idk. Also it's strange that the controls are sometimes inverted, but sometimes not. I sent my tiny command pod along with a large pod into orbit and the separated pod controlled correctly, yet my much larger lander with many more pieces did have inverted controls. Idk if it was the extra parts, or that I was in the Mun's orbit that caused it though (I'm assuming it's the extra parts).

Oh yeah, I have had the problem once where I couldn't end a flight and ended up having to delete my save to get rid of the bugged parts. And I'm planning on leaving the decoupled part in orbit so it'll stay with that, hopefully at least XD but yeah, I think my Mun landing will be enough of a test to see if I can work around the bugs or not. I'm just about done with the ship actually, so I'll give an update in an hour or so. Edit (way longer than an hour later, had to go somewhere): Well I ran into the inverted controls problem in my Mun mission... Of course it's just fine when I test it, then when I get to the Mun with the whole shebang, it's all messed up. I even went into Kerbin orbit with my original small launch pad test vehicle (where I determined the controls were perfectly fine) and it still controlled correctly, but that was with just the pod and a few small bits added on. I guess it's when I add more parts? Could be something else, but I'm gonna have to wait until tomorrow to test it.

It's the 2m one, the large sized stack decoupler for the new fuel tanks and stuff. Yeah, the ghost part shouldn't be a problem for me as I'm planning on leaving that part in orbit, so it shouldn't be a big deal. It's kind easy to tell when you're on the right part to end the flight, so hopefully it'll just be something you can avoid. And I know, I've been wanting to do this for a while, and I originally thought I would have to wait for docking or something. I'm only just now able to do what I wanted to do, despite the fact that I already should have had the ability with MechJeb and such XD I can't thank you enough for posting about that command pod fix. Edit: @CrashnBurn yeah I figured it out, can't believe it took me that long to realize why it was changing back to the large one though lol. It's working fine for me now =D

(I would edit my last post, but there isn't an edit button, my apologies in advance) Stupid me, I forgot to change the name from the original large decouplers, so they were just being replaced by the original ones instead of staying as the smaller ones that I edited. Fixed that, so now I can finally prepare my Apollo-style lander for a moon landing XD Also yes it does seem like the portrait of a kerbal in another pod is overexposed, but it is very minor compared to trying to right-click an empty pod to do an EVA, definitely took some finicking to get to where you could right-click it sometimes.

@MrMoog, going up, I have a Mk1-2 Command Pod, a stack decoupler, MechJeb fuel pod + engines + legs, Mk1 Command Pod (empty) with your changes, then a "Mechanical Jeb" module (the one that fits on top of the Mk1 pod) What I also did was make sure to move one of my Kerbals up to the Mk1 Pod that starts out empty, then decouple, and then switch to the correct part (as you might know, there are two "parts" you can switch to if you use MechJeb with these crewable empty pods), and I have full control as if it was a normal command pod, and nothing is inverted. Also 1.9.1 of MechJeb fixed the issue of decoupling all of the decouplers, so that isn't a problem now, but I also just did a test with the new large decouplers (the ones you can decouple by right-clicking) and I was able to successfully decouple things from my separated pod! Which means my dream of an Apollo-style lander where you leave the landing engine/legs/etc module on the moon (while the crew pod gets back into orbit) is finally possible! Although the only problem is that it seems like I can't resize the new decouplers; they'll be smaller in the VAB, but once I launch the vehicle, they'll go back to their original size. I think it might be that the configs for the new decouplers don't have the "scale = ..." line in them, but I haven't tested it yet (am about to though).

Wow that is an amazing fix! Seriously, I couldn't even get separated parts to control even with MechJeb, but now I'm able to, and I can even control gear and such, this is perfect! Not a single problem either, not inverted or anything, and I'm using 1.9.1 of MechJeb. Now I just need to see if I can decouple stuff while I'm using the pod XD It also allows you to see all your Kerbonauts even if one is in an "empty" pod, whereas before they would just disappear from the crew list on the bottom-right. I haven't tested it with more than 3 crew members though, so I'm looking forward to hearing about that as well.

Well the update did fix the decoupler issue I had! Although I was definitely dreaming too big when I thought I might be able to do any kind of staging on parts that have been separated (decoupling, parachutes, w/e), although I'm definitely satisfied now and I'll just have to wait for docking or something to be able to do what I'd like =P oh well, I'll deal for now, thanks r4m0n for an awesome mod with MechJeb, and ptaylor25 for trying to help with my problem, I appreciate it =)

Well, what if my "main" ship (the one that is no longer the controlled part of the ship) also needs a decoupler? I have 3 decouplers, and I need the middle one to decouple without either of the end ones prematurely decoupling. Might be outside the realm of possibility right now, but if it's a bug with MechJeb, then I'd like to know if it would be possible if it were fixed. The problem I described only happens with MechJeb on my ship, even though without it I can't decouple something that's already separated anyways. Wouldn't even have to worry about this though if docking was added already... I thought that sending up both of the modules I needed would work if I could control them both independently, but this decoupler problem is making it impossible to do things exactly how I want =/

I don't know if this is a known bug that's already been talked about before or what, but it's been interfering with my current rocket so I thought I'd go ahead and say something about it. When I decouple anything from my command pod, MechJeb causes any other decouplers that are no longer attached to the command pod to be decoupled as well. Is this intentional? Or a side-effect of being able to control decoupled parts? Ideally I would be able to control a decoupled part, and then be able to further decouple something else off of that (separately from when I decoupled the first part of course). Would that even be possible, or am I just dreaming too large here?