CatastrophicFailure

Ballastâ„¢ 1.0! I could use some ballast right now actually....

Sensitivity to initial conditions, or something like that. You've got some tiny, tiny, minuscule misalignment, maybe even beyond what can be corrected in the game, that amplifies with each segment, so by the time you get to the end it's off by those few meters. The bigger you go, the bigger the final error, and brother that thing is BIG! Wish I could give you more constructive advice on how to fix it other than, since you've already accomplished the actual hard part, rebuild the whole thing in the VAB and hyper-edit it into orbit (since it's (most likely) the game's error and not yours, it's not cheating). Other than that, MOAR BOOSTERS and spin that thing! YeeHaw! Keep us posted. I would also say, don't give up the ship yet (no pun intended). It'd be a shame to loose all that work. See if maybe you can reconfigure it with the engines in the FRONT. I once sent 900 tons of SS parts to Moho that way (did not end well, docking ports all bugged). If you've got the engies PULLING instead of PUSHING, you usually won't have wobble problems. Scott Manley did a thing on going "space train" like that. Whether you roleplay about the possible unpleasantness of irradiating your Kerbals is entirely up to you.

He IS using KAS struts!! Jiminy Cricket people, have you even read his posts?!? :sticktongue: @Kowgan: those KAS struts are notoriously useless in my experience. Take a look @ a mod called Active Struts (Google it). Haven't tired it myself yet, my cyclotrons are staying put in orbit lol, but it may work better for you. ETA: looking at your design close, you may have better luck pre-strutting the docking ports to the cyclotrons in the VAB, and on that note check out NovaPunch. It contains some ridiculously strong struts. Just four can hold the boosters rock solid on my 525-ton launcher.

Did this make it into the latest release by chance?

Cyclotrons from Station Science. Not functional yet, still need lots of power. Looks like I forgot to turn the lights on on that new one too.

What're the large solar panels from? HGR FTW!

A busy day (off) in 6.4x. Another Colossus blasts off... to deliver the Hub2 module... to the waiting station: Along with the physical hub, this new module includes a massive procedural battery under the gold foil to power the dual cyclotrons while on the night side of Kerbin, a new module tug WITH a probe core, and the first of several hull cameras for some long-duration photography experiments. The view from the new cam as the module makes its approach: Docking was nominal: Another view from the new hull cam: After the colossal snafu earlier, the new tug is detached and flown around the station to verify it actually, well, works. It's extremely unstable on its own but workable. Will need to add extra reaction wheels for better control. With the new module secured, Edgas & Jerdos Kerman, the remaining S5 crew members, undock their MUL to return home. But they left the auxiliary life support pack they arrived with when the station was in much worse shape. S6 will have to remember to dispose of it at the end of their tour. After making the deorbit burn and reaching the upper atmosphere, first the umbilical is jettisoned... Then the service module... This is a proper, controlled, lifting reentry thanks to FAR. The capsule has an off center COM, so it naturally assumes this attitude. It's also slightly unstable, needing active roll leveling, but it works well. The initial point of aim was right at KSC. Thanks to its ability to "fly," the capsule actually travels a couple hundred kilometers beyond KSC (a bit long, but where I actually wanted it to end up). The crew also only gets around 4 G's rather than the 7+ if it were ballistic (non-lifting) entry. This is how Apollo, Soyuz, and the new Orion capsule do it, altho they have much more control and can direct that lifting force sideways or even down to control their trajectory, up to a point. Passing over K2. It's much less peaky in 6.4x but still huge. Passing over KSC and dropping to lower mach speeds. If the reentry had been ballistic, the pod would have hit the surface about here. A perfect landing, airbags deployed, and Edgas & Jerdos are home. A week later a Colossus Heavy blasts off with the second cyclotron module. The tug works much better this time. And at long last Highlab II is restored to wonderful, wonderful SYMMETRY! A parting pretty shot from the hullcam:

I think maybe you can find it here: https://ksp.marce.at I believe it's a util for transferring resources on EVA.

Not sure if this is the right forum, but title sez it all. I've got an idea for a Kerbal video, and I need to squish a couple hours of gameplay into a couple minutes. How could I go about doing this? Recording the entire time with vidcap software would probably need a huge chunk of space, gotta be a more efficient way. Is there maybe a mod or something that can take screenshots at regular intervals? I know not-quite-nothing about video creating but I wanna see if I have the patience to make something lol.

Today in 6.4x, the S6 crew blasted off... ...to deliver a small docking adapter... ...and relieve the two remaining S5 crew members, who will be returning to Kerbin after six months in space. Meanwhile, after some cosmetic upgrades... the launch vehicle for the eventual S7 crew undergoes some engine tests... And back at Mission Control, the engineers ran some high-altitude abort simulations: Below 5000m the launch escape system is completely automated; from abort separation & LAS ignition, to shroud separation & chute deployment, to landing. All the crew needs to do is scream. Above that, the shroud separation subroutine is disabled. The pod, shroud, & tower are very aerodynamically stable and have some limited control. At medium altitude, the combination coasts to apogee before shroud separation & standard decent & landing. At high altitude tho... There's a very limited window between upper stage ignition & LAS/shroud jettison, after that the crew would just separate in the MUL and use its engine to abort. In thin or no atmosphere, the LAS/pod combination is not at all stable and tumbles quite a bit before control is regained. The shroud & tower are immediately jettisoned after control is regained and the pod is pointed retrograde. It's a rough ride down. Well below orbital speed, the descent is very steep, but the lifting reentry thanks to FAR manages to shave a good 2.5 G's off the 12 or so that Trajectories was predicting. Things got very hot too, the heat shield temp peaked at over 1500 degrees. But after all that the decent was completely routine. My Kerbonauts can rest better knowing the trusty MUL/Colossus now has verified launch abort capability all the way from pad to orbit (eat your heart out space planes )

Ahhh I missed these things. Kept forgetting to reinstall them. Is there any way they could be made to automatically inhibit engine shrouds?

Been using this for a while but I've noticed the Apollo-style petal adapter (DO NOT STAGE!) doesn't seem to work with FAR, nothing inside is shielded. Is there any way to fix this?

looks interesting. Have you considered adding built in decouplers like the KW version? Does it work with FAR?

Will take a look, but don't think it'll play well with FAR. A simple G readout for all phases of the flight would really be best, the code is already there in the seismometer so I (ignorantly) assuming tapping into that for an MJ display would be fairly simple?

Small feature request here... Could we get a custom window entry for G forces, ala the same thing the seismometer displays? Unless it's there and I can't find it. There's current acceleration, but thats only from thrust not aero forces, Gravity, etc.

ok, the song was easy. Waiting to see if anyone gets the cactus. Part count is just under 300 right now. It's starting to lag a bit but only just. It's really not that big yet, I just picked the right parts I guess lol. See below. Those are Procedural fuselages with the original texture. The modules are from Station Science. The big 3m hab is KW I think. The rest is just a smattering of adapters & docking ports. Oh and

I think it's something to do with that new GUI for transferring resources, since Dangit uses its own. So question is, what can I do to get this resolved?

@Frank_G: Gracias. It's yet to turn into a wobble monster or lag king, so I might actually finish it! If I remember the probe cores... Today was much less dramatic. Five months after the near-disaster due to a failed tug & monoprop leak, a new cargo ship lifts off with fresh supplies. This is Tenacity-2 atop a rather plain, as-yet-unnamed light launcher based on a Colossus-H core stage, but no longer sharing anything in common but the main fuel tank and standard upper stage. Just barely able to pull off an almost-two-stage launch. Tenacity burns through a good share of its monoprop cargo to reach orbit, but the main internal tank is still full. Tenacity. 11.5 tonnes on orbit, fully monoprop powered and quite stable when translating. Delivers a couple hundred units each of monoprop & LOX, plus TAC food & water to last 3 Kerbonauts about 6 months, and could carry other light 1.25 meter cargo in the cargo bay. And just plain looks kewl. Mostly Tantares parts. Meeting up with Highlab II Getting crowded up here. That's next on the list to remedy. For now, Tenacity-2 docks temporarily to the aft hub port above Tenacity-1. All the station & MUL tanks are automatically topped off thanks to Goodspeed fuel pump. Fresh snacks & supplies for the crew, tho they'll be leaving soon. And proper waste disposal provisions so they can be "good stewards" and stop dumping crap overboard into space. Instead it'll be vaporized, aerosolized, and evenly distributed over the heads of thousands of unsuspecting Kerbals. (Chilling thought: if you live below 52 degrees latitude [and pretty much everyone does] you could be breathing incinerated astronaut dookie RIGHT NOW!) Sorry, squerl.... anyways... With the station supplied and no longer in jeopardy, Tenacity-1 undocks for one final mission. Tenacity-2 then repositions to its proper place at the aft port. Tenacity-1 departs to chase down the errant tug-thing and dispose of it. After a few days it finally locks on and deorbits. Can't risk something that big and uncontrolled sharing orbit with the station. Tenacity lives up to its name. Reentry in 6.4x is well over 5km/s. It holds together pretty deep into the atmosphere before it all comes apart at once from DRE heat & FAR aero forces. As planned, nothing survives. Meanwhile, Chadvey takes the duty of returning with the doomed S4 crew's MUL. There's no way to bring it back on auto so it'll need a pilot at the controls. Mission Control sees the need to retrofit a probe core to the next generation. The MUL's reaction wheels had failed sometime prior, and due to a spare parts conflict, can't be fixed on orbit. RCS is enough to get the ship out of orbit, but there'll be no attitude control after the service module separates. Chadvey knows he's in for a bumpy ride. FAR and an offset center of mass let the MUL pod fly a lifting entry usually, keeping G load to around 4 and "gliding" farther. But it's unstable and needs attitude control from the wheels. Without that, the pod falls in a ballistic course and begins rolling wildly. After being weightless for six months Chadvey is subjected to well over seven G's during reentry, and that doesn't count the spinning. He wisely refrained from eating today. He's way off course too. Instead of landing in the ocean just east of KSC he's heading for the barren desert of Cocomor. But finally the chutes open, the braking thrusters fire and he thuds back to Kerba firma. The MUL pod is designed for a water landing, but can land on land. It just sucks more. Chadvey crawls out of his pod, happy to be home. His...hair... had turned from black into bright white. He said that it was from when the pod had smashed so hard (And a texture replacer head pack). He knows he has a long wait for the recovery crew, but it looks like he's already found a friend. (reps to the first one who gets those references!)

Right, that's what I figured. Just putting it out there so ya'll can be aware, posted on the MCE thread as well. ETA: I think it's something with CIT Kert, a new GUI for transferring resources. Since DANGIT uses its own, the new thing must have mucked up the works. Any chance of a workaround or update?

A dramatic day today (well yesterday) on my fledgling 6.4x station. Everything started off according to plan... Third launch of my uprated Colossus/H-R1 LV. This proved it's good for 35 tonnes to 130km LKO, with a couple hundred m/s left in the third stage, can maybe push that to 40-45. Need to try sticking a MUL on top soon. Seven NovaPunch M50's fire at launch (that's like 8 MainSails). Crossfeeding boosters burn out about 2 min into the flight, then separate into an "inside-out" Korolev's cross to clear the three M50's on the core stage. Core stage burns for another two minutes, carrying the stack out of the atmosphere. Staging, fairing separation, and the same upper stage I've been using for nearly this whole career continues to ApA, with a typical circularization burn of less than 100 m/s half an hour later. In this case the stage is fitted with a probe core & power to fly the rendezvous, and a 35 ton cyclotron for the station. It's a bit of a pig of course. At 45 tonnes total the reaction wheels can barely turn it. The Vernors can turn it much more quickly but produce so much thrust that using them can quickly throw the trajectory way off. There's no RCS fuel on board for the thrusters mounted on the cyclotron. This later becomes another brick in a wall of fail. Ah, there she is. HighLab II, 30 (real) days into the S5 crew's 180 day stay. The S4 crew met with tragedy just days into their stay when life support completely failed. S5 was the backup crew, consisting of space hero Chadvey and veterans Edmund & Jerdous, launched in a hurry to secure the station. It takes a couple of orbits, but controllers are finally able to wrangle the cyclotron to within a couple hundred meters of the station, and stabilize it. Time to undock the tug that brought in Hub-1 and go pick it up. But someone, somewhere has made a critical mistake. There's no probe core. The tug has just become a very expensive hunk of debris. Thinking quickly, Chadvey rushes to the extra MUL from the S4 crew and undocks. It's fully fueled but has limited life support This is way beyond its design specs. First he tries to maneuver behind the drifting tug in hopes of pushing it back onto the docking port, but he can't see forward, and there's no docking telemetry from the tug. He makes contact, but it just bumps the tug away. He desperately tries to maneuver around it again, to nudge it into the docking port's magnet range, but again it doesn't work. Chadvey knows he has limited fuel, a good part of the station's supply is still on that tug. They'll have to deal with it later. For now he goes chasing after the cyclotron. With good telemetry, docking is no problem. The Colossus upper stage is discarded, Mission Control will de-orbit it on auto. Now Chadvey has to guide the massive module back to the station with the MUL's minuscule RCS supply. Mission Control has been able to reconfigure the docking alignment display to work from his MUL, but first he's got to get close to the station, and he can barely see out the tiny window. His initial course is off, and in a tense moment 40 tonnes nearly slams into the main hab module. Chadvey recovers, barely missing a solar panel. But he's gotten a feel for it now. The DAI has come online and he's able to nudge the huge module into position. With a thump and some clicks, the latches engage as the cyclotron is secure. Chadvey breathes a sign of relief. He has less than 10 units of monoprop left. That's plenty, though for a simple reposition of the MUL to the apex port so he can get back into the station. With disaster averted for the moment, the crew settle in for a much needed rest. But their headaches are far from over. While they're in the other module watching "Batman Begins" a monoprop tank springs a leak. By the time they notice it and isolate the bad tank, nearly all of the station's remaining monoprop has been vented. They're into contingency minimums. The construction schedule will have to be completely revamped now, even using a MUL as a tug they don't have the fuel to dock any new modules, and the next cargo ship isn't due till near the end of their rotation. And that drifting tug will have to be dealt with before it causes more problems. But on a lighter note I finally got the MunCastle!

FYI, this latest update with the SpareParts has introduced a conflict with Ippo's DangIt! That also uses SpareParts but I don't think they're the same as MCE's, only the name, which has made the DangIt side unusable now.

Hey just throwing this out there... it appears there's an incompatibility now between this and Mission Controller extended. MCE uses community resource SpareParts, and after updating it, the "take spares" button in the GUI no longer works. I get a message saying it did, but no spares on the Kerbal. I can transfer SpareParts to a Kerbal using MCE's GUI, but they're not recognized by dangit for fixing stuff.

First! what, no LFO engine failures?

Indeed, that was it. Figured someone had already done the work for me, I just needed a victim

Now that WOULD be interesting... Being able to actually jump a full kilometer into the "air" on Gilly like the wiki says... What would the proper gravity be on stock sized Gilly with realistic density?