Overheating Madness!

[supremeownage]

They seriously need to add some sort of dedicated radiator parts for heat dissipation. What we have atm doesn't seem to work.

I didn't realise they had changed heat that much before things like batteries started exploding. I've got a ship dedicated to moving an asteroid, equipped with miner and refinery, that is stuck at 290 temperature. It doesn't reduce, even after months at max-speed, even though the ship still has large solar panels that "supposedly" help to radiate the heat. Seems It's going to orbit Kerbin at that temperate for the rest of time. They should get some scientists up there to harvest the infinite source of energy.

I've constructed new ships with masses of wing-parts that again I've read "supposedly" help act as heat sinks, but they don't seem to make much of a difference either. Most of my launches now consist of me watching my ship slowly turn a deeper shade of red, from which it will never return. Most of everything stops working. I've never even had a chance to switch on this ISRU converter, it's at 100% overheat long before it gets anywhere near any ore. Lets not even mention the games lack of proper temperature displays. Again, i had to trawl the internet to even learn about the ability to display temp as a colour from the debug menu. Honestly, it feels like they've added temperature without bothering to consider how we're supposed to be aware, or even deal with it.

I was honestly really excited about 1.0, but now I'm like what's the point? I've trawled the internet for hours now, looking for a fix, without success. Am I just being a complete idiot here, is there a solution I'm overlooking??

[Kobymaru]

Temperature calculation does not work if your ship is packed. If you stay with your ship while you timewarp, you should see the temp getting down. Also keep in mind that vacuum is a really great insulator and ships cooling down from hundreds of Kelvin takes a long time.

[n.b.z.]

I've got a ship dedicated to moving an asteroid, equipped with miner and refinery, that is stuck at 290 temperature. It doesn't reduce, even after months at max-speed, even though the ship still has large solar panels that "supposedly" help to radiate the heat.

From the 1.0 changelog:

- All game temperatures changed from ‘Kervin’ to proper Kelvin.

290 Kelvin = 16.85 degrees Celsius = 62.33 degrees Fahrenheit..... you should be perfectly fine.

[Shpaget]

Deep shade of red is ok. Bright yellow is something to worry about.

Are you playing an old save? I noticed that I had some issues with irregular overheating on a save file from 0.90. Reinstalling the game and starting a new save file made things a lot more predictable.

I agree about the nonexistance of temperature read out. I've been playing since mid 2012 and now in 1.0 is the first time I had to use the debug menu.

[supremeownage]

From the 1.0 changelog:

- All game temperatures changed from ‘Kervin’ to proper Kelvin.

290 Kelvin = 16.85 degrees Celsius = 62.33 degrees Fahrenheit..... you should be perfectly fine.

If that's the case, why is the ISRU converter still locked on 100% overheated? I've also tried time-warp both while controlling the ship, and back at kerbin command, and neither had any effect.

And these are new ships made after 1.0, specifically to mine the asteroid I got into near Kerbin orbit.

[ainurakne]

As I understand, you are still on Kerbin's orbit?

I don't think it can even go much lower than 290 K there (unless you use somekind of shades). The Sun radiates heat and nearby planets/moons also supposedly radiate/reflect heat.

For example, if I went close enough to The Sun, it got so hot that it started to eat away the ablator from the heatshield I used to protect my craft with.

I haven't tried any resource thingies myself yet, but 290 K is around normal room temperature and it really shouldn't overheat things (unless there is some bug).

I have noticed that if I turn the timewarp up near maximum, then the heat suddenly "normalizes" (drops or goes up) to the point that is averagely expected at that distance from The Sun. If that doesn't happen in your version KSP, then there may be somekind of bug.

[Endersmens]

May have misread the title as "overeating madness...."

[Kerano]

Honestly, it feels like they've added temperature without bothering to consider how we're supposed to be aware, or even deal with it.

Quoted for truth. Hopefully 1.0.1 will bring us saner heating values/controls, as well as useful user information. Smoke coming off parts near overheating seems like an excellent visual clue for instance.

My workaround for the time being is to use the 'ignore max temperature' option in the debug menu when I'm running nukes, which are the biggest offenders when it comes to overheating.

- - - Updated - - -

I have noticed that if I turn the timewarp up near maximum, then the heat suddenly "normalizes" (drops or goes up) to the point that is averagely expected at that distance from The Sun. If that doesn't happen in your version KSP, then there may be somekind of bug.

I've noticed this too. Occasionally it seems to bug out and the entire ship normalizes at a much higher temperature than expected, which causes parts to suddenly explode when you go into time warp.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Kerano

[X-SR71]

On a side note, I find it odd my satellite on orbit around minmus suddenly exploded from heat. I was piloting another vessel some 5km away when it happened, so I was close enough the game was computing physics for the satellite, but not close enough to affect it directly I believe. It was in a stable orbit and the only reason I can come up with is if it exploded from the sun's heat.

[cicatrix]

Actually, solar panels are not supposed to dissipate heat, since they are constantly under direct sunlight they should GENERATE heat, not dissipate it.

[jwenting]

Actually, solar panels are not supposed to dissipate heat, since they are constantly under direct sunlight they should GENERATE heat, not dissipate it.

true, so in order to use them as radiators turn your craft so they're in its shadow (and/or wait until the entire craft is in shadow).

[supremeownage]

Bah nothing I do gets the ISRU converter to work. Perfectly good engine attached to my asteroid, with the ability to mine and convert ore to fuel, and the converter doesn't work! Been playing around with test rockets in orbit, and even they hit 100% overheat on the ISRU almost immediately. Very frustrating.

They seriously need to add some dedicated radiator parts, I can't be bothered to deal with this till they do. Lots of solar panels doesn't help, nor does lots of wing-parts. Once it hits 100%, it get stuck and is broken.