How to fix/save the Magic Boulder [Spoilers]

[Commissioner Tadpole]

As we know, Xir Highness Magic Boulder, the lumpy greenish rock that wanders around Ike, has been wiped out of the game since, due to the game's coding format, any moving object that isn't classified as either a planetary body with a full-blown SoI or a spacecraft will not appear. But I have a concept that just might fix the problem: classifying the Magic Boulder as a vessel.

Of course, that would completely kill the idea of it being an easter egg since all you'd have to do is to go into Map View, observe it, and either target it so you can fly a normal vessel there, or simply switch to it. These issues could be easily solved, however, by making MB be considered a different type of vessel; one that, like Debris, is by default invisible; like Asteroids, can't be switched to; like Asteroids, Flags and EVAs, can't be selected as a vessel type when you rename a craft of yours; and unlike all other vessel types, can't be toggled visible/invisible in map mode/tracking station since its icon would not be present.

I'm not sure if this would be enough to save Magic Boulder, since there might be two problems: First, it's probably not possible for a vessel type to be completely absent in the toolbar that lets you toggle which vessels are shown or not in the tracking station/map mode. Second, even if the first problem is avoided, the game might be unable to always spawn one instance of such vessel in a specific orbit(especially in already-existing save files), and if it does, it might end up spawning multiple instances, resulting in a ring of Magic Boulders around Ike.

But hey, better than nothing. Thoughts?

Edited May 3, 2015 by Commissioner Tadpole

[zarincos]

I can't see why this wouldn't work, it sounds like it should get around any major coding difficulties. The one problem this would lead to is that the MB would effectively be an asteroid since, as a vessel, it would likely be affected by physics. I'd still be all for bringing it back, though.

[Commissioner Tadpole]

I can't see why this wouldn't work, it sounds like it should get around any major coding difficulties. The one problem this would lead to is that the MB would effectively be an asteroid since, as a vessel, it would likely be affected by physics. I'd still be all for bringing it back, though.

Oh right. I forgot that we'd be able to redirect it this way.

Ah well, it's either this or no boulder. I'm sure many users would enjoy taking their Magic Boulders to Jool or something like that.

[mythbusters844]

Oh right. I forgot that we'd be able to redirect it this way.

Not if you make the mass something ridiculously high

[Commissioner Tadpole]

Not if you make the mass something ridiculously high

Ah, true, that could work too.

[xyifer12]

"Xir"?

[Commissioner Tadpole]

"Xir"?

It's a pronoun used to refer to genderless/asexual individuals, replacing the terms "his" and "her". There are also other terms, such as "xe"(s/he), but that's beyond the topic.

[pincushionman]

Not if you make the mass something ridiculously high

You neglect the dedication and resilience of KSPers on a mission. "Rediculous" is, in fact, Whackjob's middle name.

[Rath]

1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000tons is a little hard to move...

[Brotoro]

Everything else in the Kerbol system should be orbiting around Magic Boulder if it had that mass