Zero mass floating Mun Outpost

[Chewy]

I found an interesting glitch today. In career mode, I was trying to complete a contract to build a Mun Outpost that needed to support 11 kerbals, include a research lab and 4000 units of liquid fuel. I launched the outpost in 3 pieces that were docked together on the Mun's surface, and then I filled the fuel tanks with a nearby drilling rig (and using KAS) in order to meet the 4000 units of fuel requirement. For some reason, the program doesn't think I have a facility with an antenna, a docking port and the ability to generate power... which I have all of those things (and all pieces were made after the contract was accepted... since I think this is also a glitch I used the cheat menu to complete the contract).

The glitch comes when I try to decouple a probe core that I used during the launch from one of the docking ports. The probe core doesn't detach and instead the whole outpost starts to slowly float off the ground and I lose all control. Kerbal Engineer shows no mass. Has anyone else come across this glitch? I suspect it has something to do with how the probe core is attached to the docking port because I'm not able to remove the probe core using an engineer and KAS.

http://i.imgur.com/hnLyw1K.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/UX5rUed.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/dts7aP0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ftHiyVx.jpg

[Feradose]

Yeah. You found the Mass Eraser Drive. Fix.. dunno.

Awesome? YES!

[PlonioFludrasco]

Try applying some thrust to see if inertia still works!

[*Aqua*]

That is the NaN bug aka NaN virus. (It's not a real virus.)

Somehow since about 0.90 this bug occurs and nobody really knows why.

NaN is the abbreviation for 'not a number'. It's a value for floating point numbers indicating that a value is not representable or can't be calculated (e. g. 0 / 0 = NaN).

[magico13]

I had NaN bugs that ruined a save back in 0.23.5. It's been around for a while. When I got it, it was when I tried to launch anything into orbit. The altitude and speed would become NaN after a while and the vessel would disappear from map mode.

[Findthepin1]

Perhaps you would be able to convert the glitch-causing portion of the outpost into a mass-canceling device which would be useful at launch.

[Chewy]

Perhaps you would be able to convert the glitch-causing portion of the outpost into a mass-canceling device which would be useful at launch.

This may require some testing... I'll get back to you on this.

[Arsonik]

This may require some testing... I'll get back to you on this.

There is a whole category of players here on the forums that have spent a lot of time manipulating bugs like these to make physics-breaking propulsion units. How about uploading the craft file? I'm not personally interested, but I'm sure many people would love to have a look at what is going on.

[Richy teh space man]

I find when the nan bug hits if you alt f4 out and then reload the game your craft is usually okay.

So long as your last save isn't too far back it's not that frustrating to deal with.

[Windspren]

My Kraken Drive testing group.

This would make for an interesting K-Drive core...

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/115253-The-K-Program

- - - Updated - - -

There is a whole category of players here on the forums that have spent a lot of time manipulating bugs like these to make physics-breaking propulsion units. How about uploading the craft file? I'm not personally interested, but I'm sure many people would love to have a look at what is going on.

That's us

[Chewy]

My Kraken Drive testing group.

This would make for an interesting K-Drive core...

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/115253-The-K-Program

- - - Updated - - -

That's us

I guess I've never shared a craft file before... let me know if this link doesn't work - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxB0Xp0LEmJ4NUVxcmRoeUFhYVE&authuser=0

To trigger the glitch, you only need to try to decouple the probe core from the docking port. It disables all control, so it just continues in whatever direction it was heading... if you trigger it while heading towards water, it will break the game when it hits the water (only a game restart is needed... doesn't break the save). I can't figure out what causes the glitch, because if I do the same thing with another docking port, it works exactly as it should. I suspect it has to do with the node the probe core attached to or something.

Have fun!!!

[Windspren]

Hehe...... Don't be surprised if a Kerbal warp ship arrives at Alpha Centauri in the next week or so...

[Terwin]

I found an interesting glitch today. In career mode, I was trying to complete a contract to build a Mun Outpost that needed to support 11 kerbals, include a research lab and 4000 units of liquid fuel. I launched the outpost in 3 pieces that were docked together on the Mun's surface, and then I filled the fuel tanks with a nearby drilling rig (and using KAS) in order to meet the 4000 units of fuel requirement. For some reason, the program doesn't think I have a facility with an antenna, a docking port and the ability to generate power... which I have all of those things (and all pieces were made after the contract was accepted... since I think this is also a glitch I used the cheat menu to complete the contract).

[Chewy]

I had a similar situation where I klawed a pod for rescue on my way to the Mun, then my base would no longer register. I suspect that I accepted the rescue mission a few moments before the station mission, then when I klawed the rescue pod, my base was considered older than the mission and thus no longer eligible.

Is it possible that connecting to the refueler using the KAS also changed the age of your station?

Those 4K fuel missions are quite the pain, I had one before I had ISRU, and that took quite a large ship.(But I got two rescues on that trip as well, using all that extra fuel after the station mission)

I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case here... All the ships used were created after the mission was accepted. I actually accepted the mission long before unlocking the mining parts, knowing that I would probably have to land the parts on the Mun with fuel tanks mostly empty and later fill them after harvesting some ore.

[SAI Peregrinus]

Hehe...... Don't be surprised if a Kerbal warp ship arrives at Alpha Centauri in the next week or so...

Or disappears for several years, only to reappear in low Jool orbit, with the crew dead and their eyes missing...